So the potluck last night was great. I'm finding myself addicted to
pakora, and I'm actually getting ready to try a lima bean version some time this week. They are absolutely delicious, and I bet using lima bean flour won't deviate too much from the results you get with chickpea flour. Of course I won't be able to add potatoes, but I can add onions and spices and other legal veggies. Does anyone know if deep frying with peanut oil is allowed? It has a very high smoke point. If not, I can always make pakora "patties." Someone did that at the potluck, and it sort of came out like Indian cornbread. Suffice it to say that even on my "cheat weekends," I'm getting ideas for legal versions of some of my favorite treats.
Today I wanted to try to use my crockpot which I haven't used at all since I got married, even though I know it has magical powers. The thing is, I only eat "halal" meat, as I've mentioned before, and there are very few sources. Those few sources don't know a rump roast from ground beef, so I have two choices: ground or stew. They used to sell these little boney meat mix things, but people started asking for meat with no bones, and now they don't even have bones most of the time. There is another place that sells meat that I want to check out, but the only difference is that they include bones and MAY be more fresh. Neither one of these are permanent solutions for me, but I'm devising a plan in the meantime to get real cuts of meat for cheaper.
The moral of this story is that I don't have a roast, and there is no way for me to get one. I do, however, have lots of stew beef. So what I've done is layered potatoes (I know they are sort of on the fence occasional legal, but I know if there are no veggies in there, my husband will have little to eat, as he's not a meat fan), carrots, and onion at the bottom, and piled the stew beef on top. I had a packet of seasoning for roasted potatoes that I probably added too much of on top, and since I have four hours left and am cooking on high, I added some water. Now I'm just crossing my fingers. Closer to time, I'll probably cook a cup of rice for hubby. I wish he would just get on the diet too; it would be so much simpler. Does anyone have good "stew" roast recipes?