Chana Dal

I was the kid that hated all vegetables. In fact I had a long list of foods that were unsuitable for consumption - liver, fish and at a secure position at number three - beans. And then one day as an adult I tried hummus. Suddenly a light was shed on the humble legume. While I am still a bit skittish about beans in general and have a bit of hesitation when confronted with them (I blame this on residual conditioning from childhood) I do find myself wanting to try new ways of eating them. Some little beanies are kind of yummy, and downright good for you.

Chana Dal
1 cup dry chana dal
3 cups water
l large onion, diced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper

Pick through the dal to make sure nothing but beans remains. Combine dal and water in a small crockpot (I used my 2.5 quart) and cook on low for about eight or nine hours. If you don't use a crockpot, you could simmer the dal in the water until tender. In a skillet, saute the onion in the olive oil until caramelized. Add to the dal with the tomato paste, cilantro and garam masala and cook for a few minutes. Puree the mixture to your desired consistency and serve with bread as a spread or dip, or add a bit more water and tomato paste for a soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Madras

I have been looking at this recipe of my Grandmother's for a while. Let's face it, I love a good curry. And while I realize that most of the dishes I serve are probably more influenced by the British and are not always authentic Indian, they are delicious. This recipe called for fresh green apples. I saw some brilliant Granny Smith apples in the market today, and I knew that the time had come to give Grandma's Chicken Madras a try.

Chicken Madras
1 lb skinless boneless white meat chicken, cut into chunks
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 medium green apples, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons Madras curry powder
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Saute chicken chunks in oil until just cooked through and remove from skillet. Saute onions and apples, sprinkle with curry powder and flour. Stir and cook for two minutes and then add broth and bring to a boil. Add chicken and cook on low heat for about 30 minutes. Add more broth as needed if curry becomes too dry. Serve over steamed rice.

Grandma Harvey's original recipe calls for a 3 lb boiler/fryer cut up and seasoned with salt and pepper and browned in 1/4 cup of butter instead of canola oil. For my somewhat healthier version above I also used low-sodium fat free chicken broth, stone-ground whole wheat flour and brown rice. The curry powder I used was Sun Madras Curry powder which already contains salt. I found that it was salty enough to properly season everything and just needed a few grinds of black pepper.

Chicken Curry

My memories of my mother's cooking always make me smile. She wasn't the most creative cook, and during my younger years, she tended to fall into a pattern with our weekly meals. Each week followed roughly the same menu - baked chicken, spaghetti, hamburgers, steak every week. I swear Tuesday was spaghetti day. These were easy meals, using convenience foods. In the early days, they were budget meals - and were punctuated by the occasional casserole. When I was growing up, Mom was a college student and artist, and later became an art teacher. She worked for the satisfaction of doing what she loved more than the necessity of a paycheck. But still we followed a tight budget. We never ate out until I was in college. Birthday dinners were at home. Weekends we had dinner at my grandmother's house.

My mother made this recipe as one of those occasional casseroles I mentioned above. She didn't cook it often, but I became so smitten with it that it was always my requested meal on my birthday. This recipe is slightly modified from the original, but in essence it is the same. I wish I could take credit for inventing it. It first appeared in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook in the 1930s. It is well loved in my home.

Chicken Curry

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup tomato juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon curry powder
4 cups cooked chicken, cubed
4 cups cooked rice
4 tablespoons butter or ghee
6 tablespoons flour

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the vegetables in the butter until onions are translucent. Add flour and curry powder and mix well.  Add broth, tomato juice, seasonings and allow to simmer and thicken. Add chicken and heat through. Serve over rice.  I like to mix the curry powder up a bit - a couple teaspoons of Penzey's Maharajah Curry Powder with one teaspoon of hot or Madras curry powder. The Maharajah curry has lots of whole saffron threads and has an amazing flavor.  

Red Beef Curry

Some day I want to travel to India. Actually I have a lot of places I want to visit, but India is in the top three. I blame this fascination on my mother. Her passion was China. So great was her love of Chinese culture that she learned Chinese painting and earned her black belt in Karate. Eventually she was able to visit the country she had come to love and enjoy it's beauty and it's people. This hunger to learn about other cultures is one of the greatest gifts she gave me. So until the time comes when I can visit the places I wish to go, I imagine myself being there with the food.

This is an easy curry to make on a weeknight. It keeps and reheats well, and lets me imagine myself in a faraway place during my work lunch break. Sometimes I need that mini-vacation to keep going the rest of the day!

Red Beef Curry
1 2-pound beef flank steak
1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes
3 sweet onions, sliced
1/2 cup red curry paste
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter), or vegetable oil

Slice flank steak in half lengthwise, and then cut each half into thin strips along the bias and set aside. Saute onions in one tablespoon of the ghee until translucent. Remove onions and set aside. Saute beef strips in the remaining tablespoon of ghee until medium rare. Drain meat if needed and return to skillet. Add curry paste to the meat and saute to cook the curry paste for a minute. Add onions, tomatoes, and water and simmer gently until heated through. Serve over steamed rice.