Bombay Breakfast Potatoes – Just Exotic Enough

I like to think of myself as a fairly adventurous eater, but when it comes to breakfast, I usually fall into the “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” school of thought, and home fries are a perfect example. I mean, what improvement can you possibly make to perfectly pan-fried, crispy on the outside, fluffy in the middle breakfast potatoes?

Maybe this is just semantics, since these Bombay breakfast potatoes aren’t really supposed to be an improvement, but rather a slightly more exotic change of pace. In any event, they were absolutely delicious, and while definitely different than your average diner fare, they managed to retain an acceptable degree of comforting familiarity. And for that, I will mostly credit the texture.

Like I said in the video, even if you don’t plan on using the Indian-inspired spicing, you’ll want to pay attention to the cook-first, fry-later approach. While it does take a little bit of planning ahead, the pay off is substantial. By boiling first, and then thoroughly chilling before you panfry, the starches on the surface “gelatinize,” which makes all that irresistible crispiness possible.

Above and beyond the textural advantages, by prepping the potatoes the night before, you’re making things pretty easy for yourself the next morning. Just toss them into the hot pan, and by the time your eggs are cracked, beaten, and scrambled, your home fries should be just about done. So, no matter how you season yours, I really do hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 2 large or 4 small portions:

Spice mix:

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 teaspoon cayenne

2 large russet potatoes, cut in 16ths, cooked in well-salted water

salt to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup green onions

1/4 cup diced hot and/or sweet peppers

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

-->

Creamy Cashew Chicken Curry – Moooove Over Real Cream

This creamy cashew chicken recipe is completely dairy-free (expect for the butter), but that’s not why you should make it. You should make this simple curry because it’s so rich and satisfying that you won’t even care that it’s better for you, and possibly the cows.

It really is pretty remarkable how similar the cashew cream is to regular heavy cream in appearance, taste, and in-sauce behavior. In fact, cashew cream actually thickens up faster than cream, which usually has to be reduced a bit before it will coat the meat.

As far as the rest of the ingredients go, there’s nothing too exotic, except maybe for the garam masala, which in case you’re wondering, translates to “hot spice.” There are many variations, but if you can’t find one, the most common ingredients are cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, mace, dried chilies, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, bay leaves, and turmeric; just in case you want to whip up a batch of your own.

Speaking of spices, how much you should use in this is a very personal thing. Below you’ll see what I went with, which I thought was on the fairly mild side, so feel free to add more. Also, the salt in our dry marinade does a pretty good job of seasoning the chicken, but you’ll probably need more as it cooks in the sauce, so be sure to check. Of course, the hardest thing about this recipe is deciding whether to serve it with rice, garlic naan, or both, but I'm sure you'll figure that out when you give this a try, which will hopefully be very soon. Enjoy! 

Ingredients for 4 large portions Creamy Cashew Chicken:

For the Spice Mix:

(use a little more than half to marinade the chicken, and the rest to add to the sauce)

2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste

1 1/2  teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

2 teaspoons paprika (hot and/or smoked would also work well)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 generous teaspoons garam masala, or other prepared “curry powder” blends

For the Cashew Cream:

3/4 cup whole roasted cashews

2 cups cold water

For the rest:

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (mixed with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and spice blend, and marinated for 4 to 12 hours)

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 yellow onion, chopped or sliced

rest of the reserved spice blend

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 finely minced garlic cloves

1 tablespoon finely minced ginger

1 cup chicken broth

all the prepared cashew cream

1/3 cup sliced green onions

1/3 cup freshly chopped cilantro

freshly squeezed juice of one lime, plus extra wedges for service

-->

Garlic Naan – Now, 100% Tandoor-Free

Naan bread, especially this easy to make garlic naan, is the real reason Indian restaurants give you so much extra sauce when you order a curry. I mean, sure, the basmati rice helps, but good luck getting all that goodness off your plate using a fork.

Besides being near lots of great curries, the other advantage the restaurant naan enjoys is being cooked in the intense heat of the tandoor oven. However, we can pull off a pretty good version at home by using a smoking hot cast iron skillet. By the way, it shouldn’t literally be smoking, since we cook these without any oil in the skillet, but the key to this whole operation is waiting for the pan to get up to the proper temperature.

In fact, done correctly, the blistered bubbles will be charred to a lovely golden-black, so be brave. I’m working on the creamy cashew chicken curry seen herein, and hope to post that next, but in the meantime, I really hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 6 Garlic Naan:

1/2 cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

1 package dry active yeast

1/4 cup plain yogurt

about 2 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp fine salt)

1 tablespoon garlic butter

- Cook in a very hot, dry cast iron skillet for 2 to 3 minutes per side

For the Garlic Butter:

1/2 cup melted butter

4 cloves finely minced garlic

-->

Samosadilla (Samosa Quesadilla) – Flat Better

I love samosas, but I don’t necessarily love all the work and mess involved with assembling and deep-frying them, which is why I’m such a huge fan of this quesadilla approach. Plus, above and beyond the faster, simpler method, the results may be even better than the original. Okay, hear me out.

While it’s true a perfectly made, expertly fried, and quickly served samosa is superior to this version, that can be a very rare combination of events. By comparison, this is almost impossible to mess up, and if you use enough oil in your pan, you should be able to achieve a beautifully browned, crispy crust that rivals something out of a deep fryer.

Like I said in the video, even if you don’t make samosadillas, the filling is a world-class potato salad in its own right. A scoop of this next to some grilled meat, like tandoori chicken for example, would make for a gorgeous plate of food. Fair warning though, Michele and I like big, bold flavors, so please feel free to adjust the ingredient amounts below to your tastes. Whether they’re enjoyed hot, warm, room temp, or cold, we really do hope you give these samosadillas a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 6 Portions:
6 large flour tortillas

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 large yellow onion, diced

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

1 minced Serrano chile

1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger

1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste

1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground corinader

1/2 teaspoon turmeric            

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 cup green peas

1 1/2 pounds cubed Yukon gold potatoes, cooked until tender in salted water

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

juice from 1 lemon

salt to taste once mixed

For the Cilantro Lime Chutney Sauce:

1 large or 2 small bunches fresh cilantro

1/3 cup fresh picked mint leaves

1/4 cup sliced green onions

1 sliced Serrano chile

1 or 2 limes, juiced

1/2 cup plain yogurt

pinch of salt, optional

-->

Chennai Chicken Wings – A Football Snack from the Land of Cricket

I used to do a new chicken wing video every year before the Super Bowl, but that yearly ritual stopped when I sort of ran out of things to do with them. Being from Western New York State, where chicken wings are as much a religion, as they are a snack, I didn’t want these posts to become gratuitous and contrived.

However, this year I was inspired to reestablish the tradition after enjoying an appetizer called “Chennai Chicken,” served at Dosa, which is one of my favorite Indian restaurants in San Francisco. Their version features thin strips of breast coasted with a ton of spice, and deep-fried to a gorgeous brick red.  

It’s one of those dishes you can’t stop eating, no matter how badly your mouth is burning, and I thought it would make a great approach for a batch of Buffalo wings. Since they’d never published the recipe, I did a lot of guessing here, but think I got pretty close. One of the key ingredients is an Indian spice blend called garam masala, which isn’t too hard to find, but if you can’t, here’s a link to a recipe for making your own.

As usual, feel free to alter the spice amounts as you see fit, but as I said in the video, do not skip the rice vinegar sauce. It really makes the dish. I’m not sure if these wings are too exotic for your Super Bowl party, or if your guests are not exotic enough for them, but I really hope you give them a try anyway. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 pounds split chicken wings

2 tablespoon cornstarch

2 tablespoon rice flour

4 teaspoons cayenne

4 teaspoons paprika

4 teaspoons cumin

4 teaspoons garam masala

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

4 teaspoons kosher salt

For the ginger oil:

1 tablespoon grated ginger

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

For the sauce:

1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar

2 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion

1 tablespoon julienned or grated ginger root

2 teaspoons sambal (spicy ground chili sauce)

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

Grilled “Tandoori” Lamb – Hold the Tandoor

Since I didn’t cook this marvelous meat in a tandoor oven, it’s not actually tandoori lamb, which will save some of you the time letting me know all the other ways it isn’t the real deal. Accepting that, these days “tandoori” simply refers to the yogurt based, aromatically spiced marinade, whether you grill, broil, or bake the meat.

As usual, please adjust the spice amounts to your tastes, since you know you much better than I do. These should get you close to your friendly neighborhood Indian joint, but still, play around. If you want to add some veggies between the pieces of meat, go ahead, but I have more success cooking them separately.

I really like lamb sirloin, and see it in the stores more often these days, but like I said in the video, leg of lamb, or a shoulder roast, are also very nice for this. If you feel like splurging, you can do lamb chops, but for those, 4 to 6 hours is plenty of time in the marinade. But, no matter which cut you use, or animal for that matter, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Marinade Ingredients for 2 to 3 pounds of lamb

2 to 3 pounds lamb sirloin, cut into about 1 1/2 to 2-inch chunks

1 cup plain yogurt

2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more pre-grilling

1 big juicy lemon, juiced

1/4 cup grated or very finely minced onion

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 tablespoon grated ginger

2 generous teaspoons garam masala (click here to make your own)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

chopped cilantro

fresh lemon

grilled onions

flatbread or rice

spicy cilantro chutney (I don’t have a recipe, but here’s one)