MY LITTLE CHICKPEA, MINARI, AND MORE

 Hello, people of the blogosphere.  How are you?.Are you managing okay?  Spring is on the horizon and, if all goes to plan, vaccines.  It is hard, for even for the most curmudgeonly among us, not to be feeling at least a sliver of optimism.  So, in keeping with a certain happy hopefulness, I thought I would share a couple of things that brought me happiness this week, along with one of my favourite recipes.

 Last year, alas, we do not get around to watching many movies.  Shift work (me) and long work hours (Steve) conspired in such a way to make hunkering down, even for a couple of hours, a challenge. Our attention spans were fractured from workplace worries and demoralizing news headlines.  This year, we decided to make a concerted effort to watch movies, and boy oh boy, we did not expect our dedication to pay off the way it did with Lee Isaac Chung's lovely,  semi-autobiographical movie Minari.  

MOVIE PICK: Here is a review from Roger Ebert.com  by critic Matt Zoller Seitz surmises the separate components which give this movie its resonant power.  https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/minari-movie-review-2020 

The comparison of Cheung to auteur, Yasijuru Ozu is apt.  Both directors are adept in exploring intricate family dynamics with humour and a naturalism that feels effortless.  Minari is a film I am not going to forget about for a long time and, if another movie were to surpass it in my esteem this year, I would be surprised.  

Here is a link to the trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ0gFidlro8.  It is available for rent on i-tunes.

MOVIE PICK: Not quite as mind-blowing, but worthy of a watch on a rainy afternoon, is Netflix's movie "The Dig.".  I am, I confess, a bit of an anglophile.  When I turn on the TV and I see brambly English countryside and verdant green hills, my cortisol levels drop.  This film, about an extraordinary archeological discovery in 1930s, is worth a watch.  Brew up a pot of builder's tea, bake up some scones and enjoy the lovely performance by Ralph Fiennes as self-effacing yet brilliant amateur archeologist Basil Brown.   This movie has a lot to say about passion for vocation which was, in this case, unfairly impeded by the rigid British class system.  

Here is the trailer for The Dig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZQz0rkNajo

RECIPE PICK O' THE WEEK: Steve and I work different hours, and between varying shifts and our newfangled intermittent fasting regimen, meal plans on workdays tend to revolve around one pot dishes that can be easily reheated.  A recipe that has been in our regular repertoire since forever we call, unceremoniously, Quick Chickpea Curry.  This deceptively simple dish is more than the sum of its parts.   I culled the recipe from an excellent cookbook "Spilling the Beans" written, as it happens by two Vancouver Island writers.  I found this tome on a remainder table at Russell's Books.  It is perhaps the best $5.99 I ever spent and I recommend purchasing this book if you are looking to add more legumes and pulses to your diet.  Not all the recipes are vegetarian, but most are easily adaptable to a vegan or vegetarian diet by swapping meat proteins for plant-based ones.  The recipe I am providing this week happens to be vegan.  A few subtle revisions to the original have made this recipe  uniquely our own.  We eat this curry more often than anything else in our repertoire.  The recipe is easily doubled as it freezes like a dream.  It involves no more labour than that of chopping an onion and a chili and mincing a bit of fresh ginger.  I have cooked this curry on exhausted work nights when I have barely enough energy intact to enough to hold a knife.  This one pot dish comes together remarkably easily, yet it tastes so much more than the sum of its parts. This is our standard dish to bring to potlucks and the dish is as appropriate for a casual dinner home as it is dinner party worthy. It also happens to be economical to make.  If you are an omnivore, you could serve this with your choice of choice protein (Tandoori chicken legs?) on the side along with a bowl of diced cucumber and tomato seasoned with S&P, a squirt of lemon juice and a glug of olive oil.  We prefer to eat this curry on its own ladled over steamed basmati rice with mango chutney on the side.  One caveat, if you can grind your own cumin seeds, you will take this dish to the to the next level.  Toast the cumin until fragrant (about 30 seconds) in a dry frying pan and then grind in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.   Or leave them whole. We use Pathak's Madras curry paste in this recipe, which is medium spicy, but you can use whatever iteration of curry powder or paste you prefer and adjust the quantity according to your preference.

QUICK CHICKPEA CURRY

Canola or Olive oil for cooking.

1 tsp cumin seeds or ground cumin (along with the curry paste)

1 small onion, chopped.

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional)

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (finely chopped stems added to the pot are great too)

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

1 to 2 tsp curry powder or 1 TBSP of Madras Curry paste (to taste)

1 14 oz can dice tomatoes.

2 cups cooked chickpeas, or one 19 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained.

14 can coconut milk (preferably full fat)

Salt and pepper to taste.

 

In a large skillet, heat a glug of oil over medium-high heat.  Add the cumin and cook for 30 seconds, until the cumin becomes fragrant.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, until the onion is softened and translucent.  Add the jalapeno, cilantro, ginger and curry pasted and cook for another minute or so.  Next, add the tomatoes, chickpeas and coconut milk.  Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 5 to 8 minutes until everything is soft and thick.   Add salt to taste, adjust seasoning as needed, then serve hot with steamed basmati rice and, if desired, mango chutney. Enjoy!

MUSIC TO COOK BY - DESTROYER

Dan Bejar is a mercurial guy.  I have seen him perform with the New Pornographers a couple of times. He would face away from the audience and the band while performing. I am not sure what was going on there, whether he is just shy or whether there was some antipathy between himself and his bandmates.  I always dug his gravelly vocals.  Amongst my friends, opinions of The New Pornographers vary.  Some, like myself, love the quixotic melodies.  Others are frustrated by the cryptic lyrics (a fair criticism, the lyrics are somewhat inscrutable).  Bejar does solo work and his recent album, "Have We Met", is on regular rotation in my house.  

Those exasperated by Bejar's inscrutable lyrics may not be placated here but, I confess, I do not care as all that matters to me are the infectious melodies and those glorious, unsurpassable, tinkly keyboard riffs.  

Here is a link one of my favourite tracks from this uniformly excellent record.  Let me know what you think!   As Christopher Walken said on SNL, MORE KEYBOARD!!  Wait, that wasn't it.  It was MORE COWBELL.  Well, never mind, you get the idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmApPGE6Zio

 hat is all for now.  Take care everyone.  Remember, vaccines are on the way!  Until next time.  xoxo