Indian Feast
Fear not readers, I was not taken by the rapture but I wish my crappy stove would have been taken. To reward your patience I am posting 2 new recipes! Below is how to have pork in your house for about 2 weeks (or less if you are married to my husband). Tonight I wanted to do a project dinner and boy did I almost bite off more than I can chew. Granted I have a tiny apartment kitchen and the worlds biggest POS electric oven that is trying to purposefully ruin everything I make but I did persevere! I made my own naan (and for an unbelievably better price), chicken tikka masala, chickpea salad and to top it off a mango lassi (hey it is Texas and its roughly a thousand degrees outside already). I will go through the steps in the order I made things so that you don’t get overwhelmed.
Naan dough:
2t dry active yeast
1t sugar
1/2c warm water
~3c AP flour
1/2t salt
1/4c oil (I used olive oil)
1/3c plain Greek yogurt (I bought the large container of Fage 0% because the Greek yogurt is going into everything)
1 egg
In a small bowl, combine the water, sugar and yeast and stir until it is combined. Wait about 10 minutes until the froth on the top forms. In a separate bowl combine just 1 cup of the flour and the salt. Once your yeast is all frothy stir in the egg, oil and yogurt and combine it with the flour. Stir and add more flour a 1/2c at a time until a ball has formed. Put the ball on a floured surface and kneed it for 3 minutes adding some flour if it gets too sticky. Once you are done kneeding the ball should be soft but not sticky. Lightly cover the dough with a tea towel and let it sit for 45 minutes.
Once the wait time is over, gently flatten the ball and cut it into 4 equal pieces. Using a heavy pan (I used a cast iron comal that my dad gave me when I moved into my first apartment in college) heat it to medium (don’t go much hotter because you will burn the bottom too fast) and spray it with cooking spray. Don’t roll the smaller balls out until you are about it put it on. Once the pan is hot roll out the first dough so that it is about 1/4″ thick and place it on the pan. Wait until you see bubbles forming and check to make sure it is getting nice and toasty on the bottom. Once the one side is done flip it. I kept the done naan bread in our tortilla warmer so that they stayed warm and yummy. I don’t have any photo documentation because hubs wasn’t home yet and I had flour hands…
Chickpea Salad:
1 can of chickpeas (rinsed until there is no more foam when the water hits them)
1/2t ground mustard
1/2t cumin
1/2t fennel seeds (I had only the whole seeds so I put them in a plastic baggie and crushed them)
1/8t chile powder
1/2c Greek yogurt
3/4T lemon juice
2-3 chopped green onion
1/4c chopped cilantro
1/4c chopped mint
In a pan, heat some canola oil on medium high and add the spices and stir until they are very fragrant. Add the chickpeas and cook for about 5 minutes until they start popping.
Put the pan off of the heat and let them cool. While the peas are cooling, in a bowl combine the yogurt, lemon, green onion, cilantro and mint. Once the peas are at room temperature add them to the yogurt mixture and let them sit for at least 10 minutes so that the flavors mix (I put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes).
Chicken Tikka Masala:
1/2 yellow onion chopped
1T grated ginger
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 can tomatoes crushed
4oz. Greek yogurt (see I told you I used it in everything)
1/2 c milk (I only use skim)
1t cumin
1t garam masala
1t tumeric
1/2t chili powder
2-3 chicken breasts sliced thin
cilantro chopped
Heat some canola oil in a large sauce pot and add the onion and cook the onion until it starts to caramelize but don’t let it get too far. Add the ginger and garlic and stir until it gets fragrant – not too long. Add the spices and stir until everything is equally coated. Add the tomatoes, milk and yogurt and stir until combined. Let this simmer for a few minutes until it gets good and thick.
Add the chicken and let everything simmer until the chicken is cooked and its thick and yummy looking. Add the cilantro at the very end. You can serve this over basmati rice or do as we did and just eat it with the naan.
Mango Lassi:
1-2 mangos chopped
6 oz. Greek yogurt
1c milk
1 1/2T honey
ice
Add everything in the blender and blend for a long time until everything is super soft. It should have the texture of the lightest and fluffiest milkshake ever.
All of this sounds a little daunting but it is doable. I made the dough first and while the dough rested I made the chickpea salad. Before I started the naan I chopped and prepped everything that we would need for the chicken so I could juggle everything. I juggled the naan cooking and the chicken and when I was finishing the chicken and letting it cool I fired up the blender to make the drinks. Easy-peasy!
Now while we are on a good note lets talk about how flipping CHEAP this feast was! I had enough for 3 people for everything and the total grocery bill came to $11.33 – yea. I had the chicken already and all I really bought were the vegetables, yeast, chickpeas, tomatoes and the most expensive thing – the yogurt but heck I made lots of use for it. So for a total of 3 servings each cost me $3.77 which you can’t beat!
Now the nutrition part gets a little difficult from adding different components. For a serving of 1 naan, 1/2c chickpea salad, 1c of the tikka masala and 1 glass of the lassi I can calculate it to be a total of 627 calories, 17.9grams of fat and 41.44 grams of protein. Yea not what you expected a mountain of food huh? God bless you Greek yogurt!!