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.
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.
|
.
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
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'
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
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