Garam Masala Daal

Soak lentils in water for 30 minutes. Take saucepan and add lentils, water, green chilies and chopped onions. Add turmeric and salt. Cook on medium heat until lentils are cooked. Divide soup into halves. Use hand blender to blend half and then add back the other half for texture. Sprinkle with garam masala and cumin powders. Add cilantro. Serve!

Kadahi Chili Spice Chicken

Rub diced chicken breast pieces with cumin, coriander, cayenne, garam masala, garlic and ginger powders and set aside.

Heat oil and add whole cumin, coriander, peppercorn and dry red chilies. When seeds splutter add diced onion and mined garlic. Cook until browned. Add tomato paste, and cumin, coriander, cayenne, garlic, ginger and garam masala powders and stir fry until spice saice thickens and separates from oil. Add chicken, green chilies and salt, and stir on high heat until it looks like picture. Add fresh cilantro and serve.

Chingri Malaicurry with Tomatoes

Dim Korma

Shrimp Curry

Take raw shrimp. Sprinkle with Cayenne and Turmeric Powders. Heat oil in wok and fry shrimp until cooked and set aside.

Using the same oil, add minced onion and garlic. Sauté until browned. Add green chilies and salt. Add cayenne powder and ginger powder. Keep stirring on medium heat. Add spoonfuls of water every minute or so... this will prevent drying up or burning of spices. Sauce consistency should be like posted picture. Add the fried shrimp. Stir fry. Sprinkle with garam masala powder and chopped cilantro. Enjoy!

Shrimp MalaiCurry

Heat mustard oil. Fry shrimp and set aside. In same oil, add finely chopped onions and garlic, and grated ginger. Add bay leaf and dry red chilies. Stir fry until onion starts browning. Add turmeric and red chili powder and a pinch of garam masala. Stir fry for a few minutes. Add coconut milk. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Add shrimp, salt and a little bit of sugar. Keep on low heat for 20 minutes. Add green chilies at the 15 minute mark. Serve and enjoy!

Jeera Chicken

It's cumin night!

Take one whole chicken and cut up.
Heat oil and add generous amount of cumin seeds.
Also add whole peppercorns and cardamoms.
Stir.
Add finely chopped onions.
Add whole cloves of garlic and grated ginger.
Fry until browned.
Add dried red chilies.
Add ground coriander and ground cumin.
Add chicken and salt.
Stir fry on high heat until well browned.
When chicken is almost cooked through, add scant chicken stock.
Lower heat, cover and cook. Stir occasionally.
When chicken is cooked through, uncover and wait for liquid to completely evaporate.
Oil and spices will remain.
Separately, chop some chilies, cilantro, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a food processor.
Sprinkle this rub on chicken.
Serve.

Jeera Polao

Wash and soak rice.
Heat oil and ghee.
Add cumin seeds, whole black peppercorn and dried red chilies.
Fry for few minutes.
When seeds sputter, drain rice and add to oil. Stir fry for 3-5 minutes.
Add grated ginger.
Add salt and water (double the amount of rice).
Wait until water comes to a boil.
Cover and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.
Serve!

Purple Delight: Beets, Purple Potatoes and Eggplant Curry

Chicken Roast

		Chicken
Ghee	2 1/2 cups	Onion (sliced)	4 counts
Onion	1.5 cup	Garlic paste	1 tab spoon
Ginger paste	4 tab spoons	Mace paste	¼ tea spoon
Nutmeg paste	½ count	Cinnamon paste	1 teaspoon
Cardamom paste	½ teaspoon	Cloves paste	3 counts
Salt		Sugar	1 tab spoon
Lemon juice	2 tab spoons	Plain yogurt	1 cup
Milk	2 cups	Keora or Rose Water	2 tab spoons
Saffron	Lemon yellow color

Heat the ghee and add the sliced onions. When browned, remove half the fried onions. After few minutes put the chicken in and fry until golden brown. Mix the yogurt with other spices and add to the pot. Stir and cover. The chicken will release water. When the water dries up and the chicken is cooked, stir in high heat until the sauce thickens and the ghee separates. Add the reserved fried onions, sugar, lemon juice and keora and keep stirring for a few more minutes.

This can be made into Morog Polao by mixing this with polao.

King Prawn in Coconut Milk

Salt and fry the shrimp in oil until red color appears.
In the same oil add two pieces of star anise, cumin, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, black pepper, pinch of mustard seeds and let it sizzle.
Dice onions and add to the oil. Fry until golden brown.
Add turmeric, red chili powder, and pinch of cumin powder and stir for couple of minutes.
Add salt and a can of coconut milk.
Let it simmer and cook until the oil separates and it looks like picture above.
Add the shrimp and  sugar (to taste) and cook on low heat for 15-20 minutes until sauce thickens and the flavor develops.
Optionally, add two green chilies and cover and cook on low heat for the flavor to infuse.
Sprinkle half to one teaspoon (to taste) of garam masala. Stir and keep on low heat for 10 more minutes.
For a little extra decadence- add a tablespoon of ghee. Yummmmm!
Enjoy!

Shrimp in Potato and Snap Peas Dry Curry

Chop onion and fry in oil until brown. Make a paste with ginger, garlic, turmeric and red chili powders. Add the spice paste to the pan. Stir at high heat for 5-6 minutes. If it gets too dry and starts to burn, add few teaspoons of water slowly.

Thinly cube potatoes and snap peas. Chop peeled and deveined shrimp. Add to the pan. Add salt to taste. Stir fry for 5-6 minutes in high heat. When vegetables are brown and shrimp is pink, add quarter cup of water and cover and cook until everything is cooked. Check to see if you need to add water. Once cooked stir fry again. I like the spices and the potatoes to be slightly burnt.

Another Naan Recipe

I keep trying to find the perfect naan recipe, yet none turn out like deshi naans. Some taste even better, but not the same. This one was pretty good too, but again was thicker and "breadier" than the deshi ones.

I adapted the recipe from the Best Ever Indian Cookbook:

Ingredients

2.5 cups bread flour
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp dry yeast
4 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp ghee or butter and more for brushing

Mix yogurt and yeast and let rest for 15 minutes. Sift flour and add salt. Add the yogurt mixture and  ghee to the flour. Knead for about 10 minutes. Put dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 parts. Roll each into any shape naan you like.

Heat oven to 450F. Bake the naans for 3-4 minutes or until puffy. Remove from oven and brush with ghee or butter.

These are really filling!

Luchi

Flour 1 cup
Salt 0.5 teaspoon
Oil 3/4 cup
Water 1/4 cup

Put two tablespoon oil in flour and mix with finger tips. Dissolve salt in water, then add to flour. Knead well. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Divide dough into ten sections. Make balls. You can use a tortilla press- I use Revel Tortilla Maker. You can also roll out with a rolling pin. Make little rounds.

Heat oil in a pan. Fry the luchis. Don't put too many in at a time. Luchis need the space. Fly till slightly golden. Drain on paper towels to get rid of excess oil.

Luchi

Dimer Halua (Scrambled Egg Dessert?)

6 large eggs
0.5 cup evaporated milk
3 slices of bread, shredded (optional)
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of rose water
3-4 green cardamoms
2 inch cinnamon. broken into pieces
0.5 cup ghee (clarified butter)
golden raisins to garnish (optional)

"Scrambled Egg Dessert" sounds horrible... but this this delicious :)

Mix all the ingredients (except raisin and rosewater). Use a beater to melt dissolve the sugar and so that the egg whites don't stay intact. Put in a non-stick pan in medium heat. Keep stirring constantly. Between 5-10mins, the mixture will start forming into a grit or couscous-like texture. Once the moisture has dried up, and the texture is obtained, add the rose water and the golden raisins.

My mother-in-law adds the bread, and it creates a different taste/texture. You can leave the bread out, but reduce the amount of sugar slightly if you leave it out.

Pudding aka Flan aka Caramel Custurd

3 Large Eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
5 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Splash of vanilla extract

This is an easier and creamier version of the pudding recipe. Accidentally got hubby on the pudding...sweet! :)

Take a round steel cake pan (about 7 inch diameter). Put 4/5 tablespoons of sugar on the pan and put it directly on the stove at medium heat. The sugar starts to bubble and turn brown. Wear mitts and keep swirling the pan until all the sugar caramelizes and the pan bottom is covered. Set aside to cool. The caramel will crack as it cools, that's normal.

Heat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl take 3 large eggs, one can of sweetened condensed milk, one can of evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Mix very well with a mixer. When caramel in the pan is completely cooled, pour the egg mixture into the pan.

Take a 13x9 cakepan and pour about an inch and half of water into it. Place the pan with the egg mixture inside the larger pan to create a water-bath. Keep it uncovered. Now place the pans in the oven.
Bake at 350F for 50 mins. When you take out the flan/pudding, it may jiggle slightly. Let it come to room temperature, then cover and keep in refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours... overnight is even better.

When ready to serve, open the cover. Take a knife and slightly loosen the edges of the flan/pudding. Take a large plate and cover the round pan. Invert so that the pudding is served on the plate. Lift the round pan.

Got this recipe from Moni Bhabi...thanks!!!

Murg Malai Kabab (Chicken Kabab) with Herb Butter Rice

Chicken:

This is Vah Chef's Recipe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l7CuYhfuAk

For the rice:

I made rice in the rice cooker and boiled some potatoes in salt water. Then took butter in a pan and added cilantro, jalopeno, crushed red pepper, mint. Then I added the potatoes and fried for some time. Then added the cooked rice. Added salt and stir fried the rice. Added some more butter over the hot rice.

Jhuri Mangsho (Shredded Beef)

You can do this with leftover beef. i had some leftovers with no gravy. Take leftovers with no gravy. Add 3-4 tbsp of oil in the pan and add the meat. Break any large pieces of meat. Keep stirring on high heat and continue to break the meat with your spatula. Meat should get brown and softer. Add chopped onions and green chillies. Add some salt and pepper. Keep stirring until it tastes like you want it to. It should be somewhat dry- but f it starts getting too dry add few teaspoons of water (not too much). I like it a little charred- so cooked on high all the way. If you want it less burnt, reduce the heat.

Naan Bread

Recipe from: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-naan-bread

Spicy Cilantro Chili Rubbed Chicken

Chop a handful of cilatro and 3-5 green chillies in food processor. Add ginger, garlic, cumin, black pepper powders and sheekh kabab and chicken tikka masala to the food processor. Mix again. Use as much ingredients as you like- you can't go wrong... for me it's the more the better... but can get spicy if you add too much.
Rub half of the masalas, ... See Moresalt, and a dash of vinegar on the chicken and let it marinate. Make slashes on the chicken with a knife so the spices go in. I marinated only for 15 minutes and it turned out pretty good.
Heat oil in pan. Put the chicken in and fry at high heat. The spices will start to burn slightly. Keep stirring. Then about one cup of water. Cook on medium heat 35-40mins. Make sure chicken is done.
Sauce will have thickened... add the rest of the spices... stir... DONE!