‘Cause in my journal, it’s all about the food 🙂
So, I had mentioned making a dulce de leche cake last week. Basically, you make a sturdy sponge cake using whole eggs, and it’s flavored slightly with cinnamon. You poke lots of holes in that and you pour a mixture of milk, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, and caramelized sweetened condensed milk over it and let it sit overnight to allow the liquid to be absorbed into the cake. Then you top it with a whipped cream icing. Sounds great, doesn’t it? So how did it turn out?
Not well. Not that there was anything wrong with the cake or the icing or even, I suppose, the milk mixture. But it was just too rich. Even the smallest piece was overwhelming, and pretty much all flavors got lost in the richness. Imagine drinking a nice tall glass of heavy cream, and you’ll be getting close to the feeling of eating some of this cake. Sadly, I had to declare the recipe a failure. I’m not sure what could fix the recipe, but I’ll keep an eye out for other approaches.
Tonight we’re going to try something else new and different, this time from the pages of Cook’s Illustrated. Since we’ve been huge fans of the chicken tikka masala at the Indian restaurant in Gurnee, we’ll be trying a recipe for that which appeared in the most recent issue. This calls for you to marinate boneless skinless chicken breasts in a whole-milk yogurt paste, then put the lot under a broiler. You top it all off with a tomato and cream sauce with some tasty Indian spices. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this works out.
I also have a bunch of cherry tomatoes sitting in the fridge that I need to use up. I’ve seen a recipe where you cut the cherry tomatoes in half, thinly slice some shallots, and roast the lot on a baking sheet for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F. Since takaza‘s not a fan of chunky tomato sauces, I’ll try pureeing the mixture; it should come out pretty tasty! I’ve got some nice cavatelli to serve that over, and maybe we’ll add some Italian sausage.
Hmm, I seem to be hungry. I wonder why?
Dulce de leche sounds a lot like a very artsy form of the pudding cake. 🙂
Well, I suspect they stole the idea from the pudding cake method. The benefit with this method with the relatively thin milk mixture is that you get close to uniform moistening of the cake. That was one benefit – that sucker will NEVER dry out! 🙂
I have a sincerely fantastic recipe for chicken tikka masala I’ve adapted from the one Gre7g made – if you’re familiar with that at all? It’s seriously better than I’ve ever had it at any restaurant. And you can make massive batches to freeze for later. 🙂 If you want I can email it to you – just let me know where to send it to!
Although I’m not familiar with Gre7g’s version, I would absolutely adore a copy of the recipe! If nothing else, it would be interesting to compare with what I have, and maybe make on a later date for comparison’s sake 🙂
Here’s my version of his recipe (I changed a few things around but after 20 some batches this is my favorite)
Perfect Chicken Tikka Masala
Remove the fat/tendons from 2-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 per person you plan to serve). Cube into bite-sized chunks and place in a non-metallic container. Add ½ bottle Italian dressing (enough to coat all the chicken). Turn with spoon to get all surfaces coated. Cover and refrigerate 12-24 hours. (You can marinate for as little as one hour, but the longer you let it sit the more flavorful it will be).
(*Note* If you have a grill, you can use bone-in or bone-out chicken and marinate it in plain yogurt mixed with tandori spice overnight, then grill. Remove chicken and substitute for above. It takes extra work but makes a really stellar difference!)
In a blender, put ½ large onion (any kind but NOT sweet) and 1 tbs. Diced garlic.
Blend completely.
Now add the following:
2 tsp. Garam masala (I’ve found Rajah brand canned masala mix to be the best)
heaping ¼ tsp. White pepper
¼ tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Powdered ginger
¼ tsp. Cumin
½ tsp. Cardamom (crushed/powdered)
¼ tsp. Coriander
1/8 tsp ground clove
½ cup sour cream
1 large can tomato sauce
½ cup heavy whipping cream (or half/half)
1 tbs honey
3 tbs. Butter
Blend completely.
Put blender contents in a pot. Cover and heat on high (stirring frequently) until the curry begins to bubble. Reduce heat to low. Continue to stir often.
In a rice cooker (preferably) or pot:
2 cups basmati rice
2 ½ cups water
1/8 tsp cardamom (green, whole seeds)
small pinch of saffron
1 stick cinnamon
Start cooker and set aside.
Put chicken and dressing into a frying pan and fry just long enough to cook chicken all the way through. Drain sauce. Scoop chicken onto paper towels and let dry a bit. Put chicken into curry and let cook until rice is ready.
If sauce looks too thin, replace cover on pot with a mesh splatter guard and let cook longer to thicken it up. Add white pepper (sparingly!) and salt to taste. Serve chicken and curry hot, over rice. Enjoy!
Oh, and I forgot to mention – the recipe doubles well. I usually make 4x the amount in a huge stock pot. I dont add 4x the chicken, just however much I buy, usually 2 lbs. When marinating the chicken using yogurt/grill technique I leave the skin on and mix yogurt/masala heavily in paste under the skin and all over, then grill it that way – flipping very regularly. Then I pick off the chicken and add it to the sauce, it’s amazing when done that way but still tastes good with the quick italian dressing marinade.
If you’re using milk, evap. milk and condensed milk all together it’s a Tres Leche. 😉
This is just my opinion, but I think it’s -supposed- to be as rich as drinking straight heavy cream…