Aloo Gobi

As prepared by Gurinder Chadha from Bend It Like Beckham

Ghee or unsalted butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Medium cauliflower, quartered, then sliced
2 large potatoes, quartered then sliced
1 TBL cumin seeds
1-3 green (serrano) chilies, sliced
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp salt
2-inch piece ginger, sliced
3-6 garlic cloves, diced
1 tsp sweet (regular) paprika
3 canned tomatoes, and juice
handful cilantro, chop stems and pick off leaves for garnish
1 1/2 tsp garam masala

Heat ghee, add cumin seeds, then onion and cilantro stems. Cook until translucent ("creamy golden").
Add chilies, turmeric, salt. Add paprika, then grate in tomatoes (use a cheese grater). Stir in.
Add ginger, garlic cook about 1 min.
Add potatoes, cook 5 minutes
Add cauliflower and 2 TBL water, cover and cook 10 minutes.
Add garam masala cook 10 more minutes until cauliflower is tender, but not mushy.
Add cilantro leaves. Cover, turn off heat and leave 10 minutes.

Serve with naan or basmati rice.

Lamb Vindaloo (kickass)

This was a great recipe that Sasha and I did last night. It shows up in the top Google searches for "lamb vindaloo" but I took it specifically from here. We did marinate it for 24 hours prior to cooking and though I'm not sure that's necessary, it turned out so well that I wouldn't mess with success when trying this again.

Ingredients

1. Lamb cubed 1" to 1½": 2 Pounds
Select lean sirloin

Marinate
1. Mustard oil: ¼ cup (this was fairly easy to find - I went to Sparrow Market in Kerrytown; Ann Arbor, MI)
Mustard oil is used for its pungency. You may substitute it with Canola oil
2. Red Wine Vinegar: ¼ cup
3. Tamarind pulp: 2 Tablespoons (this was a little harder to find, Sasha eventually found it at Jerusalem Market on Plymouth Rd, the same place we got our lamb)
4. Salt: 1 teaspoon
5. Minced Garlic: ¼ Cup This not a mistake. You need one whole garlic bulb containing about 10 cloves
6. Finely chopped fresh ginger: 1 Inch
7. Serrano (chopped): 2
Remove seeds and white membrane to reduce heat for your taste.
8. Curry Powder Standard Onset Punjabi: 1½ Tablespoon
Use one to 2 Tablespoons depending on your taste
9. Garam Masala Standard Frying Punjabi: ¾ Tablespoon
Use 2 to 3 teaspoons (for both of these we just used the Curry Powder and Garam Masala that I had in my spice cabinet)
10. Hot mustard powder: 1 teaspoon
11. Lal Mirch (Ground Hot Cayenne): 2 teaspoons
12. Degi Mirch (Paprika): 2 teaspoons

Cooking
1. Ghee: ¼ Cup (this is just clarified butter, you can make your own or buy it at the store - just about any "ethnic foods section" will have it; it comes in a little glass jar)
2. Finely chopped onion (Preferably ground): 2 Cups
3. Water: 6 Tablespoons
4. Brown sugar: ½ teaspoon (we didn't even use this)

Method

Marinate

1. Combine all the marinate ingredients in a stainless steel or glass bowl.
2. Stab each piece of lamb cube with a sharp pointed knife once or twice. This helps with marinate to penetrate deeper.
3. Add the lamb to marinate
4. Cover and marinate in refrigerator for 12 hours. It is important to cover to prevent the other foods from gathering odors from the marinate.

Cooking

1. Remove Lamb from the marinate. The surface of lamb should have almost no marinate. Save marinate mixture, set aside.
2. Heat Ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Add marinated lamb. Brown lamb on medium to high heat, about 8 minutes. Remove browned pieces and set aside
3. Add Onions. Fry till onions are almost brown. 5 minutes
3. Add saved marinate mixture. Be careful during this step. Keep your eyes away from the pan. Cooking this mixture will irritate your eyes. Turn the heat on low to medium, and walk away to avoid the initial fumes for first 2 minutes. After that stir and fry to make a nice paste.
4. Add lamb and water. Bring to a near boil when the bubbles start to rise to top. You do not want to cook lamb at high temperature to prevent it from getting tough. Turn down heat.
5. Cover. Simmer on low to medium heat till lamb is tender. About 20 minutes
6. Stir in sugar to cut the sourness.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Now, I know this isn't really authentic Indian food, but it's quite tasty, so who cares? The recipe calls for grilling the chicken but, since it's 16 degrees out, Jon and I just sauteed it in a little olive oil and it worked out just fine.

1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
4 long skewers

1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream (we used regular milk)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat a grill for high heat.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side.
4. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt (This was really the only thing I'd change about the recipe, it's too much salt. I'd use 1 and a half tsp tops). Stir in tomato sauce and cream/milk. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serve with rice of your choice (we used saffron rice which was quite good).
   

Eliachi Gosht (meat cooked with cardamom)

I recently had a birthday and received a fair number of cookbooks. One of them is a wonderful cook/history/philosophy book called "50 great curries of india" by camellia panjabi. In this book she tells the reader about the background of indian cooking from different regions with the idea in mind that someday you will be making your own curries at home. Half the book is preparing you for improvising your own recipes so that you can cook just like the regional cooks.

Here's one that sasha and I tried last night. The flavors are subtle, but definitely there. Not satisfied with the rules, we started making changes in the middle. We were satisfied with the results:

Serves 6

2.25 lbs of lamb (on or off the bone)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
35 green cardamoms
1/2 cup oil (any kind will do, according to the book. We used Sesame Seed Oil)
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chile powder (we used traditional chile powder, I think next time we'll try to use a more traditional Asian pepper or birdseye pepper)
2 tsp coriander powder
3 medium tomatoes, sourish variety, finely chopped (the author talks a bit about tomatoes in the beginning of the book "Even when ripe the Indian tomato is slightly sour in taste, compared to European or American varieties. Its acidity level is also much higher. When using tomatoes for curry-making, avoid sweeter Italian tomatoes." (p. 38))
salt

1. If the lamb is on the bone, wash it in warm water. Whisk the yogurt with a fork in a bowl.

2. Grind the whole green cardamoms in a blender with a little water, or in a coffee grinder without water and then mix with a little water to make a paste. (we went the coffee grinder route with the cardamoms, coriander seeds, and black pepper. It was so cool. sasha laughed at me and called me a dork.)

3. Heat the oil in a cooking pot. Add the cardamom paste and the pepper, and fry over a low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the meat and the turmeric, chile, and coriander powders, and saute for 10 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pot, adding water if necessary. The secret of success with this dish lies in making sure that the meat and spices are fried for a full 10 minutes without allowing the spices to burn. Therefore it is essential to keep the heat low and use the recommended amount of oil.

4. Lower the heat and add the yogurt, tomatoes, and salt to taste, and continue to saute for a further 5 minutes. Add about 4 cups of water (we only used 2, this is supposed to be a "thin gravy" but we were worried about diluting our mixture too much), cover the pot, and leave to simmer over a low heat until the meat is tender.

The recipe suggests serving it with chipatis or rice. We chose the latter, since it was less work (but the chipati recipe in the back of the book looks remarkably like a certain director's tortilla recipe). This was pretty easy, took us about an hour to prepare and maybe an hour to simmer (at the end of step 4). The leftovers look great, I'm staring at them right now.

Coconut Curry Chicken

Coconut Curry Chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 1/2 onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped roasted garlic
7 ounces canned coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

*Note: we added 6 redskin potatoes (cut into 1/8ths), about a Tbsp of curry, used 13.5 oz of coconut milk, substituted minced garlic for roasted, and upped our crushed red pepper flakes to two dashes.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). In a large skillet, fry chicken breast in vegetable oil until the chicken just begins to brown. Stir onions, green bell peppers and red bell peppers into the skillet with the chicken.

*Note: we put our potatoes into the oven early with about 6 oz of the coconut milk, a healthy dose of olive oil, and some salt & pepper to get them started.

Saute until the onions are translucent. When the vegetables are translucent, stir in the garlic and coconut milk. Let the mixture cook 5 to 8 minutes before removing the skillet from the heat. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (and 1 Tbsp of curry). Transfer the mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish and bake in a 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) oven for 45 minutes, or until the vegetables cook down and the chicken is tender.
I thought this went really well. We served it over Saffron Rice (a store-bought package we got from Meijer). I think in the future I'd add more curry, and maybe some spices that compliment curry (I was thinking cumin, but sasha suggested tumeric). We didn't have it in the oven for 45 minutes either, it was closer to 30.