indian goodness

Living in NY, there is no limit to the variety of ethnic food you can sample. It's the same with any big city I suppose. What may set NY apart from other large cities though is the abundance of specialty food marts which allow you to execute those foods in your own kitchen. I'm a huge fan of Indian food, but never really spiced up my kitchen until last night. In my never ending search this summer to eradicate my kitchen of the armies of summer squash, I came across a recipe for a curried vegetable stew that I thought would go great over jasmine rice with grilled chicken.

Now, this dish calls for a rather specific Indian spice which may or may not be available to you, Garam Masala. This is basically a powder of roasted other spices that you can easily find and make yourself, should you choose, or you can easily substitute with a curry powder of your choice. It also calls for a cup or so of tomato sauce, which I've included my recipe for homemade sauce, but again, you're recipe and/or favorite sauce I'm sure will work just fine. Here we go...

Indian Vegetable Stew

2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

2 large yellow onion diced

2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger

1 Tbs. minced garlic

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 medium yellow summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Kosher salt

1 tsp. garam masala

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

Freshly ground black pepper

1 15-oz. can chickpeas, with liquid

1-1/2 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)

1 cup light coconut milk

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently until soft and golden, about 15 minutes (reduce the heat to medium low, if necessary, to prevent the onion from burning). Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, and 1/2 tsp. salt; stir to coat thoroughly. Cook over medium heat , stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are barely tender, 7 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the garam masala, coriander, cumin, turmeric, jalapeno, 1 tsp. salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Cook until the spices are fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in the chickpeas and their liquid, the tomato sauce, coconut milk, and 2 Tbs. of the cilantro.

Raise the heat to medium high and bring the stew to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered, until the eggplant and zucchini are completely tender but still hold their shape, and the sauce has thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.

To serve, ladle the stew over grilled chicken breast on a bed of jasmine rice (recipe follows) and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup cilantro.

Tomato Sauce

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 carrots, roughly chopped

2 stalks of celery, chopped

Kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper

2 28-oz. cans of crushed tomatoes (San Marzano recommended)

1 bay leaf

Handful of fresh basil roughly chopped

Directions

Heat olive oil in a sauce pot or dutch oven till shimmering. Add onions and cook until translucent but not browning, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add carrots and celery, stir to coat with oil. Add a healthy sprinkle of salt and fresh cracked pepper. Cook until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, and chopped basil. Simmer for 1 hour stirring occasionally.

For a more rustic sauce, remove the bay leaf and serve as is. This will be a rather thick, chunky sauce with noticeable chunks of vegetables. I prefer to remove the bay leaf and ladle into a food processor and pulse until smooth. The choice is yours.

If not using immediately, allow to cool and then place 1 cup serving sizes into airtight containers and freeze for up to 6 months.

Jasmine Rice

1 cup jasmine rice

2 cups of water

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients into medium pot. Heat over medium high heat until water boils. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until water is absorbed and rice is fluffy, about 12-15 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork and serve.

Alright...it looks like a lot, I know. But I tend to make tomato sauce every Sunday and freeze until needed, so that removes a step. And the rice, well...that's not too tough. The key to making any type of rice is a 1:2 ratio of rice:water. It's that simple...you can grow or shrink the amount rice to any size so long as you remember that ratio. Also for my dinner last night, I mentioned I added grilled chicken breasts. What I did was threw some chicken on a grill pan just till the outsides were cooked and I had nice grill marks, about 4 minutes on each side, then I added the breasts to the stew as I let it simmer for the last 15-20 min and cooked the chicken through and allowed it to absorb the spice/flavor of the stew. Gotta say...it was a lovely meal. A great balance of heat and sweet and my apartment smelled amazing for the rest of the evening. I highly recommend breaking this dish out for friends, a loved one, or just yourself...and bring a little culinary adventure to your kitchen.

Mangia e statti zitto...

cheers...

dunkin