Butternut Squash and Lentil Soup

The Indian spices in the soup really make it. I saw the recipe on NYTimes.com and thought it looked great. I tweaked it slightly, but it's a really nice, flavorful soup. Stirring in the buttery toasted mustard and cumin seeds at the end gives it a great bit of textured crunch. Next time, I might add some shallots and another chile, but it's still great as is. Feel free to use chicken broth instead of water if you prefer. 

Serves 4 (probably more)

Garam Masala Skirt Steak

After thinking of making Indian corn, I wanted some meat to go with it. Skirt steak is perfect for weeknights because you can quickly marinate it after work and it cooks so quickly. The mixture of garlic and the fragrant garam masala and dukkah was really great and unusual and went nicely with the corn. The steak was tender and tasty. 

Ingredients:

1 skirt steak

1 clove of garlic (more for a bigger piece)

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp dukkah

1 tsp kosher salt

olive oil

Directions:

Mash the garlic into a paste. In a small bowl, mix the garlic paste, remaining salt, spices and enough olive oil to form a loose paste. Smear it all over the steak on both sides. 

Curry Corn

This is amazing! Make this ASAP! I would eat this all summer. Wow. I don't know why I never thought of curry and corn before. The sweet corn and the spicy fragrant curry make a great mix. I cleaned out my cabinets this week and reorganized all my spices and when I saw all my curry and Indian spices, I thought I'd try them with summer food. I finished off the corn with a smattering of nigella seeds (an Indian spice that tastes a bit like toasted onion) but don't worry if you don't have any - it'll still be great. 

Slow Cooker Dal Makhani

When we were in India, Jamie and I fell in love with dal makhani. It's a black lentil dish that's rich and creamy and perfect when sopped up with fresh garlic naan. When I got the new slow cooker, I did some googling and found a recipe for dal makhani using a slow cooker. It's a time commitment, but not labor intensive. You just need to start the night before you want to eat, and you need to have a lot of spices. The ingredient list pretty intimidating. (If you don't have all this stuff and live in New York, go to Kalustyan's - they have EVERYTHING. You can also order online.) I served this with some vegetable jalfrezi and chicken tikka with raita, mint-cilantro chutney, and naan. I can't wait for dinner tonight to eat the leftovers.

Serves 6
Ingredients:
1 cup urad saboot (whole, unskinned black lentils)
1/2 cup red kidney beans
2 tbsp chana dal
2 tbsp ghee (clarified butter), if you don't have any, you can just use butter and skim off the milk solids form the top
1 1/2 tsp salt (more to taste)
4 cups water
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 tsp cumin

Fish Masala

This is another incredible Indian recipe from the talented Nimmy in Cochin. She made this for me and Jamie on our honeymoon and it was the best meal we had the whole trip. I decided to make it myself this weekend, and wow, it's amazing! I'm sure Nimmy's version is a little more practiced, but it's her recipe and it's fabulous. My friend Chelsea and I ate it up. It's such a unique recipe because you really don't see Indian style fish that often. There are wonderful spices and a secret ingredient that's such a funny surprise, but upon eating it you'd never guess it was there. I'm going to make it again tomorrow!

(Serves 2)
Ingredients:
2  1/2lb fish filets (1 lb total, any firm white fish)
1/2 tsp Chili Powder (Indian Chili Powder if you can get it)
1 tbsp fruit vinegar (I used apple cider)
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1" ginger, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 green chilis split lengthwise
1 sprig curry leaves (okay to leave out if you can't find them)
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil
1 tbsp ketchup (secret ingredient)

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.