Eating Around the Globe: India

Back when my son was in kindergarten and we were homeschooling, we would occasionally do a themed day where we chose a country, and we would play games, learn words, and make foods from that country. This morning, my family was out for breakfast and my son pointed out a nearby Indian restaurant that we had never been to. I reminded him that I was the only one in the family who liked Indian food, but he pointed out indignantly that he has tried and liked a number of Indian dishes. So we decided that since my husband and daughter were going on a Scout campout this weekend, my son and I would make our own Indian dinner and dessert.

After searching through a number of recipes, considering the types of spices we both enjoy, and looking for a recipe that didn't call for lots of spices that were hard to find, we decided to make Chicken Curry over jasmine rice, with Penda for dessert. (It's no coincidence that both the linked recipes use the word "easy" in the title.) They came out delicious, and if you would like to try your hand at these dishes, here's my walk-through with tips!

Scroll to the bottom for the full recipes.

Penda

Since the penda needs to cool, and is served at room temperature, I made the penda earlier in the day. 

As always when I bake, I started by collecting my ingredients: butter, sweetened condensed milk, dry milk powder, and ricotta. That's it!!

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt a stick of butter. The recipe calls for unsalted butter, but I had salted so that's what I used. Stir frequently to avoid burning or browning the butter. 

 

Once the butter is melted, reduce heat to low and stir in a cup of ricotta. It will be fairly lumpy. 

  

Add a can (14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk and stir until well combined and smooth. 

You can use a whisk to get it smooth, but I used a spoon at this point and it smoothed out very quickly. 

Now gradually add 1-1/2 cups dry milk powder. The recipe called for full fat powder, but I keep nonfat on hand so that's what I used. 

Continue to heat and stir constantly. The mixture will have a rather mealy texture for a while. I switched over to a whisk eventually, and the mixture got smooth, but I don't know if it was the whisk or just the heat that smoothed it out. 

Continue to stir and heat until the mixture holds together and pulls away from the sides of the pan. It took about 10 minutes for me, and the mixture began to get slightly golden at this point. (Our final result was a little on the soft side, so next time I'd see what happens if we continue to cook beyond that point. Closer to 15 minutes might have been just right.) Remove the pan from the heat and allow to sit until cool enough to handle, but not so cool that it becomes too firm. I wasn't sure how long that would take, so I checked it every five minutes. At 15 minutes it seemed fairly cool, so I laid out a piece of non-stick foil, greased my palms with butter, and tried rolling a ball, but the dough was still too hot at the center. I gave it another 5 minutes, and then realized that the dough in the pan was still too hot, but the individual balls I'd managed to make had cooled nicely. So I spooned out globs of dough onto the foil and let them cool for another 5 minutes. 

 

I didn't worry about making the balls even, planning to adjust the size as I rolled them into balls. Next time I'd let the dough cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then spoon it onto the foil and give it another 5 minutes, then go back and roll the dough into evenly-sized balls. 

I ended up with 20 relatively even balls, which I flattened slightly. You don't need to add toppings or decorations, but you can. I happened to have a can of cashews, so I topped some with cashews, sprinkled some with cinnamon, and left some plain. If you have molds, you can also press the balls into the molds and careful remove them from the molds once they're completely cooled. 

Allow to cool to room temperature and enjoy!  We found the taste to be a little bland, so I'd recommend a drizzle or dipping sauce of some kind. Cinnamon was good, but I think maple syrup might also be nice, or perhaps even a dip of lemon curd, if there's some handy. 

Chicken Curry

I started making the curry about 45 minutes before I planned to eat. The recipe called for 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, but I had a pack of two really big breasts and I was only feeding two people, so I just used those. While I cut them into bite-sized pieces, I heated a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan. 

When the oil was hot, I put about half the pieces into the pan. I let them cook for about 3 minutes, until well-browned, then I flipped them over and cooked them for another 3 minutes, so the other side was browned. Then I set aside the first batch and cooked the rest. When the second batch was almost ready, I put the first batch back into the pot and added the onions. I cooked them for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onions were soft. 

While I cooked the chicken, my son combined all the spices. The only coriander I could find was whole, and I don't own a spice grinder, so I researched substitutions for ground coriander. Turns out you can use cumin and curry instead, so we just measured a little generously with those two and didn't worry about it. I let that cook for another minute or so. 

I also started cooking some jasmine rice while the chicken was cooking. 

Next I added a can of diced tomatoes (I'd use more finely diced ones next time), 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, a can of coconut milk, and a cup of chicken broth, and stirred until everything was well blended. I increased the heat until it came to a boil, then reduced the heat and let the whole thing simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then. Instead of making a slurry with the cornstarch and water, I simply sieved a few tablespoons of cornstarch over the hot curry a few minutes before it was done and stirred it in. Last of all, I stirred in two cups of baby spinach, left it just long enough to wilt, and then took the curry off the heat.  

We served the curry over the jasmine rice. You can garnish each serving with coriander and/or a few chili flakes, but we opted to serve it plain. 

And it was delicious!!

 Full recipes for both dishes are below, along with links to the original recipes. Happy eating!

Easy Chicken Curry

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized chunks
1 large onion, finely chopped (I used a generous cup of frozen diced onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 tsp minced garlic)
2 tsp minced ginger (I used squeeze ginger)
2 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp ground coriander* 
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika (I used smoked)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp tomato paste
14-oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
14-oz can coconut milk
1 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp cold water
2 packed cups baby spinach

* I omitted the coriander because I couldn't find it pre-ground and I don't have a spice grinder! But my research says that the best substitute is a mix of cumin and curry, so I just added a little extra of each.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes, turning occasionally, until seared on all sides. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until onion is soft. Stir in spices, salt, and pepper, and cook for one minute, still stirring. Add tomato paste, tomatoes, stock, and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Whisk the cornstarch into the water and stir into the curry, continuing to cook until thickened. (This step may be omitted.) Stir in the spinach and remove from heat. Serve over jasmine rice, topped with fresh coriander and chili flakes, if desired. 

Easy Penda (Peda)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus additional to grease hands
1 cup ricotta
14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2-1/2 cups dry milk powder (I used nonfat)
Optional toppings/decorations: saffron, almond slivers, rose petals (I used cashews and cinnamon) 

Melt the butter in a large, non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the ricotta and sweetened condensed milk, stirring until smooth. Add the milk powder and whisk until smooth and combined. Reduce heat to low and stir constantly, until mixture holds together and pulls away from the wall (about 10-12 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool for 20. Spoon individual portions (they don't need to be even) onto non-stick foil and allow to cool for 5 additional minutes, until cool enough to handle. Butter your palms form the dough into balls. Place back on foil and flatten slightly. Adjust amount of dough in each ball as you go, so they are even in size. When done, top with decorations as desired and allow to cool completely. Dough may crack slightly as it cools. 

Penda may be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for several days or in the refrigerator for several weeks.