Ingredients for an Indian Feast. So many colors!

Indian food is still something I am experimenting with and learning about. Two of my favorite local Indian restaurants are Venky’s Spice House and The Banana Leaf. I might even get around to reviewing both of them someday. The great thing about these restaurants is that you get to sample fresh and authentic food that has been made by expert hands with years of experience. I also love all of the new foods and flavors these restaurants have introduced me to. Venky’s is responsible for my love of Garlic Naan, while the Banana Leaf’s waitress taught me about all the different foods I was eating.

In my own kitchen, I haven’t ventured very far outside of the curry zone when making Indian food. I’m just happy that I’ve been brave enough to avoid the premade curry powders sold in grocery stores. In general, I find premade spice mixes too heavy on salt and lacking in other flavors. I’d much rather buy my own spices separately and combine them to my liking. Anyway. I digress.

My Indian Feast was my first attempt to make anything Indian, other than curry, completely from scratch. For my sides, I chose the Carrot-Coconut salad from the same Food Network Magazine article that had the Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry recipe, and a Garlic Naan recipe that I found online. Both side dishes turned out better than I had imagined they would. After making this meal, I definitely feel more encouraged to play with new and unfamiliar recipes in the future.

Garlic Naan
Makes 12 servings

Ingredients
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 c. warm water
1/4 c. white sugar
3 tbsp. milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour, sifted
3 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer affixed with a dough hook, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add milk, sugar, salt, egg and enough flour to make the dough soft. Mix until combined well.
2. Place dough in a well-oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Set the dough aside in a warm place and let it rise until it has doubled in size, about one hour.
3. Punch dough down. Knead garlic into dough. Roll into golf-ball sized balls and set aside to rise for another 30 minutes.
4. Melt a small amount of butter in a skillet. Flatten each dough ball and place in skillet over high heat for 3-5 minutes. Brush uncooked side with butter, flip, and cook other side an additional 3-5 minutes until browned.

Naan frying in the skillet

Carrot-Coconut Salad
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1 tsp. sugar
1/3 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
Juice of 1 lime
4 large carrots, shredded
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/3 c. coconut, shredded & unsweetened

Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cilantro, salt and lime juice. Add shredded carrots and toss.
2. In a small skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds and toast for about 30 seconds. Make sure to swirl pan and keep seeds moving so they do not burn.
3. Add coconut and swirl until coconut is lightly toasted.
4. Once coconut-cumin mixture has cooled, combine with carrots to complete the salad.

My thoughts & suggestions

• The naan was easy to make. Like any bread, make sure you’re exact about your measurements and you won’t have any problems. On a side note, I found the naan recipe on All Recipes. In general, I’m a fan of that site. It allows you to search recipes and save them in an online recipe box. The commenters are also pretty helpful. I usually read through a few of the comments to see what others have done to modify a recipe. They’re a great learning tool.
• I couldn’t find unsweetened, shredded coconut in the local grocery store. So I bought a fresh coconut instead. I had never worked with fresh coconut before. Fortunately, Google is my friend and led me to this coconut-opening tutorial. I successfully used Method #1, and was surprised that just tapping the coconut along its seam caused it to open. To make it easier to remove the meat, I would recommend roasting it in a 350° for about 15 minutes. I then shredded the coconut (and the carrot) with my trusty cheese grater that I bought at a Mexican grocery store.

Recipe Sources: Carrot-Coconut salad from “Crowd-Pleasing Curry”, Food Network Magazine, January/February 2010. Naan from All Recipes.

Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry, Carrot-Coconut Salad & Garlic Naan

Dana Velden at the Kitchn, recently wrote about Sunday Suppers. The post talks about making comforting food to enjoy with friends and/or family before the workweek starts. A leisurely Sunday meal is a great time to relax, unwind and squeeze a little bit more fun out of the weekend. It’s also something my husband and I have been doing for a long time. It’s rare for us to go to dinner or order in on a Sunday night. Instead, one of us makes a special recipe. Sometimes, this recipe is a simple comfort food. He might grill burgers or chicken or I might play with my minestrone recipe.

More often than not, Sunday dinner is something new and different. It’s a great time for me to try the complicated recipes and techniques that I don’t have time to make after getting off work. There is no way I’m going to spend several hours in the kitchen on a Tuesday night. But a Sunday when I don’t have anything on the agenda? Perfect time to tackle that super-involved recipe I’ve been hanging on to. The Indian Feast from the January/February Food Network Magazine is a great example. The meal consisted of a Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry, Carrot-Coconut Salad and Garlic Naan. These recipes will be the subject of my next couple blog posts.

Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1/2 lb. dried chickpeas
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
4 pods of cardamom
6 cloves, whole
12 black peppercorns, whole
2 red onions – 1 diced & 1 quartered
3″ piece of ginger, peeled & chopped
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 serrano chiles, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried cilantro
1/4 tsp. tumeric
2 plum tomatoes, diced
6 cups cauliflower florets
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup fresh cilantro or mint, chopped
kosher salt

Directions
1. To soften the chickpeas, soak them in a large pot of water overnight. Drain water and return chickpeas to the pot.
2. Create a spice packet by wrapping cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cardamom pods, cloves and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth. Tie loose ends of cheesecloth together.
3. Place spice packet in the pot of chickpeas. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 50 minutes, until chickpeas are tender. Strain chickpeas. Be sure to set aside the cooking liquid and spice packet.
3. While peas are cooking, make a paste by pulsing quartered onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor.
4. Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook diced onion in oil until browned, about 9 minutes. Add ginger-garlic paste, serrano and 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until liquid has gone out of mixture, approximately 6 minutes. Add coriander, cumin and tumeric and cook for one more minute.
5. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, spice bundle and 3 cups of the cooking liquid. Simmer until mixture is thick, at least 20 minutes. Add cauliflower and cook for an additional 10-12 minutes, adding more cooking liquid as needed.
6. Discard spice bundle. Add lemon juice and a little salt before eating.

Curry spices ready to be made into a nice little packet

My thoughts & suggestions

• The magazine article offers a shortcut for softening the chickpeas. To soften them quickly, boil them for 5 minutes then set aside, covered, for about an hour. I’m sure you could also use canned chickpeas in this recipe. But the dried ones add a little bit of crunch that contrasts nicely with the softer cauliflower.
• For the most part, I followed the recipe exactly as it was. The amounts given for serranos and tumeric are twice those called for in the initial recipe. I did this because the husband and I prefer our food spicy and heavily seasoned. I was quite happy with the results. Also, the recipe called for 1/2 lb. of okra. I forgot to add it, and didn’t miss it.

Recipe Source: Adapted from “Crowd-Pleasing Curry”, Food Network Magazine, January/February 2010

Prior to making this recipe, I had never made Indian food. In fact, I haven’t even eaten much of it since it wasn’t readily available until I moved to Columbus. I love the complex flavors and textures of the dishes. But, because of the unusual (to me) spices, the idea of cooking it at home intimidated me. Most of the spices and seasonings in my cabinet are standard American and Mexican ones. I have a good idea of how they go together. I know which flavor combinations are complimentary and which ones are not. Indian and Asian spices are much less familiar to me. Still, you never learn if you don’t try. A couple weeks ago, I decided to plunge in and play around with a Sweet Potato & Spinach curry recipe I found online. It turned out better than I expected and gave me the confidence to try more Indian recipes in the very near future.

Sweet Potato, Spinach & Tofu Curry
Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 1″ cubes
1 large eggplant, peeled & cut into 1″ cubes
1 bunch fresh spinach
12 oz. tofu, cut into 1″ cubes
2 tbsp. cumin
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp. curry powder
1 tsp. mustard seeds
2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. tumeric
1/2 cup canola oil

Directions
1. In a large pot of salted water, boil spinach for 30 seconds. Drain, then dry with paper towels. Roughly chop the spinach.
2. Heat oil in a deep pot over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and cook for 30 seconds. Add garlic and cumin and cook for an additional minute.
3. Add cubed sweet potato, stir well, cook for 8 minutes. Then add eggplant, spinach, tofu, salt, curry powder, and turmeric powder. Cook until eggplant is tender, about 8-10 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat, and let curry rest in the pot for 20 minutes. Serve at room temperature.

My thoughts:
1. The original recipe called for much less spice and only contained vegetables. I added the tofu to give it some protein and doubled the spices since tofu tends to be bland, and since Jared and I tend to like heavily seasoned foods.
2. The instructions and comments about this recipe mentioned letting the curry rest. This is a very important step. The freshly made curry was good, but somewhat bland. It got more flavorful over the 20 minute rest period.
3. The next time I make this, I plan to bake some Naan to go with it. This time, I brushed some flatbreads with olive oil and garlic and toasted them in the oven for a few minutes.

Recipe Source: Inspired by Sweet Potato, Eggplant & Spinach Madras Curry at A Life (Time) of Cooking