Indian Garlic Chicken

This lovely (to the taste buds, if not the eyes) comes from a lovely (to the eyes) blog called Indian Simmer.  I honestly haven't changed it at all.  It's wonderful just as it is.  The recipe involves taking a cold, sturdy pan, like a cast iron skillet, and add some oil, spices and a bunch of garlic.  Then you turn on the heat and let everything warm up together and get all happy and roasted.  It smells, in a word, divine.

Unlike a lot of Indian restaurant food, this recipe uses non-fat yogurt to make the sauce rich and tasty, and because it has a minimum of oil, it's really pretty healthy.

Chicken Fried Rice

Man oh man, I love me some fried rice.  It is crunchy and delicious and just the right mixture of salty and starchy and protein-y.  Sometimes, though, at Chinese food restaurants in the lower price ranges (okay, okay, cheap Chinese), the fried rice can seem splashy in all the wrong ways.  Limited veggies, too much oil and pretty unidentifiable meat.  So, I resolved to take care of my fried rice cravings at home, and this is what I came up with.  It's got limited oil, and you can add whatever you want to it.  This iteration just has a bunch of edamame on the side (since I had neglected to buy veggies for it), but you can easily just throw in some steamed or blanched veggies.  My favorites are carrots and peas, though some sweet corn would probably also be nice.

The most important thing about fried rice is...you guessed it, the rice.  Make sure to make it a day ahead.  It will make your whole life easier and your whole dish tastier.  After you fry up the rice, the rest of the dish comes together in a snap.

Mirepoix Or What are Your Essential Flavors?

So I've come to a realization with this blog.  The vast majority of my recipes start with three ingredients: onion, garlic and serrano peppers.  I was starting to feel self-conscious about the relative homogeneity of my recipes.  But then, I remembered the concept of Mirepoix in French cooking.  Basically, three aromatic ingredients are the basis of a large swath of French cooking.  Those ingredients are onions, carrots and celery.

I've since learned that other flavor bases exist in cuisines around the world.  In Spanish cooking, onion, garlic and tomato make a base that is referred to as sofrito.  There is the "holy trinity" of Creole cooking which is onions, celery and bell peppers.

So maybe these three ingredients are the flavor base of my kitchen.  To be honest, I'm kind of okay with that.

So, my question, dear readers is this; what are your essential flavors?  What are the ingredients that form the basis of your cooking?  What do you always reach for when starting to cook?  Leave your answers below in comments, because I'm dreadfully curious.

More recipes next week, I promise!

Yogurt Sauce

Yogurt sauce.  It's called Raita when you make it with Indian food, or tzatziki for Greek food.  It's just a lovely condiment that goes well with lentils, falafels and kabobs (both meatatarian and vegetarian).  The trick to making it taste really good, my friends, is time.  You have to let this concoction sit in the fridge for most of a day to make it taste really nice.

The recipe below is for the Greek food version of the sauce, but the beauty of this sauce is that it can be adjusted to whatever kind of dish you are making.  You can add some cumin seeds (or roasted cumin powder) in place of the dill and substitute lime for the lemon and BANG, it's Indian food ready.  You can add more veggies and some tomatoes and make it into basically a side-salad to compliment burgers.  It's really an all purpose food.  And double bonus?  It's good for you.

Chakalaka

It is rare to come upon a food that is equally fun to say and to eat.  This, my friends, is one of them.  It's called chakalaka.  It's a South African dish.  It's spicy and full of goodness and can be eaten as a side or a main dish.  And, double bonus, it's vegan!  The main components here are baked beans, carrots, tomatoes, onions and curry powder.  I know what you are thinking: that sounds a bit odd.  I'm telling you, the combination is magic.

I learned about making and eating this dish a while ago when I was living in South Africa.  It is generally served as part of a South African barbecue, called a braai.  These events, which can be spontaneous and last for the better part of a day comprise one of my very favorite things about South Africa.  Although decidedly meatatarian, these events have some of the best food you are ever going to eat, and that's not an exaggeration.  My favorite in my strict veg. days was to serve up some chakalaka, pap, and tomato salad and just eat myself silly.  I've actually made all that stuff a couple times for a certain Bengali gentleman, but he hasn't developed a taste for pap.  I guess no one is perfect!

Okay, so here's the recipe:

Asparagus Pasta

Asparagus and pasta.  I'm telling you, it's a winning combination.  Add in a bit of browned butter and olive oil, and some simple spices and you've got dinner that's ready in 15 minutes and serveable for just about any occasion.  This particular combination was born out of real clueless desperation.  It was 8:30, I had just gotten back from a run, and I was real hungry.  It was one of those nights where fast food was starting to sound real tasty, but wasn't probably the best decision.  So, we went with this.

The basic idea is just to cook pasta, throw in some green veggies (peas, asparagus, lima beans, whatever) in with the cooking pasta about 40 seconds before it is done to give them a quick cook.  Then you throw together a quick sauce, toss it all up, and you're done.

So, although this is almost infinitely tweak-able, here's how I threw it together.

Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and Pepper Pasta)

The fancy name for this pasta is Cacio e Pepe.  Literally, cheese and pepper.  A certain Bengali gentleman just calls it "Macaroni and Cheese that grew up and went to college."  This dish is not necessarily diet-friendly, but it's a nice weeknight dinner, and certainly an improvement on Kraft.  The dish is also a one-pan wonder, so that makes the dishwashers (both people and machines) happier.

The dish is rich and the black pepper adds some deep and complicated spice.  If you grind it fresh for the dish, it is really worth the effort, though I won't say it is completely necessary.  Last time we had this, I did about half pre-ground and half fresh ground, and it was totally delicious.  The dish also has some lovely, salty Italian cheese (and some butter) as a counterpart to the pepper.  It's a fantastic, simple combination that is sure to win you over.

Although not present in this shot, a nice green salad with some fresh tomatoes was an excellent way to round out the meal.