Day 26 - Cooking Lesson #1 - Guest Chef Dorothy

Recently I made the following confession to a friend in the states: "I'm addicted to food porn. I oogle pictures of baked goods and Barefoot Contessa entrees and fantasize about making and eating those things.." And while the serious lack of patisseries has lead me to learn how to make many american staples from scratch (pancakes and pretzels for instance) some things just refuse to manifest here: like whipping egg whites into soft peaks for the frosting to top our coconut Easter cake. All 5 male guests combined couldn't whip the whites Humph.

But there will come a time--in 26 days--when things will change and proper Indian curries and dosa are hard to come by.  So a few friends have offered to share their recipes and homes to give me a lesson or two. Dorothy (pictured with me below) is the first celebrity chef I'm going to feature. She is famed for three things in our office: 1) her beautiful smile, 2) the fabulous saris he wears almost daily, ) her amazing cooking, which she always shares generously with the hungry expats who lurk around her desk. If you compliment her on any of these things, she credits her mom. :-)

Channa Masala

1.5 onions diced

2 tomatoes diced

A Little coconut diced

Ginger garlic paste ( 6 garlic cloves and .5 inch ginger ground)

2 T vegetable oil

.25 T coriander powder

1 t  cumin powder

.25 t tumeric powder

1 t chili powder

1-2 cubed potatoes (optional)

.25 t mango powder (for north Indian flavour)

150 grams chickpea soak before cooking ( 3/4 cooked)

Shredded cilantro

- Puree tomatos, onions, coconut
- Heat 2T vegetable oil on stove, fry ginger garlic paste to remove raw smell
- Add the purée to the saucepan, cover and boil till oil seperates on top(characteristic of indian cooking)
- Add coriander,  tumeric, chili powder, and jeera (cumin same same)
- Add  channa water to the pot if too dry
- Add channa, diced potatoes to mix. 

- Add salt and mango powder to taste. You will have timed this perfectly with the chicken gravy

- Top with cilantro when ready to serve

(Dorothy's mom. They make an excellent team!)

Chicken Gravy

For 1 kg chicken:

4T vegetable oil

2.5 onions

4 small tomatos

1T garlic-ginger paste

1 t chili powder

1 t coriander powder

.25 t cumin powder

.25 t tumeric

.25 t mutton masala powder

Salt

- Heat oil in pot, brown onions in the oil

- Dice and add tomatoes

- Add garlic ginger paste, let simmer 5 minutes

- Toss in chili powder, coriander powder,  cumin  and tumeric ("antibiotic elements for flesh dishes" according to Dorothy) and mutton masala powder. Mutton for a chicken dish? Of course!

- Again, when oil forms on top add chicken parts. Let simmer for 10 minutes before adding the potatoes and salt to taste.Remove from heat when chicken is cooked through. 

Waste not! That dark bit is chicken liver!)

Dorothy made chapati to go with the curries, but was so fast I couldn't document the process properly.Find a similar  recipe here.