Masala Rogue IPA

You might not have heard of this beer... That's because it is a homebrew! My homebrew! And it is delicious!  This beer starts off life as a nice, slightly bitter, dry hopped IPA. Then I add in an Indian spice extract that I made myself to provide a flavor boost and mellow down some of the bitterness. I love drinking IPA's with Indian food, so I figure, why not mix the flavors together and see what happens?

Although I have been brewing off and on for a few years; I haven't had my own set up since I moved here from San Francisco. My company has a yearly Oktoberfest party where they buy supplies to brew a batch of beer for anyone who is interested. This has gotten a lot of people at my company very interested in brewing beer. This also gives me places I can brew on other people's rig without having to get a large brewing system into my tiny condo. 

This started off as a clone of Rogue Brewery's Yellow Snow IPA, but I immediately needed to make some changes which in the end I think paid off. Rogue Brewery uses a Pacman Yeast which I wasn't able to source, as well as certain malts they grow in house "Dare and Risk" However, what I wanted was a base IPA beer with some nice hoppy bitterness and aroma which would play well with the flavors I add later. The Amarillo hops provide both a nice bitter flavor as well as aromatic flavors from the dry hopping. Using only a single hop rather then a blend of other hops gives a nice flavor without getting too complex, which makes for a perfect canvas in my opinion. 

Thanksgiving leftovers: Turkey Biryani

Biryani is an amazing dish which has spread all over southern Asia. It's probably best known in India, but the word biryani actually comes from the Persian word for rice 'birinj'. The most basic description for biryani is rice, spices and meat all cooked together in layers.  I make a Pakki Biryani which means the meat and the rice are both partially cooked before they are layered together in an oven proof dish and baked.

The turkey meat is marinated with yogurt and Indian spices then sautéed with more spices, grated onion and tomatoes. It's finished with French's Fried Onions in the top layer. Dried cranberries are added during the par-boiling of the rice.

Indian Lamb Curry

When I made this for the first time I hardly ate any of it. I know this may be hard to believe, but I took two bites, put the spoon down and sighed.

"It's almost too much, like a rich dessert," I said to myself in a stupor.

I just stared at the bowl, moaned with pleasure and made plans to make it last for a few days. It was just too much, and too good, to be attempted in just a single meal.

I LOVE LAMB. OK I've said it before and I will say it again. It's one of the cutest of meats, baby lambs are just so soft and fuzzy... and friendly... they will just nuzzle up in your arms and go to sleep... So... Are you going to eat that? 'cause I'll take it if you're not.

Don't be afraid of over-marinating. Marinate for 24 hours, or 48 hours, it'll be worth it I swear. I always hate it when a cookbook says you can marinate things for 4 hours. Sure you can, but there is hardly any point, especially if you are going to marinate in the refrigerator.

For the Marinade
3 medium red onions rough chopped
1 Tb cayenne pepper
1 Tb ground cumin
1/2 Tb tumeric
1/2 cup yogurt
1 Tb garam masala
3 teas salt

2 lbs leg of lamb cut into bite sized pieces

For the Gravy
3 Tb Oil
5 green cardamom pods
3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 teas cumin seeds
1 Tb ground coriander
4 green chilies
1 medium tomato chopped
2 cups water
1 cup yogurt
4 Tb chopped cilantro to garnish

Combine all the non-meat ingredients for the marinade in a blender or food processor and blend until it's a homogenous paste. Toss the meat in the marinade and mix well. cover and marinate in the refrigerator at least overnight and as much as 2-3 nights. If you only have 4-6 hours, massage the marinade into the meat every 30 minutes and keep it turning.

On the day of cooking, heat the oil in a large pan, add the whole spices (cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon, and cumin seed) allow them to heat and crackle in the oil for a minute. Immediately add the ground coriander and the lamb with marinade and stir-fry on high heat for 5 minutes.

At this point you want to cook all of the juices out of the lamb and the marinade, this should take 20 minutes or so. Do this on medium-low heat. Only simmer, if the pan heats up to a full boil the proteins in the meat will clench up and become rubbery.

Once the meat is mostly dry increase the heat and caramelize the meat. When you see oil separating from the rest of the marinade it's done. This is called Bhunao and it essential to properly flavored Indian food.

Once the meat is browned and the sauce is done Bhunao (ing), then you add the tomato, green chili and 1 cup of yogurt and 1 cup of water. Simmer for 20-30 minutes until the lamb is tender.

Put half of the lamb curry into a airtight container and send it to me. Enjoy the rest hot.


~NOM!

Best indian food outside of India!

On our excursion to České Budějovice we went to an Indian restaurant on the advice of our Finnish friend Tero.


It was called Gateway of India. He said he found it in his guidebook and went the other night and loved it. I was a little skeptical of eating Indian food in a small town in the Czech Republic but man was I proven wrong. This is one of my favorite Indian restaurants anywhere in the world. I'll have to get back to you if we make it to India itself.

The naan came hot out of the Tandoor with a light layer of ghee or clarified butter on it to make it a little more crispy and out of this world delicious. The simplest things are often the hardest to perfect, but this bread was simple and executed perfectly.

  The wood smoked naan was a perfect utensil to eat Butter chicken with. This was random chicken bits cooked in a butter sauce. It's not a spicy dish or "sharp" as our Finnish friend would call it but it has a lot of spices in it. Almonds, chilies, cumin, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, garum masala, cardamom, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, coriander, onions, etc. All stewed together to make a heavenly sauce which I eagerly lapped up ever drop of with my naan.


Everyone was quite pleased with their meal and falling over stuffed after it. All over a great place to eat if you're ever in České Budějovice.