I love getting together with the group of friends and family that now makes up our little supper club. About once a month or so we choose a country and plan an entire menu around it. This time it was India and here was our menu:

Beverages: My sister and her boyfriend bought an assortment of different sodas and fruit juices from a local market near them. It was so neat to sample all of the different types! We all had our glasses filled with ice and at the beginning of dinner just poured a little from each bottle and sampled it. There were some really neat and interesting juices. Two of them looked like science experiments, my favorite being the Fiery Ginger Beer and my least favorite being the basil seed honey drink. I had a hard time getting past the texture. Of course, that was my friend Tracy’s favorite.

Appetizer: We made crispy curry chick peas, seasoned with curry, garlic and chili powder. Delicious!

Crispy Curry Chick Peas

2 cans of chick peas, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt
pepper
chopped cilantro for garnish

Preheat oven to 425
Put beans on large baking sheet, dry off beans with paper towel.
Drizzle olive oil over beans. Sprinkle over curry powder, chili powder and garlic powder. Using your hands coat all of the beans with seasoning. Sprinkle with salt and pepper (to your liking)
Roast in oven for 35-40 minutes. Using a spatula stir beans in oven once or twice during cooking.
Remove from oven and garnish with chopped cilantro.
Let set for about 10-15 minutes, they get nice and crispy.

Entrees: Curried Shrimp and Butter Chicken both recipes turned out fantastic!! Rachel and Brian also brought some fresh Naan with them and it paired perfectly with both dishes. My friends Tracy and Ethan supplied the Basmati rice. Such a fun treat and the spice level was perfect!

Butter Chicken

Curried Shrimp

Naan

Basmati rice with scallions

Dessert: My baking friend Abby made these AMAZING Coconut cupcakes with lemon curry curd and basil cream. You would think that they would taste too savory but the sweet basil cream was just incredible! After reading the reviews, she cut back the curry by one tablespoon and cut back just a bit on the basil.

Maharani Cupcakes

A-mazing.

What a great night!!