El Dia de los Hammies 2008: Pecan Cilantro Dip

So, last week we finally had this year's "El Dia," and - as mentioned a thousandy billion times already - the big objective was to successfully reverse engineer Trader Joe's Cilantro Roasted Pecan dip. (This is probably the last time I can say "reverse engineer" for awhile, so I'm really enjoying it. I'm already picturing myself in a labcoat, not the grotty old T-shirt I was probably actually wearing.)

This is the fabled TJ dip:

And this is the paneer dish Mike made that later, after being transferred to a soup bowl, deliberately  kamakazi'd my foot by ingenuously slipping from my fingers:

This has nothing to do with the dip recipe; I just keep talking about it to make sure nothing comes of it. Also, I like how clean the sink was back in those days. Last week.

But while we're on the topic, this is my boo-boo:

The flesh looks necrotized already, doesn't it? I'm a goner.

I call that photo "Before Moisturizing," but I think we all know there will be no "After." However, I hope I scored some bonus points for editing out my cankle.

I took that picture just now because I had to get up anyway, to get my notes. I also took a snap of Susan:

Then I sat down, without my notes. Duh.

But speaking of Susan, I never updated on how her vet appointment went.

The vet ruled out infection (no blood, squeaking, or constant straining to pee), so he feels she probably either has a congenital kidney problem or she has diabetes insip... you know, the other one, where she feels like she has to drink all of time. (The other-other diabetes is unlikely as I got neg results on the urinalysis strips, unlike with the other diabetic hams of yore.)

She's not in pain, but there's nothing much we can do for her constant drinking and the wear and tear it's having on her kidneys. She can have some daily drops that will help process the potassium, but they need to be taken with food, and with hamsters, they like to pouch now and enjoy later, at their leisure. But we may try it.

How long she lives depends on whether it's a kidney problem or diabetes, and if it's a kidney problem, it depends on how strong her other kidney is. So, she could be with us just a short time, or she could have a pretty full life, perhaps only a few months shorter than normal.

Hopefully it's the latter. She's very sweet, and I've just about stopped calling her Cordelia by mistake.

I also snapped a pic of me, so you will remember what I looked like, before the thing on my foot spread to my brain:

Oh my gosh, speaking of "brain," you need to read this article.

BUT BACK TO THE DIP. I read the list of ingredients on the back of the Trader Joe's version:

Then I lined up my ingredients in the order of their appearance on the packaging:

Isn't it a law that the most prevalent ingredient is listed first, and the ingredient with the smallest amount of presence in the dish is listed last? I hope so.

My methodology started out like this: start out with X amount, use half as much for the next ingredient, use half as much as that for the next ingredient, and so on. I would then wiggle things up "to taste" from there. This was not a bad plan, but it did lead to there being way too much cream cheese in the thing from the get-go. Of the two things I would change about this dip, the first would be to use less cream cheese.

You may notice that title of my recipe is "Pecan Cilantro Dip." Not "Cilantro Roasted Pecan Dip." I did try to roast the pecans:

I rubbed them in olive oil and put in a 350 oven for about seven minutes, with some stirring. I think I just got warm pecans, but whatever. They were fine.

Does anyone else play "Kitchen Jenga"? This is our trash at the start of the game:

The object, of course, is to get as much stacked on top of the pile before someone caves and either takes out the trash (Mike) or puts the little grocery store bag inside a proper Hefty bag (me). We are out of proper garbage bags at the moment, so I won. Woot!

There aren't a lot of photos of the dip in progress. I pretty much just mixed things together and took notes:

At the end, we cleansed our palates with a little Kedem, the loveliest grape juice in the world. Not too dry, not too cloying. Unfortunately, it's something like seven bucks a bottle when it's not on sale. This is the last of our half-price stash:

Then we compared this dip to TJ's real deal. Adjustments were made, and more comparisons, until there was only one thing that seemed to be lacking (more cilantro), but I was too lazy to chop more up, so this was it. The Final Version.

Verdict? Mike liked this better than TJ's. He found it tasty without the sock-em impact of mega-cilantro. Me, I liked it, but I completely ignored it until we were out of the Trader Joe's stuff. I love cilantro, and clearly there was not enough in here to replicate what I love about the TJ dip.

Ingredients in the final version:

Mix together:

• 1c + 1T sour cream
• 4oz (half bar) cream cheese (would cut in half next time)
• 3/8c mayonnaise
• 3/8c + 1T cilantro, chopped (needs more! maybe puree it? why are my ingredients not proportional to what's listed on the package? this is upsetting...)
• 3/8c Cotija cheese, crumbled (I'm beginning to think we should call this "Three-Eighths Dip")
• 1/4c pecans, "roasted" and chopped
• 1T + 1 healthy squirt of lime juice (from concentrate, because Fresh and Easy makes you buy a whole sack of limes if you want to go fresh)

Cook in a splash of olive oil:

• 1T onion, yellow, chopped (I would've normally used more, but I was using up a leftover)
• one small serrano, chopped (the original calls for jalapenos)
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed (Mike thought that maybe a bit more garlic would've been nice)
• 1/4t salt
• 1/4t cumin
• an unknown amount of pepper (I was just grinding "to sight")

Mix cooked items in with the rest. Cover and put in the fridge for awhile. Enjoy! Even if it doesn't taste as amazing as TJ's, you do get 5x the amount of dip at about (proportionally) half the price. I recommend it be served with TJ's peppery water crackers. Nom nom nommity.

Comments

[heather "i like your blog so much i read the entire post despite the subject matter" in PA]

Oh, kudos on trying to replicate ANYTHING. I am never ever so bold. Well done!

My thoughts on cilantro are well known to you, so that's all I'm going to say on that subject.

And here is where I hijack the comments of YOUR blog to talk about ME:
I GOT THE JOB at the school down the street. The counselor I am replacing is retiring. She's a god in the PA school counseling world. No small shoes to fill. BUT. She sent me a card, congratulating me, and offering to come in this summer to help transition me. How warm and fuzzy is THAT? *fingers crossed that I made the right decision!*

[Spa Flyer]

This is my favorite spread from TJ's. This stuff, on a tortilla with shredded carnitas, equals life. Thanks for reverse engineering. It's Christmas, they are closed, and I needed this dip!

[Rachel Wildes]

I just tried reproducing the infamous Trader Joe's dip (because I moved to Texas and do not have the luxury of a Trader Joe's to shop at). Forunately I too had an empty container of the dip and used it as a recipe (ranked in order of largest to smallest ingredient). I combined all of the ingredients into a blender, tho. And I did not cook the onions or the garlic, but rather added them to the blender of ingredients.
Thanks for sharing your version!!!

[Bombi]

I can't wait to try this, I lived off this dip when I was in the States, but am back in England now, and we don't have anything like this available!

[Shari]

Bombi - let me know how it works for you. I think I came close, but not close enough. Surely with just a little tinkering it could be perfect!