Indian Week 2 - Butter Chicken!

Last week I went to a pot luck dinner which had an Indian theme. I prepared some butter chicken and cumin-seasoned rice. The dishes turned out well and I got a couple requests after for the recipe, which whipped me to write up this long overdue entry of what we learned in Week 2's class. This is an authentic recipe from my Indian Chef's grandma. The only alternation that I make is to cut off some of the butter. I like the recipe a lot because it's fairly easy to make (roughly 1hr cook time) and it's a lot healthier than butter chicken that you get in a restaurant as you can control the amount of butter that you put in. 

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, 8-pieced


For Marinade:
15g garlic paste
15g ginger paste
250g greek yogurt
lemon juice from 1 piece
1 tbsp vegetable oil

15g Tandoori spice10g red chili powder
10g cumin powder
10g coriander powder
2.5g turmeric powder
a pinch of orange colour powder
salt/pepper to taste

For Sauce:
1/2 cup butter (usually I just use 2 tbsp)
1 onion, chopped
700mL canned tomatoes, crushed
100mL 35% cream
5g toasted dry Fenugreek leaves
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
sugar, salt to taste
10g garam masala

Methods

1. mix half garlic/ginger paste, half of the powder spices and everything else from the marinade together and let the chicken sit in it overnight 

2. preheat the oven to 450F, bake the chicken for 20min

3. at the same, heat a hot and melt the butter, brown the onion (takes a good 15-20min to get golden brown at medium heat)

4. add the other half garlic/ginger paste, sweat it for 1min

5. add the second half of the powder spices, stir for 1min

6. add the crushed tomatoes, the leftover marinade if there is any and water to make it to a thick liquid

7. add sugar to adjust the acidity, simmer it for 15min

8. add the cooked chicken, simmer for another 5-10min

9. adjust seasoning with salt/sugar

10. off heat, stir in garam masala, Fenugreek leaves and garnish with cilantro leaves

Indian-Week 1: Lamb Curry!

Spring is finally here! So is the spring semester at George Brown! Having taken the French course and two Italian courses in the past winter term, I started to notice that even though we got new recipes in every class, the cooking techniques, on the other hand, are getting repetitive: browning, braising, baking, roasting, etc. If you are like me with a short attention span,  learning new techniques, even with a risk of messing up, is a lot more appealing than repeating the reliable old tricks. So here I am, signed up for the Indian class, which I know absolutely nothing about. 

Unlike all the other classes, Week 1 in Indian is not just a Demo-only class. It actually has a lab component, and we made lamb curry. I knew that I found the right class when I couldn't identify half of the ingredients on the recipe. Challenge is good. Challenge = Excitement. 

Ingredients

600g lamb, boneless, diced 
40g ghee 
5g cumin, whole
1 cinnamon stick
2pc cloves
3pc cardamom
5g red chili powder
5g turmeric powder
5g coriander powder
5g garam masala
ginger paste
garlic paste
1 onion, chopped
250mL canned tomatoes, crushed
1 lemon, juice
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
salt to taste

Methods

* Our Chef kept emphasizing the secret of good Indian cooking: the sequence of adding ingredients. Garam masala needs to be added at the very end. If it's added during cooking, it'd add a bitter taste to the dish. 

1. get a pot, heat up the ghee

2. add all of the whole, seed-based spices (cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom), wait until the cumin starts to crack open

3. add chopped onion, sauté until golden brown (takes about 20min w/o lid on the pot)

4. add garlic and ginger paste, sauté for 2 min 

5. add all the powder-based spices EXCEPT garam masala  (chili, turmeric, coriander)

6. add the tomato sauce, mix well

7. add the lamb, cover the lid, cook at low-medium heat for 1hr (1.5hr to get very tender meat)

8. once the meat is done, stir in garam masala

9. garnish with lemon juice and chopped cilantro 

TA-DA..... my very first Indian dish!