In Which I Feel Pretty Damned Pleased with My House Concert Food!

I've been experimenting with Indian food of late---the flavors taste fresh and pleasantly complicated to me. My friend Van gave me a great cookbook for my birthday so I've been using that. In fact I like it enough that I got one of her other cookbooks on my kindle. I'll never get a cookbook on my kindle again. I've gotten a few before but they were things I just looked through so it was o.k. When I really like a cookbook however I want to page back and forth and I found it a royal pain on the kindle. I persevered though because I like the book.

When it came time to plan the food for the Kevin Gordon house concert I decided to pull several recipes from the two books, Vegan Indian Cooking and the Indian Slow Cooker. I don't use the slow cooker all that often but it's nice to use for parties. I only have one slow cooker so I actually adapted one of the recipes back to good old stove top.

I was pretty pleased with how everything turned out and people were kind so it was great fun. I did Chicken Tikka Masala, Spicy Ginger-Garlic Eggplant, Kale in Coconut milk (my own made up recipe) and Warm North Indian Salad.

Here is the Chicken Tikka Masala recipe as written for the slow cooker:

Chicken Tikka Masala recipe, from The Indian Slow Cooker
Yields: 14 cups
Cooking time: At least 2 hours to marinate, then 6 to 8 hours on high
Slow cooker size: 5 Quart

Ingredients:

Chicken:
2 cups plain yogurt
3 Tbs lemon juice
1 (1-inch)piece ginger, peeled and grated
5 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
1Tbs paprika
1 tsp-1Tbs red chile powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 2-inch pieces

Masala:
6 medium tomatoes
3 medium yellow or red onions, pelled and cut into large pieces
6 cloves garlic, peeled
4-6 green Thai, serrano or cayenne chiles, stems removed
6 oz tomato pasta
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground coriander
1 Tbs red chile powder
1 Tbs salt
1 Tbs brown sugar
3 Tbs blanched sliced almonds (optional)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water
6 cardamom pods, crushed slightly in a mortar and pestle
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
chopped onions, for garnish
chopped green chiles, for garnish

Directions:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil on the stovetop. Cut an X into the non-stem end of each tomato with a sharp knife and add the tomatoes to the boiling water. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the peel starts to curl back. Pull the tomatoes out of the water with tongs, allow them to cool, and peel them. Roughly chop the tomatoes.

2. In a food processor, grind the onions, garlic, green chiles, tomato paste, garam masala, coriander, red chile powder, salt, brown sugar, almonds, cinnamon, and water until completely smooth. Be patient, as this might take 5-10 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides as needed.

3. Add the tomatoes to the food processor and pulse a few times until they break down but are not completely blended. Put this mixture in the slow cooker, along with the crushed cardamom pods.

4. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, slowly add the marinated chicken to the slow cooker. Discard the remaining marinade to make a thicker base for the chicken, or add it to the slow cooker for a thinner masala.

5. Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. If you want an even thicker sauce, remove the lid an hour before the cooking time ends.

6. Add the cream and cilantro. Garnish with chopped onions and green chiles. Serve with roti or naan.

If you want to add another layer of flavor to the dish, brown the marinated chicken in oil on the stovetop before adding it to the slow cooker. You can also grill the chicken after marinating and serve it with toothpicks as an appetizer.

My changes: I sauteed the onions until brown, added the garlic and hot peppers for a bit, then the spices and sauteed a bit longer. Eventually I added the tomato, etc. and pureed everything. I did that the night before and just tucked it away in the refrigerator. The next day we marinated the chicken in the yogurt, etc. I broiled the pieces--not until they were done---just till they were very brown in spots. I let them cool, cut them into chunks and added them into the masala mixture. Then not long before the party I let it simmer a bit til the chicken was cooked through and added the cream and cilantro and stirred. I probably used a fair amount less cream than it called for but it was enough to smooth it out. I served it over basmati rice. Oh, and the first time I made it I had used the lower level of red chile powder (cayenne) callef for but it was still too hot for us. I probably used about a half teaspoon in the masala and the amount called for in the marinade. If I were making it just for us I might up it a bit---depends upon your audience....

Ginger-garlic eggplant

from The Indian Slow Cooker by Anupy Singla

Prep: 25 minutes Cook: 5 hours Makes: 8 serving

Ingredients:
3 medium eggplants, unpeeled, cubed (about 12cups)
2 medium yellow or red onions, peeled, finely chopped
1 piece (4 inches)ginger, peeled, grated or finely chopped
12 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 to8 green Thai or serrano chilies, chopped
1 heapingtablespoon each: cumin seeds,red chili powder
1 tablespoon salt 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 cup vegetableor canola oil

1. Put all ingredients, except oil into a 4- or 5-quart slowcooker.

2. Drizzle oil over everything; mix thoroughly. 

3. Cook on low, 5 hours. If eggplant begins to look drywhile cooking, drizzle a little more oil into the slow cooker.

4. Serve with roti, naan or rice.

Warm North Indian Salad

from Vegan Indian Cooking by Anupy Singla 

Yield: 3 cups

This is a terrific and quick warm salad that is downright addictive. I really like it with cooked adzuki beans, but just about any legume would work. It's so versatile that you can serve it over a bed of lettuce, over rice, with Indian bread, or stuffid in a pita.

1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 medium yellow or red onion, peeled and chopped (1 cup)
1 1-inch piece ginger root, peeled and sliced into matchsticks
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
1-2 green Thai, serrano, or cayenne chiles, stems removed, chopped
2 cups cooked whole beans or lentils
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon red chile powder or cayenne
1/2 teaspoon black salt (kala namak)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1. In a deep, heavy pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.

2. Add the cumin and turmeric. Cook until the seeds sizzle, about 30 seconds.

3. Add the onion, ginger root, garlic and chiles. Cook until browned about 2 minutes.

4. Add the beans or lentils. Cook another 2 minutes.

5. Add the sea salt, chile powder, black salt and cilantro. Mix well and serve.

My version: I used chickpeas and decided to triple it. Halfway through making it however I realized that I had tripled some ingredients and doubled others---whoops! Oh well---it seemed to be a forgiving recipe! I served it over a bed of torn iceberg lettuce because I wanted some fresh crunch and thought it would kind of balance out some of the other dishes.

I also did a bowl of kale with coconut milk. I blanched the kale and then quickly sauteed it. I think I like it just as well when I don't blanch it so I don't know if I'd bother again. I took a boatload of kale, stripped out the stems, blanched it for less than a minute. I let it cool for a few minutes and chopped it roughly. I sauteed some mustard and cumin seeds in some hot oil and when they started popping I added the kale and let it go a few minutes. Then I added two cans of coconut milk, about a tablespoon of brown sugar and lemon juice. I let it simmer a bit until it thickened up a bit and that was it.

Very fun night!!