Dish of the month (April): suggestions please?

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I vote for:

Potato salad or Mac and cheese.

I have never ever met a risotto that I like. I just can't stand the texture of mushy rice. (This also includes rice pudding.)
I have only ever had one risotto I didn't like, and yes, it was mushy because it wasn't prepared properly.

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Not sure if I want to try cooking it, only because I don't know how accessible some of the ingredients would be, like garam masala.
Take a trip to Sharonville, OH, and you will find the Patel Brothers Indian Grocery. They´ve not only got garam masala, they`ve also got all the ingredients to make your own.
 
Take a trip to Sharonville, OH, and you will find the Patel Brothers Indian Grocery. They´ve not only got garam masala, they`ve also got all the ingredients to make your own.
Where is that? I live in NE Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line (about an hour drive south of Lake Erie).

Ah, nevermind. I just googled it. It's 7 hours round trip from where I live (maybe more depending on traffic). Don't think I will be doing that, but thanks.
 
I have only ever had one risotto I didn't like, and yes, it was mushy because it wasn't prepared properly.

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I've watched Ramsey's risotto cooking recipes. I'm still left cold over those.

If it's chosen, I'll just sit April out. No biggie.
 
I've watched Ramsey's risotto cooking recipes. I'm still left cold over those.

If it's chosen, I'll just sit April out. No biggie.
This video was not a cooking recipe, it was him yelling at his kitchen staff for serving mushy risotto, LOL. I have never watched any of his cooking recipes.

I get it, it's just a dish of the month anyway. Not like it's a challenge.
 
This video was not a cooking recipe, it was him yelling at his kitchen staff for serving mushy risotto, LOL. I have never watched any of his cooking recipes.

I get it, it's just a dish of the month anyway. Not like it's a challenge.
I know... I have seen other videos of his where he sort of tries to show how to do it - not necessarily posting his full amounts of ingredients etc.

And I have no problem sitting this one out. I know a lot here want to do risotto.
 
I know... I have seen other videos of his where he sort of tries to show how to do it - not necessarily posting his full amounts of ingredients etc.

And I have no problem sitting this one out. I know a lot here want to do risotto.
There were a few, but potato salad, dumplings, macaroni and cheese, and fried rice were other options, I am not crazy about potato salad but...

I have seen some people screw up fried rice before, too :laugh: it's pretty nasty when it's mushy as well!
 
Za'what? LOL just kidding. I have heard of it but never tasted it or baharat and have no idea what I would do with it.

As far as Indian food goes, it wasn't something I saw growing up in the panhandle of Florida (seafood restaurants everywhere) and I have eaten plenty of Cajun and Tex-Mex cuisine. In my 20+ plus years in Ohio I haven't been exposed to it. Akron isn't a very big city. I imagine cities like Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinatti have Indian restaurants and they are probably really good. Maybe one day.

I know I love saffron, turmeric, garlic, pepper, cumin...so halfway there, LOL!
Growing up my ex-step-father and mum used to take us to eat out a lot simply because both are useless at cooking (useless equates to pressure cooking rice and rice coming out the pressure valve at high speed and striving you the kitchen ceiling, that kind of thing! ). We were often taken out to Indian restaurants, dedicated Balti restaurants, and Nepalese (This oddity was due to the fact my sister's godfather was posted out to Kathmandu in the 80's and served in the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles, in both Nepal and Hong Kong). Plus there is a large Indian and Pakistani population in Staffordshire, hence it dominating the cuisine in that area.

Coming over to Australia has been interesting in the food scene because the main vegan restaurants in Canberra are either Vietnamese or one run by an American lady with a completely tex-mex cuisine. We've since found another 2 restaurants that do a Japanese vegan and continental Europe vegan dishes as part of their menus. But given it's a 2½hr round trip to the south side of the capital, we don't eat out unless we ate actually in the city for another reason. Luckily the tex-mex vegan restaurant is only 1½-2hrs round trip but parking for that one now I no longer have a disabled badge is much harder!
 
I have never seen cardamom, mace, or star anise before...have no idea what mace is (other than when a woman carries mace and sprays her attacker in a movie, thinking that's probably not the same thing, LOL).
Cardamom I always associate with chai - that’s extremely easy to get around here. Walmart carries it, and the average Kroger in town as well.

Mace…I had to go looking for that, but not very far - the gourmet shop about 40 minutes away. It was a bit expensive, though, something like $12 for a little jar, and I’ve used it maybe twice in two years - once in a hot bev (I think) and once in a meat pie. If you want something that tastes right out of 15th century England…mace is your ticket.

Star anise I just bought for the first time not long ago, for a challenge. I haven’t used it since. I think I used it in a drink. I had to go to the international market to find it, though.

Yeah, Sharonville is a Cincy suburb. There is a knot of Indian markets (food, clothes, etc) through there, and some restaurants as well.

Risotto - I made it once and it was gummy, so I just assumed I messed it up. :laugh: I do love rice pudding, though. It’s just about the only rice dish I can make with any level of consistently good results. Me and rice don’t get along in the kitchen very well.
 
Growing up my ex-step-father and mum used to take us to eat out a lot simply because both are useless at cooking (useless equates to pressure cooking rice and rice coming out the pressure valve at high speed and striving you the kitchen ceiling, that kind of thing! ). We were often taken out to Indian restaurants, dedicated Balti restaurants, and Nepalese (This oddity was due to the fact my sister's godfather was posted out to Kathmandu in the 80's and served in the 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles, in both Nepal and Hong Kong). Plus there is a large Indian and Pakistani population in Staffordshire, hence it dominating the cuisine in that area.

Coming over to Australia has been interesting in the food scene because the main vegan restaurants in Canberra are either Vietnamese or one run by an American lady with a completely tex-mex cuisine. We've since found another 2 restaurants that do a Japanese vegan and continental Europe vegan dishes as part of their menus. But given it's a 2½hr round trip to the south side of the capital, we don't eat out unless we ate actually in the city for another reason. Luckily the tex-mex vegan restaurant is only 1½-2hrs round trip but parking for that one now I no longer have a disabled badge is much harder!
There was a large Asian population in the town I lived in growing up in Florida (located near a large AF base with plenty of military and retirees who brought home war brides). And we lived in Okinawa, Japan in the late 60s at the tail end of the Vietnam War. So I love a lot of Asian dishes. It wouldn't be surprising if I found out I liked Indian cuisine if I had the chance to try it (with someone else cooking it, of course!). Except for the chutney thing. I tried it several times, different kinds, and it just wasn't for me.

But here in the midwest in a smallish city, there just isn't a whole lot of diversification going on...yet.
 
Cardamom I always associate with chai - that’s extremely easy to get around here. Walmart carries it, and the average Kroger in town as well.

Mace…I had to go looking for that, but not very far - the gourmet shop about 40 minutes away. It was a bit expensive, though, something like $12 for a little jar, and I’ve used it maybe twice in two years - once in a hot bev (I think) and once in a meat pie. If you want something that tastes right out of 15th century England…mace is your ticket.

Star anise I just bought for the first time not long ago, for a challenge. I haven’t used it since. I think I used it in a drink. I had to go to the international market to find it, though.

Yeah, Sharonville is a Cincy suburb. There is a knot of Indian markets (food, clothes, etc) through there, and some restaurants as well.

Risotto - I made it once and it was gummy, so I just assumed I messed it up. :laugh: I do love rice pudding, though. It’s just about the only rice dish I can make with any level of consistently good results. Me and rice don’t get along in the kitchen very well.
I think that I remember seeing cardamom pods at the farmer's market about 20 miles from here when I went to during the root vegetable challenge, but it was sold in bulk and I just didn't need 1/2 pound of cardamom--I can't even remember how much they cost, but it wasn't inexpensive. I passed.

We don't have any Kroger stores within an hour's drive of Akron, and our local Walmart is very small. I checked online, they do carry already ground cardamom for an exorbitant price ($5 for less than 2 oz.). The pods can be ordered but they are expensive ($9 for 3.5 oz) and I have to pay the delivery fee, so not going to do that, either. And they don't have star anise, either.

I have no idea if I like rice pudding or not, but I like regular pudding well enough to not bother! I love rice, I just never have done the risotto thing on my own, only ordered it in restaurants. I think it would be awesome with some really good mushrooms as a side dish. I love making fried rice, it's not that hard to do.
 
I don´t understand why, because making risotto only involves rice, stock, and a vegetable or two. What it DOES require is attention, and that´s where Ramsay,who is a perfectionist, gets mad.
Apparently she ate it out at a restaurant and didn't like it. I don't blame her, she was under the impression all risotto was mushy because she had poorly prepared risotto. If you had food served in a restaurant that you paid good money for several times (but had never tried it before) and it was mediocre, would you go buy stuff to try to make it yourself?

I know a girl I went to high school with in Florida (lived in a coastal town where fishing was prominent and good seafood was to be had everywhere) who didn't like seafood because the first couple of times she had it before they moved there, she had "fishy" tasting fish. After that she wouldn't try it. To this day she will not eat fish or other types of seafood.
 
But here in the midwest in a smallish city, there just isn't a whole lot of diversification going on...yet.
This is what I use online shopping for but I'm limited to only being able to receive stuff by AusPost or TNT. Everyone else (DHL included) won't deliver to my door. They abandon the parcel 16km away and expect me to drive to collect it during the opening hours of whatever garage they have an agreement with. Most annoyingly, they usually deliver it and don't tell you so you have no idea who or where they have abandoned it. If your mobile number is on the package, then the garage will ring you but only after a few day, if they remember. Now the road between me and there is being "upgraded" from a gravel road to a sealed road which means it gets closed for half an hour at a time whilst they do stuff... so not only will I waste over an hour to pay to have it abandoned 16km away but it will cost me more in fuel than I usually pay for delivery alone. Bit it's still cheaper than driving into the city unless hubby is working there like today.
 
I know a girl I went to high school with in Florida (lived in a coastal town where fishing was prominent and good seafood was to be had everywhere) who didn't like seafood because the first couple of times she had it before they moved there, she had "fishy" tasting fish
..and what on earth did she expect the fish to taste of? Hershey´s chocolate????
 
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