Far Away Spices: First TIme Cooking Indian

So as I type this my fingers are burning. (I de-seeded and ribbed a jalapeno pepper). Tonight was the first time I cooked Indian and I have to admit, the kitchen smelled pretty exotic with all the blended spices, chili peppers and curried vegetables. I put together: chicken tikka masala, curried vegetables and mint and onion chutney (all from the Cook's Illustrated cookbook). I didn't actually eat anything tonight because I made it for dinner tomorrow for when my boyfriend, Eric, comes over.

So, one of the cool things about this dinner was that I got to use some new equipment. My spice/coffee grinder was implemented to grind coriander:

It felt pretty fresh and authentic to grind your own spaces for the tikka masala. I didn't have the garam masala spice so, as a substitution, I ground a mix of coriander, cardamom, black pepper, cumin, salt and cinnamon. I also used curry powder, paprika and cayenne pepper at some point tonight. Before making curried vegetables I had to toast the spices to get a richer flavor:



Another exciting thing that I got to do tonight... drumroll.... USE THE BROILER! I know it might sound ridiculous that I have never actually used the broiler before... but I hadn't. After the chicken breasts marinated, I dipped them in a yogurt, garlic, oil mixture and placed them (with my new tongs) on the broiler pan. Yessss...finally!! I didn't really know how or when to use the broiler so I just avoided it all together. Anyway, as the sauce marinated, the high heat of the broiled began to cook the chicken. I turned it over once (with my trusty hot pink tongs) and then the other side got super charred (which I like but maybe wasn't supposed to happen). I then inserted by NEW instant read digital thermometer and the chicken came out to like 230 degrees when it was supposed to be 160 degrees... so that seemed too hot. It didn't matter though because the piece I tried was like AWESOME... it was charred on the outside, tender on the inside... I'm very excited about it.



Making the tikka masala sauce was a lot like cooking italian spaghetti sauce, so I felt very comfortable with that. I added some extra salt to flavor it up and added the chicken after it cooled.

Now the curried vegetables were a whole production. It was like making a stew. I chose this recipe so I could make it a day ahead and (for both) the flavors will become richer and just better overall for tomorrow. The curried vegetables included cauliflower, chickpeas, potatoes, onions, spices, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, peas and coconut milk. I actually liked them A LOT but the recipe made like a lott of vegetables that we're probably never gonna get to eat.

Now, for what I believe was my crowning achievement of the evening: basmati rice pilaf! I had to try this THREE times and the first two were no good. The recipe calls for the pan to get really hot with the vegetable oil before you add spices (cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom pods) and then onions, before adding the rice, water and salt. So, the first time, I definitely left the spices in too long and they started to burn, then I added diced onions and they started burning IMMEDIATELY. (They were supposed to only be translucent). I threw it all out. Then the second time, I didn't let the spices burn BUT the same thing happened with the onions as soon as I dropped them in. I made the rice anyway because I wanted to see if I could salvage it, but the bottom of the rice burned miserably and it was inedible.

So the third time, I finally got it right. I reread the recipe (key) and realized I was supposed to add SLICED onions, not diced ones. Apparently, this makes a huge difference. The small onions were too small and burned immediately. The other mistake I made with the second batch of rice that caused it to burn? After simmering the rice for 17 minutes, I was supposed to remove it from heat and let it stand for ten minutes. Instead of "removing" from the heat, I just turned the heat off and left it "standing" on the hot burner. This made the rice burn. The third time I moved the sauce pan (a smaller one by the way instead of using the skillet I had been)) to a completely cool oven burner. THis clealry made all the differencce. I was able to fluiff the rice and none of it stuck to the bottom. Per-fect. Though rice seems like an easy thing to make, I have consistently had trouble (as we could see again tonight) so I was happy to have a successful rice attempt.

Tomorrow I will take more pictures of the whole meal put together. For now I'd just like to say that I'm proud of myself for successfully cooking Indian, for using the broiler successfully, for making a nice batch of rice and for using my new kitchen tools. Next time I'll have to get vinyl gloves to wear while de-ribbing a jalapeno (something I used as a substitute for a serrano pepper because the store didn't have one by the way. I feel like I'm learning a few things and moving forward. I'll let you know if the food is well-received tomorrow!