Butter Chicken

This recipe has become a favorite at my house.  I often visited Indian buffets when I worked in Indianapolis and West Lafayette, and my favorite dish was always the butter chicken.  Alas, there are no Indian restaurants where I live now, so I figured I had learn to make it myself.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and with the help of a few recommendations in the comments section, this dish is even better than the ones I had at the restaurants.

The changes I made to the original recipe are minor, but definitely add to the success of the dish.  The original recipe calls for cornstarch to thicken the sauce, but I read that it is traditional to use ground cashews as a thickening agent.  I also use a combination of thighs and breasts, instead of just thighs.  The addition of cashews is what puts this recipe over the top.  They elevate the flavor and add a nice consistency and texture to the sauce that the cornstarch can't compete with.

The ingredients list is long, but the butter chicken is not very difficult to make.  It is all about building flavors.  The smells of the warm, rich, comforting spices that permeate the house when I am making this dish is second to none.  There is some heat, flavor-wise, but that can be adjusted by the amount of cayenne you decide to add.  Be your own chef!  If the flavor is good, I can handle a little heat, and believe me the flavor is good in this dish.

Butter Chicken
Printable Recipe

Ingredients
For the sauce:
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 white onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste, recipe follows
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/4 cup finely ground cashews

For the chicken:
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 pinch cayenne pepper

Directions
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Saute shallot and onion until soft and translucent. Stir in butter, lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste, garam masala, chili powder, cumin and bay leaf. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomato sauce, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in half-and-half and yogurt. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat, and season with 1 teaspoon garam masala and cayenne. Stir in a few spoonfuls of sauce, and simmer until liquid has reduced, and chicken is cooked through. Stir cooked chicken and cashews into the sauce. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, or until thickened.

Ginger-Garlic Paste:
1/2 cup cloves garlic
1/2 cup fresh ginger
1/4 cup canola oil

Combine garlic, ginger, and canola oil in a mini-food processor and process until it forms a semi-smooth paste.  Excess can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Beef or Lamb with Rice

This recipe peaked my interest because it looked so simple.  At the same time it was also something different; familiar ingredients brought together in a new way.  Preparing it was a cinch since we had all the ingredients on hand; I opted for the beef instead of lamb. 

The recipe is very straightforward and the only thing that took much time was waiting for the meat to get tender.  As I was finishing the meal, it started to remind me visually of another family favorite in our house, butter chicken.  Flavor-wise, they are totally different, but I guess it was just because it was a sauced meat served on a bed of rice.

I was very impressed with the flavor of this dish.  The meat was tender and juicy and the tomato sauce gave it a deep rich flavor.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it!  I used my bread to sop up the leftover sauce on my plate so I could savor every last drop.  Sometimes simple is better as this recipe proves, and I am looking forward to trying it with the lamb.

Beef (or Lamb) with Rice
Printable Recipe

Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
2 lbs. Beef or Lamb (from leg)
1 cup Rice
1 large Onion, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 can Tomato Paste
1 cup warm water

Instructions
Have meat cut into small cubes as for stew. Pour oil in hot skillet; heat. Brown meat slightly for about 8 minutes. Add onion; cover; simmer 5 minutes or until onion is soft. Add salt and pepper. Blend tomato paste in cup warm water; add to meat. Cover; simmer about 45 minutes or until tender.

In the meantime, cook rice about 20 minutes in 2 quarts boiling water to which 1/2 teaspoon of salt has been added. Drain in colander; rinse with cup of cold water. Keep hot by placing colander over pot of boiling water.

Arrange rice on hot platter, leaving space in center. Place meat in hollow; pour sauce over meat. Serve very hot.

Teddy Bear Bread

My cooking skills are a product of food television.  I've been watching cooking shows for as long as I can remember.  Rarely did I use recipe cards or cook books when I tried a new recipe.  I always saw the food being made on the TV before I made it.  That's not to say I never tried a recipe for the first time from a cook book or recipe card, but visual learning was more of the norm for me.

I learned a lot of techniques from watching the television cooks; how to dice an onion, knead dough, folding ingredients into batter, butchering a chicken, etc.  Watching the food applications unfold on the TV made it much simpler to replicate when I tried it on my own.  They gave me a good foundation of skills so I felt comfortable trying new things.

With the food shows growing stale and uninspiring (I miss you Good Eats), my attention has turned more to cook books.  Some of the books I have lay out an application in sometimes two or three pages, thoroughly detailing each step along the way.  This brings me to the old family recipes I have been trying for the first time; many of them handwritten on 3.5 x 5 inch index cards.  No longer do I have the luxury of watching a recipe unfold over thirty minutes, or reading a detailed twelve-step recipe.  My recipes are no longer fool proof.

While I adore these handwritten recipe cards, detail has given way to space, and I am left to fill in the blanks sometimes.  I also think that some of these recipes were pretty much memorized by the author, so something that was thought as a given, may not have made it to the card.  Also, some of these recipes are over fifty years old and some of the terminology and ingredients are foreign to me.  Having never seen or tasted some of these recipes in the past, it can be a challenge.

Good thing I love challenges!   I have been having so much fun with these recipes.  Sometimes I don't get it right, but more often than not, they have been delicious and a joy to make.  For the ones that produce less than ideal results, I know what I did wrong and how to fix it, so that gets me excited to try it again.  Besides, the pride and delight of preparing food from recipes I know were made and written by my family is unmatched by any recipe from a book or cooking show.

I remember Nonna making this teddy bear bread when I was a child.  One summer, it seemed like she was making them all the time.  A cute little brown bear that you can pull apart and eat, now what child wouldn't love that? 

This recipe is very similar to a yeast roll recipe that I have, and it tastes similar.  It is not a sweet bread, and I remember always wanting it to be sweeter as a kid.  I thought that if the bread was in the shape of a bear it should be sweet, more of a dessert bread.  I don't know what my rational was, but I still feel that way, and I still don't know what my rational is.  If I make it again, I may sprinkle it with a little but of sugar, or add some honey to the dough.

Besides sweetness, which is a personal preference, there is one other thing I would change to this bread.  The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of yeast, or 1 package.  These days, a package of yeast contains about 2 teaspoons.  I didn't know if that had changed over the years, so I used 2 tablespoons, which was too much.  I would recommend 2 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon of yeast at the most.  The bread rose a little too much for my liking and had too much of a yeast flavor.

The kids got a kick of of a loaf of bread in the shape of a bear, though Emilie thought it looked like an elephant.  The bread was fun to make and brought back some wonderful memories, and it's hard to get that from a cooking show.

Teddy Bear Bread
Makes 2 Bears
Printable Recipe

Scald 1/2 cup milk.  Add 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt and 3 tablespoons of butter.  Stir until melted.  Cool.  Dissolve 2 teaspoons yeast (1 package baking yeast) into 1 1/2 cup warm water.  Add to milk mix.  Add enough flour (approx. 4 cups) to make moderately stiff dough.  Knead 8-10 minutes.  Place into greased bowl.  Let rise until doubled.  Punch down.  Divide dough in half.  With one half, divide into 2 pieces (for head and body).  Divide rest into 7 pieces (1 nose, 2 ears, and 4 paws).  Shape into bears.  Let rise until doubled.  Mix 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water and brush onto bears.  Make indentation in ears.  Place raisins for eyes and belly button.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Banana Cream Pie

I had never made banana cream pie before, and when I saw this recipe, I figured now was the perfect time.  I liked the fact that this recipe called for tofu, as I have had success with tofu based pies in the past. 

This recipe did pose some problems though.  It looks short and sweet, but some important details are lacking.  My initial confusion came from the ingredient listing '1/2 Honey or Maple Syrup'.  I wasn't sure what measurement the '1/2' referred to, so I used 1/2 cup.  Looking back, that may have been a bit much, but it did not negatively affect the overall flavor of the pie.

I also used silken tofu, which is the tofu I used for the other tofu based pies I have made.  The silken tofu resulted in a very loose pie, so I will most likely opt for firm or very firm tofu in the future, so the pie will set up better.  One last thing I would do differently would be to add lemon juice to the pie to prevent the bananas from browning as quickly.  I made the pie in the morning, and by the time we cut into it in the afternoon, the filling almost looked like melted milk chocolate.  Not very visually appealing for bananas.

The overall pie experience wasn't all bad, though.  The pie has a wonderful flavor and is light and refreshing.  A perfect dessert on a warm spring or summer day.  I will take what I learned from this first experience and try again.  The flavor is there, I just need to work on the aesthetics.

Banana Cream Pie

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
1 pound firm tofu

2 or 3 ripe bananas

1/2 cup honey or maple syrup

Vanilla (optional)

1 baked pie crust

Directions
Slice a banana and place on the bottom of the pie crust in a single layer.  Combine the tofu, bananas, honey and vanilla in a blender and mix until smooth.  Pour mixture into pie crust and refrigerate until set.  Add whipped cream, if desired.

Caramel Cinnamon Muffins

Valerie makes the muffins in our house.  Me and muffin pans don't like each other.  She'll be the first to tell you she doesn't cook, but she can bake muffins with the best of 'em.  When I saw this recipe, I showed it to her and asked her to make them for the family, and she happily obliged.

The ingredients in this recipe are very simple and we had all of them on hand.  The batter comes together easily, but what sets this recipe apart from others is adding brown sugar and butter to each muffin pan before the batter.  This technique reminded me of pineapple upside-down cake where batter is poured directly on a butter, brown sugar mixture.

The recipe calls for the use of 14 muffin pans, but we only did 12 since that is the number of openings our muffin pan has.   So we only needed 6 teaspoons of butter and 12 teaspoons of brown sugar.  We followed the rest of the recipe as written.

The muffins were delicious.  I was a little nervous about them sticking to the pan, but had little issue with it.  There is a slight crunch on the bottom from the sugar caramelizing and the muffins are light and not too sweet.  They did not store well, however, so it is best to eat them fresh.  I don't see that being a problem next time.

Caramel Cinnamon Muffins

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

6 teaspoons butter

12 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup brown sugar

2 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg

1 cup milk or 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons melted shortening

Instructions

Grease 12 muffin pans; into each place 1/2 teaspoon butter and 1 teaspoon brown sugar.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and sift. Beat egg; add milk and melted shortening; add remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Add to dry ingredients all at once; stir quickly until just mixed and appears lumpy.

Quickly pour into pans, fill about 2/3 full. Bake in hot oven 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 12 muffins.

Hamburger Potato Pie

I've had bags and boxes of family recipes for a long time, and spent several weeks scanning them all into my computer, as I've mentioned before.  The problem was easily accessing the recipes so I really knew what I had and could plan what to make.  It was cumbersome to shuffle through the recipes in the box and it always seemed like I was looking at the same recipes over and over.  The laptop was a little better, but it's bulky and I didn't want to print the recipe I was going to use, and it took up a lot of counter space if I took it into the kitchen with me. 

Enter, the iPad.  I had the idea to transfer all the scanned recipes onto my iPad and it has proven to be most helpful.  It is like carrying around a digital cookbook, and it doesn't take up much more room on the counter than a recipe card would.  Ah, technology.  Since I transferred the images, I have been trying more and more recipes.  Hence, more posts on Family Tree-Eats!

Hamburger Potato Pie caught my eye as a nice dinner option for the family.  It's hard to go wrong with meat and potatoes and this recipe proved that point.  Simple to make and with not a lot of clean up.  It reminded me of cottage pie, with a little bit of a meatloaf flavor.  Very tasty and the leftovers reheated well.  I definitely see this as a recipe to revisit.

Hamburger Potato Pie

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 1/2 lb. ground beef

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup cooked, drained peas

1 3/4 cup crushed canned tomatoes

2/3 cup catsup

3 cups hot mashed potatoes

1 egg, beaten

Instructions
Saute onion in butter or margarine. Add meat and seasonings. Cook until meat is browned. Add peas, tomatoes, and catsup. Mix well. Pour into greased casserole (2 quart). Combine mashed potatoes and egg. Spoon mounds of potatoes onto meat mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Chocolate Pistachio Cake

I first had this cake as a teenager.  I think my mom was reminiscing about recipes from her childhood and she remembered this cake.  She talked about how much she liked it, so much so, that she found the recipe and baked one!  I enjoyed it to, and I baked this cake a few times, myself.  I hadn't made this cake since I moved out of my mom's house, but seeing the recipe again inspired me to make one for my kids.

The recipe is very simple with the inclusion of a box cake mix.  I used yellow cake, since that is what I remember doing in the past, but I'm sure white cake would be delicious as well.  The recipe doesn't specify what size of pudding mix to use, so I just went with the smaller option.  The rest of the recipe is very straightforward, and comes together easily.

I think the most interesting part of the recipe is the chocolate syrup.  It lends a lot of moisture to the cake and gives it a unique chocolaty flavor that isn't found in other cakes I have made.  Since the syrup is only added to a quarter of the batter, is also makes that part of the batter heavier, creating a neat design inside the cake as it is baking.  Plus, the green and brown colors are fun to see visually in a cake.

I do not know the origins of this recipe, but I am glad I have it.  It is moist, delicious, and visually whimsical.  The kids enjoyed it, too, so I see this cake being requested again in the future.

Chocolate Pistachio Cake

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 package white or yellow cake mix

Pistachio pudding mix (Royal)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup water

4 Eggs

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup chocolate syrup

Directions

Combine all ingredients except the chocolate syrup and mix thoroughly. Pour about 3/4 of the batter into a well-greased and floured bundt pan. Add chocolate syrup to remaining batter. Mix well. Pour over batter in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan, cool on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Buttermilk Herb Bread

As I was scanning recipes into my computer, this one was visually the most interesting.  It was folded several times, and seems as if the slightest tug would rip it.  As I was unfolding it some of the inner folds, I found flour that had been trapped in some of the creases.  Needless to say, I had to be very delicate with this piece of paper, and it looks as if it has seen a lot of use.

The bread itself was fairly easy to make, quite reminiscent of pizza dough.  My neighbor gave me access to her herb garden, so I was able to use fresh parley and chives.  I also had an onion on hand, so I chopped some up and added it as well.  The dill seed, though, is what really adds a flavor punch to this bread.

This recipe makes two loaves, and it was the first time I have ever had to braid bread.  I actually have never braided anything, so I enlisted Valerie to teach me.  She braided the first loaf so fast, I didn't have time to see what she did.  On the second loaf, she suddenly forgot how she did the first!  By the time we finally got the second one braided, I was more confused than ever, but at least it was done, and I still don't know how to braid.

The bread is delicious.  Soft and dense, with lots of flavor.  Very good right out of the oven with a little butter.  It also holds up well for a few days after baking, preferably toasted.

Buttermilk Herb Bread

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 packages yeast or 2 1/2 tablespoons powdered

5 - 5 3/4 cups unsifted flour (unbleached)

1/4 cup salad oil

1/2 cup chopped chives or onions

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup lukewarm water

1 1/4 cup buttermilk (warmed)

1/2 cup chopped parsley or 1/4 cup dried

1 tablespoon dill seed

Instructions

In large mixer bowl dissolve yeast in water, add 2 cups flour, buttermilk, oil, sugar, salt; beat at low speed until moistened. Increase speed to medium, add herbs and mix well. Add 3 1/2 cups flour - knead approximately 5 minutes. Let dough rise in greased bowl for 1 hour.

Grease two long cookie sheets. Punch dough down. Divide in half - then each half into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a 14 inch long rope - braid 3 pieces into a loaf. Bake in 350 degree oven 35-40 minutes.

Mm mm - Good!

Spritz

The memories embedded in these little tree-shaped cookies make them so dear to my heart.  My mom used to make these every Christmas and they were such a treat.  I remember sitting down to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (back before it was on DVD) and eating these cookies.  It just didn't feel like Christmas until I popped the first spritz cookie into my mouth.

I took on making these cookies myself probably when I was about sixteen.  I used a cookie press with a twist top to extract the cookies.  A couple years later I got a cookie press with a trigger mechanism that uniformly extracted the cookies with a single click.  My cookie production increased dramatically with that in my arsenal.

I still make these cookies every year for Christmas and Ari has become quite the fan.  He even declared it his favorite cookie this year, much to my delight.  He also is strong enough this year to pull the trigger on the cookie press so he was able to help this year. 

Christmas is the only time of year I make spritz cookies, and I think I have only used one other shape besides the tree in my cookie press.  They just carry such a strong connotation to Christmas for me, I have a hard time making them for anything else.

Spritz

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

5 or 6 drops of green food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat butter and sugar until combines.  Add sugar and baking powder.  Beat in egg, almond extract, vanilla extract.  Add the flour and food coloring and mix until thoroughly integrated.

Place the dough into a cookie press and extract cookies into an ungreased cookie sheet.   Bake for 8 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

Snickerdoodles

I tend to make snickerdoodles during the holidays.  I don't know if they are a traditional holiday cookie, but they are easy to make and one batch of dough makes a lot of cookies.  Since we like to give boxes of cookies to our friends and family, these little beauties are a perfect fit.

Snickerdoodles pack a punch in flavor, too.  They are not too sweet, and the cinnamon adds just the right amount of spice.  They have a chewy texture and have just the right amount of crisp around the edges when baked right.

This is another recipe that may have found it's way into our family through the St. Joan of Arc recipe book.  Complete with annotations, this recipe looks like it has had a lot of use.

There was also a typed recipe card in the recipes I sorted through.  This card doesn't take into account the annotations and calls for the cookies to be bakes in a 400 degree oven for 7 minutes.

I have found the cookies bake best at 375 degrees for 8 minutes.  I also use butter instead of shortening and the cookies turn out just fine. 

Snickerdoodles

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup butter or shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon and sugar to coat

Directions

Mix thoroughly butter or shortening, sugar and eggs.  Sift together and stir in dry ingrdients.  Roll into ball the size of small walnuts.  Roll in mixture of:

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake until lightly browned, but still soft.  Cookies puff up, then flatten out.  Bake 8 minutes in 375 degree oven.  Makes about 5 dozen.