Curses! I hate when I forget to take a photograph of the completed meal, and this chicken makhani (Indian Butter Chicken) was absolutely freaking phenomenal. It was, without question, one of the most amazing meals I’ve made at home. And yet, no photos. But I have pics of the biryani, which was also fantastic.

CONFESSION: You don’t want to know how long I’ve had this biryani paste. Seriously. I’ve been terrified of it for awhile. Patak’s branding has changed, possibly twice, since this label design. I’m taking the term “non-perishable food item” to new heights. This paste was actually a part of someone’s freecycle pantry cleanout when they were moving, and I got a bunch of new curry pastes to try. They’ve all been good, but I’ve been a little afraid of the biryani. Still kind of am, to be honest, but I nailed it this time because I cut the amount of biryani paste in half of what’s recommended.

I used the recipe on the jar… sort of. This is what I did.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups basmati rice, rinsed 2 or 3 times
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup frozen sweet peas
• 2 cans (14oz) cherry tomatoes with juice (you can use diced tomatoes; I just got a bunch of cans of cherry tomatoes on sale for like 35¢ apiece at our Italian grocer)
• 4 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons biryani paste (the recipe recommends this for a single batch; I used it for a double batch for a lighter flavor)

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Sauté your vegetables in a saucepan with a little olive oil or butter until the onion is clear. Add the biryani paste and combine.

In a casserole dish, add the drained rice, water, vegetables with curry paste, and your tomatoes and combine until well-mixed. Cover with foil and place the casserole dish in the oven. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, checking to see if the rice is cooked. You may want to stir halfway through.

I served this with chicken makhani made with Kitchens of India’s Curry Paste for Butter Chicken, which, with the addition of a little half & half to add some creaminess, is perfect when prepared according to package directions. Just sensational, and definitely restaurant quality Indian for when we’re trying to save our pennies.

CONFESSION: I love cookbooks. Like LOVE cookbooks, even though I rarely use the recipes as described. I like browsing through for fun, getting ideas, learning new techniques I can apply elsewhere. Sure, I use the internet to find recipes on occasion, but my first stop is almost always my shelf of cookbooks. And that’s where I found this recipe.

Looks pretty foul, doesn’t it? If you don’t eat Indian food regularly I’m sure it does, but after the discovery of an adorable little Indian grocer I needed to try to make my own version of one of my favorite Indian dishes. QUICK TIP: Don’t make substitutions when cooking a cuisine you’re not experienced with. Since I’m still learning the subtleties of cooking Indian food, this was a recipe I needed to follow to the letter. Which I didn’t. Which is why it was kind of meh, but I’m going to try it again. Moral of the story: Don’t replace the tomatoes with tomato paste. It won’t work.

This (very slightly modified) recipe came from The Best Ever Indian by Brian Wilson, which has a thousand and one delicious things I’m DYING to try. It’s a beautiful book and I recommend it highly.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag fresh spinach leaves (about 1/lb)
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used considerably less, but I don’t think that had an effect it)
• 8 oz paneer, cubed (Indian cottage cheese—if you don’t have it, you can use chicken as well if you brown it first)
• 1 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ginger paste (I use The Ginger People ginger paste… YUM)
• 7 oz (about half a can) canned tomatoes, drained (yeah… I skipped this part because I lacked the ingredients and used tomato paste instead. Don’t skip it.)
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
• *Penzey’s Garam Masala to taste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 stick butter

*I found the recipe pretty bland as far as spice with these teensy amounts, so I seasoned the heck out of it with Garam Masala curry powder.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the spinach leaves and blanch for 4–5 minutes. Drain well and reserve some broth. Add the tomatoes and, using a hand blender (I use the KitchenAid Immersion Blender given to me by my friend Angela) or food processor, puree the spinach.

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the paneer, tossing frequently until lightly browned. Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Add the onion to the same skillet and cook until softened. Add the ginger paste and cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach, spices, lemon juice and butter and cook, stirring constantly. If mixture’s too dry, add a little of the reserved broth from blanching the spinach.

The intensity of the flavor will increase overnight, but let it sit at least 15 minutes to let the flavors meld together.

Would I make this again? Absolutely. That said, I still think the Palak Paneer from Kitchens of India is far superior, and also cheaper to make.

Tonight’s dinner was the product of a fridge full of mustgo. A pound of ground beef, some multicolored cauliflower from the farmer’s market and some leftover curry paste. I’d never thought about making curried ground beef, so I was shocked when I found that ground meat actually had a name.

I kind of wished I could have cooked the cauliflower in a dish that showed off it’s awesome coloring, but I let it go too long and it needed to be cooked now. That said, it was delicious!

As usual with my Indian/Pakistani dishes, I served it up with Trader Joe’s Garlic Naan.

Trader Joes, how do I love thee. I don’t care that you’re Aldi in a fancy dress. In fact, I love that you’re Aldi in a fancy dress and your delicious foods are priced accordingly. And I do love thee. Let me count the ways.

First there’s their Garlic Naan, in the freezer section for < $2 a package of  four big pieces. For that I love you lots. Then there’s the Vegetable Biryani, so conveniently packaged and ready to devour…

My favorite part about Trader Joes is that they make it easy and inexpensive to cook gourmet quality ethnic food. If I’m going to cook, I require variety, and what’s not to love about making something like Indian food easier?

I used Patak’s Rogan Josh sauce with chicken, onions and peppers in the goodie bags leftover from our friend’s taco party and piled the rest of it together.  Cheap, quick, and restaurant quality. Thank you, Trader Joes.

Usually I can’t say enough good things about Patak’s Indian Sauce blends, but while their new Butter Chicken sauce provided an awesome base for what turned out to be Shrimp Vindaloo, it was surprisingly and disappointingly bland. By adding some Penzey’s Garam Masala and Vindaloo I turned this into a really fantastic Vindaloo sauce.

The recipe is extremely simple, starting with the Patak’s Butter Chicken sauce and adding Garam Masala and Vindaloo to taste. First I added cauliflower, which is a favorite of mine in curries of all sorts, a chopped onion, sweet white corn for a great sweetness and some frozen baby peas. Before it was done cooking I added about a  tablespoon of tomato paste to strengthen the tomato flavor and I served it over some steamed basmati rice. It was a great way to turn a sauce that I wasn’t terribly excited about into something really fantastic.

I also cannot say enough great things about my favorite new find, Trader Joe’s Garlic Naan. A couple minutes in the oven, brushed with a little margarine, and *POOF* restaurant-quality naan for dirt cheap. I’m super stoked about the Trader Joe’s that just opened near my house in Oak Park, and you can bet I’ll be getting even more adventurous with my cooking with some of their awesome prepared sauces. I can’t wait!!

Chicken Saagwala is one of my favorite quick and easy meals. I pulled it from the archives to post here when I opened the blog and today, after spending 2 hours on a drive that usually takes 40 minutes (thanks, flooding!) quick was necessary.

Kitchens of India’s Palak Paneer makes it super simple to have something totally satisfying. Plus, the new multi-grain pita bread I found at the grocery store makes a great naan substitute. I got my Indian food fix without having to be at the stove for 45 minutes.

Some folks turn to Hamburger Helper for quick meals. Well, I do too time and again, but there are other, more interesting options out there. Some of my favorites come from Kitchens of India.

As easy to use as any ready-made sauce, their curries and other dishes bring the taste of our favorite Indian buffet home to us. And, as a plus, our local grocery chain has an almost unreasonable Indian Foods Section with prices that are dirt cheap. How cheap? We’re fortunate to pay only $1.79 (roughly) for enough sauce to easily make this dish. I’ve tried other pre-packaged Palak Paneer (Indian Cheese in Spinach Gravy), but Kitchens of India makes by far the best.

For this meal I just sautéed some chicken breasts and added the sauce. We also had some leftover Chinese takeout rice that needed to be used up, so I tossed that with some extra water, peas and some of the curry paste leftover from last week’s curry to make curried rice and served it all with whole wheat flatbread.

QUICK TIP:
Don’t throw that Chinese takeout rice away. Sure, sure, it dries out, but it just needs a little water and a little love. Toss it in the microwave with a bit of water and cover it with a paper towel while you heat it up. Or, use a little chicken bouillon and mix it with some frozen veggies for a great side dish. Plus, it lasts what seems like forever. I’ve used it up to 10 days after we ordered the takeout and it was still easily reconstituted and delicious.

Homemade Naan? That’s right, I made this from scratch!

I can’t take all the credit; my husband was kind enough to start the bread machine going to make the dough before I got home from work. We used this recipe but modified it based on some of the reviewers’ feedback. We used only 3.5 cups of flour instead of the 4.5 recommended, and we proofed the yeast. Next time we’re using bread flour instead of all-purpose because this made kind of a tough dough, but delicious nonetheless.

Was it worth it? Well, it was fun, and we’ve got enough dough leftover in the freezer for the next time. It’s a LOT of work for something that costs $2.50 from the grocery store, but I would like to try it with the bread flour.

I used Patak’s Mango Chicken sauce, some red pepper and a small head of cauliflower. The sauce was far milder than I anticipated, and definitely not my favorite. I spooned it over some yummy basmati rice and stirred in chunks of fresh, ripe mango which turned out to be the winning touch, sweetening the sauce and adding just enough flavor.

After nearly 6 months I finally decided it was time to step up. Oh, some yummy Garam Masala and pakistani peppers from Penzey’s helped a lot. So I put the curry paste together with some diced tomatoes, chicken, onion, baby carrots and sweet potatoes and *POOF!*

I’m no longer scared of curry paste. Well, maybe a little, but this was outstanding.

Even better, I served this with bread made from my favorite bread machine mix, Classic Hearth Brand Hawaiian Royal Sweet Bread Mix. The sweetness of the bread paired perfectly with the spiciness of the curry. An accidentally brilliant combination for sure!