Sweet Corn with Cumin, Curry Leaves, and Chilis

As you read yesterday - when I posted a lovely recipe for Chicken Curry - my friend Sid, who regularly sends me videos showing how to prepare delicious traditional Indian recipes, told me that I should look into a bloggers' link-up that involved cooking from the fabulous book 660 Curries.

Well, as someone who loves Indian food, you can imagine my glee in perusing the cookbook!!! I had to start cooking right away, after being led into temptation, so I made several recipes with ingredients I had on hand, tweaking ever so slightly to accommodate my pantry.

One dish that I made on a cold, dreary day and brought to work for lunch sounded so simple, so much like a throwaway; but the ingredients had been available, so it won the coin toss.

I was so surprised and delighted to find that this was a fabulous dish! Bright, spicy, addictive - I kept eating and eating, enjoying it so much!

Instead of using the red chilis called for in the recipe, I put a small piece of my lone ghost pepper into the mix. And just before serving, I mixed in some of the Indian snack mix I had recently bought, which contains all sorts of lovely crispy tidbits with a hint of sweetness. (If you don't have access to an Indian market, here's a recipe; just add a handful of golden raisins to approximate the mix I bought at the store.) It was one of the best lunches I'd brought to work in a long time!

You could serve this corn as a side dish with meat, over rice, with naan ... it's up to you. But serve it, even if it sounds a bit unusual. It really is fabulous!


Sweet Corn with Cumin, Curry Leaves, and Chilis

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3 cups frozen corn
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 large curry leaves
• 1 small red pepper, finely chopped

Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and turmeric; cook for 10 seconds. Add the corn, water, cilantro, and salt; bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat to medium. Add curry leaves and pepper; cook for 8-10 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove the curry leaves and serve immediately.

4-6 as a side dish.

Chicken Curry with Tomato and Coconut Milk

My friend Sid, who regularly sends me enticing videos showing how to prepare delicious traditional Indian recipes, told me that I should "check out" a bloggers' event: cooking from the fabulous book 660 Curries.

Well, cooking from scratch ... Indian food ... curries ... spices ... sigh ... :)

Chicken, lamb, vegetables, lentils, oh my! Familiar favorites were featured, of course. But there were also interesting and intriguing items such as a savory dish combining pineapple, coconut, and coffee; a chili- and fenugreek-infused matzah ball soup; and ivy gourd, a bitter vegetable resembling a mini cucumber, that I'd never heard of.

As I skimmed through the book, there was a swirl of tastes and aromas and fragrant spices dancing in my head. What to cook? What to make?

Well, I needed to do something immediately, tempted as I was. And since my entire freezer door is filled with mostly Indian spices - I'm serious! I've got cardamom, curry leaves, cumin seeds, black sesame seeds, Garam Masala, and others - I had the basics for making a fabulous dish. So, then, I had chicken thighs, lentils, spinach, some leftover coconut milk; what could I find from the 660 options to make right away?

The Chicken Curry, made with coconut milk and a tomato - a classic.

I substituted ground ginger for fresh, and I used chicken thighs rather than the boneless chicken breast cubes that the recipe called for; therefore, I needed to cook the dish for longer than indicated. But it turned out beautifully - tender, flavorful, a wonderful dinner! It was such a nice, easy meal for a cold, cloudy fall day.

Chicken Curry with Tomato and Coconut Milk

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 4 large chicken thighs
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ginger
• 2 teaspoons Madras curry powder (tends to be a hotter blend)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• jasmine rice and mango chutney, for serving

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet; add chicken and cook, covered, 10 minutes per side until golden brown. Uncover skillet and remove chicken to a plate.

Drain most of the fat, then add onion, garlic and ginger; cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is softened. Add curry powder, salt, and coconut milk; bring just to a boil.

Return chicken to skillet skin-side up, turn heat down to medium, and add tomato. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, until sauce is thickened.

Serve with mango chutney and jasmine rice.

Serves 4.