After slaving all night on the demi-glace, I got out of the house and went to a local Divali Nagar festival, hoping to eat some good Indian food. The festival was pretty small and all of the food booths were Trinidadian and other West Indian foods. Still I managed to try a few things and enjoyed going.
Some fried thing (I don't remember) and a chickpea curry stuffed roti called "doubles". The curry was different from other Indian-style curries I've had before: it was sweet and savory and had lots of cinnamon.
A biryani combo: fried rice, another version of chickpea curry, and a samosa and kachori. Although the chana needed some more heat, it was more what I'm used to than the one stuffed in in the doubles. The rice was really good. The green chiles in the rice had a mild, wilted poblano-like flavor which worked really well. The samosa was just potatoes and spices and could have used some meat texture and richness. But the fried potato was amazing; apparently it was coated in gram (chickpea) flour which gave it a very light crispiness after it was deep fried. I definitely want to try that.
As usual after trying something new or different, I came home and tried it. I've made chana masala before but I haven't been too happy with it. I've tried using raw spices and also boxed chana masalas, but I still haven't been able to capture the flavors I want. This time I asked a friend for advice and tried to follow it:
Frying onions and spices (cumin seed, mustard seed, a few cloves and peppercorns, coriander powder).
Add turmeric, garlic and ginger paste, some spicy raw chili, garam masala, some water, simmer and then purée until smooth. Then return to heat and add the chickpeas and simmer until done.
I ate it with basmati rice, some papadums, and spicy pickle. This was the closest I've come to the flavor I want but I still need to keep trying.
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