Curry: Tikka Masala

This recipe is taken out of my Ultimate Curry Bible cookbook that you can get here. It has so much historical information about Curries and is a really fascinating cookbook. Someday I'm going to these places and eating the real deal in person.

Don't be intimidated by the ingredients. You CAN do it!!!

Heat Level: To me this is about a 4 if you add the full amount of cayenne pepper. We have little kiddos that need to eat somewhat what I am cooking so I scaled it way back. In the end Matthew only ate the chicken so if you have kids or a sensitive palate yourself you can do these options:

1-Leave out the Cayenne pepper completely. It will affect the flavor slightly but I think it would still taste good.
2-Leave pepper out of the chicken and put the full amount in the sauce. This way the kids can eat the meat and rice and Naan bread if having but not have the sauce. I'll be doing that next time so Matthew's mouth won't burn, but we can enjoy some nice sinus cleansing. :)
3-Reduce the amount in both places. I did that and it still tasted good, but I missed the burning sensation in my mouth.


Today's Ingredients: (you'll use most of the spices in the curry and kebabs)
Curry Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, sliced into fine half-rings
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
5-6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed to a pulp
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
¾ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons bright red paprika
4 tablespoons natural yogurt (I forgot it in the picture)
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and very finely chopped
12 fluid oz chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon salt, more if the stock is unsalted
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Freshly made Silken Chicken 'Tikka' Kebabs

Tikka Kebabs
1-1/2 lb boned and skinned chicken breasts, cut into 2½ cm/1-inch pieces
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and very finely grated
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed to a pulp
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon bright red paprika
1/2-3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon garam masala

You can definitely eat these kebabs on their own with a little rice and some Naan bread or add to a pita. They are so good and juicy.

Optional Ingredients to complete the meal:
-Basmati Rice - you can use regular rice, but Basmati has a nice flavor that is different from any other rice. It is used in conjunction with Indian Curries.
-Naan Bread - If you can't find then use Pitas as a substitute. I recently found some Naan at an Asian market that tasted like the real thing from my favorite restaurant.

First up you are going to be marinading your chicken for 6-8 hours or even overnight. Longer doesn't hurt these babies, just makes them yummier.


First dice your chicken into chunks. You are going to pour the lemon juice and salt over the chicken and stir it well and let it sit for 20 min.


After the chicken is done sitting add the garlic, ginger, spices and whipping cream.

A quick note about the ginger. It's kindof weird looking and will last forever. Just break off a piece, peel it and grate it. I used my zester grater after peeling the ginger and did enough at one time for both recipes. This will save you time later on if you do it this way.


Mix it all together and set it in the fridge and let it marinade. Mmmmm...it smells SO good!


Once you are getting closer to dinner time it's time to start prepping the curry. It calls for peeling and finely dicing the tomatoes. I had never done this before this cookbook, but the reason is they need to cook down and get pulpy and the skin just gets in the way. I've had these tomatoes in my fridge for a few weeks so they were nice and soft (not overripe) and I literally just peeled the skin off. In the past I've used a paring knife to get the skin off. Either way works.

Once you slice and dice finely make sure you just scoop up the flesh of the tomato and leave as many seeds as you can behind.


Next prep everything else: Thinly slice the onion into half rings. I did this by cutting the onion in half and then slicing into thin rings. It calls for the garlic to be mashed to a pulp. I just peeled them and put them through my garlic press and then smushed them some more with the edge of my knife. Chop your cilantro - optional, you can do also this at the end. My ginger was just sitting there ready from when I prepped it for my marinade.

I should have prepped the following (you'll see why below - I recommend you do):
-Put your ground coriander, turmeric, cayenne pepper and paprika in a bowl together.
-Have your 4 tablespoons plain yogurt measured out in a small bowl
-Have your chicken stock measured out and ready to go.

Reason being: The first part of this recipe cooks really fast and the ingredients get added quickly right after another. If you are worrying about measuring out your ingredients you can easily burn the ingredients (see MY picture below). You don't want burned onions, garlic or ginger as it could ruin the whole recipe. I promise you'll be glad you prepped your ingredients.


Starting the curry sauce: Add 2 tablespoons oil (the original recipe called for 4, but I think 2 works just fine) to a heavy pan. Once it's hot add your onions.


Stir quickly for 6-7 min. until they are red in color. Do not burn them (easy to do so keep stirring). My stove was on medium-high, but I think it really should be on medium. You can see a few burnt onions. It's tricky trying to cook and take pictures sometimes.

Once it's nice and softened, add the ginger and garlic and stir for a minute.


Add the spices you've combined in a bowl.


Stir for 10 seconds. The bottom of your pan should NOT look like this. This is what happens when your heat is too high. Some of my spices burned to the bottom of the pan. Luckily they stayed stuck to the pan and didn't end up loosening up in the curry, which could have made it bitter. Poor Jordan is the dish doer and this is going to take some elbow grease to get clean.


Next start adding the yogurt one tablespoon at a time until absorbed and then add the next tablespoon and repeat until the yogurt is all absorbed.

Next add your tomatoes and cook for 3-4 min. until they turn pulpy. Keep mashing them up with the back of your spoon until they are pretty much all pulverized.

Add the stock and the salt and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15-20 min. to reduce slightly and thicken up. At this point you should start your rice (basmati) cooking, start your grill for the kebabs, thread your kebabs onto skewers and get your oven started for heating your bread.

Once your grill is ready then cook the kebabs on each side for about 6 min.

We have used wooden skewers in the past, but couldn't find them today (MIA from moving like many other things) and so we bought some metal ones. If you use wooden ones make sure to soak for at least 1 hour so they don't burn up and disinegrate on the grill. I am IN LOVE with metal ones though and am never going back. Super easy to thread and take back off the kebab and we can just wash and reuse.

If you don't have an outdoor grill you can either try a grill pan, broiling them in the oven, or just cooking in a pan until cooked through. I haven't tried any of these methods but I'm sure they would work. I understand that not everyone has an outdoor grill or is allowed to have one. We didn't have our grill until about 3 years ago.



Once your kebabs come off the grill cover them in foil and let sit for about 5 min. so they don't lose their juiciness. Add the cilantro and garam masala to the sauce.


Mix all together.

If using Naan bread, get it in the oven to heat through.


Take the kebabs off the skewers and throw in the curry sauce

Don't forget to set some chicken aside for your kids without the sauce if you're worried about them liking the curry sauce. I can almost guarantee they'll gobble up these chicken bites of wonderfulness.


Stir around until nicely coated. Your rice should be done and the Naan bread heated up.

Put together on a plate and enjoy a wonderful homecooked Indian meal that costs a fraction of going to a GOOD Indian restaurant. I guarantee this will blow away any jarred curry sauce you may be eating!

Tikka Masala

Curries...well worth the effort!

My philosophy about food right now is that it is worth the time and effort if what I cook tastes amazing and is memorable. There is nothing more satisfying than sitting down to a really great meal that I have cooked myself.

In the next couple of weeks and months I'm going to introduce you to different curries from around the world. I was introduced to Indian food while living back East 9 years ago. I wasn't super adventurous food wise back then, but we had some good friends that were and took us on culinary adventures with them. I really liked the Tandoori (spice rubbed chicken cooked in a clay oven) entrees at the Indian restaurant, but was too nervous to try the actual curries. Fast forward to moving to England and we met another set of friends who introduced us to curries and then we found this fantastic Indian restaurant in London. I tried all sorts of yummy curries there and loved them. I even bought a curry bible book (my favorite cookbook - link here) while in London and finally started making Indian food about 4 years ago.

What is Curry?
It was hard for me to describe and put into words so I found a website that defined it perfectly: Curry is one of those words like salsa; it means different things to different people. At its most basic, curry refers to a spicy dish of vegetables or meat served with rice. Curry is derived from the Tamil word kari, which means sauce.

In some types of Indian cuisine, curry denotes a dish that is sort of like a soup made with yogurt, clarified butter, spices and chick pea flour. Other regions from England to Thailand use curry as a generic word for meat or vegetables cooked with a spicy sauce.

Cooking Curries
You may be intimidated by cooking Curries, but I think they are dishes well worth the time and effort. They are the perfect dishes to cook on a Saturday or Sunday when you have a little more time. Not that you'll be spending hours in kitchen, but it will take longer than 20 min.


Ingredients
There are several Indian curry spices and ingredients that I have invested in that I think are well worth the money, especially if you are going to be cooking various curry dishes. Most of mine have come from Penzey's and are outstanding. If you can only buy a few, then invest in one curry powder, turmeric and garam masala. You can get the rest if and when you choose to make the more ingreident heavy curries.


Ingredients to consider investing in:
Curry - I use both Penzey's sweet and hot curry powders
Garam Masala
Turmeric
Cumin
Coriander
Fish Sauce
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Whole Cumin Seeds
Whole Coriander Seeds


Curries I'll be making in the coming weeks and months:
Chicken in Yellow Curry Sauce (Thailand) - I've made this once after having this at a good Thai place in Utah. My recipe tasted just as good as the restaurants, cost less to make and it was so good there were no leftovers. Did my kids eat it? Nope, it's too spicy but sometimes they can have pizza if we are eating something a little more decadent and spicy.

Chicken Curry with a Cashew-Coconut Sauce (Sri Lanka) - a new recipe I'm going to try out here. The recipe looks good and really can anything be bad that uses coconut milk? I think not!

Minced Chicken Curry (Pakistan) - One of the first curries we made and it's really simple, great for kids, has great flavor, isn't spicy and everyone we've ever made it for has loved it.

Tikka Masala (India) - I fell in love with Tikka Masala while in London and this recipe is just as good or even better. It is so delicious and well worth the time. In fact this will be the first curry I post here and I'm making it tonight for dinner! The recipe will be up tomorrow.

Lamb Pasanda (India) - I had this recently at my favorite Indian restaurant and it is so creamy, decadent and delicious that I am determined to make this at home. I can't wait to try the recipe in a few weeks (I can't eat this heavy EVERY night!).

Beef and Potato Mussaman Curry (Thailand) - I also had this at the Thai restaurant we discovered in Utah and it was so delicious. I am determined to make it from scratch as well. I haven't made it yet so we'll be taking that journey together too.

I'll let you know in my opinion what each recipe rates heat level wise. Now keep in mind all taste buds are not created equally. What I consider pretty hot, my husband considers mild to medium hot and my mother-in-law would consider it mouth burning (for day and day). I'll also let you know where you can tone it down to keep the spice level in check if you need to.

Be Brave, Don't be Intimidated and know that the results are well worth the effort! If you haven't already discovered a love for curries then I can almost guarantee that you are going to love the recipes that I show you here.

Chicken Meatballs with Gnocchi

I saw this recipe on FoodTV with Rachael Ray several years ago. It has become a staple and one of our favorites at our house. I love that the meatballs use Chicken (or Turkey) but is full of flavor and not bland at all!

Are you wondering what Gnocchi is? I don't think I had ever had it or tasted it until this recipe. It's a small potato dumpling prevalent in Italian cooking. They are little dumplings of yumminess and cook up in about 2-3 min. You just dump them in your boiling water and when they float to the top they are done! I could find them in almost every grocery store in Arizona, but can only find them at Trader Joe's here in Oregon.

If you can't find it you can substitute with spaghetti, linguini, egg noodles or rigatoni. We've done it before and it worked great. Just make sure it's a pasta that can stand up to meatballs and a hearty sauce. Angel hair would not be a good idea. If you can find them (Trader Joe's ones are only $1.99) I would urge you to try Gnocchi - they ARE that yummy! The recipe I linked to below says gnocchi is in the refrigerated or freezer section. I have never found them there but rather in the regular pasta area and in a little pouch.


Today's Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds of ground chicken or turkey (I actually used 1 lb of turkey)
1 tablespoon grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup or 20 leaves fresh basil, julienned
2 tablespoons EVOO
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce
S&P
1 pound gnocchi


First prep some ingredients: Mince your onion, mince your garlic, julienne your basil, chop your sun-dried tomatoes into little pieces


Take about 2 tablespoons of EVOO and saute the onion, garlic and red pepper flakes* together until it becomes nice and soft - about 5-6 min.

*If you have little children or are sensitive to spicy foods then either leave this out all together or just add 1 little shake. I probably only added 5 little flakes to give it just a tich of heat and it wasn't too spicy for my kids. The full 1/2 teaspoon would have burned their mouths.


Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and season with S&P. Once it starts boiling, turn down to a simmer. I like to let this cook down while making the meatballs and cooking the gnocchi. About 30 min.

At this point preheat your oven to 400 (while the sauce is simmering) and start your water boiling for your gnocchi.


Once you have the sauce going mix together the meatballs. Mix together the turkey, grill seasoning*, fennel seeds, sun-dried tomatoes and half the basil.

*Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick is one of the non Penzey's seasonings that I really love. It's nice and peppery and full of flavor. If you don't have this seasoning it's one you won't regret buying. We love to add it to our hamburgers for a nice full flavor and Jordan adds it to Rib-eye steaks that are the best!


Shape into little meatballs. If you have the little scooper from Pampered Chef that's what I used to make mine. They are the perfect little size to go with the Gnocchi and perfect for little kids.


I ended up with about 36 little meatballs. Cook them for 10-12 min. My oven is a little funky and it took about 15 min for mine to get browned. Seriously they are soooo juicy!

Your water should be boiling just about now. Dump the gnocchi in and in about 2-3 min. they'll start popping to the top.


Your sauce should be thickened quite a bit so it's a good time to add the rest of your basil.

At this point you can do 1 of 2 things. Add everything to the pot like I do or leave everything out separately so everyone can scoop their own. In the past I have had it separate and it seemed to get a little dried out so now I just combine everything into 1 big pot.


At this point the sauce is nice and thick, I've added the meatballs from the oven and mixed in the gnocchi. Mmmmmm....I wish you could smell it!

Seriously yum-o! A little side of salad and some crusty bread and you have a full dinner. Isabelle ate the Gnocchi and sauce (she's not much of a meat eater) and Matthew ate some of everything.

Since this is a recipe I can link to, you can find it here.

Crockpot: Five-Spice Pork Sandwiches

I bought this slow cooker recipe magazine since my slow cooker books are MIA since the move. I decided to try these pork sandwiches as something different than the usual pork slathered with BBQ sauce and cooked in the slow cooker (that is really delicious too or even chicken is yummy as well).

Today's Ingredients:
1 2 ½-3 pound pork shoulder blade roast
1 cup apple juice or apple cider
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 ½ teaspoons five-spice powder*
1 ½ – 2 cups shredded cabbage or shredded broccoli slaw - optional
6 – 8 hamburger buns (see recipe below for homemade ones)




A shoulder roast has more fat and a bone and is kindof tough - PERFECT for the slow cooker. Over time in the slow cooker the meat becomes really tender and perfect for all sorts of meals.

In a small bowl, combine apple juice (cider), soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and Five-Spice Powder. Pour over meat in cooker. Set to low and in 8-12 hours, this meat will be nice and juicy and have just a touch of Asian flavor. Once done, take out of cooker and let cool slightly. Shred and add in juices if needed.

I have had this Penzey's Chinese Five-Spice for awhile and haven't really used it and it was perfect. Here is the recipe for a Five-Spice blend you can make yourself, but if you don't have some of these ingredients (like me) it might be easier to just buy a Chinese Five-Spice Blend (cheaper too).

*Homemade Five-Spice Blend
In a blender or spice grinder combine:
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
6 star anise or 2 teaspoons anise seeds
1 ½ teaspoons fennels seeds
1 ½ teaspoons whole Szechwan pepper or whole black pepper
¾ teaspoons ground cloves.
-Cover and blend to a fine powder. Makes about ½ cup.


I am NOT a lover of coleslaw in fact I hate it, but have come up with my own that adds a nice cooleness and crunch to BBQ sandwiches. You take either a broccoli or slaw mix and add in a little of your favorite buttermilk dressing and viola yummy coleslaw. Try it once and I'm sure you'll love it (Jordan was very skeptical the first time but loves it). I make mine with a little milk, light sour cream and Penzey's Buttermilk Dressing base and it's so good!

I also like to make homemade buns most of the time. They are denser than ones from the store and help make the meal more filling, they are oh so yummy and freeze well IF you have leftovers. My picky kids usually eat everything separate and love bread so this works well for their meal.

Homemade Hamburger Buns
1 cup milk
½ cup water
1 egg
¼ cup butter
4 ½ cups white flour or 2 cups wheat and 2 ½ cups white
1 pkg instant yeast
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt

1. If using a breadmaker, then layer ingredients in order and place on dough setting and skip to step five.
2. If making with a mixer or by hand then do the following.
3. In a small saucepan, heat milk, water, and butter until very warm.
4. In a large bowl, mix together 1 ¾ cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture and then mix in egg. Stir in remaining flour ½ cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 min. Cover in a bowl and let rise for about an hour.


5. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly.


Cover, and let rise for 30-35 min.


6. Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.


To serve, arrange meat and cabbage. Serve cooking juices in individual bowls for dipping. See that little salad, I'll be posting about that soon!

Five-Spice Pork Sandwiches
Click on the link to open a PDF recipe. Once the link opens click on print and it will ask you what you want to do so tell it to open and then it will open in PDF. You must have Adobe Reader (free to install from Adobe's website) in order to print the recipe.

Chicken Caprese

I had this entree at Olive Garden several years ago and loved it and eventually found it on their website. I've tried to cook lighter in the last year or so to be healthier and while on my weight loss challenge. The original recipe had huge amounts of caloriesso I decided to try and figure out ways to lighten it up. The original recipe calls for using heavy cream which I WAS going to use (why it's pictured) but decided to see if half & half would work - it does!, lots of parmesan cheese - which I cut down and mozzarella which I cut out completely. I think most recipes at restaurants can kill you with the amount of cheese they want to use. This recipe also called for the chicken to be dredged in flour and fried in 1 cup of oil. I lightened it up by grilling it instead using the flavors from the original recipe.

Please note that you'll need to prep and let the tomato mixture sit for at least 1 hour (preferrably more) to marinate. Don't be intimidated by the ingredients, it really is a pretty easy recipe. This serves 6 and made a ton for our family so I will half it next time.

The Stars of the Show:

8-10 Roma tomatoes, cored and cut into 1 inch pieces
Black pepper for seasoning
30 medium basil leaves, julienned
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp of EVOO
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth
3 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, divided
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 pound angel hair pasta

Tomatoes:

Core the roma tomatoes and slices into 1 inch pieces. I cut them smaller than that as I like them littler. Make sure your tomatoes are juicy. You could use regular tomatoes too, just make sure you get all the seeds out.

Stack the basil

Roll the basil lengthwise and then cut into strips to julienne them.

Add the tomatoes, basil, 2 tbsp of minced garlic, 1 1/2 tsp of Italian seasoning, 1 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of EVOO in a bowl.

Mix together and set in the fridge for at least 1 hour.


Heat your grill now and start the water boiling for your pasta and cook pasta until al dente and drain and set aside until ready to assemble.


Chicken:

Season the chicken well with S&P and Italian Seasoning. This actually ended up not being enough seasoning for me so season well.

Sauce:

Once you have your chicken grilling start working on the sauce. Heat 1 tbsp of EVOO in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp of minced garlic and saute for approx. 1 min. Do not brown. Slowly add 1 tbsp of flour and stir to combine. Add your white wine or chicken stock and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 min.

Remove marinated tomato & basil mixture from refrigerator. Drain tomato mixture and set aside from the liquid. Add 1/2 cup of marinade liquid and saute for approx. 1 min. Add the heavy cream or half & half, lower the heat and bring to a simmer.

Add 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. If you can afford the calories you can add up to as much as 1 cup of Pamesan cheese.

To assemble everything add the cooked pasta to a bowl and cover with sauce. Add in the tomato mixture. Alternatively spoon a little sauce over the pasta and mix together and then add pasta to your plate, cover with a little more sauce and then pile with the tomato mixture. I mixed everything together this time, but will do the alternative way next time.

Once you take off the chicken from the grill let it rest for about 5 min. to keep the chicken nice and juicy.

Serve the chicken and pasta together. Yum-o!

Chicken Caprese Recipe
Click on the link to open a PDF recipe. Once the link opens click on print and it will ask you what you want to do so tell it to open and then it will open in PDF. You must have Adobe Reader (free to install from Adobe's website) in order to print the recipe.

Kitchen Tools: # 1

I'm going to do a series of blogs about my favorite Kitchen Tools and why you might want them too.

First Up:
Penzey's Spices
Japanese Chef Knifes
A Zester




I discovered Penzey's probably about 4 years ago. Somebody mentioned it in a forum that I belonged to so I checked it out and discovered they had a store in Phoenix. I didn't know much except that it had spices. The first time I stepped in it's door I was in heaven. I can only describe their spices as taking a spice from the store and stepping it up 10 times. They are the best I've ever used and I can absolutely attest it's changed my cooking. I didn't replace all my spices at once but over time I have. Once I used a spice up that I bought at the store I replaced it with Penzey's. You can order it online if you don't have a store near you and once you get on their mailing list they send you catalogs with free spice coupons several times a year. I would recommend starting with at least the Cinnamon (they have 5 kinds - my favorite is the Vietnamese) and the Italian seasoning. They are both spectacular and get used A LOT at our house. Let me tell you their vanilla is amazing and if you've never used a vanilla bean because you didn't know how to, theirs are the juiciest I've ever seen.

They have a lot of spice blends that don't contain salt but do contain a lot of flavor so if you need to cut down on salt try their salt-free blends. Their website is here. I also love that they include recipes in every magazine and if you visit one of their stores they have rip off recipes you can take with you for free everywhere in the store.



About 4 years ago I picked up a Japanese (like) knife set on Black Friday. Why I didn't own one before I'll never know. That set of 3 knives is what I use every night to prepare dinner. They can dice or chop so finely and has made a huge difference in my prep work. They are super sharp and really it's hard for me to cook without them. I have even taken them with me on trips where I know I'll be cooking. They ARE that good. You don't need to invest in a $100 knife but try to find one and even if it's a little spendy it's well worth it. A dull crappy knife can make making dinner a more painful and frustrating experience.

This little zester has been my new favorite friend lately. I use it to shred parmesan cheese, zest my lemons, grate nutmeg and chocolate and anything else that is hard and needs to be grated. Rachael Ray uses her to grate her garlic. I tried that once but garlic juice got into a cut in my thumb and hurt like the devil so I haven't tried that again.

I love its little holes and I think it looks so cute. I find that it helps make my little jobs a lot easier. I'm all for making my cooking easier and more streamlined and having a little fun too.

Those are my kitchen tool tips for the week. If you use Penzey's spices - which is your favorite? If you have a Japanese knife - please tell me why you love it? If you own a zester - what do you use it for? Please leave a comment and share!