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| Shrimp Curry |
I spent a relaxed morning, today, responding to blog comments and reading other blogs. Daughter and I had the leftover coconut roti for breakfast.
In the afternoon, I went grocery shopping for a few items. Daughter stayed at home. I bought a quart of half and half ($2.99), a quart of milk ($1.99), some bananas ($.59/lb.), a bag of tangerines ("Cuties"; $3.49), some green beans ($.99/lb.), Brussels sprouts ($.99/lb.), a 5 lb. bag of flour ($2.29), a box of corn meal ($3.65), a bottle of canola oil ($1.99), a large pecan pie as my contribution to the Thanksgiving lunch at my friend's ($14.99), a container of four almond croissants ($4.99), a box of crackers ($1.49), a package of headless, deveined shrimp (a splurge at $8.99/lb.; $11.33 for the package), two packages of my daughter's favorite brand of ground coffee ($4.99 each) and two boxes of small trash bags ($1.99). My total with trash bags and tax, etc., came to $65.31. Of course, I am well over my grocery budget for this month (I blew the budget the minute I set foot inside the Sri Lankan store, the other day!), but, I am OK with that. It is a self-imposed budget, based on what I think is a reasonable amount to spend on groceries and not due to a financial necessity to do so.
My daughter helped me bring the bags of groceries in and she put away the groceries immediately, so I didn't take a picture of the groceries.
After I came home, I put some rice to boil and cooked a shrimp curry. Daughter and I both had rice and shrimp curry for a late lunch.
In the evening, we went to the monthly prayer gathering being held at my cousin V's home. Cousin P and her daughter gave my daughter and me a ride there and back. It was a good prayer gathering with many members of the extended family attending. After the prayers were said, we had dinner (Indiappam or stringhoppers and curries). My cousin insisted that I brought a container of food home for lunch, tomorrow, and I was happy to do so because I love stringhoppers.
Today, I am grateful for:
- What I was able to accomplish today
- Being able to attend the monthly prayer gathering
- Cousin P and her daughter giving my daughter and me a ride there and back
- Being able to afford to go over my self imposed grocery budget
- The strong wind gusts we experienced didn't cause any damage to the house or garden
Today's joyful activity was attending the prayer gathering.
Wednesday's To Do List:
- Bake cornbread
- Tidy the house a bit
- Go to the fabric store to take advantage of their sale (need to buy the solid colored fabric for the quilt border)
How was your Tuesday? What have you planned for Wednesday?
I had to Google stringhoppers as I hadn't heard of them before. They aren't at all what I was expecting but I bet they are tasty!
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to know how you'll cook the Brussel sprouts please? Do you just steam, boil or roast them, or do you have a special Sri Lankan recipe for them?
Behave yourself in the fabric shop!!
Stringhoppers, by themselves, have no taste as such, just like plain boiled pasta. But, eaten with various curries, they are delicious!
DeleteIn general, I just cut the sprouts in half or quarters and boil them and finish off with a little butter, salt or soy sauce, garlic, and pepper. Once, I made a shredded salad with the raw sprouts and mandarin slices, which was quite good. If I want to make a more Sri Lankan type dish with them, I'll shred/cut them fine, and saute them with grated coconut (either fresh or frozen), finely sliced shallots, some turmeric, and salt to make what we call "mallung", which is shredded, cooked greens (can be made with just about any type of greens).
Ha, ha, I'll try! :D It's been raining all morning; I am hoping it would clear up a bit in the afternoon so I can go shopping! :)
Is Dancer enjoying another person being home to bug for tuna? :)
ReplyDeleteDancer is technically my daughter's cat and he loves it when she is home. He lets her cuddle and carry him, which he barely tolerates from me. However, he bugs only me for tuna! I am the person he associates with food and treats! He also know that I'm a softie when it comes to him meowing for tuna!
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Stringhoppers?! Explanation required or I shall be having nightmares of platefuls of things that jump out onto the table!
ReplyDeleteWonderful trees with purple flowers in the city right now and there is a noticeable fragrance. Back home freezing rain is threatened today! As Scarlet O'Hara said, I'll think about that tomorrow (or even later!)
LOL, stringhoppers are a type of freshly made rice noodles. A dough is made with rice flour, salt, and water (wheat flour can also be used, but, needs to be steamed first), then, the dough is pressed through the holes of a "stringhopper mold". The resulting long strands or "strings" of dough are piled onto small round woven trays (about 4 inches in diameter; originally, the trays were made of wicker, but, now, you get plastic trays, too) in a circular motion, until you get a pile of strands about a quarter inch thick. Then, you cut off the strands and start on another woven tray. These are then steamed for several minutes to cook them. Once cooked, they are taken off the woven trays and are ready to be eaten. My mother used to make them at home and I have all the equipment, but, I have not made any, myself. I don't seem to have the strength in my hands to squeeze the mold to get the dough to come out! I've heard that there are mechanized stringhopper molds, but, I don't own one. By the way, I've also heard that there are lots of Sri Lankan restaurants in various big cities in Canada - maybe, one day, when you return home, you can see if there is one near you that you can try.
DeleteThe purple flowered trees sound a lot like jacaranda trees. Enjoy the warmth while you are there! We are having rain here and our high is only in the mid 50s (F), so that means winter is here for us!
I love those cuties! I used to make freshly squeezed cutie juice.
ReplyDeleteCuties are so good, aren't they? My daughter will eat them, two or three at a time!
DeleteI almost always have a bag of cuties in the fridge and eat one after dinner.
ReplyDeleteOnce I tried making string hoppers, and I just could not squeeze the mold hard enough to make hoppers. Finally I had to call a friend, who came and made string hoppers for me. That was about 5 years ago and since then I haven’t tried making them. 😁
I, too, find it hard to squeeze the dough, Nil. I don't know how my mother was able to make them, well into her 70s! It used to be nothing for her to make 30 or 40 stringhoppers for breakfast on the weekends! I love stringhoppers and hoppers, too. My daughter prefers pittu.
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