This handsome man is Hari Nayak, the man responsible for getting me comfortable cooking Indian food. I think what intimidated me all these years was the long list of spices listed in most traditional Indian recipes. I remember watching a television special on Indian cuisine, and I thought to myself that an Indian chef is like an artist, the spices on the tray the paint. A two-finger pinch of this, a spoonful of that, a 3-finger pinch of the other.

Hari and I got to know each other through his first book, Modern Indian Cooking (check out the Sparkling Ginger Lime Cooler, Sweet Yogurt Sundae with Saffron and Pomegranate and Scallop Salad with Sweet Vanilla Chili Dressing) that really made Indian recipes within reach for me with simple ingredients found in any grocery store and just a few spices that I already had on hand.
I introduced him to the publisher of Steamy Kitchen Cookbook and look! Now he’s the proud author of My Indian Kitchen with Tuttle Publishing.

The recipe we chose to share is this Zucchini with Lentils and Roasted Garlic, simple and healthy!

Other recipes that caught my eye in the My Indian Kitchen book:

- Spiced Meatballs that are pan fried in oil infused with cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods.
– Spicy Coconut Green Beans
– Street Style Corn on the Cob
– Tandoori Skewered Shrimp
– Indian-Style Fried Rice

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 17 comments

 I want you to meet a friend of mine, Aarti — though you’ve probably have seen her mesmerizingly happy smile on the Food Network already as she was the winner of The Next Food Network Star last year!

Aarti and I used to create cooking videos together with Good Bite (remember this Miso Soup?!) That was about 2 years ago, before Food Network discovered her and I’m so proud to announce that today, Aarti launches her brand new show, Aarti Party!

We’re sharing one of her recipes from Sunday’s show, Ketchup Chutney from scratch, a perfect compliment to your cheese plate or to slather on your burger. Make your own ketchup!? Absolutely! It’s a chunky, warmly spiced version of our All-American favorite condiment.

Here’s what Aarti emailed me when she suggested we try this recipe, “Alright, so I was thinking that a good recipe to share might be my “Ketchup Chutney”.  It’s a classic example of what I’m trying to do — introduce people to Indian flavours through the foods they recognise and love.  Ketchup, a condiment found in nearly every American fridge, is actually a chutney… which most people think of as an Indian invention.  Cool, huh?  So I make mine from scratch, which takes about 20 minutes, and it doesn’t have any stinky preservatives or high fructose corn syrup in it.  Plus, it’s got some gusto… packed with brawny Indian flavours like mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and ginger (of course), garam masala and a little turmeric.”

Enjoy not only the recipe but a little Q&A with Aarti! Big thanks to Adam and Joanne for cooking the amazing recipe! ~Jaden

***

Tell us a little bit about life before Food Network Star, how has life changed since?

Well, before Food Network Star, my husband and I were scraping by on his unemployment checks (thank Goodness for those, or else I’m not sure what would have happened).  While that was really hard, what was harder was not knowing what I wanted to do with my life – my husband has always known that he wanted to be an actor, since he was 4 years old, and he’s great at it… but I didn’t feel like I had a clear talent, something that I felt really unquestionably passionate about.  Winning Food Network Star, heck COMPETING on FNS uncovered this passion that I never knew existed, or perhaps knew was there but never felt like I had anything to offer in that arena (cooking show host).  It is such a gift.  I wake up every morning thanking God for this new career.  I have received emails from people who either watched the competition or my cooking show now, that I would like to print out and frame – I never dreamed that I’d be able to touch people’s lives in this way.  It’s really breathtaking.

Where does your love of cooking come from, how about your love of teaching us about it?

I think we all ache for connection to each other… real, lasting connections that touch from the inside out.  Food is one way to do that.  I have NEVER been one of those eat to live types of people.  I live to eat.  And I live to eat with people, break bread with them – something magical happens when you do that.  You’re kind of bonded forever.  Whether it’s a first date, a special birthday, a comforting plate of food shared by two people in mourning… I just love that.  I think that’s where my love of cooking comes from.  That, and a really healthy appetite, that started from before birth – I was 10lbs when I was born!!

What is a day like in the life of a Food Network Star? How long will an episode take to shoot?

I spend a couple of months coming up with show themes and recipes, testing them and re-testing them.  When it’s time to shoot, we shoot 13 episodes in about 10 days – 1.5 episodes a day, with an extra few days to shoot the party scenes featuring my real friends and family.  I start at about 7am, with two hours in hair and makeup (yup, I need that much work!), then we start shooting at about 9am, and we go until about 730pm.  The shoot days are exhausting (I had no idea how much energy you need to be “perform”) but invigorating.  I love the production team that makes my show – they are fonts of knowledge and talent, and I can feel the cogs in my head turning just a bit faster when I’m around them.

How do you come up with recipes for Aarti Party?

Well, I eat a lot.  Ha!  But seriously, what joy to know that whenever I eat out, it’s for inspiration!  LA has some of the freshest and most creative food around.  I love finding new flavour combinations that I never knew worked together.  Then there’s old family favourites I can’t wait to share.  And, I take requests!  I often ask people on my Facebook fan page what they’d like to learn to make.  My fans (um, it’s still so crazy that I can say that!) are awesome.

What is your favorite comfort food or indulgence?

Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream.  One of the first presents that we bought for ourselves after I won was an ice cream maker, so that I could make ice cream whenever I wanted.  I am slowly working my way through David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.  I wasn’t allowed a lot of dessert growing up, because I was such a portly child, and so the thrill of eating a big bowl of ice cream hasn’t gotten old yet.  HA!

What is in your fridge right now?

We’re moving house right now so it’s mostly condiments: fig butter, sriracha, homemade apple-ginger chutney, some carrots, turnips and beets that I pickled, aged gouda, leftover chicken curry with apricots that I’m perfecting, a bottle of green Kombucha and some gluten-free beer.  I’m all over the place!

Aarti’s Burger Station Epsidoe will air on The Food Network 9am/8c Saturday, August 13, 2011!

making ketchup chutney

Ketchup Chutney comes together quite quickly, so we found it best to slice, dice and measure out everything in advance.

First, thinly slice 3 cloves of garlic.

Then, finely dice one medium onion.

Continue reading Ketchup from Scratch: Indian Spiced Ketchup Chutney...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 18 comments

*waving hello!* Hey guys! I’m still in the middle of getting the new house ready and packing boxes in our old house. We’re almost done painting every single wall, baseboard and ceiling trays. Three more days until the big move! I’ll post some photos later today. Lots of love, Jaden

We are so thrilled to introduce you to Prerna, from Indian Simmer. Today, she is sharing her recipe for Chicken Vindaloo, one of our absolute favorites, packed with flavor from chilies, garlic, cardamon, cinnamon and more. We know you will love Prerna and her blog, with photography that inspires, charged with brilliant and bold colors, and recipes from the heart, like Chicken Tikka Masala and Cumin scented Green Peas Pulao or Matar Paneer. Enjoy! – adam and joanne

A few weeks back I got a message from someone with the email address jaden at steamykitchen.com and it said will you “guest post for me?” My first reaction was to check whether that it was really written to me. Why?  Because never in my wildest dreams would I expect that JADEN from STEAMY KITCHEN would ask little me to guest post on her blog. And even when I found out that it was actually Jaden, I was in complete disbelief! Just like millions of other bloggers and food lovers, I have always been inspired by Jaden. It is an honor to be featured on Steamy Kitchen and thanks so much Jaden for the opportunity!

When asked about what I should be cooking for her, Jaden said she loves Chicken Vindaloo and would love to share its recipe with her readers. So Chicken Vindaloo it is! It is a dish which, if not most popular, must be one of the most popular Indian dishes in the world. Vindaloo is a popular curry that hails from a tiny little state of Goa in India. Portuguese had their colony in Goa for decades and so the state has a great influence from Portuguese culture. It is believed that the name Vindaloo was also derived from Portuguese dish where “vinho” means wine and “alhos” is garlic. Usually the recipe asks for pork and wine along with garlic. In course of time Vindaloo evolved and cooks started making it with chicken or lamb and wine was substituted with vinegar.

I am sure you will always notice that the Chicken Vindaloos served in restaurants have potatoes in them. Aloo in hindi means potatoes and since Vind- aloo has aloo in it, I assumed that potatoes are a must in the dish. But after doing a little bit of a research I found that potatoes are not really an essential ingredient. A traditional Vindaloo just asks for meat, garlic, wine or vinegar and lots of chilies in it. So the potatoes you see in the Vindaloo they serve at your favorite Indian restaurant are probably because they either want to make the gravy thicker or increase the volume but definitely not because the recipe asks for it!

Most important part of a Vindaloo masala (spice mix) is the chilies in it. The dish is mostly fiery hot because Vindaloo masala is a chili based preparation and that is where it gets all its flavors. In my recipe I used the dry whole red chilies found at Indian markets. You can make it milder to your taste and use Kasmiri Mirch (a mild form of red chili). This will help make the curry red and pretty but still not very hot.

So here’s the recipe for Chicken Vindaloo. Again, you can tweak the amount of spices and heat according to your taste. Also if you want, you can add diced boiled potatoes in the curry but if you do so, do it right after the chicken is almost cooked and you are giving it a final boil.

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 40 comments

Normally, when I make curry dishes, whether Indian or Thai, I start with a shortcut – a ready-made curry spice paste that I can find in most grocery stores. But making the curry spice paste from scratch is just as easy, tastes infinitely fresher and the flavors of the aromatics really shine through in the coconut milk, instead of just being “spicy hot” like normal ready-made pastes.

The extra 5 minutes spent on grating the onion, ginger and mincing garlic is definitely worth it. This recipe is from Entice with Spice by Shubhra Ramineni. It’s her first book and published by Tuttle Publishing, the same company that published my own Steamy Kitchen book. It’s filled with simple Indian family recipes (and beautifully photographed dishes) that are perfect for busy families. This Indian Fish Coconut Curry is a fine example. Beginning to end, it took less than 20 minutes to make.

The ingredients are simple: garam masala (a very warm Indian spice blend), cayenne chili powder, coconut milk, chopped tomatoes, fresh fish fillets, ginger, fresh chilies (optional), garlic and half an onion).

Instead of chopping the onion, grate it using the large holes of a box grater. This way, you’ll get very fine onion that forms the basis of the curry spice paste.

I also grate the ginger this way too.

Cut the fish fillets into nice big chunks. This is fresh swordfish, but you can use any firm fish fillet.

The first step is to cook the aromatics very slowly – the onion, garlic and ginger go in first.

As you cook, you’ll see the aromatics turn to a soft golden color.

Add in the tomatoes.

And let that cook down too – as it cooks down, you’ll see that it forms a soft, paste-like consistency.

Add in the spices and seasonings.

Coconut milk and water.

Drop in a fresh halved chili pepper if you’d like.

Let the curry come to a boil and then add in your fish to cook. Four minutes later, it’s done!

Serve this with basmati rice or any Indian flatbreads.

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 55 comments

I hope you’re enjoying recipes from some wonderful and talented food bloggers from around the world featured here on Steamy Kitchen! Today, I’d like to introduce to you Shulie of Food Wanderings, who is of Indian Jewish ancestry, born and raised in Israel, and has been living here in the U.S. for over half of her life.

What has always caught my eye about her recipes is that they are healthy and naturally light, just with use of fresh ingredients. I love how she features the ingredient collage for each recipe – I could just frame each one of them and hang on the wall of my kitchen.

Shulie is featuring Indian Cabbage with Crispy, Crunchy Chickpeas, a recipe she’s adapted from her Mom. Though make sure you check out some of her other recipes like her Mom’s Best Kept Secret Dahl Recipe, Mache, Blood Orange and Pomegranate Salad in Citrus, Sumac and Champagne Vinaigrette and Medley of Cherry Tomatoes Salad. ~jaden

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Recipes and photos by Shulie of Food Wanderings

The dish is super simple with a twist of a delicious crunch. I don’t recall having it in my childhood, but my mom on skype impatiently scolded me and said, “you just didn’t like it.” Growing up, it was my brother’s, the third out of six kids, favorite. How impossible I didn’t like it?! Especially since I like everything cabbage!

This recipe is full of flavor and the added crunch of slightly fried chickpeas gives this dish its extra uniqueness. The chickpeas are crispy from the outside with a soft inside. In this dish you get your veggie and a toss of protein for contrast and a balanced nutrition. How brilliant is that?!

The ingredients include cabbage, onion, ginger, garlic, chili pepper (if you’d like), chickpeas, turmeric and garam masala.

Continue reading Indian Cabbage with Crispy, Crunchy Chickpeas...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2011. | Permalink | 46 comments

I subscribe to multiple cooking magazines, their glossy photos serve as my “look book” for dinner ideas. But my favorite section actually has no photos, the “dear editor” letters from readers revisiting a favorite food memory and pleading to weasel the recipe from the restaurant chef.

Magazine editors and test kitchens take a complicated chef’s recipe, “home cookitize” for us mere mortals and scale down the servings for a family table.

On a trip to Los Angeles earlier this year, I met up with friends Matt, Adam, Gaby, Jenny, Rachael, Rachelle and Lucy at Nirvana Restaurant in Beverly Hills. Of the dozens of dishes that came flying in from the kitchen, this was my favorite – a dish they call “Dal Nirvana”.

It’s a creamy lentil dish perfect over basmati rice or mopped up with naan flatbread.

But the best part is that this is the original recipe from the restaurant, just scaled down to feed a family of 4 instead of 80 customers. No need to simplify, just good home-style recipe.

The mighty lentil may be one of the small beans, but sure packs a nutritional punch. While these are not the same lentils used in traditional Indian Dal Makhani dish, this is what you might find in your supermarket – and will work fine in this recipe.

These are brown/green lentils:

But I prefer the smaller black “caviar” lentils.

Continue reading Indian Dal Nirvana...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2010. | Permalink | 91 comments

See shot-by-shot commentary of photos that led up to the money shot.

Rock Star Chef Kerry Simon

A couple of weeks ago during a trip to Los Angeles, I bumped into rock star chef Kerry Simon at every kitchen fanatic’s dream bookstore, The Cook’s Library. What elevates Kerry to rock star status? Well, how about the fact that Rolling Stone tagged him with the unofficial title “Rock ‘n’ Roll Chef.” OK, that reason ALONE is enough for me to swoon all over him.

Chef Kerry Simon

My brother Jay and I met up with one of Jay’s friends, who has a Hollywood job so bizarre HE HAD TO WHISPER IT IN MY EAR, and so our hodgepodge group – a food writer, a cardiologist and a … um … let’s call him a “gay reality show researcher,” dined at Simon LA, Kerry’s signature restaurant.

I have a love-hate relationship with restaurant reviews. I love it when it’s a great restaurant and the critic’s eloquent trail of words tickles my taste buds and seduces me onto the plate. But you know what? It’s like the biggest frustrating tease when the restaurant is 2,471 miles away, and there’s no way to actually enjoy the meal in person!

I’m not going to tantalize you with play-by-play of my four-course meal, which would be cruel because it was totally rock-star phenomenal. Instead, I’m doing one better. I called Kerry up and asked for a recipe. He obliged and sent along his Lamb Chops with Curried Pears.

One thing about restaurant chefs giving you recipes is that they normally feed, like, 50 people, and some of the cooking techniques may be a bit difficult for home cooks. So, I’ve simplified his recipe and scaled it down so you’re not inviting all the families within a 2-mile radius to dinner.

I think you’ll really enjoy it. Chef Kerry is a master of taking a few simple ingredients and coaxing the flavors and textures into something so sublime, surprising and sexy.
Continue reading Lamb Chops with Curried Pears...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2008. | Permalink | 40 comments

I’ve been on an Indian food kick lately, as a friend of mine sent me a goody box full of Indian ingredients to experiment with.

I’m new to the cuisine, intimidated by the long list of unfamiliar spices in recipes. How do I pronounce badi elaichi or hara dhaniya without sounding as if I’ve slammed five shots of tequila for breakfast? If I ask for methi seeds at the market, will the shopkeeper flip out and push the police button hidden under the cash register? Surely, very suspicious.

So, rather than risk sounding stupid, I’ll order Indian food at restaurants, where I can read and understand the English description of the dish and point out my selection for the waiter without oophhinen mhyyy moufff.

But then I’m reminded by my friends that they feel the same way about common ingredients used in East and Southeast Asian cooking, such as nam pla, dong-gu and naganegi. My advice to friends who yearned to learn was to start with just one dry spice blend, such as five spice powder, and sparingly sprinkle on roasted vegetables. It’s inexpensive, simple and a great way to be introduced to Chinese flavors without having to invest in a cupboard full of one-hit wonders.

It was time to follow my own advice and venture into the world of Indian cooking.

My friend Sowjanya suggested I start with garam masala, a dry-spice mixture very popular in Indian cuisine. It’s a warming, aromatic blend of cardamom, cloves, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and black peppercorns, and it goes well with anything, especially vegetables. Garam masala is the type of spice that when you hold the bottle anywhere close to your face, you’ll collapse in ecstasy and moan loudly right there on your kitchen floor. Steamy kitchen, indeed.

Continue reading Green Beans with Garam Masala Butter and Toasted Hazelnuts...

©Steamy Kitchen Recipes, 2008. | Permalink | 46 comments