Greensboro Birds

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow birders! This year Josh and I opted out of turkey et al., and opted into an Indian theme. No, not buffalo stew with fry bread crust (although that might be next year’s entree!), but curried stuff—you know, India Indian. We lived for a while in Sunnyside, Queens, where there are lots of Indian grocers. I learned how to make Indian food because the ingredients were at hand, it’s cheap, and it’s our favorite kind of food. Turkey and stuffing, on the other hand, I can’t relate to as a cook. Ironically, it seems foreign to my skills, if that makes sense. Today’s menu, from bottom to top:

• Raita and pita (we don’t have a clay oven, so pita’s standing in for garlic naan)
• Kingfisher beer
• Chicken curry a la Mussoorie
• Curried chickpeas
• Vegetable pullao (the rice dish)
• Kheer (Indian rice pudding)

Tito puts on his cute face for chicken curry

The raita recipe comes from Eating Well. It’s by far the best raita recipe I’ve found. Make it a day ahead for the best flavor. (That goes for virtually all Indian recipes, actually.) The other four recipes are from my trusty copy of Curries Without Worries by Sudha Koul. It seems to be out of print, which is a shame, but you can find used copies at Amazon via that link. It covers all the basic Indian dishes, and the instructions are easy to follow even though there aren’t any photos. Don’t be daunted by the long ingredient lists for Indian recipes; it’s mostly spices, so once you’ve built up your spice arsenal, Indian cooking is just basically variations on a spice theme.

Indian cooking tips:

• Use dark meat in chicken recipes; keep the bones in for the best flavor. I find that thighs give the best results. White meat is bland, bland, bland.
• The process is quick, so read the recipe first and get all of your ingredients together before you start cooking.
• Also, when the instructions name a long list of spices to be added to the pot, mix them together in a small bowl beforehand so you can just dump them in when it’s time. You’ll avoid burning whatever’s in your pan while you measure out a dozen spices.

If you haven’t tried making your Indian restaurant favorites at home, I highly recommend it, especially if you don’t live in a city where cheap Indian restaurants abound. It’s fairly pricey down here, so learning to make it yourself is rewarding both emotionally and financially.