Chicken Tikka Lababdar

I won the Indian Curry Cookoff at One to One on September 14th, 2011 with this dish. It’s based on what I remember about a dish I last ate at least 15 years ago at what is now the Curry Garden in Cambridge, UK (it was the Gulshan when I went there). They still have it on the menu. According to cuisineindia.in, “Lababdar is a Hindi word that means very soft, creamy and having good mouth feel”. I love the korma-like nutty creaminess of this curry paired with some deep oomph from the dried chilles and spiky heat from the fresh green chillies.

You can get the Tikka, Tandoori and Madras pastes from an Indian grocer. Don’t confuse them with curry sauces, the pastes are herb/spice mixes in oil.

Chicken Tikka Lababdar

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1½lb boneless chicken breast strips, rinsed and cut into approx 1” cubes
• 6 tbsp Tikka or Tandoori Paste
• ½ pint Greek or other plain yoghurt
• 3 tbsp Madras Paste
• 5 tbsp vegetable ghee (or just vegetable oil)
• 2 onions, one in chunks for pureeing, one sliced
• 4 cloves garlic or 3-4 tsp lazy garlic
  
• 1 can tomato sauce
• ½ cup ground almonds
• 1 can coconut milk
• 4 dried red chillies, chopped coarsely
• 4 fresh green finger chillies, sliced lengthways - I use the seeds too. Some people find them bitter.
• About ½ pint heavy cream
• 8 tbsp cilantro, chopped finely

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F/180C

1. Mix the Tikka or Tandoori paste with the yogurt. Add the chicken pieces, stir so they’re coated in the yoghurt/spice mix, then cover and leave to marinade at least 4 hours - I did them overnight.
2. Razz one of the onions with the garlic in a food processor with a little water until they form a puree.
3. In a large, heavy pan, heat 4tbsp ghee on a medium heat. Add the Madras paste and fry for about a minute to release the flavor. Don’t go too long or it will burn.
4. Spoon in the onion/garlic puree and fry, stirring occasionally, for about 10 mins
5. Pour in the tomato sauce, cover and leave simmering for 30-40 mins, stirring occasionally.
6. Take the chicken out of the marinade and arrange on a baking tray. Discard the excess marinade. Bake for 30-40 mins at 350 F until the chicken is cooked through but not drying out.
7. Fry the sliced onion in 1 tbsp ghee until turning brown. Take off the heat.
8. When the chicken is cooked, add it to the curry sauce. Stir in the ground almonds, coconut milk, and red and green chillies. Add the fried onions. Leave simmering, covered, for at least 15 mins, stirring occasionally - timing's not too critical.
   
9. About 5 mins before serving, stir in the cream and heat through
10. Immediately before serving, stir in the chopped cilantro.

You can have this on rice, or mop it up with a naan or chapati. I like a variety when I’m eating Indian food, so I’ll usually make a Saag Paneer (Indian spinach and cheese) and maybe a Dal (spiced lentil soup) along with it. Veggies (but not vegans) can substitute Quorn pieces for chicken, marinading them like the chicken but baking them for just 20 mins or so.

Chicken Kofta Curry

I made this dish and cumin-scented Basmati rice for our Indian Curry Cookoff at One to One on September 14th, 2011. Since I hadn't made this particular Indian dish before, I followed a recipe I found online and changed a number of seasoning items to make it my own. I would make it a bit spicier next time if I knew my guests were all into heat. As I was finishing the dish, I felt it needed a little more flavor and added in a few tablespoons of mild curry paste. The addition of garam masala next time may reduce the need for that much curry paste.

Chicken Kofta Curry

Ingredients:

• 4 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 lbs ground chicken
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 4 tablespoons grated fresh ginger or ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste - I used three, but might add more next time)
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• several grinds of pepper
  
• 4 tablespoons (or more) ghee (clarified butter found in Indian stores) or vegetable oil
• 1 large or 2 small onions, diced small
• 10-15 fresh curry leaves (or substitute 1 teaspoon curry powder)
• 1-3 tablespoons mild curry paste (optional)
  
• 2 cans canned tomatoes, chopped (prefer petite diced) - (can drain or reserve liquid if you need to add some later)
• 1 can coconut milk
• salt, pepper

Note: though the recipe didn't call for it, next time I will add in 1-2 tablespoons of garam masala (Indian spice mix that you can make or purchase at the store) to both the meatball mix and sauce.

Directions:

1. Mix the first three spices together in a small bowl; set aside.
2. Place the chicken, two tablespoons each of the garlic and ginger; the turmeric, chili powder, flour, eggs, salt and half the spice mix you set aside in a large bowl and mix well.
3. Form into golf ball sized meatballs.
4. Heat half the ghee or oil in a pan and brown the balls; drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Will need to do this in batches - add more ghee or oil as necessary and heat before adding meatballs.
   
5. Heat the remaining oil and cook the onions for 5-7 minutes or until translucent, tender. Add the curry leaves (or curry powder) and remaining mix of ground spices, garlic and ginger to the pan and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes.
6. [I found that my sauce didn't have as much flavor as I would like and added 2-3 tablespoons of mild curry paste from a jar - I added it after step 7, after tasting the sauce, but here is the preferred stage to add it.]
   
7. Add the tomatoes and coconut milk; simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the meatballs, and simmer gently for another 20 minutes.

Note: as you can see, this makes a very large batch. I'm sure you can easily and successfully cut the recipe in half.

Chili Cheese Dip Recipe (easy)

Here's a recipe I made for our St. Patrick's Day Dip-off Competition. This dip is so easy and a real crowd-pleaser. Homemade (real) chili makes it that much better. Can be easily layered and baked in a glass pie plate and/or prepared and refrigerated ahead of time.

Ingredients:

1 can Hormel chili with beans (any type) -- homemade makes it even better!
1 8 0z brick of cream cheese
1 TBSP Mexican seasoning (store-bought or make your own)
1/2-3/4 cup red chunky salsa (drain in strainer)
1 2-cup bag of shredded Mexican cheese (or any cheddar combo) - finely shredded preferred
1/3 cup (approx) of sliced green onions (using both white and green parts)

Soften cream cheese by bringing to room temperature or removing from pkg and microwaving on a dish for 10 seconds. Mix in the Mexican seasoning well and spread evenly on bottom only of pie plate. Layer with chili, then salsa, then shredded cheese. Sprinkled sliced green onions over the top, to your desired amount.

Bake in 350 degree oven, middle rack, uncovered for about 15-20 minutes, or until cheese in middle is melted and cheese starts bubbling around the sides. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

Enjoy the hot, melted goodness with your family and friends!

Maureen Lawson

Birthday Party Video

This is a video I made for my nephew's 1st birthday party. My goal was to capture the essence of the event and the people there with short snippets of smiles, and interactions without being a long boring family video.



I tried to cut each clip so that is showed typical and familiar expressions or mannerisms so that it recalls memories of the people and the collective feel of the event. For us, it's pretty powerful, and I think it will resonate for many years to come.

-M

ps, the one in the Star Wars T-Shirt is my son, Bowie.

Photoshop Fun

I found this as I was cleaning out some old files on my machine. The original picture in the corner is actually a screen capture for a video I took at St. Anthony's. I did this about 7 years ago I think so the photoshop I used was either 6 or 7 I believe lol. This is about as graphically creative as I get =p

*Award Winning Hangover Dip Recipe

Here's the recipe on how to make Sausage Dip which was voted by One To One as the best dip to eat with a hangover. Finally, my parents can be proud.


You need:

-One tube (that sounds gross) of Jimmy Dean Sausage. The one that looks like this:
http://www.popfi.com/wp-content/uploads/jimmy-dean-sausage.jpg
(I prefer 'hot' but the regular one works too.

-One Package of Cream Cheese

-One small jar of Salsa.


Directions:

Cook the sausage till it gets brown (mash it up into little crumbles as you go)
Then add the cream cheese. Mix it all up till the whole thing is creamy.
Add the jar of salsa. Mix this up again. 
Add Onion Powder and Pepper to taste.


It'll look a little bit awful, but it's good.


*sure I technically came in second but I'm still keeping the award.

A Video I Made

For years I have played with video getting my first video camera in 1985. Someday I need to get all those clips off of 10mm tape and put it digital before it is to late. Over the last few years, I have made a few videos mostly using Imovie. I am somewhat limited in what editing I can do with it but hope to someday get Final Cut, for now it's fun. Most of my work is set to music and often includes me and my friends riding motorcycles or some other activity. Hope you enjoy and I look forward to any comments.