Our sophomore college son is home due to coronavirus. He is super happy to be here instead of in Chicago where he goes to school. (HA!HA!) The truth is, he is really missing life in the windy city. One of the things he misses most is the variety of foods and restaurants he has access to in Chicago. Luckily for me, his withdrawal led to a fun mother-son adventure in Indian cooking.
Indian food has become one of his favorite types of food to eat. He asked me the other day if he searched for some recipes, could we make a couple of his most-loved Indian dishes together. I quickly agreed, as I enjoy cooking with my kids and trying new foods was on my “shake things up a bit” list from my previous post, Coronavirus Blues. https://herheartstirs.com/coronavirus-blues/
We had a great time making Chana Masala (A hearty chickpea dish) and Raita (An Indian yogurt sauce) together. We had an even better time eating it! My 12-year old daughter also LOVED it. She has been heating up leftovers for days—a bonus about the recipes, they make a lot!
Maybe you and your kids would like to try these same recipes while stuck at home on quarantine. Who knows…it might just become a family favorite for you, as it has for us! I look forward to more Indian cooking at home with my kids. Here are links to the two recipes we used:
Chana Masala–https://cookieandkate.com/quick-vegan-chana-masala/
Raita Yogurt Sauce– https://www.feastingathome.com/raita-recipe/
A couple of things to note:
- Our son likes his Chana Masala served with naan, which is an Indian flatbread. He purchased the bread from the local Indian grocery store, but there are lots of recipes online that you can find to make your own as well.
- Chana Masala is also commonly served over rice or quinoa.
- We only used 1/2 of a jalapeno instead of a full jalapeno in the Chana Masala recipe. We wanted to make sure it wasn’t too spicy the first time we made it. The next time we make it, we will use the whole jalapeno, as the dish was not spicy at all. We ended up sprinkling a little cayenne pepper on the finished product to up the heat factor a bit. It is nice to know you can tweak the recipe for how spicy your family likes it.
- The Raita yogurt sauce is a complement to the Chana Masala—to help cool down the spiciness of it. You will want naan to dip into the sauce. Super yummy!
XO- Kerry
Kerry—looks delicious! Thanks for the example of taking the opportunity to create (delicious food and fun memories) together with your son. During this quarantine, I’ve been thinking of the increased number of “touches” I have with my kids (& praising God for that since two would be off at college were it not for the coronavirus quarantine) and I’ve been praying about new experiences to share with them. Thank you for the great idea!
You are welcome, Michelle! Tonight Nate and Chloe are going to make another Indian dish for the family-Tikki Masala. I am looking forward to it! And you are so right about the extra touches right now. I feel the same way. I love having them all home again.