Your favorite indian food recipe!

[cups123]

I'm trying to expand my indian recipe repertoire so I thought it would be great to exchange some recipes. I just made Nigella's Muglai Chicken recipe and it is really delicious. I want to figure out what veggies I can add to it to make it healthier and not just a meat stew (any suggestions, let me know!!:))
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ni...

I've also found that with indian food in particular, good recipes are key since the exact proportion and combination of spices, if not perfect, will really throw the dish off in a totally unforgiving way...

What are your favorites?

[Stephen_Of_The_Y]

Chicken Curry. With Rice. Dunno how to make it, parents used to just send me down the chippy. Thinks me mum might know though.

[Harters]

Chippy curry usually has a more Chinese than "Indian" spin to it.

[AmandaCA]

I know that chicken tikka masala isn't authentic Indian but does anyone have a great reliable recipe for that? My husband and I used to love eating it at restaurants but there are no good Indian places in Hawaii.

Also, I once had a recipe that had cooked eggplant, cashews and raisins in a sauce on rice. I know that is a little vague but I think the sauce might have been made with cashews too. Any idea what that dish might be?

[katecm]

I highly recommend Madhur Jaffrey's. It calls for already cooked tandoori chicken. I season boneless thighs and then bake or broil or grill them at very high heat and it works just fine: http://www.our-daily-bread.com/recipe...

[AmandaCA]

Thanks, I also searched here on Chow and a bunch of recipes came up for the Chicken Tikka Masala, I'll have to sift through them.

[magiesmom]

I am currently in love with chana masala; I like the Smitten Kitchen version which is basically Madhur jaffrey with a little extra tomato. I do toast the cumin seeds in the oil to start rather than adding them with the other spices.

[suzyrose1]

Jaffreys chicken kabuli......

[katecm]

I swear by Madhur Jaffrey. I usually do meatier dishes, but just recently this salmon with bengali mustard sauce intrigued me. I don't like salmon, but this was amazing: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddri...

[sushigirlie]

My favorites are the rice recipes in the "curry cohorts" section of Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries. I've made them all, and they're all exceptional. If I had to pick just one as a sure winner, I'd pick the rice with potatoes and paneer.

[EM23]

This recipe for Butter Chicken is very good and very easy as it uses a rotisserie chicken as a shortcut. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sa...

I have made some changes to the recipe over time that I think improves on it. If you are interested in them I will be happy to post.

[junglekitte]

I made this just a few days ago from one of chowhound's own and it was delicious! The only modification I did was to add a cup of peas)

http://usgorikakhana.blogspot.com/200...

[pakupaku]

I've enjoyed every Indian recipe I've made from Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/recipes/#In...

Especially the Aloo Gobi and red kidney bean curry.

[HillJ]

http://jeenaskitchen.blogspot.com/200...

I would have to say Naan is my favorite thing and nothing beats freshly baked naan or the endless flavoring possibilities once you master the dough. Goes great with any Indian dish and I found it super relaxing to make bread. Enjoy!

[sel]

The Aloo Gobi recipe made by the 'Aunties' on The Bend it Like Beckham DVD is one that I like!

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/4943...

[LauraGrace]

SUCH a cute video of the whole process too. Love it.

[tamagoji]

+1. Their Allo Gobi comes out delicious. And I Iove the tip about adding diced cilantro stalks when sauteeing the onions.

[escondido123]

I'm making a curried beef stew tonight--the beef is not particularly Indian but good lamb is expensive--and I will just add those vegetables that I like....probably carrots and browned onions. In this particular case I will serve it with cauliflower and potato mash, the cauliflower being very Indian, the potatoes Irish of course.

I have found many recipes on line and have begun looking for a good Indian cookbook to buy, Madhur Jaffrey's look particularly good.

As to not perfect proportions and combinations throwing off a dish in a totally unforgiving way, I'd have to disagree if by that you mean the dish is inedible. I try to stay within the confines of a recipe the first time, but after that I may make changes to suit my own taste. And once I find a combination that works for me, I may well stop using the recipe all together. That is how I often cook in cultures I'm familiar with--hope to get there with at least a few of the regions in India. Love that ginger/garlic/"curry".

[cups123]

I actually never cook using measurements - I always eyeball everything and adjust to my taste. For some reason, this doesn't work so well with indian for me. Maybe I'm not familiar enough with the individual tastes of cardamon, coriander, clove etc to be able to eyeball. But I have found that if I don't measure, its just not right and the good recipes will give guidance in terms of proportions. I would like to get to the point where I don't have to measure though...:)

[JungMann]

I grew up with South Asian cooking and it wasn't until recently that I have internalized the proportions to the extent I can riff a recipe and know roughly what results I can expect from my adjustments.

Most of my favorite recipes are simple items like saag, chicken karahi, bhindi masala or kheema. I do make pretty good mutton biryani and vindaloo when I feel like putting in some effort. As for the Mughlai chicken, the sauce is not too different from what one might use for a vegetarian malai kofta, but I don't know if that counts as "healthy."

[gordeaux]

Aloo seems to be a common ingredient in the Indian joints around here.
If you dig stewy beef cuts ( i LOVE big beefy flavor) try your hand at nehari or nihari