Month 9 day 9: Chana Masala with Roti and Pumpkin Hot Cocoa

Today I made:
Indian Chana Masala with Roti, Every Day with Rachael Ray October 2011
Pumpkin Pie Cocoa, Every Day with Rachael Ray October 2011

This was a good recipe! It seemed like something you might get at a restaurant, but it's very easy too. I made the garam masala from this recipe since it's not something we have on hand, but we do have all the components on hand. G had to hammer some cardamon seeds in a baggie though, because we didn't have ground. He did a good job though :) I used just one serrano and 1/2 of a leftover jalapeno, and that was a good amount of spice-- you could feel it, but it wasn't bad. The tomatoes we used weren't very juicy, so this ended up being much drier than what was pictured in the magazine. I think you could get away with using canned tomatoes though, and then this would qualify as a from-the-pantry recipe. I love it when I find a good recipe that can be made from the things I always have around! The curry itself is also a really fast recipe, just about 20 minutes. So serving this with store-bought frozen naan instead of making the roti would make this something you could make at any time in no time.

For dessert we made pumpkin pie hot cocoa. It's basically just hot chocolate with a bit of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice mixed in, topped with whipped cream. Normally I think hot cocoa is too sweet, so I tend to put in less than is called for on the canister. But G said we should follow the proportions called for in the recipe: basically a 1:4 ratio of cocoa mix to milk. That was 3 cocoa packets! It was soooo sweet! The pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice was really good, but next time I will use less cocoa powder. Or just melt in chocolate and adjust the sugar myself.