They say in the aerospace business that if a plane crashes and everyone walks away unharmed, then it's actually a successful landing. If any of you have seen Apollo 13 lately (as we have many times because it seems to be constantly on and Matt can't get enough of it) then you know that they categorized that historic mission as a successful failure. This, of course, is referring to the fact that, although the astronauts never made it to the moon, everyone made it home alive and intact.
Similar thoughts could describe this week's test kitchen. While our attempts to launch a new recipe like Chicken Vindaloo were valiant, the result didn't even land among the stars let alone hit the moon. The good news is that no one was injured in this experiment, suffered from stomach cramps or had to call up Ralph on the big white phone. (That one's for you Dad. I don't remember the last time you laughed that hard.)
I won't even bother to list the recipe here. If you're a fan of Indian Cuisine, feel free to try it yourself with the recipe I got from epicurious.com. I've had vindaloo in Indian restaurants before and enjoyed it, so I really wanted to try to make it myself. This was nothing like what I've had before. Don't get me wrong; the recipe itself is not terrible. It's a good base start that needs some serious tweaking. My advice would be to read to all the review comments and incorporate some of those suggestions.
Some of Our Ideas:
Add more spices. This smelled really spicy when it was cooking, but tasted rather bland when it was done. Many of the reviewers had the same thought.
The recipe says blending the first 11 ingredients will create "a paste". On what planet will all the moisture from 3 cups of onions and 1 1/2 cups of tomatoes create a paste? Try sauteing the onions til brown first, then add the tomatoes and the other seasonings. Then you can remove everything and try blending it in the processor. I still have my doubts on the consistency of the substance that it will produce but it's worth a try.
Either cook the potatoes ahead of time so they are mostly done before adding them to the "sauce" or be prepared for a much longer over all cooking time. The recipe says to simmer the potatoes and chicken in the sauce for 15 minutes or until tender. OR until 45 minutes goes by because that's how long it took our potatoes to get soft.
If none of this works, hit google and choose one of these Indian Restaurants and I'm sure you'll find a winner.
Best overall review: "It tastes like seasoned baby food."
Until next week, we'll just lovingly dub this one a learning experience.
If you have a great Chicken Vindaloo recipe, please post or send me an email.
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