An Indian (British) Dinner

On occasion I do actually post things that aren’t baked (or desserts). This week for dinner I decided to take a crack at making myself some Indian food. But, I made Chicken Tikka Masala, which an Indian friend told me really is British food. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed making it, and eating it. Alongside I made some curried cauliflower, and I had palak paneer and naan from Trader Joes. All in all a full quasi-Indian feast.

For the chicken I used a marinade from Mike’s Table. I thought it was excellent, even by itself it made for a very moist, flavorful chicken thigh. After that I made a sauce based on that from All Recipes, I made a fair number of changes to it though. Finally, I made this curried cauliflower from epicurious, which I thought was only so-so. The flavors weren’t as strong as I was expecting, and some of it burnt, if I were to do it again I might cook it at a slightly lower temperature.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Makes 4 servings

For Marinade:

1 ½ - 2 lbs chicken thighs, skinned, deboned, with excess fat removed

2 T ginger paste

2 T garlic paste

½ tsp salt

¼ cup plain yogurt

½ T chili powder (more if you want it spicier)

1 ½ T vegetable oil

For Sauce:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 jalapeno chili, seeded, deveined, and finely chopped

3-4 green cardamom pods

1 t whole coriander seeds

1 T butter

2 ½ tsp ground cumin

2 tsp hot paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained

½ cup plain yogurt

Salt to taste

1. Place the chicken, ginger, garlic, and salt in a bowl. Rub the chicken with the mix, trying to get even coverage.

2. In a separate bowl whisk together the yogurt, chili powder, and 1 T of the oil.

3. Toss the chicken with the yogurt mixture. Mix in the rest of the oil.

4. Seal the chicken and marinade in an airtight container, refrigerate for at least an hour, or over night.

5. Spread the chicken with the marinade in a roasting pan, and place under a broiler at 450. Broil for about 20 minutes, or until cooked through but moist.

6. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, jalapeno, cardamom pods, and coriander seeds. Saute for a minute.

7. Add the cumin, paprika, some salt, the tomatoes, and the yogurt.

8. Use an immersion (stick) blender to puree the sauce, if you don’t have one you can pour the sauce into a regular blender, just be careful, because it’s hot. You might remove the cardamom pods before this, but I didn’t, and they stayed pretty much intact.

9. Cook the sauce until heated through. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces. Add the chopped chicken to the sauce and cook for five minutes.

10. Serve immediately over basmati rice

Curried Cauliflower

12 cups cauliflower florets (from about 4 pounds cauliflower)

1 large onion, peeled, quartered

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

3 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 tablespoon Hungarian hot paprika

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Place cauliflower florets in large roasting pan. Pull apart onion quarters into separate layers; add to cauliflower.

2. Stir coriander seeds and cumin seeds in small skillet over medium heat until slightly darkened, about 5 minutes. Crush coarsely in mortar with pestle. Place seeds in medium bowl. Whisk in oil, vinegar, curry powder, paprika, and salt.

3. Pour dressing over vegetables; toss to coat. Spread vegetables in single layer. Sprinkle with pepper.

4. Roast vegetables until tender, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes.

Raisin Chai Bread

I’ve never really been big bread baker, in part because I don’t really eat a lot of bread. But, for whatever reason I was struck with an inclination to make bread this week. I started out with the recipe for Cinnamon Swirl Bread in The Best Recipe. In my view, however, cinnamon bread is never complete without raisins, so I decided to add some (I used golden raisins because that’s what I had). Then I thought I might add some cardamom to the cinnamon mixture, since cardamom is one of my all time favorite flavors. At that point it was a short leap to adding the remaining spices to make it Chai mix. My friend and fellow blogger Beth then suggested that I could actually infuse tea into to the dough. At that point it was settled I was making raisin chai bread. The results are unusual. When I was making the bread I didn’t really think I could taste the tea in the dough, but it definitely came through in the finished products. The spices are a little more subtle, but are very much present. Overall I think it’s a very good bread, and would be great toasted with jam. Even better, I may use it to make some French toast this weekend. I think this bread would also be ideal going into a bread pudding, but I won’t make a bread pudding unless I have something to do with it other than eat the entirety myself.

A few notes on this recipe. I had to use all of the flour allowed to make my dough get to the right consistency. I also found the second rise took at least an hour over what the book said it would. Since it’s winter here, I let my bread rise in a slightly warmed oven.

Raisin Chai Bread

Makes one 9 x5 loaf

Bread Dough

½ cup milk 

1 bag black tea (such as Tetleys) 

4 T unsalted butter, cut into 

½ inch pieces 

½ cup warm (110 degrees F) water 

1 package (2 ¼ tsp) dry active yeast 

1/3 cup sugar 

2 large eggs 

1 ½ tsp salt 

3 ¼ - 3 ¾ cups flour 

1 cup raisins

Filling

¼ cup sugar 

1 T cinnamon 

1 T ground cardamom 

½ t ground ginger 

½ ground cloves 

2-3 cracks of ground black pepper 

Milk for brushing

Egg Wash

1 large egg 

2 t milk

1. In a small saucepan over medium high heat, bring the milk to a boil. Remove from heat and add the tea bag and butter. Let the tea steep and the butter melt. Remove the teabag once the mixture has come back down to about 110 degrees.

2. Put the water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Beat in the sugar and eggs at low speed. Add milk mixture, salt, 2 cups of flour, and raisins and mix at medium speed until thoroughly mixed, about 1 minute.

3. Switch to the dough hook attachment. Add an additional 1 ¼ cups flour and kneed at medium-low speed, adding flour sparingly if dough sticks to the side of the bowl (I found I had to add a few tablespoons here). Continue kneeding until dough is smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

4. Turn dough out onto work surface. Grab the dough with a clean, dry, hand. If the dough sticks to your hand, kneed in up to an additional ½ cup of flour (I had to add about a ¼ cup). Transfer dough to a large, lightly greased plastic bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise. Let rise until doubled, 2 to 2 ½ hours.

5. Lightly grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan. Mix the spices and sugar. When the dough has risen, punch it down once. Then turn the dough out onto your unfloured work surface (I recommend flouring just a little). Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

6. Press the dough into a 6 x 8 inch rectangle, with the short side facing you. Roll the dough into an 8 x 18-inch rectangle. Brush the dough with milk. Sprinkle the spice mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a 1 ½ inch border on the far side.

7. Starting with the edge closest to you, roll up the dough, pinching gently to make sure it is tightly sealed. Use hands to push the sides of the loaf in as you go, to make sure it stays within the 9 inches. When you reach the end, pinch the dough ends together to form a secure seam. Firmly pinch dough at either end to seal sides.

8. Place loaf, seam side down, into the prepared pan. Press lightly to flatten. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until dough is one inch above the top of the pan, about 1 ½ hours (this took closer to 2 ½ hours for me).

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the eggs and milk for the egg wash. Brush the top of the loaf thoroughly with egg wash. Bake until loaf is golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.  

 

Sunday Night Chicken Korma

I went to the store today not sure what I was going to make for dinner, but not wanting to have to buy a lot of ingredients. I bought a package of chicken thighs, and two small cups of yogurt. Beyond that I just wanted to rely on whatever I had in my house. I decided to try to make chicken korma, one of my all time favorite Indian dishes. It’s a mild curry, flavored with nuts. I thought the result was ok, but could use a little modification. The recipe would have been better if I had used fresh instead of powdered ginger, had cashews, onions, coriander, or a little extra garlic. Anyway, here’s the recipe as I made it. It’s not a bad start on a Chicken Korma recipe. I served it over rice.

Chicken Korma

4 cloves garlic
3 cloves roasted garlic
1 cup yogurt
½ Tbs powdered ginger
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp chili powder
3 chicken thighs, cut into small chunks

1/3 cup skinned almonds
¼ cup cream

2 Tbs canola oil
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp bay leaves
Salt & pepper to taste
¼ tsp garam marsala
Pinch cinnamon
¼ tsp corn starch

1. Lightly crush the raw garlic. Put it in a food processor with the yogurt, roasted garlic, ginger, turmeric, and chili powder. Mix them all thoroughly. Put them into a non-metal bowl with the cut up chicken, cover in plastic wrap, and marinate the chicken for a few hours.

2. Put the almonds and ¼ cup of cream in a blender and mix on high power. Ideally you want a smooth cream, but mine still had some chunks of almond in it. Put the mixture aside

3. Put the oil in a skillet over medium high heat. If you’re adding any onions or extra garlic, sauté them in the oil. Add the spices to the oil and fry them for about a minute. Add the marinade and the chicken to the pan. Turn down the heat to medium, and stir thoroughly. Let the mixture simmer for 20-25 minutes. Make sure the chicken is cooked fully, and that the sauce has come to a simmer (it was marinating raw chicken after all).

4. If you feel the sauce needs thickening, add the corn starch.

5. Serve over rice.