Indian Cooking

I've frequented Indian restaurants for years now.  One of my best friends is Indian/Irish.  Whenever I pop in at my neighbors' house, I hope to sample more of his mother's homemade samosas.  But I haven't explored cooking Indian food at home until recently.  It has seemed so intimidating.  Thanks to the new Cooking Channel (my new fave thing), I've been watching some Indian cooking shows and I just picked up the cookbook by Bal Arneson, who hosts Spice Goddess.

First thing's first.  A quick spice tutorial is needed.

Garam Masala - This is a frequent ingredient in Indian dishes.  I bought a jar of it for my ever-growing spice rack only to discover that is actually a mixture of spices (masala literally means spice mix); the composition of which differs by region and personal taste.  Some of the spices included in the mixture could be black and white peppercorns, coriander, cumin, star anise, nutmeg, cardamom.  The list goes on and on.

Cha(a)t Masala - This is another spice mixture, one that has a sweet and sour taste.  This masala can be made up of mango powder, pomegranate powder, cumin, and chili powder, and again, several other spices.

Star anise and whole cardamom pods, and seeds (coriander, cumin, fenugreek) are other handy spices to have when trying out some Indian recipes.  Many times these whole spices are toasted and then ground to add to a recipe.

Last week, I visited two of the three Indian groceries here in town and stocked up on some Indian pantry items:  chat masala; fenugreek seeds; and dried chiles.

Tonight's dinner will be Arneson's no butter Butter Chicken.

Oscar Snacks

I'm ready for tonight's show, are you?

Check out my latest post on AnnArbor.com

My Snack of Choice for the Super Bowl

Couldn't resist posting this photo of my loaded nachos.

Ciabatta Rolls

I was going to post my adventure in the kitchen while making ciabatta rolls.  Photos, tips, the whole shebang.  But guess what?  It was a failed experiment.

The dough didn't rise properly and it was still a sticky, elastic mess after a few hours of sitting in a warm place.  I should have taken a photo to show you, but I just sighed and walked away from the blob of dough.  I'd used my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook attachment for the first time.  Did I not keep the dough in there long enough?  Was the warm place not warm enough? So back to the ol' drawing board.

I still posted this attempt because I think it is important to talk about the experiments that did not work as well as the ones that did.  The kitchen is like a little lab.  Sometimes you use your tools and formulas and ingredients and you make something delicious.  Other times, maybe all that happens is a poof of smoke (though not literally, let's hope!)  The rule in our house has always been, "If this doesn't work out, we order pizza."

By the way, this is what a successful ciabatta roll looks like (courtesy of 'wichcraft, NY):

Colbert's Thought for Food...or Speaking of Wings

"Thought for Food" is one of my favorite segments on The Colbert Report.  The most recent segment rightfully pokes fun at what passes for food and what passes for food guidelines in the U.S.

All politics aside, American food habits and products are ripe for ridicule.  Click on the pizza box above and check out this segment about "Wyngz".

Find some of my favorite recipes for (ahem, real) chicken wings here:  Super Bowl Snacks.

Super Bowl Snacks

It's only Wednesday and I'm already daydreaming about Super Bowl snacks.  I've asked G for any requests and he immediately responded, "Wings!"

Most everyone you know loves chicken wings, right?  I admit, I don't do wings, but that doesn't mean that I won't make them for my family.  I've tried a handful of different recipes and so far the current house favorite is:

Emeril's Oven Roasted Chicken Wings

I prefer to serve roasted chicken wings.  It's a healthier (and less messy) option.  The recipe that would make me pull out the deep fryer though is this one:

Spicy Sriracha Chicken Wings

This recipe is from Chef Michael Symon and he does include directions for oven roasting if frying the wings isn't your thing.  Sriracha is a Thai hot sauce and is widely available at grocery stores.  Sriracha is a great condiment to keep on hand if you're a fan of spicy food.  I use it on my eggs, on any Asian dish I make, and even on my burgers.

I have four pounds of wings in the freezer tagged for Super Bowl Sunday.  I might have to split up the batch and try both of these recipes for G.  I'm sure he won't mind.

Next it's time for me to decide what MY choice of snack is for Super Bowl Sunday...

Yes, Please

I stopped by a local sweet shop to get some fancy chocolates for G's stocking this past Christmas.  Aren't these the most beautiful chocolates ever?

If you're in the Ann Arbor area, I highly recommend stopping by Sweet Gem Confections inside Morgan & York on Packard Rd.