I do not think the mini-Ferox could have arrived at a worse time given the holidays, traveling, a death and sickness. Aside from some minor things, I have not had a chance to give it a fair shake. I'll do my best to find time over the weekend, otherwise I'll send her off to the next stop.
In the meantime, the package did arrive however many weeks ago right before I was getting ready to make dinner. So off it went to the kitchen...
Chana Masala around here has become like a Taco Tuesday. Usually I go overboard with the spicy so the kids mostly pass other than cherry picking some chickpeas, yet it is a real simple, one pot dish that is basically a chickpea stew curry. I will do my best to replicate our recipe below, but I may have missed a photo or two as my wife was not too fond of me spending more time snapping pics than preparing dinner.
Start off heating a pot on medium/medium high heat. While things are warming up, you will want to chop up an onion or two
Add 3 tbs of grapeseed oil to the heated pot and toss in the chopped onion along with 1 tbs of ground cumin and a pinch of salt. Stir.
While the onions are simmering, grab 6-7 garlic cloves, 2 tbs fresh chopped ginger, a handful of fresh cilantro, and 2-3 chopped chiles (seeds included for more kick or you can remove. I used Jalapenos this go around)
Place everything into your mortar and grind away. Or... be lazy like myself and put it all in a food processor or Vitamix.
Shoot for either a fine paste or a loose mince - both are good. You don't have to be exact here.
Photos beyond this point are in short supply. Even with a combat kitchen knife at my disposal, little mongrels searching for delicate morsels and an increasingly agitated hungry momma hen I was not overly confident of my chances.
Stir your pot then add 1 tbs ground coriander, 1 tsp tumeric powder, 1 tsp dark chili powder and stir to coat. Add oil if needed then throw in canned pureed or petit diced tomatoes (28ish ounces) along with 30 ounces of canned chickpeas (drained). Stir. Add a small amount of water if things are looking dry. Increase heat to a good simmer then reduce to low or med/low and cook uncovered for 20 minutes until it thickens into a stew. Stir occasionally.
After things have simmered real nice, adjust spices as need (salt, chili powder for heat etc). Turn off the stove and put in 2+ tbs of lemon juice and 1 tsp - 1 tbs of garam masala to taste. Recipes for garam masala can be found online. The pre-mixed spices usually all taste a little different and some are hotter than others.
Serve on its own with plain yogurt or over rice or roasted broccoli. We liked enough to make twice and then some.
Now the mini-Ferox. While it is not a first or maybe any choice kitchen knife, unless your are cooking in Syrian suburbs... or Chicago, preparing a simple meal can tell you a lot about a blade. From various holds often used in kitchen settings you easily gain a feel for the balance and how the grind of the blade interacts with various mediums. You also gain a good sense of the handle design while cutting with dry, wet or even slimy hands (dat chickpea juice) commonly experienced in the kitchen.
No surprise to anyone familiar with Chris' edge geometry, the mini-Ferox chops, cuts, and slices with ease. Small, thin, children knives are hot right now. Almost too hot to touch, but this mini-Ferox is not one of them in its svelte 3/16" stock yet its cutting performance was not bad at all compared to thinner and narrow bladed knives. The offset handle design and pronounced guard area provide a overly secure gripping surface. The balance, to me, feels slightly forward of what I call a neutral grip (forefinger balanced in a hammer grip) so there is that urge to swing. The O1 on this knife, not Chris' typical CPM-154, held up nicely opening three large cans and realigned with minimal honing.
I hope to add more if I get the opportunity to field the knife for anything substantial but so far I like the design and the size in relation to the larger Ferox. Thank you Chris for the opportunity and to all who have contributed so far. I do apologize again for the delayed comments to this post, when it rain it pours.