My Mom's Chicken Saag (Indian Chicken and Spinach)

Thanks Mama! I love you!

Ingredients

1 package of chicken breasts(usually three breasts per package)
2 bags of frozen chopped spinach
1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 onion - chopped, then pureed in a blender
2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic
cilantro leaves-puree the leaves of about ten stems with the onion, garlic, ginger and some of the tomato sauce
Curry powder, cayenne powder
Sour cream (8 oz.)


Steps
1. Trim the breast of fat and arteries, then cut into smaller pieces(each breast into 4 pieces)
2. Coat a large glass baking dish with spray oil. Spread the frozen spinach out over the dish.
3. Lay the chicken pieces on top.
4. Mix together the ground onion, garlic, ginger,cilantro,spices and salt to taste, and mix in all of the tomato sauce and sour cream. Pour that over the chicken evenly.
5. Cover with aluminum foil, make slits to vent, and bake in oven at 375 degrees for approximately 30 minutes.

Enjoy with pita bread and raita.

Once the dish is cooked, you can transfer to other containers. You can double the ingredients, and using two glass baking dishes, bake two quantities if you need a larger quantity.

Love,
Mom

Tandoori Shish Kebabs

I got this idea from my wonderful new neighbor Uzma!

-Chicken tenders
-Box of Shan's tandoori seasoning (the quick and easy way!)
- Bell peppers
-Onions
-Tomatoes
- 2 or 3 Lemons
-skewers

Wash and chop chicken tenders. Let them marinate in the juice of a few lemons. Prepare tandoori seasoning and coat the marinated chicken - a little goes a looong way if you use Shan's if you're not accustomed to spicy foods, please be advised! :) Dice up bell peppers, onions and tomatoes into skewable chunks. Alternate meat with vegetables on a skewer. Ideally you would grill them, but we don't have a grill at the moment so I placed them in a pan and covered them with foil and broiled them for about 45 mins or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Crock Pot Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast diced into large cubes
1 tablespoon dijon mustard (my substitution for mustard seed oil)
2 ounces milk
5 ounces natural yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 small can of tomato sauce
5 cloves (large size) garlic, finely chopped
1/2 can chopped green chilies
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons garam masala (i couldn't find this but it still turned out fine!)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
cilantro as garnish



Directions:

Whisk together all of the ingredients minus chicken in your crockpot. If you want to marinate at this point, place mixture into the fridge to marinate for 24 hours.

It may not be safe to leave chicken which has previously been frozen for longer than 24 hours, but fresh chicken should be left to marinate for 48 hours for best results. If you do not wish to leave the chicken to marinate, simply continue to the next step.

Turn the crockpot on low until the chicken is cooked throughout (6-8 hours). Most people serve over Basmati rice.

This recipe from CDKitchen for Chicken Tikka Masala serves/makes 4

Raita (cucumber and yogurt salad)

This is a staple in our home. It is a traditional Indian food which is actually supposed to be used more like a garnish, but I end up heaping it over spicy Indian food to cool it off.

Here's my version of Raita, plain and simple!

-Plain yogurt
-ground cumin
-cucumbers
-dash of milk

Pour yogurt into a big bowl, with a dash of milk to thin out the consistency only a little bit. Mix in 2 tsp of ground cumin (but keep going if you want more!). Dice up some cucumbers and toss them in. MMMmmmm enjoy. Tradtionally served with chopped onions and tomatoes inside as well, but I never seem to get around to adding those.