Chicken Kofta Recipe in Makhani Curry

Chicken kofta is not your average meatball. It's packed with Indian spices, garam masala and chiles. To top that off, in this recipe the kofta are drenched in a rich, creamy curried, tomato sauce made with tomato, onions, cashew nuts, lemon juice, ghee, cream and a few spices.

Seriously, what’s not to love? Any time you can say "meatball" and "cream sauce" in the same sentence, something delicious is probably going on. We often make this for dinner parties because it’s a little too rich to serve on a regular basis. Having said that, I find myself coming up with “special” occasions all the time as an excuse to make this dish. If you try it out yourself, I bet you will too!

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Vegetarian Palak Paneer Lasagna

Palak paneer lasagna is the result of my desire to not waste food. We had some leftover palak paneer from our dinner party, and I thought it would be fun to experiment. I made an Indian-spiced béchamel sauce and combined it with the spinach. The mixture was then sandwiched between layers of pasta sheets. I decided not to add additional cheese since there was already cubes of paneer in the dish. Instead, I crushed herb crackers on top to create a crust.

I’ve found that the most unusual dishes are created when your desire to create something new is constrained by the realities of what you have in your pantry or fridge. This dish is a great example. The marriage of Indian ingredients with the pasta really worked well.

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Indian Dinner Party Menu

We hosted an Indian classical music party over the weekend. The artist was Kankana Banerjee. If like me, you know nothing about Indian classical music, Ms. Banerjee is "one of the leading exponents of classical music in India". She is the recipient of the Kala Saraswati, Andhra Ratna Award which is one of the most prestigious awards from the Government of Andhra Pradesh (from smashits.com). My father-in-law admires her music very much, and we had the honor of listening to her perform. As I mentioned, I haven’t heard any Indian classical music before, so this was quite an experience for me. My little munchkin (my 5-year-old sister-in-law) on the other hand is an old pro; she is very fond of it and has been singing with her Daddy every evening in anticipation of the concert. I do however know food, and I thought it would be fun to share with you all the dishes that were served. You may not be hosting a music party at your home any time soon, but that doesn’t mean that these dishes can’t make a guest appearance at your dinner table!


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Indian Peanut Chutney Recipe

I served khichdi (Indian masoor dal rice) this evening for dinner. Instead of using the usual Indian yogurt sauce called raita, I made peanut sesame chutney, called "til chutney" in Urdu. It's a little time consuming but it pairs perfectly with the coral-colored lentils and rice. To make the sauce, peanuts and sesame seeds are ground into a fine powder. They provide richness to the sauce that is complemented by the sweet-acid flavor of tamarind and the kick of raw onions. Baghar is the finishing touch in this dish, as it is in a lot of Indian dishes.

This dish was passed down to me from my husband Lulu’s late grandmother. Everyone referred to her as Baji. She taught me several Indian recipes from the region of Hyderabad, and I have an entire notebook of her recipes that I have to get translated. I’ll post them here as I try them out, so stay tuned!

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Stuffed Karela Recipe (Indian Bitter Melons with Chana Dal)

Bitter melon (also known as bitter cucumber, bitter gourd or karela) is an acquired taste. That's a polite way of saying a lot of people dislike it. As the name reminds you, it is bitter, but when cooked properly, it can be a delicious side dish. It is also very nutritious. One of bitter melon’s many properties is that it's supposed to lower your blood sugar, so it’s worth working it into your diet.

I've posted several Asian-style bitter melon recipes, but today I cooked it the way my father-in-law likes it. Compared to the Asian variety, Indian bitter melon (or karela) is much smaller and darker, and is covered with spikes. For this recipe, the karela is cut into chunks, fried and stuffed with chana dal. The fried rings of bitter melon are then simmered in masala tomato sauce. Fried onions and amchur, or dried mango powder, cut the bitterness and balance the flavors. You’ll still know you’re eating bitter melon, but you just might like it!

 

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