After Finnish week, I was really looking forward to Nepali week. I don't mean to offend any Finnish people that might be reading this and I sincerely apologize if I do, but I was a little underwhelmed with the food. Like I said in my last post, I know there are better meals out there (really want to try some Karelian Pastries) and I'm not entirely done with the Finnish cuisine, I definitely plan on revisiting it someday, but this experience didn't leave the greatest taste in my mouth. So yeah, was into trying Nepali food.
I bought The Taste of Nepal by Jyoti Pathak from Amazon. It got good reviews, it didn't cost a thousand dollars, and it claimed to be a good combination of traditional and homemade recipes.
The first meal I made was Chicken Sekuwa and Black Eyed Pea Curry. So, side note, shopping for groceries for the week was enlightening and very affordable; I spent a total of $70 on groceries for the four meals. Se-ven-ty do-llars. By comparison, Finnish week costs me roughly $140 and I didn't get a year's worth of beans with those $140 like I did with these groceries. Seriously, I bought like eight pounds of beans. I'm good for, like, forever.
The ingredients
2-3 lbs skinless, boneless, chicken breasts cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces. I used about a pound.
1 tbsp plus 2 1/2 tsps fresh lemon or lime juice
1 1/8 tsp salt
2 medium red onions. 1 chopped and 1 sliced into 1/8 inch thick rings (DO THIS!!! You won't regret it)
12 fresh mild green chilies. I didn't know how spicy these would be so I removed the membrane and de-seeded them. I'm Hispanic, I know what happens when you don't remove the membrane AND de-seed peppers. My eyeballs still haven't recovered from when I was eight and helping my grandma chop up jalapenos and I rubbed my eyes. I also only used four, who needs 12 chilies? Not this weenie. Seriously, I can't do spicy food.
1 tbsp peeled and roughly chopped fresh ginger. By the way, pay attention to the size of that piece of ginger for the rest of the week.
3 large garlic cloves, peeled. And not crushed???? Martha Stewart, forgive me.
1 cup plain yogurt. I used Greek yogurt and didn't bother looking into whether that would matter until after I started cooking. People have different opinions on it but it doesn't seem to matter. I mean, you don't want regular yogurt cause, you know, that's gross, but do what makes you happy. (Get the Greek, it's strained and doesn't turn to mush)
2 tbsps vegetable oil
1 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp Garam Masala. My grocer, Gandhi Bazar, makes their own Garam Masala. And yes, I have my own Indian grocer that I do shop at regularly. They are very friendly and make fantastic samosas.
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
2 medium tomatoes, cut into 6 wedges
1 lemon or lime cut into wedges
2-3 sprigs of cilantro. This is just garnish so no need to muddle up this deliciousness with that mess
8-10 grilling skewers. Make sure to soak them for thirty minutes or they'll burn. I mean, I soaked mine and they still burned but it could have been worse.
Place the chicken in a bowl and mix with 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tsp salt. Set aside for ten minutes. Put the chopped onion, 2 of the green chilies, ginger, and garlic in a blender/food processor, and mince. Move the mixture to a bowl and add the yogurt, oil, paprika, garam masala, cumin, and tumeric. This is what that delighfulness looked like.
Meanwhile, marinate the lemon rings in the remaining 1 tsp of lemon and 1/8 tsp of salt. Do this part, it's the best part. No it's not, it's the second best part, but do it anyway.
So the book says to pre-heat a charcoal or gas grill to medium high heat but I didn't want to do that so I used my broiler instead. Thread the chicken onto the skewers and place them in the oven, right below the flame, and turn until they are lightly browned. Takes about 20-25 minutes. Remove and let it cool. Serve with the marinated onions, lemon, and tomato wedges.
1 1/2 cups dried black eyed peas. 1. Remember beans double in size when cooking so if you're feeding a couple of people, maybe use 1/2 to 1 cup. 2. Soak your beans. Always soak your beans. It helps with cooking time and digestion. Take care of your gut people!
2 tbsps vegetable oil
1 tsp fenugreek seeds. They are also known as Methi Seeds and they smell delish!
1 large onion finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsps minced fresh ginger
2-3 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
A large pinch of asafetida. Oh asafetida...so I worked in property management for about fifteen years and there was one scent that was always a pain to get rid of in an apartment. I couldn't ever place it and I'm very familiar with spices but I found it last week. Asafetida. If you want a full explanation, here it is but just know that one of its nicknames is "Devil's Dung." I haven't cooked with the stuff in almost a week and my house still smells like it. I mean, it smells good but man, I want my house to go back to smelling like dogs.
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes. I didn't peel mine cause I'm a rebel. And I'm lazy.
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 large tomatoes, chopped
3-4 green onions (white and pale green parts) finely chopped
2-3 mild green chillies, halved lengthwise. Or as we like to call in here in Texas, "hot dog" style
1/2 cup chopped cilantro. JUST GARNISH.
The book said to soak the beans for six hours and I did cause I follow directions (like 40% of the time). Drain the peas and place them in a saucepan with 5 1/2 cups of water. I don't think you need this much water if you properly soaked the beans, I think you'd be good with 3 to 3 1/2. Just my opinion. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce to medium-low, cover, and simmer until beans are tender, roughly 45 minutes. You want to evaporate as much liquid as possible so if at the 45 minutes mark you still have a lot of liquid, increase the flame.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and when hot, but not smoking, add the fenugreek seeds and fry until browned. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, tumeric, and asafetida, and cook until the onions soften. Mix in the peas, potatoes, cumin, coriander, salt, and cayenne pepper. Continue cooking and stirring for roughly five minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of water and bring mixture to a boil. Cook uncovered for five minutes, then reduce the heat, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about ten minutes. Add the tomatoes, green onions, chilies, and cook for five more minutes; make sure to stir every once in a while.
The finished meal. Oh-my-gawd was this good!
The meat was beyond tasty and tender. It was a tangy due to the onion and yogurt but oh so good. Those onions I kept going on and on about? UUUHH, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. I was worried because they were raw and raw onions mean my chest will be on fire but the lemons softened them to where they just melted in my mouth. And even though I knew what could possibly happen, I still ate like six of them. By the way, no heartburn. None. It was magic! The curry was spectacular! Who knew black eyed peas could be so fantastic? That asafetida ruined the scent of my house but turned those boring beans into one of my favorite dishes ever.
So yeah, this meal was aight.
Best Nepali meal, although all were very good. Still don't understand how we didn't get heartburn with the onions.
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