An introduction to Indian
I think butter chicken is that dish everyone tries first because it is quite mild in comparison to other dishes (the first recipe that we tried from this cookbook was a yogurt-based lamb dish that packs quite the punch). It has that creamy, tomato-ey consistency that screams comfort food. The recipe comes from Complete book of Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani, and the book is divided into the various areas of India and the dishes commonly made in those areas. According to the little description included with the recipe, the dish used to be called Chicken Makhanwala, until the British adopted it as their favorite dish and the name morphed into Chicken Tikka Masala.
The first time I made this dish, I used bone-in thighs for the tandoori chicken, but it took forever to take the chicken off afterwards. I would recommend just using boneless skinless chicken thighs to make for easy chopping. If you don't have a food processor for blending the tomato mixture, a hand blender or a blender should work just fine. As for toasting the cumin seeds and grinding them? I'm sure you can just go straight to using cumin powder, but I don't know how much it will end up being. Enjoy!
Tandoori Chicken (which can also be made on it's own as a main dish)
Chicken Tikka Masala (make the previous recipe the day before or early morning day of)
The first time I made this dish, I used bone-in thighs for the tandoori chicken, but it took forever to take the chicken off afterwards. I would recommend just using boneless skinless chicken thighs to make for easy chopping. If you don't have a food processor for blending the tomato mixture, a hand blender or a blender should work just fine. As for toasting the cumin seeds and grinding them? I'm sure you can just go straight to using cumin powder, but I don't know how much it will end up being. Enjoy!
Tandoori Chicken (which can also be made on it's own as a main dish)
Chicken Tikka Masala (make the previous recipe the day before or early morning day of)
A new lamb curry
This particular curry is one that I've been wanting to try for a while, but was prevented from doing so because I didn't have a strong enough grinder/processor for making the almond paste. It is from Complete Book of Indian Cooking. I did the marinating part in the morning and left the lamb in the fridge for a good chunk of the day and did the rest of the preparation closer to dinner time. I was surprised at how spicy the dish ended up being, despite the yogurt marinade and the coconut milk, but it was quite tasty nonetheless. Enjoy!
Lamb in almond sauce
Lamb in almond sauce
Korma = curry heaven
Whenever we order take-out curry, I always order lamb korma. It is a very mild, nutty and creamy curry dish. I then discovered that our Complete book of Indian Cooking has a chicken korma recipe and had to try it right away. I usually allow the chicken to marinate for most of the day, so everything gets prepared in the morning (which is the more taxing part of the recipe anyways). I've been unsuccessful at finding Indian poppy seeds, so I usually use normal poppy seeds instead. Saffron is the one ingredient that makes this recipe expensive to make (I think we paid $13 for our bottle, which had a tiny enveloppe of maybe 5-7 tsps worth of strands in it; I laughed), so it's not made too often. On the other hand, I still have that same bottle of saffron from the first time I tried it, so maybe it's not so bad after all. ;) Enjoy!
Chicken Korma
Chicken Korma
A mild chicken curry
I've only made this curry on two other occasions, and decided to pull it out again from the Complete Book of Indian Cooking. It is a yogurt-based curry with onions, ginger, and garlic added to the yogurt as well as freshly ground spices, and coconut milk is added in the cooking. It is a very mild curry, which is surprising considering all the different spices that are in it. I like putting the marinade and chicken together in the morning, and leave it to marinate in the fridge for the rest of the day until dinner. Enjoy!
Chicken curry in yogurt gravy
Chicken curry in yogurt gravy
A new curry
This is another chicken curry made with chicken thighs from Complete Book of Indian Cooking. It is yogurt-based, with coconut milk and tomato paste added to the sauce later (both very subtle in the dish overall). This is a spicier dish; I would recommend reducing the chili flakes to 1 tsp or not including it at all. I had to eat my serving with yogurt on the side to tone down the spicy fire. For grinding and toasting the spices and peanuts, I would recommend toasting the spices and peanut separately, then grinding the spices in a spice grinder. The peanuts can be ground in a blender or food processor, then the spices can be added after, along with the water and chili flakes (if using). Enjoy!
Parsi Chicken Curry
Parsi Chicken Curry
Our favorite curry dish
This is the first recipe that I tried from Complete Book of Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani. We both prefer the yogurt-based curry dishes, and Iamb is my favorite meat to cook with. This dish can get pretty spicy even with the yogurt base, so don't be afraid to have some on the side to tone the spiciness down. I usually increase the amount of lamb to two pounds instead of the one and half in the recipe, and that helps tone down the spice in the dish. Enjoy!
Lamb nuggets in spiced yogurt
Lamb nuggets in spiced yogurt