Chicken a la Catalana

Catalunya is one of Spain’s 17 autonomous regions – comunidades autonomas – and its cuisine is arguably the richest in all of Spain, possibly because of its proximity to France. Its location has helped bring many cultural influences from Romans and Arabs in ancient times, as well as from French and Italians in more recent times. It relies heavily on ingredients popular along the Mediterranean coast, including tomatoes, garlic, fresh herbs, olive oil (prepared using the variety of olive called the “arbequina“), legumes (beans, chickpeas), mushrooms, onions, cod, wheat products (bread, pasta), almonds, wines, all sorts of cheese, poultry, lamb, and many types of fish like sardine, anchovy, tuna, and cod. Catalan is the regional language spoken and Barcelona is its capital.

At a bar mitzvah, recently, I run into a childhood friend from Uruguay, Susana R., and she just emailed me her favorite chicken recipe, including the accompanying photo:

Pollo a la Catalana

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 8 chicken thighs, deboned, skinned, cubed
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 3/4 dry red wine
• 1 cup chicken stock *
• 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley roughly chopped
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Heat a bit of the oil in a large frying pan, add the almonds and fry, stirring a few minutes, until golden. Scoop out of the pan and set aside.
2. Add the remaining oil to the pan, add the onions, chicken and garlic and fry over medium heat for 10 minutes stirring constantly until deep golden. Mix in the raisins, sherry, chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce has reduced slightly and the chicken is cooked through. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve with rice and salad.

* Chicken Stock

Yield: 16 cups

Ingredients

• 1 small bunch (about 1/2 oz) Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 pound hen, cleaned and cut into four pieces
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 large carrot
• 4 bay leaves
• 12 black peppercorns
• 4 cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place the celery and peppercorns on a piece of cheesecloth, then using kitchen string, tie the ends of the cheesecloth together to make a bag.
2. Place 16 cups water in a large pot. Add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 4 hours, skimming the surface occasionally to catch and discard the residue and foam. Add extra water to the broth, making sure the original level of broth is maintained throughout.
4. Drain the stock through a strainer discarding the vegetables and reserving the flesh for further use in other recipes.

The chicken stock can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen up to 30 days.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Spicy Aromatic Chicken

Some dishes not only taste great, not only smell great, they are also easy to prepare. What could be better than combine all three for a summer meal when you want to stay away from the kitchen heat as much as possible?

I found the following recipe in The Big Book of One Pot:

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4-8 chicken pieces skinned
• 1/2 lemon, cut into wedges
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, coarsley chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 14 ounces canned chopped tomatoes in juice
• pinch of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon  ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 14 ounces canned artichoke hearts, drained
• 8 black olives, pitted
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Rub the chicken pieces with the lemon. Heat the oil in a large, flameproof casserole or lidded skillet. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the chicken pieces and cook for 5-10 minutes until browned on all sides.
2. Pour in the wine and add the tomatoes with their juice, along with the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the the casserole and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the chicken is tender.
3. Meanwhile,cut the artichoke hearts in half. Add the artichokes and the olives to the casserole about 10 minutes before the end of cooking, and continue to simmer until heated through. Serve hot.

Your kitchen will be filled with an inviting aroma, your palate will enjoy it. What more could you ask?

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Chicken and Cavatelli

Perfect comfort food for these cold winter days, delicious too! I found this recipe in Food & Wine: Qick from Scratch Chicken Cookbook:

So comforting, this dish reminds us of Grandma’s chicken and dumplings. In fact you can substitute frozen dumplings for cavatelli.

Ingredients

• 5 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 onion, cut into thin slices
• 2 ribs celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
• 4 bone-in chicken breasts (about 2 1/4 lb in all)
• 1/4 lb frozen cavatelli, egg noodles or dumplings
• 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 2 tablespoons flour

I made it with homemade dumplings last eve... Mmmmmmm!

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring the broth, bay leaf, onion, celery, and carrots to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sage, salt, pepper, and chicken breasts and simmer, partially covered until just done, about 25 minutes. Turn the chicken breasts a few times during cooking.
2. Meanwhile in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the cavatelli until just done, about 10 minutes. Drain
3. In a small bowl, stir the margarine and flour together to form a paste. Remove the bay leaf from the pot. push the chicken to the side and then whisk the margarine mixture into the liquid. Simmer until thickened, 1 or 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked cavatelli and simmer until just heated through.

Frozen Pasta

Several brands of frozen cavatelli, flat egg noodles or gnocchi are available in supermarkets. Unlike dried pasta, these products have an appealing doughty chew that we find just right with this type of saucy stew. Cook the the frozen pasta separately according to package instructions, drain, and then stir into the pot with the chicken.

Coming back last evening, from a very cold day, making the above recipe with my own homemade dumplings was comforting and delicious.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Recipes We’ve Enjoyed During the Holy Days – Part 1

I cooked up a storm this season since we’ve had lots of guests at meals meal during the Holy Days. These can, however, be made and enjoyed at any time and they’ll be perfect no matter what the occasion!

Let me start with an appetizer that went over very well:

Sesame Chicken Toasts

Serves 12

Photo from: Simply Southern - With a Dash of Kosher Soul

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 1 boneless skinless chicken breast half
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12-15 slices white sandwich bread, crust removed and cut into 8 triangles
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• Vegetable oil

Directions

1. Process chicken in food processor until finely chopped. Add egg, green onion, garlic, cilantro, broth, pepper, and salt. Pulse a few times to mix well.
2. Scatter sesame seeds onto a plate. Sread a thick layer of chicken mixture over bread pieces. Press spread side into seeds making an even covering.
3. Heat 1/2 oil in a skillet until hot. Quickly fry triangles for 2-3 minutes on both sides. turning once until golden browned. Drain toasts on paper towels.

Toast may be prepared in advance. Store in refrigerator for 3 days or frozen up to a month. Thaw overninght in refrigerator. Reheat in hot oven for 5 minutes.

Roasted Summer Vegetables

(Adapted from The Big Book of One Pot)

Serves 4

Photo from: The Big Book of One Pot

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 fennel bulb, cut into wedges
• 2 red onions, cut into wedges
• 2 beefsteak tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 eggplant, thickly sliced
• 2 zucchini, thickly sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
• 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 fresh rosemary sprigs
• ground black pepper
• crusty bread, to serve

Directions

1. Brush an ovenproof dish with a little oil. Arrange the fennel, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini and bell peppers in the dish and tuck the garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs among them.Drizzle with the remaining oil and season to taste with pepper.
2. Roast the vegetables in a preheated oven at 400 F, for 10 minutes. Turn the vegetables over, return the dish to the oven and roast for another 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and beginning to turn golden brown.
3. Serve the vegetables straight from the dish or transfer to a warm serving platter. Serve immediately, with crusty bread to soak up the juices.

(Adapted from: The Big Book of One Pot. When I made this dish I tripled it, as we had 11 people at the particular meal).

My guests were very pleased with the above dishes, I hope you will enjoy as well.

SYR

Kosher Revolution

It looks too traif to be true, but Geila Hocherman and co-author Arthur Boehm have really pulled it off with their new cookbook Kosher Revolution. Inside you’ll find the most exciting new recipes adapted from the finest in worldwide haute cusine, photographed by the extraordinary Antonis Achilleous.  Geila and her genius ability to exchange un-kosher ingredients with kosher ones while still fundamentally maintaining  the look,  texture and – never to be confirmed – taste, of its original counterparts are more than praiseworthy, yet the outstanding photography  makes your mouth water with possibility.

Delicious recipes, superb photography

Geila’s gifts, mastery of taste chemistry and ingenious ingredient substitution, broaden the breadth and spectrum of cooking kosher. Her very elegant presentation is more than worthy of a cordon bleu Chef.  Anthonis Achilleous‘ extraordinary talent for lighting, color, texture and capturing the most tantalizing angles of his composition, clearly illustrate that he is at the top of his art form among the best food photographers out there. Geila’s not a snooty chef either, if there is a way to save time or make a recipe user friendly, she does so.You’ll find her palate of adaptable ingredients refreshing and versatile as she looks to give an expansive kick in the pants to the sometimes mundane nearsightedness of traditional Jewish cooking.

Duck Prosciutto (page 24), Grilled Figs With Balsamic Gastrique (page 26)

“Duck Prosciutto

serves 4

When people challenge me to “make trayf safe,” they usually mention ham. This breakthrough recipe began with that dare—and my realization that what makes ham taste like itself has less to do with the meat than its cure. My quest for kosher prosciutto—nothing less!—led me first to smoked turkey leg, which is hammy all right, but hardly like the Italian specialty. I went to work, and, happily, scored a triple bull’s-eye by giving duck breast a really easy salt cure—just fifteen minutes of prep followed by a “set-it-and-forget-it” refrigerator stay. The resulting “prosciutto” is so much like the real thing, but with a special character all its own, you’ll be amazed. I pair this with grilled figs (page 26), a traditional prosciutto accompaniment, but that’s just the beginning. Try it wrapped around asparagus spears or, diced and sautéed, as a salad garnish.

Geila’s Tips

To achieve paper-thin slices, I use an inexpensive electric slicer, a great kitchen investment. The very ends of the cured breast over-dry. Save them to put in soup. If you can’t find the Moulard breast, place two regular breasts together and cure as one.

• One 6- or 8-ounce package of muscovy duck breast
• 4 cups kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground fennel
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup white wine vinegar

1. Over a burner flame, singe away any remaining pinfeathers from the breast. Rinse the breast and dry it with paper towels.
2. On a dish just large enough to hold the breast, make a 1-inch bed of the salt. Place the breast on the salt and cover it with another inch of salt. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours.
3. In a small bowl, combine the coriander, fennel, and pepper. Holding the breast over the sink, rinse it with the vinegar (to remove the salt), and then under cold running water. Dry the breast and rub it all over with the spice mixture. Wrap the breast in cheesecloth and knot it at both ends. Using sturdy household tape (duct tape works well), attach one end of the cheesecloth to the top of the refrigerator interior, or hang the breast from a high refrigerator shelf, and let it cure until the breast feels firm but not dry, about 2 weeks. Start checking after a week. Thinner or smaller breasts will take less time.
4. Using an electric slicer or a sharp carving knife, slice the breast paper thin or as thinly as possible. Place 3 melon slices on serving plates, drape with the prosciutto, and serve.”

Especially now around holiday time, go grab your own Kosher Revolution, hit the supermarket for some of the recommended stock items for your pantry and start putting some magic into your dishes.  Once you get the hang of the revolutionary ingredient exchanges, Geila so deliciously demonstrates, nothing will prevent your launching your own kosher revolution.

SYR

Chicken Tajine

This recipe is a delicious meal all by itself and it’s made in one pot, there is less cleaning and it’s an easier dinner to prepare. What could be more satisfying than the delicious aromas of healthy cooking wafting through the kitchen, especially when it’s all done with little effort? There are many versions of this dish; last eve some Moroccan friends, visiting from Israel, came over and this is the variation I made.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil.
• 1 onion, cut into small wedges
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 lb chicken cutlets
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 8 oz zucchini, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded, chopped
• 3 oz portobello mushrooms, chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (see CS’ Chicken Broth)
• 10 oz chickpeas
• 1/3 cup dried apricots, chopped
• 1/3 cup prunes, chopped
• 1/2 cup dates, sliced
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic and cook for three minutes, stir frequently.
2. Add the chicken and cook, stirring constantly, for an additional 5 minutes. until all sides are seared.
3. Add the cumin and the cinnamon sticks after the first 2 1/2 minutes.
4. Sprinkle in the flour, stir constantly, for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the zucchini, the bell peeper and mushrooms. Cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
6. Blend the tomato paste with the chicken broth, stir into pan, bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat and add the chickpeas, apricots, prunes, and dates. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until chicken is tender.
8. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Garnish  with chopped cilantro or parsley (I used cilantro) and serve immediately.

We paired it with with a Willm Gewurztraminer 2008. With fresh flowers and citrus on the nose, flavors of pineapple, honeydew, lychee and apple with lots of honey on the finish. This is a dry white but with a subtle hint of sweetness on the tongue, elegant rather than big and bold,  it is clean, refreshing and with just enough acidity to accentuate the sweetness of the dish. A marriage made in heaven!

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy! We did.

CS

Bourbon Chicken

[Bourbon Chicken is a flavorful chicken dish named for the bourbon whiskey ingredient. The dish is commonly found at Cajun, Chinese, and American BBQ themed restaurants. The various recipes includes soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, and bourbon in the base, and the chicken is marinated in this sauce.]

Yesterday we cooked with red wine, today we’ll use bourbon. This is a superb chicken recipe from Food.com!

Photo from Food.com, by: Caroline Cooks

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 4 chicken breasts, chopped into chunks
• 1 red pepper, sliced thinly (about 200g)
• 1 carrot, cut into sticks
• 0.55 lbs. broccoli florets
• 2 green onions, sliced thinly
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ginger, grated
• 1/2-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (add to your personal taste.)
• 1/3 cup apple juice (just over a 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup bourbon (when I use bourbon for cooking, just as when I use wine, I prefer a quality bourbon, something I would normally like to drink, like Blanton’s or Maker’s Mark)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon cornflour

Directions

1. Heat a little oil in a pan, cook chicken in batches, until browned all over, set chicken to one side.
2. Heat a little more oil in the same pan, add pepper, garlic and ginger, cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring.
3. Add red pepper flakes, juice, bourbon, water, soy, sugar, ketchup and vinegar, stir to combine, bring to the boil.
4. Return chicken to pan with carrot and broccoli, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 Min’s.
5. Mix a little water with the cornflour, add to sauce and stir until mixture thickens.
6. Serve over rive and sprinkle with green onions.

Yields 4 servings; Prep time – 10 minutes; Total time – 35 minutes

Coq Au Vin

I always liked cooking with wine, there is a certain elegant French flair that wine lends to whatever is made with it. In our quest to find delicious recipes, we came across what promised to be a very savory one on my recipes and it inspired us to make a kosher version:

Quick Coq au Vin

Photo from: myrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast or thigh
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 cups quartered baby portobello mushrooms
• 2 cups (1/4-inch-thick) quarter sliced carrot
• 1/2 cup (1/4-inch-thick) quarter sliced celery
• 1/3 cup pastrami slices
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup chicken broth *
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

Directions

1. Combine flour, rosemary, thyme, and salt in a zip-top plastic bag; add chicken. Seal and shake to coat. Remove chicken from bag, shaking off excess flour.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 8 minutes or until browned, turning frequently. Remove chicken from pan.
3. Add mushrooms, carrot, celery and pastrami to pan; sauté 2 minutes. Stir in wine, broth, and tomato paste; cook 9 minutes. Return chicken to pan; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done.

Since I only use regular wine rather than “cooking” wine (why impact on the taste of a great recipe with wine you so bad you would’t drink it?!?!?), considering I have just enough left over, I’ll be using a very good Tishbi Cabernet Sauvignon 2006.

*(CS’ Chicken Broth

Yields about 6 cups

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 pounds chicken pieces with bones
• 1 large carrot, cut into chunks
• 2 medium sized onions, quartered
• 2 celery ribs with leaves, cut into chunks
  
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon crushed, dried rosemary, 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 quarts cold water

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in a soup pot. Bring to a boil slowly, then  reduce heat.  Skim foam. Cover and simmer for about 2 hours.
2. Set chicken aside until cool enough to handle. Remove meat from bones. Discard bones; save meat for later uses. Strain broth, discard vegetables and seasonings. Refrigerate overnight. Skim fat from surface. )*

I freeze the unused broth yields for up to 10 days (it will always get used up by then!)

Going through myrecipes.com, I see a nice amount of recipes that can be adpated to make them kosher or can already be made as they are. I plan to come back often for inspiration. Meanwhile… enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Rolled Chicken

For the first part of Pessach I was in Lakewood, NJ, where three of my children and their families reside. During a break between mincha and maariv on the second evening, the learned discussion somehow veered to foods of our youth, dishes no longer served, since today they would rightfully be considered as “a heart attack on a plate” as my friend put it. We spoke of gribenes, three inch thick matzoh kugel, matzebrei made with oodles of eggs and quite a few more dishes of yore. Oyyy… they were truly delicious. What made them so, what delivered their heavenly aroma was chicken fat!

Gribenes were made by deep frying pieces of chicken skin in chicken fat… Yeap, I can see most of my readers recoiling in horror at the mere thought. Don’t worry, gentle reader, I haven’t touched these in quite a few decades nor do I advocate a return to them. But, I do wonder why – now that we consume far healthier fare – why is it that the percentage of obesity is far higher and the average age for passing on to the next plane has not significantly changed since I was a kid?

Perhaps the reason we were not adversely affected by these killer foods was because I remember the family always going for a walk after a meal, in fact we used to walk a lot. When I grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay, elementary school was a mere two blocks away. After lunch, I’d walk 8 blocks to Yeshivas Machzikey Hada’as. When old enough for secondary, five or six of us from the same neighborhood would walk sixteen blocks each way to Liceo Hector Miranda and after lunch we’d walk another 10 blocks to the mesivtah. Only if it rained did we get a ride.

By the time were getting ready to move to the US, Montevideo got its first school that combined limudei kodesh and secular subjects, it went from kindergarten through secondary. The school’s name, showed the Zionist agenda of its founders. It was called, Escuela Dr. Teodor Herzl… I think, gentle reader, you’ll agree with me that such a name for a purportedly frum school just wouldn’t do today, not in the US! But I digress…

Getting back to food, both my daughters are excellent cooks as are my three daughters in law. Just thinking of some of the dishes I’ve enjoyed during the years makes my mouth water. Yes, the fare they serve is far healthier than what I remember growing up with. I was headquartered at my oldest son’s house, where I enjoyed both sedorim, the plethora of delicious dishes and the aromas wafting from the kitchen into the rest of the house was enough to make even the most satiated person hungry for more. Below, is the recipe for one of my daughter in law’s delicacies:

Ingredients

• 6 chicken cutlets
• 1 1/2 cup Duck Sauce
• 8 large potatoes

Filling

• 6 potatoes
• 2 onions
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
• 2 eggs separated
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1 tablespoon parsley flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Pound the cutlets until they double in size, cut each in half. Set aside
2. Peel the the 5 potatoes, boil them and cut in the lenght and cut them again (sideways) for a total of 8 to 10 pieces each. Set aside.
3. Boil and mash the 6 potatoes for the filling
4. Sautee the onions in oil.
5. Beat the egg whites until stiff
6. Add the egg yolks and sauteed onions to the mashed potatoes.
7. Fold in the whites.
8. Add potato starch, parsley flakes, paprika, salt and pepper.
9. Put some of the potato mixture on each of the cutlets and roll them.
10. Put the rolled cutlets on two tin pans.
11. Pour the Duck Sauce over each cutlet.
12. Take the cut up potatoes and cover any empty space.
13. Put in preheated 350 F oven, for 1 hour.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Dakshin – Glatt Kosher Indian Bistro

About 10 days ago, we had the pleasure of dining at Dakshin (1154 First Avenue, between 63rd and 64th; New York, NY; Tel: 212.355.4600).

Partial view of the small, inviting, authentic Indian restaurant

The scent of fresh baked naan and superbly blended Indian spices attracted my olfactory senses as soon as I entered this small treasure of a restaurant; like a coiled streamed white scent leading from the kitchen, it beckoned and did not disappoint.

Dakshin and its owner Sanjay Bhatnagar are the real deal in authentic Indian cuisine. The menu was jam packed with diverse regional offerings; from the traditional vegetarian dishes of the North down to rich southern region’s fish dishes sourced from the Indian Ocean with a broad selection of poultry, beef and lamb to round off the menu.

Aromatic, delicious, Chicken Naan bread

We started the meal with an unusual Chicken Naan. Pieces of chicken are kneaded into the dough and then baked in Dakshin‘s own tandoori (clay) oven. It transported us to another time, to another realm, we loved it!

With over 13 appetizers to choose from, we let Sanjay and his son pick favorites for us. Mine was Hari Bhari Tikki. This consisted of spinach and potato cakes flavored with fresh chillies, coriander leaves and ginger, grilled on a skillet.

CS had Lasoni Mushrooms, fresh mushrooms sauteed with fresh ginger, tomatoes, garlic and coriander. Both appetizers were served on banana leaves, the traditional Hindu way. A great start, for the surprising flavors yet to come.

We then tasted a Lemon Rice…

...cooked in lemon juice, with mustard seeds and curry leaves

…which we left as a superb accompaniment for the mains. While neither CS nor I care much for cauliflower, we both agreed that the Ghobi Aloo (cauliflowers and potato cooked in a mild gravy) was a new experience in taste, one we’ll just have to repeat.

We then shared the Chicken Tikka – breast marinated in ginger, garlic and lime juice, grilled over a slow fire – and Tandoori Chicken…

Tandoori Chicken

…chicken on the bone, marinated in spices and herbs, grilled on a slow fire. Throughout the meal we dipped the pieces in their mint chutney, onion and tamarind relishes, we loved all three! Like being submerged into a bath of jasmine and floating lotus blossoms anointed with hennaed palms and feet.

It was a very different experience for a western palate; it was an unusual but very tasty meal. Now that we are in the final stages of cleaning our homes for Pessach, a time when many start eating out for the next few days, Dakshin makes a perfect place to savor something very different from the usual fare and it’s all reasonably priced too!

They also deliver frozen foods, I’ll have to order immediately after Pessach.

SYR