Hawaii Hangover

I seem to have a Hawaii Hangover. It's a malaise that afflicts every soul that visits this curious archipelago of eight major islands and many more uninhabited islets. Given that we only visited two of those spectacular islands, I am afraid to think of what might have happened had we visited the others.

In Kauai, we attempted to hike the treacherous Kalalau Trail. Our goal was short, the first two miles of the 11 mile hike, to Hankapiai Beach. It should not have been a big deal. We typically hike trails that are 5-6 miles round trip, between 6,000-10,000 feet in elevation. This was at sea-level and a mere 4 mile round trip. How difficult could it be?

It was very difficult. The conditions made it dangerous. It was muddy and slippery from the incessant winter rain. If there is one thing we drop a fair amount of money on, it's hiking boots. Despite wearing hiking boots with excellent traction, we decided to turn back after barely 3/4 mile. There's a reason why it is considered one of the 10 most dangerous trails in the US! The views of Kauai's Na Pali Coast, though, were unbelievable!

Read on...

On a Rich Note

A very Happy 2009 to you all! I hope together we can make 2009 as delicious as 2008 was.

(There was supposed to be one neat peak of ketchup for each month of 2009 but I counted wrong as there are only ten. So this kind of fell flat but I like the picture so much that I want you to imagine the other two and I hope your 2009 is filled with new highs and lots of color.)

For some of us, it's time to pull out that trusty tape measure and start making New Year's resolutions. Or stand on the weighing scale and swear to make it to the gym.



Not me. Uh-uh. Never. I don't make New Year's resolutions. If I need to change something, why wait till the end of the year? Besides, I am looking forward to snowshoeing in the mountains every weekend - almost - for the next six weeks so I am hoping that all those extra inches that love my short frame so, will just melt away.



Our New Year's celebrations are usually low-key with just the three of us ringing in the New Year, first at the Indian Standard Time, then at all the time zones within the US. By the time we're done, those we called earlier in the day call us back to wish us and it gets really confusing after a while, as everyone tries to figure out if we've already spoken or if they spoke to someone we spoke to and thought they had spoken to us instead. Anyway, it's just plain mayhem!

Medha and I have been freaking out on Guitar Hero and I'm the cat's whiskers on some songs already - so what if it's at the Easy level! Her Dad, who kicks ass at Wii Sports, can't hold a candle to me! Medha plays the drums while I play bass, cos the drums are too complicated. There are 3 drums, 2 cymbals and a foot pedal. The mind boggles at that! My eye-brain-hand coordination has improved considerably but not enough to work the drums. I now manage to hit both the colored button and the strum at the same time on the wireless guitar. If only my aerobics instructor could see me now! She wouldn't walk up to me, grab hold of my hands to bring them down and say "Stop!" with a deeply pained expression in her eyes. The Eye of the Tiger and Beat it are our favorite songs. So we rocked late into the night and let the phone ring...

But, before the ball dropped in Times Square and the Clintons hugged each other like there was no Monica Lewinsky between them, we had a scrumptious dinner. We said goodbye to 2008 on a rather rich note. Murg makhani. Yup, butter chicken with just enough butter and cream to make it rich and luscious.

It is a two step process where the chicken is made tandoori-style and then released into a delicately flavored buttery tomato sauce. I say delicate because the sauce is sans onions or garam masala. It rides on the tang of tomatoes, lots of ginger and garlic, the inherent buttery goodness of cashewnuts and of course, butter and cream. It's so good that the serving spoon is always licked clean and the bowl in which it is served looks like it was just pulled out of the dishwasher.


I base my recipe on Makhani Chooze from one of my fave recipe books, Prashad: Cooking with Indian Masters by J Inder Singh Kalra.

Jen, my dear, this recipe is especially for you!

Chicken Makhani

Step 1: Tandoori-style chicken

• 1.5 lbs of boneless chicken, breast or thigh meat
  
• 2-3 tsp red chilli powder
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp salt (use more depending on your taste)
  
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp grated garlic
• 1 tsp cumin powder
  
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
  
• a good pinch of saffron threads
• 2 tsp red paprika
  
• butter for basting

1. Rub red chilli powder, lime juice and salt onto the chicken and set it aside for about 15 minutes.
   
   
2. Whisk together yogurt and cream and then add grated ginger, grated garlic, garam masala, saffron and paprika and mix well. This is your main marinade.
   
3. Add this marinade to your chicken and ensure that the chicken is coated well with this mixture.
4. Marinate it for at least 4 hours for best results.
5. Arrange the chicken on a rack with a tray underneath to collect the drippings. Discard the marinade.
   
6. Set your oven to broil on high and broil the chicken for 5 minutes. Turn it over, baste with butter and broil for another 5 minutes. If you use chicken breasts then adjust the time accordingly.
   
7. At this point, you have several options: serve it with roast potatoes and salad or eat it as is and hope for some leftovers so that you can move on to Step 2. Or put a hand of steel on your heart and move on to Step 2.
   

This picture was taken in a huge hurry as my guests waited for their meal. I served tandoori-style chicken breasts with aloor dum, a spring salad with a vinaigrette dressing and naan for a simple meal with neighbors. They said they had never eaten chicken this tender before.

Notes:

• If you use breast meat, don't forget to make a few deep incisions so that the marinade can seep in as much as possible.
• The original recipe calls for a drop of orange color. I prefer to use red paprika instead.
• I made this without garam masala last week as we had visitors who were not big on spice and it worked just fine.
  
• While 4 hours is preferable, I have marinated it for as little as 2 hours and the chicken has not been any the worse for it.
• If you like the burnt bits on your meat, broil the chicken until that point.
• I have tried cooking the marinade with the drippings from the tray but it wasn't very popular. The chicken is very moist and tender and has a fair coating of the spices that it does not need any gravy with it when served tandoori-style.
  

Step 2: The Makhani sauce

• 1/2 stick butter
• 3 tbsp grated ginger
  
• 3 tbsp grated garlic
• 1.5 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
• 3-4 Thai chillies. slit vertically and deseeded (use more if you want to up the heat)
  
• 5 tsp ground cashewnuts
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (or cayenne pepper and red paprika)
  
• 1/3 cup cream
• salt to taste
  
• chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Melt butter in a kadhai and add grated ginger and grated garlic.
   
2. Stir over medium heat for a few minutes until the fibers turn a golden color.
3. Add diced tomatoes and about 2 cups of water.
4. Cover and cook down until most of the water has evaporated.
5. While this is cooking, chop the tandoori-style chicken into bite-size pieces.
   
6. Blend the cooked down chunky sauce into a smooth mixture using a hand blender or in your blender. If your blender is like mine, you may want to cool the mixture quickly using a few ice cubes.
   
7. Pour the smooth mixture back into the kadhai and add the chopped ginger and green chillies. Cook for a few minutes and then add ground cashewnuts and stir to ensure they mix well into the sauce.
8. If you like, adjust the sauce to a thickness of your liking by adding some water.
   
9. Add salt and Kashmiri chilli powder and bring the sauce to a boil.
   
10. Gently add the chopped chicken into the sauce and simmer for 7-8 minutes.
    
11. Stir in heavy cream and remove from heat.
    
12. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with naan, roti or with rice. The choice is yours.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for 2 sticks of butter and 2/3 cups cream in the sauce. I think that much is rather unnecessary. Also, I don't particularly care for a floating layer of grease on my chicken.
  
• I used almonds instead of cashewnuts yesterday and it worked just as well.
• I used half the number of green chillies. Add more green chillies to make it spicier if you like.
• And, yes, there really is all that ginger in the sauce. Do not reduce the amount of chopped ginger as it gives a lovely bite to the sauce.
  

What you see in this little one-serving bowl is all that is left of last night's butter chicken. We shared some for a very late brunch earlier today. Then off went Medha for a sleepover but only after hugging me profusely and telling me just how much she loved me and could I please save the rest of the chicken for her.

Ugly is Delicious

What is there to lose, I thought?

Just a few more subscribers to my feeds (I'm sorry you don't enjoy my blog anymore! Maybe you'll change your mind and come back? Or maybe you just switched to another reader where you are not another statistic? I hope so!)

And traffic to this blog.

The former has been on a decline ever since I signed up for NaBloWriMo and then NaBloPoMo. The latter swings wildly based on the day of the week, although I think I have a fairly reasonable trend all mapped out. The name, Indian Food Rocks, could be considered a bit of a misnomer but if you go back enough into my archives - heck! just look at last month! - it's obvious that my blog isn't just about food. It's about life being spiced by food. So while food is one of the themes, it's also about family life, memories and vacations.

And, if Jai can bring out his pictures of food and pretend they are ugly, I can do better: bring out at least one genuinely atrocious picture. It's something I have been hiding for quite a while now, not knowing how it will affect further affect my dwindling readership - whether it will finally kill my blog? I've made this dish so many times that I could make it with my eyes closed; but for the life of me, I cannot seem to take a half decent picture of it! It looks like one of those generic dishes with a brown sauce, which all food stylists will tell you to avoid like the plague. Perhaps that holds me back. The last time I made it I decided to use less oil and make it healthier but instead, it looks like it is drowning in grease!

Chettinad Pepper Chicken

based on a recipe from Flavors of India by Madhur Jaffrey

• 1-2 tbsp oil (and another 1-2 tsp oil for the last step)
• 3 tamalpatra bay leaf
• 3 whole cardamoms
• 1 cinnamon stick, about 1 inch and broken
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 3 cloves
• 2 tsp urad dal
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 medium onions, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp Contadina tomato paste
• 8 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, diced into bite-size piece
• 20 curry leaves
• salt to taste
• For the paste:
  
• 1.5 tbsp cumin seeds
• 5 dried red chillies
• 3 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1.5 tsp fennel seeds
• 1.5 tsp black peppercorn
• 1.5 tsp white poppy seeds (optional)
• 3-4 medium cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 inch knob of ginger, chopped

1. Heat 1-2 tbsp oil in the pan of your pressure cooker.
2. Add bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel seeds, cloves and urad dal. Stir and fry over medium heat until the urad dal turns a golden red.
3. Add turmeric powder and the finely chopped onions. Sauté until they are soft and slightly golden.
4. While the onions are cooking down, lightly roast cumin seeds, red chillies, coriander seeds, fennels seeds, black peppercorn, and the poppy seeds till they are fragrant.
5. Allow them to cool slightly and blend into a paste with the chopped ginger and garlic.
6. Add this paste to the onions with a few tsp of water to prevent scorching. Sauté for a few minutes.
7. Add tomato paste and cook for a couple more minutes.
8. Add chicken pieces, salt, 2-3 cups water and stir well.
9. Cook under pressure for one whistle, then turn down the heat and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
10. Allow the pressure cooker to cool and open it only when it is possible to do so safely. Do not rush this process as you want the chicken to be cooked completely. Stir well and transfer into a serving dish.
11. Heat 1-2 tsp oil and add the curry leaves. Fry till the curry leaves are crisp. Pour over the chicken and serve with steaming hot white rice.

Notes:

• The original recipe called for 5 tbsp oil. That can be brought down to under 2 tbsp. Even though it looks like the chicken is swimming in oil in the picture above.
• Madhur Jaffrey asks for the whole spices to be roasted in oil and then ground to a paste in the coffee grinder. I prefer to dry roast my spices and I generally do not put wet ingredients like garlic and ginger into my coffee grinder. I use the blender and the resulting paste is therefore a little more coarse.
• I have halved the number of red chillies and I skip the white poppy seeds cos that's one thing I forget to pick up from the Indian grocery store every time I go!
• Chettinad Pepper Chicken is not cooked in a pressure cooker and has a thick sauce. Madhur Jaffrey recommends removing the chicken pieces from the pan and reducing the sauce till it is very thick. Once the sauce has thickened, the chicken should be returned to the pan, folding it in gently into the sauce and then cooking for another 5-6 minutes. We prefer to drown our rice in curry so I skip this step.
• You could garnish this chicken with chopped cilantro.

It doesn't look very good but it is mind-blowingly delicious. Urad dal adds a great texture to the sauce and the fennels seeds are a treat to discover with every other bite.

Like Jai, I was planning to send this to Cathy for The Ugliest Gourmet event but my internal clock crapped out - the deadline was yesterday. I sent in my entry on Friday in any case but as I expected, it is not included. So take a look at the competition for Who is The Ugliest Gourmet and cast your vote. A comment I posted there earlier this afternoon does not show up so I am passing on the voting. Have fun!

This dish looks better when plated as it is offset by luscious long grains of basmati rice and some salad greens.

Apparently, there is someone called Bee who rants. Never heard of her.

Leftover Matters: All that Chicken and Rice

When I opened my refrigerator the other day, I saw rice, rice and more rice. It's easy to make rice. It's even easier when Medha makes it.

And also staring at me was the rotisserie chicken, begging to be eaten. But we'd eaten it with salad, in salad, sandwiched it and no matter what I did, there was always some leftover. There was next to no choice but to pair them together.

Leftover Chicken and Rice

• 3 cups of steamed rice
• 1 cup of cooked rotisserie chicken, deboned and diced into small pieces
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• pinch asafetida (optional)
• 2-3 tsp of kanda lassun masala
• 2-3 tbsp water
• dash of lemon juice
• salt to taste
• chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Heat oil in a kadhai
2. Add mustard seeds and when they splutter, add asafetida (or not)
3. Add chicken pieces and kanda lassun masala and stir fry for a couple of minutes
4. Add cooked rice and mix well
5. Sprinkle water over the rice to moisten it unless you are using rice that was just cooked. If your rice has been sitting in the refrigerator for more than a couple of days, then that little bit of water helps.
6. Cover and cook on medium-low till the rice and chicken have been warmed through and the flavors have come together
7. Add lemon juice, stir and do a taste test for salt. Kanda lassun masala has some salt in it, so you may or may not need more salt, depending on your sodium intake.
8. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve right away

Kanda Lassun masala powder is very versatile and I get a quick ride to Bombay and back when I have anything that has been liberally spiced with it. Vada-pau is what comes to my mind!

There are, of course, a myriad variations: add some green chillies or dried red chillies and/or curry leaves in the phodni, add some fresh julienned ginger, add some steamed veggies and so on. Rotisserie chicken and rice is by far the simplest and the fastest, especially for lunch when I don't have much time to spend in the kitchen or think about food.

My days are very hectic and long, and they get doubly so in summer when I have a demanding 9 year old at home. No leisurely cups of tea or time to sit and plan the next meal. Lately I have been wondering why I didn't learn from the previous year and keep Medha busy at a summer camp. But, no matter how much I am looking forward to the first day of school - just 2 more weeks, yay! - I have really enjoyed having her at home. And, she's been a great help in the kitchen. She can now boil eggs, make her own breakfast as well as a simple lunch. She helps lay the table, too; although I had to stop her from using up so many paper napkins. She was very disappointed when I told her that we don't need our silverware wrapped in a napkin. But she cheered up considerably when I told her to do it to save the Earth. That works like a charm, every time! I must admit that what I was not prepared for this summer were the pre-pubertal hormones that are kicking in and the quick repartees. Especially the conversation after we had Leftover Chicken and Rice for lunch! I had to rush back to my office for a meeting, leaving me just enough time to clear up in the kitchen but not the table.
Me: Medha, could you please clear and wipe the table?
Her: But, Mumma, why do I have to do it?
Instead of giving her a list of reasons or dipping into the Why-do-I-have-to syndrome, I simply glared at her
Me: Let me put it this way: I am going to remember this!
Her: But...but...but, Mumma! That would be a waste of memory space!

Right. No carry-forwards. No leftovers.

I hope your summers are going as well as mine! Despite a persistent but mild migraine, we went on a 5.4+ mile hike to Ouzel Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend. Here's a picture of Calypso Cascades that we encountered on the way. It's raw nature in your face up in the mountains.

Have a good one!

Update: I just realized that this fits in very nicely with Mallugirl's Summer Express Event. So off it goes!

Credits: Bowl and plate by Medha

A Winter Storm calls for Spicy Jeera Chicken

Chicagoland winter storm

We're in the midst of another winter storm here in the Chicagoland area. I can barely see the home across the street from me. Of course, the media is more interested in where it is going to go: NYC and Boston rather than where it is at and what is occuring here. But then someone from Beantown once told me: Midwest? Oh! We only fly over that!

Spicy Jeera Chicken
Another Indian Food Rocks original recipe

1 tray thin sliced chicken
OR
2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup plain yogurt
5-6 finger hot peppers
OR
3 Thai green chillies
8-10 fresh mint leaves
2 cloves of fresh garlic
1/2 inch by 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-2 tbsp jeera or cumin seeds
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
Oil for shallow frying

1. Put garlic, ginger, hot peppers, lemon juice, mint leaves, yogurt and salt to taste in the blender and blend into a chutney. This is your marinade. Taste it and adjust the tang and salt to suit your taste. Be prepared for a jolt of heat when you do this. It is quite concentrated!! Do this before you proceed to the next step. You don't want to take a chance with E.coli!
2. Put the chicken in a shallow pan and pour this mixture over it. If you are using chicken breasts, take a steak knife and make random cuts in the meat so that the marinade can permeate into the meat as much as possible.
3. Allow the chicken to marinate for about half hour or so, preferably in the refrigerator. In the meanwhile, you could cook something else to go with this. Vegetable Pulao, maybe? Or just put your feet up and gain control of the TV remote!
4. Pour oil in a flat large saucepan, just enough to coat the bottom. Heat the oil and when warm (not smoking) sprinkle the jeera (cumin seeds) all over.
5. Gently put the chicken into the oil and pour the marinade over it. You could cover the pan as the chicken cooks. It's up to you. I like to have the flavors waft into every corner of my home!!
6. Sprinkle the chicken slices with freshly ground pepper so that they are nicely coated with it.
7. Turn the chicken over to the other side, do the fresh ground pepper thing and cook until almost done.
8. Then turn the heat up and dry up all the extra sauce. You need to keep turning the chicken over to ensure that it does not burn and to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pan. As the sauce dries up, keep pasting it onto the chicken using the turner. It splutters all over the stove but, believe me, the mess is worth it as the chicken is delicious!!
9. Once there is next to no sauce in the pan, drain the chicken of excess oil by placing it on paper towels, making sure to take as much of the dried out sauce as you can. Enjoy the tangy sauce draped all over the chicken and the zesty crunch of the jeera with every bite!!

Eat this hot with pitas or by itself or with pulao.

If you have young child at home who won't appreciate the spice as much you might, you can do what I did:
- while making the chutney/marinade, I used just one hot green pepper
- I set aside some marinade for my daughter's two chicken slices
- I added the remaining hot green peppers and used that for us
- I made her chicken in a separate pan
- I also did not use fresh ground black pepper on her chicken

A cold winter. Near blizzard like conditions outside. Yum spicy jeera chicken!!

Spicy Jeera Chicken Tenders