Jamaican Inspired Curry

This here, is a delicious, hearty curry, swimming with succulent chicken, heirloom carrots, onions, and chunky potatoes for added oomph. For some reason, i love a good curry with potatoes in it, i feel like potatoes are great vessels to soak up the flavors of your cooking and just make the dish that much more filling. 

This curry dish that i created today is Jamaican inspired, as my best friend just came back there leading a mission team alongside her husband. She texted me a picture of three pair of beautiful earrings, all vibrant and colorful and she said, "and which ones for you?" i don't know why but the made me feel so special that she thought of me in the middle of serving in Jamaica and even picked out tiny little gifts! 

I began searching Pinterest for Jamaican recipes..i know Jamaica has their own version of amazing curry, and i knew i would have to give some a try..i found a few to gather ideas and then i got to work..this recipe i am sharing with you came loosely from one i found, but because i added and subtracted so much and swapped and traded, i feel confidently i can share this as my own. I love reading recipes and learning from them, but i do try hard to create using my own experience and instinct as far as flavor profiles go..i am always always eager to learn, but since this is my little blog, i want to share MY recipes with you!!

here we go!

you'll need:

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

1/2 large purple onion, sliced 

4 medium size russet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

2-3 heirloom carrots, peeled and chopped 

6 teaspoons of madras curry powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 

1 teaspoon thyme

juice of half a lime

1 large bunch of chopped coriander 

canola oil

1-2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream 

salt to taste

ground black pepper

sugar to taste 

in a large pan, over medium heat, allow oil to heat up. cook chicken pieces along with the thyme and seasoned with salt. 

once chicken is closer to being cooked, add onions, potatoes, and carrots.

add curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, garlic salt, and black pepper. mix and stir and get everything coated. if it starts to dry up, add bit more oil. 

next is chicken stock. give everything room to mix and merry and dip and bring the heat down just a notch so the stock can cook down a bit and create a bit of a sauce..i covered mine for a bit and checked on it often.

as it thickens a bit, continue to taste and season with salt and black pepper, even sugar. my husband loves a hint of  sweetness and acidity to his curry, so i always keep that in mind when i cook. tweak it to your preference..

stir in the cream, fresh coriander, and lime juice. 

transfer curry to large serving bowl and serve hot over basmati rice and roti to scoop all the goodness up! i hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!!

Aloo Channa Chat

this is street food inspired dish, found often on the bustling streets of india, tiny stands with rolled up newspapers transformed into eating vessels, scooped high with this salad. it is vibrant, flavorful, colorful in texture and taste. not to mention good for you! this is an eye ball recipe-meaning there aren't exactly perfectly measured ingredients, as long as you have the goods, toss them together and snack away! tweak it to your own personal taste! enjoy.

you'll need:

2 cans of chickpeas, drained and dried
salt to taste
1 large potato, peeled, boiled, and chopped into 
bite size pieces 
turmeric
garam masala 
red chili pepper 
cumin
ground ginger 
ground mustard 
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander 
1/2 red onion, finely chopped 
1-2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped 
freshly squeezed lime 

in a large pan, over medium high heat, 
saute chickpeas in a pat of butter. 
i added olive oil as well as i saw the pan getting a bit dry

add spices. continue to coat and cook the chickpeas till toasty, yet still a hint of soft. 

[if you haven't already, boil and chop the potato.]

once chickpeas are finished, toss in a large mixing bowl, throw in chopped boiled potatoes, as well as fresh ingredients [tomatoes, onions, and coriander]. 

mix it all together. 

squeeze lime juice over top. 

season with salt or any extra added spice to your taste preference. 

either eat immediately or chill for a bit and then eat later. both cold and freshly made is great!!

if you want to get the full experience, find some newspaper and roll it into a cone shape. 
serve channa inside with a spoon and sprinkled with sev. 

enjoy!!

mexican vainilla black bean cabello~black bean brownies using vanilla from Mexico

Well these are a fun surprise. A dessert with an unlikely ingredient, black beans. Say whaaaa?
Now hear me out! I was also skeptical also, scoffed really, at the thought of putting beans in my brownies? I love myself some black beans, but surely not in my dessert?
Well, my friend Nicole has made me some amazing brownies many, many times, and she uses black beans every time and I never even knew they were in there until who knows how long.  All I knew was that her brownies tasted rich, decadent, very fudgy, and not a hint of black bean chunk was stuck in my teeth.
So, I finally asked for the recipe, and I wanted to put a Mexican spin on it. Really that means, using my delicious Usumacinta mexican vainilla that my sister picked up for me in Mexico,  and black beans already seem like a Spanish food staple, oh, and let's throw some Spanish words in there too. Ha. I don't know anything. But I do know these brownies are delicious and worth sharing. This recipe is adapted from what I remember Nicole telling me and a combo of scouring the Internet. I love the use of cocoa powder, vanilla, and black beans, it seems pretty me-hi-can-o to me:)

you'll need:

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 eggs
3 tablespoons of oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup+1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp of Pure Vanilla [i used Usamacinta]

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

in blender, combine all ingredients on a modest speed, making sure to give plenty of time for black beans to break down and there are no big chunks. [this will give you  a silkier result]

grease an 8x8 glass baking dish

pour batter in and bake for 25 minutes or until tooth pic comes out clean

let cool for a good half hour so the brownies cut clean.

disfrutar! [enjoy.]

Creamy Baked Masala

Last night we headed over to Matt and Amy's house-they're a great older (yet STILL young) couple that we've gotten to know, full of laughter and wisecracks, we have a great time together. Amy is one of those supermoms that makes her own jam-pulls her kids slivers out with her teeth-busts a cap in Insanity (with her rockin' bod)-is a Jill of a million trades-teach Sunday school kind of lady, if you know what I mean. And then there's Matt, quiet, but charming, unassuming and quick to laugh-they are a blessing to us both. Shaina and Phil were there too (read my post about Shaina if you haven't already..)

Matt heads down once a year to LA to purchase large mounts of shrimp, straight from the Gulf. I am definitely not a shrimp eater-I've probably only eaten it twice in my life, but I am never one to turn down highly recommended food..the way he prepared it was absolutely delicious!! Coconut oil, butter, Cajun seasonings, dipped in some crazy remaloude, and grilled on wooden skewers-I never ate so many shrimp in my whole life. He said there was plenty because it gets thawed in 5lb blocks!!

Anyways, Amy asked me to bring a little Bengali something, so with having the main dish taken care of, I just thought a side dishy/appatEASER would be appropriate. So this is where baked masala was born.

My cousin had served a baked dip that I had tried with a delicious marinara sauce and goat cheese and I was surprised at how much Indian hints it had to it. She said it wasn't meant to taste like that, but it urged me on to take it a step further and create it specifically with a Bengali flavored intent.

This wasn't anything crazy. Very simple actually, two humble ingredients and a lot of spices. I wasn't trying to impress. Just satisfy.
Turns out I did both. Everyone really loved it and were very kind in telling me so. I served it with mission flour tortillas (I didn't have time to pick up naan or roti) but that is what I will serve next time, but no one seemed to notice. In fact, Amy ran in to get some more of her own tortillas bc I ran out, and everyone was still dipping!

You'll need:
1/2 jar of Dave's Gourmet (DG) Masala Marinara (I picked mine up at D&W)
2 (8oz each) goat cheese
1 tbsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Juice of 1/2 lime (about 1-2 tsp)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a baking dish (I used my banana loaf pan, but you could use any medium size casserole dish) pour goat cheese in. Add spices one by one, making sure to fold it all in with the goat cheese.

Add marinara sauce and continue mixing everything.

Pop in oven covered in tin foil for about 25 minutes.

Serve with naan, roti, plain soft tortillas, fresh veggies, or over rice..