September 11, 2019 Lunch - Salmon and Anchovies Salad Dinner – Namaste

September 11, 2019 Lunch - Salmon and Anchovies Salad    Dinner – Namaste

I woke up a bit after 7:00 and made one of my favorite dishes, Egg foo Young. I sliced a few strands of Vadalia onion, and two mushrooms and sautéed them in  skillet with heated sesame oil and peanut oil.  I then added a few spoonsful of PPI Pork and You Choy stir fry and PPI rice and sautéed that.  Then I added about 1 T. of Chinese Rice Cooking Wine and two eggs and stirred that in and let it cook until it became firm.  Voila, Egg Foo Young

At 8:30 I rode to Rio Bravo at a brisk pace and when I turned to return north I found out I had a tailwind going south and had to fight a headwind out of the north all the way back in a lower gear, but I made it in about one hour, which is a decent time.

I then wrote a motion for a case in the COA.  At 12:30 I made a salad of Romaine lettuce, diced tomato and cucumber, sliced radishes, two green onions, the PPI poached salmon from last night’s dinner, and two or three Spanish smoked anchovies produced by Roland Foods and bought at Southwest Distributors.

I freshened up the dressing with the juice of a lemon, olive oil, a sprig of tarragon from the garden and a clove of garlic sectioned.

After lunch I tried to get my computer fixed and then went to a client’s.  When I returned at 3:30 I rested and then watched Mad Money.  This turned into a monster day in the Market with the Dow rising at the end of the day by over 227 points and a commensurate 1 ¼ % gain in my portfolio.

Suzette called and wanted to meet her insurance broker for a drink after work.  So she came home at 5:00 and we rested until 5:40 and then went to the Hotel Parque at Central and I-25 for a drink and to meet him.   We talked and drank until 7:30 and watched the spectacular sunset from the hotel’s fourth floor roof deck. 

It was almost 8:00 when we left the hotel and too late to cook so we drove up Central to the University area.  Suzette wanted Greek food, but we could not find a parking space by Olympia Cafe, so we went down the alley and parked at Namaste.  We had never been to Namaste in Albuquerque.  I went to its Rio Rancho location several times with Aaron. 

I told Suzette that it served Indian and Nepalese food and when we looked at its menu, we were immediately attracted to its Nepalese dishes in the Nepali Corner of its menu.

Nepali Corner

Vegetable Momo (V)		$8.95
Mixed vegetables mildly spiced and stuffed in a dumpling wrapper
Vegetable Chow Chow (Noodles)(V)		$8.95
Stir-fried mixed vegetables spiced with herbs & spices then mixed with Wheat noodles
Chicken Chow Chow (Noodles)		$9.95
Stir-fried chicken spiced with herbs and spices & mixed with Wheat noodles
Chicken Momo		$9.95
Ground Chicken spiced with herbs & spices, stuffed in a dumpling wrapper
Lamb Momo		$10.95
Ground Lamb with spices then stuffed in a dumpling wrapper
Chili Chicken (V)		$12.95
Boneless chicken pieces lightly battered then sauteed with onion, bell peppers, & spices; comes with naan.

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 Suzette immediately ordered Lamb Momo and I ordered Chicken Chow Chow.

We were brought a basket with two papadum and a small ramekin of mint chili chutney and another of a red sauce as an appetizer.

A papadum is a thin, crisp, disc-shaped food from the Indian subcontinent, typically based on a seasoned dough usually made from peeled black gram flour (urad flour), either fried or cooked with dry heat (usually flipping it over an open flame). Flours made from other sources such as lentils, chickpeas, rice, tapioca, certain millets or potato can be used.

Papadums are typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka or as an appetizer or snack, sometimes with toppings such as chopped onions, chopped carrots, chutneys or other dips, and condiments.

The food was cooked to order so it took several minutes to prepare.  The platter of Chicken Chow Chow was served first and then the Lamb Momo. Both dishes had unique flavors.  The noodles were thicker fresh wheat udon noodles sauced with a thick spice mixture and sautéed pieces of chcken.  The Momo were freshly made steamed lamb filled dumplings served with a dipping sauce of fresh tomato coulis flavored with fresh cilantro and Nepali peppercorn.  The waitress brought a small handful of the black peppercorns to our table to show us the Nepalese peppercorn.  They looked similar to Malabar peppercorns but had a unique and wonderful aroma and flavor that they imparted to the sauce.  We both loved the momo coated with the tomato dipping sauce.

I later found out that the Nepalese peppercorns flavoring the tomato dipping sauce are closely related to Szechuan peppercorns, not Malabar peppercorns.

Here is an explanation.

Timur Pepper, Nepal

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From the same family as Szechuan peppercorn, this 'false flag' pepper comes from Nepal. It has the same tongue tingling, mouth numbing properties, with intense citrus and grapefruit notes. These citrus qualities make Timur pepper perfect for fish dishes. In Nepal Timur is commonly used in dry vegetable dishes, especially with potatoes, and also it is used in tomato-based dishes and curries, often with pork. It is an integral part of Nepali curry powders and seasonings, and is a very popular spice in the country. Because of its affinity with fish, Timur pepper can be used to give an exotic twist to many traditional fish preparations, and one of our favourites is to use Timur together with lemon and salt to season a sea bass cooked 'en papilotte'

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We shared a large bottle of Indian Taj Mahal beer.

It was a lovely spontaneous dinner of new flavors we had never tasted.

We returned home around 8:30 and went to bed after long days of work.

Bon Appetit