Quarantine Cooking Series: Indian Food

We have always told ourselves that Indian food was something that we could not possibly fathom making at home.  It seemed too difficult to identify what spices would go into dishes with such complex flavors.  Plus, nothing can replace that hot, fluffy naan, fresh out of a tandoori oven.  Due to this crazy pandemic, we ended up having to figure it out when the craving for Indian food hit.  After our first attempt, we became totally addicted to cooking Indian food!  It was not actually that hard, and most of the ingredients were things that we actually had already.  Like with Chinese cooking, garlic, ginger, and onions are the holy trinity of flavor (green onions for Chinese cooking, regular onions for Indian cooking).  While I am used to tossing garlic into the pan first and using green onions as garnish towards the end, I noticed that with many of these Indian recipes, you would saute the onions first and then add the garlic after.  While Chinese cooking involves a lot of wet aromatics such as rice wine and soy sauce, Indian cooking incorporates dry spices that enable the food to take on more of a char.  Once we got the hang of a few recipes, we were able to create our own dishes using non-traditional ingredients such as salmon and zucchini--just stuff that we had sitting around in the refrigerator that we felt would be fun to Indian-ify.  Ah, and we did make our own naan from scratch!  It was tasty and definitely much more straight forward than I thought it would be, though it truly does not compare to restaurant naan.  I've recorded all of the recipes that we made across three meals here.

Chicken Tikka Masala

(Recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 cup plain, full-fat yogurt (I use Greek; with Greek, 2% worked too)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced or grated, divided
• 2-inch piece of ginger, minced or grated, divided
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
• 2 to 3 tablespoons neutral oil or ghee
• 2 large yellow onions, minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• About 2 1/2 cups small diced fresh tomatoes, from 3 to 4 roma tomatoes, or 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne or a mild chile powder, such as kashmiri, or to taste
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1. Combine chicken thighs with yogurt, half of garlic, ginger, and salt in a bowl and set aside for whatever time you’ve got — you can use them right away, in an hour, or up to a day.
2. In a large (4 quarts), heavy pan with a lid, heat oil or ghee. Once hot add onions and cumin seeds, cook 5 minutes, until browned at edges. 
3. Add remaining ginger and garlic and cook one to two minutes more. 
4. Add remaining salt, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, and cayenne or another chile powder cook for two minutes. 
5. Add tomatoes and cook until they begin to break down, 4 minutes. 
6. Add tomato paste, cook for another 2 minutes. 
7. Add chicken and yogurt marinade from bowl, plus water, stir to combine, and bring to a simmer, stirring. Simmer 25 to 30 minutes over low heat, covered, stirring once or twice to ensure everything is cooking evenly.
8. Chicken is done when it is cooked through and very tender (you can cut a larger chunk in half to check for doneness). Adjust seasoning as needed and serve with rice.

Saag Aloo (spinach and potato)

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons butter or oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1 small onion or 1/2 of a large onion, chopped
• 2 medium white potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons water as needed
• 3-4 cups of spinach or kale (we used a blend)
• 1-2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons of plain yogurt (we used Greek)

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in a large pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for few seconds.
2. Add chopped onion, saute for 4-5 minutes until soft and translucent.
3. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for 1-2 minutes.
4. Stir in the chopped potatoes.
5. Add the spices and salt to taste, saute. 
6. Toss to combine until all the potatoes are well coated with the masala.
7. Add the water and close the pan with a lid and let potatoes cook for 6 to 7 minutes until almost done on medium heat. You can check with a fork.
8. You can either boil or stir-fry the spinach and kale in a separate pot.  If boiling, add 1/4 tsp of salt to the water and blanche the greens for about 1 minute.  This works well if it's spinach.  If stir-frying, add a little oil into a separate pan and add the greens in batches over medium-high heat with salt.  This works well if it's kale, as it is a tougher vegetable that requires more breaking down.
9. Remove the greens and place them into a deep bowl/pot and use an immersion blender to chop it all up.  You could also use a food processor.  
10. Return to the pan with the potatoes in it and mix everything together on medium heat.  If you want it to be more sludgy, you can add water. Season with more if needed.
11. Add the heavy whipping cream, stir, and turn off the flame.
12. Stir in the yogurt while still warm to incorporate.

Indian Spiced Cauliflower

(Recipe from Bon Appetit)

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 large head cauliflower, cored, broken into 1-inch florets
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon finely grated peeled ginger
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lime/lemon zest

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°. 
2. Stir oil, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry, and turmeric in a large bowl to combine. 
3. Add cauliflower and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat cauliflower evenly. Arrange in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet (scrape any extra seasoning from bowl over cauliflower). 
4. Roast until cauliflower is brown around edges and crisp-tender, 10–15 minutes. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle ginger and lime/lemon zest over. 

Indian Spiced Salmon

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salmon filets, cut into 2-3 inch chunks
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Briefly marinate the salmon in curry powder, turmeric powder, salt, and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a pan on medium-high.  Toast the cumin seeds, then add the garlic and ginger. Saute for 1 minute.
3. Lay the salmon into the pan and let each piece develop a golden brown bottom, about 3-4 minutes (depending on the thickness of your fish).  Add the diced tomatoes.  Flip the salmon pieces over and cook the other side until the internal temperature is at 140 degrees F (a temperature probe is very useful!).

Baingan Bharta (eggplant)

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1-inch piece ginger, minced
• 1 large tomato (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• Cilantro
• Optional: 1 green chile

Instructions:

1. Roast the eggplant on an open flame to achieve that smokey flavor.  We did this by placing the eggplant straight on the stove burner and keeping the flame on low setting. Keep turning and cooking until all the skin on the eggplant is charred and the inner flesh looks really soft.
2. Once the eggplant is roasted, allow to cool fully and then peel off and discard the charred skin. Coarsely mash in a bowl.
3. Add oil to a pan on medium high and toast the cumin seeds.  Then, add the onion and stir-fry until soft and translucent.
4. Add garlic and ginger, stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the tomato, optional green chilies, and all the powdered spices, including the garam masala. Stir well and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent the spice mix from sticking to the pan. Sprinkle a little water if needed.
6. Now add the eggplant and mix well. Add the chopped fresh cilantro and stir. Cook another minute and turn off the heat.

Indian Spiced Zucchini

(basically the same thing as above, but using zucchini chunks!)

Ingredients:

• 2 zucchini, chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1-inch piece ginger, minced
• 1 large tomato (chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

Instructions:

1. Add oil to a pan on medium high and toast the cumin seeds.  Then, add the onion and stir-fry until soft and translucent.
2. Add garlic and ginger, stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the zucchini, optional green chilies, and all the powdered spices, including the garam masala. Stir well and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent the spice mix from sticking to the pan. 
4. You could possibly add a little water and cover it to let it steam a little, or keep stir frying until the squash is soft.

Raita (yogurt sauce)

Ingredients:

• Plain yogurt (we used Greek whole milk yogurt)
• Chopped Persian cucumbers
• Chopped cilantro
• Cumin powder
• Coriander powder
• Salt and pepper
• Water to thin it out
• Optional: lemon juice (less traditional)

Mix it all together and use water to thin out to desired consistency

Naan

(Recipe from Rasa Malaysia)

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 oz active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (we used Greek)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• some oil, for greasing the skillet
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• Chopped cilantro

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, add the sugar, warm water, and yeast together. Stir to combine well. The yeast should be activated when it becomes foamy, about 10 minutes. Pour the flour into the stand mixer bowl.  Add the yeast mixture, yogurt, salt and oil, and knead the dough on low until the surface becomes smooth and shiny, about 10 minutes.  I found that I needed to remove it from the stand mixer and hand-knead to make sure that everything was well-incorporated, but maybe if I had left it in there a little longer it would have been fine!  Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rise in a warm place (we have a proof function on our oven). The dough should double in size, about 1 hour.
2. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Roll the dough to a 8” circle using a rolling spin.
3. Heat up a skillet (cast-iron preferred) over high heat and lightly grease the surface with some oil to avoid the dough from sticking to the skillet. Place the dough on the skillet. When it puffs up and bubbles and burnt spots appear, flip it over and cook the other side. Repeat the same until all dough are done.
4. Brush the naan with the melted butter, sprinkle on some cilantro, serve warm.

This picture makes me chuckle--it captures pandemic life pretty well.  When Wes got out the basmati rice, he found a plastic alphabet magnet in it.  I was using this bin of rice in one of the videos that I recorded for the parents I work with, demonstrating how to make a sensory bin at home for all of my students who are now trapped in their houses.  With work and home blending together into one place all of a sudden, weird things like this have been happening here and there.