for the love of food

destination INDIA

it’s where we celebrate every month ( or two ) with our friends chris and celia -  inviting another couple ( or two ) to join us.  we embarked on this journey last year when we shared our excitement for phaidons latest  cookbook - INDIA.   it’s our supperclub - celebrating cuisine of india !

this is not our first go at a supperclub (see archives / august / silver spoon). supperclubs are a good excuse to explore a type of cuisine - sometimes to explore a single cookbook. we are fans of the phaidon cookbooks - but the problem with these compilations of a 1000 ( or more) recipes - is that something really does get lost in translation.  and it’s rampant in this book ( 1 T. of water mixed with 4 cups of rice flour will not form a pliable dough ! really ?! )  unfortunately we’ve come to use this book as a guideline - having to use other cookbooks for reference.

cooking indian food is fun for us because we know little about it’s ingredients - flavor combinations & techniques. just procuring the spices and making spice blends has been a treat. thankfully we have savory spice shop here in austin to supply even the hard to find stuff like the stinky ! asafetida. we’ve put our mortars & pestles to work ! 

what to drink with indian food ?  there’s always riesling & gewurztraminer & rose. we made up this starter cocktail - granita of hibiscus & rose petal & pomegranate molasses - topped with a shot of tequila.  yum !

bengali samosa stuffed with potato -cauliflower - peas & chiles served with a ginger-tamarind sauce. ( i skipped that crazy dough recipe and googled one ). these are delish. spicy filling with tart sweet dipping sauce.  also served were garam masala spiced cashews - addictive !             a couple of favorites were grilled ground lamb skewers & mint with pineapple raita (yogurt condiment ) and a classic dish -peas with paneer ( easy to make cheese curd ) with cinnamon & cumin. also we made a pulao ( a rice dish ) with coconut & shrimp….and beets with lots of smashed ginger & garlic.

pistachio kulfi - (indian icecream ) frozen mixture - not churned - made with reduced milk - cream & cardamom.  i love this spice.

we look forward to our supperclub dinners - it’s always fun to “visit” INDIA !

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