Let Me Just Say मैं खाना पसंद है और खाना मुझे प्यार करता है।

Tonight’s dinner was a success, so say I. I futzed around on the internet bright and early this morning in search of Indian recipes I might like to try for dinner. I found dozens of interest. But, based on level of difficulty and required time, I opted to go for a few recipes that required only a trip to the Kroger in Hot Springs as opposed to the Indian markets in Little Rock.

One of the two new recipes I opted to make I found on SimpleIndianRecipes.com. The recipe, for palak chicken, the darker dish in the bottom of the photo (AKA palak gosht) is a richly-spiced chicken and spinach dish that incorporates tomatoes, onions, Greek yoghurt, and various other ingredients. I adapted the recipe to suit ingredient availability, but I doubt the flavor was altered appreciably. The one ingredient I did not have, “Ginger Garlic Green Chilly paste,” seemed simple enough to replicate; I simply zapped fresh ginger, a couple of cloves of garlic, and a seeded Serrano pepper in the mini food processor; it didn’t turn into paste, but I think it probably fit the taste profile just fine.

I also made “five-minute Indian style cabbage,” which I liked even more than I expected. Again, I adapted the recipe I found online, but I doubt my modifications made any taste-altering changes to the dish. In the photo, the dish is pictured on the left. Finally, I made an old standby, raita, that always pleases me. The combined flavors and textures of yoghurt, cucumbers, diced green onions, cilantro, ground coriander, cumin, salt, and lemon juice are enough to make a bad day seem tolerable; today wasn’t a bad day, so it topped the day off in a spectacular way.

The upshot of all this is as follows: मैं खाना पसंद है और खाना मुझे प्यार करता है।. That is to say (using my very best Hindi), “I love food and food loves me.”