Mmmm! We love Indian food at our house. This picture isn't from us, but it looks like what you would typically get at an Indian restaurant. My step dad is from Wales and Indian food is a common type of food over there, so he introduced us all to it, and now my family eats it quite a bit. Tonight I made some pretty simple Indian food so I thought I'd share it for anyone out there who wants an introduction to this type of food. Easy-peasy.
I made Simple Buttery Rice with Onion, Tandoori Chicken, Naan Flatbread, and Whole Green Lentils with Garlic and Onion.
Tandoori Chicken
Buy jar of "Tandoori Sauce" (can be found in most grocery stores in the Asian and Indian food section)
Follow the directions! (you'll need chicken and plain yogurt as well)
Simple Buttery Rice with Onion
Ingredients:
2oz (50g) butter
3oz (75g) onion, chopped
Basmati Rice measured to the 15 fl oz level in glass measuring jug
1 tsp salt
11/4 pints (700ml) water
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium. When hot, put in onion. Stir and saute until it is almost translucent. Do not let it brown in the slightest. Put in the rice and the salt. Stir and saute gently for a minute. Pour in the water and bring to a boil. Cover tightly, turn heat to very, very low and let the rice cook for 25 minutes.
Naan Flatbread
Buy box and follow directions!
Whole Green Lentils with Garlic and Onion
Ingredients:
4 T vegetable oil (we just use olive oil)
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped (you can buy jars of already chopped garlic which saves lots of time!)
3oz (75g) onion, chopped
7oz (200g) whole green lentils, washed and drained (have I ever washed or drained them?)
11/4 pints (720ml) water
1 tsp salt
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. When hot, put in cumin seeds. A few seconds later put in garlic. Stir and fry until the garlic pieces turn a medium brown color. Now put in onion. Stir and fry until the onion pieces begin to turn brown at the edges. Put in the lentils and the water. Bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for about an hour or until lentils are tender. Add the salt and the cayenne. Stir to mix and simmer gently for 5 more minutes.
This meal turned out delish and I highly recommend trying Indian food. The recipes we use are also GREAT food storage recipes- they all have lots of spices, but hardly any fresh produce, and you can always used canned meat for the main dishes. We use spices like cumin, coriander, and tumeric. Other ingredients we use lots are canned tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, onion, potatoes, chicken, and beef. Anyway, I just like this food:)
I have always had a love/hate relationship with salad. I love the way it makes me feel, but I am gagging it down the whole time I'm eating it. Enter Tamari Sauce and Toasted Sesame Oil. I learned this at my mom's when we were visiting last fall. Just put a little bit of each on your salad and it tastes amazing!!! It's a kind of cooked flavor, rather than a raw one and I think that's why I like it so much. Try it!
