Slow Cooker Indian Style Chicken Chili

     Sometimes it's fun to make totally inauthentic food. We've all done it. Take some ingredients that follow a theme and just get stupid. That's what happened here. And I'll be damned, it worked! It is certainly no chili and definitely not genuine Indian food, it combines from both and makes for a very fragrant and satisfying meal. I didn't ramp the heat much for the base recipe, but you can certainly add more cayenne or chopped green chiles if you want more heat. Give it a try and see what you think. Or don't I know you only come here for my rugged good looks and roguish charm.

Slow-Cooker
Indian-Style Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1 cup dried red lentils
• 2- 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use more if you want more heat)
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

1. Load everything into a slow cooker.
2. Cook on LOW for about 7 hours. If needed, add 1/2 cup more water during cooking.
3. When done cooking, take out the bay leaf and discard. Shred chicken with two forks
4. Eat and be happy.

Good tines!

Master Ridley's Pepper Paste

     This particular concoction was my first foray into pepper sauces. I had a bumper crop of cayenne and needed to use them in bulk. The end result was my single most popular hot sauce recipe, at least among friends and coworkers. There is so much you can do with this. Toss it with melted butter and chicken wings and you'll never do hot wings any other way again. Mix it in chili for an extra punch. One of the guys at works just spreads it on his hamburger. You will not be the same after this. It has just enough heat and more than enough flavor. Since it's made with vinegar, it cans well, too. Just pack it in half-pint jars, making sure to work out the air bubbles. Then just process in a boiling water bath for 12-15 minutes (as always, consult the National Center for Home Food Preservation for tips on how not to get botulism). We actually have an open jar that's been in our fridge for over 2 years without going off. We just add leftovers from each season's batch. We figure in the next couple years it should achieve sentience. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. And just who is Master Ridley, you ask? If you've read Fahrenheit 451, you'll know the reference: "Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out."*

Master Ridley's Pepper Paste

Ingredients 
Ingredients can be easily multiplied for larger batches. A double batch of these ingredients should yield about a half pint of paste.

• 1 dried Guajillo pepper
• 10-12 Cayenne peppers (cut off and discard the stems and roughly chop. Don't remove the seeds unless you're a huge wuss. If that's the case, make sure you wear gloves and hike up your diaper, too)
• 2 grated baby carrots
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth 
2. Another tablespoon of vinegar can be added if the sauce is too thick for your liking.

* Nicholas Ridley was a bishop burned at the stake for heresy in 1555
Good times!

Onion Fritters (Pyaz Ki Bhajia)

     I had no idea that the food fritter actually is named accurately. Merriam Webster has an archaic definition of fritter as: verb divide (something) into small pieces. That's what fritters are! Small pieces! I had no idea. The Wife is an English teacher. She should have pointed this out to me. Oh well. These particular fritters are an Indian recipe and filled with oniony goodness. These would be great with the All Purpose Curry Sauce for dipping! There is a fair amount of work in this recipe and thus will earn it P.I.T.A. status. Totally worth it, though. As always, any notes or changes are in blue.

Onion Fritters
pyaz ki bhajia
via Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 4 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (I used the bottled kind. Don't judge me harshly)
• 1 cup chickpea flour (I actually keep this in the house. Since I started cooking Indian food regularly, this just seemed like a good thing to keep in stock)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 fresh, hot green chile, finely chopped (I used a jalapeno from the garden. You leave the seeds in there or you're a huge baby)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (my cilantro isn't doing particularly well this season; I used 2 teaspoons dried)
• 1 medium-large onion, peeled and chopped into medium sized dice (I tried chopping them into dice but it was too hard to draw those little pips on the side. I just chopped them and called it a day)
• vegetable oil for frying

Directions

1. Break the egg into a bowl and beat well. Add the water and the lemon juice. Mix. Add the chickpea flour and mix very well with a whisk. Put in the salt, cayenne, garam masala, cumin seeds, ground cumin, green chile, and cilantro. Mix and set aside for at least 10 minutes. The batter should be of a droppable consistency (technically, anything is "droppable" consistency. It could be light and fluffy or hard as a rock and I can just drop that shit right on the floor and let the dogs have it)
2. Put the oil in a wok or deep fryer (I used my trusty cast iron skillet) set over medium heat. You should have at least 3 inches of oil in the center of the wok (obviously this will vary based on the size of your wok/skillet. If I used 3 inches of oil, I'd have a spectacular fire on my hands. And face. And stove.) When the oil is hot, put the onion in the batter and mix. This should always be done just before frying (well, duh. If you tried to add the onion to the batter after you fried it, you'd look like a total schmuck.)

   

   If you've gotten to this point, it's probably for the best if you don't attempt to add the onions now.

3. Drop heaping teaspoons of the batter into the hot oil. Use up all the batter this way (resist the urge to put it all in at once and make an Uber-Fritter!)
4. Stir and fry the fritters (turning them over if you're not using deep oil) for 7-8 minutes or until they are a golden red. Remove the fritters with a slotted spoon and drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Serve hot, as soon as the fritters are made (this is generally not an issue in our home as anything coming out of the frier is quickly shoved into our craws as soon as it is safe)

Good times!

Chicken in Spicy Red Sauce (lal shorve vala murgh)

     It's always nice to find a flavor-packed recipe that comes together quick enough to use as a mid-week meal. This particular recipe was a fine way to use up a big pack of discounted chicken thighs that was taking up room in the freezer. You are welcome to use any cut of chicken you'd like. While the recipe comes together in less than an hour, it does qualify as a PITA, since it requires constant vigilance until you get to the simmering stage. It's worth it. We served it up with a side of Stir-Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds. This makes for a satisfying meal that's mercifully low on calories. As always, any notes or changes are in blue.

Chicken in a Spicy Red Sauce
lal shorve vala murgh
via Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 pounds chicken pieces
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 7 large cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped (we grated ours, since chopping ginger is more trouble than it's worth)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Generous pinch asafetida optional (this is a powder that's available at Indian grocers. Alternately, you can get it at The Spice House online.)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 inch stick cinnamon
• 6 cardamom pods (didn't have the pods on hand. I did have cardamom seeds. I used about a dozen)
• 5 whole cloves
• 3 dried, hot red chiles (I used my own dried cayenne)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (don't be a wuss, use 1/4)
• 1-1/2 cup canned, chopped tomatoes (I used canned whole tomatoes. They'll break up during the cooking)
• 12 ounces potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-1/2 inch chunks (I'm pretty sure we cut ours into 1/2 inch chunks because I don't read directions particularly well)

Directions

1. Sprinkle the chicken pieces lightly with salt and black pepper and set aside.
2. Put the garlic and ginger into a blender, along with 3 tablespoons water and blend into a paste.
3. Put the oil in a wide, nonstick pan and set over medium high heat (I used my enameled Dutch oven. I figured there's be a lot going on here and I didn't want everything spilling over the sides of my pan. The Wife will abide a small mess, but nothing extravagant). When the oil is hot, put in the asafetida if using. A few seconds later, put in the cumin seeds. Wait 10 seconds and put in the cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves and chiles. Stir for a few seconds until the large spices begin to turn darker. Add the garlic and ginger paste. Stir and fry it for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken, turmeric and cayenne. Stir and fry for another minute (nothing like dozens of tiny time constraints to make you want to order a pizza). Add the chopped tomatoes, potatoes, 1-1/4 cup water and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken and potatoes are tender (I'd be more concerned with the chicken being done. An undercooked potato won't kill you). 

Good times!

Smothered Beef (or Pork, or Lamb if you're a Rockefeller)

     "Smothered" foods always struck me as unfortunately named. "Smothered beef" conjures images of someone in a field holding a pillow over a cow's face. This particular smothered dish comes by way of Madhur Jaffrey. This is just packed with all sorts of wonderful flavors and made for a tremendous meal when served over some basmati rice. If you haven't given Indian food a try, I can't recommend it enough. As always, any notes or changes are in blue.

Smothered Beef 
labdhara gosht
via Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 pound boned shoulder of lamb (AHAHAHAHAHA! I'll have the butler get that out of the fridge as soon as he's done wiping my ass with hundred dollar bills. I used stewing beef. Pork will work, too) cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped (we just grated it to save time)
• 1 medium sized tomato, peeled and finely chopped (can't be bothered peeling. We just chopped it)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1-2 fresh, hot green chiles, cut into fine rings (leave the seeds in there, you big baby)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Put all the ingredients except the oil, garlic and black pepper in a bowl and mix well (I love recipes that are basically "throw all the shit together and apply heat.")
2. Put the oil in a Dutch oven and set over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and stir until the pieces turn medium brown.
3. Throw in the meat mixture and stir a couple times. Add the 1/2 cup water. Bring to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 90 minutes, or until the meat is tender. 
4. Uncover and turn heat to high until sauce is thick. Sprinkle in black pepper to taste.

Good times!

Stir-Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds (Bhuni Bandh Gobi)

     We do enjoy our cabbage in our house. There is a certain glory to downing a couple big plates of cabbage and then retiring to the bed to try to blow the blanket off the bed. Indian cooking also provides some incredible gastric events. When you find an Indian cabbage recipe, you know you're in for something special. This is a very flavorful dish that makes a great side for chicken. The ingredients aren't something you are likely to have in the cabinet. Or maybe you're one of those people who always has cumin seeds on hand. You probably have Gruyere and lamb in your fridge, too. Nobody likes a show-off. As always, any notes or changes are in blue.

Stir-Fried Green Cabbage with Fennel Seeds
(Bhuni Bandh Gobi)
via Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pounds green cabbage
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 1 medium-large onion, peeled and cut lengthwise into fine half rings
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (fresh from the plastic bottle out of my fridge)
• 1/2 teaspoon store-bought garam masala (I am truly glad she specifies store bought. I know how to make home made garam masala but it is a PITA. I'm glad to spend the little bit of extra money to use pre-made)

Directions

1. Remove the coarse outer leaves of the cabbage. If you have a cabbage half, cut it in half again lengthwise, and then core the sections. Now cut each section lengthwise into very long shreds. A bread knife is ideal for this. You could also use a food processor (Or you do like I to and just cut shreds from the head until you have the core left over. I worry that a food processor could reduce the cabbage to mulch).
2. Put the oil in a wide, preferably nonstick pan, and set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the cumin, fennel and sesame seeds. As soon as the seeds begin to pop (she's not fooling. Those little bastards really do pop! If you're not paying attention, you get a nice little scare when the seeds start exploding and spraying hot oil. Cooking is fun!), put in the onion. Stir and fry for 3-4 minutes or until onion has browned a bit.
3. Put in the cabbage. Stir and fry for about 6 minutes or until the cabbage has browned somewhat (this takes me closer to half an hour to get the cabbage brown. This is likely due to the fact that I tend to pack the shit out of any pan I use.

   

   Case in point.

4. Put in the salt and cayenne. Turn down the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring now and then for another 7-8 minutes or until the onions appear caramelized and soft (like I said, the it takes me close to half an hour from start to finish to get the cabbage to look the way they ask). Add lemon juice and garam masala. Stir to mix. 

Good times!

Chicken Makhani

     The first Indian meal my wife ever had was Chicken Makhani. I took her out to an Indian restaurant. She was a little leery, thinking everything would be spicy and overwhelming. She tried the makhani and it began her love affair with Indian food. I've been cooking Indian around once a week now. One of The Wife's demands is that I replicate the restaurant's makhani. This recipe comes very close. We had to do some tinkering. The restaurant used yogurt, so we swapped it in here. We also kept it mild.  I was super pleased with the results here. The sauce was creamy and extremely flavorful. This is a good place to start if you have never had Indian food. There are quite a few notes and changes made in this recipe, so read carefully if the text is blue.

Chicken Makhani
via Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

Ingredients

• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala (I stopped making it myself and just started buying it by the jar. In the end, it costs almost the same and is way less of a hassle)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (as I watch my salt intake, I cut this back to 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (we like the heat, so we went with the 1/2 teaspoon. I wouldn't ramp it up much more than that because you'll start drowning out the other flavors)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (we used 2 tablespoons)
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (we subbed 3/4 cup plain yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (we used bottled)
• 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh cilantro
• 1 fresh, hot green chile, finely chopped, with seeds (since we were trying to duplicate a restaurant recipe, we omitted the hot chile. The makhani we had was mild)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon black or yellow mustard seeds
• 2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen peas (omitted)
• 1-1/2 pounds boneless chicken

Directions

1. Combine sugar, ground cumin, garam masala, salt, cayenne and tomato paste. Slowly add 2 tablespoons water, mixing as you go. Add the cream (or yogurt, if that's what you're using) slowly and mix. Put in the lemon juice, cilantro and green chile (if using). Mix again and set the cream sauce aside
2. Put the oil in a large frying pan and set over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the cumin and mustard seeds. IF YOU WANT TO SKIP THE PEAS AND USE CHICKEN, SKIP STEP #3 AND GO TO STEP #4. 
3. After a few seconds, the mustard seeds will begin to pop. When this happens, put in the peas. Stir and fry the peas for 30 seconds
4. Add the chicken and stir and fry until cooked through.
5. Add the cream sauce. Cook on high heat for about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened (if you used yogurt instead of cream, it's going to be plenty thick already. Just cook it until everything is heated through). Stir gently as you cook. 

Good times!

Crab and Spinach Enchiladas

     After the holidays, I'm glad I have cookbooks like the Betty Crocker 300 Calorie Cookbook.  I'm not one for cleanses or detoxes. I just try to eat more sensibly and get back to my standard 1600 calorie a day intake. Recipes like these enchiladas are great because they are filling, but super-low in calories. Each of these enchiladas come in at around 300 calories. Have two of these and some black beans and a bit of rice and you've got a great meal in the 600 calorie range. As always, and notes or changes are in blue.

Crabmeat and Spinach Enchiladas
via Betty Crocker 300 Calorie Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 cup chunky-style salsa (if you can use home-made, you'll save yourself some unneeded preservatives and sodium)
• 1/4 cup chili sauce (if you want to do a bit of fusion here, use Sriracha)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I used 1 tablespoon of dried. If you can't stand cilantro, you could always swap in parsley or basil)
• 1 pound refrigerated chunk-style imitation crabmeat (as I call it, "Crabuluxe")
• 2 cups frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Pepper Jack cheese
• 8 flour tortillas
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350F. Spray 13x9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray (I can't imagine anything cataclysmic is going to happen if you don't use glass. However, if you use Corningware and subsequently die, please don't blame me)
2. In a small bowl, mix salsa, chili sauce, cumin and cilantro.
3. In a medium bowl, break up crabmeat and combine with spinach, Pepper Jack cheese and 1/4 cup of the sauce mixture. Spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce mixture over the bottom of the baking dish (because spreading the mixture under the baking dish would just be stupid).
4. Top each tortilla with about 2/3 cup of the crabmeat mixture; roll up. Place tortillas, seam side down, in baking dish. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
5. Spray sheet of foil with cooking spray. Cover dish with foil, sprayed side down (I'm going to tell you that if you need to be instructed to put the sprayed side down, maybe you should just order out instead) Bake 35-40 minutes or until thoroughly heated. 

Good times!

Slow Cooker Spanish-Style Couscous

     I'm still on the fence about slow-cooker recipes that require you to do cooking outside of the slow-cooker. I just want to chuck everything in there and forget about it. I'll make exceptions for ground meat. Nobody wants slow cooked ground meat. That just sounds nasty. After this recipe, I'll also make an exception for couscous, because it takes almost no time to make. The Wife and I really enjoyed this recipe. We tinkered with the ingredients and came up with a winner. It was simple and with a switch to turkey, a healthy meal. As always, any notes and changes are in blue.

Slow Cooker Spanish-Style Couscous
via Crock-Pot Quick & Easy Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef (we had a bunch of ground turkey patties in the freezer, so we used 1.5 pounds of those instead)
• 1 can (14 ounces) beef broth (I don't keep cans of broth on hand. I just filled an empty can with water and dissolved a beef bouillon cube in it)
• 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (you should know by now The Wife doesn't like green peppers, so we went with red instead)
• 1/2 cup pimiento stuffed green olives, sliced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
•  1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon Pilsen Latino Seasoning from the Spice House
• 1-1/3 cup water (this is for the couscous. DON'T put it in the slow cooker!)
• 1 cup uncooked couscous (we found a really good roasted garlic and olive oil couscous at ALDI)

Directions

1. Brown meat in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring to break up meat (I've never seen a recipe tell you to break up the meat before. Are there people out there just chucking a big wad of meat in the pan and hoping for the best?) Drain fat.
2. Combine broth, bell pepper, olives, onion, garlic, cumin, thyme and meat in slow-cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 5 hours or until bell pepper is tender. 
3. Bring water to a boil over high heat in a small saucepan. Stir in couscous. Cover; remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with fork (don't forget to take the cover off before fluffing or you may encounter some difficulties). Spoon couscous onto plates; top with beef mixture (use a slotted spoon for getting the beef mixture out. There's going to be a fair amount of liquid left in the slow cooker).

Good times!

Sweet Potato Wedges with Chile Cream

     Sometimes you find a recipe so simple, you can't believe it can be so good. I'm fairly sure I dug this one up a few years ago from Bon Appetit magazine. Regardless, it's a rock solid recipe. I've served it as a side dish in the past. This year I served it as a snacketizer. There's plenty of room for personal interpretation as far as the chipotle pepper sauce goes. You can use hot or mild sauce depending on how big a wuss you are. Actually, I've found that the Taco Bell Bold & Creamy Chipotle Sauce is a fine addition to this recipe. Don't judge me. As always, any notes are in blue.

Sweet Potato Wedges
with Chile Cream

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions, divided
• 2 teaspoons chipotle hot pepper sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice (or use the stuff in the plastic lime, I won't tell anyone)
• 3 pounds medium sweet potatoes, cut lengthwise into ¾ inch wedges, with skin (when I serve them as a snacketizer I cut those wedges in half width-wise)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

Directions:

1. Whisk sour cream, 1 tablespoon green onion tops, chipotle hot sauce and lime juice in small bowl; cover and chill.

   

   Sorry.

2. Preheat oven to 425F. 
3. Combine sweet potato wedges, oil and cumin in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. 
4. Arrange potato wedges on a baking sheet. Roast until tender and browned in spots. About 20 minutes. 
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 
6. Place wedges on large platter. Drizzle chile cream over. Sprinkle remaining green onions over top. You can also serve the cream in a small bowl for dipping.

Good times!

Slow Cooker Pork Loin and Hominy

     The school year is in full swing, which means the slow-cooker has been brought out for heavy use. Generally we throw together a few things in our cookers on Sunday and eat on them for lunches and dinners during the work week. I started this week with an idea that had been knocking around in my head for a couple of days. Pork and hominy seemed like a good mix, so I decided to use those as key ingredients and give it a generally Southwest feel. I used my own home-canned chili tomatoes. Any canned chili tomato will do. The recipe below is written assuming you're using plain old canned tomatoes. If you find pre-seasoned chili tomatoes, omit the chili powder, cumin and paprika. If you drain the liquid, this makes a decent taco filling. It's also good over rice. It doesn't have a ton of heat, so you can fine tune it as you need.

Slow Cooker Pork Loin with Hominy

Ingredients

• Pork loin, about 3 pounds
• 1 can white or yellow hominy, drained
• 1 can black eye peas or bean of your choice
• 1 quart canned tomatoes, undrained.
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 cayenne peppers
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 1 can cream of celery soup

Directions

1. Heat some oil in a large pan. Cook loin about 3 minutes on each side, until just starting to brown.
2. Pour tomatoes and spices into slow cooker. Lay the loin, fat side up, on top of the tomatoes. 
3. Spread remaining ingredients over top of loin.
4. Cook 4-5 hours on HIGH or until meat breaks apart easily with a fork.

UPDATE: I have added a YouTube video of the actual cooking process! How exciting! Or not. Depends on how low you set the bar.

Good times!

Chicken Vindaloo

     Many moons ago, when I was in college, I used to eat Indian food all the time. There was a tremendous buffet that opened up my world to this fantastic food. Once I got back from college I sort of forgot about Indian food. Since I've been doing this food blogging thing, I've started to see the familiar recipes again and the urge to indulge in Indian is back.
     I started looking around for a recipe to try and eventually decided on vindaloo. I settled on a chicken vindaloo recipe from Currytastic.  This recipe would be my starting point. I have to say I was terribly pleased with the results. There was plenty of heat, but there were so many layers of flavor that you were willing to work past the heat. The wife and I sat at the table pouring sweat and moaning (I assure you, we were having dinner), and slopping up the vindaloo sauce with some tremendous naan bread I made from a recipe from Allrecipes.  This was truly a fantastic meal. Was it truly authentic? I have no idea, nor do I care. It tasted great and the wife loved it. That's all that matters. As always, any changes from the original recipe and notes are in blue.

Chicken Vindaloo

Ingredients
Vindaloo Paste

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3/4" cube of peeled ginger (no fresh ginger in the house, I used 1/2 tsp grated ginger)
• 1 or 2 tsp Garam Masala (I never have this in the house. I used 1/4 tsp each of ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cumin, coriander, nutmeg and ground cloves. These amounts are on top of the already listed amounts above)
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar (I used malt vinegar at the suggestion of several other recipes)
• 1 tsp sugar

Vindaloo Base

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4-8 garlic cloves, crushed or blended (We used 8. No sense in screwing around)
• 3 red onions, sliced finely, preferably blended (Our red onions were freaky big, so I only used two. I also went ahead with just slicing them)

Everything Else

• 4+ red chilies, finely chopped (I changed this up. I wound up using 2 jalapenos and 1 naga jolokia. The naga alone would have provided a fair amount of heat.) WARNING: If you're messing with hot peppers, make sure to wash your hands afterwards. If you have open cuts on your hands, wear gloves. I assure you that if you get naga jolokia in your eyes or cuts you will wish you were dead.

  

  The naga jolokia is around 1 million Scoville units. For comparison, a cayenne is  50,000 at the high end. So this one pepper is equivalent in heat to about 15-20 cayenne.  Rectum? Damn near killed 'em. 

• 4 skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces (I used 3. I don't normally skimp on breasts, but these breasts were HUGE. *snicker*)
• 1 pound good quality chopped tomatoes or canned tomatoes (don't drain the canned)
• 1-2 tsp tomato puree to taste (I used about 3 tablespoons of tomato paste)
• 1-4 tsp hot chili powder (optional) (no it's not optional. Don't even put it in there if you may not want people to do it. I used 4 tsp. I didn't even tell my wife. Granted, she suspects. She'll know for sure once she reads this. Wish me luck.)
• Salt and pepper to taste (HILARIOUS. If you need to augment the flavor at this point just give up)

Directions

1. Grate or slice the ginger finely and add the cumin, cinnamon, mustard, coriander turmeric, garam masala and cayenne pepper into a bowl and add the vinegar and sugar and mix thoroughly.
2. Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan. (There's going to be a lot of stuff in here. I used my 6 quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven) Add the garlic and the onion and cook over a medium heat until they have softened for approx 5-7 mins, but take care not to let them burn or brown too much.
3. Once the onion and garlic have softened, add the chicken pieces and cook for approx 2-3 minutes until the chicken starts to color. (If you're using the Dutch oven, everything may be a bit crowded at the bottom. The chicken took closer to 10 minutes before it was all colored. Cooking times may vary.)
4. Now add the chilies, tomatoes, tomato puree, and begin to stir in the pre-prepared Vindaloo paste.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste, and bring to the boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and simmer whilst stirring occasionally for approx 1 hour. During this period, it’s important not to let the chicken vindaloo dry out, so add a 1/2 cup of water as necessary (I didn't need it. At least I don't think I did. I'm pretty awesome, so I probably got it right). If you do want to make it hotter than the recipe (HELLS YES I DO), then during the simmering time is the right time to gradually add the chili powder to taste.

Good times!

Avocado Corn Salad via Moosewood Collective

     Last summer was brutally hot. So hot that there were times I didn't even want to turn on the stove for fear of raising the temperature in the house. When it's hot like that, salads are always a great option. I don't normally turn to a recipe book for salads, but I had this one cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, for a long time and had never made anything from it. It's a good cookbook. It's predominantly vegetarian friendly and is full of interesting, healthy recipes.  The salad we chose wound up being filling and more importantly, refreshing on a wicked hot day. My only complaint was the dressing was a touch bland. Next time I will tweak the  dressing to give it a little more punch. As always, changes and notes are in blue.

Avocado Corn Salad
via Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

Ingredients

Dressing:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen cut corn
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes (optional)

Salad

• 1 medium avocado, preferably Haas (I'm not made of money, I'm using whatever avocado is currently on sale for fifty cents each)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• salt to taste
• dash of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce (optional)
• whole or chopped cilantro leaves (optional)
• 1 hard boiled egg, sliced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
• Assorted lettuce (I don't know exactly what we used, we just grabbed a bunch out of the garden. Use whatever lettuce you want)
• Anything else you think would be good on this salad. Olives, anchovies, chicken, tuna, whatever. There's a lot of wiggle room for extra goodies here. 

Directions

1. In skillet or saucepan, combine corn, oil, water cumin and optional cayenne or red pepper flakes. Cook, covered, on medium heat for 5 minutes or until corn is tender. Uncover and cook for an additional minute or two to evaporate excess moisture. Set aside to cool.
2. Slice the avocado in half length-wise, and gently twist to remove the pit (I suppose you could leave the pit in if you're a big fan of broken teeth and dirty looks from your dinner guests). Make length-wise and cross-wise cuts in the flesh every 1/2 inch. Scoop the avocado cubes out of the shells and into a large bowl (I am terribly amused at how much direction they gave here. Here's my amended directions for this step: split and pit avocado. Scoop out from shell. Cut into cubes. DONE). Gently stir in lemon or lime juice. 
3. Cut pepper into 1/2 inch or smaller pieces and add to bowl. Stir in red onion and cooked corn. Add salt and optional Tabasco sauce to taste. Top with cilantro if desired. 
4. Serve on bed of assorted greens. Top with egg and tomato slices and whatever else you determined needed to go on this salad.

Good times!

Thoughts on Chili

     I cook chili because of my father. He imparted a great deal of wisdom upon me during his time on Earth. One of his finest nuggets was that if someone did something particularly bad, that person did it "like a man with a paper rectum."

RECTUM? Damn near killed 'em!

     He went to his grave never having adequately explained what that meant. He also told me that being able to make good chili was a very important skill. That was clearly defined for me. The base of his recipe was a simple 1:1 ratio for meat, tomato sauce and beans. 1 pound of meat, 1 28oz can tomato sauce, 1 can kidney beans. He'd normally drag out his cauldron and drop in five pounds of ground beef.  Then he'd work the magic. Onions, green peppers, and the seasonings. My lord, the seasonings. Nothing was off limits. At the very least, a tin of regular chili powder and a tin of hot chili powder were going in. Possibly two of each. I never really got a handle on what all he was throwing in there. It was just enough to watch him go. His favorite thing to add was something called "Desert Dust." It was nothing more than powdered jalapeno.

     When he threw in enough of whatever he wanted to throw in, he'd set it to simmer for a couple hours. Then we'd have a bowl. No cheese. No sour cream. He felt those things were for the weak. He would always serve a loaf of garlic bread on the side. The chili had heat and flavor. It was wonderful. "It's better the next day," he would tell us. He was right. A night in the fridge would take it to another level entirely. We'd eat on that pot of chili for days on end without getting tired of it. He never had a solid recipe for chili. He just had that base and sort of winged it. It was a little different each time, but it never varied too far from the base flavor.  Certain things were off limits in chili for my dad. Cinnamon and chocolate were two things he would never put in chili. If it was served over anything, it was elbow macaroni.

If you don't love chili, you're probably a Communist.

      I love making chili. Over the years my recipe has drifted away from my father's. I add chorizo, take out the pepper, use cumin and liquid smoke.  I play with a lot more seasoning than my father did.  I make it hotter or more mild depending on my audience. I've made it so hot it's caused migraines and one unconfirmed death. I make it because it is a comfort food. Mostly I make it because it reminds me of my dad.

Good times!