Indian curry

 I was trying to find a new Indian recipe to try for a meal train I'd signed up for. I found one but didn't like it in its entirety, so I improvised. Everyone loved it, so saving it for posterity.

What I had:

• ~ 15 oz whole peeled tomatoes with the juice
• 1 large white onion, chopped coarsely
• 1 cup cashews
• 8 cloves
• 8 small green cardamoms
• 4 green thai chilies
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 2 tbsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp red chili powder (spicy)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• salt and pepper to taste

What I did:

• Boiled the first 6 ingredients on medium heat till tomatoes start falling apart and the onions look translucent
• Put in Vitamix and blend till smooth - there's some texture to it from the cashews but no chunks of tomatoes or onions should be there
• In the same skillet, heat coconut oil
• Add garlic and ginger pastes, heat till the raw smell is gone (be careful, this splatters so use a cover)
• Pour the blended sauce back in
• Add the dry spices and simmer over medium-low till you don't smell the individual spices

I added paneer to this and let it simmer till paneer was well coated, also needed to add some water to thin the sauce. I think it would taste delicious with chicken as well.

Copycat Bonchon spicy wing sauce

 What I had:

• 1/4 cup gochujang sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp red hot chili powder
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 3/4 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp powdered ginger

What I did:

• Whisk everything together in a microwaveable bowl
• Microwave for 3 minutes or till boiling
• Toss whatever chicken you want in it and enjoy

Spicy orzo crab salad

What I had:

• 16 oz Pappardelle's spicy red hot Thai curry orzo pasta
• 16 oz lump crab
• 8 oz heavy cream
• 6 red bell peppers diced
• 2 red onions diced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Old Bay seasoning to taste
• Key lime sea salt to taste
• Cumin powder to taste

What I did:

• Brought a pot of salted water to boil. Added orzo and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, melted a pat of butter in a saute pan over medium-low heat; added red peppers and onions and cooked until soft and fragrant. 
• Added crab and cook until heated through. 
• Added orzo, lemon juice, heavy cream, and stirred to combine.
• Added the cumin powder, Old Bay and sea salt to taste and mixed well.
• Served warm as a side to a fisherman's stew. 

It was DELICIOUS!!!

Jamaican jerk marinade

Look at the beautiful colors!

What I had:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 Scotch Bonnet peppers (thanks to a generous friend)
• handful of grape tomatoes (I used about 8)
• 1 medium red onion, peeled
• 4 scallions, with about 4 inches of the greens
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch of ginger peeled
• 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon dry thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 4 teaspoons whole allspice
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper for taste

When you don't have a glove ...

What I did:

• Put the first 3 ingredients in a food processor
• Coarsely chop all fresh ingredients and throw them in (use gloves for the peppers, or improvise with a bag if you forget to buy gloves)
• Add all spices
• Grind them together
• Taste for salt and pepper

Use as salsa, or marinade for chicken in slow cooker.

Chicken balls

Do you know how many chickens you have to chase to get enough to serve 20 people ... ;-)

I joke, I joke, these are appetizers using chicken sausage, cheese, Pillsbury baking mix and some extras I threw in this time. They were delicious and gone quickly so I decided to save the recipe.

What I had:

• 2.5 lbs chicken sausage - it came in long links at Costco, no flavor, remember to remove the casing
• 1 1/2 cup Bisquick Gluten Free Baking & Pancake mix
• 3 cup your favorite shredded cheese (I used a mix of Mexican & mozzarella)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large red onion, chopped finely
• a 7 oz can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce, chopped finely
• garlic powder, salt, paprika, all to taste

 What I did:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
• Throw all ingredients into a large mixing bowl
• Put on gloves
• Mix it well
• Make balls around an inch round
• Bake them for 25 minutes
• Serve them with a sweet mustard dipping sauce
• Hide some to eat later because they'll be gone faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Indian chili chicken

What I had:

• 1.5 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Marinade:

• 4 green chillies
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 tsp gluten free soy sauce
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 2 tsp lemon juice

For the chicken:

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp corn flour

Sauce:

• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium whie onions, sliced thick
• 2 orange bell peppers, sliced thinly
• 6 green and red chillis, cut into small rounds
• 3/4 warm water 
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Maggi hot 'n sweet sauce

What I did:

• Ground the garlic and chilies for the marinade.
• Added that to the chicken pieces, along with the soy sauce, vinegar and lemon juice in a small container.
• Left it in the fridge overnight.
• Next evening, added 1 beaten egg to the chicken pieces, coating them completely. Repeated with the corn flour.
• Cooked the chicken pieces in olive oil in a 12 inch deep skillet till lightly browned and cooked through. Pulled them out and put aside.
• Removed all except 2 tbsp oil from the skillet. Added garlic to the pan till fragrant.
• Added onions till soft, then added both peppers.
• Mixed the 3/4 cup warm water with the 2 tbsp corn starch; added to the skillet till it comes to boiling.
• Added the chicken pieces to the pan and heated it well.
• Served it with yogurt to cut the heat and roti.

My sweet revenge

So, I finally made my own hot sauce, as I've been threatening to, for more than a year.

What I used:

- 5 mangoes, a mix of ripe and underripe ones, peeled and seeded
- 1/2 white onion
- 6 large garlic cloves
- 1/4 lb habaneros
- 1/2 - 1 cup lemon juice
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1/4 cup honey

What I did:

- put all ingredients except for the honey into a blender and blend into a purée
- pour into a frying pan, add the honey and cook till boiling. Let it simmer for 15 minutes or so
- let it cool and store in bottles that are free of any water

You can adjust all ingredients according to your taste, but I love the way this turned out. The first bite gives you a sweetness on the tip of your tongue and then the heat his the back of your tongue and throat.