By Leslie Brenner
Imagine inviting your family or friends to sit down to a sumptuous Indian feast, all prepared by you during a fragrant and soul-soothing afternoon in the kitchen.
The experience can absolutely be yours, and more easily than you might think. Your spread can be vegetarian, or it can star one of my own family’s absolutely favorite dishes — murgh makhani, known the world over as butter chicken. Below you’ll find menus (and recipes!) for both.
With the exception of just one of the recipes (a deliciously transporting dish of charred baby eggplants that calls for curry leaves), everything you’ll need should be available in a well-stocked general-purpose supermarket.
If it’s the butter chicken-centered feast you’re after, surround the main dish with basmati rice, cucumber raita, a minty coriander chutney and something green. When I orchestrated a birthday dinner for my husband Thierry recently, our green was baby spinach simply sautéed with garlic.
If you’d like your feast to be plant-based, you might choose a jazzy saag paneer (simmered greens with fresh Indian cheese) as your centerpiece. I love the version from Maneet Chauhan’s book Chaat, which uses pretty much any kind of greens you like (spinach, chard, collard greens, etc.) — or stick with spinach, if that’s what you’re craving. Use Chauhan’s method for making wonderful home-made paneer (that’s the fresh cheese); for that I’d probably make the cheese the day before. But you could swap that for purchased paneer. Alternatively, do as Priya Krishna does in her book Indian-Ish and use feta in place of paneer.
Maneet Chauhan’s Saag Paneer
For a butter chicken feast, I keep it pretty simple. Murgh makhani is the only dish that’s very involved, and to that I add plain basmati rice (perfect for soaking up all that delicious, rich sauce), something simple and green (like that spinach), plus cucumber raita and coriander chutney — both of which come together quickly, with no cooking. If I’m feeling carby, I might pick up some garlic naan from Trader Joe’s. If you’d like an actual recipe for an excellent Indian-style veg, Peas and Potatoes Cooked in a Bahari Style or Spinach with Dill (Dakhini Saag) are both super easy; both come from Madhur Jaffrey’s wonderful Vegetarian India, which we reviewed in 2015.
If you want to achieve a few things ahead of time, you can make the raita and chutney the day before, along with one of the ingredients in the butter chicken: Ginger-Garlic Paste. (Note: That’s also something you can pick up in Indian groceries, but I have found the one’s I’ve bought too salty or off-tasting.) Toast and grind spices and make a fabulous garam masala in advance, or you can buy a really good Punjabi-style one (perfect for butter chicken) at Penzeys. If this all sounds too labor-intensive, you can take a real shortcut: Buy a supermarket roasted chicken, skip to the sauce part of our butter chicken recipe, and simmer the pieces in the sauce a few minutes. (We won’t tell anyone!)
But first, perfect easy basmati rice
If you do go with the butter chicken, you’ll probably want rice. I learned to make perfect basmati rice from Jaffrey’s book as well, and you don’t need a formal recipe for it. Rinse 2 cups of basmati rice in several changes of water, cover it with a couple of inches of cold water and let it soak for half an hour. Bring 2 3/4 cups water to boil in an oven-proof pan with a tight-fitting lid. Drain the rice, add it to the boiling water, bring it back to the boil, and then transfer it to a 325-degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it sit (still covered) for 10 minutes, fluff with a fork, and serve.
World Butter Chicken
As for the chicken, I honestly think nothing beats our World Butter Chicken, which streamlines our adaptation of chef Monish Gujral’s recipe from The Moti Mahal Cookbook. (Gujral’s grandfather first created murgh makhani a century ago.) We’re honored that Monish has given his nod of approval to our recipe.
Spices for Garam Masala
Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) Feast
Basmati Rice (see above)
Sautéed Spinach with Garlic OR Bahari-Style Peas & Potatoes OR Dakhini Saag (Spinach with Dill)
Garlic or Plain Naan (pick up at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods)
Anjali Pathak’s Charred Baby Eggplants
A panoply of plant-based treats
On the other hand, I can’t think of anything more enticing than a gorgeous, aromatic array of Indian vegetarian dishes. It would be super fun to cook up the feast with a friend or two. Or do it as a potluck — any of the dishes listed below should travel just fine. Or just pick two of three of the dishes listed below to keep it more basic.
Another great centerpiece besides saag paneer is the platter of charred baby eggplants shown above, adapted from Anjali Pathak’s The Indian Family Kitchen. A crunchy topping of coconut, mustard seeds, curry leaves and ginger make it really special; fresh red chiles add a zing of heat that gets smoothed out with dabs of yogurt. It’s a fabulous dish.
One of the dishes listed below is a favorite from Madhur Jaffrey’s Vegetarian India: Roasted Cauliflower with Punjabi Seasonings. I make it frequently, sometimes as part of a vegan meal, with lentils, or a vegetarian one, with a rich and buttery dal.
Indian Vegetarian Feast
Anjali Pathak’s Charred Baby Eggplants
Maneet Chauhan’s Saag Paneer OR Dakhini Saag
Roasted Cauliflower with Punjabi Seasonings
Peas and Potatoes, Bihari Style
Basmati Rice (see above) AND/OR Purchased Garlic or Plain Naan
Whichever way you go with your Indian feast — or maybe you’ll just tackle one delicious dish — I wish you a beautiful and most fragrant journey.
Want to find all of Cooks Without Borders’ Indian recipes in one place? Visit our Indian Cuisine page.
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