Indian Butter Chicken

I am obsessed with Indian food. I could eat it every day, if I wasn't worried about ballooning up to a gazillion pounds. My husband is not a huge fan of it, but he gamely puts up with me and goes with me every now and then to our local Indian place.

I was perusing for an Indian recipe that I would be able to make at home without a ton of stress involved, and I came across this dish! And would you believe I actually remembered to take pictures?! Here we go!

The Cast of Characters:

Now, we're going to add all the spices and lime juice to our chicken pieces and marinate it overnight.

Chicken:

Garlic:

 

Salt: 

 

 Pepper:

Cayenne

Coriander:

Cumin:

I guess I forgot to take a picture of the Cardamom added, but it's there, promise!

Lime juice:

Now, throw it all in:

And shake it all up!
Let it sit in the fridge overnight. The spices will develop and make your dish so full of flavor!

Note: I was in a rush and didn't marinate overnight.
I just threw everything together and let it sit for about an hour.

Here is what it will look like when you pull it out:

When you're ready the second day to get this bad boy rolling, here's the next half of the process!

Melt some butter:

Chop some onions:

Add the onion to the butter:

Cook this until the onions are soft and starting to look transparent.

Now add the marinated chicken:

Cook this about 10 minutes. It doesn't have to be completely cooked through, because it's not done cooking.

Add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce:

Stir it, cover it, and let it simmer for 30 minutes or more.

While you're simmering the chicken, soak your basmati rice:

Then just cook it the way the package describes.

I added some salt and lime zest to mine. It was yummy!

After you've simmered, you're going to have a beautiful and delicious smelling red sauce:

And now, add the cream:

Try not to stick a straw in and drink this stuff. I'm serious.

Let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes, allowing it to thicken a bit.

Stir, stir, stir ... you don't want it to skorch.

When it's reached a thickness you can live with, plate it up!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Indian Butter Chicken! This stuff was SO good. I ate it, my son ate it, my dogs drooled over it, and my husband ate cereal. What can I say? You can't please everyone all the time. He did say it tasted good, he just wasn't in the mood for a rice dish. He's weird like that.

Here's the recipe:

INDIAN BUTTER CHICKEN

•4 pieces Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (cut Into Bite Sized Pieces)
•5 cloves Garlic, Minced
•1 teaspoon Salt
•½ teaspoons Black Pepper
•½ teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
•¼ teaspoons Ground Coriander
•¼ teaspoons Cumin
•¼ teaspoons Cardamom
•1 whole Lime, Juiced
•1 whole Onion, Diced
•¼ cups Butter
•1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Tomato Sauce
•1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes
•1 pint Whipping Cream or half and half

Preparation Instructions
Combine first 9 ingredients and marinate overnight.

Saute the onion in the butter until soft. Add marinated chicken and cook about 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes over medium-low heat with the lid on. Add the whipping cream (I have used light cream or half-and-half also) and cilantro just before serving.

Enjoy!

Quesadillas de Camarones (Pioneer Woman)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/quesadillas-de-camarones/

OH. EM. GEE. So yummy.

Her blog is so much more aesthetically pleasing than mine, so I am just re-directing you to her.

Make.These.


You won't regret it.

Pork Chops & Sauerkraut

So, at first when I came across a recipe for pork chops & sauerkraut, my nose wrinkled up and my brain immediately thought "Um, yuck." But, since I am married to a man who comes from a German family, and he's mentioned cooking with sauerkraut before, I thought I would give it a spin.

The recipe I found suggested that you mix in applesauce with the kraut. So, being a newbie to the whole "cooking with kraut" scene, I follow directions to the tee. I had to make an emergency call to my faithful MIL, because the recipe said I needed a dutch oven, and I didn't have one!

I didn't realize this until after I'd already purchased everything I needed for this dinner. Go figure.

Once I was assured that I could use a stock pot she had given me, the cooking resumed. I browned the pork, and pulled it out of the pan. I added the sauerkraut and applesauce and deglazed the pan. (At this point my husband was looking at me like I had 2 heads. "You're putting applesauce in there??") On top went the pork and on went the lid. I baked it in the oven for 2 hours.

I'd like to take this moment to apologize to my husband and son. I didn't read this recipe very well before I attempted it, and I didn't realize cooking dinner was going to be a 3 hour long event. When we ate at 9pm, I'm sure they were ready to chew their arms off in anticipation of food. Sorry, guys.

When dinner was finally ready, I was feeling pretty proud (albeit a tad guilty for the 3 hour wait time) of myself for expanding my family's culinary horizons. We ate the pork chops and sauerkraut with applesauce. It was OK. Nothing to rave about.

I was not ready to give up on this dish! What I had tasted whet my appetite (I apologize for the pun.), and I wanted to make this dish GOOD, not just OK.

My next attempt was a huge success. Thanks to my dad, I got a new stove/oven safe skillet for Christmas. I browned the pork, pulled it out. I added the sauerkraut and deglazed the pan. There was no applesauce action this time! I put the pork chops on top of the kraut and threw it in the oven for an hour and a half at 350. While that was cooking, I made some mashed potatoes.

Once again, I have to issue an apology, although I don't think this one was necessarily my fault. As I was mashing the potatoes, I went to grab the milk ... and alas! My milk drinking boys had demolished the whole gallon! So, the potatoes were of the heavy variety ... all I had to substitute was heavy cream. Yikes!

The final result: The sauerkraut was SPLENDID (I promised my bestie I would start using that word more often. I don't think it's fair that the British use it regularly and Americans really don't. I'm changing that! It's splendid!) over the mashed potatoes. The two of them complement each other in a way I didn't know was possible! My love for potatoes expanded! (Ok, maybe a little overkill, but it was really good.) And the pork chops were awesome.

No one missed the applesauce.

Ingredients:

1-2 lbs of pork chops (I actually used boneless pork ribs. I like the cut of meat better)

1 can or jar of sauerkraut

Potatoes

Butter

Milk

Directions:

Put a little butter (1-2 T) in an oven safe pan and turn on medium-high heat. When the pan is heated, place your chops in the pan and brown. Flip over and brown the other side.

Once the chops are brown, pull them out of the pan and add the sauerkraut in. Stir to deglaze. Add the pork back in, on top of the kraut. Nestle them in there, but don't completely submerge them. Cover and cook for 1.5 hours on 350 degrees.

During the last 30 minutes of baking, boil your potatoes, drain and mash. Add butter, milk, and salt.

To serve:

Put down mashed potatoes, spoon some sauerkraut on top, and add a pork chop to top it off. ENJOY!

**I'm sure you could make this in the crock pot too. I would follow the browning part of the recipe, but instead of putting it in the oven; I would transfer it to the crock pot, and cook it on low for 8 hours. Easy peasy!