Oddly enough, being from the south kind of, I have never had shrimp and grits.  Side note, I don't really consider Texas the south, as we are just an entity all our own. This is a hot button issue and has been debated for decades.  Is Texas Southern?  Western?  Southern influences, sure, but we also have mega Latin flavor and western cowboy style too.  I actually would venture to say that the diving line between where southern starts and west begins is right through Houston.  Allow me to make my case.

Fort Worth's nickname is 'Cow-town' so that is most certainly western.  Austin, San Antonio and all of the Texas valley are highly Hispanic populations, so that doesn't seem very Southern to me.  Southwestern is better fitting. Houston is also pretty Hispanicly influenced, but there are a great mix of all ethnicities.  The east side of town though...lots of...what is a nice way to say rednecks? And East Texas, yikes.  Those are some porch sitting, sweet tea drinking, oil field working southerners.  Galveston has a Mardi Gras parade, so that counts for Southern.  Dallas too, with all of their high-society snootiness like the ladies from 'The Help'.  

I have no horse in the race of South vs. Not South, as I consider myself 100% Texan, and merely a perfect blend of south and west.  I have manners, I think sweet tea is disgusting, I say y'all, I use butter liberally, I don't drive a truck, I leave the house looking 'not perfect' most of the time. Lily Pulitzer?  No thank you.  My actual ancestral heritage traces back to Texas for like a billion years, so we were Texans when it was Mexico (and France, and Spain).  #nativetexan

What are we even talking about?  Okay, yes, so I haven't had shrimp and grits before tasting some that Aaron ordered a year ago (so I couldn't possibly be a southern lady) and holy cow.  Mind blown.  I had no idea they were served with cheesy grits??  My first taste of cheesy grits wasn't until my 20s when I dined at Copeland's in Dallas with my bff Katrina.  We now make it a point to go to Copeland's whenever I am in town.  Those grits are off the charts delicious.  All this time I was turning my nose up at grits like they were lumpy flavorless mush.  They are actually really flavorful mush when made properly!

Long story short, I am a late in life adopter of shrimp and grits fandom.  This version is really great however, because it takes the beautiful cheesy goodness of the grits and pairs it with a tomato sauce that is, well, masala.  The flavors are outstanding and pretty similar to Chicken Tikka Masala (which is a FAVE!) , and I will be making this again and again.  I think I like it more than the original!  

You will need:

(for the shrimp)

1 LB shrimp (ideally under 15 count, so they are large and pretty!) peeled with tail on. (and deveined if you ask me) (frozen or fresh is fine, but have them thawed)

1/2 TSP turmeric

1 TBSP fresh lemon juice

3/4 TSP Kosher salt

2 TBSP olive oil

(for the masala)

4 cloves of garlic, grated

1 in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 TSP paprika

2 TSP ground coriander

1 TSP ground cinnamon

1/4 TSP turmeric

1/4 TSP garam masala

2 cups water

2 TBSP olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

1 serrano chile, seeded and sliced into half moons (less if you prefer less spicy)

Kosher salt

2 TBSP tomato paste

3/4 cup chopped ripe tomatoes (I used two med. sized)

1/2 TSP honey

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

(for the grits)

4 1/2 cups of water

1 TSP Kosher salt

1 cup grits (course ground cornmeal)

4 TBSP butter (1/2 a stick)

4 oz grated sharp cheddar (1 cup)

freshly ground black pepper

First we prep the shrimp.  Combine the turmeric, lemon juice, Kosher salt, and shrimp in a bowl.  Toss to coat the shrimp and allow to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.  Just enough time to get the rest your ingredients prepped!  

I will say one thing, the more you cook, the better your cooking time management skills get.  Prep work that used to take me 30 minutes can get done in 10-15 now.  And I am better at looking at a recipe and timing everything out so the whole meal finishes at the same time and not having the sides get cold for 15 minutes while I finish the main dish.  

Has it been 20 minutes?  In a heavy bottomed skillet, heat the oil to medium high heat.  When the oil is shimmering we are ready to add the shrimp.  You want to drain the shrimp of any liquid before adding to the pan - I just used tongs and gived each little shrimp a shake before placing in the pan.  Give the shrimp room in the pan, if not you won't get a nice crust on them.  Cook a couple minutes on each side, so a nice char is formed.  Remove shrimp from the pan set aside. Give your skillet a quick swipe with a paper towel before starting the masala. 

In a separate small bowl combine the garlic, ginger, paprika, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, garam masala and 1/2 cup of water.  Mix and set aside.

Add your olive oil to the skillet and allow to heat up until oil is shimmering.  Into the skillet add the onion, serrano and a generous pinch of Kosher salt.  On medium high heat, cook and stir occasionally for 5 to 7 minutes.  You want to veggies to get brown on the edges.  Then for another 5 minutes or so, keep stirring a little more frequently until the onions are very brown and sweet smelling.  

Reduce the heat to medium and add the watery spice blend from earlier, tomatoes and tomato paste.  You want to stir together to combine all the ingredients.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until the whole mixture darkens and the tomatoes are softened.  You want the mix to be one mass that holds together at the end of this.

**maybe start the grits about now - put the water and kosher salt on to boil

Now we add the honey, 3/4 TSP of Kosher salt and the remaining 1 and 1/2 cups of water.  Allow the ingredients to lightly simmer for 5 minutes to combine.

Add the shrimp back in the mix, cover and reduce the heat to low.  We are just trying to get the shrimp back up to temperature without overcooking them.  This should take about 4-5 minutes.  Once everything is heated through, add in the cilantro.

Now I cheated and used instant grits and they turned out just as wonderful, but use whichever you prefer.  You want to get the 4 1/2 cups of water and Kosher salt boiling in a saucepan over high heat.  Add in the grits, whisk together and bring back up to a boil.  Cover and reduce the heat to low, stirring fairly frequently.  You can pretty much follow the instructions on the box to prepare them.  Be careful of the bottom of your pan, they can burn if you don't stir them enough.  Make sure to taste the texture before the next step.  

When your grits are a good consistency, whisk in the butter and cheese until incorporated.  Add the pepper to taste.  To assemble the dish (use a bowl, ideally) add grits, top with the masala and shrimp sauce and add a few cilantro leaves to the top to garnish.  I hope you enjoy this delicious east meets west version of shrimp and grits!

Basic Chicken Curry

The funny thing about curry powder, is that I have found it used in a legit Indian recipe literally zero times.  All the spicy flavors come from all sorts of places that are much more familiar.  When you are talking about a dish being a curry, it is meaning a spiced sauce.  (note: there are dry curries as well, but trying to keep this simple)
This basic chicken curry is anything but basic. This dish has just the perfect touch of heat, paired with the fresh bite of cilantro and lime. I like serving this with Perfect Basmati Rice and Naan, and making an Indian style gordita. It is said that there may be over 1000 variations of a chicken curry, but Aarti suggests this one is a great place to get your feet wet in the world of curries.  I am a good 10-15 recipes into this cooking adventure, and this has been my favorite thing I have made thus far.

You will need:
3 TBSP sunflower oil
2 cinnamon sticks
4 green cardamom pods, crushed
 2 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
kosher salt
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 2in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 medium serrano chile, sliced into half moons
2 large ripe tomatoes, diced
2 TSP ground coriander
1/2 TSP paprika
1/2 TSP ground turmeric
1 TSP ground cumin
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup water
1 TBSP lime juice (or juice from 1/2 a lime)
1/4 cup minced cilantro



Start with a big skillet (non-stick if you've got it) and heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Once the oil is hot and shimmery, add the cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, bay leaves and cloves.  Let those heat for a few seconds until fragrant, they will add a nice flavor to the oil base.
It is time for the onion.  Add to the pan and then add a pinch of salt.  In 8-10 minutes your onion should be a beautiful golden brown color.  Saute longer if need be to get the onion to be a nice brown color.


Next into the pan goes the serrano, garlic, and ginger.  Stir together and heat for a minute or two before adding the next group of ingredients.
Now we add the tomatoes, coriander, paprika, turmeric, and cumin.  You will allow all these ingredients to simmer together for 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens and the tomatoes have lost their structure.


After 10 minutes have passed, remove the cinnamon sticks and bay leaves from the pan.  You are going to carefully transfer the sauce to the blender to puree.  (but keep the bender handy) Again, be careful not to overfill your blender, or the steam will cause the hot liquid to explode out of the top.  No one likes a burned hand!


Take the pureed sauce and pour back into the pan and bring up to a boil.  Add in the chicken pieces and stir to coat.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.


Next add the yogurt in slowly, a few drops at a time so it doesn't curdle.  Put the water into the blender and swirl to get the remnants of the tomato puree and pour into the pot.  Add 1 TSP of kosher salt.  Cover, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.  Remove the lid and simmer 5 more minutes to let the sauce thicken.  Lastly, turn off the heat, squeeze in the lime juice and top with the cilantro.


Now that is one nice looking curry.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Did you know that Chicken Tikka Masala is hardly even authentic Indian food?  As it turns out, this national dish of London was created by a chef who was preparing a meal for a British military guy who instructed that there was to be 'none of that spicy stuff'.  Here, here!  I am an avid avoider of spice and it is only recently that I have trained my delicate palate to handle something mildly spicy. 


Chicken Tikka Masala is actually spicy in the perfect harmony of the word.  Not spicy with heat per se, but spicy with a hundred flavor notes that tantalize your taste buds.  Add to it, the richness of the heavy cream. It is akin to taking your mouth to Disneyland.

This dish is a teensy bit involved, but a good meal is at the end of that tunnel, so you ought to try at least once.

You will need:
(for the chicken)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 1/2 in chunks
1 cup plain yogurt
1 TBSP grated and peeled fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TSP kosher salt
1/2 TSP pepper

(for the curry)
2 TSP olive oil
3 TBSP unsalted butter
6 cloves garlic
1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 serrano chiles, seeded and minced (one if you prefer less heat)
2 TBSP tomato paste
1 TSP garam masala
2 TSP paprika
8 ripe roma tomatoes
2 cups water
1 1/2 TSP kosher salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
chopped cilantro

To prepare the chicken you will first trim the fat and stab all over with a fork.  This was a lot easier to do prior to the cutting into chucks, for your information.  In a bowl, combine the yogurt, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Once this yogurt marinade is combined, add the chunks of chicken.  This chicken should marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes, but up to overnight covered in the fridge.  When I have made this dish, I will do the chicken prep the night before and I end up with the most tender chicken ever.  I have no anecdote for the 30 minute version, my apologies.

On to the curry portion.  Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Once the butter has melted, add your garlic, ginger and serrano.  Sauté for 1-2 minutes, enough for the components to soften.  A note on the serrano:  I made this dish a few times with different amounts of serrano.  1 with no seeds had a mere hint of heat.  1 with the seeds was perfect for my tastes.  2 with no seeds had my brow sweating a bit, but wasn't unreasonable - probably the hottest I would go without a glass of milk handy. #wimp

After your garlic, ginger and preferred amount of serrano have cooked for a minute or two, add the tomato paste.  You want the paste to darken a bit over the heat and turn a rich maroon color, around 3 minutes.  Next add the garam masala and paprika, and sauté for one more minute.

Are you ready for all those tomatoes? That was way too much chopping for me, I just quartered the tomatoes and into the food processor they went.  Add the chopped tomatoes and water to the skillet.

Cover and bring your skillet contents to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.  Let this mixture simmer for 20 minutes.  While you are waiting, lets cook the chicken!

This chicken is going to go into the broiler.  You want your pan to be first wrapped in foil, then spread  your chicken chunks around evenly.  Be sure to shake off the excess yogurt mixture because the heat is going to melt that stuff right off.  Your oven rack should ideally be around 4-5 inches from the heat.  Broil the chicken for 7 minutes, then with tongs or a spatula, flip the pieces to heat the opposite side for another 7 minutes.  You want to get those nice little crispy edges as seen below.

Don't worry about cooking the chicken all the way through at this point.  It is going to simmer in the sauce here in a minute and will cook all the way through at that stage.

*Broil tip - when I made this each time, no matter the effort into shaking off as much yogurt marinade as possible, there would be liquid pooled on my baking sheet when I went to turn my chicken pieces during the second half of the broiling time.  My solution was to very carefully tip the pan so the liquid would gather in the corner of my baking sheet and sopped it up with a few wadded paper towels.  I don't know that the liquid would hurt anything if you left it, but I wanted the chicken to stay dry so it would brown nicely instead of a steam effect.

The next step is a bit tricky - we are back to dealing with the curry now.  You are going to transfer this sauce to the blender or food processor to make smooth.  BE CAREFUL.  The sauce is hot, and you don't want to overfill your blender.  When you put hot steamy liquids combined with a spinning blade, the pressure builds up and it will either pop the lid off or send the hot liquid bursting through the lid and on to your hands.  If you have an immersion blender, use that and enjoy the fact that your life is a little easier than the rest of us.  (I might be bitter that I lost the motor half to the one I own)

Once your sauce is all blended put it back in the skillet add the salt and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Add in your chunks of chicken and cover.  Simmer all together for 10 minutes.  Take off the heat, add in you heavy cream and stir to combine.  You should have a beautiful orange sauce that looks like an India sunset.  Garnish with cilantro and serve over some perfect basmati rice.

This is one of Aaron's all time favorites, so I am hoping to learn this recipe so well that I wont need to refer to the cookbook every time I make it and just know it by memory.  We may be a ways off from that even though I have made this three times in two weeks.  It is seriously that good.  If you have never tried Indian food, or think it isn't your thing - try it.  I think this will be the dish to convert you.