Indian Recipes for Indian Virgins

[AbielleRose]

Hey guys! *waives awkwardly* This weekend I'm planning on cooking up a big meal for some of my friends and instead of the usual spagheti or Mexican dishes that have become my 'go to' meals for such occasions I've decided to try my hand at some sort of Indian dish.

 

The problem? I've tasted Indian food once in my life and not a single one of my friends has ever had it. This could be a bit of a dangerous adventure, I know, but its time to try something new.

 

Does anyone have a good and rather easy recipe and or advice for an at home dish to serve to about 6-8 people all of whom have very different palates?

[pickle]

Do you have any spices as I have a lovely recipe for a Jalfrezi but it does require you to have a few things in? Its a really nice tomato based one, takes a bit of prep time which is half the fun but only about 20mins to cook (not including rice and or nan)

[AbielleRose]

I do have a pretty good set of spices, anything not stocked already can be easily tracked down. I love cooking so a long prep time wouldn't bother me one bit.

[pickle]

Will look it up then when i get home for exact but I know from memory it needs, chili powder/dried and fresh coriander/cumin/cloves/ tumeric/fresh ginger and cardamon pods.

[Johnny Carson Whit]

Make a Phal curry. Film it being eaten and put it on youtube afterwards

 

http://www.cookingindex.com/recipes/76520/chicken-phal.htm

[AbielleRose]

That sounds great pickle, I have most of those spices at home. Thanks

 

Haha, my dad would love that one JCW!

[Stephanie2008]

That Phal recipe looks lethal, and one that my dad would probably love too.

 

Jalfrezi is definitely a nice curry if you're not used to it. As pickle said, it's tomato based so it's not overly hot but really yummy

[Kell]

That phal recipe sounds GORGEOUS! I adore hot curries.

[lexiepiper]

I'm another that loves a Jalfrezi, so yummy!

[pickle]

Right as I promised I am now home and can give you my Jalfrezi recipe.

 

you need

 

700g of chicken breast/thigh

2 peppers ( I usually use 1 red and 1 green)

4 tomatoes (1 tin but I prefer fresh)

Large Onion

1" piece of fresh ginger

3 garlic cloves

fresh coriander

salt

cooking oil (veg although I use groundnut oil as I prefer)

 

prep

 

finely chop onion/garlic (keep seperate) chop the peppers roughly and finely chop the tomatoes (again keep seperate as they all go in seperately) finely chop the ginger, cut the meat into mouth size pieces.

I usually pretend I am in a cooking show and put them all in different dishes but that's just me

 

Heat the oil in a med heavy pan, add in the cloves and cardamon pods (about 4 each) until the sizzle slightly in the pan, this flavours the oil.

 

add the finely chopped onion and fry on a med heat for approx 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes.

addthe chicken plus 1 tsp of the clili powder and 1 tsp of the tumeric and salt. Fry for a further 5 minutes stiring frequently to prevent sticking.

 

pour in the tomatoes stir cover and simmer for approximately 10 minutes. or until the desired consistency is achieved, I prefer mine quite runny.

 

uncover and allow any of the excess water to evaporate on a high heat until you have the consistency you want.

 

add the ginger, 2 tsp of ground coriander and 1 tsp of cumin, the pepper slices an cover and simmer for 5 minutes with the lid on.

 

plate up sprinkle with garam masala and fresh coriander and serve with nan and/or rice.

 

if you find it a little hot keep some natural yoghurt or sour cream and add it on the top, its the best thing for coolibg the palate.

 

Hope this all makes sense sorry if the measurments aren't what you are used to but its easy to convert I think.

 

enjoy and let me know if you make and enjoy it.

[AbielleRose]

That sounds delicious! Thanks for the recipe, pickle

[pickle]

forgot to say thats for 4 so adjust to suit, but beware about doubling the spices as they are harder to gage..

 

enjoy

[Kylie]

Thanks for the recipe Pickle! I don't have much experience with Indian food either, but this sounds delicious and pretty easy to make (a big plus for me). Also, I think I have most of those spices already!