Indian Chickpea and Vegetable Stew From All You Magazine

Indian Chickpea and Vegetable Stew

My husband and I rarely agree on what to watch. We haven't been to a movie in the theater for 8 years. Partly because we are both too cheap and mostly due to the fact that we hate most movies and can't agree on the few that either of us would see. Last month my husband set up separate Netflix user accounts so that what I watch wasn't in his recently viewed section. I was fine with that since he watches nothing but horrible television shows and movies by people that I never thought where funny when they were on Saturday Night Live. He also watches non-funny 80's and 90's comedies that I avoided like the plague when they were originally in theaters. My husband complains that I watch nothing except Sci-Fi and 80's/90's cult classics. He would be mostly right, I to this day claim "Heathers" as my all time favorite movie. So for the most part we watch separate movies and television. However, every year we pick a few new shows that both of us can agree upon. Normally they aren't something that we love, but that we agree we love each other enough to sit through. This normally lasts for a season or two before both of us give up on the show and we have to move on to another show that we both deem semi-adequate. Regardless of our faults we seem made for each other since we continue to try to find common movie/TV ground. It's the constant commitment to finding common ground that reminds me that our marriage is important to both of us. In 10 years we have only found a few shows/movies that we both love, but we have enjoyed the journey of trying to find something together. Tonight's dinner recipe is another example of compromise. My husband loves the Indian restaurant in our city, I pretty much hate it. To compromise I make a lot of Indian dishes at home. Some recipes I pick are traditional (to appease my husband and I) and some are more Americanized (for my kids). Tonight I tried a new recipe for Indian Chickpea and Vegetable Stew from the September issue of All You magazine.

Harris Riverfront Park Huntington, WV

This recipe has 17 ingredients. It takes an hour and ten minutes of total time, 45 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I made a  few changes to the original recipe. My family loves the taste of ginger so I used 2 tablespoons of minced ginger instead of 1. I was out of turmeric so I left it out and added a small amount of crushed red pepper for flavor. I found that the dish needed a lot more salt than stated in the original recipe, I ended up adding an additional 1 1/2 teaspoons. Finally, I added a cup of coconut milk. I found that it helped with the flavor and made for a more 'stew' like consistency.

Downtown Huntington, WV from Harris Riverfront Park

My two boys were in love with this recipe. The spices were mild enough to be kid friendly while having enough flavor for adults. This is definitely a more 'Americanized' Indian recipe, which is nice for kids or adults that aren't fans of the strong flavors many traditional Indian dishes can have. If you want to increase the heat you can always add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper. This will add a little bit of heat without overpowering the flavors of the dish.

For the recipe go to Indian Chickpea and Vegetable Stew.

Indian Chickpea and Vegetable Stew

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A kid friendly recipe for Indian Chickpea and Vegetable Stew from the September issue of All You magazine. Only $1.63 per serving.

Preparation Time: 0h, 25m

Cooking Time: 0h, 45m

Total Time: 1h, 10m

Yield: Serves 6

Baingan Bharta: Eggplant Curry

Eggplant Curry

For the last week my husband has been off work for vacation. Now for most people this would be a good thing. While I enjoy spending time with my husband I am ready for him to go back to work. I have a clear system to my weekdays. Everyday I get up and have my cup of coffee and spend about 1/2 just by myself until my kids wake up. Then the day goes pretty much the same until my husband gets home. Summers are harder since both of my kids are home all day. I prefer the school year where my oldest goes to the bus at 7:30 and it's just my youngest and I the rest of the day. I have always been this way. While some people like things to happen as they come, I'm a planner. I prefer things to be planned out and know far ahead of time before the event happens. All this ties in with my husband being on vacation. It spells more housework for me and a rift in my everyday flow. Most of all I am exhausted from his vacation and need a week to recover. I think I need a vacation from my husband's vacation. Since my husband has been home for the last week I have been trying to make a larger variety of foods. Last week I tried a new recipe for Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry) from the new All Recipes magazine.

Roses at Ritter Park Rose Garden Huntington, WV

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 3 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First, I doubled the recipe. One eggplant would not have been enough to feed my family of four. I did only use one seeded jalapeno, instead of doubling the amount to two since my two boys aren't fans of spicy foods. I allowed the onions to fully caramelize before following the remainder of the recipe. Caramelized onions have a great taste and I love using them in recipes. I allowed my veggies to cook on medium with the lid on for 10 minutes. The eggplant that I used was large and it didn't fully cook during the oven baking time so the additional cooking time allowed it to soften. 

Roses at Ritter Park Rose Garden Huntington, WV

My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe. While it does not photograph well, it tasted delicious. The eggplant taste was mellow and not overpowering. My two kids tried it, but they weren't too impressed. The recipe is definitely more adult friendly. It's a nice way to have curry at home without having to pay for expensive take out or restaurant food.

The rose pictures are from the rose garden at the park by our house. My kids love visiting it and my husband and I actually were married in it 10 years ago in August. It really is a beautiful place to visit!

For the recipe go to Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry).

Recipe for Flavorful Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala Over Rice

I love to shop local. There are so many great things about buying food that is made/grown close to where you live. I would love it if we had a big farm where I could raise and grow everything that I ever wanted, but until that day comes I grow what I can and buy the rest. I am a firm believer that buying local in not only great for supporting the local economy, but much better for the environment. This weekend I was able to find great heirloom popcorn at a shop in our area. It is run by volunteers and provides  fresh and packaged foods from local producers. My kids love going and seeing the new items that they have each week. There are some foods that I am unable to find locally, such as certain spices for ethnic dishes. For these items I either have friends send them to me or I order online. I grew up eating Indian food since my father worked with a number of nurses from south India and I love it. Last week I tried a new recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala from the April 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 18 ingredients. It takes 5 1/2 hours of total time, an hour of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. I was unable to find chiles de arbol so I followed the recipe suggestion and used crushed red pepper. Cardamom pods are hard to find around here, so I left them out. For the marinading time I allowed the full 6 hours. My oven broiler has been broken for a while so I used my toaster broiler setting instead. The chicken did not blacken as well as it would have in the oven, but it still came out decent.

Even though the time required to prepare this recipe is long, the outcome is worth the wait. The recipe turned out delicious and the step were relatively easy. This dish was particularly popular with my husband, who loves Indian food, but is never able to order it as often as he would prefer.

For the recipe go to Chicken Tikka Masala.

Flavorful Tomato Yogurt Chicken Curry

The area which I live in is slowly getting better about having food other than pizza as dining options. We live in a college town so the majority of food involves a meal with fries or pizza, lots and lots of pizza. Since I eat gluten free pizza doesn't hold the same appeal as it did before my diagnosis. When I first moved and met my husband their were only a few ethnic restaurants and almost all of them were Mexican food. I quickly learned that I was going to have to learn to cook as many things as I could at home or be stuck with the frozen ethnic aisle (which is never great) at our local grocery store. So I bought a ton of cookbooks and failed at making a lot of dishes. However, I kept trying and talking to friends about the dishes that they grew up making in their various households and I learned that with practice all food is doable. Now I look at recipes for the flavors and feel confident that I can make a large variety of foods. Tonight I tried a new recipe for Tomato Yogurt Chicken Curry from the October 2012 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 18 ingredients. It takes 1 hour 15 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 to 6 servings. I made a few modifications to this recipe. Since I was cooking for my kids (and I have never actually seen them at our local stores) I left out the dried arbol chiles. 14.5 ounce cans of whole tomatoes are another rarity in my area so I bought a 28 ounce can and weighed out the needed amount of tomatoes and liquid. I had leftover baby red potatoes from another recipes so I cut them into fourths and used approximately 10 of them for this recipe. Finally I used 2 percent Greek yogurt not whole since it was what I already had in the fridge.

Using a dutch oven really does make this recipe easier to make. If you haven't already bought a dutch oven they are a great kitchen tool and make it much easier to make soups, stews and curries. Based on my family I would say that this recipe serves 4 people. If you want a larger amount or leftovers I would suggest doubling the recipe. Overall this was a nice basic Indian curry recipe that can be adjusted to suit your desired spiciness level.

For the recipe go to Tomato Yogurt Chicken Curry.

Rajma - Northern Indian Kidney Bean Masala Stew

I am feeling blah. For whatever reason January is never a great month for me. I don't know why, but I have horrible luck with appliances breaking and things going generally not in the right direction during this month. People also seem to be less than pleasant right now also. Today at the grocery store I was in the frozen food aisle. I was looking at some vegetables and the aisle was very narrow thanks to a display the store had set-up. When I was walking away I noticed there was a woman behind me that I hadn't noticed. Honestly, after two kids when I'm at the grocery store without them I tend to get in my 'me' zone. It is literally the only couple of hours during the week that I have to myself. I immediately apologized to the women and asked if I was in her way. Her response took me a little off guard. This woman was well into later life and used a profanity at me followed by the line 'of course you were.' Okay. I can understand if I was in her way. However, she could have said excuse me or brought it to my attention since I in no way say her since the door was open to the frozen food case. Second, why pull out the s word. Not necessary at all. I hope that my kids will grow up knowing that politeness is always the best response. Overall, I think so far I am already ready for the month of January to be over and it has just started. So I am feeling a little blah. Given my current winter mood I have been making a lot of soups and bean dishes. Last night I made a new recipe for Rajma (Northern Indian Kidney Bean Masala Stew) from a recent issue of Saveur magazine.

This recipe has 17 ingredients. It takes an hour and a half of total time, 45 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a number of modifications. First I doubled the recipe. Four servings is not enough for my family, which includes two growing boys. Second I try to follow a recipe as much as I can but sometimes I am unable to find a particular ingredient. So with this recipe I left one out. I have used chiles de arbol when I lived in a much larger city. Finding them in my city just isn't a possibility, so I chose to not use them. Finally, since I was making this for my kids I seeded and diced my serranos. It would have been too spicy for my kids to eat otherwise. I also chose to cook my beans on the stove. I have a pressure cooker which I use for canning, but I find it a pain to take down and use for everyday cooking. I let my beans cook for two hours in order to be fully softened. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

By leaving out the chiles de arbol and seeding the serranos this dish had a slight kick, without being too spicy for my kids. I let my beans cook down slightly so they were thicker than a traditional stew, but still worked well served over brown rice. My husband really loved this dish and was happy that it tasted different than the normal Indian curries that I make frequently.

For the recipe go to Rajma.

Food and Wine Indian-Style Mustard Greens

Living in a college town, my options for good quality ethnic food is minimal. There are a number of Chinese and pizza restaurants, but only one Indian restaurant. Due to this lack of quality options, I have been trying to cook a wider variety of dishes in my home kitchen. Both my kids and my husband are big fans of curries, which I make relatively frequently, but I have been wanting to broaden my cooking skills to other recipes. The March issue of Food and Wine had a recipe for Indian-style mustard greens, that looked like a perfect start.

The one ingredient that I thought that I would have no problem finding in my area is greens. There are normally a large variety of greens and many ways of cooking them. However, I met my match with mustard greens. The week that I need them for this recipe, I was only able to find kale, collard and turnip greens. Therefore, I had to make a major modification to this recipe. I chose to use turnip greens, kale has a bitter taste and collard greens are best with animals fats and pungent vinegar. I was able to find all the other ingredients easily. The prep time for this recipe is about 10 minutes, most of which is cutting the greens, etc. The majority of the work is done by the food processor, with the actual cooking time only being about 15 minutes.

This recipe turned out very well, even with the major modification to the type of greens used. My husband and I loved that the recipe wasn't a traditional curry recipe, which we have tried many times before. I like that I was able to use greens in a new way, instead of my normal recipe as a side cooked with a ham bone. This is recipe I would use again and try with mustard greens, if I was actually able to find them in season. All-in-all a great new recipe!

For the recipe go to Indian-Style Mustard Greens.

Taco Two Ways: Chickpea Curry and Shredded Beef

I'm always at a loss as to what to do with leftovers in my house. My husband packs his lunch to work and most days that entails a frozen meal of some sort, because it's the easiest to transport. I try to eat as many leftovers as I can the next day, but I am often still left with a freezer full of past meals and no idea what to do with them. Recently my husband came up with a good solution for leftover chickpea curry and shredded beef: he made tacos.

For the curry tacos he used corn tortillas, placing Bengali chutney on one side, topped it with the leftover chickpea curry, yogurt and cilantro. The shredded beef taco consisted of the beef, green salsa, shredded Mexican cheese and topped with cilantro. Alternating the two tacos while eating cut down on the spicy flavor of the chickpea curry taco. It was a great way to use leftovers in a new way!

Food and Wine Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy

My husband and older son love Indian food. However, the town we live in has very few ethnic restaurants, so our choices of places to get good Indian food is limited at best. I have tried cooking various Indian recipes from cookbooks that I have acquired, but the taste has been off or just mediocre. The March issue of Food and Wine magazine had a spread on Indian food and the recipe for chickpeas in spicy tomato gravy caught my attention.

This is one of the easiest recipes to follow. The prep time is minimal and the food processor does most of the chopping work. All the ingredients were very easy to find, I had the spices already on hand in my pantry. Unlike many Indian recipes that I have tried in the past this recipe takes no previous experience making Indian dishes and the instructions and cooking procedures are incredibly easy to follow

The resulting dish from this recipe was great. My two boys ate all their chickpeas off their plate (with large amounts of yogurt mixed in) and my husband thought it was some of the best Indian he had eaten outside of London. I like that the recipe is very easy to follow and the taste was spot-on to similar dishes I have eaten in restaurants. My one big suggestion is to have yogurt on hand to mix in this curry, the 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper packs a spicy punch. I don't suggest cutting down on the spice, it would take away the essential flavor of the dish. This is definitely a dish that I will be making in the future!

For the recipe go to Food and Wine Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy.

Pic of the curry with yogurt sauce added:

Fun pic of the curry using the AutoPainter: