I Love Indian

I am so excited to have mastered Naan Bread. I feel like I have unlocked the secret to this bread by using a different recipe which includes yeast and so the bread reacts the way I would expect it to. The dough was made, allowed to rest for an hour, punched down, divided and rolled into balls, and allowed to rest again before baking. The golf ball sized balls were rolled out and grilled for few minutes on each side and then brushed with melted butter. This bread came out perfect, just as I imagined it would.

The entree tonight was Chicken South Indian Style which was cubed chicken pieces that were cooked in a sauce. The sauce was started with chopped onion, grated ginger, chopped garlic, dried curry leaves, brown mustard seeds, asafoetida, red chile powder, and turmeric. Then I added some chopped tomatoes, coconut milk and a little water. This was cooked until the chicken was done and then served over rice. The chicken was good, but lacking in some way (can't quite put my finger on it). I did have a tough time finding a couple of the spices included in this recipe and so I ordered dried curry leaves and asafoetida from an online site. The dried curry leaves smelled wonderful and the asafoetida powder smelled a little rank. The television shows always said the smell was awful, but it imparted a unique flavor. I think asafoetida smells a little like dirty socks. It remains to be seen if that was part of why I didn't love tonight's dinner or if it was just lacking in some other way.

I will continue again and again to make the Naan Bread, but not so much on the chicken.