Easter Spitzad

Originally posted in 2017. Reposting as it is that time of year again—springtime is Spitzad time! This year (2024) my cousin and i are debating the merits of using chickory vs the traditional dandelion greens. 

My cousin and I go back and forth, texting each other photos of the most-delicious thing we've created recently. And since it's Easter, he's reminding me to make a family favorite, "Spitzad". He's also making a traditional "wheat pie," but that wasn't something my grandfather was known for making--he was more well known for his rice pie. Spitzad is something my grandfather's mother would make.

Apparently, my great-grandmother would use dandelion greens in it in lieu of parsley; and my permutation on this is to use mint, as I think it pairs nicely with the lamb and the lemon juice.

A fine recipe that was my jumping off point was this recipe for Agnello Brodettato.

Here is my version:

Ingredients

1 lb lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into cubes

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 oz Bacon, prosciutto or pancetta, chopped

2 T Olive oil

Flour for dredging

(About) 1/4 Cup Dry Vermouth

Salt and pepper

Optional: 2 T garlic paste (for marinating)

For the egg and lemon finish:

2 whole eggs

Juice of one freshly squeezed lemon (I even used the zest of the lemon, too)

12 nice sized, fresh mint leaves, shredded

Procedure:

1. Marinate lamb cubes overnight in garlic paste.

2. Dredge cubes in flour, set aside.

3. Render out bacon in 1 T olive oil and about 1/4 cup water. Add onions, sweat them and let them cook until golden, then set aside.

4. Add 1 T olive oil to pan and start to brown lamb cubes. Once they are nicely browned, add onion mixture back to pot, then deglaze pot with vermouth, stirring up brown bits stuck to bottom of pot.

5. Add about 1 cup of water and put in a 300 degree oven (*covered*) for 2 hours -OR- cook in electric pressure cooker on high pressure for 25 minutes (letting the pot depressurize on its own).

6. Once lamb is thoroughly cooked, scramble eggs with the lemon juice, then slowly drizzle a little bit at a time, stirring constantly to keep eggs from setting, continue this process until all the egg mixture is incorporated--this helps fortify and thicken the gravy.

7. Add the mint leaves.

8. Taste. Adjust salt, and apply black pepper liberally, a nice fat pinch or a dozen twists on the pepper grinder should do it.

New Year's ReSOUPlution

Turns out my beloved pint of egg drop soup, which I get daily at a local Chinese take out joint, contains roughly a day's worth of sodium. This year I am focusing on my kidney function (especially given my ultrasound showed 3 new cysts), and I'm trying to reduce my sodium intake if I can.

So I decided to give it a whirl once more. I tried, and failed, in the past to get the egg all nice and ribbony, and couldn't figure out where I went wrong, and then it hit me, I hadn't thickened it at all (not even "sufficiently," but not at all), and the egg just glopped to the bottom of the broth.

So I combined two things, my love of egg drop soup with my love of bone broth, and came up with this formula.

So my recipe is really two recipes in one: One recipe for the broth, one recipe for the soup itself.

Bone Broth:

2-3 lbs chicken feet (necks will work too)
1/2 a large leek minced
Bottoms cut off a bunch of scallions
2 ribs of celery
roughly 2 T lemon juice
And enough water to fill my five quart pressure cooker 3/4 of the way full

I combine everything into a bundle of cheesecloth and pitch the whole thing (after draining of course) after cooking.

Seal PC and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes and let it depressurize on its own.

I used 3 quarts of the 4.5 quarts of bone broth this made--I reserved extra broth for other meals.

Egg Drop Soup:

3 quarts of broth
Flavorings are approximate values:
1/8- 1/4 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 -1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp ginger powder
Salt to taste
Drizzle of sesame oil
A pinch or two of turmeric for color (don't add so much you can taste it!)
Thickener of your choosing (Some folks opt for a slurry of corn starch and water; I sprinkle a wee bit of xanthan gum powder until it starts to thicken a bit)

At the point what the broth is at a low boil and thickened, start to drizzle in 4 eggs scrambled. Stirring the soup so the egg starts to get all ribbony and shreddy. Once the egg is done, the soup is done.

I like a few grinds of black pepper in it and adjust the salt if need be. I garnished with scallions (as pictured) and after snapping the photo, I added enokis, because well, I love enokis. YMMV.

Makes 3 quarts--though if you dilute your broth further, you can make more soup, though it won't be as full bodied as straight up bone broth.

You'll know you did all of this right when, after refrigerating, your soup has gelled.

Pineapple Pork

In the bottom of my Nesco, I put, fat side down, big hunks of Boston butt. And then I layered:

Garlic powder (a few shakes)
1 pouch of Prince of Peace Ginger-honey drink mix
2 T Trader Joes Pepper Jelly
20 oz can Cubed Pineapple (though, I drained out about half the juice)
2 T Schug, Red
Few grinds black pepper
1 tsp Penzeys orange peel
A few squirts Sriracha
1 onion, sliced
1 fistful sultana raisins
1 fistful dried cranberries

Stir to distribute. Slow cook 5.5 hours.  

When done cooking, taste and adjust salt if need be.

Turn on brown setting to get it bubbling again, then add in whatever thickener you use. I use xanthan gum powder, as it renders out a very nice end product, and isn't as pesky as cornstarch. Also, it adds a negligible amount of carbs.

This is good for 1-3 lbs of pork cubes.

Serve over rice, bowtie pasta, corn bread or toasted garlic bread.  Keeps nicely in the fridge for up to a week to ten days--if it doesn't get consumed sooner!

Brain storm! Thinking of perhaps a brioche type based stromboli (eggy like a Hawaiian roll), with this pork tucked inside.

Bone Broth: My Version

Reading up on the benefits of bone broth, and decided, that despite my failure to get a good "gel" in the stock I made for my ramen a few weeks back, I wanted to try again to achieve a good demi-glace "gel" for bone broth.

LOOK AT THAT IMPRESSIVE, GELLING ACTION!!!! 

Yes! That is my soup mug (at my desk in my office), which is on its side, to demonstrate the structural integrity of the gel!

Into my DRY Nesco, I added 3 lbs of "chicken hocks" (yes, pretty much what you think it is, all those knuckles at the bottom of chicken legs, essentially the ankle of the birds. I struck gold at the Korean market, where I was ISO a package of necks and backs (or even FEET), and in the absence of everything else, I found the hocks and knew I found a winner.

I had the Nesco on the brown setting, and I stirred once in a while and got most of the pieces browned and started for the bone broth.

I then filled the cooker 4/5 full (had to double check the manual for capacity) with water and added about 1-2 T vinegar.

Initially I set the cooker on high pressure for 18 minutes. I let it depressurize and upon looking I was unsure if 18 minutes was enough time to get the collagen to release from the joints. So I gave it a good stir, put the lid back on and set it for another 5 minutes at high pressure.

Again, I was unsure if this was adequate. I fished out all the bones, and took the cartilagey pieces off the bones, put the cartilage back in the Nesco, and with it, I put all the aromatics I was going to use for this batch. As I've been Jonesing for tom kha gai or tom yum, I decided to add lemongrass, makrut lime leaf, scallion pieces, garlic scape, ginger, white pepper, and set the Nesco for another 6 minutes, high pressure. After cooking I let it depressureize on its own.

After, I fished out all the solids, and ran the stock thru a cheesecloth, as to ensure no bone chips end up in final product.

While the broth was still scalding, I added a few fistfuls of enoki mushroom, cilantro, scallion piece, diced up bell pepper, and a few glugs of nam pla to salt/season and add some funk.

Last night it was served up with a few Korean vegetable mandoo, and I actually got compliments from the husband on the soup.

I made this specifically so I could take it to work each day in my feed bag, and get the therapeutic benefits of the collagen. Hoping it will be helpful in dealing with my joint pain, and also enjoy the side benefit of additional protein my diet.

Maven's First Attempt at Ramen, Part 3: The Recipe

I'll break my recipe up into three portions:

1. What I did with the pork belly;
2. The composition of the broth itself;
3. The plating.

PORK BELLY

Ingredients:
Approx. 1 lb fatty pork belly
Maple syrup
Tamari
Garlic powder

Essentially I took a 2T. of the maple syrup and the tamari and about 1 tsp of garlic powder and brined the belly in this for two days before smoking.

On day three, I dried off the pork belly, pressed some sesame seeds onto it, and smoked it in my Cameron's smoke box for about 20 minutes, and let it cool down in the closed box, which I believe only intensified the smokiness. This was then stuck in the fridge until I set up the ramen broth the following day. What did I use to smoke the belly? That secret I am keeping to myself.


On the same day I put the belly in the brine, I also stuck the pork bones for the broth in a zip lock bag, marinating with some Sky Valley Miso Marinade overnight.  These bones were then slow roasted in a 275 oven for about 2 hours, on a bed of cut up scallions. When I took the roasting pan out of the oven and while everything was still piping hot, I poured an entire can of Sapporo beer on it, and then let it set out for almost two hours to cool down enough where I could put it in the fridge.

BROTH:

The following morning, the following components went into the slow cooker to cook for nearly 6 hours while I was at work:

2# roasted pork bones (with the beer, pan juices, and scallions)
3 long stems of garlic scapes, rough diced
6 scallions, rough dice
1 T. Tamari
1 T. Rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. Dashi powder 
6 Big, dried shitakes
1 T sushi ginger, shred
1 star anise
Dashes white pepper
1 T Sky Valley Miso Marinade
1/4 lb slab pork belly 
(Then added enough water to fill the slow cooker to capacity.)

I gave one stir to distribute everything, and set my slow cooker for six hours.

When I came home, I did not have the time (nor the cheesecloth) to properly strain everything out for a "consomme" type experience. I did a rough skim and got all the solids out of the water, however, my broth was not crystal clear.

I gave it a taste. It needed more oomph. So at this juncture, I added a few splashes more of tamari, rice wine vinegar, and miso.

RAMEN NOODLE

I used fresh, store bought ramen noodle by Sun Noodle Co. I followed instructions. And after draining, I drizzled a wee bit of sesame oil on the noodles to keep them from sticking while I got everything else ready for plating.

PLATING FINAL PRODUCT:

I put a nice mound of noodle in the middle of each bowl, and on top of that, was arranged nicely:

1 hard boiled egg, cut in half
More sliced mushrooms
Pork belly, sliced
Some pork from the roasted bones
Minced scallions
Seaweed
And over the top of everything, I gave a good dash of  Simply Asia ginger-sesame spice blend.

On my own bowl, I had some pork & leek shumai already steamed up and ready to go.

The husband gave me 3 stars out of 5; however, I suspect it's closer to 4 stars, for me personally. And I dare say it rendered out a passable, authentic product.

(No Pics) My Formula For Strawberry BBQ Sauce

This recipe is for an electric pressure cooker; however, after all the sauteeing and pureeing, can be cooked in a slow cooker/crock pot for 4-5 hours.

Ingredients:
1 lb strawberries, hulled, quartered
1.5 onions minced
3 garlic scapes, minced (sub: 6 cloves garlic)
1 T. Sushi ginger (the shredded type; sub: 1 inch fresh, grated)
1 T. Pomegranate molasses
1 heaping tsp Schug (sub: sriracha or tabasco)
1/4 C. Rice wine vinegar (sub: apple cider vinegar or sherry vinegar)
1 T. Brown sugar
2 tsp cumin powder
1 T. Jerk seasoning
1 tsp black pepper ground
1 tsp chipotle or paprika
1 lb Smoked pork product of your choosing. (I used a 1 lb cross section slice of the ham part of hind leg; fresh ham, not cured or salted or smoked--and I then smoked it with oak chips), rough dice.
1 T. oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Sautee onion and scapes in oil until onions are translucent. Add strawberries. Cook 2-3 minutes, then use immersion blender to puree. Pretty much dump everything else in (except for pork), blend away.  Toss in pork. Give a good stir to make sure nothing is sticking on bottom.

Put lid on, set to SEAL, and pressure cook on high for 12 minutes, let cooker depressurize on its own. 

Serve up with white rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

Maven's Leaning Tower of Bahn Mi

 
Duck breast: Marinated and in the Nesco cooker on slow cook, in
a bone dry crock for five hours; 3 hours skin side down; flip, 2 hours more. 
On a whim, I picked up the marinated duck breasts at the
market in Grand Central Station, with the intent of making
Peking duck wraps.
The duck, however, had other designs on its ultimate
nom-i-tude.

First things first is bread selection. Second? Toast that shit up. 
Fuck the Maillard Effect = carcinogenic! Fuck it in its ear!
Toast. That. Shit. Up.

While your baguette toasts up, get your veggies pickled.
I did a quick oi cha type pickle w/cukes and shallots. 

Google that shit, because I'm not giving a recipe by recipe

breakdown of all aspects of this sandwich.

This recipe is about construction.

Prep your spicy mayo.

50% mayo of your choosing, and 50% something else.

While at Whole Paycheck, I couldn't remember if I had canned

liver pate or liverwurst at home, so I spent $7 on this (good) shit.

Behold the golden hue.

And yes, I used a pretzel baguette.

Grrrrr! 
Turns out it was in the pantry all the while!

But yanno what? If I did not spend $7 on the rillettes, 
My luck would be this can would not be in the pantry. 
That's how my life rolls.

Note: Even folks on a budget can make this sandwich
See also: Pricetag on the liverwurst--you probably could get
something similar at a local dollar store.

Dispatch the duck, prepare for sandwich participation.

Assembly pic #1. Spicy mayo and oi cha on top;

Rillettes and duck on bottom.

Assembly pic #2: On top: flurry of cilantro; on bottom

fist full of clover/arugala sprouts (with some chopped 

scallions thrown in).

The final reveal:

Ready to be jammed into the pie hole of my husband.

The. End.

End note: There were leftovers. 
End note to the end note: No, you cannot have any.

Desi Chicken & Rice

What's in a name? "Desi" to the uninitiated, is a colloquial term Indians have for other Indians. I believe it loosely translates to "countrymen." Thereabouts.

"Chicken and rice." Yes. Not biryani. Not pulao (though I guess this COULD be construed, very loosely, as a quick and dirty pulao), though that's subjective.

Yesterday was the south Indian holiday Pongal. It's the harvest holiday. Traditionally you serve, you guessed it, PONGAL. I was tight on time and didn't have time to make accompaniments to go with the pongal. And really, it's just the two of us, and he's a low key man, and not very demanding. Iffin' when he says "please make this or that" for a holiday, I'll oblige. And he seemed a bit ambivalent about me making pongal (it's truly one of the easiest dishes to make in the south Indian pantheon* of rice dishes), so I held off.

"Kinda."

He was running late for dinner and insisted I go home, as he'd take a cab home. I came home and set about making dinner. I knew I needed to use up some chicken I cooked off a few days ago (which he hadn't eaten because his stomach has been "off" again). Waste not, want not is my motto.

So I had this leftover chicken (2-3 pcs which were marinated in a tamarind curry and baked off; and 2 pieces which were tandoori spiced and baked off), and I had a partially full container of Swanson's Mexcian Tortilla infused chicken broth, and a new bag of jasmine rice (we use this instead of ponni rice for dishes like pongal).

So this is what I MacGuyvered together (MacGuyvered, of course, IN the Nesco).

It started out looking, very-much, like pongal:

I put the Nesco on the browning setting and put some neutral oil in, and sizzled up some cumin seed and a bit of split moong dal. A few dashes of asafatoeida/hing, and then four measures of the Swanson's broth, followed by 2 measures of jasmine rice.

I then added perhaps 1/4 package of frozen peas and carrots, then layered the cooked chicken pieces on top. I closed up the Nesco, and set it to 9 minutes on high pressure. And I left it with the lid on, and let it depressurize on its own, and hoped for the best. I left the lid on and left it on the warmer setting until he got home roughly 40 minutes later.

When he arrived home, I quickly plated up some chicken and rice, and added some of those French's TYPE fried onions (I use Trader Joes' brand, but you know the fried onions I'm talking about), and a dusting of a ready made, store-bought "podi" (as we call it in our household), aka Simply Asia Sweet Ginger Garlic Seasoning.

My first impulse always is to gild the lily with more more more. Perhaps some cashews or cilantro, or a fistful of sultanas or something. But this dish? I kept it simple. It wasn't supposed to be a super special dish. But something substantial and gut filling.

And turns out? It was utterly delicious. (Or so he says!)

Waiting to hear back from the husband to see if he deems last night's dindin to be "Kozhi pongal" or if that's just too blasphemous for words:)

Also noteworthy: Despite the broth being chicken based, I *do* want to MacGuyver a small batch of rasam with what little bit I have left. I think the flavor profile will lend itself very well to it.

To date: I've tried both, the Thai Ginger and the Mexican Tortilla infused broths by Swanson. If I can find the hot and sour variety, I'll be very happy. So far, I've been very happy with this particular pantry item. Packs a whole lotta flavor in a shelf stable package.  

*Note: IMHO, or for my purposes I define the Pantheon of South Indian rice based dishes as INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:
"Baths" (sambar rice, yogurt rice, tamarind rice, lemon rice, etc)
Biryani (note: I am not including pulao, as it's not typically a South Indian dish)
Kichidee/kicheree
Pongal (note: technically, Pongal is a type of kichidee/kicheree)
Payasam (note: not all payasam are rice based)

Slow Cooker Polenta For the Nesco

It's a take off of other recipes I've seen (and linked to). This is what *I* did yesterday, and had pretty good results.

Ingredients:

1 C. Cornmeal (don't recall if it was "grits" per se). Note: I thought I bought 1 cup exactly and it was scant. So I added a bit of quinoa to it to bring it up to 1 cup measurement.
1 32 oz Tetrapak of Chicken broth
1 T. Margarine
Pinch salt & pepper.

Give a good stir. Set Nesco to slow cook four hours. Set valve to VENT.

Nearing 3 hours, I opened it up and gave a good stir. Which was good, given some of the polenta was starting to golden up a little on the bottom. Gave a good stir, smoothed out the lumps. Let it finish cooking off until it hit 4 hours.

Right before serving, I added a big fat pinch of chia seed and a couple tablespoons of parmesan cheese and gave a good stir or two, and let it sit until we were ready to eat dinner.

Serves 3-4, thereabouts. Serving size variable. YMMV. And of course, the quinoa or chia is optional. Also, if you run low on grits but have whole grain amaranth or millet at home, that could probably work nicely, too.

PokPok BokBok Ped Yang

It was decided this was the week for some red Thai curry (ped yang). And instead of getting duck (my preference), I ended up getting chicken. I really wanted to do it justice (the chicken, not the curry), and happened to find this recipe for Fish Sauce Wings, and had an a-HA! moment. I'd do up an entire spatchcocked chicken (and additional wings) a la PokPok, with the intent to add it to the red curry the next night.

It takes 2 nights to set this up, but what all that time will provide you with a bucket of deliciousness, so IMHO, it's worth the bit of effort. 

My approach to the chicken is a bit different than the recipe, as the recipe calls for marinating in (what will turn into) the glaze, then deep frying, then reglazing the chicken. I first made an aromatic brothy brine, which I cooled and soaked the chicken and parts overnight. The brine recipe, I shall keep to myself. This isn't long division or science. Seriously, you can figure this out. And if not, you can figure out a suitable brine, given the Thai flavor profile.

The next night, I prepped the marinade/glaze, let it marinate for about an hour in that, then baked it off, turning the chicken and parts once, so every surface got nice and caramelized. I held this in the fridge overnight, to be incorporated into a quickie ped yang I planned on MacGuyvering in my Nesco pressure cooker. 

FTR: I used what the Asian market had packaged as a "Cornish Hen," but in reality it was a small chicken (2 lbs? thereabouts?), and I did up a tray of chicken wing portions (roughly 1-2 lbs).  Additional Reading, re: BOKBOK!

MY Fish Sauce Marinade:

1-2 T. Cock brand fish sauce (nam pla)
2 T. Tamari
1 T. Trader Joes brand pepper jelly
1 T. Honey
2 T. garlic-shallot paste
Super special ingredient redacted! :) HAH! Always leave 'em wanting more! YOU FIGURE OUT THE MYSTERY INGREDIENT! HAH!
Juice of 1/2 lemon
About 2" worth of finely minced fresh cilantro stems (I mince directly off a bunch, YMMV)
2 Scallions, finely minced.

Yes, I am THAT LAZY. Too lazy to fry the garlic like in the linked recipe. Plain and simple. And really, I prefer the intensity of garlic this way vs fried. 

Anyway, I put the spatchcocked chicken and wings in a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet in a 350 preheated oven for about 40 minutes, and then bumped it up to the broil setting for the last bit of cooking (once everything started getting to my preferred level of "broiled-ness," I flipped everything (with tongs) so the backsides could get all nice and shellacky/broiled. The broiling I *EYEBALLED* do not set it to broil and walk away. Well, unless your desired end product is fully carbonized chicken carcasses, in which case, HAVE AT IT, slacker!

This is what MY PokPok BokBok looked like right out of the oven. And holy shit! The house smelled so effing delicious! 

*REMINDER! THIS RECIPE WAS DESIGNED & INTENDED TO BE USED WITH COOKED CHICKEN--NOT RAW!*

Since the chicken was already cooked, that cut the cook time considerably. And to be honest, I could have gone about 1-2 minutes LESS, and in doing so, my pumpkin would have been the perfect texture. So my recipe will reflect THAT cook time, not the cook time I actually used.

Get all your ingredients available and prepped and ready to go, because once the curry paste hits the pan, things move FAST. Dinner in less than 15-20 (thereabouts!) minutes kinda fast.

Ped Yang Ingredients (in the order they appear in the pressure cooker, set to the browning setting):

• 1 T. Coconut oil
• 1 small can Mae Ploy red curry paste (I used about 2/3 of the can, but next time will use an entire can for a more intensely flavored curry--this recipe at 2/3 a can provides a delightful enough curry, though!)

Cook the paste a bit until a bit more oil comes out of it, then add:

• 12 oz can Lite Coconut Milk (I used Roland brand)
• 1/2 Can's volume of water (this rendered out a thinner curry)

Bring to boil, and ensure no lumps remain of the curry paste.

Here's where the fun begins. You figure out which friggin' veggies you like and want to use for this curry. Some folks put potato in it (WTF?, srsly... WTF?). I like Asian pumpkin, aka Kabocha.  Scrub the skin really well, pat dry and yes! The skin is edible. Once the liquid has come to a boil for a minute or two. Turn off browning setting.

Now for the veggie combination I added to the bubblin' ped yang, and this is in the order I added everything in evenly distributed layers:

• 1/2 Nice sized kabocha, seeded and cut into roughly 1/2" cubes  (FOR ME)
  Ideal substitution for kabocha: Butternut squash or acorn squash, or maybe a Blue Hubbard Squash
• 1 Medium-to-Large onion, cubed
• 1 Yellow bell pepper, seeded and cubed

At this point, the PokPok BokBok made its appearance. I started layering the bokbok and wings in an even layer, then continued with the last two layers of veggies:

• 1 Small can (drained), BRAISED bamboo shoots (FOR HUBBY)
• 2 Fistfuls nice sized Shitake mushrooms, stems off, caps cut in half

Optional (though, I opted WITHOUT): 5 Kefir lime leaves, cut in half (I buy mine fresh, then dry them--I find the flavor stays true--unlike cilantro which just is pitiful when it's dried).

Minor detour/discourse on veggie selection: 
You don't want something that mushes up in this (though to be honest, it could thicken the gravy. So unless that's your desired consistency/end result, go for it. If you like baby corn, put baby corn! Straw mushroom instead of shitake? Go ahead. I don't give a fuck. Carrots? Really? Are we having this conversation? What's there to talk about? I've seen recipes where folks use tomato. I do not prefer tomato in my curry, so I don't add it. See what I did there? I just YMMV'd my recipe. For the love of Pete, do not add celery to this. Blargh! And if you want broccoli, go for it, but don't add it to the curry, but steam it and serve it along side it, otherwise your batch of curry will end up with a farty-broccoli top note to it. And well, unless that's your desired flavor profile, I don't recommend cooking it together. 

Now for the important detail: Put the lid on the Nesco, set the valve to SEAL, and set it for HIGH PRESSURE for five minutes. I gave it about a half a minute, then did the manual release (I usually cover the valve with a dishtowel, to blunt the spray of the steam). 

I was really surprised at how fast this was to put together, and really? It took longer to cook my rice. So if/when I make this again, I'll start my rice FIRST, then start the set up for the curry.

Minor discourse on rice:
I served this with a 50/50 mix of jasmine rice and barley (cooked together--I only had a bit of Jasmine rice leftover, and the barley adds nutrition and a wee bit of a different texture to the rice, but equally nice and neutral.Though, if all you have at home is white basmati, that's fine, though it's got a different aroma, pleasant, but different, from the Jasmine. Suitable enough of a substitute though. Brown basmati is just too rough, and takes too damned long to cook, IMHO. I have a 5 lb bucket of it at home, and I might end up feeding it to the birds. Hate it.

GARNISH:  I garnished with a flurry of  Thai basil chiffonade and some minced scallions. If you prefer cilantro vs basil, have at it. I don't care. But this was how I prepared MY curry.

My Nesco is 6 quarts, and I guesstimate this recipe made roughly 2.5-3 quarts of curry. YMMV.

End note: Picture of curry may or may not be provided today. Depends on how lazy I am, and how nicely I can stage a bowl of it.