Heart warming goodness for St. Valentine's Day

The dishes for St. Valentine's Day turned out better than I had hoped.  I was a little worried about getting overwhelmed in making three separate dishes, but some prep time earlier in the afternoon took the pressure off when show time came around.

Samosas

Modifications:

- Baked instead of fried

- No nigella seeds - heard they were only for texture

- More ground cumin instead of cumin seeds

- Used mango chutney for serving instead of yogurt

Preparation:

I made the filling ahead of time.  The dough took a while to knead, roll out, stuff, and seal.  That probably could have been done ahead of time and then I could have just cooked them up come meal time.

Verdict:

The filling looked bland after it was prepared.  The dough also looked kind of bland after baking.  So I was a little worried I had a St. Valentine's Day disaster on my hands, but the final flavor was delicious with just the right amount of spice!  Frying probably would have browned it up more evenly than the baking did, but I didn't have a thermometer to check the oil temperature and I've heard that getting your oil to just the right temperature is crucial to avoid a greasy, soggy mess.  I would definitely make these again on a slow weekend where I had some time to spare.

Chicken Curry

Modifications:

- I used about 1/3 more diced tomatoes, because it look like it was going to be a lot of chicken with not much else

Preparation:

Didn't take a lot of prep time and it was quite straight forward.  I was thrilled at being able to use my new coffee grinder on something other than coffee.

Verdict:

The flavour was fabulous!  We were trying to figure out whether or not this was better than the previous chicken curry recipe.  Our memories were too foggy for any kind of definitive verdict, but the fact that it was a contender for the title of best curry recipe definitely made my day.

Poached Pears

Modifications:

- I substituted ginger for cardamon

- Skipped the ice cream

Preparation:

This was a really easy dish to make.  I managed to make it as the same time as I was preparing the samosas, and I'm not big on multi-tasking in the kitchen.

Verdict:

The pears were a hit.  I was expecting the wine to dominate the taste, but the orange juice and zest still managed to make themselves known.  The sweetness was a little too intense, but that was my fault for not serving it with ice cream.  M-E had the wonderful idea that including some dark chocolate shavings would help balance out the sweetness while introducing an essential food group otherwise missing from the meal (okay, okay, it wasn't M-E who thinks of chocolate as a food group).

All in all, a good St. Valentine's Day.  Hopefully I didn't set the bar too high for next year...