A Recipe for Happiness

I love Indian food more than any other sort. Here's an approximation of one of my favorite dishes, Shahi Paneer Korma, that I get almost every time I go to Anmol in Beverly (much recommended; everything is half-price at lunch). I didn't feel like making my own paneer (sort of a pressed cottage cheese), so here is my paneerless recipe. The secret to making good Indian food is not to skimp on the butter. I used one stick but feel free to add more if the onions start getting a bit dry, or if you love butter. I've 90% sure that shahi means cashew.

Improv Shahi Chicken Korma

Cashew nuts
Milk
Butter
A large onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
3 tomatoes
A fingerlength of ginger
3 limes (juice and zest)
Cumin
Coriander seeds
Salt
Chicken breasts
One small hot green pepper
Scallions
Cilantro

Put a handful of cashew nuts into a bowl and cover with milk. They should sit for about an hour or until softened. Microwaving them a few times for 30-40 seconds will help.

Cut the chicken breasts into small bite size pieces, or filet them into very thin layers. Zest the limes, setting the zest aside, and put the lime juice into a bowl with the chicken to start it “cooking.”

Chop the onion into thin slices and saute it very slowly with a stick of butter, adding the garlic, diced, after a few minutes. Slice the ginger thinly and add this to the mixture. Once the onions are nice and soft, add the tomatoes, sliced thinly.

Dry-roast the coriander seeds on low heat in a little pan on the stovetop until they begin to turn slightly brown and pop (not like popcorn :) -just little popping noises -make sure they don't blacken). Grind them finely in a pestle, and add them, with the cumin and the salt, to the onion-tomato-garlic pan.

While all this is cooking, take the cashew-in-milk mixture and blend it in the food processor until very smooth and rich. Add it to the frying onions and stir til consistent and the mixture is heated through and bubbling slightly. Add the chicken pieces with the remaining lime juice, (the outside of the chicken should have started to whiten and cook by this time due to the acid in the lime juice) and stir again until the chicken is covered. Stir and rearrange the chicken from time to time so that it cooks evenly.

Chop the scallion, cilantro and green pepper (removing the pepper seeds if you don’t want it to be very hot) and add to the mixture along with the lime zest. Continue to cook until the chicken is done through. Will feed three or four depending on how hungry you are and if you serve with rice or naan. If it's been cooked long enough, you can even eat the ginger slices, which will have become soft but still flavorful.