Cooking Indian food with Radha and Anna

Warning: This is going to be a long (but delicious!) post.

One of the reasons I like DC area is diversity: diversity of culture, food, and people. This past Sunday night represents this diversity quite well.

My friend Radha is Indian, and Anna and I talked her into hosting an Indian dinner. Of course we were more than happy to come over several hours before the guests (Jenn, Adrienne and Eileen) arrived and get cooking! [Anna is on the left]

Pictures below: 1) vinegar/chili pepper marinade for the chicken. To that we also added ginger and garlic paste. 2) Anna cutting chicken into strips while Radha washing the spinach. 3) That's me cutting the onions to go into the chicken dish: I have mad knife skills!

Radha first sauteed paneer and then boiled the spinach. Did you know you can make paneer at home? It's rather easy: I did it once and it was a piece of cake.

The cumin seeds were roasted in a pan to release the flavor. The seeds were then added to the chicken. Next to it, the mixture of food-processed spinach and jalapenos was cooked with some of the ginger/garlic paste. To that we added fried paneer.

And then our first guest arrived: Jenn! Adrienne and Eileen came soon after and it was time to feast!

Here is a recap of the dishes: Raita (yogurt, tomatoes, red onion), Samosas (store-bought: with potatoes and peas) with mint chutney, Rice, Chicken (with fresh tomato puree, garlic/ginger paste, green peppers, cumin seeds and a bit of ketchup!), spinach with paneer, and (not pictured) naan.

This was a marvelous night: we cooked, ate, drank, and chatted! Jenn brought awesome fruity beer and Adrienne & Eileen brought dessert: what else can one want?

If you want mor detailed recipes, let me know.