Curry Ninja(bread) Men #FoodNFlix

Welcome to the February Food'N'Flix event of 2020; our group's founder, Heather of All Roads Lead to the Kitchen, has asked the bloggers to watch Nina's Heavenly Delights. You can read her invitation: here.

Well, here's a first: I am not going to watch the chosen movie, but I do have a recipe to share. Let me rephrase. It's not that I object to watching the movie. If I could watch the movie, I totally would.

But I looked at our local library system to check it out on DVD. No luck. Netflix streaming doesn't have it available. So, no luck there. Even Amazon Prime doesn't have it available for free or for paid streaming. I get: "This title is currently unavailable. Our agreements with the content provider don’t allow purchases of this title at this time." I can purchase the DVD for $30. Ummm...no. I am not going to pay that much for a movie I'm not sure I'll watch more than once. I'm not crazy!

So, I hopped on YouTube and watched every trailer, preview, and piece I could find. I've watched about fifteen minutes' worth of edited clips, so I feel as if I have the gist of it. Obviously watching the movie in its entirety would be preferred, but this will have to do. If I am able to get my hands on a copy of the movie before the end of the month, I might make something else. But for now...

On the Screen

The eponymous Nina, played by Shelley Conn, ran away from Scotland to avoid an arranged marriage.Three years later Nina returns home after her dad died unexpectedly from a heart attack. She discovers that their family restaurant is about to be sold to cover her dad's gambling debts...that is unless she competes - and wins - a curry competition. And to complicate matters, the fiancé

she jilted, Sanjay, is also competing in the curry competition and is favored to win.

Inspired by this exchange, I knew I was going to make something that represented her status as a curry ninja.

Kary: Truth? Sanjay's a black belt curry meister. If you wanna win, you'll have to be on top of your game.

Priya: Big deal, Nina's a curry Ninja. She's not scared of a bam like Sanjay. Bring it on !

Bobbi: You go, girlfriend

So, curry ninja it was. I considered making new versions of My Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf's Beef Biriyani, Sungta ani Bende Kodi, Kheema Aloo, or (My Version of) Priya's Famous Butter Chicken. But I was really fixated on the 'ninja' part and remembered that I have ninja cookie cutters.

I announced that we were making ninjabreads! What's that?!? I admitted that it’s nothing except gingerbread dough cut with cute lil’ ninja cookie cutters.* I did, however, add curry powder and some additional spices to the dough for a little more intrigue. I enjoy mixing sweet and savoy. Remember my Black Garlic Chocolate Cake?!

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 C butter
• 1 C organic dark brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 C unsulphured molasses
• 1 t pure vanilla extract or paste
• 6 C flour
• 1 C ground almonds
• 2 T baking powder
• 1 T curry powder
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t ground nutmeg
• Also needed: plastic wrap, rolling pin, parchment paper, ninja cookie cutters*

Finishing

• black frosting or royal icing
• candy eyeballs*

Procedure

Melt the butter and whisk in the molasses, dark brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add in dry ingredients and blend till you have a stiff dough. Split dough into quarters and roll into a ball. Wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll dough to desired thickness and cut out your pieces. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on thickness. The cookies should be firm on the edges and nicely browned.

Remove from the oven and let cool baking sheet for at least 10 minutes. Move cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies have cooled, decorate them with frosting and candy eyeballs.

*This blog currently has a partnership with Amazon.com in their affiliate program, which gives me a small percentage of sales if you buy a product through a link on my blog. It doesn't cost you anything more. If you are uncomfortable with this, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com and search for the item of your choice.