Food Project 2: Spiced Up

My second food project was inspired by my current fave Food TV star, Nigella Lawson. I had never made an Indian dish except for curry. However, seeing Nigela do a simple version of a traditional Indian meal made me think I could get past my intimidation. On the menu:

Mughlai Chicken Curry served alongside a fluffy rice pilaf, green pea and cheese curry Muttar Paneer (for recipe, see here).

I decided to start doing the cooking after my 12 mile run, which surprisingly enough did not wipe me out. It's a good thing I'm a good wife and cook for Diesel after such a long morning.

The meal called for my first trip to an Indian grocery store. Needless to say, I was the only non-Indian person shopping there. I had to enlist the owner's help to figure out what the best paneer and garam masala brands were. On a side note, the cinnamon sticks are a STEAL! You can get a huge bag for 5 bucks. Except for the register erroneous total of $126, the shopping trip was a success!

Cooking notes:

• The recipes are pretty simple, and I had fun using the concoction of foreign spices
  
• I used the original 8-servings recipe, but halved the chicken quantity, as both Diesel and I like more sauce and less meat
• When Nigella says that the paneer with "splatter and spit" when you're frying it, she ain't kidding. There was a lot of drama during this step, and Diesel ended up doing the frying
• Everything was delish, although I think I will kick up the spice mix in the paneer and pea curry next time
• Since pomegranate is not in season, I simply skipped it and the raita tasted good with just the scallions
  

Diesel's rating: 8.5