Tikka masala

I started with a recipe from Epicurious but as usual didn't have the ingredients. So I made something that could have easily turned out to be cream of tomato soup.

It plated beautifully.

Step one:

Prep chicken. 

I used a 2 1/2 pound family pack of chicken breasts, beat with the bottom of a Le Creuset saucepan.

I poked holes in them with a fork and marinated them in a sauce of approximately:

- 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt

-  1 tablespoon oil

- garlic powder, about 1 tablespoon

- juice of one lemon

In a saucepan I sautéed:

- one tablespoon dehydrated garlic

- one tablespoon butter

- two tablespoons paprika 

- two teaspoons cumin

- one teaspoon cardamom

- one-half teaspoon nutmeg

- one pinch hot Indian paprika

- one tablespoon diced candied ginger

- black pepper 

I added:

- about one cup water

- about one cup half and half

- about one-half cup tomato sauce

I let that boil and reduced to a simmer while I cooked and diced the chicken.

Then I added three colors of peppers, cauliflower and peas to the sauce.

When that warmed I added it to the skillet:

It was very mild. I could have doubled the spices I think. But delightful on this cold day.

My first attempt at lentils/dal

I noticed a five pound bag of jasmine rice on clearance at Target last week. After my discounts, I would end up paying $1 per pound for this delightful rice. Could not resist. 

Then on another visit, I passed the dried beans. They were on cartwheel and chickpeas were on clearance. So I bought black beans, four bags of chick peas and a bag of lentils.

My friends from India had fed me dal and this was one of my only experiences with lentils. I decided to be brave. I decided to be adventurous. 

Tonight I made lentils.

And my fancy rice.

I served with a mini Lebanese pita because I didn't have naan.

Delightful. But I have a mountain of rice, lentils and my dal veggie mix left.

I started one cup rice in the steamer.

I boiled four cups water as instructed by the bag of lentils. Tossed one cup lentils into water, turned heat down, covered them and forgot them for 15-20 minutes. 

In my huge Le Creuset skillet, I dumped:

- one can garbanzo beans

- about 1 cup butternut squash

- one steam-in-bag Market pantry frozen cauliflower (four servings), chopped

- peas, about three servings

I periodically added water to keep everything wet and make a sauce. To give the sauce some texture I added:

- 4 ounces coconut water/lemonade

- 1/2 cup skim milk

(The milk added nothing. Leave it out and make this dish vegan!)

Once that got cooking I started adding my spices. I just tossed stuff in the pan, so measurements are VERY approximate:

- one tablespoon fresh chives, diced

- one tablespoon crystallized ginger, diced very fine

- two teaspoons ground ginger 

- almost one tablespoon garlic powder 

- one tablespoon plus curry powder

- about 1/8 teaspoon hot Indian chili powder

- two teaspoons cumin

- two teaspoons paprika

- two teaspoons cardamom 

Once that got saucy and delicious I plopped about 2/3 of my cooked lentils into it (the rest wouldn't fit) and voilà!

My Vegan Vindaloo

Previously, I made a lamb vindaloo adaptation that the family loved. I tried to reproduce it (at least the sauce) but this one came out spicier. I think it's because I marinated vegetables instead of meat and they must have really sucked in the juice. 

For the sauce:

(Pictured above... I figured why whisk when I could put it all in a jar, admire the layers and shake it.)

- 25 ml extra virgin cold pressed olive oil 

- 35 ml canola, vegetable or other oil of choice

- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

- 75 ml water

- 1 tsp garlic powder 

- 1 pinch pink Himalayan salt

- 2 teaspoons Indian chili powder

- 1 teaspoon cumin

- about 1 teaspoon cinnamon 

- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 

- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

- 1 teaspoon paprika

For the vegetables:

- 3 small local red potatoes, diced

- 1 small local tomato, diced

- 3/4 head fresh cauliflower, chopped

- 10 Brussel sprouts

- 15 ounces canned sweet peas, drained

- about 1/8 cup (handful) jumbo cashews, unsalted

- about 1/8 cup (handful) dry roasted peanuts 

Marinate, heat thoroughly in hot skillet (adding water as necessary to 'reconstitute' sauce, serve with rice.

Lamb Vindaloo

Tonight I made an adaptation of lamb vindaloo with lamb sausage and mounds of vegetables.

I based the recipe off this one from the BBC. After all, if any anglophone knows how to make Indian food, it'd be the colonizing Brits:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lamb_vindaloo_41903

I modified it based on what I had in my pantry.

I started with a chunk of mild lamb sausage, and not even a big one. 

For the sauce:

- about 25 ml extra virgin olive oil

- about 35 ml canola oil

- one tablespoon balsamic vinegar

- 2 cloves garlic, sliced & chopped

- water, about 75 ml

- one pinch salt

- about 2 teaspoons Indian chili powder

- about 1 teaspoon cumin

- a large pinch cinnamon 

- about 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger 

- about 1/2 teaspoon mustard

- about 1 teaspoon paprika 

I whisked it, chopped the raw sausage in half and left it to marinade all day.

When I got home from work, I cooked the sausage in some oil. I chopped it and added vegetables to the skillet with the meat.

Vegetables:

- Lots of peas

- carrots 

- fresh spinach

- leftover potatoes from last night's dinner 

Then I added the marinade and cooked it all together.

I served with rice and plain steamed fresh broccoli (just in case in was too spicy for the wee one). In my opinion, it was just the right spicy. Yummy yum yums.

 The two photos in the skillet were taken by my daughter.

Clearance Indian

I bought Chicken Tikka Masala on clearance on Target. $2.48 for 2 servings. Archer Farms. To offset the processed food, I made a nice plate of fresh spinach and spring mix, which we'll put the chicken and rice on top of it. Then we'll have non-dairy fruit smoothies-- my new recipe of coconut milk, pomegranate juice, strawberries, peaches, pineapple, mango, banana and local raw honey.

Early dinners

Since I've worked all weekend, and closing shift, we've had hot meals earlier in the day to get "real food" into me before I head to Target café.

Yesterday we had an early lunch of leftovers, including eggplant, green beans and vegetarian piggies in the blanket. For dinner, at 4 before I headed off, my husband made spaghetti and meatballs.

We froze some meatballs for later use.

Today, at noon, we're enjoying vegetarian and gluten free channa dal from a package to which I added loads of spinach and hearty brown rice. The beverage was Very Vanilla Silk.

Speaking of Target, I finished my work on time last night for the first time in ages. The dishwasher has been broken for about a month and washing piles of dirty cast iron pizza pans has been fun to say the least.

But last night I got done on time and could buy some household items. Sadly Target had no more canning lids.

But I did pick up the following:
- ocean spray 64 ounce bottle of cran-raspberry juice, on sale for $2.39
- Market Pantry pasta sauce, one traditional and one garden vegetable. $1.32 each. I have no intention of eating them. I don't use jarred sauce. They are for my father-in-law who read in Consumer Reports that the Target brand is the best spaghetti sauce. After he told me this four times, I'm buying him some.
- archer farms organic hibiscus tea, $2.99
- Tazo decaf chai tea bags, $2.99
- archer farms sea salt caramel hot chocolate mix, $4.49 (splurge but the child has to have something yummy for the occasional crisp fall morning)
- sugar, $2.69
- Silk vanilla almond milk, $3.19
- Silk very vanilla soy milk, $2.99
- Breyers waffle cone burst ice cream, 2 cartons on clearance for $3.07 each

Total: $30.51
Minus team member discount: -3.06
RedCard: -1.37
Tax: 12 cents
New total: $26.20

Channa Dal

I love Indian food. Up until recently, my daughter has always loved Indian food. I noticed these Channa Dal packs at Target on clearance for $2.78. And they have three servings. Now as much as I love home cooking, I still work closing shift and sometimes I run out of ideas and let my husband cook dinner.

Like last night. I cooked a nice lunch, he worked all day and we had leftover cooked brown rice so I thought it would be a great night to try the Channa Dal.

I'm having my serving for lunch today with a hearty dose of sweet peas.

Now I don't know anything about Channa kernel or urad kernel but this is quite tasty and has some zing to it. I'm enjoying mine with mango smoothie.

The manufacturer of this mix is Jyoti.

Chicken curry in the crock pot

From crockpot 365:
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/07/crockpot-indian-curry-recipe.html?m=1

I didn't have all the ingredients, so I used:
- 1 can organic coconut milk
- a splash half and half
- 2 TBS curry
- 1 TBS cumin
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 splash Franks Red Hot sauce
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic

- chicken
- red potatoes chopped into chunks
- 1 can sweet peas
- 1/2 bag frozen California blend

Naan

I've been craving Indian food. I researched making naan and while I haven't attempted it-- apparently it requires yogurt-- here are some interesting web pages on the topic:

http://foodformyfamily.com/recipes/how-to-make-naan-in-the-oven

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/breadsrice/r/naanrecipe.htm

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/naan/detail.aspx

Chicken curry tonight

I initially planned a very bland meal of rice with canned chicken and some sort of sauce made from a can of Campbells chicken noodle soup. But brilliance struck, and I opted for some sort of Indian-style curry. I wanted to make a vegetarian dish, but we're low on basic vegetables (like California blend-- cauliflower, broccoli and carrots).

I started the white rice in the steamer. I added the water, some garlic salt (just a pinch), about a teaspoon of parsley and a tablespoon of butter.

Then in my Le Creuset skillet, I mixed a pinch (about 1/3 teaspoon) garlic, two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, about 1/2 teaspoon red Indian chili powder, 3/4 teaspoon four color peppercorn, about 3/4 teaspoon cumin, and maybe 2 teaspoons curry powder. Oh, and a half teaspoon ginger.

I heated this thoroughly and then added about one cup hot water and boiled it. Next I added the canned chicken and chopped it into fairly small pieces. I mixed and boiled it down.

I swirled in about 1 teaspoon half and half and about three tablespoons soy milk. To finish it off I added a can of petit pois.

I served this over the rice.

Very nice.

Another batch of chili

So... It's raining. I'm making a batch of chili.

I started with one idea and due to my mistakes ended up with quite another.

I started with a partial teaspoon of olive oil, some garlic powder and some diced tomatoes. I added four color pepper, Italian seasoning, a pinch of cumin, a teaspoon of chili powder, and I meant to add a pinch of Indian chili seasoning but I ended up with closer to a teaspoon. Oops!

So I added almost two teaspoons of cocoa powder and another can of diced tomatoes, this one Italian style, and more garlic. Then I added a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple. I boiled it for about 15 minutes, then simmered it for an hour and added two cans of no salt added dark red kidney beans, one can light kidney beans, and one can black beans.

I made the cornbread dumplings to go with the chili, and I didn't have enough milk, so I reduced the amount of milk, added some water (do-it-yourself skim milk) and a little extra canola oil.

VERDICT: The chili wasn't spicy and because I cooked the pineapple and tomatoes together for a couple hours, everything more or less melted into one flavor. And the flavor was very rich and despite the lack of spice still had taste.

Now the dumplings took over the pot, but they were yummy, even if it was hard to find the chili underneath.

Perhaps my best batch of chili ever.

Said to my husband, I probably won't be able to replicate it, but then he said I probably wouldn't try...

This is the link to only the three recipes I usually blend to make my chili:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2008/12/five-alarm-chili.html

All my chili-related recipes:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/search/label/chili

Starting chili

We got about a foot of snow... okay, it's probably more like eight or so inches. But that makes me want something hot and stew-like. Beef bourgogne would be fabulous, but working with what I have on hand, it looks like chili. And if I can gather the ingredients, I'd like to make the kind with cornbread dumplings...

If this link works, it should take you to my previous chili recipes:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/search/label/chili
If not the link in the labels below for chili should help...

But let's see today...

• about a tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• about one and a half cups browned hamburger crumbles from the freezer
• one clove garlic coarsely chopped
• about 3/4 teaspoon Indian chili powder
• about one teaspoon pizza and pasta seasoning
  

That's sizzling in the pan. I added:

• almost two cups Wegmans vegetable stock

As I wait for that to boil, I'm debating between Hunts Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes or the cheap Italian style from Aldi... I'm thinking fire-roasted.

• One can Hunts Fire Roasted tomatoes

Waiting for that to boil. I'm going to boil it for about 10 minutes to reduce some of the vegetable stock. Then I'll simmer covered for about an hour. I added:

• one tablespoon cocoa powder
• about a half teaspoon four color organic peppercorns

I let it cook for about 30 minutes and seeing how it reduced down, I added:

• 1 cup thai broth (also Wegmans, I had it in the freezer)
  

Perusing my chili recipes, I'm thinking this calls for:

• one can (15.5 ounces) light red kidney beans
• one can dark red kidney beans

(I'm out of black. I love black beans.) I'm still debating whether to add corn and/or pineapple. It all depends on the flavor.

Well, my goal is always to make chili that has a nice flavor but isn't too spicy for the child. I usually only succeed in making either bland chili or five-alarm chili. Today, it seems like this concoction is three-alarm chili. So I added:

• 20 ounces crushed pineapple (minus a couple ounces for the tortoise)

Smells and looks great.

Garden Chili

I wanted to make something a little different for dinner, something we hadn't had in a while and chili seemed right. But we're seriously lacking ingredients, so I had to make do with what I had. So this is what I call "Garden Chili."

Garden Chili
In a big pot, combine:
About three teaspoons fresh oregano
One tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
About 1/4 cup fresh spinach, shredded
About 3 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
1/2 teaspoon fresh parsley

Cook until spices are aromatic and tender.

Add:
Two tablespoons tomato sauce (it was leftover, certainly not 'needed')
Two tablespoons garlic powder
Three tablespoons commercial chili seasoning

Cook until well combined.

Add:
14.5 ounce can diced tomatos with basil, oregano and garlic
10 ounces crushed pineapple 1/2 teaspoon Indian chili powder
2 tablespoons cocoa

Mix and bring to a boil on high. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add:
15.5 ounce can black beans
15.5 ounce can dark kidney beans, organic

Return to a boil; then reduce heat and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Add:
15.5 ounces of sweet yellow corn (Del Monte in this case)
Cook for 15 minutes.

These were literally the only things in my garden and cabinets that would remotely work for chili. We'll be eating at five. I'll edit this post to report in on if it's gross, indifferent or yummy.

And the verdict is: Two bowls each husband and chef, daughter ate all of her bowl and ate well. It was the best bowl of chili I've made in a long time. Not spicy, yet flavorful.

Dinner for Two at Nawab

Last night, as part of my birthday surprise, my husband and I went to one of our favorite restaurants: Nawab, on Fourth Street, Southside Bethlehem. We ordered some mango lassis and the Nawab chef's special dinner for two. It was $37.95 and ended up being more like dinner for four. We just had the leftovers for dinner tonight... with the child.

The dinner itself consisted of soup (I had the mulligatawny-vegetable, my husband ad the chicken), appetizers (shrimp, two types of chicken, and lamb meatball-like things), bread, lamb curry and some vegetable dish, rice (of course) and tea/coffee and dessert (my husband had the honey-milk balls and I had the rose-flavored ice cream.

I felt like I barely touched my food and by the end of the evening I was painfully full. (The service was way too fast and they kept serving each course before we finished the previous.) The food was amazing, as it usually was, and the dinner for two cost less than $10 more than us ordering our normal two meals with one appetizer, and we got enough leftovers for a second dinner.

Chicken à la diable

The last few days have been a blur of unexciting food. Hamburger-helper style pasta, broccoli-cheese omelet wraps, breakfast of Bob's Red Mill hot cereal. Snack of canned pineapple and graham crackers with peanut butter.

I was surfing the 'net this morning thinking I would make something with that nice organic chicken breast my husband bought last week. So I did some random searches and ended up on about.com's French cooking area. Chicken Veronique sounded interesting, but I don't have grapes... I technically don't have the ingredients for this either, but I'm going to wing it.

Big surprise, eh?
(As a side note: Last night my husband went to the store and spent $20. The tortoise needed greens. I may stop later today because I'm dying for Crôque Monsieur... though I don't think Giant carries Grûyere...)

From about.com:
Chicken à la diable
"Spicy deviled chicken is breaded and then fried in butter for an amazing taste explosion. The secret to its mildly fiery flavor: mustard and cayenne."
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

* 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
* ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 2 eggs, beaten
* 6 boneless chicken breast halves, cut in half lengthwise
* ¾ cup dry breadcrumbs
* 3 tablespoons butter

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter in a roasting pan. In a small bowl, mix together the mustard and cayenne pepper. Brush the mustard onto the chicken, and then dip the chicken in eggs and dredge in the breadcrumbs. Arrange the chicken breasts in the roasting pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, turning once. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.

Okay, where's the frying?
Hmmm....
Let's see what I can do with this...

Angel's ethnically-confused chicken
So... I cut the chicken breasts in three slices each because they seemed thick.
I made a sauce of 1 tablespoon soy mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard and 1 tablespoon saffron-ginger-mango Indian dipping sauce.
I slathered the chicken with this strange concoction.
I mixed my homemade breadcrumbs (which some are breadcrumbs and others are more like tiny croutons) with parsley about 3:1. (Three being breadcrumbs.)
I rolled the chicken in the crumbs and arranged in my biggest pyrex dish.
And now I'm baking at 400 degrees for 2o minutes and then flipping and baking some more.

I plan to serve with greenbeans. I think I have a new favorite way to serve greenbeens. I cooked them in the microwave, poured a drizzle of olive oil on them and fried them on high until kind of crisp.

Note: I would cut the mustard for the sauce on this chicken in half next time. The family devoured a pound of chicken in about ten minutes so I suppose it was yummy...

Curried Vegetables with whole wheat pasta

I lost two days?!?!? How did I lose two days?
Okay, let's not talk about that. But I will admit that I was chagrined to note that I spent $200 on dining out in the month of April. Not good. My grocery budget was $220, which normally would be good had I not splurged so much with the take-out/dining. My job is seasonal and I don't work in June and July. Basically, I could have saved that money and used it to buy groceries in June. I'm mad at myself.
Anyway...

We all came home starving today and my in-laws had served my daughter crappy grocery-store bakery-made pizza for lunch for the second time this week. She had an apple for breakfast, some grapes mid-morning and no other real food that I know of so I needed something fast and full of vegetables.
Curry popped into mind.
I've never made curry.
But that's never stopped me before.
I whip out my vegetarian cookbooks, but quickly feel like I'm looking for a proverbial needle in a haystack. With a hungry family, that's not a good feeling. I grab the laptop and google "curry pasta sauce." Get several hits. Like this one:

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/pasta-with-low-fat-curry-sauce.html#

INGREDIENTS

(as originally listed)

8 ounces dry pasta
3 tablespoons slivered almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 cup diced tomato
1 1/2 teaspoons mild curry powder
Pinch cayenne, or to taste
1 cup frozen peas, rinsed briefly in hot water to thaw
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Okay, I look around my kitchen. I have:
13.25 ounces of whole wheat penne pasta
1/4 cup slivered almonds
olive oil
cumin powder
one can diced tomato with garlic
curry powder
[I forgot to look for cayenne]
frozen peas
frozen cauliflower, carrots and broccoli
1 cup soy milk and 1 cup dehydrated milk which I add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to so it "cooks" more like buttermilk.

1. Prepare pasta.
2. While pasta cooks, toast almonds in skillet and set aside.
3. Thaw vegetables.
4. Put spices and tomatoes into skillet. Add a drizzle of olive oil as needed to keep from burning.
5. Add vegetables. Drizzle with olive oil and heat until hot.
6. Reduce heat and stir in milk, simmer until a consistent temperature.
7. Drain pasta. Combine pasta and sauce.
8. Sprinkle almonds on top.