Complete Indian Dinner Menu

Indian Dinner Menu

You will tell me it is already difficult to find a special dish for friends to taste during a dinner, let alone a whole menu!!!!
Don't worry, I made it for you! 😅
It will not be easy in a post to summarize the Indian cuisine, so wide of scents, tastes and traditions, but for this complete menu we will choose only a few dishes.
I love the Indian cuisine for many reasons and to learn it fully I worked in two Indian restaurants to discover the secrets that I will now reveal to you.

Papadum is a crispy pastry made with chickpea flour and is offered to you as a welcome when you sit at the table before ordering to taste with the mint sauce called Raita from a spicy sauce and fermented jam.

Here is the recipe for Papadum Indian crunchy bread made of chickpea flour.

Ingredients for 4 people:

• Chickpea flour 250g
• Flour 0 50g
• Dehydrated yeast 3g
• Cumin / paprika qb
• Water qb

In a bowl we add 250g of chickpea flour to 50g of flour 0 a teaspoon of ground cumin and a teaspoon of paprika, a little water and mix well to obtain a solid but well amalgamated dough mass.

Let it rest for at least an hour in the fridge, then on a clean and lightly floured surface roll it out in circular discs 2 mm thick with the rolling pin.

Let our discs dry for an hour and then fry them in a pan until they are golden on both sides for a few minutes.

We use any seed oil. 

Here is the recipe for Naan yoghurt bread.

Ingredients x 8 sandwiches:

• Flour 00 250g
• Beer yeast 2g 
• Sugar 5g
• Natural yoghurt 125g
• Milk 50ml
• Seed oil 10ml
• Salt 5g
• Garlic/cheese/coriander (optional)

Dissolve 50ml of milk in a bowl together with 2g of dehydrated brewer's yeast, add half a teaspoon of sugar to better activate the yeast and let it rest for 10 minutes.

After the rest add the yoghurt and seed oil and the flour 00 250g, mix well until you get a homogeneous and compact dough, cover with the film and let it rest for at least one hour.

Divide the dough into portions of equal weight and round them like balls with the palms of your hands, it will be easier to roll them out into circular sheets, let's help ourselves with a rolling pin to roll them out.

Let's create 1 cm thick piadina with a circumference of about 20 cm, place them on a baking plate and bake them at 220° for about 10/12 minutes until a light hazelnut browning on the outside.

Now let's move on to the sauces to accompany the dinner, the yoghurt Raita, the jam and the hot sauce.

Ingredients for the Raita:

• Natural white unsweetened yoghurt 200g
• Mint 4 twigs
• Green chilli pepper 1(optional)
• Cumin one teaspoon
• Cucumber 40g (optional)
• Salt one teaspoon 
• Pepper qb

After having washed and peeled the vegetables on a chopping board let's finely mix all the ingredients and combine them with the yoghurt, let's salt and pepper them and let them rest for at least an hour in the fridge (we can use the minipimmer to combine everything).

The jam commonly used tamarind for its digestive qualities, will be replaced by a jam easier to find and make, I make it of pumpkin, apricots or plums.

Ingredients for the jam:

• Pumpkin 200g
• Sugar 70g
• Salt 3g
• Cardamom powder 5g
• Water 150ml

We cook the pumpkin in the oven cut in half and emptied from the seeds, for 40 minutes at 180° until it is soft and with a spoon we can extract the pulp.

In a small saucepan melt the 70g sugar with 150 ml of water, add cardamom powder and a pinch of salt and create a syrup that we will add to the pulp and blend to have a smooth and soft sauce, continue to cook over very low heat until it has the desired density.

For the hot sauce we will make a Chutney with cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients:                                       

• Tomatoes 200g
• Red pepper 1
• Brown sugar 50g
• Chilli peppers (optional) at will
• Water 10ml
• White vinegar 20ml
• Salt and pepper qb

In a saucepan we put 200g of tomatoes cleaned and cut together with a red pepper, 10ml of water and 20ml of white vinegars and let it simmer for 20 minutes, add sugar and chilli pepper, salt and pepper and let it cook reduced in a thick sauce.  

For the chicken and its marinating.

Ingredients:

• Chicken 600g
• Natural white yoghurt 150g
• Garam Masala 3g
• Cumin 2g
• Ginger one piece chopped
• Garlic 1/4 clove
• Coriander a tuft
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Salt qb

Let's cut the chicken into small pieces and put it in a container with the following ingredients; natural yoghurt 150g, Garam masala 3g, cumin 2g, chopped ginger, chopped garlic, chopped coriander, and half a spemuto lemon.

Let marinate for at least 8 hours.

We will add the "marinating" sauce of the chicken to the next preparation and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

For the Tikka Masala sauce

Ingredients:

• White onion 1
• Red pepper 1
• Butter 40g
• Oil evo 10ml
• Garlic 1/2 clove
• Ginger a piece
• Carrot 1
• Tomato pulp 400g
• Garam Masala spices in powder form about 5g
• Cumin 3g
• Fresh coriander a tuft
• Salt qb

In a saucepan put 40g of butter and 10 ml of evo oil, half a clove of garlic, the chopped ginger and let it take heat, wash and roughly cut the vegetables, (carrot, onion, pepper) sauté them together with the butter 5 minutes and take them out of the saucepan and put them aside.

In the same pot put the peeled tomatoes 400g, the garam masala about 5g, salt to taste and leave on a low flame for at least 40 minutes. 

After the time has elapsed, add the "marinating" sauce from the chicken that you find in the next preparation and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

Now let's cook the chicken deprived of its marinade, in reality you should have the Tandoori oven but we will use a hot anti adherent pan to give the thermal shock and create the caramellizzaction of the chicken meat or you can use the home oven at maximum temperature with the grill.

Once cooked, add it to the sauce and serve it with the rest of the dishes, a wish for success on my part.