Homestyle

I'm feeling pretty good about the two most recent meals I prepared.  Friday night I made tandoori chicken (in the convection oven, not a clay pot), rice, and okra. I snazzed up the rice by making it like a pseudo biryani - While I soaked the rice, I sauteed cinnamon sticks, cardamon pods, peppercorns, and black jeera.  I added the rice and a ton of fried onions to the pot, brought to a boil then simmered.  The aroma was awesome, as was the taste.

For the weekend we followed our usual routine of community iftars, but it's nice to be back in the kitchen.  The only problem is that I forgot to take something out of the freezer and this morning I discovered that I only had ground beef and ground turkey.  I was talking to my mom and she suggested meatloaf.  The problem was that I'm not a huge fan of meatloaf and I haven't cooked one in ages. 

I looked online for inspiration and found none.  Then I thought about the "Eritrean lasagna" and went from there.  I mixed the beef and turkey with parsley, thyme, lots of garlic, berbere, onion soup mix, and tomato sauce.  In hindsight I wish I had threw some fried onions in as well.  Towards the end of cooking I brushed it with a glaze that I made from ketchup, worcestershire sauce, chili sauce, and honey. 

We ate the meatloaf with the 5 pounds of mashed potatoes my aunt made and sauteed cabbage & carrots.  Everything was devoured and absolutely delicious.  I think this is one of my new comfort meals.  My mom even suggested that I use the same recipe for meatballs.