Bombay Sloppy Joes

I love sloppy joes and love to make different variations of it. I rarely use ground beef for sloppy joes. I think because sloppy joes are so saucy, you really don't need to use beef. I always use ground turkey for sloppy joes. Before this recipe, I go back and forth between this recipe and this one. Now this recipe will be a top contender. I don't know why I like sloppy joes so much, I think it's nostalgic.

This sloppy joe recipe comes from Aarti Sequeira. I haven't actually seen her show, but I remember her from the Food Network stars competition. I was rooting for her the whole time because I love how she uses Indian spices and flavors in her cooking. Like the sloppy joes, you can really taste the Indian influence, but it's still very much a sloppy joe. I did have to adjust the spice level in the recipe, I think I pretty much doubled the spices because it didn't have enough umph. Here's the recipe.

Bombay Sloppy Joes
adapted from Aarti Sequeira

For the Sauce:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced peeled ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 serrano chile pepper, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

For the Sloppy Joes:
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Small handful (about 1/4 cup) raisins
Small handful (about 1/4 cup) shelled pistachios
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 large white onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 serrano chile pepper (don't chop it unless you like things spicy!)
Kosher salt
2 tsp garam masala (see notes)
1/2 tsp chile powder (see notes)
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup half-and-half
Small handful fresh cilantro (soft stems included)
4 sesame buns

1. Make the sauce: Heat the vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger, garlic and chile pepper and cook until the ginger and garlic brown a little, about 1 minute. Add the garam masala and paprika and cook 30 seconds. Add the tomato sauce and 1 cup water, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the sloppy joes: Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the raisins and pistachios and cook, stirring occasionally, until the raisins swell up and the pistachios toast slightly, about 1 minute. Remove from the skillet and set aside.

3. Return the skillet to medium heat and add the remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add the cumin seeds and let sizzle about 10 seconds, then add the onion and bell pepper and cook until softened and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the chile pepper and cook 2 more minutes, seasoning with salt. Add the turkey, breaking up the big lumps, and cook until opaque, about 5 minutes.

4. Add the prepared sauce to the turkey-and-onion mixture in the skillet. Stir and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the mixture thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

5. Remove the whole chile pepper (unless you want to eat it, like my dad does!) and stir in the honey, half-and-half, raisins and pistachios. Taste for seasoning. Add the additional garam masala and chile powder to taste (see notes). Stir in the cilantro right before serving.

6. Toast the buns and fill with the sloppy joe mixture.

Notes:

• The original recipe didn't call for the extra garam masala and the chile powder.  I didn't feel like the sloppy joes had enough taste so I added some extras.  

Indian Fried Rice

Mr. G and I have been taking an Indian cooking class for the last two months or so and the class has finally ended. It was such a wonderful class. We had a group of wonderful students all with a passion for good food and our teacher was great!! I highly recommend it. If you live in Hawaii, the class we took is from the Kaimuki Community School of Adults.

There are so many recipes that I love from the class, but I decided to share this with you. It's called Indian fried rice, a simple rice dish packed with soo much flavor. It's so easy to make and the result is fabulous!! Here's the recipe.

Indian Fried Rice
from Vasantha at Kaimuki Community School for Adults

2 cups basmati rice
2 tbsp oil or ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
4 cloves
2" cinnamon stick
5-6 cardamoms
15 curry leaves, sliced thinly
2 bay leaves
4 tbsp chopped mint leaves, chopped finely
3 green chilies, slit lengthwise
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 cup sliced onions
1 tbsp coriander powder
4 tbsp cilantro, chopped finely
1/4 tsp garam masala

1. Wash rice and add enough water to cook rice. Keep aside in a rice cooker, soaking for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oil and ghee over medium high heat in a sauce pan. Add cumin and caraway seeds and let them splutter.

3. Add cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamoms, curry leaves and bay leaves to the oil and fry until fragrant, a few seconds.

4. Add mint leaves, green chilies, ginger garlic paste, and onions and fry for a minute. Now add coriander powder and chopped cilantro leaves.

5. Add the seasoning to the rice and mix well. Add salt to taste. Cook in your rice cooker and you're all set.

Matar Paneer

I made this the other night with some left over paneer I had from making palak paneer. Palak paneer is absolutely my favorite Indian dish. It looks absolutely disgusting, like green mush with white cubes...but it's so delicious. I haven't found a palak paneer recipe that I'm absolutely in love with yet, and until then, I won't post it.

Anyway, on to the dish at hand. I made matar paneer because I needed to use up the left over paneer and also because we *HEART* Indian food. I found this recipe from Christie's Corner. This is such an easy dish to make, it came together in less than 30 minutes, which is wonderful when you're exhausted from work. This dish was so yummy, I'm actually excited about the left overs for lunch tomorrow. Here's the recipe.

Matar Paneer
adapted from Christie's corner
Serves 4

1/4 cup canola oil
2 large onions, minced
2 Tbsp garlic, grated
2 Tbsp gingerroot, grated
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp Garam Masala
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 cup paneer, cubed
2 cups peas, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk (see note)

1. Heat a non-stick skillet over high. Add oil then onions, and sauté until dark golden brown.

2. Add the garlic and ginger, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add the tomato paste and cumin seeds and cook for 30 seconds.

4. Reduce the heat to low, add the garam masala, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, turmeric, and salt, and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add the paneer and cook another 5 minutes.

6. Add the peas, yogurt and cream. Cook 2 to 4 minutes or until the peas are just cooked.

7. Sprinkled with fresh cilantro. Serve immediately.

Note:

• *original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of heavy cream. I ended up using milk to lighten the dish and I didn't think the dish suffered from it.