Good Indian Cooking Websites

I've been cruising the web and reading cookbooks (instead of blogging, I know I've been bad)....

Great "authentic" Indian website (with strange non-cooking topics... I'm not sure how everything is related, but I like the recipes section!)
http://www.indiacurry.com/

This Indian cooking site seems good, but I'm a little intimidated by the ingredient names...
http://www.indianfoodrecipes.net/

Thai Peanut Curry with Shrimp

I've been on a library cookbook binge lately. I checked out a somewhat esoteric Thai cookbook that I hadn't thought I would actually use. Then I realized that despite the hopelessly complicated entree recipes, the "basics" sections contain good recipes for curries and sauces.

I adapted one such basic recipe for peanut curry and poured the resulting sauce over sauteed shrimp (with pepper, seasonsing salt and paprika) and rice.

Thai Peanut Curry Sauce

Grind up in food processor:
red onion
5 cloves garlic
1 serrano chile (it will be hot, if you can't handle it, skip)
1.5 inch galangal root (cut up first)

Then add:
stalk of lemongrass (do a google search for how best to cut it up)
2 TB roasted peanuts
1TB lime zest
1 tea chili paste
2 TB peanut butter


Dry roast in skillet for 10 minutes (medium heat but shake to prevent burning):
1 TB corriander (ground or seeds)
1 TB cumin seeds

Mix all of the above (onion stuff from processor + spices) with:
1 tea white peper
1 TB salt
1/2 tea turmeric

You can do all the above to make the curry paste ahead of time, keep it in the fridge.

Heat 2/3 C coconut cream in pan. Then add the curry paste.

Add & bring to boil:
1/2 C palm sugar (use a cheese grater to make it mix-able, or you could use granulated, but palm tastes better)
2 TB fish sauce
1 can coconut milk

Add & simmer:
chillies, to taste
3 kaffir lime leaves, thinly sliced
chopped roasted peanuts

Serve sauce over anything tasty!

Almond Flour Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Needing a delectable and pretty treat for my mom's birthday, I adapted an old standby cake recipe for "Silver White Cake" (probably written before my birth) into this marvelously fluffly cake. Then I added a chocolate frosting recipe from an old Cook's Illustrated magazine. It's really quite a shame I don't have a picture.

Almond Cake

Mix in standing mixer on low speed, scraping down the sides:
3/4 C almond flour ("almond meal"- you can buy it at Trader Joes)
1.5 C cake flour
1 to 1.25 C sugar
3.5 tea baking powder
1 tea salt
1/2 C butter
1 C milk (I used 1/2 C rice milk + 1/2 C half-&-half: ironic I know)
1 tea almond extract

Then speed up to high and beat 2 minutes. Literally, set a timer for the 2 minutes. This whips the batter up, which translates to a fluffy cake.

Add 3 eggs, beat 2 more minutes at high speed. Then add a couple ounces of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate and stir carefully. The chocolate bits melt ever so perfectly and speckle the cupcakes when baked.

Pour batter into cupcake pans with paper liners. Bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes.

Chocolate "Ganache"- type Frosting
Enough frosting for cupcakes

I really like this recipe since it tastes amazing and doesn't require pounds of powdered sugar. Plus, it whips up in the food processor, so you don't have to rush to clean your standing mixer to make it.

Process in food processor for about 30 seconds:
10TB butter (or 1.25 STICKS)
1/3 C powered sugar (if you like it super sweet, you can use 1/2 cup)
1/3 cocoa (dutch processed)
pinch salt

Add & process 5-10 seconds:
1/3 C honey or corn syrup (the honey had a great flavor with the chocolate, but was a little grainer than what you'd expect from corn syrup- your choice)
1/2 tea vanilla

Add 4 oz melted chocolate ( I like bittersweet, but whatever works). Process using the "pulse" button until smooth.

This frosting is the perfect consistency for piping on the cupcakes with a star tip.