recommendation: “make” Indian food for dinner

as you can tell by now, i’m a big fan of TJ’s (trader joes). i’m half Indian and my husband is always requesting that i learn how to make indian food… so this is my (temporary) solution.

it’s a great way to try Indian food if you’ve never had it before and are nervous about what to order at an Indian restaurant. Its also great because there are a lot of vegetarian dishes, and if you get a bunch of things to try, its fairly inexpensive. Best of all, since its all frozen it cooks very quickly so it makes a great quick meal for nights when you were on-the-go all day. My TJ Indian favorites are:

Frozen Section:
- tandoori naan – regular or garlic are both great, whatever you prefer. low fat, cooks in oven in 2 minutes (I don’t add the butter to it)
- chicken tikka (tee-ka) masala (ma-sa-la) – this is my fav for main course, not a lot of chicken but its ok b/c I make so many other dishes with it. It comes with rice but I make more rice on the side
- paneer tikka masala – my husbands favorite, paneer is a fresh Indian cheese (like fresh mozz but firmer like tofu), this comes with spinach rice
- brown rice in a bag (or Jasmine if you prefer white) – it comes 3 to a box and cooks in less than 5 minutes. You only need 1 packet for a meal for 2 diners

Aisles
- Daal Makni – my dad’s favorite type of daal, so therefore mine. It’s a darker daal (like bean soup) that tastes great by itself or over rice
- Channa Masala – this means chickpeas (same thing as garbanzo beans). Spicy dish. Looks oily but not thaaaat bad for you (ok not thaaaat good for you either) and super tasty.

I also normally make raita too, cools the

mouth down and just takes a few minutes:
Lowfat plain yogurt – 1 individual cup per person, or you can get a larger container if you are making for more:
Ground Roasted Cumin (jeera) – you can buy this at the store, McCormick makes it, or make it yourself which is what I normally do. Roast cumin seeds in a hot pan until they begin to brown, be careful not to burn. Cool seeds and then grind in a coffee grinder. Store at room temperature in jar for future use. BEWARE, when you grind the seeds, your coffee grinder will smell like cumin for long after. We have a second grinder for spices & herbs only.
Cucumber – I normally grate mine and then squeeze it in a papertowel or strainer to get excess water out, but you can just dice up a cuke too.

Dash of salt and sugar to taste
Dash of paprika for color

Mix yogurt, cucumber and ground roasted cumin together. Sprinkle with dash of cumin and paprika for color. Sorry no measurements but I normally do it by look and taste. Can store in fridge until ready to eat.

For some easy to make Indian dishes like spiced peas or tomatoes and chunna (chickpeas, remember!) - check out my sister’s blog Vegonomic$

My Dad and his sister Rani are the best Indian chef's I know, hopefully I will absorb a little more so that I can eventually make some of these dishes fresh! In the meantime - TJ's to save the day!

p.s. there is a box of veggie samosas in the pic - i do NOT recommend those. they didn't taste very Indian to me at all.