Recipes to Rival: Beef Rendang

This month's Recipes to Rival post is probably going to be my last blog post for a while. I have a lot going on right now and just need to focus on other things. I still plan to cook great dishes, just not take the time to blog about it. I'll miss Recipes to Rival and The Daring Bakers.

Anyway, this month I co-hosted with Rayrena of Happy Cows. It was her birthday month, so very fitting for her to be able to host.

I was glad to be making a curry dish for Lee. He loves it so much. I had a bit of difficulty finding all of the ingredients. I went to a local Asian market and a local Indian market (just in case the Indian one had some ingredients) and couldn't find the galangal, kaffir lime leaves, or duan salam leaves. I ended up finding ground galangal at Penzeys (regular ginger could be a substitute), used some lime zest for the kaffir lime leaves, and some regular bay leaves for the duan salam leaves.

This is definitely a dish for a day when you're sitting around the house. After three hours, all the liquid hadn't yet reduced, but we ate it anyway because we were hungry and we like saucy curries anyway. We probably didn't get the full experience, but it was pretty good and Lee loved it. Other people had to reduce their rendang for about 5 hours!

Make sure you are careful about where you serve this! The tumeric stains like a @%^#$@! Lee was eating some leftovers as lunch the next day at his computer, spilled it on the floor, and the tumeric looks like it's all out until you look at it in sunlight. I think that's strange that we can now only see the tumeric if the sun hits it... I learned that hydrogen peroxide can help. We also used a Woolite Rug Stick to help out. I think we got as much as possible, but if anyone has any more suggestions for getting turmeric out of the rug, I'd love more ideas!




Look at all the fat I strained out!!

Rubber Chicken: Day 2

Day 2 of my Rubber Chicken Challenge was curry night. Curry is a great dish for stretching the chicken because you can add so much other things to it and the rice is so very filling. Adding some mixed vegetables is definitely a great way to stretch the meat.

I used 1 cup of chicken I just picked from the carcass and added it to the curry sauce as it was simmering.

I used the recipe from my first curry, but I used granulated onion and garlic and it just didn't taste the same. I'd definitely use the "real" onion and garlic in the future.

My First Attempt at Homemade Curry

I'm awful at remembering to defrost meat for dinner. We usually have a bit of meat at each meal, and I stock up when it's on sale, so we usually have quite a bit in the freezer. Remembering to take out some the night before is one of my biggest problems with cooking. Tonight was one of those nights. I was so focused on wanting to keep the chicken eggs safe and remembering to bring them to school, that I plum forgot to defrost something!

At first I thought of making a tuna noodle casserole, but then I remembered we had some Tandoori curry paste and Garam Masala powder. Lee loves curry, so I thought it would be a good way to help with the taste of chicken nuked in the microwave. I also wanted to use up some of the frozen peas and corn I had, and curry seems to be great for using up odd bits and pieces of things.

I spent some time searching around online for curry recipes. I've never made a curry from scratch before, and haven't had it, or paid attention to the ingredients enough, to know what goes in it or how much of the ingredients to put in. I had a couple of recipes I looked through online, but they all included ingredients I don't have. One person told me that curry is one of those things that you can play around with and really adapt to your tastes, that it may never turn out the same way twice (kind of like how I make my spaghetti sauce). I decided to take some of the ingredients I was consistently seeing in curry recipes and make my own. Of course, I recruited my resident curry enthusiast to help me out with the tasting since he loves curry and I'm not the biggest fan of curry.

I almost forgot to fix the rice! I had just added the peas and corn to the curry, which was almost done, and remembered about the rice. It was ok, the peas and corn needed to cook in the sauce for a few minutes and it would be fine to let the curry sit for a bit longer if needed.

When the curry was almost done, it didn't taste quite as spicy as Lee would have liked. I tried it and figured I could handle it a bit hotter, so added some powdered cayenne pepper. I added ½ teaspoon, but it was a bit much. It was pretty hot after that. Lee liked it, but it was too much for me. The final touch of cayenne pepper for extra heat is definitely one of those things for you to play around with for your own tastes.

Lee said he thought it was good, and to me it tastes about like other tomato-based curries I've tried, so I'll post the recipe.

My First Curry

oil
1 medium white onion, diced
4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 chicken breast, cubed
1 10oz. can Rotel
1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp garam masala
½ tsp ground ginger
cayenne pepper (as desired for extra heat)
cornstarch

1. In a large skillet or a dutch oven, lightly coat with oil.
2. Over medium heat, add onion. Cook about 5 minutes.
3. Add garlic cloves and chicken. Sauté until chicken is almost cooked through.
4. Add Rotel , stir, and cook for a few minutes more.
5. Add crushed tomatoes, garam masala, and ginger.
   
6. Allow to heat for several minutes for garam masala and ginger to flavor the tomatoes.
7. Add any vegetables.
   
8. After about 5-10 minutes, test for flavor. If you want more heat, add cayenne pepper a little at a time until it tastes how you want it.
   
9. The sauce may be runny, if so, you may add a bit of cornstarch to thicken.
   

Dopiaza Curry

In an attempt to use some of the leftover turkey from the turkey breast we made a few days before, we used our last jar of UK curry sauce. I guess I'll have to learn how to make my own now!

Anyway, the jar was of a Dopiaza Curry. Apparently, this is a style of curry that has a lot of onions in it. I was surprised to find that I didn't find it too spicy at all! I think my taste buds are becoming used to curry now and the heat that comes along with it. Like I usually think of curries, this was ok, but not a favorite.

I forgot to take a picture again!

Pizza Night with a Twist....Tandoori Chicken Pizza

When I think pizza, I think of a lovely crust with a delightful marinara sauce...nice, soothing, and comforting. There are some pizzas that are completely different and having decided to join the recipe tag game on Recipezaar, I found one that uses a curry sauce! Since my boyfriend loves curry, I thought it would be a nice treat for him to try. I figured I'd try it for him.

One fun part of the curry pizza experience was going to the Indian import store. On one hand, it's nice to get the curry things so close and for cheaper than at the supermarket, but it's frustrating that the British Import store is about 45 minutes away! We'd get so much more from there. I was very excited to find okra at the Indian import store!!! I haven't really had fried okra much since we moved back up north, and I have never found them anywhere. I saw some really interesting vegetables at the import store too that I might want to try sometime. My boyfriend wants to try some Indian tea, so we may take a trip back there for that.

Anyway, back to the topic. This recipe is from the California Pizza Kitchen®. It's not very difficult to make, but it was a little time consuming to prep. I think the best way to do this is to combine each group of ingredients ahead of time so they can just be dumped in the pans quickly since the stages of the cooking process move fast.

My boyfriend really liked this pizza, but doesn't think he'll want it every week; he feels it's more of a treat pizza than an everyday pizza. I thought it was ok, but I didn't eat much of it. I'd eat it once in a while for him, but wouldn't order it or make it for myself.

I did a method slightly different from the way it's written, so I'll post it here. One more thing to add, this seemed to make enough for one extra-large pizza, so if making a regular pizza, you may want to halve the ingredients. I will halve the recipe next time.

Tandoori Chicken Pizza
tomato-yogurt curry (for the pizza sauce)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
½ cup diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
¼ teaspoon minced jalapeño pepper
¼ cup chicken stock
¼ cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon butter

Tandoori chicken
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
1 teaspoon miced garlic
½ teaspoon minced jalapeños
2 tablespoons Tandoori paste
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 boneless chicken breasts

pizza
1 pizza dough
½ small zucchini, chopped
½ small yellow squash, chopped
1½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
½ cup major grey's chutney (optional)

The recipe says to cook the sauce first, then do the chicken and the rest, but I cooked the chicken in the skillet and it would be better to have that cooking while making the sauce.

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
   
2. Combine all the marinade ingredients for the chicken. Cut the chicken breasts into cubes.
3. Put chicken in a skillet over medium heat and add the Tandoori marinade. Cook until done.
4. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside to cool.
5. For the tomato-yogurt curry, put the oil and garlic in a saucepan and heat until the garlic is translucent. Add the remaining curry ingredients except for the cilantro and butter.
   
6. Boil curry ingredients for about 3 minutes. Add butter and cilantro. Set the mixture aside.
7. In the skillet where the chicken was cooked, there should be remaining sauce. Place in the zucchini and squash and cook for a few minutes, just to start the cooking process.
   
8. Use a ladle to spoon the tomato-yogurt curry over the pizza dough. Just use a little, enough to coat a thin layer or it will overflow when the additional ingredients are added.
9. Place the zucchini and squash in a thin layer over the sauce and cover with mozzarella. Place chicken over mozzarella and top with cilantro.
   
10. Cook pizza in oven for about 15-20 minutes or until dough is browned and cheese is melted.
    

Gone in a Curry

In case you haven't noticed, I'm really trying this whole curry thing a lot lately. We bought more jars than I realized in England and it does seem to be an excellent way to use up leftover meats. I also am trying to get more veggies in our diet since I'm not used to eating them and my boyfriend doesn't feel like it's a meal without them. I know his way is healthier and better, so I'm trying to rework my mind and get in the habit of always having a vegetable.

I wanted to use the rest of the roast beef. Tomorrow is pizza night and we're going to treat ourselves to a meal out on Saturday, so it needed to be used up today. I sliced up the meat into ½ inch cubes, put it in a small pot with some Tikka curry sauce, frozen corn, and frozen peas. I let that heat up and made some basmati rice to go with it.

I'd never had basmati rice. It was more expensive than the regular long-grained rice I usually buy. I found a huge bag of it at Sam's Club for $12 and ended up going with that, so we now have plenty of rice for curry! I didn't notice a taste difference between the long-grain and basmati rice, but the texture and shape of the rice was different. I liked it. I'm definitely becoming used to curry. I used to feel the mildest one was too hot and I easily ate this, which has medium heat.

I think I'm embracing my boyfriend's British side and becoming a curry convert...at least for the ease of using up leftovers. The taste is growing on me.

Curry in a Hurry

Tonight I needed something I could just throw together quickly. I had some errands to run and didn't have much time for cooking. We still have a few jars of curry sauce in the cabinet, so I thought it would be a good way to use up some of the roast chicken from Sunday's dinner.

After I got home from work, I threw a jar of tikka masala, ½ cup frozen peas, 1 cup chicken, and ½ cup frozen corn in the crock put and put it on low. When we got home from errands about 2 hours later, I cooked some rice. The curry was nice and hot and it was actually spicy, unlike the korma we had last week!

I'm still not sure about this whole curry thing. I ordered a curry cook book online since Lee likes it and really wants me to like it too. I guess I'll have to develop a taste...I've heard it can take up to 10 times...I'll give it at least that, maybe 20 for an honest-to-goodness try before calling it a loss. If I expect him to try a bunch of macaroni and cheeses, I guess I owe him that...

Curry

Between being very tired and falling asleep while watching TV, and losing our internet over the weekend (who'd have thought that you could have the wrong splitters and that they could die?!) I haven't been updating here. I have still been trying new recipes and foods, so my goal is to update tonight.

On January 3, I made Korma Curry. Lee made me try curry one night in England, I can't remember what kind it was, but it knocked me out. I'm not a spicy food person and I had to go lay down and fell asleep as soon as my stomach settled! On our trip to England for Christmas, he picked up some jars of curry sauce and he wants me to try them and like curry. I thought I'd be nice and make it for him.

The jar said that meat could be added, or vegetables. I know my boyfriend likes to have chicken in his curry, but I thought I'd try to get in a bit of veg too. I hadn't been grocery shopping since we got back from England except for some essentials, like milk, so I had no clue what I had. I found some baby carrots, a can of green beans, and a can of corn. I decided to use the carrots and corn. DB said it was a good choice, he thought green beans sounded gross with the Korma.

It turned out to be really good, but not spicy at all. I drained the corn before putting it in the crock pot with the sauce, so I don't think the corn diluted the taste... This was the next night after having chili and spicy mashed potatoes, so maybe it just tasted so much more mild in comparison? Who knows, all I know is that was our one jar of Korma and I should probably try to learn how to make curries since Lee likes them so much!