I have never tried making Indian food before, and last week’s experiment taught me a little lesson:
When attempting to cook a dish from an entirely unfamiliar cuisine, follow the damn recipe.
I didn’t really follow the recipe. Or I sort of did…but was so confused by the sheer volume of spices it told me to pile into my slow-cooker that I started thinking to myself “That can’t be right” and going lighter than the recommended amounts of cumin and cardamom and what have you. And guess what I ended up with?
Bland chicken tikka masala. Surprise surprise.
It wasn’t bad – it tasted good, actually, especially with some salt and cilantro – it just wasn’t quite as party-in-the-mouth as I expected. But maybe this is also because I used a recipe that sold itself as being basically a lazy lady’s version of the dish?
I don’t know.
Anyway, I’d like to try again. Recipe suggestions and tips for making Indian food without making myself nuts (e.g. nothing insanely time-and-labor-intensive, plz) would be very much welcome.
