Tandoori Tostadas

So last weekend in honor of my last weekend at my apartment I threw a dinner party -- with apps and wine.

I'm a huge fan of Mexican food and often find huge similarities between Mexican and Indian food.

So I decided to make tandoori tostadas. Yes, I said it -- tandoori.

It actually tastes great and most of the components can be made ahead of time and then compiled together.

First, make the tandoori chicken. You can substitute chick peas (2 cans) or paneer (2 packs) if you're vegetarian, but then omit the yogurt.

Basic marinade recipe:
1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 tbsp of curry paste, 2 tsp of tandoori powder, 2 tsp of lemon juice. Mix ingredients in a large bowl until combined.

1. Take two bone-in chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper. 
2. Place the chicken in the marinade and leave in fridge overnight or at least for two hours (but then cut slices into chicken breast so marinade can get into the meat.) 
3. Roast chicken (with all of the marinade) for 45 minutes covered with foil in the oven -- 375 to 385. Remove foil and cook another 30 minutes at the same temperature. 
4. Shred chicken and combine with cooking juices. Set aside. 
5. Prepare tostadas by toasting corn tortillas, or buy prepared tostadas. 
6. Combine salsa ingredients: 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro, chop a 1/2 of a large red onion, dice two tomatoes, dice 1 red bell pepper, the juice of a lime, 1/2 tsp of salt and more to taste.
7. Combine 1 cup of sour cream with 1 heaping tablespoon of cilantro chutney. Place the mixture in a squeeze bottle. 
8. Choose a green - can be sprouts, spinach or lettuce. 
9. Place tostada on plate, add greens, chicken, salsa and squeeze cilantro-sour cream mixture on top, repeat. 

Will make 12 tostadas, serves 3 to 4 people. 

Gourmet: Goan Gobi Curry (Cauliflower Curry)

Excuse the state of the photos, they were taken from my phone, but this was a part of my gourmet meal I had with my mom and roommate Sara, as a part of graduation weekend at Vermillion in New York City.

Vermiilion is a Latin-Indian fusion restaurant off Lexington Avenue, near an area in New York City known as "Curry Hill," for obviously all of it's Indian restaurants and stores. I had originally heard of the place while watch The Iron Chef on the Food Network when Vermillion's chef, Maneet Chauhan, battled Iron Chef Morimoto.

I was so intrigued by the fusion because although I've noticed many similarities in the the types of foods Latinos and Indians eat -- I was excited to find out how the flavors would blend.

Anyway, Sara and I enjoyed so much food, literally SO MUCH FOOD including tandoori skirt steak (seared churrasco in a classic indian marinade, plantain chips, garlic spinach), cauliflower portuguese (stewed in a goan gravy + coconut rice), juhu ki pani puri (street indian chaat, flour shells, spiced potato, chili mint water) and my mom had paneer konkani (cheese, oaxacan crepas de huitlacoche/mexican truffle, inca red quinoa).  THESE PICTURES DON'T EVEN GIVE JUSTICE TO WHAT WE ATE!!!

Anyway, I was really inspired by the food and I wanted to try making the Cauliflower Portuguese, otherwise known as Goan curry. It's called Goan after an coastal/beach area in India known as Goa. After Portuguese conquistadors came to the area, and some later settled, it has been greatly influenced by Portuguese cuisine. Goan cuisine in general is a mix of spicy and sweet flavors.

Similarly, this dish is sweet with the help of coconut milk and spicy with the help of chilies. 


Although many times shredded coconut is blended into the paste, I used coconut milk instead. Also Goan curry is usually accompanied with shrimp, but I made this vegetarian version for the sake of mimicking what I ate at Vermillion -- but using shrimp instead of cauliflower is yummy too!


Ingredients:

• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1/2 cup of vegetable broth
• 1 head of cauliflower, stems removed and cut into florets
• 1 tsp of curry paste
• 1 tsp of ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp of garlic minced
• 1 green chili, chopped with seeds
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric

Directions:

1. Over medium heat, place broth in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add cauliflower and allow to steam for 5 to 6 minutes or until tender.
3. Add garlic, ginger and chili to the cauliflower and allow the flavors to blend. Some to all of the broth will boil away.
4. Add coconut milk, turmeric and curry paste and allow stew to simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. 
5. Add salt or pepper if desired.

An Indian-American Holiday

So Christmas is a big deal in my family, even though we're Hindus. My mom and i both went to Catholic schools growing up and grew up in an environment where Christmas was a big deal, so we've carried on this tradition.

Plus as a family we're pretty open-minded religiously, so we don't mind celebrating the birthday of someone who brings so many people joy. And - on top of that my aunt is Jewish, so we're open to anything, we'd do Hanukkah too if we had a chance.

Anyway, like any family gathering we have a mixture of American and Indian cuisines.

This year the menu was extra special - my Wednesdays of planning and preparing International foods with my roommate, Sara, paid off, and I decided to cook some of those recipes. Most of my family enjoyed all of the food, although I will admit, the brussel sprouts may not have been their favorite. But it's never a bad thing to open your family's culinary palate.

Because these recipes come from other Web sites - I will link to those sites, but I have made adjustments to some of the recipes. Most Indians don't eat pork products, so bacon is a no no. I also adjusted any vegetarian recipes so they didn't include chicken stock and used veggie stock instead.

Maple-Roasted Chickens with Sage Butter
Instead of using turkey as Tyler Florence's recipe calls for, I used two chickens and roasted them side-by-side in the oven. I did not stuff the chickens with stuffing because I personally think that is gross, plus vegetarians then can no longer eat the stuffing.
Another trick - cook chicken breast side down for 30 min per chicken first and then flip over a cook normally according to directions that come with the package.

Southern Cornbread Stuffing
Again unlike Paula Deen, I did not use chicken stock. I substituted with veggie stock. I also did not add poultry seasoning. You can use a store bought italian seasoning, or just add salt and pepper.

Balsamic Braised Brussel Sprouts
so this recipe, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen, another food blog, uses pancetta. I cut that out and the flavor didn't change.

Butternut Squash Risotto
This recipe was delicious - even about 3 or 4 days later. Just make sure you have a lot of stock on hand, because the rice take s along time to cook. Ina Garten uses chicken stock and pancetta, which I again replace with veggie stock. Still tastes amazing.

As for the Indian dishes:

My grandmother made fried rice. I will test out a recipe soon and add it as a separate entry.
My mom made my chick pea masala recipe from this blog. My mom's friend, Sonai, brought two very traditional Indian dishes - Dhokar Dalna and a fish dish, I'll figure out what it's called later and add a recipe to the blog. This recipe was a adapted from Ahaar, another blog about Bengali cuisine.

Dhokar Dalna, a lentil cake in sauce.
serves 6 to 8, Prep: 30 min., Cook: 45 min.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cholar dal (chana dal/Bengal gram)
• 2 medium tomato, chopped
  
• 2 large Idaho potatoes, chopped into cubes.
  
• 1 tsp ginger, grated
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin seed powder
• pinch of asafoetida
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 green chillis
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp ghee
• 2-3 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Method:

1. Wash and soak Bengal gram lentils in water for 4-6 hours. Drain water and grind the dal to a paste in a mixer.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil and temper it with 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, asafoetida, 1/2 tsp ginger paste, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and salt. 
3. Pour the ground dal and cook till the mixture is soft and sticky, but not completely dry.
4. Smear little oil in a dish. Pour the cooked dal and spread evenly on the dish. Press lightly with your spoon so that it sets properly. Cool and cut the dhoka into square or diamond shapes. 
5. Heat two tbsp oil and fry the dhokas to light brown. Remove and keep aside. 
6. Then heat the rest of remaining oil in a deep bottomed pan and temper it with the 1/2 tsp remaining cumin seeds. Fry for a minute till it stops sputtering. 
7. Add cubed potatoes and brown. They will become more tender as they stew in the pot with other ingredients.
   
8. In the meantime, puree the tomatoes, ginger and green chillies together. 
9. Add the pureed mixture with turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin seeds powder and saute for 3-4 minutes on low heat.
10. Then, add about two small cups of of water and salt and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes. 
11. Add the fried dhokas, and bring the curry to a boil. 
12. Reduce heat and simmer for another 4-5 minutes till the dhoka starts to soak up part of the curry.
13. Put ghee and garam masala and take it off the heat. It should be the last thing added. just before the dish is taken off the heat. 

Serve with warm rice. 

Thai Spaghetti Squash with Yellow Coconut Curry Sauce

So this isn't really an Indian dish, but Thai cuisine is popular among Indians because it fuses Chinese cuisine with Indian curries.

This fall I've had an obsession with spaghetti squash - because it's a no calorie version of pasta - and when you mix it with a bolognese or with other sauces used with pastas, you can't tell the difference.

So although this recipe can be made with regular pasta - I'm trying it with spaghetti sauce.

Thai Noodles with Yellow Curry Sauce
serves 4 to 5, Prep: 30 min, Cook: 30 min.

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 2 tsp. of curry paste
• 1 inch. of ginger root, grated
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 small can of water chestnuts, drained
• 1 can of chinese vegetables, drained (look for baby corn, bamboo shoots, etc.)
• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly into half moons.
• 2 tsp of oil
  
• green onions for garnish
• lemongrass is optional.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Split the spaghetti squash in half with a sharp knife and remove seeds. Brush with oil on the inside halves and place the halves squash side down on a sheet tray. Bake for 30 minutes or until tender in the oven.
   While squash is cooking, place a large saucepan or pot over medium low heat. Once it is heated, add the oil, ginger, garlic and onions. Saute until translucent.
   
2. Add the coconut milk. (If you want the lemongrass flavor, add a few pieces into the coconut milk. and let it steep for five minutes. Then remove it.) Let it thicken a bit. 
3. Add the curry paste and mix thoroughly.
4. Then add vegetables. Set the pot aside, while squash finishes roasting.
5. When the squash is finished, let it cool. Once cooled, use a fork and remove the "strings" of squash. 
6. Add squash to curry.
7. Heat through and serve. Garnish with green scallions.