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Showing posts with label indian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indian. Show all posts

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Taking a Breather

Taking a vacation right after being laid off is doing me good.  We have been too busy doing crazy Moroccan things to even have time to think about the real world!  By the time we return to the hotel each night, we fall into bed exhausted from the day.  There's no time to think What? I don't have anywhere to go when I get back to the US? Nope, it's - head meets pillow - wake up tomorrow.


I'll post more about Morocco when I return, lord knows I'll have plenty of time!  To keep your appetites at bay, here's a tasty dinner I made just before we went on vacation.  Chicken Tikka Pizzas!  After making these, I want to make all my pizzas on pitas.  I also got to use my pizza stone for the first time since I got it for Christmas.  It's just been taking up space in the oven.  The pizza stone really crisped up the pitas before I added the toppings.  Something you can do by just toasting them in the oven for a few minutes.


I've been obsessed with non-traditional pizzas, something my New York friends have called blasphemy.  Apparently pizza is Italian and I should stop putting things like BBQ sauce, garam masala and salad on top of my pizza crusts.  No way.  Pizza is just an open faced sandwich, I'm going to trash it up with all kinds of international toppings!  Maybe I'll come back and make a Moroccan pizza for you all!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Indian Pizza


On our most recent trip to Europe, Boyfriend and I had some pretty amazing food. I would say it was some of the best food of my life. We started with authentic Indian food in London, a perfectly roasted chicken in Paris and amazing pizza in Italy. We ate schnitzel in the Alps, wieners at a castle and finished up our trip at a dimly lit restaurant, smiling over plates of curry. It was a crazy twelve days.

Yes, I said twelve days. We travelled through seven countries in seven days. We would have made it eight, but just couldn’t see how to get to Belgium and make our flight home. In honor of this crazy week and a half in Europe I decided to combine two great culinary palettes. Indian plus Italian equals delicious.


Saturday, July 3, 2010

Indian Chicken Curry

I know you wait patiently for those cupcakes to be covered in frosting, but I think you should eat some dinner first. Enjoy a trip into my not-so-distant past.

My fourth year in grad school, my roommate K and I moved across town to the west side. Close to K’s new job, right on the bus line and minutes from the gym. The most important thing about our new place turned out to be its proximity to Swagat. Unknown to us, we had moved across the street from one of the best Indian restaurants in Madison. Day after day, I would ride the bus home from the lab and be greeted with amazing smells, floating on the wind, emanating from the restaurant.


For weeks I allowed Swagat to sit quietly on the corner, until one evening we got together with some friends for dinner. The décor was understated, to say the least. Small tables covered in white linens with a single candle in the center. An unused buffet sat in the corner of the space and paper hearts hung from the ceiling (which seemed unusual since it was October). The menu was expansive, featuring choices from both the North and South of India. The only problem was; I had never eaten at an Indian restaurant. Here I am, twenty-three years old, and a curry virgin!


Browsing through the menu I settled on their chicken curry. Start simple, that was the plan. My friends also decided to get an order of cheese naan. Our quiet and polite waiter took our order and brought back these wafer thin crackers with a trio of sauces; sweet, mint and mango (I quickly became a big fan of the mystery purple sauce). The freshly baked cheese naan also went well with the sauces. The cheese naan is quite simply cheese-filled flatbread baked in a tandoori oven. Oh yeah, and it’s fantastic. Stop reading now, go find yourself an Indian restaurant, and order yourself some. I’ll wait.


Okay, now that you’ve got some cheese naan we can continue. Onto the main course, my chicken curry. Our waiter brought out heaping bowls of rice and our dinners. Each bowl of curry, masala and vindaloo came in a little golden bowl, placed atop a flame. Adorable. And fantastic. I couldn’t believe that it took me so long to try Swagat. The curry was sweet and spicy, bright and delicious.
Over the next two years I frequented Swagat more often than I can remember. I’m fairly certain I tried everything in their chicken section of the menu. In fact, if it had not been for Swagat, I would have starved while writing my thesis. During the middle of a particularly fierce snowstorm I actually walked there for dinner (I could see the OPEN sign from my bedroom window). I still dream about their vegetable pakoras and cheese naan.


After leaving Madison I was left in a curry slump, until I discovered Pensey’s Maharaja curry powder. Now my curry powder and I can live happily ever after. Just a word of warning, proper ventilation in necessary when cooking curry in an apartment, I recommend cooking curry in the summer months.


Chicken Curry

1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
Fresh ginger, 2 inch segment, cut into matchsticks
1.25 lbs chicken breast, cut into cubes
2 tsp Curry powder of your choice (Pensey’s has several good ones to choose from)
3 peppers, chopped (I like to use a variety of colors, because it’s pretty)
1 tsp salt
¾ cup coconut milk
2 roma tomatoes, cored and diced

- Heat a pan to medium-high heat and cook onion and garlic in a little bit of oil until lightly browned (3-5 minutes)
- Add chicken and curry powder and allow chicken to brown on all sides (5 minutes)
- Add peppers and cover with lid for 3-5 minutes
- Add salt and coconut milk and allow to come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and simmer until chicken is cooked thru (5-7 minutes)
- Remove chicken pieces into another bowl and add tomatoes. Allow to bubble for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- The sauce will be slightly thicker and you should add the chicken back to the pan
- Serve over rice and enjoy!

And be sure to go get yourself some cheese naan, because unless you have a tandoori oven, it’s not the same. (Although I’ve found some at Wegmans that is pretty darned close)













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