Welcome to my backyard restaurant

Forget forking over big bucks at a restaurant — these days, it’s all about underground supper clubs

HOME. Joann Kim’s kitchen overflows with mango rice in aluminum foil dishes as she and Ram Subramanian, a human rights advocate from New York, and Andrzej Nowicki, a South African artist who lives in Bushwick, ready a spinach hummus, and cilantro pesto appetizers for their new supper club, Plates and Records — where guests are invited to bring their own plates and vinyl LPs.

As the DIY-ethic converges with food culture, underground supper clubs have been popping up in homes across the country for years. Most grow out of amateur chef’s cooking for friends.
Subramanian and Nowicki have long been showing off their culinary skills at friends’ barbecues. Kim, an artist’s assistant and food blogger, recently started selling treats under the name Bake That JoJo.

“We spend so much money doing this as a favor to friends. We might as well charge,” Subramanian says about their club’s origins.

But it’s not about profits — Plates and Records charged a mere $25 a head for their Indian-inspired meal, just enough to cover costs.

“It’s all about community building, networking and sharing nonchalant relaxing moments of fun and laughter,” adds Kim.

Just like a rock band’s first gig, Plates and Records is filled mostly with friends, but the trio hopes to soon cook for new faces.

Chloe Gray, who organizes her own vegan supper club, Sirloin of the Beet, delves into the eggplant curry. Daniel Sklaar, who runs the artisanal Fine and Raw Chocolate, describes the Tandoori chicken: “Yum, par excellence.”

Graphic designer Katie Lee wears a thrift store shirt OK to stain in her “culinary frenzy.” She savors the postdinner, fresh mango as everyone relaxes in the backyard. “You get to spend more time with people that you like, and you get to savor the labor of someone you care about,” she says. “It’s very rare we spend less than $25 when we go out.”

Tandoori chicken from Andrzej Nowicki

THE PLATES: Tandoori chicken from Andrzej Nowicki
For 3-4 people

3 lemons
1 tablespoon of mustard seeds
3/4 tablespoon of fenugreek seeds
1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
1 white onion
1 handful of cilantro stalks (diced)
1 1/2 inches of ginger root, diced
1 thai red chilli
swad tandoori paste, I bought this at the patel brothers in Jackson heights
2- 3 chicken breasts
6 fresh tomatoes (diced) or 1 can of diced tomatoes
2-3 cups of yogurt
6 dried chillies
1-2 pieces of cinnamon bark
1 table spoon Cayenne Pepper
1 table spoon Tumeric Powder
1 tea spoon Garam Masala
1 tea spoon Cumin
1 tea spoon paprika
1 table spoon Curry powder

To make:
Prepare the chicken breasts by cutting them into cubes and soaking them for
an hour in lemon juice (3 lemons). After the hour remove the chicken from the lemon juice. Rub the cubes with swad tandoori spice which gives the chicken its bright orange color, It will look magenta on the chicken but will change color when you cook it later with the other ingredients. Dice the onion, ginger, chilli, cilantro stalks and garlic and mix them together in a bowl.

Mix the Cayenne pepper, Tumeric powder, garam masala, cumin, paprika,spices in a bowl. In a large pot sautee fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and coriander seeds until you hear the seeds popping. When the seeds start popping add the mixture of diced onion, chilli, garlic, cilantro stalks and ginger and sauté this until the onion becomes soft and clear. Add your mixture of spices, garam masala powder, red curry powder, tumeric powder, cayenne pepper, cumin powder. Stir quickly and throw in your chopped tomatoes and lower the temperature. You don’t want to fry the spices with the onion for too long because they will burn.

Stir the tomatoes in with the rest and add yogurt then add the chicken, 1-2 pieces of cinnamon bark and 3-4 dry chillies.

Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes and then lower the heat and let it
cook for a further 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let it marinate for 4-6 hours if possible let it
marinate over night.

After the chicken has marinated skewer it and grill it over coals