Day 228 – Kathy’s Tandoori Chicken with Garam Masala Rice

This recipe was made up in about a minute of brainstorming by a wonderful customer named Kathy at a recent get together. She was looking at Epicure’s world blends and as she thought out loud, she said, “you know, the garam masala or the tandoori would be great with chicken simmered with a can of tomatos and a can of coconut milk.”

“Oooooo,” I said, “that sounds wonderful! I would like to make that, can I say that I got the recipe from you?”

“Ha, if you want to call that a recipe,” she replied!

Well, when it’s super easy and tastes great, for me, that’s the best kind of recipe!

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1-28 oz. can diced tomatos

1 can organic coconut milk

1 Tbsp. Epicure’s Tandoori seasoning

1 tsp. Epicure’s Garam Masala.

Brown chicken breasts lightly in Epicure’s wok, then add the remaining ingredients and simmer about 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Make some rice to go with it and add a teaspoon of garam masala to the water while the rice is cooking.

Day 194 – Indian style Lentil Stew

My son really likes the curry lentil stew from Day 8, and although it’s one of my faves, it was time to try something a little bit different. As I was making this, I was waffling back and forth about whether it would be better as a soup or stew. In the end, I decided on a hearty stew. You could make this thinner and serve it as a soup as well.

Do you have a suggestion for cooking with lentils with a different flavour profile besides East Indian spices? I would love to try some new things with lentils.

The sweet potatoes that I included in the recipe were the yellow variety and made the dish quite sweet. A Yukon Gold or banana potato would be good in this as well, and then it wouldn’t be quite as sweet.

1 onion, chopped

1 Tbsp grapeseed oil

1 cup brown rice

2 cups green lentils

2 sweet potatos, peeled and chopped

2 Tbsp Epicure’s Garam Masala

2 tsp Epicure’s Tandoori seasoning

2 tsp Epicure’s Minced Garlic

8-10 cups water

2 Tbsp Epicure’s Vegetable Bouillon mix

Epicure’s Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat oil and cook onion until tender. Add all the rest of the ingredients and simmer about 45 minutes until rice and lentils are tender and liquid is absorbed.

Day 178 – Tandoori Chicken Pizza

I have been waiting to make this for months…….for the longest time, I couldn’t figure out what the sauce should be. I knew it wasn’t tomato, but what would really make this pizza great? A friend clued me in: mango chutney. So I had to go and figure out a mango chutney recipe and then make the pizza. It was well worth the wait, this is now one of my favorites so far from the Epicure 365 challenge.

Originally, nan bread was the idea for the crust, I didn’t have time to make it so I prepared it on a large pita bread instead.  A nice East Indian cheese would be a nice addition to the pizza instead of the mozzarella cheese.

Marinate and pan fry the chicken breasts in the Tandoori Paste recipe from Day 149, which is:

2 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp Epicure Tandoori seasoning

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp Epicure’s Garam Masala

 

 

 

And the recipe for the mango chutney:

2 medium mangos, peeled and cut in small cubes

1/4 onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp walnut pieces

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp chopped jalapeno pepper

2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp Epicure’s Spices for Mango Chutney

Combine all ingredients in Epicure’s 8 cup Multi Purpose Pot or small sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Cool and spread on whatever you are using as the base of the pizza, top with sliced cooked chicken and cheese and bake about 10 minutes at 400F.

Day 149 – Fish in Tandoori Paste

I never would have thought to make fish with tandoori, but it’s a great idea and tastes delicious. I got the idea years ago from a Jamie Oliver cookbook, his books are great by the way, you should check them out if you haven’t already. Anyway, Indian cuisine has a great influence in England where Jamie is from, and he has all kinds of good ideas of dishes to make with curry pastes and the like.

This is a recipe I made up so I could make a tandoori paste from scratch using Epicure’s Tandoori seasoning. You can serve this with yesterday’s Day 148 recipe for nan bread.

2 tsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp Epicure Tandoori seasoning

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp Epicure’s Garam Masala

2-4 fillets red snapper or walleye

Combine all ingredients except fish. Rub all over fish and marinate for a few hours or overnight. Pan fry 4 minutes or so per side. Serve over nan bread with this topping:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

half a cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced

2 Tbsp lemon juice

chopped cilantro

Combine and serve on the fish.

Day 148 – Nan Bread

Thinking of experimenting with Epicure’s Tandoori seasoning this week and would like some nan bread to go with it. I tried to make nan bread once before, but it was a disaster. This recipe is good, not exactly like the nan bread I was expecting, but tasty. Would make a good bottom for a tandoori pizza. Next time I will try making nan bread with a recipe containing more butter and yogurt, I’m thinking this will make a stretchier nan bread.

Here is the recipe I used today:

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

2 Tbsp sugar

3 cups unbleached flour

2 tsp quick yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Epicure’s Cardamom Seeds or 2 tsp Epicure’s Garam Masala

2 Tbsp melted butter

Mix water and sugar together in a bowl. Combine the dry ingredients and add to the water and sugar, mix by hand to combine until dough forms. Transfer to floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Shape into a ball and let rise in a lightly oiled bowl (covered) for about 75 minutes.

Then preheat oven to 500F with rack in the middle position. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll or stretch into long ovals about 9 inches long.

Brush with melted butter and bake on pizza stone or inverted baking sheet for about 5 minutes.

Day 98 – Moroccan Carrot Lentil Soup

Mmmm, another yum yum recipe made up in the kitchen just going along. I am trying out Epicure’s Moroccan Seasoning for the first time in this recipe. It is really delicious, cumin in it for sure but other fragrances as well, making it much different from something like Garam Masala, another cumin blend.

Here’s the recipe,  correct me if I’m wrong but I believe this one’s completely vegan as well.

Moroccan Carrot Lentil Soup

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3-4 large carrots, chopped (I used a bazillion garden baby carrots that were really tiny, so this is an estimate)

1 cup red lentils

4-5 cups Epicure’s Vegetable Bouillon, prepared

2 tbsp Epicure’s Moroccan Seasoning

1/2 tsp Epicure’s Sea Salt.

Heat grapeseed oil in large soup pot and saute onion until tender. Add chopped carrots and saute five minutes. Add lentils, bouillon (stock) and Moroccan Seasoning. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes or until lentils and carrots are soft. I pureed the whole thing because that’s the only way my kids will eat soup, but I think it would be even better if you only pureed half and then added back in for a chunkier soup.