More precisely, B is for morog pulao which is a Bangladeshi pilau rice dish and the dish I decided to cook for challenge 2/26. It’s easy with this challenge to end up doing insane amounts of research and then getting choice paralysis but for this one, I went with ‘will the kids eat it?’. This is hard with Eastern recipes as I love (I mean love) chilli, COD tolerates chilli but ACOD thinks black pepper is too spicy! It was the image of chicken marinating in yoghurt with spices like mace, cinnamon and ginger that sucked me in. Recipe chosen, off to find the ingredients. That’s the other small challenge with this foray into foreign food, the Island can be limited in what is available in the local shops although, to be fair, if you have time and a car to drive between towns to some of the smaller, independent shops like Easy Weigh or The Barrow Boys, you can usually pick up most of the obscure ingredients required. Alternatively Waitrose in East Cowes is a good bet and while it is on my way too and from work, last week, I didn’t get to back to the office.

Let’s go on a small tangent here…….last Monday, LOD tested positive for Covid AGAIN. Yip, that’s the second time in 7 weeks and so while I had decided I was going to head back into the office again, this wasn’t to be. Luckily the rest of us did not succumb which is just as well as LOD, EEROD and ACOD are all dancing in the Ballet School’s production of Peter Pan this coming week. So, we shall try again to go back to the world of in person colleagues tomorrow. I know a lot of people enjoy working at home but I am not one of them. I miss having people to talk to and bounce ideas off. I miss my 20 minute commute that involves a slow boat ride across a small stretch of water but mostly I miss that I don’t have to make my own lunch. Choosing lunch in Cowes every day is a joy for me!

Murag Pulao

I won’t write out the recipe as you can find it here: morog pulao but I did (as usual) make a few tweaks.

• First of all – you absolutely do not need that amount of butter (I used butter rather than ghee). I would say a quarter of the amount would be more than adequate.
• I used a combination of chicken breast and chicken thighs (bone in). I left the skin on as suggested but actually, I’d take it off next time. It goes soggy in all the sauce.
• I didn’t use kewra water
• Step 8 says to cook for 20 mins but I think it takes longer, also, I had so much liquid at this point that I siphoned it all out and just put 2 cups back in (do not throw out the liquid – more on this in a bit)
• I would also par boil the rice for a few minutes longer. When I cook basmati rice using this method it’s usually 7 mins and then heat off
• I found it took at least 30 minutes to cook through (but then the rice was less par boiled) once layered up
• Do not forget to take out the cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamon pods before serving….
• I served this with cumin roasted greens – broccoli, brussels sprouts and cauliflower

It was really good. Not in a ‘OMG, this is mind-blowing, get me on Masterchef now’ sort of way but tasty and best of all everyone ate it. It was probably a tiny bit spicy for ACOD but she ate her whole bowl and it made her drink her full day’s worth of water! I still prefer a Thai curry but this was a good first step into Bangladeshi food.

Butternut and sweet potato morog pulau soup

Now, I said not to throw away the excess liquid – far too tasty. I used it as a stock for making butternut and sweet potato soup. Simply peel and chop 1 medium butternut and 1 large sweet potato, add to the liquid and bring to the boil. I added a bit more vegetable stock to just cover the veg. Simmer until the veg is cooked and then blend until smooth and thick. Season. It is so good! We crumbled some crispy bacon in it as well.

In other news:

• Last night COD and I went to a Burns night dinner at the girls’s school. It was a lovely excuse to dress up and I spurned boring, winter black and found this stunning 1970’s dress in our local vintage shop The Velvet Pig. This shop is a treasure trove of gorgeous clothes, bags and trinkets. They also have the best window display in town!
• I will be 45 this year, I have loved brussels sprouts for all my life, it was only while typing this post that I realised they are not brussel sprouts but brussleS sprouts?!?!?!? I am one of those people you read about in BoredPanda posts.
• Anyone else a bit worried about their new Wordle addiction? Yip, we’ve all gone down hard with this one. There is fierce competition in this house.
• Next time it’s Cuba. I’ve been researching Cuban food and am torn between the traditional beef stew and a chorizo and beef burger with shoestring fries INSIDE the burger!