There's hope for us in the kitchen yet!

A couple of weeks ago, we invited (non-Indian) friends over for an Indian meal. It was the first time we've shared our homemade Indian food with someone else - and we were nervous! Especially with two new recipes.

Well, the photos don't quite do it justice but it was a tasty meal! We're really proud... between asking moms for advice and relying on Google,
we found some great & easy recipes.

Chole: http://www.recipezaar.com/I-Cant-Wait-for-Chole-25632 plus extra jalapenos and cumin to taste.
Baingan Bharta: My own concoction + Mom's help. Be sure to add a lot of spice to this one. I usually start with the base of tomatoes /onions / garlic / pepper and add lots of eggplant and potatoes before letting the pressure cooker do the work.
Mint raita: mint from the garden, a splash of lemon juice, half-teaspoon of sugar, and mixed plain yogurt
Palak Paneer: Stir fry the paneer first (try canola oil). We didn't do

this and ended up with teeny tiny paneer pieces. Also, add the spices later in the dish, except the cardamom pods. And crack the cardamom pods so you get the full flavor....here's the recipe we used: http://www.indianchild.com/Recipes/gravies_and_masala/palak_paneer_recipe.htm but we exchanged fresh spinach for frozen / chopped to save time.
Roti: frozen, from the store (hey, we can't do it all!)
Rice: white, basmati. If you have cloves, add 'em for a little extra.

For an appetizer we made bhel ('Indian salad') which is pretty easy, and served homemade ice cream for dessert. My new favorite ice cream recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Salted-Caramel-Ice-Cream-354517. It looks just like the photo on the site when you're done, although the salt seemed to make it take longer than normal to churn - something to note when you add mix-ins. We actually double churned it... churned it once, ran out of time, stuck it in the fridge, and re-churned for abut 35 more minutes.

Anyway, we took that recipe up a notch, by crushing up Trader Joes Maple Sugar sandwich cookies (aka the best cookies ever) and adding them at the end of the mixing, along with about 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. I think you could take out some of the heavy cream and replace it with 2% milk for a little lighter recipe (try exchanging a whole cup). It was, in a word, amazing.

Nice to know that, if we spend a day in the kitchen together, we can whip up something pretty darn good! Next, we need to find some less-time-consuming recipes to pursue....