Indian Food Cooking Class

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Video link provided upon registration

Join us for a fun virtual cooking class from your own kitchen. For this virtual event, we will watch a live cooking demo and attempt to make our own Butter Chicken from home. This cooking class will be built around recipes submitted by India Network Leader, Shehzad Lokhandwalla (Class of 2015). We will also be joined by an alum from the UC Davis Food Science and Technology Program to learn about the chemistry behind cooking. 

View the shopping list and recipe below! 

Date: Saturday January 23

Time: 11:30am - 1:00pm (Pacific) 

Register Here

Unable to attend live? Register to receive a copy of the recording.

Butter Chicken Recipe 

Submitted by Shehzad Lokhandwalla '15

Yield: 3 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized red onions
  • 1 can of peeled or diced tomato (11 oz)
  • 2 medium garlic clove
  • small piece of ginger (size of an adult thumb) or 3/4th teaspoon ginger powder
  • 100ml or half a cup of sugarless fresh cream or whipping cream (30% cream milk)
  • 1/2 table spoon of red chili powder (1/4th if you like it less spicy)
  • 1 tablespoon of garam masala (1/2 if you like it less spicy)
  • Salt to taste - start with 1/2 table spoon 
  • 400-500gm (1 pound) of boneless chicken thigh (you can debone yourself too)
  • 20-100 gms of fresh coriander leaves (1-2 ounce as you like)
  • optional - 2 small pieces of fresh green chili (if you want it Indian spicy)
  • optional - 1 tablespoon of dried fenugreek leaves (hard to find)
  • 3 tablespoon of oil (canola, grapeseed or sunflower) or ghee
  • 6-10 Ice-cubes
  • Basmati rice or any rice you prefer (1-2 cups as much as you need) 
  • Optional Salad
    • 200 gms Sprouted moong daal (green gram)
    • 1 lime (½ lemon also works) 
    • ½  fresh tomato
    • ½ fresh onion

Equipment

  • 2 Medium or large pot (one for the rice and one for the curry)
  • Blender or mixer
  • Spatula
  • Pasta strainer (optional if you want to make rice the Indian way)
  • Can opener for tomato can
  • Mixing bowl (optional for salad)

Instructions

Prepare before the event:

  1. Finely chop onions (size doesn't matter as it will later be blended)
  2. Marinate chicken with salt 3 hours before event
  3. Dice your ginger and garlic as finely as possible
  4. Open your tomato can
  5. Wash your rice (optional)
  6. Remove cream from the fridge (should be in room temperature)

Steps instructed at the event:

  1. Check if all ingredients are present
  2. Put the pot in medium-high heat and add your oil or ghee to it
  3. Add your diced garlic and ginger to it and let it fry for 1 min
  4. Add your onion to it and fry the mixture till golden brown. Make sure it doesn't burn, so keep stirring or add more oil if needed
  5. When golden brown, add your tomato to it
  6. Stir for another 5 mins and then add your salt, chili powder, garam masala, fresh chill, fenugreek leaves
  7. Turn off the heat and add ice-cubes
  8. Wait for the mixture to cool down a bit and then transfer the mix to a blender/mixer and blend till it becomes a smooth orange paste
  9. Transfer the paste back to the pot on the medium head, cover the pot and let cook for 10 mins
  10. Carefully open the lid after 10 mins and be careful as there might be a lot of bubbles. Add your chicken cubes in it and close the lid again.
  11. Chop coriander and prepare rice in the meanwhile
    1. Cook rice as you like or follow Shehzad’s suggestion on how to cook rice the Indian way
  12. Prepare optional salad
    1. Add sprouted green gram in a mixing bowl 
    2. Finely chop onion and tomato
    3. Add lime
    4. Add salt
    5. Mix rigorously 
  13. After 30 mins add fresh cream and half of the finely chopped coriander
  14. Mix and taste for salt and check the doneness of the chicken (use fork on any piece)
  15. Let it cook on low heat for another 10 mins with the lid off

Looking for a wine that holds up to spice? Élevée Wines has you covered. Purchase a UC Davis Alumni Gift Pack for a trio of wines which should pair perfectly with this dish!

Bottles Included -
1 bottle - 2017 Élevée Vineyard Pinot noir  (94pts pdwr, 93pts WE)
1 bottle - 2019 Élevée "Three Martins" Rosé
1 bottle - 2019 Élevée Dry Riesling - Ridgecrest Vineyard

Purchase by January 15th to ensure shipping in time for the cooking class.