Reshmi Kebab

Wow... this blog stuff is hard work. Unfortunately, I make so many things and I forget to post pictures and recipes. Today, I actually remembered to take a picture of what I made!

Today's recipe was inspired by an Indian buffet that my family and I went to yesterday for lunch. They had reshmi kebabs in their buffet and fortunately for me, my 4 year old gobbled it up. I was able to get him to eat lunch without begging him to eat. The stars, the sun, and moon must have been aligned right because he even ate salad with it! For those of you who don't know what reshmi kebab is, it is a milder, tender kebab than tandoori chicken tikka kebab. Because of the special marinade, the kebab is so soft and tender that the name literally means silky.

I used chicken but this recipe also works great with lamb, steak or shrimp. The following is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 8 blanched almonds
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 inch of ginger root, peeled
• 1 cup of cilantro
• 1 jalapeno pepper (optional)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 pounds of chicken breast, cubed

Directions:
Add first 4 ingredients (if using jalapeno, add that as well) into a food processor and blend until smooth. Empty into a non-reactive bowl. Add lemon juice and incorporate. Add cream, salt and incorporate. Add chicken and mix until chicken is covered with marinade. Cover with plastic wrap. For best results, marinate in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

Preheat a grill pan or your grill on high heat. Lightly grease and place chicken on top. Cook chicken until cooked through.

***Note: I didn't use skewers but placed the chicken directly on a grill pan. I sprayed the grill pan with Pam and preheated the grill pan on high heat. I covered the pan and cooked the chicken for 3 - 5 minutes on each side. Don't overcook! It doesn't take long to cook the chicken so be careful not to overcook otherwise your chicken will be dry.

Serve with lemon wedges and naan.

I've been featured on Nothing but FABULOSITY

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have been featured on Nothing but FABULOSITY. Check out Chara's blog  or visit http://www.nothingbutfabulousity.com/2010/08/spice-spice-baby-giveaway.html to find out how you can win a free Indian spice kit.

When life throws you a lemon, you make lemon pepper salmon!

I went to get my yearly checkup and I was in shock because my cholesterol has gone up! My husband has been bugging me about eating more salmon. Personally, I am not a big fan of salmon. I know many people out there LOVE salmon. I just can't get past the fishy taste. I am not a huge fan of COOKED fish. I don't know why... give it to me raw and I LOVE it! I don't find sushi to taste fishy. Anyway... back to my cholesterol. My husband successfully lowered his cholesterol by eating salmon and avocados with red wine at least 3 days a week. I decided to give it a try and it wasn't too bad. I seasoned my salmon with lemon pepper (this is my own personal blend that can be found at http://spicespicebaby.etsy.com/) and olive oil. Baked it in the oven for 30 minutes. While that was baking, I took an avocado and mashed it. Squeezed some lime in the mash and then seasoned it with my citrus lemongrass finishing salt (again - http://spicespicebaby.etsy.com/)! It tasted amazing. I think I might change my opinion about salmon...

Mango Salsa

This is a great and quick appetizer. I had some last minute guests come over for dinner and decided to have a barbeque. This sweet,tart,spicy salsa makes this dish perfect for summer barbeques. I like to pour the mango salsa over some softened cream cheese to make it more dip like. It's great served with tortilla chips and tastes amazing over burgers. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded, and diced (If you cannot find a RIPE mango, substitute with a ripe papaya)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbs finely chopped jalapeno
• 2 tbs chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 8 0z cream cheese, softened (optional)

Combine mango, jalapeno, green bell pepper,onions, and garlic in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the vinegar, cilantro and salt and stir well. Adjust seasoning to taste. If using cream cheese, pour over cream cheese to create a dip. Serve with tortilla chips, veggies or pita chips.
The salsa can be made up to 4 hours in advance and refrigerated tightly covered.

Steak Spice

I made some steak fillets last night with the steak spice that I make. It can be purchased from http://spicespicebaby.etsy.com/. It's a blend of kosher salt, garlic, black pepper, coriander seed, mustard seed, dill seed, red pepper. I sprinkled it a couple of hours before grilling with a little olive oil. I served it with some garlic mashed potatoes and a spinach salad. It was yummy!

Gulab Jaman

Recipe coming soon!

Crock Pot Ribs

My husband isn't a picky eater... most of the time. The only time he is picky is when we are eating ribs. He likes his ribs cooked to the point where they are falling off the bone. He used to rave about ribs that his friend's wife made one time for dinner when he was a bachelor. Lucky for me I got the recipe. I like the recipe. It is easy. Throw everything in a crockpot and 3 - 4 hours later... Voila! The only thing that I found missing was a nice glaze over the ribs so I adjusted the recipe according to my tastes. I like to reduce the liquid in the crockpot to make a glaze, brush it on the ribs and then bake it in the oven for 30 minutes. The results are amazing. This is one of those dishes that people constantly ask me for the recipe. Here it is for everyone to enjoy!

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Ketchup
1/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP White Wine Vinegar
3-6 Cloves Minced Garlic
1 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp salt
dash of Crushed Red Pepper

5 LBS Baby Back Ribs

1 Medium Onion Sliced
2 TBSP Toasted Sesame Seeds
2 TBSP Chopped Green Onions

For glaze:

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

Directions:

Combine first 9 ingredients. Add ribs and turn and coat. Put in Crock with onion. Cook 3 hours (1 hour on high) 2 hours on low or until 160-170 degrees.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove ribs from crockpot and place in a single layer on an aluminum foil covered cooking tray. Spray some cooking spray so ribs don't stick to aluminum foil.

In a saucepan, add 1 cup of liquid from crockpot,1 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup soy sauce. Cook over medium heat. Once sauce has thickened, brush over ribs. Put in oven for 30 minutes until a nice glaze forms over ribs. Garnish with Sesame Seeds and Green Onions.

Spicy Edamame

In Manhattan, there used to be a Japanese restaurant that I loved to frequent because of their spicy edamame. I never tasted spicy edamame like theirs until I went to Roy's Restaurant in Texas. Now, at Roys they give it to you for FREE! How great is that! Not only do they give it to you for free but they posted the recipe on their website! I have changed the ratio of spices because you do not need to make that large quantity of Roy's seasoning and I like mine a little more salty than spicy. Here is Roy's recipe for spicy edamame adjusted to my tastes:

INGREDIENTS:

Roy's Edamame Seasoning:

3 oz. kosher salt

1 oz. shichimi (Japanese red pepper seasoning) or you can use 1/2 oz. red chili powder and 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

a pinch of granulated sugar

Edamame

1/2 lb. edamame beans, in pods

1 tbsp. of Roy’s Edamame Seasoning

PREPARATION:

Boil 7 cups of water in a large pan. Wash edamame bean pods well. Add edamame to boiling water, and let boil for 5–10 minutes. Drain the edamame and pat dry. Sprinkle well-blended Roy's Edamame Seasoning over them. You can serve edamame warm or cool.

Crème Brûlée

When I was in my twenties, my girlfriend and I decided that we would go to Europe to have some fun. We decided to go to Italy and France. My favorite dessert at the time was tiramisu and her favorite dessert was creme brulee. Of course, traveling to Italy and France, we got to taste the best tiramisu and creme brulee. Fast forward to my thirties and I am married living in New Hampshire. Now, I love New Hampshire. Nicest people I have ever met live in New Hampshire BUT they have the worst food for my snobby tastes. I remember going to restaurant after restaurant ordering creme brulee and it would be the worst creme brulee I had ever tasted. One restaurant would serve it WARM!! Who wants to eat warm custard. That is just gross. In my quest to find good creme brulee, Cooks Illustrated sent me a free issue of their magazine. Of course on their front cover was a recipe for perfecting the perfect creme brulee. It was like they read my mind (No! There was no spyware on my computer. I believe it was pure coincidence). I decided to make it. It couldn't be worse than the restaurants around me. Well, it was the best creme brulee I had tasted. Just like in France! Now, whenever I go to a dinner party, I am asked to make creme brulee. Hence, my new favorite dessert is... creme brulee. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 cups chilled heavy cream (I like to use organic. Tastes better to me)

2/3 cup of sugar

a pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean

12 egg yolks

8-12 tsp turbinado sugar (It is easier to distribute evenly over the custards. You can use regular granulated sugar.)

Directions:

1. Combine 2 cups of cream, sugar, and salt in saucepan. Cut vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pan along with the pod. Bring mixture to a boil and stir occasionally making sure that sugar dissolves. Make sure you keep an eye on the mixture. You don't want it to overboil and spill all over your stove. Take the pan off the heat and steep for 15 minutes so the flavors infuse.

2. Preheat over to 300 degrees. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position of oven.

3. Place a kitchen towel in a large baking dish or roasting pan and place eight 4-5 ounce ramekins on top of towel. Make sure the towel does not hang over the sides of the pan or you will have a mess in your oven. Add water to a kettle or large saucepan and boil water over high heat. You will be creating a bain marie or a hot water bath. This helps to keep your custard creamy instead of curdled.

4. By this time, your 15 minutes should be up. Now, add the rest of the 2 cups of CHILLED cream to your vanilla bean/cream mixture. This helps to bring down the temperature.

5. Whisk yolks in a large bowl until combined. Add 1 cup of vanilla bean/cream mixture to yolks slowly while whisking with your other hand. You want to temper the eggs. If you don't do this, you will have scrambled eggs in your cream. Repeat with another cup. Add remaining cream and whisk until blended.

6. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a 2 quart bowl/measuring cup. Discard solids. Ladle or pour mixture into ramekins until ramekins are 3/4 full making sure to divide evenly amongst ramekins. Make sure you divide evenly, because I am not kidding... your guests will be upset if someone else gets more than they did.

7. Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack. Pour boiling water into dish (make sure you do not spill water into ramekins) so that water reaches 2/3 height of the ramekins.

8. Bake for approx. 30-35 minutes. Check ramekins 25 minutes into baking. You do not want to overcook the custard. Bake until the custards are barely set and are no longer sloshy. You can use a digital instant read thermometer to know when they are done when the center registers 170-175 degrees.
9. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks for approximately two hours. Then cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least 4 hours. They can be left in the fridge for up to 4 days.
10. Uncover ramekins and sprinkle each with 1 -1 1/2 tsp turbinado sugar. Tap ramekin to evenly cover custard with sugar. Using a torch, caramelize sugar from the outside working toward the middle. Re-chill for 30-45 minutes. Do not leave in fridge longer than 2 hours or your caramelized sugar will turn soft. If you do not have a torch, you can place under a broiler but I do not recommend this as the sugar doesn't caramelize evenly.

Tikka Masala Sauce

Yum... Tikka Masala Sauce. It's one of the most popular Indian curries. No one knows the exact origin for Chicken Tikka Masala. Some claim that during the British rule of India, an Englishman claimed that his chicken tikka was too dry. The chef got angry and mixed tomato sauce with cream to create a gravy for his chicken. Whatever the origins, this is one of my favorite dishes. The good thing about tikka masala sauce is that it is so versatile. You can make it with chicken, shrimp, or paneer (Indian cheese). Everyone has their own way of making tikka masala. I like to make mine with sour cream instead of cream.

Ingredients:

2 tbs. cooking oil

1 onion (i like to use frozen chopped onions so I don't have to worry about chopping them up)
1/4 cup tomato puree

1 oz chicken tikka masala spice

16 oz sour cream

approx. 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup of whole milk
3-4 tbs butter

Directions:

Heat the oil up in a pot on medium heat. Add the chopped onions. Fry until they start turning brown. Add the tomato puree. Cook for 5 minutes. In a bowl, mix the sour cream with the chicken tikka masala spice. Cook for another 5 minutes. Slowly add the milk till it is the consistency you like. Wait for the gravy to cool. Add to a food processor in small batches until the gravy is smooth. Return to pot. At this point you can add chicken or paneer and cook on medium to low for about 20 minutes. If you are adding shrimp cook for only 5-10 minutes or your shrimp will overcook. Add the butter at the very end. If the gravy is too thick, add some more milk. Serve with rice, naan, or flatbread.

Tom Kha Goong (Coconut Shrimp Soup)

I am a mother of two and am always about easy cooking. One of my favorite quick recipes is Tom Kha Goong. I use a Tom Yum paste or Tom Yum cubes to make the broth. I use shrimp instead of chicken because I find it easier to find peeled and deveined shrimp at my local grocery store. I also use whatever vegetables I have on hand to throw in the soup. Sometimes, I even throw in angel hair pasta to make it a heartier meal. I say anything goes. Now true Tom Kha soup isn't pure white. As you can see in my picture, there are hints of red in it from the spices. Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:
3 tbs of Thai Tom Yum paste (Depending on your paste, you might need to add fish sauce or salt to taste)
3 cups of water
1 can of coconut milk (usually 13.5 oz)
1 cup shrimp, peeled and deveined
4-5 straw mushrooms or button mushrooms
1 red bell pepper, julienned (or any vegetable you would like to add)
2 tbs of lime juice
2 tbs chopped cilantro
Cilantro for garnish


Preparation:
Put water in a pot and boil. Once that has boiled, add Tom Yum paste. Slow Boil for 2 minutes to flavor water. Lower heat and add mushrooms and red bell pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add coconut milk, shrimp and cilantro. Cook for 6 minutes until shrimp are cooked. Add lime juice. Fish sauce or salt if needed. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Eggplant and Artichoke Panini

One of my favorite things to make for lunch is an eggplant and artichoke panini. I find this a simple panini to make because I almost always have capers and marinated artichokes at home. When shopping for an eggplant, look for a "male" eggplant. Male eggplants tend to have fewer seeds and are not as bitter. Some people think it is an old-wives tale but I have never gone wrong picking out a "male" eggplant. To do so, look at the dimple of the eggplant. If it is an outie, it is male. Also make sure the eggplant isn't too ripe. Touch the flesh of the eggplant. If it is soft to the touch but the flesh bounces back, the you have a ripe eggplant. If it doesn't bounce back, the eggplant is too ripe. Now for the recipe:

Adapted from Gourmet, May 2009
Ingredients:
1 (6 1/2 oz.) jar of marinated artichokes, drained
4 tbs mayonnaise
1 tbs drained capers
1 garlic clove
4 tbs olive oil, divided
1 round Italian loaf or any artisan round loaf of bread, 8 slices from thick part of bread
1/4 lb swiss cheese, thinly sliced

Instructions:
Prepare two burner grill pan.
Cut off thin slices of eggplant from ends, lengthwise. Then cut eggplant lengthwise into 4 1/3 inch slices. Brush eggplant slices with 2 tbs olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place eggplants on two burner grill pan, and grill for 4 minutes on each side. While eggplant is grilling, throw artichokes. capers, garlic and mayonniase in food processor. Pulse until coursely chopped.
Transfer eggplant to a tray when done. Brush both sides of bread with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and grill without turning, until grill marks appear, about 2 minutes.

To assemble:
Place an eggplant slice and slice of cheese on 4 pieces of bread, grilled sides up. Spread artichoke mayonnaise on remaining 4 pieces of bread, grilled sides up. Place artichoke bread over eggplant bread to make a sandwich. Put sandwiches on grill pan and press down with a spatula for 2 minutes. Turn sandwich over and grill for another 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Masala Chai Tea

It is amazing to me what a popular bevarage Chai has become. Of course to us Indians, it is just tea. Chai means tea in Hindi. The best thing about Chai, there is no right way to make it. Everyone has their own recipe and their own take on how Masala (which means spice) Chai should taste. The following recipe is my favorite way to make Chai. Traditionally, the milk is added to the saucepan to give it that creamy, spicy taste. Don't get hung up on the kind of tea you have. It is really about the spices you use to flavor the tea. And don't be shy to experiment with the spices. Some people prefer to add star anise or ginger to their tea. I find the star anise and ginger a bit over powering. The following recipe serves 2

Ingredients:
2 heaping tsp of loose black tea (If you don't have loose tea, 2 teabags will work just fine)
2 cups water
1/4 in. cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods
2 cloves
2 black peppercorns
1/2 cup milk ( I don't suggest using skim milk for this tea. 2% is fine)
sugar to taste

Instructions:
Pour water into saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Crush cardamom, cloves, and peppercorns with a mortar and pestle. Add to water along with cinnamon and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Add tea and amount of sugar desired and let is simmer for another couple of minutes. Add milk and bring to a light boil. Remove from heat and strain over teacups. Discard spices and tea leaves. Enjoy.