Curry Chicken with Chang Hao's Basmati Rice

This recipe took ages to make but was worth it in the end. Finally, a yummy dish that we both enjoyed.

I did find there was a lot of sauce but it tasted delicious mixed with the basmati rice. It tasted just like something out of a (good) Indian takeaway shop. I never heard of green apples being added to curries but it added a nice tarty flavour. Mmm...

Ratings - Curry Chicken
husband: 4/5
wife: 4/5

Ratings - Chang Hao's Basmati Rice
husband: 4/5
wife: 4/5

Chocolate Chip Cookies

After my last recipe problems, I have decided to make something fun. The simplicity of the chocolate chip recipe seemed just what I needed to cheer me up and get me back into this project.

Everything was going fine, until five seconds after I tasted the first cookie. The chewiness and crusty edges with the melted chocolate chips tasted divine at first bite. However, after it has been swallowed, I could taste salt in my mouth.

The recipe calls for a teaspoon of salt. I am not sure what the reason for it is but I wish I didn't put any. Maybe my problem was that I used cooking salt and not table salt (which is not as strong). I don't know. All I know is that the salty aftertaste ruined what could've been very delicious cookies.

My husband (who's been quite critical of the previous dishes) loved them. He said he could be biased because of his affinity to all things sweet. However, my sweet tooth felt the salt. He said he could only taste the sweetness.

It wasn't just the salt in my mouth that wrecked them for me but also their very oily texture. I really had more hope for them. I'm starting to realise that Paullina Simons manages to make all Tatiana's dishes sound much more amazing than they really are.

Results
husband: 4/5
wife: 2/5

Pelmeni

Meat dumplings

This dish was a total cooking disaster for me. It put me off making anything else. Tatiana's grandmother was right, it was "too much effort". Especially for a pelmeni novice like me.

First of all, the dough was too hard too roll. My arms were sore from rolling it to 1.5cm (at most). It was definitely a lot thicker in the middle. Then, my grandparents gave me a special thing that put the pelmeni together. Rather than making it easier for me, I ended up wasting a lot of the ingredients because I couldn't use this tool properly and having to fix the edges myself.

Since I rolled the dough too thick, I had a lot of filling left over with which I didn't know what to do. I ended up making a couple of kotlety (Russian meatballs) at my husband's suggestion.

When we finally tried the end result, my husband (having never tried pelmeni before) knew immediately the dough was too thick. It still had the real pelmeni taste so I wasn't too disappointed after all the trouble I had with the recipe.

I later told my grandma about my cooking episode and she said, "Don't you know, we always buy pelmeni. Making them is too much effort".

Ratings

husband: 2½ / 5

wife: 3/5