Green Bean Thoren (Indian Stir Fry)

 

When we were in Cochin, we went to a wonderful cooking demonstration at Nimmy and Paul's house (http://www.nimmypaul.com/). We had such a great time. They have a beautiful house and were so warm, and it was great to see a house after having been in hotels for two weeks. Nimmy brought us back to her lovely clean and organized kitchen (I wish I could have a kitchen like it!) and taught us a few Indian dishes including this Thoren. She then served us an incredible dinner with those dishes as well as a few more she'd been working on all day - yum! Jamie and I agreed it was our best dinner of the trip, and such a fun and interesting night.

I made the green bean thoren last night (though I had to omit the fresh coconut because I couldn't find any, and I had to use dried curry leaves instead of fresh which I know are not nearly as good, but it was all I had) and it was fabulous! Such a tasty, new way to have green beans. I'll definitely be making it again, and Nimmy says you can make it with other vegetables like carrots, cabbage, pumpkin, etc.

Chicken Tikka

Jamie and I had some incredible tandoori chicken in Udaipur and even though we've only been back in the states since Saturday, we're both already craving more Indian food. Chicken Tikka/Tandoori Chicken is a simple weeknight meal and is SO tasty! The chicken is tender and flavorful, and cooks in 25 minutes and it's a nice cheap dinner if you buy chicken legs. If we were serving more people, I would buy a whole chicken and cut it into pieces and remove the skin. One secret is cutting little slashes in the chicken and rubbing the mixture in there. If you don't have tandoori spice, it's kind of a mix of chili powder, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, ginger etc. Mmm. Jamie said he never wants to eat any other chicken every again, so needless to say, it was a hit! I served it with Green Bean Thoren, courtesy of Nimmy.

Back!

We got back from India early Saturday morning after a looong flight. What an incredible trip! After 16 days, we never got sick of the food and I now love Indian food even more than before. It was so fun to try all of the new dishes and the difference between north and south was huge. Heavy curries in the north and lots of fresh, grilled seafood and coconut in the south. Yum!

We took a cooking class in Kerala with this great woman, Nimmy, so I will definitely be making some of those dishes soon!

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of food just to make everyone jealous and hungry...

 Fish mongers in Cochin

Restaurant that cooks the fish across from the fish mongers, so good!!