Cooking Indian food is trickier than anything we've done before, and it was an interesting experience. For instance, my oldest learned what happens when oil is heated on (too!) high, and that bread recipes need a few advance hours to prepare. Still, it's fun to experiment and find out what to do differently the next time. We all try to eat gluten free around here most of the time to keep tempting foods out of Josiah's life, but every once in a while things like this sneak their way into our meal rotation. Still, I may have to do a bit of digging to see if I can come up with GF Naan, because Josiah would love it, too.
Naan (Indian bread)
(This is not a GF recipe, but the Chicken curry served with rice can be GFCF and with some tweaking, even FG stage 1. My youngest does not care for spicy food, so we didn't attempt to tweak this time around.)
3 1/3 c. flour
1 packet dried yeast
1 t. cumin seeds
1 T. sesame or poppy seeds
2/3 c. natural yogurt (we aren't sure what "natural yogurt" actually means, but next time we're trying 1/3 c. The dough was too sticky and needed a lot of extra flour)
1 c. warm water
2 T. butter, melted
extra flour, for rolling
a little oil, for cooking
Mix flour, yeast, salt, and stir in cumin seeds. Mix yogurt, water and butter together and stir into the flour. With clean hands, turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for at least 5 min. Put dough back in bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm part of the kitchen until it has doubled in size, approximately 2-4 hours.
Punch dough so it collapses. Knead again for 1 min. Cut into 8 equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Sprinkle a little flour on work surface and roll each ball out into an oval shape (like a teardrop). Heat griddle or frying pan until hot, brush lightly with some oil, and cook each bread for about 3 min. on each side. Watch to see that it does not burn. Keep the breads warm, wrapped in a clean towel, while you make the rest.
It would have been lovely to have this bread with our meal, but it didn't quite happen that way! But tomorrow there will be leftovers to enjoy.
We tried this recipe for chicken curry, and while it was good, I'd like to keep searching. It needed less cinnamon and more...something. Still, it was fun to smell curry in our house and it tasted great over white basmati rice!
The best way I know to experience Indian food in our area is this restaurant. We took the older kids there in January (after they assured us there was no MSG for Micah's sake) and they loved it, too. They have customers adjust the spice to their liking, and Eric and I are able to handle about a 2 out of a possible 6. If I could, I would eat there every time we eat out (which is rare enough anyway.) One of the best birthday presents my husband ever gave me was arranging to have his Indian coworkers meet us there for a meal. They knew all the best things to order and we ate buffet style. If you ever go, be sure to get a side of samosas. Yum!!
We love Indian clothing, too. Rachel designed her outfit for her India project. But really, the treasure of India is its people who need our prayers to know the love of Christ and His salvation.
2 comments:
Looks like the same scarf we used to keep her warm in church. There was an Indian lady just ahead of us in church on the other side of the aisle that I thought had a beautiful dress on too.
It is the same scarf. :)
We also saw several families attend the As Our Own presentation, beautifully dressed. There is a reason why the Europeans traded with India...those reasons still exist! Wonderful spices, beautiful fabric.
They are a beautiful people, too. Less than 1% know Christ, although there are pockets in cities where there are many Christians.
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