In Which I Cook Beef

Yes, it’s that unusual, folks! Despite what you may think from this meat-filled post, beef is not a normal part of my menu. However, after seeing Faith‘s Rogan Josh recipe, I knew I had to try it. Faith cooks up some of the most creative, mouth-watering dishes I’ve ever seen, and they’re gorgeous to boot! Check them out! 🙂

As a side note: I made this dish about a month ago, but I’m only putting it up now because I was saving it for my current “residency” in China. It was so delicious that I can’t wait to make it again!

Before we get to the Rogan Josh, I think it’s been a little while since we’ve fully appreciated breakfast:

Greek yogurt with blueberries, Barbara’s squares, and liquid heaven.

As for the Rogan Josh, click on the link to see Faith’s beefy version of this classic. I’ll give you a few images from my kitchen to whet your appetite.

I also attempted to make the Shirazi salad that Faith described in her post, but seeing as I didn’t have onions or parsley (the rest of the onions went into the Rogan Josh), it was just a tomato and cucumber salad with lemon and olive oil.

All together:

This dish was so satisfying, Faith! Even a veggie-lover like me enjoyed the complex flavors of the Rogan Josh.

Q: Do you like Indian food? What is your favorite dish?

P.S. I’m traveling to a city called Qingdao on China’s coast for China’s five-day Duanwu holiday (Dragon Boat festival). I won’t have any Internet, so I’ll be out of email contact for a few days. Feel free to email me and I’ll email back when I return to Beijing! Have a great weekend, everyone! 🙂

15 Comments

  1. Jessie!!!! 🙂

    First off, I have to say a big thank you for all of the lovely comments you left on my blog posts while I was in India. Your notes always brightened my day and I appreciate you keeping in touch!

    Second – you are in China – AWESOME! I’m going to catch up with your blog and see what this is all about.

    I obviously LOVE Indian food 😉 In fact, I made Khichhari (a recipe I will later share on the blog) for a potluck tonight! Some of my favourites are any veg curry, shahi paneer, chicken tikka masala, palak paneer, channa masala…plus naan and any kind of chapati. Yeah, i love it!

    xos

  2. i cant even count how many indian restaurants ive gone too! my oldest bro lives in Surrey B.C. which is indian food central. love it so much <3

    mmmmm id love to taste that meal. bet everyone was drooling from ur cooking!!

  3. That is awesome that you tried Faith’s recipe. I love trying different recipes from other bloggers as well. I’m not a huge meat eater either so I tend to shy away from dishes that have meat in them unless they’re super easy for me to follow. I clicked on the Rogan Josh link and I gotta say, you did a great job in terms of presentation. Both dishes look exactly like her’s. The first time I tried Denise’s curry dish it was a big bomb. But I tried it again last night and I’d have to say it was a big improvement.

    For Indian dishes I haven’t had many but I really liked the Palak Paneer and Aloo Baigan I blogged about the other time. Also I think I prefer Paratha over naan. I’d like to try that Bhaigan Bharta you recommended some day.

    Have a great time in Qingdao! Hope you have better breakfasts there.

  4. Thanks so much for your sweet words! I’m so glad you made and enjoyed this dish! (You made my day! 🙂 ) I hope you’re having a fabulous time in China!

  5. Dr. frybaby says:

    Hi Jessie:
    While we’re on the subject of breakfast, have you ever tried scrapple and souse for breakfast? Goes really well with a couple of fried eggs, and some slices of crispy bacon, although I really like my bacon semi cooked, with a lot of goo so it stretches out when I bite it and pull it with my greasy fingers. Also, nothing beats hot lettuce, which is iceberg lettuce with hot bacon salad dressing made using bacon grease instead of oil. Put a little sugar in it, and drizzle it scorching hot onto the lettuce. I learned that one from a restaurant that served big thick slices of red prime rib covered in garlic butter. That place only cleared the dishes once a night at the end of the night, so if all the tables were dirty, you couldn’t get a seat. The walls were decorated with stuffed parrots.
    Scrapple is a hodgepodge of pork bits in a flour or cornmeal base, gets sliced and fried crispy. Souse is a jellied pig, and not really for vegans. Actually, I’m not really sure what a vegan would do with these recipes. I suppose you could jelly a head of lettuce with a couple of radish for the eyes for a vegan.

  6. Man oh man oh man! I agree with LeQuan — your dishes look incredibly like Faith’s originals! Good replications skillz, my friend. 🙂

    As for Indian food, there seems to be a karma-ic shift in the blogosphere towards Middle Eastern foods, and I am completely digging it. I can’t say I make traditional classic Indian dishes, but I do like to incorporate as much curry or turmeric or garam masala or other spices as possible into what I make. In fact I put Indian spices in just about everything nowadays. My most recent instance was mixing some tahini with garam masala and honey and apple cider vinegar. I know it sounds kind of weird, but it was super-delicious. 🙂 Anyways, I’m not much of a beef-eater either, but you’re so convincing that I might just have to make this. I’m sure my brother will be incredibly grateful. 🙂

    Enjoy Qingdao! Woohoo dragon boat festival!! It’s going to be soooo hardcore!

    xo Aletheia

  7. Hope you are having a great time. I do not blame you for holding on to this for when you were away. Looks good although I do not eat beef. I love Indian food. It is probably my favorite of all time.

  8. My mom makes Rogan Josh and my dad and Ali love it. I don’t eat it but it certainly looks delicious, as does yours!

    I love Indian food. Th great thing is that vegetarians have so many choices. I think that anything with potatoes is a winner in my book.

  9. Yum yum! I’m not a big beef eater either but this dish looks quite light actually – flavourful and not too heavy 🙂 Enjoy the festival!

  10. I LOVE me some good BEEF!! Yeah, I’ll admit it, beef is my favorite protein, by far. Well, maybe eggs beat beef, but still, I love it! I also love Indian food, and this dish looks amazing. I don’t know what my favorite Indian food is, but I’ll tell you I’ve never had any that I didn’t like!

    Hope you’re having fun 🙂

  11. I don’t think I’ve had a lot of authentic Indian food, but I hear they have some pretty good veg stuff. I have tried some of the frozen Amy’s meals that are Indian inspired. There are a few of them that don’t have cheese, which are the ones that I go for. Sometimes I make my own “curry” by putting a bunch of veggies and green peas in a pot, adding turmeric and curry powder and then I proudly label it Indian even though it is far from authentic. My sister’s old roommate used to make a pretty killer chana masala. That’s the extent of my experience with Indian!
    Yours looks amazing. I’ve never had beef in my entire life so I can’t make a comment about that, but Indian flavours in general are awesome and your salad is very colourful and pretty (which is very important in my opinion 😉 )
    xoxo

  12. Hi Jessie 🙂

    Hope you’re having a great time over there!

    I love beef but don’t eat it much. Roghan Josh is gorgeous though I think I’ve only had lamb cooked that way. Must try it with beef too!!

    I love Indian vegetarian food – almost anything really, but nothing more than Dhosa!!!

  13. I love your spice containers – you are certainly very well organized in your kitchen. I like mine that way, too. Indian food – hmmmm…. some of it I adore. Some of it I detest. I teach foods right now to a multi cultural mix, but have a lot of students from the Indian province of Punjab. They have taught me so much. Most of their food is so healthy – but some far too spicy for me. I like pakura – but everything depends upon who is making it, to me.
    🙂
    Valerie

  14. Hi Jessie! Your China trip sounds fantastic and your blog continues to inspire. Thanks for the wonderful posts/guest posts, so many great recipes to try..so little time! BTW, I was happy to see you were in Qingdao for the past few days – that’s where I was born! Enjoy the rest of your trip and keep it cookin’ 🙂
    -Min

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