Indian Cuisine for a Cold Winter's Day

I love cooking in the 21st century with an electric spice grinder, a great Indian grocer in Halifax, and a laptop computer on the kitchen counter with the recipe on the screen!

Bhuna Kukda

A chicken dish from Rajasthan, India with green cardamon pods, whole dried chili peppers, turmeric, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon, cloves, garlic, and yogurt .


Bhuna Kukda starting to simmer. Most of the liquid should evaporate by the end of the cooking period.


The accompanying vegetable dish is a yellow daal with turmeric, tomato, garam masala, ground coriander, ground cumin, chunks of garlic, fresh ginger, dried chili pepper ,and finely diced onion. The daal will simmer aggressively until the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are soft. Basmati rice will be served as well.


I used to find it tricky to find a wine to sip with an Indian meal. Riesling is often mentioned in wine advice columns but I find it a little too sweet.
I would recommend a Pinot Grigio or the Ovieto Classico. Both are crisp and refreshing and neither compete with the rich Indian flavors.