Indian Feast

Leo and Jenny were coming over for dinner, and Ed wanted to make some Indian food. By this, I thought he meant one dish, some dal or something. With some rice, and maybe some naan if he was feeling like going crazy. Well. He emailed me, with a seven-course menu, asking what I thought. Um, how about, we don't make seven dishes on a weeknight? Alas, I could only talk him down to six. They were all yummy, except for the dal, into which I dumped a little too much turmeric, so I had to keep diluting it and adding more lentils, and salt, and some sugar, until the bitterness was manageable. Lets just say we had lots of dal left over.

The man with his creations.

Leo with the bowl of tomato chutney.

Jenny grinning in front of a huge pile of naan.

Jenny brought the naan, and Leo brought the beer, which really are my favorite parts of Indian food anyway, but on the menu was: Red dal, mango chutney, tomato chutney, raita, tofu tikka masala, chana masala, and basmati rice. Given that our stove currently has three burners, this was an ambitious project for sure, but we actually ended up eating by 8pm. I was quite impressed. Most of these dishes are variations on onions and tomato with spices and other stuff, I can't remember what went into each one and I have no idea what happened for the mango chutney - I wasn't there when Ed was making it. By the time I got home, he had most things started, the tofu was marinating and the dipping sauce-type things were done (raita, mango chutney, tomato chutney). The mango stuff was quite delicious, so I'll have to get the recipe from Ed at some point, although he doesn't really do recipes...

I also didn't get pictures of everything - too hungry! This is the Chana masala:
1 can chickpeas
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 can tomato chunks
water to thin it out
pinch of sugar
various spices, to taste (cumin, coriander, turmeric, salt, pepper, red curry paste)

Cook down the onion a bit in some oil, add the garlic, add the tomato paste and water and chickpeas, add the spices and keep tasting as you go along. Who cares about authenticity if it tastes good?

Mango chutney. No idea what went in here, although the black bits are toasted cumin seeds. It was good.

Dal - I wasn't really paying attention to this one, but I know there are onions, garlic, green lentils, red lentils, a can of tomatoes, some tomato paste, lots of spices (similar to the chana masala), and then more lentils and tomatoes and salt and some sugar in an attempt to dilute the bitterness from too much turmeric...

Tofu tikka masala - Basically the same as the chana masala except with tofu instead of chickpeas, and the tofu was marinated in yogurt and ginger. I think this needed to be ground up a little, maybe some coconut milk added, some cashew butter, more yogurt, but it tasted good as it was, too.

I didn't get a picture of the tomato chutney - mostly just onions and tomato paste - and the raita, which was yogurt, cucumbers, and mint. And maybe with sugar and vinegar, but I don't remember.