confession

last week i paid more for milk because the expiration date was my birthday :)

sidenote:  what is with the freakishly long expiration date on organic milk?  seems the opposite of what you'd expect....

and ps:  the house still smells faintly of curry!

Chicken Vindaloo

so i checked out a jamie oliver cookbook from the library.  if you're not familiar with him, he's been working to emphasize how easy it is to cook healthy and delicious meals from scratch- nate's also been reading michael pollan's books on food- essentially reminding us how important it is to eat and make food that looks like food.  so, more than ever i am trying to make food from scratch :)  i decided to give jamie oliver's vindaloo recipe a shot, down to the from scratch curry paste -- it was delicious!  and super super spicy - but you can easily tailor it to your level of spice (both in the paste and the final recipe).  i couldn't find the fresh red chillies he calls for so i substituted serranos instead.  we had it with garlic naan and jasmine rice.

Vindaloo paste

2 cloves of garlic / a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger / 4 dried red chillies / 1 tablespoon turmeric / ½ teaspoon sea salt / 3 tablespoons groundnut oil / 2 tablespoons tomato purée / 2 fresh red chillies / a small bunch of fresh coriander
Spices for toasting: 1 teaspoon black peppercorns / 4 cloves / 2 teaspoons coriander seeds / 2 teaspoons fennel seeds / 1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds


First peel the garlic and ginger • Put a frying pan on a medium to high heat and add the spices for toasting to the dry pan • Lightly toast them for a few minutes until golden brown and smelling delicious, then remove the pan from the heat • Add the toasted spices to a pestle and mortar and grind until fine, or put them into a food processor and whiz to a powder • Either way, when you’ve ground them whiz the toasted spices in a food processor with the rest of the ingredients until you have a smooth paste.

Here it all is in the food processor ready to go:

 and after blending- doesn't look that appetizing i suppose, but it's tasty, i promise!!

Vindaloo

2 medium onions
4 gloves of garlic
2 red chilies (or to taste)
thumb size piece of ginger root
small bunch of fresh cilantro
4 ripe tomatoes
peanut or vegetable oil
a pat of butter
4 chicken breasts, diced
1/2 cup vindaloo paste such as Pataks (or above recipe)
sea salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

To Prepare:
Peel halve and finely slice onion (i minced mine), peed and slice garlic, finely slice chilie, peel and finely slice ginger (i grated mine). Pick cilantro leaves and finely chop stalks. Cut the tomatoes into quarters.


To Cook:
Get a large casserole type pan on a medium high heat, add a couple of lugs of oil and the butter. Add the onions, garlic, chilie, ginger and cilantro stalks and cook for 10 minutes until softened. Add the chicken and curry paste. Stir well and coat all pieces of chicken. Season with Salt and Pepper. Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, honey and about 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on. Stir regularly and add more water if necessary.

and the finished product!  with a little dollop of yogurt and fresh cilantro.