And just like that my food blog has completed a year. So many food and food photography experiments were conducted in the den of my midwest apartment. So many pounds were gained. Myriad avant garde artists of the food and/or writing world have inspired me during this time, and continue to do so – thanks to instagram. And a million (connotative) drafts later, I knew it was time to strike with words (and food) again!
Have you ever wondered that “foodie” could be associated with humans and animals alike? Well, I believe it should. And I have sufficient evidence to prove it. Stories from my past. Stories of my canine partner. Here’s her story from her perspective –
“Humans have conquered the planet earth, and have reserved all funky adjectives and nouns for themselves. And have also for the most part reserved all the food for themselves. These humans, I say. Billions of blistering blue barnacles!
But my humans (yes, I got three of them!) have bestowed upon me the very coveted titles of a greedyfoodie and a sleepyhead. And I am flattered.
Like my humans, I have a food routine. However, on some days, when mum’s heart explodes with love, she toasts my bread a little. And butters it up slightly. And pours warm milk into my bowl. And I lick every drop of it until my bowl hits the wall (as I do not realize in excitement that my bowl and I are merrily tracing a random path on the floor). And dad also has an enormous heart. Known for all the soups and stews that he concocts, he never forgets to reserve all the juicy bones for moi. And I never hesitate to hold my tongue out and wag my tail rigorously until all the bones have been neatly laid in my bowl, and all my humans are at least two feet away from moi. And I chew away every bit of it and land in food paradise. And then I come back to reality only to doze off and dream further of all delicious treats in the world that there is.
My other human does not ever step into the kitchen let alone cook/bake/toast. She comes across a tad bit mean and selfish, but she dotes on me. She is great at throwing tantrums. And that is a bonus for moi, as most of her tantrums are at the dinner table. As I lurk under the dinner table, while she pretends to eat, she passes on to me (under the table), food of all kinds. And boy, on some days she also pours flavored milk onto my bowl. I can’t decide if she is my favorite human or not, because she does not put any effort to create any of the scrumptious stuff I eat. But I know she is likable. At times, she does get bossy and asks me to sit in front of her and reads aloud a book to me. And I oblige and pretend to listen because she treats me in the end. And eventually I fall asleep. And float in my dreamland where mum serves me cottage cheese chunks dunked in a delectable gravy, and dad takes me out to walk and feeds me my favorite cookies!”
Convinced?
Butter chicken meatballs are inspired by the classic and ubiquitous butter chicken.
I have lately taken to meatballs, like a fish to water. Okay, a little less than that. But you get my emotion, right? I bake them, and then dunk them in any gravy of my choice. Below is the recipe of delectable meatballs in a tomato-ey and butter-y gravy. Thank me later! And also note, that your canine friend or any animal friend for that matter will also thank you if you acknowledge him/her as your equal!
- Ground chicken - 1 lb
- Onions - finely chopped - ¼ cup
- Potato (small) - Boiled - 1
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Garlic parsley salt - ¼ tsp
- Black pepper (ground) - ½ tsp
- Red curry powder - 1 tsp
- Cilantro stem and leaves - minced - ¼ cup
- Butter - 2 tbsp
- Green chili - finely chopped - 1
- Onions/shallots - finely chopped - ½ cup
- Tomato(medium sized) - finely chopped - 1
- Five spice powder - ½ tbsp
- Yoghurt - 3 tsp
- Red chili powder - 1.5 tsp
- Heavy whipping cream - ¾ cup - 1 cup
- Salt to taste
- Cilantro for garnish
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 F.
- In a medium sized bowl, add all the ingredients mentioned under the meatball section of the ingredients, into the ground chicken, and mix well.
- Make equal sized medium meatballs out of them.
- Line them neatly atop a cookie sheet/baking tray lined with aluminum foil and butter/cooking oil sprayed on top of the foil.
- Bake for 30-35 min, until the meatballs are well done.
- In the meantime, heat a wok pan and add butter to it. In order for the butter to not burn, add 2-3 drops of oil into the pan.
- Add green chili and onions/shallots and saute until the onions/shallots turn translucent.
- Add the chopped tomato, and cover the wok with a lid. Cook in simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove the lid, and cook for 5 more minutes or until the fat starts to separate.
- Add the five spice powder, followed by the yoghurt.
- Stir well. Add the red chili powder.
- Add the meatballs, and mix well so that the onion-tomato mixture coats them well.
- Increase the flame/heat to high, and add the cream into the wok.
- Stir well, and add salt to taste.
- Close the lid, and cook on medium flame for 3-4 minutes (until the meatballs have soaked a bit of the gravy and are tender to the bite).
- Remove from the flame, and garnish with cilantro leaves.
- Five spice powder - Cinnamon, Fennel, Cloves, Star Anise, White pepper - This is one of my favorite spices lately. Adds such great flavor to curries, and is comparable to using whole spices.
- Red curry powder - Red pepper, Chili pepper, Turmeric, Jalepeno Pepper, Dehydrated garlic, Dehydrated onion, Paprika and other spices - You can use garam masala in lieu of this.
- Boiled potato - Helps with binding the ground meat into meatballs
- Salt - As we have already used some salt in the ground chicken mixture, take caution with the amount you add later to the gravy. A taste test never hurts!
