When Life Needs Spice: Add Indian Food

I will let you in on a secret. I hate cooking. Yes, my husband and I used to own a restaurant. Yes, I can apply myself in the kitchen and come up with some interesting dishes. Yes, I enjoy talking about foreign, exotic dishes but I just have to get that little secret off my chest. My husband always finds it odd I never taste what I'm cooking and always serve the meal with a disclaimer, "I don't know if it turned out or not so try it at your own risk." Definitely not a good cook's habit. Alas, I do not let my disdain for cooking stop me from actually doing it.

I've posted about my love for Tiki Masala a few years ago on this blog. I came up with a flotsam and jetsam crockpot recipe I was proud of at the time. I was desperate. I needed the flavors of home, I needed that comfort food to help transport me to a place of great aromas, mixed with family, friends and  familiarity. I still need it, so I decided to fine tune my minuscule Indian cooking skills over the weekend and try to be authentic to some of my favorite Indian food dishes and see if I could get close to the tastes I remember.

Masala, Saag, Somosa, Naan
Made by: Chandra Brown

I have been working on Tiki Masala (without the crockpot this time) and finally have this one down to memory.  I even make my own garlic, ginger paste from scratch. I love Saag and found an authentic recipe online. The ingredients made me venture to our local Indian Grocer, Man Pasand. I found the paneer, and fresh spinach I needed and even brought home Somosas for an appetizer.

I used every pot and pan I own, my food processor did double duty, my grill was fired up in the wet, cold outdoors and my oven was cranked to 400. This meal was firing on all cylinders, my spice cabinet was half emptied onto the countertop  and I just dove in and did it, not tasting as I went but waiting until I sat down at the table to share with my family.

I must say, the Saag Paneer was the real deal. My husband even replied, "You made this!" Ha, his surprised comment was a compliment, if it made him think of authentic Jewel of India's recipe, then I was successful.

I have to thank my parents for the success of this cooking ordeal. They recommended I watch, The Hundred Foot Journey, a delightful, clean, culinary movie about an Indian families' restaurant venture across from a successful, snooty French restaurant. There are hints of Romeo and Juliet and the Father's attitude in the film will make you giggle. I loved the son's passion for food and thought if I could just mimic that, I may come up with something enjoyable.

What foreign food do you want to try to learn to make?

I recently just tried making my own fermented kimchi (Korean). I made some pulled pork to go with it, added BBQ sauce and placed it all in a Romaine Lettuce leaf from our Winter Garden. It was wonderful!

Kefir Tiki Masala For The Crockpot

There is a restaurant in Westminster, Colorado that I just can't seem to find a comparison to here in Austin. My sweet in-laws are lucky enough to live quite close to the Jewel of India. Once in a while they'll post on Face book that they dined there which sends my lip into the pouting stance. I sit at the computer yearning for the delectable spices and authentic foods as I jealously post a comment about their dining experience.

A few weeks back I was in a large food rut, I was just getting ready to succumb to another monotonous dinner choice when my sister-in-law, Danette posted they had been to Jewel of India. I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to try to replicate the Tiki Masala the best I could. I was craving that delicious, savory, melt in your mouth sauce.

I rummaged through my fridge and pantry grabbing at what I had and I thought, " Chandra, you've thrown together some doozies before, if this one fails at least you can blame it on the inexperience of cooking a foreign dish and just chalk it up to a learning adventure." That is a big deal for me because if I put effort into any dish and it turns out bad I get a bit perturbed at the wasted time and food. I've got two particular eaters in the house and if they don't like it they won't eat it.

So, instead of scrolling through countless recipes on the Internet or in my cookbooks and since this was a big experiment and the chance it was going in the dogs bowl or worse, the trash, I just winged it.
No measuring utensils needed I just plopped and poured and guessed at it all. Boy was I elated that this flotsam and jetsam concoction turned out so darn good that we ate every last bit; dragging the naan through the sauce on the plate in back and forth patterns to sop every last drop up. I sat there with a very pleased look on my face as I saw three plates of food being eaten with relish. I made everyone happy in the house and did it with a foreign dish that in my judgment is pretty darn hard to replicate. So I have to share the recipe for those fellow Indian food lovers who can't get to Jewel of India.

Photo by: Michael Whays

CHANDRA'S CROCK POT TIKI MASALA
Place 4-6 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs in the crock pot. Salt chicken. (this cut of chicken is necessary as it makes the best broth that blends with the below sauce). Set crock pot to low.

Sauce:
1 16oz. Can of diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil
1/4 cup Helios kefir with kos (this kefir tastes like sour cream)
1 Tablespoons of Patak's Madras Curry Paste

Put in a food processor and blend till sauce consistency. Pour over chicken in crock pot cover with lid and let cook all day. Just before serving take out chicken, let cool, de-bone and de-skin and place back in sauce to reheat.

Serve with side of brown or white rice and warmed butter naan. (H-E-B brand naan is the best)

Serves 3-4 people.

Maybe we have been so deprived of the excellent tastes of the Jewel of India and have settled with this version to get us by, but it sure turned out great and will be a standby till we can make it back to our favorite Indian restaurant.

Let me know what you think?

Now I just have to get Saag down!