2007.11.20
Korma chameleon
Indian food is one of the most-craved ethnic cuisines, and every time I end up at an Indian restaurant, I have to fight hard to avoid ordering my very favorite dish, malai kofta.
Malai kofta are vegetable dumplings served in a rich, spicy, creamy sauce. The sauce is either very similar to or identical to korma, a nutty, cream-based gravy.
But Indian food can be very time-consuming to make from scratch. It can also be quite expensive, considering that several of the standard spices, like saffron, cardamom and curry, are among the pricier ones you can buy.
Imagine my delight, then, when I was shopping at World Market in D.C. recently and came across some delicious jarred Indian sauces, including korma and tikka masala. The sauces are made by Shere Khan, an England-based restaurant. They sold for $5 per jar at my favorite store on earth (can we get a World Market here?).
On Sunday, I simmered some chicken breast, green pepper and onion in that korma, which looked beautiful but tasted...well, not like korma. Instead, it tasted very sweet, almost like a mango sauce instead of korma. I was pretty disappointed, but I doctored it up with a little curry powder and hot sauce to give it some kick and served it over basmati rice.
The real experiment came when I decided to make an Americanized, Nair-ified version of a samosa with ingredients I had laying around the house.
The pastry was an extra pie crust that I knew I would not need for my Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, which is a one-crust recipe. The stuffing was a mixture of mashed potatoes, onions, spinach, curry, garlic salt and salt and pepper. All of that was mixed thoroughly and stuffed inside pastry triangles, then folded over to make a pocket.
I baked them at about 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
I was surprised and delighted by the result. Although the filling was a strange, bright green color (but no stranger than falafel), it sure was flavorful. And the crust was light and flaky.
The only thing I'll do differently next time is stir a couple spoonfuls of garbanzo beans into the stuffing.
The whole experience just goes to show you that when you take risks in the kitchen, the results are sometimes even better than what you thought was going to be a sure thing -- in my case, a jar of korma sauce.
I would love to hear about any of your attempts to cook Indian food from scratch. I recently received a beautiful cookbook called "The Complete Book of Indian Cooking" by Suneeta Vaswani. Perhaps next time I'm craving korma and don't want to head out to a restaurant, I'll give this recipe a try:
Chicken Korma
Serves 6 to 8
12 skinless bone-in chicken thighs
Marinade:
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt at room temperature
1 tsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup each blanched almonds, raw cashews and raw pistachios
2 Tbsp. unsweetened disiccated coconut
1 Tbsp. Indian poppy seeds
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp each cumin seeds and coriander seeds
1/2 tsp. saffron threads
1/2 cup very hot milk
2 Tbsp. oil
1 stick cinnamon, about 3 inches long
4 whole cloves
6 black peppercorns
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions
1 lb. pearl onions or small boiling onions
1. Rinse chicken and pat dry thoroughly.
2. Marinade: In a large nonreactive bowl, stir together yogurt and cornstarch to a creamy consistency.
3. In a food processor, combine almonds, cashews, pistachios, coconut, poppy seeds, garlic, cayenne, salt, cumin and coriander. Process until mixture forms as fine a paste as possible. Stir into yogurt. Add chicken pieces and coat thoroughly. Set aside for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or cover and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.
4. In a small bowl, soak saffron in hot milk and set aside.
5. In a large wide saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns and saute for 30 seconds. Add onions and saute until golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Carefully arrange chicken in pan. Scrape any leftover marinade over chicken. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook, stirring gently once, for 15 minutes.
6. Tuck pearl onions in between chicken pieces and pour saffron milk over top. cover and cook until chicken is no longer pink inside, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring gently and periodically scraping bottom to make sure the nut gravy does not burn.
My husband and I crave Indian food, too. I was at Ukrops last week picking up some lunch and wondering what to have for dinner. Ukrops had a crock-pot of chicken tikka masala simmering so I tried some and it was delicious! It was a jarred sauce, too, found in the natural foods section. I cannot remember the name now, but I snatched it up. I cubed 2 boneless chicken breasts, browned them then added about 1/2 the jar of sauce and let it simmer for 10 minutes. We served over some couscous. I didn't have to add anything to the sauce and all that was missing was some naan!
I'm interested in trying your samosa recipe.
Comment by Lori — November 20, 2007 @ 11:53 am
I wish there was a way to make authentic garlic naan at home. Mmm...delicious!
Comment by Jay — November 20, 2007 @ 3:29 pm
Ooh, I'll have to look for that sauce, Lori. I bought a jar of the tikka masala sauce by that restaurant company, so we'll see if that will be better than the korma.
Jay, I'm with you. Garlic naan is soooo delicious. Although you can't make naan at home like you can in a tandoor oven, the cookbook I have includes a "reasonable substitute."
Of course, it is only for plain naan, but maybe you could brush butter and garlic on top.
I'll type it up and post it for everyone here in a bit.
Comment by Lindsey — November 20, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
Loved your column today, I am a soup freak. I love it. Here's an interesting sounding one from the NY Times. I love apples and fennel, so I'll have to try this, w/out the caviar.
Recipe:Apple Fennel Soup
Published: November 21, 2007
3 apples (Granny Smith, Winesap, Cameo or Cortland)
1 medium-size fennel bulb, stems removed, diced
1 shallot, sliced
2 small inner stems celery, with leaves
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 2/3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons (about one ounce) domestic sturgeon caviar (optional).
1. Peel and core 2 1/2 apples and place in 3-quart saucepan with fennel, shallot, celery, stock, wine, salt and pepper. Simmer 20 minutes, until all are tender.
2. Meanwhile, core and finely dice remaining half apple, toss with half the lemon juice, cover tightly or seal in a sandwich bag and set aside.
3. Purée contents of saucepan in a blender; return to pot. Whisk in remaining lemon juice, cream and mustard. Bring to a simmer, check seasonings and serve, with diced apple and caviar, if desired, garnishing each portion.
Yield: 6 servings.
Comment by Debbie — November 21, 2007 @ 5:39 am
Lindsey, my husband must have read the blog because when I got home he had added the rest of the sauce to some rice, then threw in some frozen peas for a variation of fried rice. The brand of sauce is Seeds of Change.
He paired the rice with some Thai Chicken soup I brought home last week from Fresh Market. Yum!
Comment by Lori — November 21, 2007 @ 10:13 am
Oh my gosh--Indian food is like the fastest and cheapest thing you could make! This coming from a poor college student! First off--NEVER buy spices at Kroger or Walmart or some other big chain--if you go to an international grocery (I go to Oasis World Market in Blacksburg) you won't be spending over a dollar for any one spice. Boxes of pre-blended spices specific to dishes are a dollar also. All you need other than that are crushed tomatoes, maybe some coconut milk in a can ($1 at international grocery), garlic/ginger paste ($2-5 depending on size of jar), onions, beans, etc. It's all so cheap and I definitely lived off it for a whole summer because it was so fast to make. My new Indian kick is Dal, which is curried lentils (sold for a dollar a bag in every color imaginable at international grocery). I also make homemade roti. If you splurge on $5 sack of special roti flour, all you have to do is add water to a couple cups of the flour, roll out, and fry/bake. I mix in herbs like thyme for variety. So easy!
Almost EVERY single Indian recipe starts with frying the spices with garlic/ginger paste, then adding and softening diced onion, and finally adding crushed tomatoes.
Btw, nothing pre-mixed in a jar has ever been tasty in my explorations.
My roommate is South-Indian--so I have been professionally trained!
One cookbook I would recommend for cheap and healthy Indian cooking is Dino Sarma's "Alternative Vegan" I don't own the book myself, but he posts recipes pretty regularly on a site called veganfreak.com and he's a vegan icon!
Comment by Corey — December 10, 2007 @ 12:18 pm