Lamb Meatball Curry

I found this recipe while browsing TasteSpotting. It's from the Cookin' Canuck blog.

Lamb is something I'm not very experienced with and I'm not entirely sure I like it. Well, sometimes I LOVE it!! But other times it's a little too, umm... I don't know... lamby...

I love lamb kebobs from Baba D's, and gyros... but other than that... I've never really eaten it. And even when eating the kebobs that I really do love, there's a touch of an under-flavor that I'm not wild about.

Anyway. I saw this recipe and decided that I wanted to make it.

This is also my first from scratch curry. I've made plenty of curry recipes before, but they all have included an ingredient with 'curry' in the name. This recipe has no such ingredient! Yay me!



Lamb Meatball Curry

for the meatballs

1 1/2 lbs ground lamb
1 tbsp minced green chili
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste (I just grated ginger & garlic)
1 cup boiled and mashed potatoes
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Salt
for curry sauce
1 cup chopped onion paste
1 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 cups tomato puree
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tbsp kasuri methi (fenugreek leaves)
1/3 cup cashews (blanched and turned into a paste*)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp. cooking oil
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
Salt

Mix all meatball ingredients. Form into meatballs. Mine were about 1.5 inches. Place meatballs on baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to a day.

Preheat oven to 400F. Bake meatballs for 20 minutes.

For the sauce... heat ghee & oil in a thick bottom pot. Add onion, ginger and garlic paste and cook them until all the liquid in the paste evaporates. Stir frequently, cook slowly on medium heat.

When the paste turns golden brown add cumin powder, salt, turmeric, cayenne pepper and coriander powder. When you add the dry ingredients it starts to burn quickly so stir it all together to mix well and add tomato puree.

Cook the puree until the sauce begins to thicken.

Then add cashew paste and cream, and cook some more. You will see oil on the edges then add garam masala and kasuri methi (fenugreek).

Mix it together and throw in all the meatballs (also the drippings in the baking dish).

Turn the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for a nice 6-8 minutes.

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Ok... so make mashed potatoes for the meatballs. This would be a really good use for leftover mashies. I've never used mashed potatoes as a binder before and I have to say, I'm a fan.



Mix up all of the meatball ingredients


Roll into meatballs.


Cover with plastic wrap and into the fridge!

Preheat the oven to 400F.


Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes.


Now to make the sauce.

I ground my cashews, but they didn't really turn to a paste. It was kind of powdered, but it could pinch it back together. It seemed to work out fine.


So, heat ghee & oil, add onion, ginger & garlic paste.


Cook slowly, stirring frequently.


I was afraid of burning it and stopped short of golden... but I did get the excess moisture evaporated.


Fragrant bowl of spices.


Into the pot!




Plus tomato sauce.


Cook until it starts to thicken.


Add cashews & cream.


Cook some more and add fenugreek & garam masala and stir.


Now add your beautiful cooked meatballs plus any drippings to the sauce.




Gently stir them in, until everything is well coated and simmer for 6 - 8 minutes.


Now they're ready to enjoy!!

I served them over couscous.


They were really tasty. I loved the sauce. There was that lambyness... that I'm still not sure that I love. Jon enjoyed these too.

Would I make them again? I think if I used half beef/half lamb I would have enjoyed them more.

Curry & Chips Omelet

Let's say you were at Piper's Pub watching the USA vs Algeria football (soccer) match. You ordered some Curry & Chips to snack on, but were too wrapped up in the game to eat them. At the very end of the game, in stoppage time, Donovan swoops in and kicks the ball into the net for a game winning goal for USA! Woohooo!!!

Yikes! You told the boss you'd be in by noon and it's noon now. You're gonna be a little late already so you ask the bartender for a to-go box to take your Curry & Chips home for later.

Long afternoon at work, but all's well because USA is on to the second round!

It's so hot and you need a dinner plan. You have some leftover Curry & Chips from Piper's Pub, but that's not really enough for dinner... or is it?

How about a Curry & Chips Omelet?


Get out your leftovers from Piper's.


Pour the curry into a small sauce pan to reheat it. Or you could do it in the microwave.


Whisk up some eggs with a little milk and salt & pepper; then pour them into a hot non-stick skillet.


Foraging... can't have an omelet without cheese. Well, I guess you can, but I don't want one like that!

Found some muenster.


Break up your leftover chips and put them on top of the cheese


Let's add some more cheese while we're at it!


Close it up


Slide it onto a plate and top it with hot curry and it's dinner time!

Curry & Cardamom Cookies

Quite a while back I was looking for a cookie recipe that included curry.

I don't know why. But I had to find one.

Well... a quick Google search quickly pointed me to these Curry & Cardamom Cookies in the recipe section of The Spice House.

It's a recipe from a book called An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries: A Treasury of Stories, Herbal Lore, Recipes and Crafts by Susan Wittig Albert.

I've heard there are lots of great recipes in her novels. I might have to pick one up!

Great! I found a recipe that was exactly what I was looking for.

Fast forward almost a year... and I finally got around to making them!

Ericka and I had a spice cookie baking day a couple weeks ago and this was one of the cookies we made.



Curry & Cardamom Cookies
1 C butter
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sweet curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture, a third at a time. Stir in nuts.

Divide dough into four rolls and wrap each in waxed paper. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (may also be frozen).

Slice into 1/4-inch slices and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated 350F oven until golden brown, 12-14 minutes. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to a rack to cool thoroughly.

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Cream butter, sugar, eggs & vanilla.


Whisk together dry ingredients


Add dry ingredients to wet, a little at a time until well combined.


I totally forgot the nuts.

Divide dough into four even parts.

Form into rolls, wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.


When you're ready to bake... unwrap...


Slice into 1/4 inch slices.


And bake 12 - 14 minutes.

That's 12 minutes in my slightly hot oven.



Jon didn't like these cookies at all. But he Jon doesn't like any kind of spice cookie. I liked them a lot. But they are a crisp cookie and I prefer cookies a little chewier.

I brought them to work and the guys at work liked them. I doubt they ate a whole tray of them just to be nice. (contrary to what Jon thinks)

I also sent some up to Erin and Andrew's house. I 'think' they liked them. Andrew said it tasted like a cookie that fell into Indian food. So I guess that's good if you like Indian food and not so good if you don't!

Ericka and Drew liked them too.



So if you're looking for something a little different, definitely give these cookies a try!

Tandoori Chicken

I needed something Asian or Spicy to go with a couple bottles of Gewurztraminer wine.

My original thought was to make my Spicy Curried Potato Pockets. Then at the last minute I decided I wanted to invite friends over for wine tasting and make an Indian dinner.

That's when I thought of Tandoori Chicken.

Yay! I had a plan! Start with Spicy Curried Potato Pockets... then Tandoori Chicken. I also decided to make a Sweet Coconut Curried Rice to balance out some of the heat.

Until I made it, I'd never actually tried Tandoori Chicken.

I'm not totally sure if this tasted right but it was wicked good!

After looking at a bunch of recipes on line, I put this together based on my spice likes.



Tandoori Chicken
4# chicken breasts & thighs, boneless/skinless cut into serving sized pieces
1.5 C plain yogurt
1 medium onion diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 TBLS lemon juice
2 TBLS ginger root, grated
2 tsp garam masala
1 TBLS ground cumin
1 TBLS paprika (I used smoked, since I didn't plan to grill... but ended up grilling anyway)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp corriander
1 tsp salt
several grinds of black pepper

Combine all ingredients other than chicken until mixed well... add chicken mix until all pieces are well coated.... refrigerate overnight (or at least several hours)

Grill over medium coals until chicken is cooked through.


Sweet Coconut Curry Rice
2 C jasmine rice
1 can light coconut milk
chicken stock (enough to make 4.5 cups when added to the coconut milk)
1.5 tsp sweet curry powder
a sprinkle of ground cardamom

Combine in rice cooker and cook according to rice cooker directions.

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The night before...

For the Tandoori Chicken, mix together everything except the chicken.


When that's well mixed, add chicken pieces.


Be sure that all pieces are well coated and refrigerate at least several hours, preferably closer to 24 hours.

I just used a plastic storage bag.


Fast forward to the next day... turns out no one could make it for dinner...

It was a last minute invitation, so that's ok. You'll see what I did with the leftovers further down!

I was originally going to do this in the oven, since I don't have a tandoor... but most recipes I looked at advised grilling over roasting.

It was a gorgeous 70 degree November day... so I asked Jon to fire up the grill for me!



Grill until chicken is cooked through.






Before I started grilling, I started the rice in the kitchen. I love using a rice cooker. Set it and you're done!



Add a nice scoop of rice and it's dinner time!!


This was perfect with the Gewurztraminer I picked for this month's wine tasting!

I'll be posting about the wine tasting tomorrow!

Dinner really was awesome. But we did have a lot of leftovers.

What to do with leftover chicken & rice?

Wraps of course!!

I mixed up a Spicy Curry Mayo...

Mix light mayo w/hot curry powder to taste (better if it can sit for 15 minutes for flavors to blend)



Nuke a flour tortilla for a few seconds to make it nice an pliable...


A good schmear of Curry Mayo...


Some shredded lettuce...


Some reheated Sweet Coconut Curry Rice...


Some reheated, sliced grilled Tandoori Chicken...


Then just roll it up and eat it!!


As awesome as this was for dinner the first night... as a leftover wrap it was totally AMAZING!!

I really LOVED it and would happily have spent $6 - $8 bucks on it from a Sandwich Shop.

So that's it!

Stay tuned for Wine Tasting!