Bana Bissat

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Sweet Meat

Dessert, anyone?

Looks good? Look again. It’s protein; beef, pork, turkey..good ol’ barbeque flesh. I find Jasmine Shuller’s concept genius, actually. Tease the eye with aesthetic only to disgust the brain with logistics. I am wholeheartedly having one of those “shit, I should’ve thought of that first” moments. 

I love meat art. Is that weird? I myself pursued it for a while - in preservation though. I imagine Shuller’s works are recreated upon every exhibition. I, on the other hand, used lemons to scent and resin to coat. Yeah, that wasn’t obvious at all. 

I love meat so much, I’d destroy Schuller’s bizarre desserts. 

In retrospect, my technique was C.R.A.P… this piece is just one of the many from my high school exhibition: 

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blues sent the summer home

Thursday Tune August 11, 2010

The Cat Empire - Nothing 

#1: Chicken Curry

I love the mmm aroma (before and during the meal, only) and taste of curry. It’s just so damn good. Provoked by an outrageous craving, I ran around googling “curry” and stumbled across a few recipes. by the time the stove was switched off, the recipes merged to my personal specifications with a few inevitable Arab additions. 

I’d call this recipe Indian, but I’ve ate (and smelt) Indian food and I’m pretty sure this version is Americanized beyond control. don’t matter. I don’t think any of us would have tolerated so much curry and spices.. for iftar.

INGREDIENTS 

4 chicken breasts

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped 

1 teaspoon ground ginger

6 cloves minced garlic

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon paprika

3 tablespoons curry

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup laban (buttermilk) 

1 tablespoon flour

Green peas (optional)

Lemon halve (for scenting) 

DIRECTIONS

saute the chopped onions in a large pan until browned. burnt onions are the nastiest, so watch out. add the ginger, the bay leaf, the garlic, the curry and the spices. let them mingle for a bit. (the bay leaf will be removed by the end; it’s a phenomena, really, how it stays whole the entire time.)

the chicken breasts should be cut into small pieces. i didn’t use breasts because there werent any (chicken ones, at least) on hand, but i imagine breasts would have been better than the entire chicken and its physical anatomy. massage (hehe) the chicken with a lemon halve to get rid of any nasty fleshy pungent smells.

add the chicken to the onion/spices mixture, with the coconut milk, the laban, and the flour (which should be diluted in a little water before being inserted.) 

bring to a boil. cover and simmer for some 40 minutes. add green peas at the absolute end.

serve with basmati rice and garnish with parsley. sa7tein! 

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what to do?

for the sake of excitement, my prospective posts are going to evolve from photography to cooking. i have nothing better to do.

do you have any exceptional salty recipes I can make? my standards are sky high so be warned. no, i joke, they’re pretty low at the moment.

because we think it’s what hipsters do, frolic around grass

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Diane’s photography

oh, the places you can go! [byblos, lebanon.] 

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can’t wait to have my very own

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where are the kids?

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would love to chit-chat, hope all is well, we’ll definitely do something soon, love you.

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the familiar road home

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Nostalgia.. it’s a weakness. 

Take the zwerib, you’ll find the best of ironies. 

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