January 11, 2015 Indian Feast at Cynthia and Ricardo’s house

We stayed at home today and rested and I worked on my water case until mid-afternoon when we received a call from Cynthia and Ricardo inviting us to join them for a PPI Indian dinner.  

When we arrived at 6:00 Cynthia had begun to fry samosas in about ½ inch of oil in a large iron skillet.  There were two kinds, a potato with ground coriander seed and mashed potato filling and the other with a lamb stuffing.  We started drinking Cupcake red wine but soon Suzette and I changed to a new bargain Torrontés from Mendoza Valley in Argentina ($4.99 less 10% at Total Wine) that was very drinkable but had a slight roughness at the back of the mouth that went away pretty quickly and not as sweet as I thought it would be.   A very drinkable wine for the money.

When Cynthia finished cooking the samosas, we moved to the dining room table and she served the hot samosas with a bowl of riata and a bowl of a lovely green coriander and jalapeno chutney and two types of Major Grey’s Chutney, one from Trader Joe’s and the other British one Crosse and Blackwell?.   After we had eaten samosas for a while Cynthia said we should have a bowl of dhal and served us bowls of dahl made with the red Indian lentil and flavored with a traditional mixture of five spice seeds; fennel, regular cumin, fenugreek and black mustard seed and black cumin.   The dahl was delicious.

Cynthia frying Samosas

Riata

the magical fresh coriander chutney

Ricardo's samosas garnished with riata, chutney and Major Grey's chutney

the Torrontes

Sauteed string beans with five spice mixture

Shrimp in coconut rice

Chandra Masala

Mango ice cream and rosewater and saffron flavored yogurt with a dash of crushed pistachios

Rico's apricot, cherry and nut balls rolled in coconut

the Samosas

When we finished the dahl, Cynthia served us the entrées; Indian string beans sautéed with black mustard seed, Chandra Masala (Chick peas cooked in a sauce of tomatoes and the five spice mixture) and shrimp served on coconut rice.

We ran out of Torrontés and Ricardo opened a bottle of Barefoot Sparkling Rosé made with moscato grapes that was quite nice with the food and better still with the three desserts that were served after the entrées; a yogurt stiffened by hanging in cheese cloth overnight and then flavored with saffron, rosewater and sugar; a lovely rice pudding and Haagen Daz mango sherbet.  In addition all the desserts were served with a bowl of crushed pistachios a bowl of crushed cashews and a bowl of coconut mixed with chopped raisins that we liberally garnished our bowls of dessert with.

The endless feast finally ended with a dessert made by Ricardo of small balls made of chopped apricots, cherries and chopped nuts rolled in coconut threads.

Cynthia told us that she was introduced to Indian cooking by an Indian lady when she lived in Maine and has cooked it ever since.  Little did I know Cynthia knew how to cook Indian food, but her cooking skills never cease to amaze.

Our huge Indian feast was a result of Cynthia’s cooking for two days to create a special meal to celebrate the 30^th birthday of Ricardo’s younger son, Leif, last night, for which we were the PPI recipients tonight.

We loved the meal and stuffed ourselves beyond belief on all of the great dishes.

Cynthia went into detail about the ingredients and cooking techniques about each of the dishes 
Here is her recipe for the wonderful coriander chutney and Indian Spinach Salad.  Cynthia, thanks for so graciously sharing them with us:

Fresh Coriander Chutney

1/4 C lemon juice
1/4 C water
1/4 lb coriander stems and leaves washed and coarsely chopped.  About 2 cups 
tightly packed (one whole bunch)
1/4 C finely chopped onion
2 T peeled and grated fresh ginger 
1 T sugar
2 tsp. fresh hot red or green chile (I used jalapeño)
1 tsp.salt 1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Combine the lemon juice, water and 1/2 the coriander in the jar of an electric 
blender and blend until mixture is reduced to a puree.  Slowly add all the 
coriander and then the onions, ginger, chile, sugar, salt and pepper and blend 
again.  When the mixture is perfectly smooth, taste and add more sugar or salt 
if desired.  This chutney can be refrigerated for a week.

    

Bon Appétit