Daring Cooks - August 2011 - Appam and Curry

Appam, Sri Lankan Lamb Curry, and Carrots with Tropical Flavors

Toasting the spices...mmmmmm!

Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.


For starters I got very, very excited about the chance to make a gluten-free flatbread. My hubby realized he has a significant sensitivity to wheat almost a year ago now, so there's been little-to-no bread baking around here, and no naan (which I love!)


Secondly, I love curry...pretty much all curry (Indian, Thai, white-trash...you name it).  So all-in-all, I was pretty happy about the challenge for August. Within 2 days of it being posted online, I decided THAT WOULD BE THE NIGHT.


Unfortunately, I decided about 10:00 in the morning.  What I didn't recognize was that the second stage of the appam recipe involved letting the batter stand for 8 - 12 hours.  (I know, I know...I should have read it all the way through, but I just got so excited...).  So instead, the raw rice got only 2 hours to soak, and then the batter got maybe another 6 to ferment.  It made for a much thicker batter than it should have been, and as a result, the appam were...well, GLUEY.  Yuck. I will have to try this again when I have the right amount of time, because I think, cooked correctly, they could have been quite tasty.






As for the curries, I made the Sri Lankan lamb curry.  It was just delicious, although a bit of a pain as the only lamb stew meat you can get around here is BONE-IN, great for flavour but a whole lotta work if you actually want to EAT it. I thought the curry was delicious, but my husband and son thought the curry was actually too mild for their tastes (personally, I think the fact they wanted theirs on rice was at fault.  Everyone knows rice neutralizes about half of the flavour of things!)


The run-away surprise hit of the dinner, though, was the "Carrorts with Tropical Flavors" side dish that was offered. You would think it was just a carrot salad, but it was SO much more than that, with the creaminess from the coconut milk and the savoriness and depth from the curry leaves and the shallots.  Mmmmm...needless to say we made it again for company the same week and we will make it again often in the future!

Vij's Prawns in Pomegranate Curry

Mmmm...date night!

So apparently, we CAN have date night without cheating on the Hormone Diet!

Along with the kale I posted about yesterday, we enjoyed this delicious prawn curry, from the second Vij cookbook, Vij's at Home: Relax, Honey: The Warmth and Ease of Indian Cooking.

Once again, this is a book worth having.  Vikram and his wife Meeru not only share some awesome recipes, but every single recipe starts with the history of the recipe, what to serve it with, etc.  It's a very personal book that makes you feel like you might just know the authors a little bit. And in my house, it got read straight through from cover to cover.

And the prawns...well, we were a little skeptical when we saw there were THREE CUPS of onion in the ingredient list.  By the time we were done cooking, we were believers.  The deliciously sweet and sticky caramelized onion and tart pomegranate juice were the perfect fit for the prawns, and this one's definitely on our list to make again!

(Along with the Amazon link above, Vij's books are also available at Costco from time to time, and worth the money for the anecdotes alone.  PLUS you get recipes!)

Coconut Kale Vij's Style!

Eat your veggies!

Hubby and I love Indian food, and this date night was no exception. We're still in the midst of the Hormone Diet, but we knew that there were lots of Indian options that we could eat.  We pulled out both our Vij's cookbooks (he's a local celebrity chef) and went to work.

Our first choice was the Grilled Coconut Kale from Vij's: Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine. This is kale marinated in coconut milk and spices, and then grilled to perfection.

It is SO hard to stop eating, it almost tastes like warm, coconutty kale chips, only not quite so crispy.  We make this every time we make Indian food for date night (and sometimes just because we're craving it). It's one of our favorites.

And my suggestion to you is to run out and buy the book, NOW and try it yourself!  ;)

SO delicious!

Mmmm...Butter Chicken...

Seriously delicious!

This is one of my favorite things to cook while on the Hormone Diet...or anytime, really. It's that good! It's so good, that there was only this tiny bit left for my breakfast this morning, as the family kept going back for seconds...and thirds...

BUTTER CHICKEN

To marinate:

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in bite-sized chunks
• 1 head of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. cardamom
• 1 Tblsp. fenugreek leaves
• 2-3 limes, juiced (you are aiming to have the marinade just liquid enough to coat the chicken)

To cook:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 whole onion, diced
• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom
• 1 Tblsp. fenugreek leaves
• 1 can coconut milk (preferably Arroy-D) DO NOT SHAKE!!
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Combine marinade ingredients with chicken in a large zipper bag. Marinate in fridge overnight (the longer you marinate the better it will taste, but there are many times it only gets a couple of hours around here and it's fine).

Melt butter in large pan over medium heat and saute the onion until soft. Add the chicken and marinade and cook until the chicken is sealed on the outside.

Add the tomatoes (mixture will be quite runny at this point) and lower heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered, stirring from time to time until most of the liquid has reduced (this can take 30 - 45 minutes, depending on your stove).

Open coconut milk and add just the thickened part to the mixture in pan, along with the remaining dry herbs and spices (NOT the cilantro). Cook for an additional 10 minutes or so, until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat, stir in cilantro and serve over basmati rice.

SO good!