I thought I'd start off with Indian food. I learned to cook Indian from my friend Bharati. The year I learned to make jam, I made some as Christmas presents for everyone in the lab I worked with. I ended up with more than I thought, so I gave some to the people I worked with in an associated lab, and one of these was Bharati. She offered to trade: if I would teach her to make jam, she would teach me to make Indian food.
What a deal! That started a great friendship and, the next Christmas, she gave me Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking so that I could learn to cook meat (she was Hindu and only cooked vegetarian herself). This is one of my favorite recipes from that book, modified so that it is faster to cook and not too spicy for kids. This will feed 4 -6 pretty easily (cut up chicken breasts in sauce stretch pretty far) but you can always add a little more chicken:
Chicken with Roasted Coriander in a Coconut Curry Sauce
- 3 T Coriander seeds (or 2 T coriander powder - I have a ton of this if anyone needs some)
- 1/4 t Fenugreek seeds (optional; I also have a ton of this if you want to use it)
- 2 t Black peppercorns (or 1 t ground pepper)
- 6 T Oil
- 2 Medium onions sliced into thin half rings
- 2" Cinnamon stick
- 4-5 Cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (or put through a garlic press)
- 2 t Grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 t Ground turmeric (can use curry powder instead)
- 1 Large or 2 medium skinless, boneless chicken breasts, in bite sized cubes
- 1 can Coconut milk
- 1 1/2 t Salt
- 1 T Lemon juice
1) If using whole seeds, toast them in the microwave: put coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, and peppercorns on a paper plate, uncovered; microwave 30-40 seconds, stir, and microwave until you can smell them (usu. about 30-40 seconds more). Then, grind them in a clean coffee grinder or with mortar and pestle.
2) Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-hot heat. Fry the onions, cinnamon stick, garlic, and ginger until the onions are light brown.
3) Add the powdered spices: coriander, fenugreek, pepper, and turmeric. Fry a few seconds more and then add the chicken. Fry until browned.
4) Add coconut milk, salt, and lemon juice. Simmer until chicken is just cooked through, 5-10 minutes. If the chicken was cooked through when you browned it, just heat until the sauce is hot.
5) Serve over rice.
My "other" recipe is for the caramel bars from the Curriculum Tea since some one asked for the recipe. I love this recipe because it's a very fast "fancy dessert" that actually tastes as good as it looks! I got the recipe from All Recipes, but, again, I've modified it (from this recipe):
Caramel Bars
- 32 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped (I actually buy bulk caramel or make this recipe)
- 5 tablespoons heavy cream (or half and half)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (or to taste) semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- Optional: 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, microwave until melted, for drizzling on top
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together the caramels and heavy cream, stirring occasionally until smooth (or microwave it).
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in the melted butter until well blended. Press Half of the mixture into the bottom of a foil lined 9x13 inch baking pan. Reserve the rest.
- Bake the crust for 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove and sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour the caramel mixture over the top and then crumble the remaining crust mixture over everything.
- Return to the oven and bake for an additional 12 minutes, or until the top is lightly toasted.
- Completely cool (do not cool in refrigerator) then drizzle the top with melted chocolate chips. Cut into squares or diamonds after the chocolate has hardened.
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