I agreed to cook some Indian food for my boyfriend’s birthday tonight, but I was busy at home all weekend and don’t think I can go out today to get the usual exotic spices. I was planning on making basmati rice, naan, and mango custard, but I need a main dish. It can have anything in it other than peas, because Boyfriend hates them. Does anyone have any simple recipes that I can make with things I can find at a regular grocery store?
Thanks!
“Simple” doesn’t make it in cooking Indian, I’m afraid…when I cook Indian, it turns into an all-day affair. You can make a stew and dump some commercial curry powder in it, I suppose.
…No, wait, the November issue of COOKING LIGHT has some pretty good, quick versions (authored by numero uno Indian cook Julie Sahni, too!). Here’s one I tried and found very nice.
MADRAS SHRIMP MOLAHU VERITADU CURRY IN BLACK PEPPER SAUCE
1 tblsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 tblsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tblsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp crushed black peppercorns
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tblsp tomato paste
1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 lbs large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook for 2 minutes, or until the seeds stop popping. Uncover and stir in the onion and next 5 ingredients…cook for 5 minutes, or until the onion is golden, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat and stir in broth, tomato paste, juice, and salt. Cook until thick (about 1 minute) stirring constantly. Add shrimp and cook 4 minutes, or until shrimp are done. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
Gack. I forgot to mention he’s vegetarian too. I think I found a winner though - palak paneer. Now if I could only get the paneer right… 
hi guys, i’m indian but i cook everything BUT indian (my mom’s a fab cook)…anyway…for palak paneer, my mom has started to substitute very firm tofu and we can’t tell the difference.
Here’s one of my favourites and although it isn’t quite traditional it is excellent and incredibly simple. It works with a number of meats but I prefer chicken.
Curried chicken with apples:
Brown two skinned boneless chicken breasts in a deep saucepan. Add four peeled and diced apples, half a cup of water, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and a dash of white pepper. You can then season the dish wih curry depending on your own personal taste, the sweetness of the apples will affect the curry so you can use more than you might normally use.
Cover and let the dish simmer until the water is gone. Remove the chicken and then mash the apples into sauce to serve on the side.
Hey Uke, tho I bow down to your culinary expertise, I really don’t think Indian is THAT much more labor-intensive than most stew-type dishes. And that includes lightly roasting and grinding my own spices and not using commercial curry powder. Of course, I’m speaking only for stew-type main dishes…curries, vinadaloos, tikka masalas and the such…
Anyhow, an Indian friend of mine taught me a quick chickpea curry-type dish. I can’t give you exact proportions, so use these as guidelines:
Dice 2 or 3 onions finely. Fry them in vegetable oil (or ghee, if you happen to have some around) until translucent. Take off the heat, add a tablespoon or two of good curry powder* Let it dissolve in the oil, mix it up, add about two cups of tomato puree (not paste) and put back on the fire. If you have fresh ginger, wonderful! Grate and add about a tablespoon to the mix. You can also add two or three cloves of crushed garlic at this point if you wish. Taste & adjust spices. (Add salt.) All you need to do now is add the chickpeas (a large tin or about 2 cups soaked should be fine…you’ll be able to figure out a good pea-to-sauce ratio.) Let this concoction simmer for a half-hour to an hour. Serve with rice and top with cilantro (aka coriander)
*If you have more time, I would strongly recommend making your own curry powder, aka masala. Most commercial curry powders are way, way, way too heavy on the turmeric. At the very least, if you have coriander and cumin in your spice cabinet, put a tablespoon each on a hot pan for about a minute (until they get fragrant.) Grind them and mix it in about a 50-50 ratio to the commerical powder.
Sahni recommends frying the onions (which are the basis for a great number of curries and other stewed Indian dishes) for a good THIRTY MINUTES…it completely cooks out the moisture in them and turns them a rich brown, which makes the sauce prettier.
It’s that damn onion-frying (stirring CONSTANTLY, natch) that irks the lazybones cook in me.
That and the side dishes. I made an Indian meal for friends a couple weeks ago which included an elaborate lamb pilaf, an elaborate cauliflower-green pea dish, a dal, two raitas (one tomato and one cucumber), plus a couple of different savory relishes.
Yeah, I have heard that, but I’ve heard differing opinions on the matter. Jaffrey in one of her cookbooks says to cook the onions over high heat and to brown them that way. She says that most American cooks are surprised, since they are taught that onions will burn and become rancid if you cook them over a high heat. She seems to either disagree with this or finds the flavor appropriate for Indian cooking.
My Indian friends seems to just fry the onions normally, so that’s what I do. I’ll try really browning them next time (a la French Onion soup, I would assume?) and see how that works for the flavor…
Oh, and I guess it’s interesting to note that just dumping a handful of curry powder in a dish really won’t cut it. I think curry really needs to be dissolved in oil in order for the flavor to come through. I’m not absolutely positive about this, so Uke maybe you can comment – all I know is that in Hungarian cooking, paprika ALWAYS should be added to hot oil off the flame since it only dissolves in oil. (Off the flame cuz it burns easily. Once you add something with a high water content you can put it back on.) It makes an absolute world of difference. All the Indian recipes I’ve read seem to follow a similar thought, so I assume the spices-dissolving-in-oil rule also applies here.
Here are two of my Faves. I make sag aloo about once a month. Eliminate the dairy and these could almost passs for vegan. The spices are expensive, but then you will have them for your next foray into indian cooking.
Sag Aloo (alu)
Indian Spinach and Potatoes
2 10oz. Packages of Fresh Spinach
1 ½ Pounds Potatoes
2 Medium Onions
2 Large Cloves Garlic
1 Stick Butter (¼ pound)
½ Teaspoon Ground Coriander
1 Teaspoon Paprika
3 Whole Cardamoms
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger—Fresh Ginger is even better
1 Teaspoon Pepper—Red Pepper for a spicier dish
1 Teaspoon Salt
Wash Spinach, Boil or steam until thoroughly cooked.
Peel Potatoes, dice into ¾ inch cubes, and boil until thoroughly cooked.
Melt Butter in large pan, add onion and garlic, and cook thoroughly.
While all the above are cooking, measure all spices except Salt into a small bowl.
When onions and Garlic are cooked, add Spices-not salt. Cook for about another five minutes.
Add Cooked Potatoes; stir until potatoes are thoroughly coated.
Add Cooked Spinach, Stir thoroughly, add Salt and continue to stir.
Serve.
Palak Dahl
Indian Spinach and Lentils
½ Pound Red Lentils
1 Cup Water
2 10 ounce packages Fresh Spinach
1 Onion
1 Clove Garlic
1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger – Fresh Ginger is even better
1 or 2 Teaspoons Chili Powder – Depending on Spiciness desired
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Plain Yogurt
Wash Lentils, cover with water, and boil.
Wash Spinach.
Peel and Slice Onion and Garlic, Add to Lentils, continue to boil.
Cover until Lentils start to break down.
Add Spinach and Yogurt.
Continue cooking until spinach is cooked.
Serve.