Indian food, and other stuff

So I am starting a ladies' cooking group and for our first get together, I thought it would be fun to make Indian food.  I love Indian food and have wanted to get into making it for awhile, but always read a recipe, and then realize I do not have the ingredients and shy away.  But Friday I ended this cycle of defeat and went to one of the many Indian groceries in Albany and stocked up on spices and now I have the pantry to make Indian food regularly.  I am seriously pumped.  So to warm up for ladies' night, and because I was so excited by my new array of spices, I decided to try out some things.

There are several great Indian food blogs out there.  Here are a few to check out:

A great vegetarian one: Manjula's Kitchen
A vegan one my dad and stepmother love: Holy Cow Vegan
Another great one: eCurry

Here's what I made yesterday:

Masala Chana Dal (get the recipe here):

Aloo Posto (potatoes with poppy seeds) (recipe here):

And Khasta Paratha/Parotta - a type of Indian Bread from the Holy Cow Vegan blog -- it involves a lot of folding and refrigerating and thus you need to plan for it but the result was so worth it!  Here is the recipe.  Here are some pics from the process:

Yay Indian food!  I am making Chicken Tikka Masala tomorrow and a Naan bread for the cooking extravaganza, and other food will be on the menu as well.  It should be great!

Anyways, life is good in Voorheesville.  I have been knitting again!  Here is a hat I knit for Brandon with Reindeer on it:

Very cool.  He loves it :)

And I made Sourdough bread this morning... it will be delicious with sausage, tomato and cream pasta tonight!

And to finish off, some pics of the animals, who are loving life -- laying by the fire at night and in the autumn light coming through the window in the day -- what's not to love?

so cute!

-- Anya