Home Made Indian Food for less than $3 in 20 mins!!

Both Kevin and I really enjoy Indian food. Not the real spicy Southern Indian style but more the creamy and mild Northern Indian. Therefore, we have always been big fans of Indian buffets as well as take out/delivery Indian food. You might be asking, why don't you try making some at home? Well, truthfully, I never really tried due to the fact that I've always thought that Indian food requires a lot of prep time and also uses tons of ingredients (it does!). That is of course, if you make it from scratch. I was walking through the "Ethnic Food" aisle at our local grocery store a while ago and saw some stuff on sale that changed my preconceived ideas about making Indian food at home. I realized that by just getting this three items, I am able to 'cheat' my way into making a really quick and affordable Indian meal at home.
Alritey, here are the three items that I picked up from the grocery store. The first is Patak's Original Tikka Masala Curry Cooking Sauce. There is a whole range of different sauces, from Butter Chicken to Rogan Josh to Korma. We like the Tikka Masala cos it's creamy and has a little hint of spiciness (just a little :P). That bottle set us back $2.99. Next is a packet of microwaveable Palak Paneer. It's already pre cooked and all you need to do is heat it up. That pack cost us only $1.99. Lastly, we picked up a pack of Tandoori Naan from the bakery section for $2.99 (two pieces in the pack). All that came up to just below $8. Oh, we also picked up a lb of chicken breast meat to make the Tikka Masala ($1.99 per lbs)...so the grand total comes up to a little less than $10. This is enough to feed about 3-4 people, so actually, the whole meals comes up to be less than $3 per person!
Now, let me show you how simple and fast it will be to whip up the entire meal. Just start off by heating some oil and browning 1 lbs of cubed chicken breast in a large pan. It doesn't really have to be chicken, you can pretty much use any type of meat that you like. Since Patak's Cooking Sauce is free from artificial colors, flavors, preservatives and is gluten free, you could also replace the chicken with vegetables and make this a vegetarian dish too.
After your chicken has been cooked through (it takes about 10 mins or so), pour in the cooking sauce and stir it in with the chicken.
Allow it to heat up and simmer for another 10 mins and you are done!
While the chicken is simmering on the stove, take out your naan bread and place them on a baking sheet. Brush on some melted butter and pop it into a preheated 400F oven for about 10 mins. It should be nicely warmed up and ready to eat by the time your chicken tikka is done.
After you have popped the naan bread into the oven, pour out the Palak Paneer into a microwaveable bowl. Microwave it on high for about 2-3 mins and that's all ready to go too! How easy is that?
There you go! A piping hot Indian meal, straight from your kitchen! Chicken Tikka Masala, Palak Paneer and some Naan bread. I made all that in about 20 mins and it cost me just a little less than $3 per serving! It's it awesome? Where else can you get a yummy Indian meal for about $3 per person? And all that in 20 mins? It would even take longer for your local Indian take out place to deliver that too you. Granted, its not made from scratch, but for $3 per person and getting to eat all that in just about 20 mins, I'll take it anyday! :P

Satish Palace - Montclair, NJ

It was really cold out a couple of weekends back and we didn't really feel like going out for dinner. So, we just decided to order in. Now, the million dollar question. What to eat? What to eat? What to eat? :P We were kinda sick of the usual Chinese, BBQ, pizza or wings that we would usually order and felt like trying something new. I went online to see if there are any other type of restaurants (apart from the ones that I have just mentioned) nearby and was pleasantly surprised when I found an Indian restaurant that would deliver to us. Not only would they deliver, but they also offered free delivery for orders above $25! Yay!
Everything on the menu looked good, so we figured we should just order one of the combination dinners. That way, we can try a little of everything. There are three types of different combination dinners (House Special, Mixed Grill & Vegetarian) available on their menu and we went with the House Special ($16.95). All combinations come with a huge serving of rice, papadums and raita. The mint and onion chutney in the foreground is part of the appetizer that we also ordered. When I say that the rice serving is huge, I am not kidding. You might not be able to see the amount, since it's all compacted into the container. Once you fluff it out, there is enough rice in there to feed at least 4 people!
Apart from rice, raita and papadums, the House Special also comes with two pieces of tandoori chicken, lamb rogan josh and vegetable korma. I must say that the tandoori chicken was really really good. Moist and tender, it's definitely one of the better tandoori chickens that I have tried around here. The lamb rogan josh was awesome too! Mild and creamy, with a tiny hint of spiciness...exactly how I like it. Again, the portions are rather generous. I cannot believe that this combination dinner is meant for ONE!
Oh, I forgot to mention that the House Special also comes with one free naan. We added on another piece of naan for $2.95. When our food was delivered to us, the naan was still nice and warm. Mmmm mmm yuummmmy.
We didn't really know how large the portions were when we first ordered (now we know!), so we added on a portion of Assorted Tandoori Appetizers ($7.95). Two piece of sheek kebab, 4 pieces of tandoori shrimp and a whole lot of chicken tikka. Like I mentioned earlier, this appetizer comes with a small tub of onion and mint chutney. The chicken tikka was really tender and oh so flavorful. In fact, all of the tandoori items that we ordered tasted awesome!
Kevin wanted to try their Indian Chai Tea ($1.75), so we ordered one serving of that. I must say that it definitely didn't taste like the nonsense Chai Latte that we would usually order from Starbucks. This tasted really authentic. It came with milk (but without sugar, you have to add that in yourself) and you can really taste the cinnamon, cloves and cardamon in the tea. Really wonderful, especially on a cold winters night.
Look at the amount of leftover food! This was after the both of us ate as much as we could and we still had enough leftover for lunch the following day. I must say that I'm really glad we found this place, the food is just so goooood! Not only that, the service is amazing too. It only took them about half an hour to deliver the food to our door, from the time we placed the order online. We know that Montclair is at least 15 minutes or so away, so yeah, very impressive. Delicious food, huge portions and fast delivery - what more could a person ask for? :D

Satish Palace - Montclair, NJ
397 Bloomfield Ave
Montclair, NJ 07042
Tel: (973) 746 4477
Fax: (973) 746 4488
Web: www.jyotirestaurant.com

Kanna Curry House - Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

One of my all time favorite South Indian delicacy is the Banana Leaf Rice. I have yet to find a banana leaf rice restaurant here in NYC (if you know of any, please please please let me know!). Therefore, every time I am home in Malaysia, I would make it a point to eat as much banana leaf rice as I can. There are only two banana leaf rice restaurants that I would usually go to (I think they have the best banana leaf rice ever!). One of them is Nirwana Maju in Bangsar and of course, the ever popular Kanna Curry House in Section 17. Nirwana Maju is located right in the heart of Jalan Telawi 3, just opposite Bangsar Village. Since Kanna Curry House is located nearer to my parents house (compared to Nirwana), I would usually end up in Kanna.
Kanna Curry House occupies two shop lots at the fringe of Section 17., near the Rothmans Roundabout There is an air conditioned non smoking section inside and there are also tables and chairs under the big shady trees opposite the restaurant (I guess you can call it the smoking section :P). Yup, if you choose to smoke, you will have to brave the heat and sit outside! Parking is always a pain at Kanna. It's quite normal to see cars double (sometimes even triple) park along the streets and back streets around Kanna. We once spent almost half an hour just circling the neighborhood, looking for a spot. You know what? The food in Kanna is sooooo good, it was worth it!
For those of you who are not familiar with whole concept of banana leaf rice, here's how it works. A huge pile of steaming hot parboiled rice will be place on top of a banana leaf in front of you. Yes, the leaf is your plate! Three (sometimes four) different types of vegetables will then be scooped onto your leaf. They can range from cooling cucumber salads to potato chutney. Usually, crispy papadams will be served too. The rice, vegetables and papadams are free flow, so if you want seconds or even thirds, you can just get the waiter to top it up. The rice and vegetable combo in Kanna cost RM4.80 per person (approx US$1.50). It's almost the same price in Nirwana but you get something extra. They serve the best deep fried bitter gourd ever! Seriously, that's the main reason why I would go to Nirwana. It's all about the deep fried bitter gourd. Really good!
Alright, so now you have your rice and vegetables. Next, the waiters will bring out different types of curries. This is complimentary and you can help yourself to as much as you want. Most banana leaf rice restaurants would serve the usual three types of curry - fish curry, chicken curry and dhal (a non spicy dried lentils curry). In Kanna, you get two extra types. They are famous for their crab curry and salted fish curry. Now, THIS is the reason why I come to Kanna. The crab curry as well as the salted fish curry is AMAZING! I would usually mix all 4 (minus the dhal) curries together and just pour it on top of my rice. Thinking about it now makes my mouth water. Sooooo good. You must be thinking, wow, four curries at one go? I thought you always say that you have a weak stomach and have a low tolerance to heat? Yeah I do. However, this is so good, I would just go for it and then chug about half a bottle of Pepto Bismol later :P
Some people are just happy with the curries and vegetables but most people would order some dishes in the middle to share. The waiters would walk around with small plates of meat and curry and we could just pick out what we wanted. We chose a plate of mutton chop curry (RM5.50 = US$1.80) to share. The curry was really thick and the mutton was tender. Pretty good. There is also a deep frying station outside, where you could pick whatever meat/seafood that you want and they would fry it on the spot for you. There are all kinds of stuff to choose from. You can get pigeons, calamari, fish eggs, various types and cuts of fish, potato croquettes, shrimp or just regular fried chicken. We chose three pieces of chicken drumsticks/thighs (RM14.40 = US$ 4.60), two fish cutlets (RM9.60 = US$3) and a portion of deep fried fish eggs (RM5 = US$1.60). I loveeee the deep fried fish eggs. Super high in cholesterol but super yummy! I guess it's alright to eat some once in a while, just don't make it an everyday affair.
The total bill came up to RM62.50 (approx US$20) for four people. This includes 2 iced lemon tea, 1 hot milk tea, 1 mango lassi and a banana (yup, my dad ordered a banana for dessert :P). A little pricey for lunch (especially for Indian food) but I guess it's worth it. You cannot put a price tag on good food, can you? Oh and for those of you who are not familiar with Malaysian banana leaf rice culture, here is a little trivia for you. After you are done with your meal, the way you fold you banana leaf tells the owner of the restaurant if you enjoyed your food or not. If you were to fold the leaf inwards (towards you), it signifies that you had a good meal. If you were to fold the leaf in the opposite direction, it shows that you didn't enjoy you food. So yeah, the next time you are at a banana leaf rice restaurant, remember to fold your leaf correctly after your meal. We don't want the poor owner to think that he did a bad job when in reality, he didn't! :P

Kanna Curry House - Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
29, Jalan 17/45
Section 17, Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: (603)7958 4814
Fax: (603)7958 2829

Amiya Contemporary Indian Cuisine - Jersey City, NJ

After having two consecutive meals at Malaysian restaurants, I was pretty glad (secretly happy too, since I lovveee Northern Indian food :P) that Kheng suggested Indian for lunch the next day. We decided that we should check out one of those weekend buffet lunch places but the question is...which one? Kevin and I love the buffet in Rasoi so we figured we should just go there. After thinking about it for a bit, we decided against that idea because of it's location. It's located right in the heart of Newark Ave aka Indian Square and it's pure madness to even try to get a parking spot there during the weekend. It's just so busy, with people shopping for groceries, eating at the many Indian restaurants along that strip and going about doing their weekend errands.

I searched the Internet for another Indian restaurant and found Amiya. Unlike all the other popular Indian restaurants, it is not located along the Newark Avenue strip. Located smack at the center of the Harborside Financial Center in Jersey City, it's worlds away from the busyness and commotion of the ever popular Newark Avenue strip. It's really convenient to get to as well. If you drive, they offer free parking at a neighboring parking lot (there are also plenty of off road parking as well). It is also located near the light rail train stop as well as the PATH trains (get off at the Exchange Place station).

During the summer months, they also offer al fresco dining. Surrounded by greenery and blooming flowers, it can be quite a pleasant setting for a quiet and leisurely weekend brunch. Also, it is just one block away from the waterfront as well as the view of the lower Manhattan skyline. Since it was an extra hot day, we decided to sit inside. The interior was also tastefully decorated, with chic contemporary decor.

All three of us had the buffet lunch. Priced at $13.95 per person, I felt that it was quite a good deal (considering the location. quality of food and it being a weekend). I think the weekday buffet lunch is only $10.95 per person. I didn't bring my camera along to take pictures at the buffet line because of two reasons. Number one. It's relatively an upscale restaurant, so I don't think they would appreciate me going around with my camera, taking pictures of their buffet line up. Also, there were quite a lot of people in line and I didn't want to slow the people down. Anyways, here is a selection of some of the things I took from the buffet. One dish that really stands out is the tandoori chicken. Usually, the tandoori chicken that you get from buffets are pretty hard, dry and cold. This is because tandoori chicken is best served piping hot and doesn't do that well when it sits in a buffet. However, the tandoori chicken here was awesome! Nice and juicy...mmm mmm mmm! Oh, the nan was super yummy too! I feel that the food quality is generally pretty good, across the board. My only complain is that there wasn't much of a selection, compared to say, Rasoi.

Another thing I like about this buffet is that their thosai is made to order. There is a little booth at the end of the buffet line and the chef whips up batch upon batch of fresh thosai. You can either ask him to make just regular thosai or thosai masala. Also, he makes them in really tiny portions, so it doesn't fill you up. Just the correct amount. I ordered one piece of thosai masala and I must admit, it's really really good. Crispy on the outside, filled with yummy potato masala on the inside. I would have ordered more if I wasn't so stuffed from all the other delicious food from the buffet.

Overall, I would say that the weekend buffet in Amiya is pretty reasonable and value for money. I am not Indian, so I cannot really say if the food is authentic or not. However, I can say that it tasted pretty awesome to me! If it helps, I would like to add that the entire restaurant was full when we were there and we were the only non Indians there. I guess it must be pretty good and authentic then? Anyways, for a little over $15 a pop, I must say that it's a good place for a relaxing weekend brunch with family and friends. Will definitely return.

Amiya Contemporary Indian Cuisine
Harborside Financial Center, Plaza V
160 Greene Street
Jersey City, NJ 07311
Tel: (201) 433 8000
Fax: (201) 433 8866
Web: http://www.amiyarestaurant.com/

Chicken Nasi Briyani

I was feeling a little lazy the other day and wanted to make something simple, yet nice to eat. I remember I had a few packets of Briyani Rice Mix left in my pantry, so I decided to make Chicken Nasi Briyani for dinner.

Nasi is the Malay word for rice and Briyani is derived from the Persian word "berya", which means fried or roasted. There are many different variants of Nasi Briyani across the globe but basically they all have the same basic ingredients - rice, spices and some sort of meat or vegetable. The one I am going to make today is the Malaysian version. It was made famous by the Indian Muslim merchants/travellers that arrived in Malaya back in the day. Here is the quick and simple way of making Nasi Briyani. Enjoy!

You start of by melting some butter in the rice cooker. Once its all melted, add in the Nasi Briyani Mix.

Mix it well with the butter and allow it to simmer.

You know it's ready when you can smell the fragrant smell of spices, just filling the kitchen. Then, add in some chicken meat. I used 3 pieces of chicken thigh, cut up into small pieces.

Stir fry the chicken for a bit then add in about 2 cups of rice.

Mix the rice up with the chicken, then add in some raisins. You can also add in some cashew nuts or peas if you like.

Once you have mixed up all the ingredients, add in about 2 and a half cups of water.

Mix all the ingredients up for one last time then cover the rice cooker. Set the rice cooker to "cook" and that's it! Just remember to stir the Nasi Briyani ever so often while cooking, to prevent the rice from burning and sticking to the bottom of the rice cooker.

Here is it! A steaming hot pot of Chicken Nasi Briyani! A yummy one dish meal thats just perfect for that chilly autumn evening :D

Rasoi Indian Restaurant

Kevin was on vacation yesterday ( replacement for 4th of July), so we decided to head out to 'Little India' in Jersey City in search of a cheap and good Indian buffet place. Little India in Jersey City is located on Newark Ave, between Kennedy Blvd and Tonnelle Ave.

We have always driven pass it on the way to the PATH station in Journal Square but never stopped to walk around. It was quite interesting actually, the whole road was lined with all kinds of shops. From jewellery shops, restaurants, bakeries, clothing stores to grocery shops. Check out this sale going on in one of the clothing stores. 3 saree's for $51! Not too bad at all :D

There were so many Indian restaurants on that strip, we didn't really know which one to pick. Then I remembered reading an online review about Rasoi, so we decided to go check it out.

The decor of the restaurant looks a little bit more upmarket compared to some of the other places and the staff are all very friendly. They told us that the buffet runs from 11:30am to 3:00pm on weekdays and 11:30am to 4:30pm on weekends. The restaurant is closed on Mondays and from 3pm til 5pm on weekdays. The buffet is $9.95 per person, not too bad at all.

Here is Kevin at the appetizer and vegetarian section of buffet line. They split the buffet into two sections, vegetarian and non vegetarian. There is quite a large spread of dishes here, ranging from things like samosa choley for the appetizer to vegetarian specialities like navratna korma (mix vege in mild curry), aloo gobi (fried cauliflower and potatoes in spices) and my all time favorite, saag panner (spinach with cottage cheese)!! I can eat saag panner everyday and not get sick of it. I also like thier mushroom chilli, it's deep fried oyster mushrooms, cooked in some sort of chilli sauce. It's really really good but spicy too! There are a whole lot more dishes on the buffet line but I sorta forgot what their names were :P

In the non vegetarian section, they had tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, chicken makhai and a few other stuff that I also forgot. There were also rice, naan bread, puri and papadums to eat with all the curries.

This is my plate after returning from the buffet line, a little bit of everything! :D I also like how the waiters would walk around with piping hot and fresh naan bread, just in case you need more to go with your food. They were also very efficient in topping up my water. I'm sure all of you know that my tolerance for spiciness is really low, hence, the water level in my glass also goes down real fast :P They never once let it go down beyond the half way mark, in fact, the waiter would pour in more water the moment I set the glass back down on the table after taking a drink. They must have done that at least 5-6 times! Very very impressed.

The dessert section of the buffet is not really that big. There were only three things to choose from. They had the Kheer (boiled rice with milk and sugar, flavored with various types of nuts), Gulab Jamun (solidified milk balls, deep fried, soaked in sugar syrup) and some sort of Burfi. Even though the selection is small, they tasted greeeaaattt! I am usually not a fan of Indian desserts, cos they are usually very very sweet. However, the ones served here are really nice, just the right amount of sugar and very light.

Overall, we had a great lunch. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who is looking for an affordable and yummy Indian buffer lunch in Jersey City. The only downside of this restaurant is that the parking is terrible. We had to circle a few times and we ended up parking in the housing area behind the strip.

Rasoi Indian Restaurant
810 Newark Avenue,
Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel: (201) 222-8850
Fax: (201) 222-9263
Web: http://rasoiindianrestaurant.com/