Out of India

There are many times, when decision making in this house takes on a life of its own.

Here at the elegant Red Brick Ranchero, you have one Gemini sun Libra rising with a total of four planets in Gemini conversing with a Taurus sun Gemini rising with a total of two planets in Gemini and two in Taurus. So once Groom, the Taurus, makes his mind up…something inside makes him change it.

Makes him nuts.

While the Sybil of the family, me, is in the kitchen reading five cookbooks at the same time trying to make a decision about what to do for dinner and having an inner monologue with several of me as to how many dishes to cook.

And once the Taurus sun Gemini rising thinks he has helped to make the actual decision the Gemini sun Libra rising is off on another tangent, all the while Groom is, once again, highly pleased with his contribution to dinner.

The conversation goes like this:

Groom honey, what would you like for dinner.

Oh, I don’t know what do you want?

Well, I was thinking about doing something spicy, maybe curry.

It doesn’t matter to me, surprise me.

Does that mean you want spicy food tonight?

That would be great. I love spicy let’s have Mexican.

I was reading Maddhur Jaffrey’s cookbook and I thought about a curry.

Whatever you want to fix will be fine with me. Just surprise me. I love enchiladas.

Perfect. We’ll do vegetarian tonight. Potato Cauliflower Curry. Mushroom Bhaji..yum yum. This is going to be good.

Do they have enchiladas in India? Mushroom Bhaji, I like that, don't I?

Groom, you‘re brilliant. Excellent idea for dinner.

I don’t know how I do it.


Mushroom Bhaji

1 package white button mushrooms cut in halves, wiped with paper towel
2 onions, finely chopped
2 fresh medium tomatoes, grated
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
4 fat cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp medium hot chili powder
Coarse salt to taste
Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish

Heat two good swirls extra virgin olive oil in a pan and saute onions ginger and garlic until golden brown.

Add tomato, garam masala, salt, chili powder, ground cumin and saute 10 minutes.

Add mushroom and about a ¼ cup water.

Cook till the mushrooms are tender. If dry out, just add a bit more water and stir well.
Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.

Serves 3.

Potato and Cauliflower Curry Punjabi Style
adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's From Curries to Kebabs

1 cup chopped sweet yellow onion
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
5 fat cloves garlic, chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
3 good sized Yukon gold potatoes, boiled, cooled, and cut into about 1 inch chunks
1 medium sized head cauliflower, cut florets into pieces slightly bigger than the potatoes
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup grated tomatoes
Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Put the onion, ginger, garlic and 4 tbsp water in food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Put enough olive oil into large Dutch oven to cover bottom, about a ¼ inch of oil and set over medium high heat. When oil shimmers, put in the potatoes and cauliflower. Fry, stirring until they are lightly browned ,remove with slotted spoon and set aside.

Add cumin seeds, then onion mix from the food processor. Stir for 3 to 4 minutes. Add coriander, cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Then add tomatoes and cook continuing to stir for another 5 minutes. Now add cauliflower and potatoes, 2-1/2 cups to 3 cups water, and salt to taste.

Let cook, covered til cauliflower is done, test after ten minutes.

Serves 4-5.

Out of India

Tandoori-Style Grilled Chicken with Roasted Curried Cauliflower

I‘m a native Nashvillian. Growing up in Tennessee meant that Indian food was really not in my lexicon of food knowledge for a long time. I became familiar with it when I was a junior in college and Mary Herbert and I went on a six week adventure to University College in Oxford, England. We flew on Air India.

I will have to say, airplane food has never been nor ever will be as fascinating and as good as it was in late June of 1976. We thought we were very cool ordering wine to go with our dinners. But when the curried chicken, saffron rice, chutney and spinach arrived we were stunned. We were used to overcooked Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes and that apple crumbly thing when we had meals on a plane. This was something totally different.
And it was so good.

When we got to Oxford, we discovered that University was best for breakfast. The Market was perfect for lunch ( a piece of cheese, some fruit and a baguette) and we spent a lot of time at Indian restaurants eating supper like queens for little money.
So when I have a food memory moment from that time in Oxford, I do a little time travel in the kitchen. And get out the coriander seeds and the cumin seeds and the hot curry powder and the chutney and eat like a queen with Groom.

Tandoori-Style Grilled Chicken
Adapted from Back To Square One by Joyce Goldstein
Serves 6
Marinade:
1 onion, cut into chunks
2 garlic cloves, chopped
¼ cup fresh lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp turmeric
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp garam masala
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups plain yogurt
3 cut-up chicken pieces, about 5 pounds

Puree the onion with the garlic in Cuisinart. Process in the lime or lemon juice. Then add spices and yogurt and blend to mix. Put chicken in Pyrex pans and pour marinade over and turn to coat. cover and refrigerate overnight.
Bring the chicken to room temperature. Preheat the grill to medium-medium high heat. Grill chicken about 8-12 minutes per side, reaching a temperature of 160’ when done.


Roasted Curried Cauliflower
Adapted from Epicurious.com

12 cups cauliflower flowerets
1 large onion, peeled and quartered and pulled into separate layers
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup red wine vinegar
3-½ tsps hot curry powder
1 tbsp hot paprika
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

Preheat oven to 450. Put cauliflower and onion in large roasting pan. Heat small skillet and toast cumin seeds and coriander seeds until slightly darkened. Crush in mortar with pestle. Put in bowl with remaining ingredients except parsley. Whisk and pour over cauliflower and onion and stir well. Roast for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle with parsley or cilantro and serve with chicken.

Tandoori-Style Grilled Chicken with Roasted Curried Cauliflower