Good morning everyone!

Good to have you back with us.

Thanks to DJ TAJ for hosting last week. Always good to recharge the creative batteries now and then.

Milestone passed! I just finished the 2 week agonizing goddamn eternity after my second vaccine and according to SCIENCE! I am now fully inoculated. WOOO! That also means I can get back to seeing my daughters and granddaughters again. Both daughters are also past that fabled 2 week delay following the 2nd shot.

I’m excited as fuck to be able to host a get together again but after so long… I don’t really know how to go about initiating it. Sounds fucking strange right? We’ve been buried in the hermit cave for so fucking long I’ve lost the ability to just reach out and say “Hey! Let’s hang out OK?”

The fuck is wrong with me?

Actually that question answers itself. We’re all, every one of us just mentally annihilated after the previous year plus. 

Got something quite a bit different for you today but something we’ve messed around with before. We’re going to be experimenting with Indian Cuisine again. You long term readers know that we’ve done a few different types of Indian dishes.

There was our Chicken Vindaloo.

Then we had our chicken tikka masala.

Which is a cousin to todays meal – another masala.

This dish is absolutely vegetarian. Yes, I do that once in awhile. We’re also going to continue our weekly bread making foray today but we’re making scratch made naan!

Fuck yes we are.

Since there are many types of masalas out there you’re probably wondering “The fuck is ‘Chana’ masala.”

Chana is this.

Garbanzo beans or chickpeas. For somebody who started life with a substantial distaste for these chunky bastards I sure have changed my tune with them. They are the substance of fucking life! In fact you’ll be seeing them again real soon.

We’re going to cook this entire bag but will only need about 1/3 or so of the cooked beans today. The amount of chickpeas used in the recipe is entirely dependent on how many folks you’re going to be feeding.

To start this properly these will need an overnight soaking prior to cooking. Let’s give them a bath.

These will take on a lot of water during soaking so add some extra bathwater as needed.

The next day?

And they will still require a couple of hours of cooking to get them tender.

Let’s cook them now.

Since these are going to be heavily flavored for this dish I just cooked with some salt, pepper and a pinch of cumin. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook over low flame, covered, for a couple of hours.

IMPORTANT TIP!

Right after these come to a boil they are going to produce a shitload of foam. Use a slotted spoon to skim the foam off of the cooking water. I had to do about 4 sessions of skimming but after you’ve gotten rid of the foam, it takes about 20 minutes, the beans shouldn’t foam up again.

When they are done, they should look something like this.

They should be tender but of course they will still have a firmness. Crush one between thumb and forefinger to test.

Let cool and set aside for now. Don’t drain them! We’ll use some of that liquid a little later on.

We’re going to get started on our naan now since it requires a rise or two.

NAAN!

Recipe inspired by rasamaylasia.com

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 packet active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon oil

Some oil for greasing the skillet

Proof the yeast in the warm water with the sugar.

Holy crap! This is a lot like making bread! It IS making bread.

Next add in the flour, oil, yogurt (plain Greek yogurt today), and salt. Place into your mixer and give it a 10 minute ride on the Tilt-o-Whirl.

Yes, this will knead for 10 minutes as per custom. Then into a lightly oiled bowl to proof as always. After the rise let’s shape them up for a final proofing.

After about an hour the dough will be proofed and ready for action.

These are super easy to finish. Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Get that fucker hot then add in just a small splash of oil so the naan doesn’t stick.

Let me show you what happens if instead of rolling out you toss the naan by hand like your dumb ass is making a pizza or something.

Yeah, that’s pretty fucking stupid looking. How about reading the instructions? Especially the part that says roll them out on a floured surface with a rolling pin?

That’s more like it. Just a minute or so on each side until you get the familiar browned spots. Think flour tortilla.

THAT’S more like it. Now do it again to prove you’re not hopeless.

Much better.

What do they look like up close?

This has officially become my go to recipe for all things naan/tortilla-ish things. Fucking incredible. In fact, this recipe yielded 8 balls of naan dough and since there were just 2 eating today I made 2 pieces of naan for each of us.

I froze the remaining uncooked naan doughballs and figured I could do some experimenting and find out if you could, indeed, do that and produce some tasty naan after the dough has been frozen. 

You’ll have to tune in another time to find out.

Now it’s masala time.

Garam Masala!

1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds toasted and ground

1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander

1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom

1 ½ teaspoons black peppercorns toasted and ground

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon – I used a whole cinnamon stick that was – you guessed it -toasted

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of dried fenugreek

We’re going to make our own masala from scratch.

If using the whole seeds toss them all into a skillet and give them about a 5 minute toast. This imparts a nice rich flavor and also gives you an olfactory journey to an Indian spice market. Holy shit is this aromatic as fuck. Take the toasted seeds and the other dried ingredients and get them in a spice grinder. Or use a coffee grinder like I do. Again, this grinder is ONLY used for spices, not coffee beans.

Give a couple of quick pulses

After toasting and grinding?

Beautiful. The smell is amazing. The garam masala can be stored in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 3 months.

To our feature presentation!

Chana Masala!

recipe inspired by minimalistbaker.com

2 tablespoons of canola oil

1 medium white or yellow onion, finely diced

1 tablespoon ground cumin

3/4 tsp salt

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced

2-3 fresh Serrano peppers minced with seeds 

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 28-ounce can pureed or finely diced tomatoes 

1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of our cooked chickpeas

1 tsp garam masala

Like almost all Indian dishes this one starts out with onion. Let’s let the toys do the dicing today.

Give it a quick spin.

Then we’re going to get cooking. Heat up your cooking vessel, add in some oil and then the onions and spices.

Next we add the peppers and the garlic. I used 2 quite large serranos today.

There we go.

Then in go the tomatoes and the chickpeas.

Here’s where we add in just enough of that reserved cooking liquid from the garbanzo beans to reach our desired consistency.

Now let this simmer for a bit.

That’s looking nice.

Let’s make a batch of rice. Plain white rice will be fine.

And cook until done.

One last look at the chana masala.

Now all we’ve got to do is get a scoop of rice and ladle the gravy on top.

Grab a piece of that naan and you’re ready to party!.

Obviously I made the naan as the final act of this dish.

How did we do?

It’s rich and earthy and that garam masala really comes through. Next bite gives me the ginger and, uh, the garlic and the…HOLY FUCK THAT SHIT IS HOT!

The chickpeas are cooked perfectly. Give me some more of that bread.

GOD. DAMN! Fucker is hot as fuck.

That original recipe actually called for 3 serrano peppers and that is certifiably fucking insane. And this is coming from someone who LOVES spicy food.

You can absolutely see the framework for a truly delicious dish. My suggestion? Maybe one small serrano or even a teaspoon of cayenne to the simmering stew instead of 2 fist sized serranoes could suffice.

That crazy motherfucker who wrote the original recipe called for THREE! That shit could hurt a motherfucker.

Yes. I still ended up eating 2 plates. You know. For science.

This one really bummed me out. You could see how everything worked in unison and the entire dish was compromised by one too many peppers.

Shit. It was a balanced dish, rich, hearty, satisfying – especially for a vegetarian dish – just too damn hot.

All was not a complete failure though. That naan was fantastic. The garam masala was incredible and now I’ve got a goal. A special purpose if you will.

First I’m going to find out if it is indeed possible to freeze the naan dough and have success cooking it again in the future. That would save a tremendous amount of prep work. Also, I’m going to figure out an additional dish for that garam masala. I’ll have to puzzle on that one a bit. I’ll think of something.

Cooking is like life in a way. Sometimes everything works out right and all is good and decent.

Other times you end up practically blowing your goddamn face off when you try something for the first time.

Also like life, it’s a great learning opportunity. Failure happens in the kitchen and I’m OK with that. It’s a great way to remember a lesson.

I tell all of my new hires there are no stupid questions until you ask it a second time. 

We’ll learn from this. 

As always. 

Be safe. 

Be well. 

PEACE!