Fun Indian Dishes

I've been wanting to play with some Indian dishes, but I've been leary to make them for Joe without testing ahead of time because he can't handle much heat.  The opportunity came up as a friend who enjoys many of the same foods I do, came over for dinner.  I really enjoyed the below dinner and there was some spice so I'll have tone it down before making it for Joe.  What I love about Indian food is the flavor and the tendency to have lots of vegetarian options.  I stuck with these vegetarian options for my meal.

First, the Aloo Gobi - Potato and Cauliflower Curry, was excellent.  I followed the recipe pretty closely and the flavor was excellent.

Second, I made the Curried Chickpea Stew with Brown Rice Pilaf from the January 2011 Cooking Light magazine.    The Chickpea Stew was really good.  I was out of a onion and used Shallot instead and I substituted ground cardomon for the cfardomon pods, but otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely.

Don't be afraid to try different dishes.  We cannot get Indian food here in Rock Springs, and these are dishes I would make again for those flavors.  In addition, after working through them they are dishes I can make any day of the week and feel more confident about working with these flavors.