Friday, August 15, 2014

Mulligatawny Soup

I used a famous chef who shall remain unnamed for the initial recipe for this soup. Lets leave it at he likes to kick things up notches and shouts Batman expletives at every turn.

His recipe is pretty tasty, and there are just a few points that I would change. I have made those adjustments below

This is another British addition to the Indian cuisine. It does have an indian version actually a Tamil version which translates to "pepper water", though I belive what we think of as mulligatawny has very little to do with that soup. Either way, gimme some more of that Pepper water!

4 Tb Ghee
2 lbs bone in skinned chicken thighs salted well
2 Tb Garam Masala
1.5 teas salt
3 small onions
1 carrot diced
1 celery rib diced
4 Tb ginger garlic paste
2 granny smith apples peeled and diced
1 medium yukon gold or other white potato
1 small sweet potato
1 cup dried red lentils
6 cups chicken stock
1 teas black pepper
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1 can Coconut milk
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 Tb apple cider vinegar
3 cup steamed white rice
1/2 cup ground cashews
Cilantro to garnish.

Heat the ghee and add the garam masala to the oil and allow to cook for 30 seconds. Add the salted chicken and allow it to brown properly on all sides. Remove the chicken from the oil and set aside.

Add the onions, carrots and celery to the ghee and sauté lightly. Add the ginger garlic paste and bhunao the mixture lightly. Add the diced apples and allow them to sweat and caramelize. after about 10 minutes you can add the potatoes, sweet potatoes and lentils to the pot, toss briefly to coat everything and add 6 cups of chicken stock. Bring this to a simmer. Cook until the potatoes are tender. Add back the chicken, the rest of the salt and the pepper, zucchini, squash, coconut milk and tomatoes. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the chicken and squash is tender. Remove from heat and stir in cider vinegar. Serve with steamed rice and garnish with cilantro.

I was a big fan of this soup but for some reason Jessie didn't like it much, I guess to each their own! More mulligatawny for me! No soup for you!

-Nom!

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Whole green lentil stew



It is nice to know that there are as many healthy Indian choices as there are those
with coconut milk or a half cup of oil. The whole green lentil stew is one such dish. The best thing about this dish is that it has a good amount of kick to it, and I love a good kick. It's also simple. You can almost say "set it and forget it."

A note about this recipe: when cooked with the listed ingredients, it lived up to the name of "stew." It also wasn't much of a yield. I would suggest either doubling the recipe, or doubling the lentils and adding 6 cups of water instead of 7 (if doubled) to make it thicker.

1/2 C whole green lentils
3.5 C of water
1 small tomato
3 garlic cloves with slits cut into them to release the flavor
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t Ground red pepper (cayenne)
3/4 t salt
2 T of vegetable oil
1/4 t Cumin seeds
1/2 small onion, diced
1 t peeled and finely diced fresh ginger

Rinse the lentils 3 times, making sure there are no rocks or other debris. Combine the lentils, water, tomato, 1 garlic clove, turmeric, cayenne, and salt into a pan and bring to a roiling boil on low heat. Once it comes up to a boil, stir, and reduce to medium-low and cover. Stir occasionally and simmer for about 40 minutes.

In a frying pan, heat the oil and add the cumin seeds and brown for about 10 seconds. Immediately add the onion, ginger and 2 garlic cloves and sauté for about 5-6 minutes until the onion is browned,

Add the spices to the lentils and stir to combine.

-NOM!