Best Ever Indian Cookbook's Pork Balchao

This was super delicious, and since I always love slow cooked meats, we made this soon after I received the Best Ever Indian Cookbook.  I love changing things to the crockpot when possible, it makes dinner time so much less stressful.  We served this with rice pilaf, and each serving, there were six, was around 250.  We all gave this a 9, and although I was worried, it isn't at all too spicy.  This was easy, and smelled delicious.  You have to be vigilant while cooking the spices before putting it in the crockpot, but otherwise this is really simple.  Here's what I did:

4 T vegetable oil
1 T grated fresh ginger
1 T minced garlic
1 t cinnamon (a little less)
2 dried red chilies, torn (you could add more if you wanted it spicier)
4 cloves
2 t cumin
10 black peppercorns
1 lb pork loin, cubed and seasoned with salt
1 t turmeric
1 c water
1 1/2 T tomato paste
1/2 t chili powder
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 t salt
1 t sugar
2 T cider vinegar

In a spice grinder, grind up the cinnamon, chilies, cloves, cumin, and peppercorns.  Heat 2 T oil in a large pan, and add the ginger and garlic.  Fry for 30 seconds, then add in the blended up spices and cook for 30 seconds more, stirring constantly.  Add in the pork and turmeric and fry for 5-6 minutes, stirring regularly.  Dump everything in the crockpot.  In the same pan, heat up the remaining 2 T oil if needed and fry the onion for 8-9 minutes.  Add them to the crockpot along with the salt, sugar and vinegar.  Let cook at least four hours, but more if you would like.  Mine cooked for about 6 hours.  Serve with rice.

Best Ever Indian Fish Fillets in a Chili Sauce

We really enjoyed this fish recipe, it had a great flavor with the sauce, and it was pretty easy to make.  We had it with delicious rice pilaf, and we really liked this.  I used tilapia, our go to fish :), and this was really easy.  For five of us, each serving was 114 calories.  Here's what to do:

12 oz fish (I used tilapia)
2 T lemon juice
1 T cilantro
1 T oil

1 t grated fresh ginger
2 T tomato paste
1 t sugar
1 t salt
1 T chili sauce
1 T malt vinegar
1 1/4 c water

In a large dish with a lid, mix together the lemon juice, cilantro, and oil.  Season the salt well, and marinate it for a few hours.  When ready to cook, heat the broiler to high and broil for 5-7 minutes.  While the fish is broiling, mix together the ginger, tomato paste, sugar, salt, chili sauce, malt vinegar and water in a small pan, and bring to a boil.  Let it simmer while the fish sets, then serve with the fish.  Serve with rice (we served with rice pilaf).

Crockpot Indian Chicken and Lentils

I made this recipe from Best Ever Indian Cookbook, a cookbook I received a while ago, and just haven't had the chance to dive into.  I wanted something easy while my parents were here, but they enjoy different kinds of food from us, and so I knew this would hit the spot with them.  They gave this a 9, and we gave it an 8.  This is very low in calories, about 200 calories per serving, and this made us about 16 or more servings.  This is known as Chicken Dhansak, but I made some changes from the cookbook, so it isn't really authentic :).  This is also better the second day, like most crock pot meals.  Here is what I did.

about 1 c green lentils
2-4 c chicken broth
2 t ground cumin
1 t curry powder
1 onion finely chopped
1 t ginger
1/2 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
1 t coriander
salt
1/4 t chili powder
14 oz canned diced tomatoes
1-2 lbs chicken breasts
cilantro, chopped
1 t garam masala

In a large crockpot, place the lentils, broth, cumin, curry powder, ginger, onion, jalapeno, coriander, chili powder, tomatoes, chicken and salt.  Cook on low all day long, then right before serving, add cilantro and garam masala.  Take out the chicken, chop it up, then return it to the crock and stir together.  Serve with rice.