Biryani

This vegetable rice is almost slightly sweet, and DELICIOUS. It was the first time I’d cooked with basmati rice — and I have some leftover, so I’ll have to find more recipes to use it in!

I’m so glad I read about rinsing it before using it on Kristie’s blog — otherwise I may not have realized I had to!

Biryani (Vegetable Rice)

(Kristie’s Kitchen)

2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)

1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice (red or yellow onion)

1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (I just used cumin powder)

1 tablespoon garlic
1 tomato, diced

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup peas

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup diced potato (I omitted)

1 cube chicken bouillon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground red chile pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

4 cups water

2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and drained

DIRECTIONS

– Melt ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.

– Add onion, and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.

– Stir Garam Masala; cook until the spices are fragrant, and the cumin seeds begin to pop, about 3 minutes.
– Stir in garlic, tomatoes, and 1/2 cup water.

– Bring to a simmer, and cook until the water has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

– Stir in peas, carrot, and potato.

– Season with chicken bouillon, salt, red chile, black pepper, and turmeric.

– Stir well, then cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
-Pour in 4 cups water and bring to a boil over high heat.

– Once boiling, stir in basmati rice, reduce heat to medium, recover, and simmer for 10 minutes. – Reduce heat to low and continue to cook until the rice has softened, 10 to 15 minutes more.

Tandoori Chicken

I decided to branch out and try a new cuisine. Since I often have tummy troubles with, ahem, “unique cuisines” in restaurants, I decided to try it at home.

This time around we tried Indian food. With a little help from Kristie’s Kitchen, I set out to make tandoori chicken, biryani, and (the original plan at least…) naan.

Unfortunately, the night I made the Indian food is also the night we had to sign paperwork with a real estate agent to put in an offer on a house. I ended up cooking at 9pm!!

Needless to say — we used the store-bought naan.

Things I’ve learned?

1. Cardamom is freaking EXPENSIVE and one should look at the price before just tossing it in the basket. YIKES!

2. Indian food sits remarkably well with my delicate tummy

3. DH thinks this meal was flippin’ amazing and wants it again soon. My reaction? GOOD–I just spent $12 on a container of cardamom!!!

Tandoori Chicken

(Kristie’s Kitchen)

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts

1/2 C plain yogurt

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 cloves garlic

1 inch piece fresh ginger

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

DIRECTIONS
– Run garlic through a press, or finely mince. Grate ginger.

– Mix together yogurt, oil, lemon juice, garlic, ginger, and spices.
– Make diagonal slashes in the chicken meat to allow marinade to penetrate better. (I diced up my chicken into pieces, so I didn’t do this part)

– Pour yogurt mixture over chicken parts.
– Marinate for 4 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the refrigerator, turning occasionally.

– If the chicken is placed in the refrigerator, bring it to room temperature before cooking.

– Preheat broiler.
– Brush grill or shallow baking pan with a little oil to keep chicken from sticking. Arrange chicken on the pan.
– Broil chicken 2-3 inches away from the heat until cooked through, approximately 25 minutes, turning halfway through.