Ambrosia in a bowl
My birthday is coming up in the very near future, and (since we are broke) I am getting a weekend of food, family and friends to celebrate.
Last night we made an amazing Chicken Tikka Masala and homemade naan. Followed it up with a rice pudding-esque quinoa thing.
The unfortunate thing about the way that I cook is apparent right now. E found a VERY basic recipe for tikka masala – one that was missing all the spices that make up the garam masala. We used that as a starting point, however I then looked up the ingredients of garam masala and added in a pinch of this and a spoon of that. It was one of the best tikka masala meals I have ever had… unfortunate as I don’t remember the ingredients. So not a meal I can serve to a vegan – and one reason that I will most likely never go full vegan (or even vegetarian).
The basic main ingredients of tikka masala (invented in the UK, suprisingly) are tomatoes, heavy cream, garam masala and chicken or lamb. And butter – ghee preferably. As E mentioned today while eating leftovers “if this was better for you I would eat it more often” Another downside to learning how to make your favorite foods – you see why it is that you love them so much!
I will look up a recipe later. If you get Cook’s Illustrated or are a member of their online forum, they have a GOOD one – we just couldn’t find the latest issue last nght when we were ready to cook.
The naan, however, did not turn out as splendid as hoped. I’m still looking for the perfect recipe – perhaps I can convince the guys at Cafe India (lynnwood) to share their secret? One can dream.
The quinoa pudding, however I can share!
1 cup red or white quinoa
enough water to cover it
boil this down until the water is almost gone.
Add in enough heavy cream to make it nicely stir-able, but not cover it.
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp honey
cinnamon
pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
put all of these in while the cream is cooking down. When the cream thickens, add in a touch of chai tea – brewed a little longer than normal. If it cooks down too far, add in some milk (I use 2%).
When it gets to the thickness YOU prefer, serve it. It is very good with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. It is also good as leftovers the next morning with some blueberries or dried cherries stirred in.
We served it (of course) with chai – complete with the honey and cream. All in all, a delicious start to a birthday celebration. The leftovers were good today too – too good, as it is all gone.
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