Korma Curry Paste

The Lowdown:

Curries are just one of those things that I feel everyone should love. They are full of flavour, extremely versatile, aromatic, and healthy. I'm not claiming to be a curry guru by any means. Maybe just a huge fan that's a borderline stalker. It may be the fact that they are extremely versatile. It may be the aroma that they emit as they slowly simmer. It may be the "set it and forget it" mentality. It may be the inferno from the hot peppers. It may be childhood nostalgia (there were a lot of Indian meals growing up). Or it may even be the ease of making a large batch and freezing it. What ever it is, I adore them.

This variety of curry is a product of Moghul influence in the geographic regions now known as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The word "korma" essentially just means to braise (low and slow baby, low and slow). They are generally milder and sweeter, as opposed to fiery. The addition of nuts and coconut milk make this curry a truly interesting meal.

Curries are often one of those things that annoy me the most in blogging. I absolutely hate it when you click on a blog recipe and one of the ingredients is a packaged curry paste. Using a store bought curry paste in a recipe is like calling a photo of a painting the real deal. Chances are, if you're simply just writing down the instructions from the back of the package it's not worth your time to write (or our time to read). It's rubbish. It makes me so upset that I'm being forced to use British slang. So, if you're stuck in a rut and want a make-ahead meal plan, a homemade curry paste is an excellent way to go.

On a final note, this batch of paste (noted in the photos) is green because I had spinach that was on its last legs. Not wanting to waste it, I ground it into the curry paste. I'm not sure about the legalities of this, but the flavour was excellent.

The Playlist:

3 tbsp Cumin seed, toasted then ground
2 tbsp Turmeric
1 tbsp Coriander seed, ground
1/2 cup Cilantro, loosely chopped
1/4 cup Ginger, pealed & loosely chopped
6 Chili peppers
5 cloves Garlic
1/4 cup Desiccated coconut (dried and flaked)
3 tbsp Garam masala
1/2 cup Cashews, ground
1 cup Vegetable oil (canola)
Pepper, generous amount

The Skinny:

1. Put the oil, turmeric, cumin, coriander, cilantro, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, garam masala, and pepper into a blender and blend until an oily paste is formed. 
2. Once a paste consistency is formed slowly add the coconut and cashews. If the blender is labouring too much, you can manually mix these in.
3. Put 1 cup servings into individual containers and refrigerate for 2-3 days before using. The individual servings that are not used can be frozen (just make sure you don't microwave them to thaw). 
4. The paste highly concentrated, so I mix 1 cup of the paste with 2-4 cups of broth depending on the desired consistency and what is going into the curry. No oil in the pan is needed, as there is enough in the paste itself.

Stay Rad -h
Featured on: Premeditated Leftovers, 33 Shades of Green, Chef in Training, Food Renegade, 

Homemade Naan (Indian Flatbread)

The Lowdown:

I'm not sure why, but Rippin' Another Blog is always the hardest post to do. When it comes to cooking I am nothing more than a carbon craving-based lifeform. I never have a plan, just a general idea. For the most part, this suits me just fine. Scrambling last minute looking for an ingredient I thought I had is common place, and substitutions are even more common.

Finding a recipe on another blog, with this in mind, can be quite a daunting task. Chances are that they will not have the same problem as I do. Chances are their tastes will be a lot different than mine - especially considering mine change on a day to day basis. And chances are I wont have the proper ingredients on hand, which makes for an annoying trip to a child infested grocery store. Don't get me wrong, I love grocery shopping... at 9pm. Also, don't get me wrong, it's not that I think I'm a better or more creative cook, I just have a very finicky (and at times odd) sense of taste.

This week, Kristy informed me that So Yummy, So Tasty was our mission (if you so choose to accept) for the week. Her page seemed good enough. It definitely has variety and a lot of lovely looking meals. Luckily for me, she had one recipe that struck my heart strings. Naan. I love every Indian dish I've ever eaten. Multiply by pi, carry the one, then subtract by 47... by my calculations that is 32 Indian dishes. Many of them I have recreated myself. Naan; however, is not one of those. I'm not adverse to the idea of making bread. In fact, I love it, which makes the fact that I've never made naan that much sillier. I guess this was that kick to the nuts that gets the balls rolling. So thank you for that So Yummy, So Tasty. 

 

The Playlist:

2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1 tsp Organic cane sugar
½ cup water, tepid
3 cups Chickpea flour
½ tsp salt
¼ cup Vegetable oil
1/3 cup Yogurt
1 egg

The Skinny:

1. In large measuring cup: combine water, yeast, and sugar. Allow to prime for 10 minutes then add yogurt, egg, and oil. Mix until smooth.
2. In large mixing bowl: combine liquid mixture, flour and salt. Mix until dough begins to form a unified ball (only partially sticks to edges of bowl), then cover with a warm towel and let set for 45 minutes.
3. On a well floured surface roll dough out and cut into 8 equally sized strips. Form these strips into balls, then form into 6-8 inch circles. 
4. Oil a heavy pan and heat on medium. Cook dough on each side until browned.   

Stay Rad -h
Featured on: Premeditated Leftovers, Food Renegade, Chef in Training, 33 Shades of Green, 

Butter Chicken (Murg Makhani)

The Lowdown:

Like approximately 2,456,328.7 people, butter chicken (murg makhani) is one of my favourite dishes. I don't know exactly where it lands in my top 10, but it is nestled in there somewhere between goulash and leftover pizza. Despite your best efforts to deny it, you all know that day old pizza is one of your favourite dishes. One exception - taco pizza. 'Nuff said.

In reality, what isn't there to like about butter chicken? It's extremely flavourful, pleasantly colourful, aromatic, and mysterious. Well, I don't know about mysterious, but it made my point seem that much more credible. I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that even people who say, "blabbidy blah blah" about curries (seriously who listens when people complain about food) would enjoy butter chicken. If not, I'll force them. After all, it's the way I learned to enjoy food. Sort of like Clockwork Orange, but with food.

If you've read the "about us" section, you'll know that I've been planning on making this dish since the first time I ate it. A decade later, and I'm finally making it. I'm such a procrastinator (as opposed to an amateur-crastinator).Here it is after two days of marinading, four hours of simmering, and ten years of procrastinating.

This dish is amazing because not only does it taste amazing, but it can be frozen and reheated. If you have the room, doubling the recipe and then freezing the rest in single serving ziplock containers is a great idea. By great I mean grrrrreeeeaaat (just like Tony the Tiger).

The Playlist:

Marinade

9 Chicken thighs, deboned and skinned

650ml Plain yogurt

1 tsp Cardamom, ground

2 tsp Garam masala

2 tbsp Lemon juice

2 tsp Paprika

3 cloves Garlic, minced

2 tbsp Ginger, minced

Butter Chicken Sauce

1 Red onion, chopped

3 tbsp Ginger, diced

5 cloves Garlic, diced

3 tbsp Oil

2 cups Methi leaves (fenugrek leaves), chopped

1 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Cloves, ground

1 tbsp Coriander, ground

1 tsp Cinnamom

1 tbsp Paprika

8 pods Cardamom, whole

1 tsp Pepper, ground

1 tbsp Honey

4 Tomatoes

3 tbsp Butter

The Skinny:

1. Mix all the marinade items in a sealable container then add chicken and ensure that all the pieces of chicken are coated. Refrigerate for a day (or a few hours at minimum).
2. In large saucepan: saute onions, ginger, garlic in oil. 
3. In blender: add water, paprika, tomatoes, and honey and puree until smooth. 
4. Add tomato mixture into saucepan once onions are transparent, stir then add remaining spices. Simmer until mixture reduces by about 1/4 volume, cool then puree. Refrigerate for a day (or a few hours at minimum).
5. Remove chicken from the marinade and cook in butter until browned. Then add chicken to the tomato sauce. Simmer together for about 30 minutes, then slowly add the marinade into the tomato sauce until the desired texture and flavour is reached.
6. Serve with rice or naan.

Featured on: Premeditated Leftovers, 33 Shades of Green, Food Renegade, Chef in Training

Stay Rad -h

Andhra Pappu (Dal) w/ Curried Sweet Potato Chips

The Lowdown:

I'm not sure where my fondness for Indian food came from. Whatever the reason, I'm glad I discovered it (or more likely it was forced upon me). The flavours are unmatched. The aromas are unmatched. Well, scratch that. A revised statement would go something like this, the aromas are sometimes unmatched. Right now it looks and smells like a napalm bomb just exploded in my kitchen. I was trying to be what some refer to as a multi-tasker. But let this be a lesson to you, oven @ 485* + shower = disaster. You know you've fudged it when you have to arm everyone in the house (condo in my case) with a fanning-towel. You may have won the battle, curried sweet potato chips, but the war is far from over. For now, a glass of wine. Tomorrow, I will overcome your evil antics.

If you've made it this far, or have read anything else I've written, you'll know that I'm a horrible planner when it comes to cooking. I am sporadic at best. I invite people over for dinner without a plan or menu. I have to improvise because I'm too lazy to go hunting and gathering. To sum it up, I am a horrible cook. But then again, I've never claimed to be anything other than that. I would like to think I make up for my downfalls with wine. Yes, the old "get them bubbly and they'll enjoy anything" tactic. Love it.

If you're still reading, despite my best attempts to warn you, the plan was to make a dal with curried sweet potato chips for dipping. Instead, I have dal with watering eyes and inflamed lungs. Curry is not so pleasant when you burn the hell out of it. In fact, not pleasant is a gross understatement. For your enjoyment, I will refrain from saying what I am really feeling right now. Lucky you.

It is a known fact that curries are better the day after anyway. So let it be called fate that I burned the chips and could not eat the dal tonight. Yes that's it. It was all part of some grand scheme - a master plan if you will. (In a National Geographic narator's voice): the young cook's hunt ended poorly; tonight he will go hungry. Likely, he will survive as he has stored fat reserves over the past winter.

So without further ado, this is Food Mazaa's Andhra Pappu. And that concludes this weeks Recipe Remix. If you're new or confused, once a month we post a remake of a recipe from another blog. So enjoy. Do it, that is an order!

The Playlist:

1/2 cup Toor Dal (medium-sized Split yellow lentils)

1 cup Masoor Dal (split red lentils)
4 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Onion, diced
1 tsp Turmeric

2 cups Spinach, chopped
4 Green chillies, halved

1/2 cup Coriander leaves, chopped

2 tsp Garham marsala 

Salt, to taste

2 tbsp Oil

2 tsp Mustard seeds

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

4 Red chillies, dried
4 cloves Garlic, minced

The Skinny:

1. Soak the dals in water for an hour then strain and add to a large skillet with 3 cups of heated water. Bring to a boil then skim off the froth. Cover and allow to boil for 25 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, green chilis, turmeric, spinach, onion, coriander leaves, salt, and garham marsala into the lentils. Cover and simmer on medium heat.
3. In a seperate pan, put oil, mustard seeds, garlic, red chilis, cumin, and garlic on medium heat and cook until garlic browns. Once browned, add to the pappu. Mix thoroughly and allow to simmer for a while longer.
4. Remove the lid and simmer for 5 more minutes. If you have the time, allow the dal to rest over night. If not, serve warm.
5. If you'd like to make the curried sweet potato chips all you have to do is heat vegetable oil in a frying pan (enought to submerge the chips in), then cut the sweet potatoes thinly and dust them with chickpea flour and garham marsala. Cook in the oil until crispy.
6. Enjoy. 

Featured on: 33 Shades of Green, Premeditated Leftovers, Food Renegade, Chef in Training, 

Stay Rad -h