Dine and dash

I must admit, we often think of Indian food as a fall or winter food, because we love the stews, but then again it really is a hot country, so we should enjoy it in the heat….  Plus I have been hankering for Indian food for a while, so let’s go for it!  So this week, we had 2 of our favorite guests Brian and Luke joining us. When we had some time off, one of our excursions took us to little India. This gave us a chance to pick up a few ingredients, and just wander around.  So with some incense, spices, and beautiful table clothes, we are ready to make an Indian feast.

It was a lovely, warm evening, so we were able to dine al fresco.  Once we had settled and perhaps sampled a bit of wine, we sat at table, to enjoy an Indian pea soup.

With fresh Ontario peas, from a farmers vegetable stand, and a potato base, and fresh Indian spices, this soup had wonderful flavor, but featured the fresh peas wonderfully.  This is a soup we MUST make again.

We had a moment to reflect on past events and summer plans, especially a certain daughter’s dream trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (I’m jealous). Next we broke with tradition and served the main family style, mostly because there were lots of dishes to try.  We offered Tandoori chicken, tandoori shrimp, royal lamb korma, rogan josh, baingan achari, basmati rice, and grilled naan. this was quite a selection of our favorites.

I was starting to think we might have overdone it… then again I blame Luke.  We wanted to make lamb korma, but he really likes rogan josh, so we did both, but 2 tandoori dishes might have gone over the top.  It turns out no one is to blame, because leftover Indian food makes great lunches.  And leftover tandoori chicken can only mean… BUTTER CHICKEN!!!  We went out on a limb and paired this with a St Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale.  The ale was a nice accompaniment to the flavours and spices, of the food.

Certain guests had to go to rehearsal, so we had to get back to our in season efficiency. Dessert was Gulab Jamun

This was a sweet yet light end to the meal.  For once I was not the one running off to rehearsal (although I wish I was) but it gave us time to clean up and relax in the beautiful evening. Then again Steph and Brian were off singing beautiful music, preparing for their England tour.  It may have been a dine and dash, for the off season, but a memorable one.