attempt in indian cuisine

I have been wanting to learn Indian cuisine. I have not done so up until now mostly because of the need to find rather many spices. In recent years I learnt more about as well as expended my knowledge of spices and herbs. I decided that it is time I give preparing Indian cuisine a try.


In recent weeks I have been engaged in binge-watching of cooking videos of BBC Food on Youtube. I decided to make this Punjabi chicken with spinach because I have nearly all the ingredients on hand. I have been shopping for spices for Indian cuisine in the last few days. I bought some at Winco supermarket. For what Winco does not have I went to this great Indian grocery store in Beaverton call Indian Sweets and Spices.

I arrived a few minutes too early before it open. The lady is very nice and helpful. While I have visited this store few years ago and even had lunch there I now know a lot more about Indian food and ingredients. The prices are very reasonable and the selection is huge. The best part I found is most of the dry spices are from India instead of China.

ok, there is a bit of me in the reflection on the plate glass - it is about as much of me you ever going to see in my blog

 i took many photo in case i need to know if they have a specific spice i need

i came home with these; i also have a lot of spices i bought from Winco a few days ago in addition to what I already have at home

here are some spices i bought from Winco - ignore the plumbing parts

start preparing the ingredients for the punjabi chicken with spinach

 ok, i cheat - i use thai chilli peppers that i have

 i also deviate from the recipe by keeping the skin of the chicken

 building up the flavor

 i don't have tomato so i substituted with a tomatillo left over from making mole

 add the browned chicken

 add the minced ginger and garlic and liquid

 i added my home made garam masala

 i added whole milk yogurt

 preparing the spinach per recipe

 time is of the essence

 still not quite there yet

 finally - delicious

I only ate a small portion for lunch. I let the pot simmer for another 15 minutes. The additional reduction concentrate the sauce and tender the chicken more. The remainder tastes much better having cooked slightly longer. Also the chicken is more tender from being in the yogurt longer as well.

If you live in Portland, Oregon and like to attempt Indian cuisine I highly recommend this little store in Beaverton. It is call Indian Sweets and Spices. They serve authentic Indian vegetarian food everyday except Monday form 11:30am to about 8:00pm, all made at the premise. I really like small and honest businesses like this and I hope it thrives and grow for the years to come.


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