My Take on Indian Food

It's no secret that I love Indian Food, and I guess that's because I love SPICY food.  There's just something about Indian Cuisine that stimulates all the senses - the colors, the aroma (ok admittedly, it's not for everyone), the flavors... And I think one dish will have no less than 5 spices in it.  

Last weekend, I made two Indian dishes for my Mom - who influenced her children to be adventurous about their food (and I thank her for that).  So I cheated on the first dish, Butter Chicken, because the sauce came from a bottle hee hee, but it's just so darn good!  The sauce was so thick, so I diluted in milk and I added potatoes and peas.  For the second dish, Chana Masala, the spice blend came from a box, but I cooked everything else - so it's semi-from-scratch.  I added some cilantro for color.  We only had regular jasmine rice (not the traditional Indian Basmati rice), but we did have some Naan bread.  

I ate the last cup of Chana Masala this evening.  I'm proud of it - almost like what you eat from an Indian Restaurant. :-)  And most importantly, my mom loved it, including the Butter Chicken.  We had these for dinner last weekend, then lunch today (per her request).  Just thinking about it, I'm getting hungry again.