Indian Butter Chicken Curry

This recipe came about as a way to satisfy my craving for Indian Curry. The local market where I usually get my curry paste from went out of business and so without any curry paste I decided why not try making curry from scratch. My sister Tabitha had mentioned that she and her family were really enjoying butter chicken curry lately and after having some at the LA Times book festival, I decided to give it a try.
The recipe is actually my combination of two recipes.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/chicken-in-creamy-tomato-curry-chicken-tikka-masala-recipe2/index.html
and
http://www.ecurry.com/blog/indian/curries/gravies/murgh-makhani-butter-chicken/

I really liked the idea of using fresh tomatoes in the sauce like Aarti Sequeira's recipe, but loved all the spices and the chicken marinade of the second recipe. I think both recipes are probably very good on their own.

The recipe itself is not that hard, it just takes a little bit of preplanning.

A quick word on spices. The recipe calls for a lot of spices that are hard to find in the grocery store. I found my spices at Penzey's Spice Store. They have a location in Santa Monica off the promenade, and one in Torrance, you can also order all their products online. I think it would probably be ok to substitute ground spices; which are easier to find in the store for some of the whole spices. I'll add the conversions to the recipe.
Here is the cast of spices

So without further ado here is the recipe for Butter Chicken

Garlic-Ginger Paste (from Aarti Sequeira of the Food Network)
About 1/2 cup whole garlic cloves peeled
About 1/2 cup fresh ginger peeled and cut into smaller bits
1/4 cup Canola oil
 Blend all ingredients in a small food processor or blender until it resembles a paste, there will still be tiny pieces but overall should resemble a paste. Store in a small glass container.

Chicken Marinade
2 lbs chicken, cut into about 1 inch cubes. (approximately 3 breast or 4 thighs or a combination of breast and thighs )
1 teaspoon Red Chili powder
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt
1 teaspoon Ground Fenugreek
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
2 Tablespoons Olive oil
2 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste

Mix all the ingredients together and add to the chopped chicken in a Ziploc bag and seal. Massage the ingredients around until the chicken looks coated. Place in the refrigerator and let marinate for 4-6 hours, or overnight.

The Sauce
4 Tablespoons Butter
3 Tablespoons Ginger-Garlic paste
1-2 green serrano peppers (seeds removed and minced; I used just one pepper and thought it had plenty of kick, however if you like it spicy use 2)
4 green cardamom pods (or use 1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom, it's just the seeds from the pod ground fine)
2 inch stick of cinnamon
 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground Fenugreek
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
2 teaspoons Paprika
8 Roma Tomatoes diced
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
1 cup Water or Chicken Stock
2 teaspoons Sugar
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream (seriously use the heavy whipping cream)
Minced Fresh Cilantro for garnish

Heat butter in a heavy bottom pan (4-5 qt.) Gently saute the minced peppers, ginger-garlic paste, cardamom pods(if using ground add later) and cinnamon stick until fragrant.
Add the Tomato paste to the pot and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add the ground spices (this is where you would add the ground cardamom) and saute for a minute to pull out the flavors.
Add the diced tomatoes, salt and 1 cup of water or stock to the pan and bring to a boil, Once at a boil reduce to a simmer and let simmer for 20-30 minutes and the sauce has thickened a bit.

While the tomato mixture is simmering. Heat up your oven to 400 degrees or the broiler. I used my broiler. Place the chicken pieces on a broiler pan covered in foil if doing in the broiler or place on a baking sheet if making in the oven. Cook chicken about 10 minutes turning over half way. The broiler gave them a nice slightly charred look similar to a grill. Don't worry if the chicken isn't completely cooked all the way through as it will cook more in the sauce. Set aside.

Once the sauce has finished simmering, fish out the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods and put the sauce in a blender, food processor; or use a hand immersion blender to blend right in the pot. Blend until smooth. Bring the sauce back up to a boil and add the chicken to the sauce, reduce to a simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the cream and stir until combined, simmer for 5 more minutes, then garnish with fresh cilantro.

Serve over rice with Naan bread (I cheat and get my Naan bread at Trader Joes from the frozen section, their Garlic Naan bread is really good) and there you have it!
Tim is not a big Indian curry fan and he said this is the best Indian curry I have made so far. Hope you enjoy it.

Garlic Shrimp Burritos

I had this a restaurant and fell in loved with the dish. It seemed simple to recreate, so I made an attempt. It came out great. 

Ingredients 

1package of  Flour Tortillas

2 Avocados

1 package of yellow rice

1lbs of shrimp. (I used cooked shrimp for this but you can use frozen.)

Cheddar Cheese shredded.

Cook the yellow rice as it says  on the package. Cut the avocado into slices and warm the tortillas.
If you are using pre-cooked shrimp make sure the tails are off and stored in a cold place. If you are using raw shrimp, cooked how you would normally cook it. 

Creamy Garlic Sauce
2 tbsp, butter blend

1tbsp of mince garlic ( you may use garlics powder)

1tbsp of all purpose flour

3/4c of Heavy whipping cream or haft & haft

1/3c of Parmesan cheese (Good if fresh, but the bag version is fine)

1/4 c of Parsley (I used from the jar, but if you can use fresh.)

In large saucepan, melt butter. Saute garlic over medium heat for 1 minute (until garlic tender). Remove from heat. Stir in flour, blend until smooth. Return to heat and gradually add half and half. Stir in cheese and parsley. Heat until sauce thickened and smooth.

Combine all to make your burritos. 

Chicken Curry

I found this recipe while looking for a different curry recipe. It looked good, so I thought, why not. It came out great!
For more recipes from this guy go here http://norecipes.com

Chicken Curry Recipe

6 whole chicken thighs
5 cloves garlic grated into paste
1″ knob of ginger grated into paste
2 Tbs garam masala
3 medium onions sliced thin across the rings
1/2 stalk lemongrass cut into 3 pieces
1/2 can of coconut milk
1 C water
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
2″ piece of cassia bark (aka saigon cinnamon)
1/2 star anise pod
cayenne pepper to taste

Heat a heavy bottomed pot that’s big enough to hold all the chicken in a single layer over medium high heat until it’s hot. Pat the chicken thighs dry with a paper towel and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Place the chicken skin-side down and let some fat render out of the skin. Continue frying undisturbed until the skin is brown and crispy. Flip the thighs over and brown the second side.

Transfer the chicken to a plate then quickly add the garlic, ginger and garam masala and stir to distribute in the oil. You want to fry it just long enough to caramelize the garlic and ginger, but not long enough to burn it. Since the garam masala is brown it’s a bit tricky to tell when it’s done, but I’ve found that the mixture gets sticky when the sugars in the garlic and ginger have caramelized. By this point this mixture will be very fragrant and it’s where this curry gets its base layer of flavor from.

Add the onions and lemongrass to the mixture and fry, stirring occasionally until it’s reduced to about 1/4 of its original volume and takes on a sticky texture (this could take as long as 40 minutes). The caramelized onions give the curry sweetness and depth. By cutting the onion thin, they caramelize faster and by cutting them against the grain (rings), the onions will dissolve into the sauce.

Add the remaining ingredients and return the chicken to the pot. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and cook at a gentle simmer for about an hour, or until the chicken is very tender and falls off the bone.

Garnish with something green (such as cilantro or scallions) and serve with coconut milk rice.

Chocolate Snack Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 cup sugar

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white or cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup cold water
Ice cream or whipped cream, if desired

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease bottom and side of 9-inch round pan or 8-inch square pan with shortening; lightly flour.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, stir oil, vinegar and vanilla until well mixed. Vigorously stir oil mixture and oil into flour mixture about 1 minute or until well blended. Immediately pour into pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or cool with ice cream.

*Do not use self-rising flour.

New Orleans Bread Pudding and Whiskey Sauce

Bread Pudding
1 loaf day old french bread

2 tbs butter
4 cups of milk
3 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of raisins (opitional)
2 tbs of vanilla
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

preheat oven to 305 degrees. Butter a 13x9 baking dish. Break bread into chunks. pour milk over bread, when soft, break into smaller bits and let bread absorb all the milk. Beat eggs and sugar together until think and smooth. Stir in raisins, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Pour mixture over bread and combine ingredients. Pour bread in to baking dish. Place this dish in larger pan filled with 1" of water. Bake for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean.

Whiskey Sauce

8 TBS pf butter
1 Egg
1 Cup of sugar
1Cup of bourbon, rum or brandy

Melt butter in a double broiler. stir sugar and eggs together in a bowl and add to the butter. stir 2-3 minutes until sugar dissolves. remove from heat and cool before adding bourbon, rum or brandy. serve warm.

Banana Bread

I'm not sure where or who gave me this recipe. But it works very well. A quick note to those who have not made banana bread before you need to wait for the banana's to have turn almost black. Why? Because that is when the banana's are at the peak of their flavor. This recipe will not work with yellow or spotted bananas. The bread will turn out dry. I tried it, so don't repeat my mistake.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
7 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions:
Makes two loaves of banana bread.
1. Cream the butter and sugar. Blend in the bananas, vanilla and eggs.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients.
3. Add to the bread mixture and mix until just combined. Pour into two greased 9x5 inch loaf pans.
4. Bake at 350F. Check on the bread after 35 minutes (it may take up to 60 minutes). Banana bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the banana bread in the pan for 10 minutes then cool completely on a wire rack.

Jerusalem Chicken

Chicken and Pasta
6-9oz Chicken Breast :oil and butter for saute
1/2 cup flour seasoned with salt, pepper and spike seasoning
6 oz of pancetta (or Bacon)
12 oz of Mushrooms sliced
1-1/2 TBS capers
1 lbs Cappellini pasta Cooked


To make Chicken and Pasta
Cook Pasta and drain, cover to keep warm. Heat a small amount of oil and two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet. Dredge chicken in flour and saute in pan, until brown and cooked through. Remove chicken from pan. Cook pancetta or bacon until done, remove from pan. Add a little more oil and butter if needed, saute mushrooms until soft cooked, add artichokes, and capers, saute lightly. Mix chicken and pancetta back into pan and heat lightly. Toss 3/4 of butter sauce if needed. Serve over noodles.

Lemon Butter Sauce
4 oz Lemon Juice
2 oz White Wine
4 oz Heavy Cream
1 lbs Butter

Heat lemon juice and wine in sauce pan over medium heat. bring to a boil and reduce by one third ( until there are 4 ounces) Add cream and simmer until mix is thicker (3-4 min) slowly add butter until completely incorporated. season with salt and pepper. removed from heat and keep warm.