The Fool's Paradise

Every woman has gone through slaving in a kitchen all day on some kind of meal or treat. You get an itch and you go for it. From planning in your head to the purchasing of items, your whole heartedly in this. There's no turning back now. Finally, success! You've completed your journey to producing your desired product. You cannot wait for your husband to come home and to savor each bite. It will be so romantic, he will go through endless thank yous and even help with the dishes. He will offer to make dessert and even put in a movie while you relax from your hard endeavors. YEAH RIGHT! Cam comes rushing in as I'm sweating over the broiler and 3 hot skillets and pans, he has to go with the missionaries tonight unexpectedly. I quickly put together a few plates for us and even throw a little garnish on it. He comes in and eats it in about 4-5 minutes. He zooms out the door. I guess we will keep dreamin' ladies!

Aside from my fool's paradise, the dinner turned out quite good. Not the same as Tandoori Oven's, but it will suffice my cravings and I had plenty of leftovers! Lucky me! So here you go mom and Elise.

Ode to Tandoori
by Kenzi Neibaur

Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• ground cardamom
• 
  cumin
• 1/2 cup plain greek style yogurt
• 2T butter
• 1 whole large yellow onion, like this one ------->
• 4 gloves garlic
• 1 bell pepper, your choice in color, I used yellow, green is cheapest
• 1 jalepeno (omit if you do not want spice)
• 1 piece (approx. 2 inches) fresh ginger
• Garam Masala
• 1- 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• sugar
• golden raisins
• 1 cup heavy cream
• cilantro

Just a note before we dive into this. Always salt and pepper your food to taste. Salt actually brings out the other flavors in your dish, actually making it more flavorful and delicious. Speaking of seasoning, you CANNOT make this without garam masala. Garam Masala is a mixture of indian spices. I found it at Kitchen Kneads in Logan. I don't know how accessable it is in Idaho, but I could send you some if you just email me or comment. It is a must for the right flavor.YUM YUM YUM!! Okay, okay. I'll tell you the preparation.

Preheat your oven to broil. Start by seasoning the chicken breasts with kosher salt. Then sprinkle them on both sides with ground cardamom and cumin. Coat the chicken with the yogurt completely. Set the chicken on a metal cooling rack over a foil lined baking sheet and place it on the second rack from the top of the oven. 5 to 7 minutes per side. The char adds flavor and looks pretty, I moved the rack up the last few minutes to get a nice color. Remove from oven.

Next, slice your onion and peppers. In a large skillet, melt 2T of butter over medium high heat. Toss in the onions and saute until lightly browned. Now add your peppers. As they cook, mince your garlic and peel your ginger and grate it. Add the garlic, ginger, and a pinch of salt to the onion pepper mixture in the pan.

Now add your garam masala, about 3T. Cook it for a minute, developing and toasting those flavors. Add the can of tomatoes and 1T of sugar. The sugar balances out the acidity of the tomatoes perfectly.Stir together and let simmer on medium for about 5 minutes. Head over to your cutting board and chop up your chicken into good 1 inch chunks. Add a generous handful of those beautiful golden raisins and your heavy cream to the pan. Stir chicken into the masala. Add a generous handful of cilantro right before serving so the color stays vibrant. Serve over Basmati rice. I used food storage because its cheap, still delish.

I got my naan recipe from this website: http://foodformyfamily.com/recipes/how-to-make-naan-in-the-oven

चलो खाओ (this means bon appetit in Hindi)