Gustatory Circuit » Indian

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Yvonne — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:04:32 +0000

Here’s what’s been cooking since we last left off!

This is the bento I packed with the olive oil poached salmon leftovers. The salmon stood up to re-heating well. Not as good as freshly made, but also not dried out and gross.

Then we had a foray into Indian with this yellow dal:

The dal recipe is from Smitten Kitchen. I made it pretty much as written, except I used a bit more tomato and didn’t bother to fish out the tomato skins. It was delicious.

I improvised the chicken. First, I made a rub from ground cumin, ground coriander, cayenne, garlic powder, salt and pepper and rubbed it all over boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Covered, and put it in the fridge for about an hour while I did the prep for the dal. When I was ready to cook the chicken, I coated the thighs with olive oil and then broiled them on a wire rack set in a sheet pan for about 10 minutes, until crispy and slightly charred in spots.

They tasted great together. The crispy crust on the chicken made a nice counterpoint to the mushiness of the dal. Next time I might go with bone-in, skin-on thighs, maybe using a modified version of the lime chicken recipe.

And finally, today’s brunch:

The recipe is Herb-Baked Eggs from Annie’s Eats.

Confession time: I bought these crocks just to make this recipe. And French onion soup.

I modified the recipe slightly. Didn’t have cream, so I just upped the butter a bit. Didn’t have too many herbs, so stuck with rosemary and chives.

Overcooked them a bit—our broiler definitely runs hot—but they were still tasty. Served with toast, butter, and strawberry jam.

Now to go lay about the house.

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This Was Pretty Darn Good Chicken Tikka Masala

Yvonne — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:04:44 +0000

So I’m posting this like, two weeks late, but I did make the masala mash-up I mentioned at the end of this post and this is what I got:

Prep time: 45 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Serves: 4-6

This was nom nom nom. Look at this chicken, don’t you want to gobble it?

Chicken Tikka Masala
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Sept/Oct 2007 and Fine Cooking Oct 2006

Chicken Tikka
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. Kosher salt
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
1 c. plain whole-milk yogurt (do NOT substitute low or nonfat yogurt)
2 T. vegetable oil
2 medium garlic cloves, run through a garlic press
1 T. grated fresh ginger

Masala Sauce
1 2-inch-long green serrano chile, stemmed and coarsely chopped (remove the seeds if you want less heat)
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 28-oz can whole tomatoes
2 T. unsalted butter
2 t. sweet paprika
2 T. whole cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 c. heavy cream
Kosher salt
2 t. garam masala
3/4 c. coarsely chopped fresh cilantro.

For the chicken: Combine the cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt in a small bowl. Unroll the thighs and rub the chicken all over with the spice mixture. Place the chicken on a plate, cover, and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger; set aside.

For the sauce: In a food processor, pulse the chile and ginger until finely chopped. Add the canned tomatoes with their juice and purée; set aside.

Position an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the broiler. Dip the chicken into the yogurt mixture, making sure to get a thick coat, and set on a broiler pan (or a wire rack set in a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet). Broil chicken until the thickest parts register 170 degrees on an instant-read thermometer and the exterior is lightly charred in spots, 10-15 minutes. If the chicken is cooking quickly and the outside remains stubbornly white, move the oven rack closer to the broiler element. Allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes, then cut into 1-inch chunks. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the paprika and 4 t. ground cumin and stir until the spices darken slightly, 10-15 seconds. Add the tomato mixture. Simmer vigorously, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened slightly, 6-8 minutes.

Add the heavy cream and 1 t. Kosher salt to the sauce and stir to combine. Add the chicken pieces. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the garam masala and cumin. Remove from the heat, cover, and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. Salt to taste and garnish with cilantro. Serve with rice.

You could use chicken breasts here, but with the following changes: cook only until the internal temperature is 160 degrees (which might take up to 20 minutes, depending on their thickness), and do not simmer with the sauce. Instead, stir the chicken pieces in at the very end, with the garam masala. Chicken thighs can stand up to more cooking because of the higher fat content.

Other than that, there’s been virtually no cooking around here as I was writing my dissertation. And now I’m recovering from writing my dissertation. I did make a lasagna one night (mediocre), and my husband made Japanese-style hamburger last weekend (yum). Yesterday’s dinner was grilled kielbasa with sautéed broccolini over white rice. Total prep time: 10 minutes. Tonight? Probably frozen gyoza.

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This is Not Chicken Tikka Masala

Yvonne — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 06:15:51 +0000

An exercise in contrast: watch Top Chef Masters and then come and post about my own food. In a category titled “Food Gone Wrong”. And I’m not even cooking with one hand!

As I mentioned in the first post, this blog is supposed to be from the perspective of a fairly novice home cook. If you were looking for polished recipes and beautiful photography (Me? I’m using a digicam from 1999. Yeah, that’s right, this camera is OLDER THAN A THIRD GRADER), you might want to check out Smitten Kitchen instead. I mean, I can usually execute a fairly complex recipe just fine, but sometimes things just turn out weird.

Like this:

This was supposed to be the Chicken Tikka Masala from the Sept/Oct 2007 issue of Cook’s Illustrated. Now I have made a good chicken tikka masala before; you saw it in the first post. But that recipe, from Fine Cooking October 2006, takes four hours.

This recipe is definitely much quicker (just over an hour total), but it’s also…not chicken tikka masala. Now, I admit part of that is my fault. I was missing two notoriously hard-to-substitute ingredients, tomato paste and heavy cream, and tried to make do with ketchup and yogurt. Oh, and my serrano chile was way past its prime so I used half a spoonful of Chinese hot sauce instead. Still edible, and perhaps even tasty, but the flavors were slightly off from where they should be.

A much bigger problem was the texture of the dish. Whenever I’ve had chicken tikka masala in a restaurant, the sauce has been silky smooth. This sauce was chunky, like marinara, and that’s not really my fault, though the heavy cream probably would have helped. The diced onion has to go, though.

I will say the chicken from this recipe is very, very good and much quicker than the Fine Cooking recipe. You salt and spice the chicken, refrigerate for half an hour while you do the rest of the prep, dip in a yogurt sauce and broil. After the chicken rests, cut it into chunks.

Since I have a bunch of leftover yogurt, I think I’ll try again this week, making the chicken the Cook’s Illustrated way (but with boneless, skinless thighs instead of chicken breasts) and the sauce the Fine Cooking way. I’ll keep you posted.

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Indian Beef Curry w/Tomatoes

Yvonne — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:07:52 +0000

Prep time: 30 mins
Active cook time: 20 mins
Inactive cook time: 2-2 1/2 hours on the stove or 4-8 hours in the slow cooker
Serves: 6

This is the one and only Indian dish I know how to make, but it is so, so, good. Simmer on the stovetop or dump the whole thing into a slow cooker. Great in the heat of summer or the dead of winter.

Don’t you love the colors in this photo?

Indian Beef Curry w/Tomatoes
Adapted from Epicurious

2 – 2 1/2 lbs beef brisket, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 T. grapeseed oil
2 large onions, sliced
6 whole cloves
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 t. Chinese 5-spice powder
2 star anise
1 bay leaf
1/4 t. dried red pepper flakes
1 1/2 c. whole milk
4 large Roma tomatoes, cut into wedges
3 T. Major Grey chutney
Juice of 1 lime
2 T. peeled fresh ginger, minced (about a 2-inch piece)
1 1/2 T. curry powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, combine the cloves, garlic, Chinese 5-spice powder, star anise, bay leaf, and dried red pepper flakes. Set aside.

Season the beef cubes liberally with salt and pepper. Add grapeseed oil to a Dutch oven or other large, heavy-bottomed pan and heat on high until shimmering hot. Add beef to pot in a single layer, working in batches if necessary. Allow beef to cook undisturbed until browned on one side, 3-4 minutes. Turn beef over and brown the other side, 3-4 minutes more. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer beef to plate and set aside.

Reduce heat to medium-high and add onions. Sauté onions until soft and browned, 7-10 minutes. Return beef to pot, along with any accumulated juices. Add spice mixture, stir, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minutes. Stir in milk, chutney, lime juice, ginger, curry powder, and 1/2 t. Kosher salt. Bring to a boil.

If using slow cooker: Transfer curry to slow cooker (it’ll be a tight fit in a 3-quart insert). Cook 4 hours on low or 8 hours on high. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If finishing on the stovetop: Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until beef is fork tender, 2 – 2 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally. Uncover, increase heat to medium, and bring curry to a boil. Boil until it thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve over steamed white rice.

I almost always stew with brisket, but beef shank or even chuck roast will do. Just don’t buy the pre-cut stew meat; the pieces are too small and who knows what part of the cow they came from.

I used grapeseed oil because that’s what I have, but canola, vegetable, or some other oil with a high smoke point should be fine.

Use a spice ball or spice pouch if you don’t want to be picking cloves, bits of star anise, and the bay leaf out of the curry.

If you can’t find Major Grey chutney, get some kind of fruit-based chutney. I’ve used both peach and mango chutney with good results.

Budget:

Item	Price
2.25 lbs brisket	$4.50
2 yellow onions	$1.93
1 small container whole cloves	$5.09
1 quart whole milk	$1.39
4 Roma tomatoes	$1.51
1 jar Major Grey chutney	$4.19
1 lime	$0.10
Fresh ginger root	$0.80
1 jar curry powder	$3.70
Total	$23.21

Pantry ingredients: Grapeseed oil, garlic, Chinese 5-spice powder, star anise, bay leaf, dried red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, rice

Leftover ingredients: Cloves, chutney, ginger, curry powder

If you don’t already have the necessary spices/flavoring agents on hand, this recipe will drive up your grocery bill. But things like curry powder and chutney can go a pretty long way and I think you’ll probably be making this more than once. If you have most of the spices already, this is pretty economical. In my case, about $4 per serving.

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