Guess its an acquired taste, but in India spices like Nutmeg, Cinnamon, etc., are added mostly to the savoury dishes, especially to make the basic garam masala more exotic or the dish specific. For sweet dishes, Indians use spices like cardamom. Also each individual's personal taste and likings is a big factor. Nothing to be angry about :-)

Sorry, its not my website :-) It belongs to a lady called "Prerna Singh". I just follow her awesome website with great pictures and stories relating to her delicious recipes. Makes me nostalagic and relate to my childhood memories & experiences. Check her cookbook on "Indian Slowcooker".

Try this recipe. It can't get more basic and more authentic recipe for a basic curry. Vary your proteins and the spices according to your taste.

http://www.indiansimmer.com/2013/04/c...

Let me know your feedback. Enjoy!!

That sounds delicious Rasam.. Am gonna try it soon.

I have had no problems with his cooking times at all, may be the temperature settings on the individual cook tops? ;-)

I think he soaks the Kasoori Methi in water to rinse out the grit/soil that is usually stuck on the the methi leaves while drying them out. Just like what we do with the fresh methi leaves or any greens for that matter, to get rid of the grit.

i Just bought a 3 lb bag of fresh lemon grass stalks for $3 at my local produce. I got it, cleaned & removed the outer barkish strands, chopped the stalks into 2inch pieces, put them into a ziplock bag and threw them into the freezer. Will pull out as much as and when needed :-)
I probably can grate some lemon grass (just like frozen ginger) in my tea. Its supposed to be a cleanser with a great flavor.

For those of you who has never tasted an Alphonso mango before in their life, you have no idea what you have been missing!! its ambrosia. u can smell the sweet perfume of a ripening alphonso from quite a distance. mangoes available here in North America are no where close to anything remote to an alphonso. i dont trust the ones that are claimed to be alphonsos by the indian stores.
oh.. how i wish i was in India (especially in the western ghat area) during this time of the year, when its peak season for the alphonsos..

Tilda Basmati is available at any Indian Stores, but it is the most expensive brand of Basmati. There are other cheaper brands, which when cooked properly, are as good as Tilda.

I always wash/rinse the rice 3-4 times. If Basmati, 1:1 ratio with water and if Sona Masoori, 1:1.5 ratio. Sometimes we do Pulao like Teemai, but have been cooking a lot in the rice cooker lately. Add a couple tbspn of butter, a tsp of Cumin seeds, 1-2 crushed pods of cardamom, a piece of cinnamon, a bay leaf and you have "jeera rice" in your rice cooker. Dont forget to pull the cord out & fluff the rice within the first 5 to 10 minutes after the button pops to warm setting.

Made this recipe on Saturday. Originally planned for Friday dinner, the chicken was intended to be marinated as suggested for 2-3 hrs. But plans changed and the chicken went back into the refrigerator, then took out for Saturday dinner, by which time it had the full 24hrs marination. I did add the Tbspn of Vinegar which also helped the dry spices to coat the chicken more evenly.
To cook, I browned the chicken pieces in my DO for 4-5 minutes on each side, transferred them on a plate, then sauteed the onions & curry leaves in coconut oil. That aroma just transports you to a different continent of the world.. :-) At this point, I added a lb of mixed exotic mushrooms to the pot, to make it.. well, exotic. Then I promise, I followed the rest of the recipe.
I do admit, the addition of the cilantro-mint-ginger-garlic paste at the end, changes the aroma & color of the dish. As lucky fatima mentioned, it is a strong flavor, but pleasant after simmering for 5 minutes as suggested.
We ate it by dunking bread into the soup consistancy of the gravy. The chicken & mushrooms tasted divine. The next day, I added a couple TBspn of coconut powder to the leftover gravy and heated it up. This addition just kicked the whole dish up a couple notches. Next time, I will probably add coconut when cooking it. Yummy!! Thanks for a lovely dish Nyleve.

Thanks Nyleve for a seemingly interesting trip to India. and for the recipe link.

This recipe sounds fantastic!! Will definately give it a try!! For a more typical authentic Keralite taste though, I would add the vinegar to the marinade, sub the vegetable oil with coconut oil, and add the curry leaves along with the onions when sauting them. Rest I will follow the recipe to the "T".

Rajasthani Garam Masala, page 27.

Such an easy spice mix to put together, when you have all the ingredients in your pantry. takes less than 2 minutes (in my case the time needed to find the ingredients) to have a very aromatic, flavorful spice blend.
I used this mix for preparing the Awadhi Lamb recipe, and also used it for a lentil recipe, which is my own concoction.

an update to the blenders in our house. my wife surprised me with a Vitamix for the holidays (yes, a very late update). Earlier I wonder what all the fuss is about with the blender. But having used it for the past 2 and half months, it makes such a difference, that I have hardly used the two Osters that we have occupying the counter space.
All the Dosa/Idli batters, chutneys, curry blends, get done into fine pastes in less than a minute. Wow!! Such a great investment. What did I do without it all these years??!!

I had the same issue of some ingredients burning before others are done, and even after cooling, the mixture being cakey and not ground uniformly. We ended up biting into whole coriander seeds in the curry.
Next time, I will follow what my mother does, when she grinds powders containing coconut and peanuts. Roast each ingredient, cool and grind it into powder separately and then mix the powders into the required blend.
But regardless of the technique of blending the masala into powder, this IS a very delicious spice mix, & very unique to the region. I will add some more red chillies for more heat level of our liking.

Lamb Stew with Triple-Nut paste - Awadhi Gosht, page 201.

I made this two weekends ago. I had picked a couple pounds of lamb stew meat at a discount price, and it went directly into the freezer. On a very cold, lazy, late-saturday morning, while wondering what to eat for dinner that day, i glanced at the rock solid frozen lamb meat. Checked for various recipes on 660 and thought this to be a good candidate. For some reason, I didnt want to defrost the meat. Since there was enough time for dinner, out came my slow cooker, in went the frozen meat. with some salt n pepper sprinkled on the meat, it slow cooked on high for half an hour, by which time it had thawed thoroughly. I added the ginger/garlic paste, let the SC rip for another half hour. As instructed, took the meat out, seared it on a skillet with onions, till brown, transferred it back to the SC, let it cook on low for 4 hours and followed the rest of the instructions. I also added a handfull bunch of spinach to the nuts-paste while grinding. It made a beautiful green sauce. I added this sauce 15 minutes before I turned the SC off. The nuts paste did thicken the gravy up.
It made a very rich tasting lamb stew. The Rajasthani spice mix is very aromatic & flavorful. We enjoyed the curry with naan, parathas, and basmati rice. Another winner in my books, especially if u can use the SC. Even if made on stove top, its a very easy recipe with minimum efforts for a very satisfying and exotic meal.

Nice recipe. But it sounds more like a South Indian version of Meatball Korma than a Tikka Masala. North Indians /Pakistani's seldom use coconuts in their cuisine.

Thats a good GM Mix HillJ, but I was taught that the ratio of coriander to cumin seeds (or powder) should always be 2:1, as because coriander serves mostly as a filler in the spice blend and mostly tends to dull the affects (aroma) of the other spices, when used in higher proportions. Fresh Ginger can be used in lieu of dry powder. Just my 2 cents.

I have some stew lamb meat in the freezer and some spinach begging to be used up. Wonder how this will turn out if I adopted & cooked this recipe in the crock? any ideas anyone?

Not Today but I tried two new things this weekend:

Filipino Chicken Adobo in Crock Pot on Friday
Buffalo Chicken Wings on Sunday for the Superbowl Party. woohooooooo!!

The Chicken Adobo was fantastic, although it cooked for 8+ hours. I know its a long time to cook chicken, but guess what helped was that it was rock frozen. Didnt broil it as it looked great as it was. Discarded the skin before serving. The meat fell off the bones and was really tender, moist and juicy. It was great served with steaming white rice and garnished with sliced spring onions. The kids loved it. We had leftovers for lunch the next day, (removed all the bones, added a couple splashes of vinegar & sriracha before reheating), it tasted so much better.
Next time, I will crush the black pepper corns instead of dropping them whole, will not forget the bay leaves and add a couple dashes of sriracha, maybe for a little more kick. I will cook it for less time, if someone is around to supervise it.

Ton of lima beans?? Here's a suggestion: It's a regional Indian Curry.
1 cup of cooked lima beans, 1 cup of coconut milk, 1/2 a cup or so of water to thin it out a little, 1/2 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp or so of your tolerence level of cayene pepper, 1/2 tsp paprika (for color), 2 tsp tamarind paste, 3 to 4 crushed Schezuan peppers (optional), salt to your taste.

Simmer the beans in the water to reheat beans. Add all the powders, tamarind paste & the schezuan peppers (if using), stir well, cook to a boil. Lower the heat, add coconut milk, simmer for 5 minutes. Turn heat off, drizzle a tsp of unflavored coconut oil, cover. Let it sit for atleast 30 minutes. Remove & discard the Schezuan peppers. Serve over steaming hot rice with pappads on the side. Enjoy!!
Thank me later :-)

I dont have the luxury of adjusting the timing.. meaning its an old type crockpot with only Off, Low, & High settings. Turned it on at about 8:15 this morning, one of us will be home by 6pm. this is the 1st time i have it going on without supervision for this long. Will let you know how it goes!!

I have the same in my Crock too today. 6 Chicken Drumsticks - right out of the freezer, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, pepper corns, 1 thinly sliced onion and half a cup water, a couple of thai red chillys. Forgot the bay leaf, will probably add them when I get home. Crock on low till my wife or I get back home.
Will probably transfer in a baking dish and broil for 4-5 minutes to crisp up the skin. Will serve garnished with some thinly chopped spring onions.. Yumm.. Can't wait till dinner.!!

Glad you liked it too Biondanonima.. Can't wait to try it out again soon!!

Nachos today with leftover Chicken Filling for the soft Tacos:

In a baking tray, Spread a layer (or two) of Dorito Tortilla Chips, next a layer of finely sliced and sauteed 1 onion & 1 red pepper, a can of pinto beans, a layer of the leftover 2 cups of the above said chicken filling, and topped with a cup of mexican blend of shredded cheese. The tray went under the broiler for a couple of minutes and thats it!! I sauteed the onions and pepper with some adobo seasoning, it was great!

I know not the healthiest food, but the kids loved it!! Had dinner ready in practically 10 minutes!! and super tasty..

Oh Yes!! Have tried that too before. It absolutely works!! I have used frozen raw chicken as well as thawed ones!! Of course adjusted the time that it cooks. With boneless, skinless, we can shred the cooked meat right in the pot. I have also tried this recipe with different kind of salsa. Its fantastic everytime!

Chicken Tacos:

4-5 Previously grilled and frozen Chicken Thighs
1 jar 14Oz Chipotle Salsa
2 Tbsp Chipotle Chilly in Adobe Sauce
2 Tbsp Chilli Powder
1 Cup (or Less) Chicken Broth

Mixed everything in the Crock and cooked on High. After 2 hours, took the chicken out and shredded it, and discarded the skin and bones. Stirred the shredded chicken back into the sauce, and cooked for 15 more minutes till it is heated through. It was great for the Soft tacos on a bed of shredded lettuce, some sour cream, salsa and some thinly sliced onions. Next time I would probably reduce the broth to ½ a cup, maybe.

Made this last night, was very good. I had soaked the Mung Beans in warm water for about 8 hours and pressure cooked them for about 20 minutes. Added them to the sauteed onion-ginger-pounded cumin mixture-tomatoes and simmered for 10 minutes with spinach. It was wonderful served with Jeera (cumin) rice. The Mung beans were cooked perfectly for us. I added juice of half a lime just before serving for some refreshing taste. Very Good!

Toasted Tamarind - Rubbed Shrimp with Coconut-Ginger Sauce, Karwari Jhinga, page -262,263.
A very easy, quick curry with tons of flavor, and the curry was ready within 20 minutes, start to finish. Best part of this curry was no chopping, (other than the garlic, if that counts).
When I saw the name "Karwari", it brought me so many warm childhood memories. I visited Karwar so many times during my childhood and enjoyed the fresh seafood that was abundantly available at the time. My aunt (mother's sister) is a wonderful cook, her husband brought fresh seafood(fish, crabs, shrimps,) everyday, cleaned/prepd them, set out the proportions of all ingredients and went to work. My aunt would then marinate, grind the pastes and cook the yummy curries. My Uncle put out different ingredients and proportions for different types of Fish, crabs and shrimp. I always wondered, how he knew so many different curries. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago, and my aunt prefers vegetarian cooking more than seafood. But even now if we visit, she cooks some very wonderful dishes.

But this RI's Karwari curry is not something which I had tasted ever before. It's again a very unique dish, definately a keeper in our books.
to make coriander seeds, salt (no rock), chiles (3-4 thai cayenne, 2-3 kashmiri - for more heat and color) were heated in a skillet and cooled. These spices were ground in the coffee grinder, added to shrimp to marinate. I didnt add tamarind pieces here, instead added the paste later. Meanwhile in 2 T Oil, coconut, ginger and garlic (another change) are heated in the skillet till coconut gets toasty brown, cilantro leaves added, the whole mixture is ground to a fine paste.
ANother 2 T oil is heated, the marinated shrimp sauteed, sauce (and tamarind paste in my case) added cooked for another 2-3 minutes. Since the kids love Shrimps, I skipped adding the crushed pepper, as it was pretty hot already. Another good gem of a recipe. Thanks RI. So many successes from the book just motivates me to keep trying more recipes from this book.

Made this Ambyachi Dal yesterday, loved it. The MH Garam Masala is surely the star, along with the Mango. A very unique dal. I only had 3/4th of a raw mango, which was more sour than sweet. Chopped it into little tiny bits, added half of it to the dal in the pressure cooker and rest of it when the dal was simmering in the pot with the MH-GM. The tarka of the cumin seeds and cilantro sizzled in hot oil fuses and brings this simple dal together. Goes very well with hot steaming rice and side of Mango Pickles. Very Good RI.
Next time, I would execute the MH-GM a little differently, by toasting the spices separately. Grind the Coriander, Cumin, Mace and Chiles in the coffee grinder to get a fine powder, the roasted peanuts, sesame seeds and coconut in the food processor to get a coarse powder, then mix them all together. The author's suggested method of roasting and grinding them all together just produced a very coarse powder, where the seeds were not completely pulverised. I bet no one likes to bite into a half a coriander seed.

Roasted Cashew Chicken with Fenugreek Sauce - Kaaju Methi Murghi (Page 124, 125)

RI was not kidding when he describes the sauce as velvety smooth. its a rich tasting dish with subtle notes of of the spices balancing the perfumed bitterness of the methi leaves. I have made methi Chicken before, one of my favourite north Indian variety, but the roasted cashew elevate this dish to whole another level, without the need of adding butter/ghee to make it a "rich" dish.

another plus point is its a quick dish, taking less than 30 minutes from start to finish. To Cook - onions, cashews, cumin seeds, cardamom (whole pods broken in my case - no worries as it gets ground to a paste) seeds, chiles and cinnamon gets sauteed in oil in my CI DO for 4-6 minutes, this mess is blended into a smooth puree. meanwhile 2 lbs chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces and marinaded for 1/2 hr in salt and turmeric is sauteed in the DO. the onion sauce added to the DO, salt added to taste and fenugreek leaves added, stirred and the curry is simmered till the chicken is cooked. This was served with a bowl of warm white rice. Simple Comfort food!! i know I can impress guests with this dish. Its so easy and so good. Plenty of leftovers. will have them for lunch tomorrow with Chapatis!! Very Good RI.

Cubed Chicken with Tomatoes and Fresh Coconut (Nariyal Chi Kombdi) page 151.

This was a very pleasant surprise, tasting very authentic. It just transported me to pre-college days, when one of my friends (whose parents hailed from the Kolhapur town in Maharashtra) had invited me for lunch. that chicken curry taste had lingered in my mind for all these years and all attempts of trying to recreate that dish from recipes available online, didnt come any closer than this recipe from 660.
To begin with - the major change in the recipe - i didnt have chicken pieces, but had 2lbs ground chicken & 1lb of ground turkey in the freezer, begging to be used up. After thawing the meat up, i added to it 1 egg, 1/2 lbs mashed boiled potato, salt to taste, 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp of the ground kolhapuri masala. mix them all up, make small meat balls and kept them ready to be used like the chicken as mentioned in the book.
To cook: oil is heated in my trusty CI DO, mustard seeds popped, garlic added. the meatballs added and sauteed to sear on all sides. tomatoes, cilantro, masala, salt & turmeric are added, the pot swirled (in lieu of stirring to avoid breaking of the meat balls) and the curry simmered for 8 - 10 minutes. Fresh (dryunsweetened - in my case) coconut is added, pot swirled again, simmered for a couple minutes. the curry rested for 1/2 hour and served with white bread to soak up the sauce, white rice and salad.
As RI writes, it is a vibrant red curry and wakens up all your senses. I added 4-5 kashmiri chiles in the kolhapuri masala to obtain the red color without adding too much heat to the dish. the meat balls were very moist and the masala rendered a very unique taste to them. the leftovers tasted very good the next day when served along with white rice and plain daal and home made yogurt. Very Good RI.