LoLo Coconut Pumpkin Masala Chicken

I’m not really sure what to call this. I don’t understand what the individual words mean, but as I understand it “tikka” means “pieces” and “masala” is…the gravy the Brittish added to Chicken Tikka because they like gravy! Heh. Either way, this is oh-so-tasty. To an American palate, this would be Chicken Coconut Pumpkin Tikka Masala…or something like that. Whatever. (Oh, and the pumpkin? It was a shot in the dark to get more veggies into my fruit n’ bread ONLY kid. It was a success!)

Yummy!

Aunt LoLo’s “Secret Ingredient” Chicken Coconut Tikka Masala

Ingredients:

2 split chicken breasts (bone in, skin on) (You can substitute any chicken here. If your chicken is already cooked, add it at the end.)

1 tbsp. oil

1 medium onion

1 tbs. minced garlic

1 tsp. tikka masala paste

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

2 cups pureed pumpkin (yes, really – it takes on an awesome earthy quality and really rounds out the sauce! Besides- SNEAKY VEG. Yes, please.)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp. chicken base

1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk

 

In a dutch oven, heat up your oil and throw in your diced onion and minced garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent, about five minutes. Add tikka masala paste, tomato paste, pumpkin, water, chicken base, and a few scoops of the thick stuff on the top of the can of coconut milk. (Don’t shake it before you open the can! Coconut milk naturally separates into the cream, and the water.) Stir to combine.

Add your chicken, splash the sauce over it to coat, cover the pan, and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

When the chicken is cooked, carefully remove it from the sauce, remove and discard the skin, and then use a fork to tear the rest of the chicken into pieces. Discard the bones, and return the cooked meat to the pot. Add the rest of the coconut milk, stir to combine, and allow to thicken over low heat. Season to taste with more tikka masala paste and chicken base or salt. A spoonful of sugar is nice as well. (I was making this for kids, so I went pretty light on the tikka masala paste!)

Serve with rice spiced with a pinch of cinnamon, a half pinch of cloves and a teaspoon of chicken base mixed in before cooking.

Aunt LoLo's Shrimp Coconut Curry

This dish came about by sheer force of will - I had shrimp in my freezer, slowly making everything else in my freezer shrimp flavored...so they had to go.

I had made curry before, with chicken, but knew that it could be delicious with shrimp as well.

Aaaaand, that's usually all the nudging I need to turn on the stove and start throwing things at the pot!!

This recipe got a thumbs up from the family, but for me it was maybe a B. If I had replaced the spinach with basil, then it would have been an A+++++! (Of course, that would require my basil in the garden to get taller than 1"...)

LoLo's Shrimp Coconut Curry
Serves 4-6
Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
2 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
2 carrots, washed and sliced
1 1/2 heaping tsp. curry powder (I used an Indian curry blend. It's yellow, but spicier than the Chinese yellow curry blend.)
water
1/2 half can (about 3/4 c.) coconut milk
1 lb. raw shrimp, shelled and de-veined
6 handfuls raw baby spinach
sugar and salt

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then throw in your onion. Cook until soft. Throw in your carrots and potatoes. Cook for about two minutes, stirring constantly. Add the curry powder, and continue to cook (and stir!) until the curry is fragrant.

When the curry is smelling nice and spicy, add in enough water to cover the veggies by about 1/2". Cover and simmer until the carrots and potatoes are fork tender, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, clean and de-vein your shrimp. (Nobody wants a mudvein in their curry!) My shrimp were shell on, so Cleaning for me was peeling the shell and tail off, then using a sharp Santoku knife to make a small slit in the back of each shrimp. To take the tail off, hold the peeled shrimp in your left hand, and use your right hand to pinch the shrimp just above the tail "flippers." Carefully pull the two hands apart, and voila! To take the vein out, I used my fingers, and wiped them off on a dry paper towel to get rid of the vein.

When the potatoes are done cooking, take the lid off and check your consistency. Is it too thin? Boil for a few minutes to reduce it. Is it too thick? Add a little more water. The potatoes will begin to fall apart and thicken the sauce as well.

About 5 minutes before it's time to eat (maybe while your three year old is setting the table), throw your shrimp and spinach into the pot and stir it up. It should take about 3 minutes for your spinach and shrimp to cook - the spinach will wilt down to nothing, and the shrimp will turn a nice shade of pink.

2 minutes before serving time, add your coconut milk, plus sugar and salt to taste. (Note - do not bring the mixture back to a boil once the coconut milk is in.)

Serve over rice.

Enjoy!

Curry Pinto Beans with Pork

In a medium sized pot, combine 2 cups of dried pinto beans and water (according to package directions*) and bring to a boil. Boil for three minutes, cover, remove from heat and let sit for 1 hour.

Drain, replace water, and bring back to a simmer. Add 1 lb of pork chops, cut into chunks. (My pork chops were marinated in soy sauce and ginger before being frozen. Otherwise, add a bit of garlic and soy sauce to your beans at this point for the same flavor.) Add 1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained, 2 teaspoons salt, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon curry powder.

Simmer until the beans are the desired tenderness - I simmered mine about 5 hours. We like our beans very tender around here!

About 15 minutes before serving, add 7 oz. of coconut milk (about half a can). After this, don't let the beans simmer - just warm the beans through.

Serve over rice, or with a side of naan, chapati or paratha.

(This is based very loosely on an African dish, Jaanjare Jo Shaak from Chachi's Kitchen.)

Curried Lentils with Coconut Milk

I can not get enough curry these days, or beans. Make it a coconut curry, and I'll sing any song you like just so long as THAT is my supper.

Lentils are great for both- unlike their larger cousins, lentils can go from pantry to table in roughly half an hour.

The original recipe can be found here, on Serious Eats. My version is below.

With a stack of warmed tortillas and a big pot of rice, this made a quick and hearty vegetarian meal. (What really IS the difference between tortillas and naan? Besides the yeast...not much! That's my story, at least.)

Curried Lentils with Coconut Milk

Ingredients

1 pound lentils (about 2 1/2 cups)

1 tsp turmeric
5 cups water
2 ounces ghee or butter
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
5 tsp curry powder
4 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 can coconut milk

Procedure

1. Rinse the lentils and pick over for any stones or dirt. Dissolve the turmeric in the stock and combine with the lentils in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until the lentils are just tender. Stir occasionally.

2. Heat the ghee or butter in a small skillet over medium heat and add the onion. Saute until soft, then add the garlic and curry powder. Cooking, stirring constantly, until the spices are very fragrant and the flavors are married. Stir this mixture into the cooking lentils, and add the chopped tomato with a pinch of salt. Continue simmering until the lentils are done, then season to taste.

3. Add the coconut milk and stir well until heated through. Serve with rice or naan bread.

Coconut Prawn Curry

Just a few reviews of this dish before I share the recipe:

"This is better than my favorite restaurant!" (Mom)

"Hard to beat the prawns you fixed on Sunday, that was amazing. I just boil them, but yours take work and were AMAZING!" (Dad)

"Wow. What's in this?" (Uncle R)

OK, so are you ready for the recipe? I found this in the comment section of Serious Eats- the poster said it was copied from Epicurious.com, but that's just anecdotal.

I didn't take any pictures- the entire family was seated and ready to eat their forks, with or without food. (And since forks are in short supply, I preferred them to eat food.) Plus...really, have you ever seen a GOOD picture of a golden brown curry, studded with soft tomatoes and tiny chunks of cashews, onions, garlic, and ginger? Creamy with juices and coconut milk? Flecked with shards of cilantro?

I haven't. But this suuuure tasted good!

The original recipe calls for a 4 pound chicken, and for 3/4 cup whole milk yogurt to be stirred in with the cashews just before serving. Due to current household dietary restrictions (no land meat, no dairy) I used 2 pounds tigertail prawns and 3/4 cup coconut milk, both stirred in with the cashews just before serving, and simmered long enough to cook the prawns. I also cooked the whole thing in one of my Christmas presents: a cast-iron dutch oven from Ikea (Gosh, I love the "as-is" section. Seriously, half off because someone used the pan and returned it?)

Chicken Curry with Cashews

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
2 medium onions, finely chopped (2 cups)
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons curry powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 (3 1/2- to 4-lb) chicken, cut into 10 serving pieces
1 (14.5-oz) can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3/4 cup cashews (1/4 lb)
3/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
Accompaniment: cooked basmati or jasmine rice
Garnish: chopped fresh cilantro

Heat butter in a 5- to 6-quart wide heavy pot over moderately low heat until foam subsides, then cook onions, garlic, and ginger, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add curry powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook, stirring to coat, 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, including juice, and cilantro and bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, about 40 minutes. (If making ahead, see cooks' note, below.)
Just before serving:
Pulse cashews in a food processor or electric coffee/spice grinder until very finely ground, then add to curry along with yogurt and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring, until sauce is thickened, about 5 minutes.

Cooks' note:
Curry, without yogurt and cashews, can be made 5 days ahead and cooled completely, uncovered, then chilled, covered. Reheat over low heat before stirring in yogurt and ground cashews.

Naan

Another part of my brother's birthday feast- naan! The reviews for this recipe were incredible here but mine didn't rise very well. I wasn't surprised though, because I don't recall ever having bread rise properly for me! We also had a very cold weekend, and I didn't do much to try and make a nice warm environment for the dough (it had to rise in the car during church, with snow on the ground outside!)

It turned out very tasty, and slightly sweet, with a subtle yeasty flavor. One reviewer recommended adding a teaspoon or so of baking soda, to give the finish product the "bubbles" so common in fresh restaurant naan. The recipe is taken directly from the site above- please go check it out. They have lots of great recipes!

One more note- we cooked these on the stove top, on both a griddle and in a skillet. I made a double batch, so we needed a lot of work space to get these cooked up! They were very good the next day, too. We did not add the garlic or use the butter called for- just dry cooked them over medium high heat. I think they would work better NOT in a teflon pan- it tended to smoke a lot.

Naan

Ingredients:

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Paneer Cheese

I used this recipe for my brother's birthday dinner this past weekend- it was really simple, and had a very creamy (if slightly flavorless) result. Of course, for cheese to really have flavor it has to be aged, which this isn't. It's lightly lemony, and very creamy. The neat thing about this cheese is it doesn't melt- you can fry it, and it will retain its shape. Original recipe can be found here, but there are identical recipes all over the web. Directions include my own comments.

Paneer Cheese
10 cups whole milk
2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup lemon juice

1)Bring the milk to a full boil in a 6 quart pot, stirring occasionally. It will foam up at the end- a bigger pot might even be better. I ended up needing to stir, blow, and turn down the heat to keep this from boiling over.
2) Add the salt and lemon juice, and remove from heat. Slowly stir around the edge of the pot as the curd forms in the center, then let sit for 2 minutes. You'll be left with a mess of curds floating in yellow, clear liquid (curds and whey!)
3) Pour into a colander lined with a triple thickness of damp cheese cloth. Gather up the edges of the cheesecloth around the curds, and twist gently to get as much liquid out as possible. Wrap the whole package in a kitchen towel and put in a bowl, then cover with another bowl either filled with water or some heavy cans- this will compress the cheese and push any remaining liquid out. Let stand at room temperature for an hour, or until firm. Pour off any accumulated liquid and store in the refrigerator.