Please Pass the Chef

So, I am a HUGE fan of Indian food. I’m not sure why I got hooked on it, but one day I went out to Bombay House and came back a convert (to Indian food– the Hindu thing is too complex). I’ll get random cravings for that delectable dish of spices, which then urges me to hunt up recipes and gush over pictures of fantastic foods. Once or twice I tried to convert the recipes into actual meals, but I never had the success I was looking for. The garbanzo bean curry I tried to replicate was good, but it wasn’t anything like the dish that inspired my attempt.

Anyways, I’ve been craving a good chicken tikka masala for the past few weeks, and I finally picked up a few things at the store (namely the main spice of garam masala) to test out. I checked out two recipes and decided to give them a shot. So last night, as I was bored and contemplating what to do with my night, I decided to try and make my tikka masala.

WOW! What a rousing success! I used some elements from both recipes and adjusted the spices a little (to taste of course) based on what I had on hand, but it turned out SUPERBLY! It seriously smelled like an Indian restaurant in our hot hot kitchen, and the only thing missing was the traditional jasmine rice. By the way, jasmine rice is a very aromatic grain of rice, not just a fancy name for regular rice. I totally recommend it for Indian dishes. My roommate Brygn turned on some Indian music and I seriously jumped and danced around the apartment for about 5 minutes– that’s how excited I was for my fabulous dinner!

Well, I’ve decided that the next time I fix this I’m going to use the individual spices, not the pre-blended mix in curry powder. I think that should get the flavor spot on. However, my version made an extremely passable imitation, which received compliments from several individuals. I was actually as surprised as they were at the final product! And let me just say, eating the leftovers today…. I felt like I’d gone to Bombay House the night before and brought home my doggie bag of goodness.

I’ve decided my next culinary adventure with Indian food will be tikka saag. It’s the same general idea of tikka masala, but it uses spinach. YUM! And maybe I’ll give naan a shot– the traditional Indian flatbread. Once you start, the fun don’t stop!

Check out this link for some great International Recipes .