Jeff has requested that I cook Indian food, so I will oblige him. (I have requests in from various folks to do the same, by the way, but I'm still not quite sure I want to take on the role of chef du hindi at this point. I will, however, cook birthday meals for friends and family, so line up one an all. I've been told I'm rather good at this stuff, but it is mostly patience, understanding why they use the spices they do, and knowing how to follow directions.
Here's the menu:
Curried Garbanzo Beans with Onion and Garlic (rasedar channe)
Royal Eggplant with Garlic and Spices (Shahi baingan bhartha)
Rice with two colors (Do ranga chaval)
Chicken legs baked in buttery curry sauce (an invention of my own.)
Mango Chutney (aam ki chutni)
Cucumber raita (saada raita)
Now you might be surprised to know that I learned how to do all this Indian cooking to keep a girlfriend breaking our collective wallets by going to Indian restaurants which she (and then I) had a predelection for.
Last time I really cranked out a good meal like this was for Candace. (I have a lot of fond memories of Candace, and it makes me sad that we broke it off, despite the various problems we had.) Her friends were impressed. Now I'm just bragging.
Hmm, I may need to get a couple of recipes from you. Am seriously in danger of breaking personal wallet on Indian resteraunts.
ReplyDeleteOk, what's the chicken in buttery curry recipe?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds tantalizing.
Chicken in butter slamboo is a trade secret.
ReplyDeleteOk, I'll give. Here's a creative commons recipe:
ReplyDelete1) As many chicken legs as you can fit in a pyrex baking dish.
2) 3 tbs butter
3) 4 cups diced tomatos (it really doesn't matter if they are fresh or canned, so go canned)
4) 2 tbs corriander
5) 1 tsp cumin
6) 1/2 tsp tumeric
7) 8 cloves garlic
8) 1/2 inch ginger
9) many hot peppers
10) 1 onion
11) about 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
Grind all the spices and garlic and onion and tomatoes up (not the chicken in a food processor.
Put chicken in pyrex thing
pour tomato slop over it. Wrap in tin foil.
Preheat oven to 350.
Put thing in oven.
Cook for whatever time it takes to cook chicken.
Pull off the tinfoil and turn the temperature up to like 450.
Cook it for probably 20 minutes more for some crispy tandoori like goodnes.
That's it.
Oops, put the butter in slabs over the chicken when it is slathered in sauce.
ReplyDeleteI think my birthday is, um, soon. Really soon. I too would spend about a million dollars on Indian food, but that I lack a million dollars. I make a mean curry and one or two dals and I have made chutney a time or two. But I know I don't approach the genius of your culinary skills. Maybe you should cook some food for Middlebrow and I could observe?
ReplyDeleteMan am I hungry!