A Visit to Mother India with friends and family

This was a weekend of special guests and meetings. Matt and Lori stopped by Friday evening to greet Christian (Mackenzie's beau) and get acquainted before our week in Mexico.

Ben came into town for a visit. The plan was to actually visit the local eatery Mother India but the seating is outdoors and it rained all day Friday and brought in a fall chill so I opted at 2 o'clock to cook instead but keep with the theme.

I had a few ingredients to pick up, looked quickly at a few recipes to see what I could do with either lamb or beef. No one has lamb so beef it was. (I also was looking for bargains since we were feeding so many). I picked up Ben and we did some fast shopping having to hit more than one store as the first was out of chicken (really?).  No time to spare as I had to get the Naan rising so I could clean up the mess of making it before dinner.

Brenda walked into the house at 1615 in utter despair as the kitchen was my usual cooking nightmare but cleaned up quickly  once the Naan was cooked and put away. On the stove bubbling away was Beef Madras which by then was not as tender as I had hoped but I had 2 hours to go. I had yet to grill the tandoori chicken for the Tikki Masla but the tomato sauce was coming together. Ben had measured out all the spices in small bowls for me which was no small feat in itself.

By the time guests arrived, all was finished and the kitchen was shining again. Pots and pans bubbling away on the stove and Naan in the oven we prepared for a feast. The night's biggest disappointment (and I knew it would be) was the rice. I don't make rice hardly at all and it was mushy and pasty to my taste but still made a good base for the sauces. It could have been a whole lot better and I may just experiment with cooking methods over the next few days to see what actually works. I have heard the pasta method works well. 

After dinner we had a cigar and raucous conversation outdoors with blankets and sweaters on. Great night with great friends and family.

Beef Madras
2 pounds steak, cubed (sirloin)
1 large onion, petals
2t ground coriander
1-2 dried red chiles chopped
1 t mustard seed
1/2 black pepper
2t tumeric
1 t salt
2 t Garlic/Ginger paste
1can coconut milk
1 T oil
1 c beef stock
Lemon juice

Heat oil in dutch oven and cook Onion till translucent. Combine spices and enough coconut milk to make a paste and add to onions cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the meat and coat with mix then add stock. Simmer covered for 1-2 hours till beef is tender. Add remaining coiconut milk and lemon juice to taste. Simmer uncovered till sauce reduces slightly. I thought it needed a bit more so I added 1 T hot Curry powder also.