This month's My Kitchen, My World selection for world cuisine was the country of India, chosen by
Margaret, my good cooking/baking/Twitter/Secret Baker buddy from Tea
and Scones.
My first thought was: India...are you kidding with this, I have never had much Indian food, let alone cook it. I made a curry once, end of experience with Indian cuisine. Until now.
Last week I
suddenly remembered that I was in this group and needed to make and
post before the end of the month. So much for planning ahead and
spacing it all out nicely.
Fortunately, Leslie at Lethally Delicious,
another baking/cooking/Twitter/Secret Baker buddy was up for anything I
wanted to make and she knows a lot about Indian cooking. Armed with
Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking (2003), nicely scored by Mark
on a trip to our local library, I started thumbing through it and
realized that probably 100 recipes looked good and like I could
possibly handle them. (Okay, turns out I could not handle the Kulfi,
which is an ice cream, as I burned the heck out of the milk and there
was no rescuing that.)
I started cooking and just cooked everything I
could get my hands on for about four days. This book is definitely on
my Christmas list as everything was delicious and easy (and Madhur is
certainly not responsible for the burned milk...my only excuse is that
I was reading a book while the milk boiled and let's just say I was
engrossed more in the book than in the milk boiling activity).
Here
are a few of the things I made (I figure you will only read so long, so
in pictures, here we go...I recommend buying the book and just start
cooking from it). I plan to keep checking it out of the library until
Christmas and continuing the process...maybe even another shot at that
Kulfi.
Hara Shorva (Green Soup) - Potatoes, Peas, Onions, Chicken Stock, Ginger, Coriander, Cumin, Fresh Coriander, Green Chili, Salt, Lemon Juice, Cream - So delicious!
Dahi Ka Shorva (Cold Yogurt Soup with Mint) - Yogurt, Light Cream, Chicken Stock, Cumin, Salt, Pepper, Lemon Juice, Fresh Mint - Wonderfully refreshing and delicious!
Naan (Leavened Oven Bread) - Milk, Sugar, Yeast, Flour, Salt, Baking Powder, Oil, Yogurt, and Egg. Wonderfully easy and fun...it puffs in the oven and creates big blisters on the bread. Delicious, will make again.
Lal Masale Wai Murghi (Chicken in a Red Sweet Pepper Sauce) - Chicken, Onion, Ginger, Garlic, Almonds, Red Sweet Peppers, Cumin, Coriander, Turmeric, Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Oil, Water, Lemon Juice, Black Pepper. Just the right amount of spicing in this, nothing too overpowering, just a nice spicy flavor that went so well with the chicken and rice. Definitely a repeat.
Peelay Chaaval (Aromatic Yellow Rice) - Rice, Water, Salt, Turmeric, Cloves, Cinnamon Stick, Bay Leaves, Butter. Loved this rice, so flavorful...definitely this will find a permanent home here.
I think I can fit Indian cuisine into the weekly rotation around here...guys were loving it and I have a lot more recipes that I want to make! Thanks, Margaret, for picking something that made me branch out into new territory this month.