Making Indian Food at Home

By no means am I a professional at making Indian food at home. My friend Kunjan in college taught me all about Indian food and I learned to LOVE it. Indian food is much more readily available up North. However, in Virginia, Indian food is really expensive to eat at restaurants that are few and far between. Occasionally, Brad and I will go to Nawab in Williamsburg, or Curry Club in Richmond. They are very good, but have high prices and are far away. We have compromised and learned to "cook" Indian food at home. By no means is this authentic, but it's good for when you need a weekday fix!

Products to Use:

• Simmer Sauces: After you cut up some chicken, all you need to do is brown it and then simmer it in an Indian inspired sauce. You can find a variety of simmer sauces in grocery stores. Our favorites can be found at Martin's, Harris Teeter, and Fresh Market. We have used a simmer sauce from Trader Joe's, but it was lacking flavor, even after we spiced it up a little on our own. For tips on spicing up the chicken, see below.
• Rice: For quick and easy rice on the weeknights, I love to use Microwaveable Jasmine rice by Trader Joe's. It cooks in three minutes. If we are using sweet simmer sauces, such as those made with coconut milk, we will jazz up the rice more (see our rice tip below!)
• Naan: For people who may not be familiar with Indian cuisine, naan is a type of bread that goes with meal. It comes in a variety of ways, such as out of the freezer cases at Walmart. However, we like to purchase Masala Tandoori naan from Trader Joe's. 

Pros of Cooking Indian at Home:

1. It is cheaper
2. You can add spices to the sauce to make it as mild or hot as you like
3. It's tasty
4. You can experiment with different simmer sauces and find some really good ones!
5. It's an easy weeknight meal and makes excellent leftovers for lunch the next day

Cons of Cooking Indian at Home: 

1. It makes your kitchen smell like a NYC taxi cab
2. It has the potential to make you want to consume an entire box of Gas-X 
3. You can choose a simmer sauce that is not so tasty and have a meal that's not tasty
4. It's not as tasty as restaurant (or Kunjan's) cooking

Tips:

Spicing the Chicken: Depending on the type of simmer sauce we use, we like to rub in any combination of the following: curry seasoning, cayenne, dry pepper flakes, and fennel seed. It works best to rub the spices into the chicken before it is cooked.

Sweeten the Rice:If we have a sweet sauce, usually containing coconut milk, we like to make sweet rice. I find that this rice is so tasty that sometimes I don't even want anything else. I just want to eat the rice! This rice should be used in moderation for healthy eaters because we add the following:

• Fennel Seed
• Chopped Pecans
• Golden Raisins
• Shredded Sweet Coconut

Types of Seasonings for Sara and Brad's Tasty Rice

Final Tasty Indian Rice