This is the third time in these three year of running my tiny pensione (how time flies!) that I have had the pleasure of welcoming some cookery-friendly Indians as guests here.
The first one was the lovely Siddharth, a lawyer from Delhi, who was
supposed to stay for three days, but stayed five, when he found out that I
loved Indian food, and heard me lamenting the lack of Indian restaurants in
Siena. "Well, let's cook!" he said, enthusiastically, and went out
and located the Asian supermarket here,
where he bought every spice available. (see blog post A Victory, A Wedding and a Funeral...)
The problem was, as a youngish, up-market Indian male, he
had of course never cooked in his life, so he spent a whole day on the phone to
his mother, his sister and his cook in New Delhi, while I assisted chopping and
pounding and cleaning around him. ( I have always found that men, whatever
nationality, are extremely messy when they start cooking) The result was splendid,
and we had a dinner party for my best friends with the result.
The next Indian cook was my old friend Sanjay, with whom I have
consumed a large amount of Indian (Pakistani, actually..) food in London, mainly
in take-aways from the great and legendary Lahore Kebab House in East London. Well,
Sanjay dug into the extensive spice
collection Siddharth had
amassed, and produced a lovely meal, he too. Being an ex-pat Indian he is quite
able to cook, and had no need of calling anyone.
And now, the third guest who rose to the Indian food challenge
with gusto was Sabena from Hyderabad, here with her husband Sunil. A charming
couple, friendly and full of fun.
Sabena made a Chicken Curry, with Garamasala, the last word
probably means the spice selection? And also Aloo Saag, which is one of my
favourites.
Sabena’s Chicken Curry:
1.
Chop up 4-5 garlic cloves and 2 large red
onions.
2.
In a pan with olive oil, add a couple of bay
leaves and and inch of cinnamon.
3.
Pound together 12-15 cloves, 2 black and
6-7 green cardamons and add to the pan .
4.
When the spices start to brown add the garlic
and when that starts to change colour add the onions.
5.
When the onions start to change colour, add three
chopped tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are mushy and oil starts to separate.
6.
Then add 5-6 chicken thighs or breasts,
cut in halves. Sabena took the skin off, she says that is the correct Indian way to cook chicken,
7.
Add one teaspoon turmeric, one teaspoon cumin,
one teaspoon chilli powder (or half, depending on taste), one tablespoon
of pounded coriander seeds and salt.
8.
Cover and let cook on medium heat till chicken
is done. If you want some gravy add some hot water and let it cook for 5-10 min
more.
Sabena’s Aloo Saag:
1.Blanch 300g of spinach.
2. In a
pan add some olive oil with 3 garlic pods, 2 onions, and 2 tomatoes, all
coarsely chopped. Cover and let steam cook for a while.
3. Blend all together with the
spinach.
4. In another pan add oil, 2 cloves and a small piece of cinnamon,
another two cloves of garlic, finely chopped, and two very large potatoes, cut
into small cubes.
5. Add one teaspoon turmeric, one
teaspoon cumin, salt, one (or half a) teaspoon chilli powder. Cover and let
cook in its steam
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6, When potatoes are cooked add both pans together and let it cook for about ten min.
Fortunately I still had a large supply of the above mentioned spices in my Big Indian Box.When the feast was ready, we had drinks on the balcony first with my other guest, the Chinese Sam, who joined in with enthusiasm, although on this picture he looks a little stern.
It was a great success! Sam is taking the picture below.
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