Dal Makhani

Recently, I’ve been wanting to experiment more with lentils, so Chris and I decided to try the recipe at this site. We followed the method, but made a few changes on the spices. We left out the fennel seeds, as I’m not a huge fan of the flavor, and also left out the hing because we couldn’t find any. We used about 2 tomatoes worth of diced, and a good teaspoon of tomato paste as well, and we replaced half the cream with yogurt. We also only soaked the lentils for about 1 hour before cooking, and the beans got an even shorter version of the quick soak on the package. The end result was a really nice, thick and creamy lentil dish, not hot, but pleasantly spiced. We served it with naan and rice, although in the future, I think we’ll just do naan.

Chicken Tikka Masala

A few days ago, we made some chicken tikka masala that was pretty darn tasty, but not for the faint of taste-bud.

Ingredients
Chicken
1 package of Shan Chicken Tikka Spice blend We followed the marinade on the back of the box, except-
8 chicken breasts (we just got a family-size pack of boneless skinless, rather than whole chickens)

Sauce
2 cans of Heinz Tomato soup (Yep, Heinz. Look in a British foods section-it should be there…right next to some scary canned haggis, clotted cream and mushy peas. Yummm).
Cilantro, to taste

Procedure
Marinate the chicken as instructed, then grill until cooked through. Heat the soup, and add the cooked, cubed chicken. Simmer about 10 minutes, and serve over some basmati rice, with chopped cilantro on top.

We also made some naan which we cooked on the grill and it turned out really well. Just a little warning, the chicken is rather warm, so if you’re a spice-neophyte, use a partial packet of the spices.

Rogan Josh and Saffron/Cardamom rice.

Tonight for dinner I prepared a beef rogan josh, using the Penzey’s rogan josh spice.

The recipe is that which is recommended in the Penzey’s catalog, approximately.

We used:
1.5lbs beef bottom round stew meat (lamb would be better if it is easily available to you)
1/4 cup veggie oil (ghee would work nicely if you have it)
1 large onion, chopped
4tbsp Penzey’s Rogan Josh powder (frankly, any nice curry powder will yield a nice curry off this basic recipe)
2 green cardamom pods (optional – the powder has cardamom, but they recommend more)
cayenne pepper (again, optional to taste – I think the powder is warm enough as is)
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of plain yogurt
1tsp salt

Brown the beef in the oil, over medium heat add the onion and let it cook through. Add the rogan josh powder and salt and let it cook, stirring, for a few seconds, then add the water and yogurt. reduce heat to low, and let it barely simmer for 1 to 2 hours. We left it covered part of the time, and open part of the time. Covering helped tenderize the meat a bit. You want a nice thick sauce, so letting it reduce is ok, but remember that you’ll probably want to add a bit of water now and then if you’re letting it simmer the full two hours.

We served it with the following rice:
roughly 1:1 Basmati to water
1tbsp butter
.25g saffron powder
3 green cardamom pods
5 cloves

Toast the rice in the butter lightly (a couple of minutes) add water and spices, cook rice until the water is gone.

The penzey’s rogan josh powder is really really nice. I’m very impressed. It was a nice, thick dish when it was done, and it was nicely balanced without any of the spices really overpowering any of the others. I’m looking forward to trying out their vindaloo spice.

Old Post 11: A restaurant style bhuna/curry.

I’ve been playing with this recipe a bit, and have finally hit on a curry that is very much like what we get at our local Indian places.. This curry is a winner.

It works best with beef or lamb, but is passable with chicken.

Its a two part recipe: first you’ll make a masala gravy and then assemble that into a curry.

I would suggest making a BIG batch of the curry gravy and freezing it in small containers. This will cut your prep time down later.

I used a massive jumbo white onion, and we ended up with enough gravy for about three batches of curry, so the recipe probably made about 4 cups of gravy..

Masala Gravy
Ingredients

* 1 Onion Sliced.
* 4 Cloves Garlic Finely Chopped
* 3 Tomatoes Blanched, Peeled, Cored and Quartered
* 1 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
* 1 Teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
* Seeds from 4 Green Cardomom Pods
* 4 Table Spoons vegetable oil
* 1 cup of water
* Pinch of Salt

Method

Fry the onion, Tomatoes and garlic in the oil on a medium heat until the onions are translucent and the tomatoes become mushy (about 10 Min). Add 1/2 cup of water and simmer 5 minutes. Add the rest of the water and spices. Stir and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Keep stirring regularly throughout cooking. Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool slightly before pureeing in a food processor. (Warning, this will turn the inside of your food processor colors that you wouldn’t have thought existed in nature.)

Now, for the lamb/beef/chicken curry:

Ingredients:
1Lb Lamb/Beef/Chicken cubed
1 Cup of Curry Masala Gravy
3 Tbsp tomato puree (this is thinner than paste – paste can be cut by 4 parts of water be pretty close to puree)
1 large onion finely chopped
4 Tsp Curry Powder (We use a madras powder, but use what you want)
3 Tsp Chilli Powder
1 Tsp Cayenne pepper
4 Cloves Crushed Garlic
1 Tsp (or so, to taste) ginger root grated
5 Tbsp Vegetable Oil (I suspect ghee is probably a more traditional choice, if available).
4 Tbsp roughly chopped cilanto leaves
1 Tbsp whole cilantro leaves
1 Tsp Garam Masala
Seeds of 2 green cardamom pods
I also add a bit of paprika, about 1 tsp, just for colour – not traditional, but it really doesn’t affect the flavour, and helps get a nice red colour.

Adding a little extra cayenne, and a couple tbsp of white vinegar (this will increase the felt heat, as well as providing a sour bite), and a few quartered potatos will get you close to some typical restaurant vindaloo..

Method:

Make a paste of the curry powder and chilli powder, cayenne, cardamom seeds and garam masala with a little water. Fry the onion until translucent in the veg oil then add the garlic and ginger. Stir fry on medium for 5 minutes. Add the spice paste and stir in and fry for another 30 secs. Add the meat pieces and seal well on all sides. Add the Masala Gravy and simmer for 20 minutes or until the meat is cooked, stirring as needed. If needed add a bit of water to prevent the curry becoming too thick or dry (you’re aiming for a stew consistency, or slightly thicker). Now add the finely chopped coriander leaves and cook for a further minute. Serve with the whole coriander leaves sprinkled over the top.

Serve with Naan and Basmati rice. Cook the rice according to the instructions. We like to add pistachios or cashews to the rice, as well as a few cloves and bit of cinnamon stick. A pinch of saffron makes a nice addition, if a rather pricy one.

Old Post 9: Naan bread

Naan are Indian flatbreads, generally served with curries, etc., and are often covered in minced onion, garlic, or cilantro prior to cooking.

Ingredients:
3.25 cups flour
1.5 tsp sugar
1 packet fast rise yeast (or 1/2 oz fresh yeast)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
5/8th cup plain yoghurt
5/8th cup warm milk (may need slightly more, depending on the moisture content of the flour)

Method:
Sift the flour into a large bowl, stir in sugar, salt and baking soda. dissolve yeast in the milk, and stir in the yoghurt. mix thoroughly with the flour to form a dough.

Knead the dough until smooth, and then let rise (just like any bread) for about 4 hours or so…

Divide the dough into 12 pieces (if you want mini naan, about 5″ in diameter, or 6 pieces if you want full size naan), and roll into balls.
flatten balls into oblong shapes, and slap it from one hand to the other until quite thin, say…. around 1/8th inch thick….

Grease a griddle of heavy bottom skillet lightly with ghee or veggie oil, and heat until very hot.. cook the naan on one side only, a few at a time. remove, and spread the raw side with melted butter and chopped garlic/onion, and cook under a pre-heated broiler until lightly browned.

This bread (even plain, without the butter/garlic) is *much* better than any pita you’ll ever have…..

I would recommend cooking these in ghee, rather than oil, as the veggie oil seems to give them a slightly odd taste that conflicts with the yogurt – thought they’re still really good – far, far, better than any pita you’ll buy at the supermarket.