Haldi Indian Cuisine recently opened a second location in north Glendale Arizona in Arrowhead. The original Surprise Location was awarded by Phoenix Magazine for BEST IN THE VALLEY for Indian Food. Haldi Indian Cuisine offers North and South Indian dishes. They also offer beer, wine, sodas, tea, coffee, mango lassi, basic cocktails and more.
Today we tried vegetable samosas.
They came with tamarind and cilantro sauce. Very tasty. Anyone would like them.
We also shared spicy chicken curry and vindaloo chicken (also spicy). They came with a bowl of fluffy basmati rice studded with cumin seed.
We ordered #4 out of 5 for heat spiciness. It was hot but not as hot as #4 from other places that we have been. ……We had lots of rice and tasty sauces left over so we took them home. .(OMGosh..the next day these not so hot with heat #4’s turned into #5’s and grew with lots of heat almost too much heat…WOW)……….The sauces both were very fragrant, delicious and were made with lots of exotic spices. The white meat chicken in both could have been more moist.
Haldi Indian Cuisine has recently opened in North Glendale AZ
I was watching a TV show called The Talk and chef Shota Nakajima was on. He is a James Beard semi finalist, and also a Top Chef finalist among other accolades. Anyways………one of the dishes that he made was this watermelon salad with miso honey dressing and everyone was going crazy tasting it so I figured that I should make it. I didn’t want to make changes to his recipe but I had to because the recipe was for one pint of watermelon and the recipe for the dressing contained three cups of oil and 2 cups of vinegar are way too much for me. I might have created something different but it is really great. Actually the flavors really are so FORKING AMAZING that I cut out all of the blended oil (3 cups) from the original recipe. I made a few other changes but they were only minor. I do recommend not to pre-dress the watermelon because the dressing after a while starts to break down the watermelon. This is FORKING DELICIOUS….You will want to make it over and over again. Portions are hard to judge. It’s say that it might make about 4 servings for most people.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 personal size watermelon, rind removed, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil – torn or chiffonade (original recipe calls for fresh mint. you can use mint or basil or even 1/2 and 1/2 would be delicious)
In a small mixing bowl mix together the miso paste, honey, ginger, vinegar, and oil. Taste and adjust to your taste. Set to the side.
In a large mixing bowl combine the watermelon and cucumber. Top with feta, togarashi and black pepper to taste. Top with fresh herb and sunflower seeds. Add dressing to taste.
Watermelon salad with miso honey dressing
A special THANKS to chef Shota Nakajima for his Forking Amazing recipe so that I could come up with this.
I had mushrooms that were getting old so I wanted to do something interesting with them. One of or maybe the most talented vegetable chefs in the world is Yotam Ottolenghi so I looked up whatever mushroom recipes that I could find of his on the web. In case you didn’t know….Yotam Ottolenghi is multi award wining and James Beard award winning cook book author, chef, and restauranteur. Anyways I found a few of his mushroom recipes and they all sounded worth trying…..Today I picked the Marinated Mushrooms with Walnuts and Tahini Yogurt Recipe because it used the variety of mushrooms that was similar to what I had at home. After I marinated them I was so surprised at how special the mushrooms were. I only made a few minor changes that were due to what I had at home and they also went marvelously well. I added the Fried enoki mushrooms……I thought they added something to an already FORKING Amazing recipe. You don’t have to add the fried enoki if you don’t want to.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
8oz mixed mushrooms – cleaned, cut off bases
5 oz seafood mushrooms – cleaned cut off base
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice (for marinade)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1 lemon (just the juice for tahini yogurt)
2 tablespoons tahini paste
1 garlic clove – ground to paste
1/2 cup greek style yogurt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup peas
3 oz toasted walnuts lightly broken
2 Tablespoons fresh basil – torn or chiffonade
2 Tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves
optional – 5 oz enoki mushrooms
optional 1/2 cup potato starch
optional 4 oz butter for frying
Directions
In a large bowl mix together the oil, vinegar, maple syrup, juice of one lemon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. Mix in the mushrooms and let them marinate an hour.
In a small bowl combine the juice of one lemon, tahini, garlic, and yogurt. Mix well and set to the side.
After the mushrooms are marinated add the cumin, peas, and walnuts mix well. Top with fresh basil and marjoram. Then dollop with tahini yogurt.
If you are making the crispy enoki mushrooms all you do is a dollop of butter on medium high. Add the mushrooms dragged threw the potato starch. The mushrooms only need 2-3 minutes a side. You do have to clean the pan between the three batches because the butter burns. I usually fry with oil but butter always makes mushrooms crispier….
Enjoy!
Marinated Mushrooms with Walnuts and Tahini Yogurt
A Special THANKS!!!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for his FORKING AMAZING Recipe so that I could make this dish.
At the end of the week I had carrots and a cauliflower that were getting old and I just happened to get Food & Wine’s recipe this very day in my email for Sweet Cauliflower and Carrot Pickles so I thought I should make this recipe. I changed a few things…not really to change but only due to what I had at home. This pickling recipe is very different from any other pickling that I have done. I used much more spices and different spices than what I think of for pickling. I also didn’t use some things that I always use for pickling like garlic and black peppercorns….SEE I said it was different! Serving size is extra hard to tell on this one….I’m guessing at least 6 servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 Tablespoon fennel seeds
1 Tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon allspice berries
1 whole clove
1/2 teaspoon anise seeds
1 2in cinnamon stick – broken
1 Tablespoon fennel pollen
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 cups water
2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons kosher salt
6 carrots sliced diagonally 1/4 inch thick
1 head cauliflower cut in 1 1/2 inch florets
Directions
Either in a sauce pan on moderate heat (till fragrant) or microwave (45 seconds till fragrant) combine the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, allspice berries, clove, anise seeds, and cinnamon stick. After it cools put it in a small bowl and add the fennel pollen, bay leaf, and crushed red pepper. Wrap well in cheesecloth. ( I used two tea balls I think that is easier)
Add water, vinegar, sugar, and salt to a sauce pan. Add spice bag or balls. Bring to a boil and then simmer for five minutes.
Add carrot slices to boiling mixture. Boil only up to three minutes or until carrots barely tender. Remove carrots. Then add cauliflower and boil the cauliflower till barely tender also up to three minutes. Then remove cauliflower. Toss the spice bag. Let liquid cool to room temperature. Pour the liquid (when cool) over the vegetables. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Drain the vegetables to serve.
Sweet Cauliflower & Carrot Pickles
A Special Thanks to Food & Wine Magazine for their recipe.
This is an extremely easy and really delicious recipe by vegetable genius and award wining chef, restauranteur, and cookbook author Yotam Ottolenghi. This time I really didn’t mean to change the recipe at all but I made some minor substitutions to what I had around the house. I will write out what should be used and next to it if I made a substitution.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 1/4 lbs Yukon gold potatoes cut in 1/2 inch matchsticks (I used 1 1/2 lbs red skinned potatoes)
2 teaspoons rice flour (I used 2 teaspoons Wondra flour)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt (I used sea salt….)
1 heaping Tablespoon of fresh chopped cilantro or parsley stems or a mix of the two (I used a container of radish sprouts)
1 1/2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons olive oill
1/3 cup pine nuts (I substituted around a total of a 1/2 a cup of slightly broken walnuts)
1/4 cup chopped almonds (see substitution above)
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon nigella seeds or black sesame seeds
1 teaspoon urfa pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
3 Tablespoons Greek style yogurt
2 1/2 Tablespoons tahini
1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves – minced
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F
On a large parchment lined baking tray, toss the potatoes with the flour, oil and one teaspoon of salt. Spread the potatoes out in a single layer. Cover the pan tight with aluminum foil. This goes in the oven for only 15 minutes just to get the potatoes to soften slightly.
Make the pickled stems (or sprouts). Add herb to small bowl and add the vinegar to pickle it slightly. Set this to the side.
Prepare the nuts. Add oil to a small frying pan on medium high heat. When hot add the nuts and cook stirring occasionally until toasted and slightly brown (around 1-3 minutes). Remove from heat and add the sugar, nigella seeds, urfa and Aleppo Chile flakes, paprika, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Transfer this mixture to a bowl.
Make tahini yogurt. Add the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and a quarter teaspoon of salt to a bowl and mix well. You will have to thin this mixture down with water because it will thicken up even more. Start with 2 1/2 Tablespoons of water.
Up the oven to 425 degrees F. Remove the foil from the potatoes. Return the potatoes to the oven for 15 minutes. Use a spatula and flip the potatoes over and cook them till nicely golden and crispy (around 20-25 minutes).
To serve transfer potatoes to a serving platter. Drizzle the potatoes with the tahini yogurt. Spoon the nut mixture on the top. Drain the herb and put them on the very top. Serve Immediately.
Yotam Ottolenghi Style Oven Fries with Tahini Yogurt and Smoky Sweet Nuts
ENJOY!
A Special THANKS to Yotam Ottolenghi for another FORKING Amazing recipe.
The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
The FORKING Amazing FnB Restaurant is located in the arts district by Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. The restaurant is co-owned by James Beard Award Wining chef Charleen Badman. She serves an ever changing menu of global farm focused contemporary sharing plates that often feature local vegetables. The menu is vegetable heavy but also features enough meat to please meat eaters. Arizona wines are always featured on the menu.
We enjoyed an amazing meal like we always do at FnB but one dish really stood out. So much so that I actually dreamed about it that night. The flash fried eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots, garlic, pistachios, and honey…….
You can’t make this dish at home because you’d never be able to purchase the speciality farm fresh eggplant that this dish was made with………..and even if you could find such an eggplant who on earth can give you a big slab of eggplant that is very hard to describer but is firm…that you could cut like a potato, but also sort of custardy. This eggplant was extra special….like an eggplant just grown for the GODS……..The flavors were so different and so delicious and unlike anything imaginable with eggplant. They were a genius embellishment. But what was phenomenal was the texture and taste of the eggplant. This eggplant was sweet like white eggplant and seemed seedless. This was really FANTABULOUS eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots and pickled garlic. (I think I dreamed fennel was also in it….not sure if that was real or just added on in my dream ?) All that countered with the pistachios and just the right amount of honey was darn yummy. This eggplant was firm almost like a custardy potato with the skin falling off like the way fish skin can fall off. The eggplant was cooked but wasn’t oily…..It was a magical kind of firm texture but almost custardy texture unlike any eggplant that I have ever had anywhere. It was so light and so delicious and was so easy to whoof down.
The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ is an official FANTABULOUS Dish.
I recently got my hands on gochugaru pepper powder and had to do something with Cauliflower. By looking at the photo it looks dry but it isn’t. It taste so darn good that I don’t want to change anything about the cauliflower. To make the cauliflower this is an easy, quick and delicious recipe. You might notice a confit egg on the cauliflower. I sous vide it at 147 degrees F for an hour. It came out slightly jammy but also loose. I think I want just slightly more jammy than loose. I’m thinking that I might cure an egg next time or if I confit the yolk do it a temperature or two higher for next time. Any egg that you prepare will go great here so I didn’t give any directions for the egg since it is optional. Serving size is difficult to just because I don’t know if you want this as a dinner side or a meal. My serving size may indeed differ from your idea of serving size. Also the cauliflowers do differ greatly in side. I used one very large cauliflower. You might have more sauce than you need if your cauliflower isn’t as large as mine was. So I do warn you that if your cauliflower is too small that you might accidentally boil your cauliflower in the oven from the extra sauce that you don’t need.
This recipe makes around 6 servings
1 large cauliflower – cut into florets, core saved (dried out bottom of core shaved off) and sliced thin
1 Tablespoon canola oil
2 oz unsalted butter melted
1 teaspoon garlic confit (or substitute garlic (1-2 cloves ground to paste) or granulated garlic (1/2 teaspoon))
2 Tablespoons gochugaru pepper flakes
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup dried chives blended into dust (this was more than I used…you can try using less)
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
2 Tablespoons canola oil
small splash (maybe 1-2 Tablespoons) pickled hot pepper brine
non stick spray
2 whole pickles in slices
optional a few eggs cooked however you like
optional some fresh cilantro will taste well here
Directions
Set oven to 450 degrees F
In a small mixing bowl combine the 1 Tablespoon canola oil, butter, garlic confit, gochugaru, maple syrup, and rice wine vinegar. Either use a bag or large bowl and mix together the cauliflower florets and the gochugaru sauce you just made. Get out a sheet pan and spray it with non stick spray and in a single layer spread out the cauliflower florets.
In a small bowl mix together the dry chives, granulated garlic, canola and a small splash of pickled hot pepper brine. Get out a small baking sheet and spray it with non stick spray. Get as much as the green stuff on each side of the core slice surface as you can and lay them out on a baking sheet.
Put the cauliflower florets on the middle rack and the cores on the lower rack. Ovens do differ. In my oven they were nicely charred in 25 minutes.
Put it all together.
Gochugaru Cauliflower with Chive Cauliflower Core and Pickles
I made Asian marinated chicken thighs with yuzu so I wanted to make a nice light side dish and I happened to have 2 cucumbers and some scallions that I needed to use up so here it is. This make either 4 small side servings or two larger servings.
Ingredients for two servings
4 cucumbers , peeled, seeds removed, cut in sticks
8 scallions – cut diagonally
2 common large red radishes – match stick cut
2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon mirin
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
4 dried bird’s eye chili – crumbled
1/4 cup cilantro leaves – chopped
3 Tablespoons sesame seeds
sea salt to taste
Directions
Everything goes in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Salt to taste and ENJOY!
Asian Style Cucumber Sesame Scallion Salad
Enjoy!
It will go well with yuzu and sesame marinated chicken thighs. (I’ll publish that recipe in two days)
yuzu & sesame marinated chicken thighs with Asian style cucumber sesame & scallion salad
Yotam Ottolenghi is a chef, restauranteur and multi award and James Beard awarding winning cook book author. When you come across one of his recipes you can surely learn something and or taste something incredible. I came across Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe for Soba Noodles with Ginger Broth and Crunchy Ginger. I read the recipe and I thought that sounds really good but don’t feel like soup or noodles today (It’s really toasty hot in Phoenix). I figured out how to do his recipe as a vegetable. So that is what this is…..and it came out really delicious! portion size is difficult to judge. I used one medium to small cabbage. For me that is around four side servings.
Ingredients for around 4 side servings
12 Tablespoons olive oil (split into 8 and 4 Tablespoons)
1 Tablespoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
60 grams peeled and grated ginger (around 6 Tablespoons)
2 shallots -peeled and fine chopped
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 Tablespoon white sesame seeds
1 Tablespoon black sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cabbage (I used a medium/small one) Cut into 1 1/2-2inch pieces
1 heaping Tablespoon vegetable soup base
1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
2 Tablespoons reserved chili oil
Directions
Make the chili oil. – Add 8 tablespoons of oil to a large skillet and heat over medium heat. Place the red chili flakes and the paprika in a small heatproof bowl. When the oil is hot but not smoking add the oil to the small heatproof bowl. Set this to the side to let the flavors infuse. (2 Tablespoons need to be reserved for making the cabbage)
Set oven to 450 degrees F.
Make the cabbage (or if you are taking your time it might be better for you to do the ginger crisp next so you aren’t doing two things at once). – In a large mixing bowl combine the soup base, lime juice, soy sauce, granulated garlic, powdered ginger and reserved chili oil. Mix well. Add the cabbage and mix well. Spread out on a sheet pan and roast in the oven till slightly charred. (ovens do differ but in my oven this took around 22 minutes. Remove from oven when done. Use a slotted spoon so the cabbage is dryer.
Make the ginger crisp. – Add 4 Tablespoons oil to the same skillet that you just used. Heat on medium high. Once hot turn the heat down to medium. Add the ginger and the shallots. Stir often till nicely browned and starting to crisp (10-15 minutes). Add the panko, sesame seeds, and salt. Cook around 6 minutes more till nicely toasted. Transfer to a bowl and set to the side.
Combine and serve. Cabbage gets topped with ginger crisp. Sprinkle with chili oil as desired.
Spiced Cabbage with Ginger Crisp and Chili Oil
ENJOY!
A Special THANKS to Yotam Ottolenghi for sharing his Forking Amazing recipe for Soba Noodles with Ginger Broth and Crunchy Ginger so I could come up with what I made.
This is an outstanding recipe that I found in the internet by chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs for Broccoli Stalk with Confit Egg and Blue Cheese Recipe. This recipe has a lot of steps to it but nothing is too hard to do. I did change only a few things but maybe not enough to take any credit for this recipe. I wanted my broccoli cooked instead of raw so that was one change. I thought the broccoli puree needed chives so I added that. Instead of making blue cheese dressing I just added blue cheese because the creamy extra rich broccoli puree was enough richness for me. I also didn’t have kale so I substituted cabbage and crisped it up in the microwave but I do have to admit that when you use kale like YOU SHOULD that the kale crisp will turn out tastier than my microwaved crisp cabbage. Still even with the slight changes I made this is an exceptional recipe that taste FORKING AMAZING. I do note that this recipe is A LOT OF WORK for only 4 servings…..You make this recipe when you want to make something very special. This recipe is in metric. One thing that isn’t very clear when you read the recipe is how much broccoli to use. I used two very large heads of broccoli for the whole recipe.
Ingredients for 4 servings
4 egg yolks – confit eggs
250ml neutral oil – confit eggs
500g onions – finely sliced – onion jam
75g demerara sugar – onion jam
75ml cider vinegar – onion jam
50ml water – onion jam
1 dash vegetable oil – onion jam
285g broccoli washed and fine chopped – broccoli puree
200ml heavy cream – broccoli puree
100ml whole milk – broccoli puree
77g unsalted butter – broccoli puree
1g baking soda – broccoli puree
1 pinch sea salt – broccoli puree
2 Tablespoons chives – fine chopped – broccoli puree
115g blue cheese crumbled
1 bunch of kale (I used a small head of cabbage that I microwaved the leaves crisp but I do note that crispy kale chips would indeed be better)
1 Tbsp neutral oil – kale chips
1Tbsp sugar – kale chips
1 Tbsp salt – kale chips
180g flour (this batter recipe made maybe twice as much as I needed) tempura radish
1 Tablespoon baking powder – tempura radish
250ml ice water – tempura radish
1 pinch sea salt – tempura radish
12 radishes – tempura radish
neutral oil for frying – tempura radish
2 broccoli stalks only – broccoli stalks
1 teaspoon honey – broccoli stalks
10ml apple cider vinegar – broccoli stalks
1 knob butter – broccoli stalks
sea salt to taste – broccoli stalks
remaining broccoli cut in manageable pieces for eating
Directions
Make the confit eggs. Set sous vide to 63C and carefully add yolks to a small dish and cover the yolks with oil for around an hour. If you don’t have a sous vide you will slightly over cook the eggs in the oven. Confit eggs on the oven should be done at around 150 degrees F for around 30 minutes…Good LucK.
Make the onion jam. Put a sauce pan on medium heat. Add oil and when it’s hot add the onions and cook till soft and golden. Add sugar and cook till sugar turns to caramel and then deglaze with the vinegar. Add water and cook till jam consistency.
Make broccoli puree. Melt butter in the pan and add the milk and cream. Take off heat and add the baking soda. This mixture with the broccoli gets blended till as smooth as possible. Add chives and blend some more. Add seasoning to taste.
Set your oven to 400 degrees F or 200C. Make the kale chips. Spread leaves on baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Set another tray on the top of the kale and cook it for 5 minutes. Then season with the salt and sugar. (I note that I didn’t do this step and just microwaved cabbage leaves in a lightly non stick sprayed microwavable safe bowl for 5 minutes on one side. Blotted leaves dry and turned them over and around another 5 minutes and they were crispy…They do burn easy and I did accidentally burn some)
Peel the broccoli stalks. Slice in half long ways and boil for 8 minutes (I added sea salt and cut in chunks) Then shook in ice water.
Either set up a fryer with oil to 180C or a pot on the stove with neutral oil for frying at around medium heat. Make batter. Flour, pinch salt and ice water till smooth. Batter up those radishes and fry till golden. Drain on cooling rack…Or pan lined with paper towels. Season with salt.
Get a sauce pan with a knob of butter and cook till butter turns brown on medium high heat. Add the broccoli stalks and cook till caramelized. Add the honey cook around 2 minutes and deglaze with vinegar.
While you are doing the broccoli stalks blanch broccoli crown tops in salted water till tender crisp (around 3 minutes and then shock in ice water. Season with salt and pepper.
Put this all together and sprinkle with blue cheese.
Broccoli Three Ways with Confit Egg, Onion Jam, Blue Cheese, Crispy Cabbage and Tempura Radish
When I served this with dinner mine looked more like this.
This REALLY IS a FORKING AWSOME RECIPE!
A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!!! To Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downs for his FORKING AMAZING Recipe so I could make this.
