What, is it March already?

Damn, I was supposed to cook something for the "Taste and Create" blog event from My Kitchen Treasures last month and with all the travel and festivals and stuff I didn't get round to it. Actually I'm a little confused about the deadline, since I only got the email on 13 Feb. Does that mean I have a month, so I'm not late? Anyway, my partner has got in quickly and made my arrabiatta pasta already, so I'm dragging the chain here.

I really liked the look of this one, so I'm sorry about being slack. The anonymous blog author, "Happy Cook", lives in Belgium (beer! chocolate!) and posts a lot of Indian recipes (curry!) I'm pretty sure she is actually Indian herself; from the way she writes it seems to be her home cuisine. I do so love Indian food, I want to make heaps of these recipes.

My first thought was to try these lamb meatballs in saffron cream sauce, but I'm currently supposed to be cooking low purine type foods for the bloke - this puts red meat and pulses off the agenda for a while, so there goes a whole lot of great food. Not even a dhal. And then I really need to reduce my sweet intake a bit, so those lovely Indian sweets sound just a little too dangerous. What to do? I could just take the lazy way and whack together some vanilla extract.

Actually, why not? Get it done now. This is especially interesting because I am a fangrrl of Chocolate & Zucchini, and Clotilde also posted a homemade vanilla extract recipe recently. Happy Cook of My Kitchen Treasures uses 350ml vodka to 3 beans, while Clotilde does 250ml vodka to the same amount. I guess it doesn't matter that much, so I shall find a bottle of around the right size and go for it. Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Extract by Happy Cook
350ml vodka
3 vanilla beans
Split vanilla beans. Put into a bottle or jar with a tight fitting lid, and fill with the vodka. Store in a dark cool place for at least two months before using.

I can do this.

*steps away from the computer*
*measures possible bottles*
*checks liquor shelves*
*pops up to local shop*
*buys bottle of Finlandia (on special!)*
*makes extract*
*takes photo*

Done! The hardest thing was persuading Plummet that I didn't need help.

But the lamb meatballs and the mango kulfi are still totally on my "to do" list.