Congrats to Bollywood and Slumdog Millionaire

I finally went to see Slumdog Millionaire last night, and it didn't disappoint. I loved it!  All the hype is warranted.  With four Golden Globe wins (best drama, best director, best screenplay and best original score) and eight Oscars  . . . if you haven't seen the movie yet, it's really a must to see on the big screen!!! Watch the trailer here.In short the movie is about:
"A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums and becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers." (as described on IMDB)

Seeing all the great footage of India in the movie, it inspired me to go through my India photos, here are a few favorites: 

If you'd like to see more India, check out my Mumbai travel video here.  It has been viewed over 6,000 times on Youtube.  It was also on Delta's blog, and is featured on the airplanes. 

Indian Night (and more recipes)

Indian night has been in the pipelines for a while.  Now that we are settled in our new place, I finally sent out the Evite

A potluck made the most sense, #1 because we are on a budget, and #2 because several of my friends like to cook as well.  The menu was delicious.  I made the main dish, Madras Chicken Curry.  (recipe below) I wish I had taken pictures of the actual food, but all I can share is the pic of me cooking it. 

As a pre-dinner activity, I broke out the Bananagrams. Im telling you, people love it! You must buy it!

We allowed English and Spanish as to not favor anyone.

There were 9 of us, and besides not having enough plates and forks for everyone, our apartment is really great for entertaining.  The kitchen is open to the living room and the little dinning area. 

Notice how full the girls plates are.  You just can't help stuff yourself with Indian food.  After dinner the plan was to watch Slumdog Millionaire, but it never happened.  We sat around laughing instead.  It didn't seem right to watch such a big movie on a small laptop screen anyway.All of the recipes to enjoy a full on Indian meal are below:  

Madras Chicken Curry (my dish)

Ingredients:

3 tbsp oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 stick cinnamon

2 cardamom pods

4 cloves

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 inch piece root ginger, very finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp ground coriander ¾ tsp chilli powder

2 skinless chicken breasts, cubed

1 large chopped tomato 

2 large tomatoes pureed

1 tsp. plain yogurt or sour cream

a handful of cilantro leaves, chopped

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a large heavy pan, add the chopped onion and fry till onion is transclucent.
Turn the heat to medium low, add the cinammon, cardamom, cloves and fennel seeds, stir for 5 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Then add the turmeric, ground coriander and chilli powder and fry gently for a minute. Add the tomato purée and stir in enough hot water to make a sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes. Season with salt.
Heat a little oil in a large heavy frying pan and stir-fry the chicken pieces until they turn white.
Add the chicken and chopped tomato, sour cream/yogurt to the sauce and simmer gently until the meat is soft and succulent.   Sprinkle with the coriander and serve with yogurt.

Dal (lentils)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 cups chopped onions

6 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups water 

2 cups dried lentils

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3 teaspoons black mustard seeds

2 fresh hot red chile such as jalapeño chopped

3 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

2 teaspoon ground coriander

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:

Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 cup onion and 1 minced garlic clove and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Combine 3 cups water, lentils, remaining  onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, turmeric, cumin, coriander, mustard seeds and ginger in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, about 15 minutes. Transfer half of lentil mixture to processor; purée until smooth. Return purée to same saucepan. Mix in sautéed onion mixture. Simmer 5 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  

**This next recipe is from my friend Varsha.  It's the best Chenna I have ever had.  Steph made it for the potluck and it turned out wonderfully.

Chenna Masala

Ingredients:

2 tins of ready-boiled chickpeas - rinsed in a colander

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 large onion chopped into long thin strips

3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks

garlic, ginger and green-chile

Spices: Turmeric (halidi), Garam Masala, Ground Coriander, Salt

Seeds: Onion seed and Cumin (Jeera) seeds.

Preparation:

In a large pot in which to pour 2 or 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Heat the oil in the pot until hot. Add the onion and cumin seeds and watch them pop and fizzle for around 20 seconds.  Add the chopped onions and fry until they are lightly browned.  Add the pulped ginger, garlic and chillie. Stir fry on medium heat.
Add the tin of chopped tomato and stir-fry for about 5 mins on medium-to-high heat until the oil starts to separate from the onion/tomato mixture - and then add the spices:
2 teaspoons  salt 

2 teaspoons ground coriander 

2 teaspoons  garam masala 

1.5 teaspoons of haldi (turmeric)
Stir it all thoroughly on medium flame.
Add the chunks of potato - stir until well coated in spices. Add around 3 smallish glasses of water into the pot - and put the lid on and bring to boil.  Let it simmer on a very low flame for around 20 mins with the lid on.   This will soften the potato.  Add the drained (already-boiled) chickpeas. Stir it all up - and add another small glass of water to the pot. Bring to a fierce boil and then turn the flame down to simmer for 15 mins.  Add s fresh coriander leaf and simmer  10 mins more. turn off the heat and let it it stand for 15 mins. Serve.

Kate made two scrumptious side dishes.  

Palek Paneer (spinach)  This recipe can be found here. 

Pumpkin Aloo Tarkari   Find this recipe here.

Maureen made the Raita is the key to any indian meal (for me anyway)  Besides being great for digestion, yogurt is so refreshing with the spiciness of Indian food. (the chicken and chenna in this case)

I hope you enjoy these recipes.  Will any of you venture to make them?  Are you interested in hearing more about what we cook?    

Happy Diwali from India!!

We made it to INDIA! Last night at 1 am, Frank and I stand outside Ramkrishna Mission in Mumbai where a Diwali celebration started an hour earlier, and would continue until 4am.

What a great flight. If we had been in coach with the "commoners" this could've been a14 hour flight from hell....but alas...we were in business class and iwas soooooo easy! We enjoyed a great indian meal and several glasses of wine, Argentina style. We then SLEPT for a full 8 hours, right through the breakfast service!! We woke up watched a movie, ate dinner again, and landed just in time for the Diwali festival! The whole city was lit up with lots of fireworks (phatakas) We could see it all when flying in. We went straight to Nameeta's from the airport, ate AGAIN, (here, its all about the food) then changed into a traditional salwar kameez (turquoise for me of course) and we headed to the where a celebration started at midnight.
The place was full, shoes in piles outside the temple and everyone seating indian style (go figure)

We listened to the singing and chanting as people prayed to the goddess Kali. (good over evil) It was so relaxing, I had no idea what they were saying but you dont need to....the drums and chimes are enought to make you feel it. Here I am in the mission with the image of Kali shrine behind me. I look pretty fresh after a 14 hour flight, verdad????? yeah, right.... I love this picture of us outside the mission. Notice the image of Ganesh, the elephant god, the "remover of obstacles," above us. Hanging below that are fresh flowers strung like streamers.

From left to right, Nameeta's mother-in-law, Smita, Nameeta, me and Frank.

After leaving the mission, we went back to Nameeta's. We stopped by thia temple to Hanuman where people have tied bells over the years for good fortune. There are thousands of bells.

The girls stayed up talking til 4am! you figure out the time conversion....I vow not to. No "Ohio time" for me. I like to swing right into local time. Stay tuned!! Two more weeks of India updates!!!!