Bollywood Dreams

For my first foray into the world of food blogging, I thought I would do something typical and glamorous, like bake a cake or a pie or a batch of really pretty cookies. In fact, I did all of those things, just a week ago, but my first entry here will revolve around the Indian dinner that I cooked for my family over winter break.

After a semester of cooking in a tiny kitchen with makeshift utensils, I remembered how nice it was to be in a real kitchen with things like saute pans, good knives, and marble cutting boards. I started looking for recipes on FoodGawker, my favorite culinary website at the moment. With the help of my eight-year old sister, Hannah, I decided on a menu of butter chicken, papadum, and indian-style green beans.

The two of us headed off to the local gourmet supermarket to shop for ingredients. It was a bit difficult to find the garam masala spice blend (I was about to purchase whole spices and a grinder and make it myself) when I stumbled upon the indian-food aisle and found an adorable little packet of pre-made masala mix. There was even Butter Chicken sauce in a jar, but when it comes to cooking I don't usually take the easy way out.

Once I started cooking, I understood why Top Chef contestant Radhika had a hard time with the one-pot challenge. I believe that I used every pot and pan in my mothers kitchen at one time or another, and I definitely used every available cooktop. I followed the recipe (link above) to the letter for the chicken, and improvised on this recipe for the green beans. I ended up using a packet of pre-mixed vegetable spices by the same company that made the masala blend along with one small chopped onion, sliced almonds, and sweetened coconut. I sauteed the whole thing in a tablespoon of ghee (This actually makes a big difference in the flavor of the food. I fried the papadum in regular vegetable oil and it just wasn't the same.) and plated it in a really pretty cut-glass bowl. I bought the papadum pre-made; all I had to do was heat the oil and fry each one for five seconds.

I spent a solid three and a half hours in the kitchen from set up and prep-work like dicing fresh garlic and onions until the meal was plated and put on the table, but it was well worth the time and effort. Everyone, including the notoriously picky Hannah, whose diet normally consists of noodles with butter and chicken fingers, asked for more of everything.