East Indian Thanksgiving Dinner

At Sub Rosa we're always turning ideas inside out just to see how they look from a different angle. Take Thanksgiving for instance.

The American Indians had held harvest celebrations for centuries before the Pilgrims showed up.  America’s early settlers had a rough go of it and ended up ill and starving.   The generosity and compassion of the First People saved our ancestral butts.  Let’s take it back just a little further in time to find the real inspiration for this idea - no, not to Leif Erickson, but to Christopher Columbus.

Chris was looking for India and spices when he ran into the outer shoals of the Bahamas.   Spice wise, it is not that hard to make the bridge from our traditional Thanksgiving dinner to an East Indian Thanksgiving meal.

Pumpkin pie leads the way to India - nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, cloves and baked pumpkin. If you know your Indian food, you instantly recognize these as staples in the Indian kitchen and key ingredients in your mom's favorite pumpkin pie.

So you jack that up with crystalized ginger and a cardamon whipped cream and you are sailing straight towards Kerala, a province at the tip of India.  Cumin rub on the bird; stuffing with dried fruits and cinnamon; Horseradish mashed potatoes; Cranberry chutneys gone to Bombay and back all help turn your American standards into East Indian delicacies.


The Dinner Recipes:
Appetizer:  Curried Nuts
Greens: Gujarat Green Beans
Starch:  Horseradish Mashed Potatoes
Curried Yams with coconut milk
Turkey: Cumin and Coriander spice rub
Condiments:  Cranberry Chutney
Cucumber Raita
Stuffing: With raisins, cinnamon, almonds, celery and of course, bread
Dessert: Chiffon Pumpkin Pie with crystallized ginger galore
Garam Masala - Classic Indian spice mixture