For a while now, my daughter has been obsessed with cooking shows and one of her favourites is Spice Goddess. Its somewhat surprising to see a little girl so enamored of a show about Indian cooking, especially when she has no interest in eating Indian food. We often get takeout from a local Indian restaurant and while she LOVES rice and naan, that is about the extent of her interest in eating Indian food.
Although being of Indian descent, I've never tried cooking Indian food. Growing up, I had no interest whatsoever in Indian cuisine let alone learning to cook from my mother.
Watching Spice Goddess each week, I decided it was time to take the plunge. I sent my husband off to the local Indian Grocer with a list of spices to buy. Truth be told, his real incentive was to pick up a case of mangoes, which unfortunately for him, were out of season!
With all the ingredients in hand, it was time to start cooking! Here is the original recipe from Bal Arneson (The Spice Goddess):
The recipe took a while with respect to ingredient preparation, but overall was easy to follow. I found the asafoetida (which I had never heard of before) to be a little overbearing in the aroma department. Next time, I will either use less or omit it altogether. I'd also skip the 1/4 cup of water as it does nothing other than to dilute the recipe. And if I am so inclined as to spend more time on ingredient preparation, I might chop a few more tomatoes next time. Despite these modifications, the recipe was a hit with my husband who is not a huge fan of Indian cooking. He liked it so much, he's asked that I make it again this weekend.
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