Chicken Tikka Masala

I was watching "America's Test Kitchen" on the Create channel one night, and they were demonstrating how to make a few popular Indian dishes.  This one struck my fancy because whenever I go to "Masala Wok," it's one of the things I usually order.  Now both Masala Wok and this recipe are probably geared toward American taste buds, but hey, it works for me.  


I searched for the recipe on America's Test Kitchen website, but they only post their more current recipes online for free.  But luckily, I found it through other means.  Thanks, Amy Scott, whoever you are!  Here's the recipe: http://amyscott.squarespace.com/journal/2008/11/5/chicken-tikka-masala.html


Let me warn you- this is not something you can whip up for your family on a busy weeknight.  It's pretty time-consuming and requires some preparation as well as procuring ingredients I did not have on hand- garam masala what???  I thought the best thing about the dish was that I was able to make chicken breast taste good.  Usually I am a fan of the dark meat, but after you coat the chicken in spices, yogurt, and oil, it seals in the moisture and doesn't dry it out!  Brilliant!


It was a recipe of "firsts."  First time making masala sauce, first time making basmati rice (mine ended up a little soggy), and first time broiling chicken.


We invited our small group over to partake in the Indian food, and it was quite a feast.  There were some last minute contributions to the meal (including appetizers, curry, and rice from a local Indian restaurant, and naan the size of my head (okay bigger than my head), I kid you not, leftover from Edwin's lunch.  Perfect timing!

Brie en Croute

Every time my sister or sister-in-law throw a party, there is cheese. Large amounts of cheese.  I am a cheese-lover myself but pale in comparison to these lactose-loving ladies.  So because of their fondness for cheese, specifically BRIE, I was inspired to make this recipe...Brie en Croute. 

Whenever I saw people bring this dish to parties, I was impressed and also intimidated because I thought it was difficult and time-consuming. Boy was I wrong!  I brought this appetizer to a New Year's Eve party, and no one believed that the prep work was literally 10 minutes.  The ingredients are simple and the process is quick.


I used a Paul Deen recipe, but there are a ton out there with lots of slight variations: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/brie-en-croute-2-recipe/index.html
I did not use butter (gasp!  Don't tell Paula), found some sliced almonds, and substituted apricot preserves for the raspberry jam.  I thought the combination of flavors was great.  Pair it with some crackers and you have a delicious-looking dish!  I think Edwin and I ate half of the wheel ourselves.  :/ 

Bibimbap

I have been wanting to make bibimbap for awhile.  Back in college, the fellowship I was a part of often had dinner/movie nights with Asian themes.  So we'd serve potstickers & curry and watch a Chinese movie or have bibimbap and watch My Sassy Girl.  The staff worker that led our fellowship was Korean, so bibimbap was a natural go-to recipe for him. 

Finally tried my hand at it this past weekend with the help of the Korean internet lady of course (http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bibimbap).  It's actually a pretty healthy dish with lots of veggies: bean sprouts, spinach, carrots, cucumber (I used this instead of zucchini), mushrooms, and whatever else you think would be good.  The prep work does take a little while, but you sure do get a lot of meals from it. 

Here are some pictures before the fried egg and red pepper paste went on top. :)

Grilled Fish

After watching the documentary Food, Inc. I thought about becoming a pescetarian.  Edwin laughs at this term because he thinks it's basically a pseudo-vegetarian trying to take the easy way out.  I'm neutral.  I say, if you want to be a pork-atarian and only eat pork, go for it! 

So anyway I've been trying to incorporate more fish into our diet because it's much healthier than other meats and there are probably less cruel things you can do to seafood (although I'm sure there are plenty of inhumane ways to treat fish as well).

I have been on a Steamy Kitchen cookbook kick.  I found a fish recipe in there: Grilled Fish with Kabayaki Sauce.  The Kabayaki sauce is made of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.  I didn't have mirin so used sherry instead.  I got some catfish fillets and browned those, then brushed the warmed sauce over both sides of the fish.  It's served over rice and doused with some shredded, toasted seaweed.  If you like sweet dishes, this is a winner!

Ramen Ramen Ramen

If you remember why this blog was originally started, you will know that ramen is a dish that is close to our hearts.  It was the scrumptious meal (well, technically saimin I supposed) we shared on our honeymoon multiple times.  We still talk about it and try to relive it by eating ramen in every city that offers a decent bowl.  

During our January trip to NYC, we had ramen at Momofuku.  It really wasn't all it was hyped up to be.  Don't get me wrong, the food there was pretty tasty (esp the porkbelly buns!), but the ramen itself didn't wow me so much.  I think I remember the noodles being too chewy.  I had Santa Ramen in San Mateo, CA last May.  Now that was a memorable experience.  The only downfall to that was the delicious slow roasted pork you order on the side came in the bowl and really just made the soup oilier and saltier as you ate.  I felt a lot of pressure to eat fast.  Then last July after our road trip from LA to San Francisco, I was eager to introduce Santa Ramen to Edwin.  Unfortunately they were closed on the only day we were there.  Boo!  But alas we found another ramen shop at the suggestion of a good friend.  We already had plans to meet friends for lunch at the Ferry Building, but that did not stop us.  Oh no.  After lunch, we quickly walked several blocks to Katana-Ya where Edwin satsfied his ramen craving at last.  For some reason I got a picture of him happily awaiting his ramen, but I forgot to take one when it actually came.  I guess he slurped it down too fast.

  





 This was the ramen at Momofuku.  Excuse the silly face.

Santa Ramen!

 

  



 
Katana-Ya










Not sure how this post turned into our ramen experiences.  I really did make ramen and want to share pictures.  So the ramen I tried this time was Miso Ramen from the Steamy Kitchen cookbook.  I love the flavor of miso so was eager to try putting that in the soup base.  I topped it with bamboo shoots, corn, napa cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, chicken and hard-boiled eggs.  Basically everything that was in our fridge.  Obviously not as good as the restaurants, but it's a work in progress.  We've entertained thoughts of opening some sort of Food Truck (it's the new craze everywhere!) and have considered selling ramen.  Well either that or hot dogs :)  If you have any suggestions, throw them my way!

 
I love thick noodles, so I used udon in mine.

Edwin opted for the thinner wonton noodles.  He is Cantonese.

Peanut Sesame Noodles

After a summer of cooking lots of American food, I decided I wanted to make more Asian dishes.  So I looked up a recipe to make peanut sesame noodles.  My friend Corinna would often make this in college, and bring around a humongous pot to feed everyone on our dorm floor.  It’s a pretty cost-efficient dish if you have to feed a lot of mouths I guess!

Surprisingly, a recipe on yahoo caught my eye: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/recipe-for-a-late-summer-potluck-sesame-noodles-2363652/
I got all the ingredients together and was planning to make it one Saturday afternoon.  I was headed out the door that morning and told Edwin my plans to make the noodles later in the day.  He said he wanted to try his hand at it, and insisted on making it while I was gone.  No complaints here!

I think he tweaked the recipe a bit (maybe didn’t add quite so much peanut butter to allow the sesame flavor to come out?).  The results: I think it was better than I could have done!   The perfect cool and refreshing meal to round out a summer day.

Za Jiang Mein

Mmm, Za Jiang Mein has always been a favorite food of mine.  The easiest way to describe it is Chinese Spaghetti!  You use a few simple ingredients like sweet bean paste with ground pork and the dish is sweet, salty, and scrumptious.  Here is the fabulous recipe I used: http://www.foodmayhem.com/2009/11/za-jiang-mein.html.  The site does a great job explaining what the dish is all about and breaks it down with step-by-step pictures!  What else could you ask for?

So I made this dish for a couple friends, Wender and Cherry, and I found out two things that night: Cherry is a noodle-monster and Wender is better with a fork than a pair of chopsticks.  That wasn't a dig Wender!  Just a fun fact.

Here are some pictures from the night:

My bowl with crunchy cucumbers and blanched bean sprouts.

Cherry's very full bowl of noodles (bowl 1 of 2).  She said the noodles fluffed everything up and made it seem like a lot of food.

   

Light summer dessert: lychee and yellow jelly