Heartwarming Mother's Day Dinner

For a few years already, I started cooking a special dinner for Mother's Day. I confess, I never bought a single thing for her and that is because I always made something whether it be a card or some funky jewelery box. It's not that (I don't have money) I don't like buying things, I just feel buying something feels less personal. Something made with your two hands is more direct. It is not to say that people that buy things are immediate disrespectful. Granted buying the perfect gift with intrinsic value may be more effective for you. I still needed after all to buy myself groceries to make a dinner. That night dinner was entirely managed by me. My dad had taken care of lunch and it was my turn. I made a cucumber and avocado salad, spaghetti alla primavera, chicken curry, steamed pudding, and cranberry spritzer. This year followed a formal menu formatting.

My grocery shopping went pretty well until I bought the whipping cream. I knew since it said organic that it'll mostly likely be more expensive, but I didn't expect it to be $5 for 16 oz when other non-organic brands are like a little less than $2. Call me cheap but in the neighborhood I live in, we're used to cheaper prices. I suppose in the end I'm doing myself a favor by buying organic instead of ingesting other brands that have added substances that I don't want in my body. I made steamed pudding in the morning and most of my whipping cream went into that. I took a spotted dick recipe from Saveur and did a variation on it. The result ended in being a variation of a Chinese styled steamed cake. The truth is I didn't have suet and dried currants in my pantry. The Spaghetti alla Primavera was my main entree for the night. It is so simple, but it tastes great. I made the mistake of cooking too much pasta and prepping too much vegetables because I couldn't fit it all in my pot. So in the end I ended up setting aside some pasta and vegetables for another time. I couldn't buy myself some good asparagus that day and I didn't put in another substitute. For the chicken curry, I used a carved roasted chicken breast that was leftover from two days ago. My uncle always gives generous shares of roast meat from the restaurant he works in and they always have delicious roast duck, chicken, and pork.

Cucumber and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

• 1 large English cucumber
• 1 ripe avocado with pit removed
• Italian dressing (see recipe here)

Instructions

1. Peel and cube the cucumber. Toss in bowl with dressing. Cube the avocado and lightly toss. 

Steamed Pudding (That Became Chinese Sponge Cake)

adapted from Saveur

Ingredients

• 2 c flour
• 1/2 c sugar
• 3 tbspn butter melted
• 1 tbspn baking powder
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 c milk
• 1 c raisins and dried cranberries mixed together

Instructions

1. Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. Then add in the butter, milk, and cream and mix into a thick cake batter. You can do this with just a spatula and not use an electric whisk at all. Just make sure everything is incorporated well. 
2. Add in the raisins and cranberries and mix well. Pour your batter into a greased steaming pot or you can be like me and line little aluminum baking tins with paper. Steam it for forty minutes in medium heat. When done steaming, remove the pudding from the baking tins if you're using them like me and cool them on a baking rack.

Spaghetti Alla Primavera

Just go here. I did nothing different from the original except not add asparagus and not blanching the zucchini.  I do have to say that my mother's favorite dish that night was in fact this entree. I was really pleased to hear that she was really happy about it. I now know that cooking with cream brings out the great flavors in vegetables. I cooked my sapaghetti so that it was more salted than usual. I would then add less salt while I cooked. I also skipped out on the Parmesan because my mother has a thing against Parmesan. Haha She's not exactly a cheese lover.

Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• Chinese styled roast chicken
• half an onion minced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 inch ginger minced
• 3 ripe plum tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 golden potato cubed
• part of a large carrot cubed
• 3/4 tbspn Madras curry powder
• milk
• salted pasta water that I didn't want throw out
• flour to thicken

Instructions

1. Saute onion, garlic, and ginger in a pot with some oil until the onion turns translucent. Add in the curry powder, carrots, potato, tomatoes, and pasta water. Let it simmer until vegetables become soft.
2. Add in a bit of sugar and milk for sweetness. Cut the chicken in large pieces and put it in the curry. While the curry boils, add in flour to thicken the curry. Make sure it is well incorporated or else you end up eating clumps of flour. Stir well and give it a last boil. Cool and serve over rice.

Cranberry Spritzer

Ingredients

• 4 oz cranberry juice
• 4 oz lemon-lime or plain seltzer water
• 1 oz red wine

Instructions

1. Combine in cup and enjoy this refreshing drink chilled.