I suppose I was just in my element, cooking Indian food for 15 adults, at my in-laws house in suburban D.C. Here was the menu - it all came out rather nicely, thanks in part to specialty items from Patel Brothers in Rockville.
Dal Stew, a.ka. curried red lentil soup with garlic, ginger, cumin, black mustard seed, curry powder, brussel sprouts and julienned carrots.
Aloo Chat, a.k.a. a room temp. garbanzo and cooked, cubed potato salad, with a dressing of mint, yogurt, sweet tamarind and date chutney, and chat masala (a special spice blend available in Indian grocery stores); sprinkled with fresh coriander leaves and a crunchy Indian snack food called Hot Mix.
Lamb Vindaloo - tender, slow-cooked stew from leg of lamb trimmed of fat and cubed; flavored spicy hot and tart (from an old Portugese recipe adapted by Indian cooks).
Okra and cauliflower in a traditional Indian tomato-onion-ginger-garlic gravy.
Lots of Onion Nan (bread).
I would include the recipes but I don't use recipes, altho I learned a great deal from Julie Sahni's "Classic Indian Cooking." And no, I don't think I'm especially capable in the kitchen, just engaged. I experiment, learn, and go by taste, texture and feel. It usually comes out well.
Last night, one of my brothers-in-law made a great Thai fish soup. I made a Thai/Viet chicken dish. Chicken breasts pan-seared and poached in mango puree with garlic and currry powder, then cooled, skinned, boned and chopped; and flavored with a slow-cooked sauce made from lemon grass, garlic, fish sauce (the classic Thai/Viet condiment), sweet/spicy red pepper relish, and lime juice.
Now, we are opening X-Mas presents, because some family members must leave on X-Mas morning.
Merry X-Mas; hope you had a good Hanukkah; and God Bless The United States of America.
UPDATE: Gifts are given.....Karaoke Machine Madness! Good thing I know these people.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 24, 2004 06:26 PM
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Tracked on August 25, 2005 03:31 PM
Heh! Sounds like our kitchen was a pitcher's warm-up area! We're still carving on the wonderful roast you superbly did.
Posted by: Jeff at December 24, 2004 11:50 PMTomorrow your assholes will be red as a beet, Cat.
Posted by: Catfish at December 25, 2004 10:15 AMCat, I'm actually going to leave your vulgar, stupid comment up, because I want you to answer this question: did you vote for Kerry or Bush?
Posted by: Matt R. at December 25, 2004 11:46 AM"I don't think I'm especially capable in the kitchen."
BAH! I ate Indian at Matt's once. He is just plain awesome.
Indian cooking is, to many, much more difficult than Thai or Viet cooking, and Matt does it extremely well. His is perhaps the best Indian home-cooking outside of an actual Indian family. In some ways, it's better than traditional Indian cooking, because Matt's has some "fusion" feel to it.
Posted by: James J. Na at December 25, 2004 11:58 AMI voted for Bush. I also have stocks, bonds, tax free bonds, ira's and I only went through high school, why did you ask?
Posted by: Catfish at December 29, 2004 10:20 PMCatfish, I was just curious whether you were a "tolerant" liberal (Kerry) or red state redneck (a stereotype that I, as a Bush supporter, feel is often unwarranted) after I read your seemingly xenophobic - or at least rather vulgar - original comment in this string, regarding what you think happens to people who eat Indian food. If your original comment was intended to be a joke, excuse my partial humorlessness, and please understand that as proprietor of this site, I'd like to see commenters avoid cuss words and overt vulgarity.
That said, I do not mean to chase you away at all. So long as you can abide by those rules, further comments are welcome.
Posted by: Matt R. at January 1, 2005 02:08 PMHmm, I love Indian dahl. It seems like you had quite a meal.
Posted by: Coyote at January 2, 2005 06:36 PM