Its just like me to check out a new stack of complicated French cookbooks and immediately begin cooking the only Indian recipes in them. What can I say--even after two months of this diet Im not any more enamored of French cooking than I was to begin with. Its more of a morbid fascination than anything. Curries, daal, and naan are still my favorite things to make. Yet the mysterious ingredients and elaborate process required to make terrine and aspic intrigue me. So until Im done with Montignac, France and India will keep battling it out in my kitchen. Its been fun so far.

Korma is what happens when you slow braise meat marinated to tenderness in yogurt or cream, then slather it in a complex mixture of spices. Its killer. The marinade does all the hard work. All thats left to do is brown the meat and watch it cook. Couldnt be easier. Well there is is matter of tracking down 10 different spices from where ever it is you store them, but its well worth the hunt.

This was some of the most authentic Indian Ive ever made. Its worlds better than the Rogan Josh I order time and again at the near by Indian place. Same basic idea but I got to control the spices and the fat content. Then I went and ruined the notion of any calories I saved by using yogurt instead of heavy cream in the lamb by making fried cauliflower as a side.

Its a ridiculous thing to make really. The fella asked “Doesnt deep frying something defeat the purpose of eating a vegetable at all?” I think I threw a towel at him. Logic has no place in the kitchen. This was all about satisfying an urge. Several times last week I read food bloggers talking about how fried cauliflower tastes exactly like popcorn. So I wanted to give it a try seeing as both the fella and I have been missing popcorn.

It tastes nothing like popcorn but it is good in small qualities and it went well with the lamb as a side to absorb all the delicious korma sauce. This particular dinner pleased me to no end. I already know this recipe will be in heavy rotation on my menu list.

What a thing to find in an ancient traditional French cookbook from the 50s full of scary pictures of what is supposed to be food but looks like alien creatures swallowing other smaller unrecognizable creatures. This is the stuff of nightmares. I will have to try to get pictures of these dishes as seen in the pages of this book, they really need to be seen to be believed. I am oh so glad I didnt notice them before cooking the korma or may have lost the curage to try making it.

Lamb Korma

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb
3/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
3 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 cup coconut oil or ghee
1 1/2 cups onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, diced

1 teaspoon powdered mustard
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (it could use more)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup water
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated coconut

Trim off and discard fat from lamb. Cut meat into bite sized pieces. Mix with the yogurt, salt, cumin, turmeric, and cardamom in a large bowl and let marinate for at least 2 hours.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil or ghee over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook onions and garlic until browned and tender. Add another tablespoon of oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pan and add the remaining spices. Stir thoroughly, toasting the spice mixture for about 2 minutes. Remove onion and spice mixture from pan and reserve for later.

Place pan on medium high heat, add the remaining oil and begin to cook the lamb until browned on all sides. Pour off any excess fat.

Add the onion and spice mixture back to the pan, cover and let simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes. Pour in the water, cover and allow to cook another 30 minutes or until the meat is tender. Add more water if needed.

Just before serving add lemon juice and coconut. Stir well and serve.

Original recipe from Modern French Culinary Art by Henri-Paul Pellaprat.

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Breakfast

Whole Wheat Toast with All Natural Peanut Butter, Hard Boiled Eggs and Avocado

Mid Morning Snack

Kiwi and Raspberries

Lunch

Turkey and Cheese Melt with Blueberries and Natural Veggie Chips

Afternoon Snack

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Dinner

Homemade Pizza with Whole Wheat Pita, Natural Parmesan and Cheddar, Canadian Bacon and Assorted Veggies

Thank you for visiting!

See you at the next Clean Eating Weight Loss Meal Plan.

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Right about now youre probably thinking to yourself, “Wait I thought this was a blog about some crazy French diet and French cooking. What happened to the complicated French recipes, lady?” To which I would tell you a woman has needs. In this case the need for spices, specifically the need to sniffle in joyful pain over a bowl of stew perfectly seasoned with curry and cayenne. Therefore Ive taken a break from insane French recipes that have me online translating ingredients like courgettes, aubergines and fresh coriander into plain English in order to cook. (Zucchini, eggplant and cilantro, in case you were wondering.) I just cant take it right now. Sorry, Boulud its not you, its me.

Also Im a little scared about Sunday. Its Easter and Ive invited my family over for a feast. Ive never had a family holiday dinner at my house before so Im entitled to a tiny dose of freaking out, right? Rather than doing something simple like roasting a chicken I had to go and make things as complex as possible by promising Boeuf En Daube. Five pounds of beef, a bottle of Burgundy, and a pound of shallots cooked for eight hours, this couldnt possibly go wrong. There is nothing to be anxious about at all. Oh no. There is also a complicated torte involved for dessert, I should add. It will be fine, really. Did I mention I have to work on Easter morning? There really need to be more hours in a day and less yuppies needing to by wine and lattes.

Thankfully I thrive in stressful situations, they turn off the part of my brain that over thinks and is busy keeping track of all of the people Im currently holding a grudge against in chronological order. Take that out of the picture and suddenly the genius part of my brain kicks into gear and amazing things happen. However I need to rest that part of my brain until Sunday so until then Im going anti-Emeril and taking things down several notches. Bam.

Dal surprisingly enough is one of the easiest things in the world to cook. I would have never thought it after the many highly flavored satisfying bowls of it Ive cooed over in ethnic restaurants certain that it was too complex for me to ever try my hand at. This is why I need the fella around (okay one of about a million reasons, he is also useful for reaching things on high shelves) he gets in the mood for things and insists we make then regardless of their difficulty. He is either very brave or very silly because weve made some nutty stuff on the spur of the moment to curb a craving. This particular craving worked out very well because I will now being making Dal quite often.

The original recipe calls for split peas and requires an hour of cooking. The heck with that I say. We used lentils. Unfortunately in the excitement of buying $30 worth of organic boeuf we forgot the lentils. The good news is we had red lentils hiding in the back of the cupboard and they were lovely not to mention they cut down the cooking time even more. They are the tenderest lentil so only need about 10 minutes or less to absorb water. So we sat down to Dal while waiting for the vegetable curry to takes its sweet time cooking. During which time the fella asks, “Is this what it means to eat in courses?”

Its a fair question considering we usually sit down and eat our various dishes in one frenzied swoop as Im not very good at planning out cooking times in order to eat any other way. This was a nice change of pace. And we even got to eat while the sun was out.

Dal

8 ounces lentils
2 1/2 cups water (more if you want a thinner soup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup canned diced tomatoes, or 2 medium fresh, skinned and diced
1 medium onion, diced

2 tablespoons oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon mustard seed

cilantro for garnish


Combine lentils, water, salt, curry powder, tomatoes, and onions in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer to cook covered until lentils are tender, time will depend on variety of lentils being used. Add more water to adjust the consistency of the soup as the lentils absorb the liquid.

Add the oil, garlic, and mustard seed and simmer another 5 to 10 minutes, until garlic is tender.

Add salt and pepper to taste and top with cilantro if you like.

Original recipe from The New York Times Cook Book by Craig Claiborne.

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Im going to leave all you lovely people to think about this recipe for a while. Like say a week, just until I can refresh myself enough to not feel foodie burn out anymore.

This blog has done everything I was hoping for. It gave me the motivation to stick to the diet and writing here every day got me in the practice of writing again. The only problem is I now have a back log of creative writing sitting in my notebook begging for attention. So Im using this week off from food blogging to edit some writing, I fear if I dont submit something for critiquing soon my writing group may kick me out. Which would be particularly embarrassing considering Im the one who started the group.

Ive been neglecting my fellow writers and my muse in the name of giving you all delicious recipes. And will go back to doing so as soon as I get the next great American short story typed up so my editing team can correct my grammar, punctuation and sentence structure and bring me back down to earth. Ill probably still post little wine reviews as I go long just so no one misses me too much. And when I come back Ill be armed with a new cache of impressive French meals.

But getting on to the recipe. This version of Biryani isnt much like the kind found in Indian restaurants which is high in fat and usually drowned in oil. Theyre both tasty but this is a low fat, high fiber more healthful recipe. The great thing is you can swap out the vegetables for other ones you like better, its best with a combination of root vegetables and crisp fresh vegetables that are in season. Add some well seasoned rice, create a blend of spices, toss it in the oven and youre set for a filling super flavorful meal. Its perfect for people who like Indian but dont like spicy.

The fella made Dal with it and we were quite happy. We also opened a bottle of Chateau St. Michelle Gewürztraminer which was very basic and easy drinking. It wasnt anything spectacular but it was sweet and spicy so it fit with the Biryani nicely.

Vegetable Biryani

1 cup brown rice
2 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods, seeds only
2 cups vegetable stock

2 garlic cloves
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons water

2 small zucchini, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/ 2 cauliflower, broken into florets
1 small head broccoli, broken into florets
5 ounces green beans, cut in 1 inch lengths
6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice

Put rice, cloves, and cardamom seeds into a large saucepan. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until stock is absorbed but rice is still crisp. Do not fully cook the rice at this point.

Preheat the oven to 350. Put garlic, onion, all the spices, and water into a food processor to blend into a smooth paste. Add salt and pepper to taste then spoon the spice mixture into a large flameproof casserole dish and cook over low heat about 2 minutes.

Add the vegetables and 6 tablespoons of water to the casserole dish, cover and cook for about 12 minutes. Stir occasionally, adding cilantro towards the end of the cooking time.

Remove the cloves from the rice and spread rice over vegetable mixture, sprinkle with the lime juice. Cover and cook in oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Fluff up rice and combine before serving, topped with more cilantro.

Original recipe from The Ultimate Healthy Eating Cookbook by Anne Sheasby.

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