Butter Chicken (Coconut)

I previously posted about butter chicken here, with some general guidelines on this versatile classic and the recipe I followed that time. Last night, I changed it up, and it came out so easy and tasty that we decided to post exactly what went into it this time around. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Canola/veg oil

1 white onion, diced

1 tsp cumin seed or cumin powder

2-3 whole cardamom or 1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp garam masala or coriander powder

1 Tbsp minced garlic

2 tsp ginger powder or 1 tsp minced ginger

1 small green bell pepper

1-2 red chili peppers

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 - 1 tsp cayenne pepper or chili powder

2-3 boneless chicken breasts, chopped in bite-sized pieces

1 can coconut milk

1 small can tomato sauce

About 1/2 - 1 tsp salt, to taste

1/2 tsp lime or lemon juice

Optional 1/2 tsp mint leaves or 1 tsp cilantro

1 Tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pot or deep skillet
2. Fry onions on medium-low heat for several minutes until translucent
3. Add spices and peppers one at a time in the order listed, frying 1-2 minutes between each one
4. Add chicken and fry on medium heat until browned
5. Add can of coconut, bring to a boil, then let simmer for 5-10 minutes
6. Add tomato sauce, salt, and lime juice, then simmer for additional 10-30 minutes
7. Shortly before serving, add mint, cilantro, and butter
8. Serve over rice or with naan/roti

Empanadas

The first few times we tried to make empanadas, we found the dough was a lot of work to make, and then baking them instead of frying them took away most of the goodness anyway. But then we discovered that the filling, which is easy and the main flavor anyway, works great just as a topping for noodles or rice. So here's our favorite recipe for the filling (courtesy of those little recipe cards they hand out at Walmart!)

Ingredients

2 Tbsp oil
1 onion, minced
1/2 bell pepper (preferably red), minced
1 Tbsp garlic
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup olives (optional)
1 tsp tomato paste, or 3 tsp diced tomatoes
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes, or 1 small jalapeno, minced
2 tsp cumin
2 hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper

Directions

• Heat oil in skillet and fry onion until translucent
• Add peppers and garlic, cook until soft
• Add beef and cook until lightly browned
• Add 2 Tbsp water and remaining ingredients except for eggs.
• Cook on low heat for 20 minutes, stirring often
• Remove from heat and lightly stir in eggs
• Season to taste with salt and pepper
• Serve over brown rice, noodles, or in fried or baked empanada dough
  

Crock Pot Chicken Vindaloo

According to Wikipedia, Vindaloo originates from a Portuguese dish, essentially meaning wine/vinegar and garlic (in which the meat was preserved). Vindaloo keeps the three essential ingredients and adds all our beautiful Indian spices - and lots of them. A true Vindaloo is typically one the hottest dishes in India. Fear not, though: Here's a recipe that is a more reasonable heat level for us Americans, and in a crock pot to boot!

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp Vinegar
1 to 2 Tbsp garlic
1 Tbsp ginger
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 to 1 tsp cayenne powder or diced chilies
1 Tbsp mustard seed
2 Tbsp oil
1 to 2 tsp or sticks cinnamon
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 onion, diced
3 breasts chicken (frozen is okay)

Directions

•  Put everything in the pot
• Cook on low until it smells so good you can't wait any longer ( > 4 hours)
• Add a little cilantro or mint and serve with rice or chapatis

Original Recipe

Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)

Butter chicken is one of everyone's favorite Indian dishes - a nice rich flavor, very identifiable as Indian without being too spicy or "exotic." The story is that a British gentleman in the UK ordered some Tandoori chicken at a restaurant, not knowing that it is basically barbecued, not a curry. He sent it back, complaining that it didn't have a sauce or gravy like he expected. The chef simply broke out a can of Campbell's tomato soup, poured it on top, and sent it back. Of course, the customer loved it.

There's lots of different variations on Butter Chicken. Here's a site that explains some of the basic points in what ingredients are staples and a list of their favorite recipes (and videos).

Here's the recipe I followed last night. It's surprisingly simple, but was very good. Of course, I did tweak it a little bit, adding coconut milk, honey, almonds, and V8 juice. Be creative y'all!

Coconut Coriander Chicken / Homemade Naan

I made this combination for Annamaria just before my dreaded four-day trip to Florida a couple of weeks ago. It turned out very nice. The naan is really easy to make, other than waiting 1 1/2 hours for the dough to rise. It doesn't get as poofy and bubbly as at a restaurant, but it tastes delicious.

I followed both recipes pretty closely, so I'll just link to them here. One major change: We have tons of cilantro growing in our garden, so I added quite a bit to both recipes. Add one or two big bunches of cilantro to the paste in the curry recipe, and add a bunch of chopped cilantro and coriander powder or garam masala with the garlic to the naan dough after letting it rise the first time.

Coconut Chicken Masala from Sailu's Kitchen
Grilled Naan from Allrecipes.com

Thai Peanut Chicken Curry

Here's an easy one (and as Anna said, it's a MUST TRY - I think she liked it).

It's a pretty common recipe on the Interweb, using peanut butter for a spice that sticks to the roof of your mouth. Here's our version.


Ingredients:

1 white onion, cut
Oil
1 lb chicken breast, cut
1 red bell pepper (or green is fine), cut
Several small red chili peppers, cut
2 T garlic or garlic/ginger paste
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
Any peanuts left over from the airplane
1/4 to 1/2 cup frozen spinach (optional)
Soy sauce


Directions

• Fry onion until clear, add peppers, garlic paste, and peanuts
  
• Add chicken and cook until not quite done
• Add peanut butter and stir until it thins and coats everything
• Add spinach and a liberal amount of soy sauce
• Cover at a low boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if necessary
• Serve over rice (jelly optional)
  

Tilapia Curry

In India, if you live on the coast, you eat lots of fish. I didn't get a whole lot of it, but it's really a staple in places like Calcutta. (Even many vegetarians there eat it, since they don't consider it "meat")

Annamaria got some tilapia for us for Valentines, and we had a bunch of frozen fillets left over, so I set out to find a nice fish curry. I found this recipe for Tilapia curry, which was very tasty and pretty easy. For once, I actually followed the recipe fairly closely, so you'll get what I got if you follow it. I did substitute some canned tomatoes for fresh, and you'll probably have to skip the curry leaves or substitute bay leaves, unless you can find some, which you should - seriously, go find a store that sells curry leaf...mmm... The recipe only feeds probably two people, though, so use the amount of fish you want, and add a lot more onion and garlic/ginger then you think you'll need; it condenses down a lot. Enjoy!

For a more complicated and, I assume, tasty curry, try this recipe too.