Chicken Samosas with Cilantro-Yogurt Dipby Jean-Georges Vongerichten
Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten plays with the concept of that classic Indian snack, creating a perfectly spiced, crisp treat.
This recipe uses spring roll wrappers instead of a more traditionally dense dough, not only because they’re super-easy to work with (and can be bought at your local grocery store), but also because they make a perfectly light and flaky shell. And gone is the potato and pea filling, replaced with a richly spiced chicken and tomato mixture. The pastries are served with a cooling cilantro and yogurt dip, which you’ll want to eat with a spoon after the samosas have all been gobbled up.
Click here for the recipe.
Saag Paneerby Jane Lawson
From a chef Down Under comes a redeeming dish of Saag Paneer.
Saag Paneer—also known as Palak Paneer—is curried spinach puree with chunks of Indian cheese, and it is a dish with a bad rap. For a slew of unappetizing reasons (none of which we’ll go into right now), what should be a richly spicy, creamy dish is often quite the opposite. But done right, this is an exceedingly tasty vegetarian side dish. In the time it takes to pick up the phone, call for delivery, and pay the guy on the bike, you can cook your own Saag Paneer that tastes the way it should.
Click here for the recipe.
Sauteed Cauliflower with Anise and Cashewsby Padma Lakshmi
Cauliflower is a pretty plain vegetable, and sometimes needs some dressing up. And so we call on Padma to do just that. (You saw what she was wearing on Top Chef last week, right?)
Padma Lakshmi has taken the traditional Northern Indian dish of cauliflower cooked with potatoes and cumin, called aloo gobi, and replaced the potatoes with cashews and the cumin with anise seeds; it’s lighter without the potatoes, and the cashews give it a rich, nutty flavor that pairs well with the anise.
Click here for the recipe.
Grilled Cornish Game Hens with a Tomato-Fenugreek Sauce by Raghavan Iyer
This Bombay-born chef is fluent in six languages, so it’s no surprise this tandoori translates perfectly.
In many Western countries, the U.K. and U.S. included, tandoori chicken is considered the signature dish of Indian cooking as a whole. But in India, it was confined to the cooking associated with the Moghals, who dominated the northern regions just before the British took over their raj, and now it is associated with Punjab and Pakistan. Tandoori chicken showed up on restaurant menus in Old Delhi and soon spread to other parts of the world, roasting its way into people’s hearts. The chickens in India are much smaller than those in the U.S. and have a stronger flavor, so Cornish game hens are the perfect substitute.
Click here for the recipe.
Saffron Kulfiby Victoria Blashford-Snell and Brigitte Hafner
I scream, you scream, we all scream for kulfi!
Kulfi, or Indian frozen custard, is like ice cream plus gelato times 10: thicker, richer, creamier, and sweeter than either, and easier to make at home, too. Eaten all over India, kulfi comes in such flavors as pistachio, cardamom, mango, and saffron. It’s the Southeast Asian answer to 31 flavors.
Click here for the recipe.
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