Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Hawthornes Eat Indian.

On our trip back to the Outer Banks, Mr. H and I stopped to visit our daughter in Raleigh, NC. We decided to try an Indian restaurant for lunch. Rosie and Mr. Hawthorne had never eaten true Indian before (or even FAUX Indian). We found an Indian restaurant, not far from our daughter's apartment, thanks to the GPS Garmin Street Pilot thingie that's come in so handy for us over the past week.

When we walked into the restaurant, there was a very strong smell ... of spices, I hope. We asked for tea to drink. I always ask for extra lemon. I squeezed my lemons and took a big gulp ... and it was CLOVE TEA. OK. I'll get used to it. Actually, not that bad. Just different.

Lo and behold, the place is a buffet. We talked to the proprietor and he told us everyday was different food. Now, as I've said before, I generally hate buffets and cafeterias, although I've had really, really good food at both a cafeteria and a buffet (China) on this trip. My problem with these eateries is Mr. Hawthorne. He's been known to knock over small children and old women with walkers to get to the buffet. Did you ever see the Seinfeld episode when George Costanza was at a birthday party and the fire alarm went off and all HELL broke loose? If so, then you know what I'm talking about.

Anyways, we went up to the buffet, looked at it, and had NO FREAKING IDEA what anything was. Mr. H. turned to the guy behind us and asked him about it. He told us he ate here all the time and that "Sure, it looks bad, but it tastes really good." Which reminds me of a joke I won't even go to.

Anyhoo, the three of us went back for seconds and thirds. Delicious.

So, tonight, in honor of India Mahal Restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina, whose menu boasts at the top of the first page, front and center: "WE TRUST IN GOD," I offer you my Semi-Ho'd, bastardized version of my Indian meal.

Here's what I did:

I found one of my Auntie Beth's Time/Life books of Foods of the World - The Cooking of India.


I found a recipe for Alu Mattar, which is curried potatoes and peas. And I noticed something: a lot of recipes are called "curried" but don't have any curry in them at all, so I think "curried" refers to a combination of spices.

This particular recipe called to heat ghee, which is clarified butter, but I didn't do that. I just used regular butter. Time frame, here. Then I stirred in finely chopped ginger root and finely chopped garlic. Then I added 1/2 cup finely chopped onions. And sauted the whole kaboodle.

In another pan, I sauted slices of hot Italian sausage. The recipe didn't actually call for Italian sausages, but I wanted to clean some stuff out of my freezer.

To the onion mixture, I added cumin seeds, chopped hot red peppers, chopped tomatoes, and coriander. The recipe called for turmeric also, and I know it's
here somewhere , but I just couldn't find it.

The recipe did not call for chopped cabbage either, but I like cabbage with sausage, so I added the cabbage in. And added the Italian sausage slices from the other pan. Like I said, I'm Sandy-Slumming and Semi-Ho-ing. Sauted a bit more, then added peeled, chopped potatoes, and two cups of water to simmer. At the very end, I added in about a cup of FROZEN PEAS. DO NOT USE CANNED PEAS! Then pinches of cinnamon, ground cloves, salt and pepper.

I know the recipe calls for Garam Masala which is a combination of cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, whole cloves, whole cumin seeds, whole coriander seeds and whole black peppercorns, roasted, then ground up. But I can't rustle up Garam Masala.

Alas, I had no cardamom. Went to Food Lion today, and can I tell you cardamom is $12 for one little bottle? And it's ground. Not whole. No pod there. I'll ask for cardamom for Christmas.

Anyhoways, my Semi-Ho'd version was DEE-lish!!

Here's the picture:


















At the very end, I added some de-veined and de-seeded red jalopenos and some cilantro from my garden. This was delicious.










In the meantime, Mr. Hawthorne was cooking a Cornish Hen in the Convection/Microwave oven, which we've never used for convection before since we don't know how.


I seasoned the bird, then we put it in the convection oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. The oven immediately adjusted the temp and time to 325 degrees for 25 minutes.

Well, after numerous re-adjustments, here's the final bird:

I forgot to tell you I stuffed the hen with garlic and onions, then oiled it with smoked peanut oil, then seasoned it with curry powder, ginger, coriander, and cumin.

I also made this dish to cleanse the palate:

This is a lovely light combination of diced Roma tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. Didn't I do a neat chop? I learned my mad chopping skilz from Aunt Sandy. NOT! I added chopped parsley, scallions, and basil, salt and pepper, a pinch of sugar, some rice wine vinegar, and some lime juice.

You could add this as an extra little something to a regular lettuce salad and it would be very tasty. Some homemade croutons? Some homemade vin-e-gar-ette? Heaven. Just Heaven.

2 comments:

  1. I think I'll have to try your salad. It looks good.

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