Cauliflower and Potato Curry- Aloo Gobi

As you can probably tell from my blog, I love Indian food. I’ve tried many different kinds and when I saw this curry in William Sonoma’s “A Taste of the World” cookbook I knew I wanted to try it. In the description it said that this is a mild curry which is very popular with children but since I like heat I ended up adding chilies to the recipe.

The ingredients: potatoes, onions, chopped red chilies, coconut milk and fresh tomatoes.

I started off the recipe by cooking onions over low heat along with the chilies, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, cayenne, ginger, ground coriander and minced garlic. Most Indian recipes call for ghee (clarified butter) but since I don’t have any and can’t be bothered to make some I just use regular butter.

Once the onions were browned and soft I added two tomatoes which had gotten too soft to eat raw and a few heaping tablespoons of tomato paste.

At this point I added in the cauliflower, the diced potatoes and the coconut milk. I let the mixture come to a boil and then put the lid on and lowered the heat.

After roughly 20-25 minutes everything was done and I added in a generous amount of chopped coriander right before I served the curry. I love adding cilantro at the last moment, it gives dishes that nice bit of green. I know a few people that absolutely loathe cilantro, among them The Husband, but to me not eating cilantro is a bit unfathomable.

This curry was really mild with the tomatoes and the coconut milk. It would be something that you could make for someone who doesn’t like spicy food to help ease them into the world of Indian food. As much as I liked this dish I have to confess that two hours after eating this I was absolutely ravenous since there is pretty much no protein in this dish. If you’re someone like me who required protein to feel satisfied I would add some chicken breast or tofu to make this into a full meal.

del.icio.us Tags: Indian Food

Chicken Tikka Masala

I love Indian food. Strangely enough I’ve never actually had it at a restaurant though. I actually started cooking Indian food when I got the Jamie Oliver cookbook “The Ministry of Food” from my mom and I’ve been hooked ever since. While you can always find bottled sauces in the supermarket it is so incredibly easy to make them at home and so worth it, especially if you want to amp up the spices like me.

First of all, garlic and lots of of it.

Next up, chillies. I used jalapenos and red chillies since that is all that they sell at my supermarket. I like heat so I always leave in the seeds.

Didn’t I do a good job prettying up the spices for my photo? From left to right: the chillies, cumin, paprika, garam masala, black mustard seeds, cayenne pepper and garlic.

 

I decided to use boneless, skinless chicken strips to make my life easier. I also chucked in a good amount of Greek yogurt although regular yogurt will also do.

After it was all mixed up together I put it in the fridge for half an hour to marinade.

While that was in the fridge I started preparing the sauce. I melted some butter and sautéed some sliced onions on low heat along with black and yellow mustard seeds. I love black mustard seeds and hoard my little stash since my Mom sent them to me since I was having a hard time finding them here.

For the sauce I also ground up some soy nuts. The original recipe called for cashews but given The Husband’s nut allergies I end up using soy nuts for pretty much everything. In case you’re wondering soy nuts are roasted soy beans, they actually taste pretty nutty though.

You will see that there is chicken broth in the pan. This is because I was cooking two things at the same time and poured the chicken broth in the wrong place. Sometimes my own brilliance astounds even me. It is a very good thing that I wasn’t making dessert at the same time or else things could have turned out rather ugly. Also in the pan are the ground up soy nuts and some tomato puree.

I let that bubble away on the stove for a bit.

While that was going on I cooked my marinated chicken in a pan. I basically just dumped everything in, including all the yogurt.

Here it is all cooked. It’s not the most photogenic thing ever but my kitchen smelled amazing at this point. It drives The Husband nuts when I cook without turning on the kitchen fan but one’s sense of smell is so helpful for knowing if something is cooked or if it needs more seasonings etc.

After the sauce had reduced a bit I added a generous splash of heavy cream.

Then the chicken.

And some chopped cilantro.

All done.

 

This was so good. I loved the mix of the spices and the heat from the chillies balanced with the smoothness of the creamy tomato sauce. I usually make coconut milk based curries but this recipe was amazing. Definitely a repeat.

del.icio.us Tags: Indian Food,Chicken Tikka Masala

Fresh Naan from scratch

I have been on a huge Indian food kick lately. Jamie Oliver's new book, "Jamie's Food Revolution" has a whole chapter on home-made curry pastes and I've really been enjoying trying them out. I decided to make Naan this weekend. The recipe is very easy http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Naan/Detail.aspx . It's basically flour, an egg, milk, yeast and water. I decided to make them on my little stove top grill. I took the picture above right before I flipped them. I got excited when they started puffing up like in the recipe. Below is the picture after I flipped them. Seriously, warm bread is one of the greatest things in like. I had to keep from inhaling the whole batch. I ate them with tandoori salmon and shrimp but they're so good even with non-Indian food. This morning I had one smeared with cream cheese and a slice of applewood smoked ham. This recipe is definitively a repeat!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution- Rogan Josh and Spicy Chili Rice

I absolutely love Jamie Oliver. The man rocks my world, seriously. If I ever met him I might have to do the "I'm not worthy". Ahem, anyways after my ice cream experiment I made Rogan Josh and Spicy rice for dinner. For myself, not the man, since he can only tolerate barely undetectable amounts of chilies in a dish.
One of the things I love about this cookbook (which my very nice mother bought me) is that he has a whole page on home made curry pastes. The husband has food allergies and it curtails what I can buy ready-made at the supermarket (as much as I like food, I like him even more). I used jalapenos and cherry chilies for the paste. Alas, it was barely hot. Of course, the husband thinks my tolerance to chilies is insane, and I am contemplating whether or not I have to start mainlining habanero hot sauce in order to get my fix. Anyways, the Rogan Josh was awesome, if I do say so myself. Making the paste is a bit messy but the whole recipe is pretty straight forward.


Here be the makings of the paste. My counter was an utter mess at this time, I don't think I will ever manage to cook neatly. The turmeric and the tomato paste are lurking in the background of the picture. I used my trust magic bullet to puree it hence why it is in a mug, not because I was planning to drink it.


Here is the finished product. You can see the chunks of chicken, along with the tomatoes. So good, I don't think I've ever had a dud from any of Jamie's cook books.
Behold the spicy rice. Perfect with the Rogan Josh. Although between the butter in the Rogan Josh and the rice and the cream in the ice cream I don't think that it does my waistline any flavour, although my taste buds are thanking me. Great recipes, I give them an 8 out of 10.