The Spice Road

Turns out to be the road less traveled in this house. Last night's dinner was something I was craving. This is usually when I enjoy cooking the most:

Chicken Curry with Tomatoes (Murgha Kari)

This dish from the Punjab takes only 30 minutes to prepare. [Did you read that? Only 30 mins!! Well, ahem. My chicken took a bit longer than 15 mins to cook to doneness. I guess chickens in the Punjab are much smaller than U.S. birds.] In India fresh tomatoes would be used in this dish.


4 medium onions, chopped [I only used 1.5 large ones, Vidalia]
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 cup butter or cooking oil [I used about 2 TB butter and 1/4 cup peanut oil.]
1 cup or 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce [I used chopped fresh tomatoes, cause I had 'em.]
2 teaspoons salt [or to taste. My opinion was it was a bit too salty.]
1 frying chicken (2 to 3 pounds) [I buy whole organic and cut up myself. Much cheaper...]
3/4 cup hot water

Use a casserole or large skillet with lid. Cook onions and curry powder in butter for 10 to 15 minutes. Add tomato sauce and salt. Disjoint and skin chicken, and place in sauce. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat, turning frequently until sauce becomes quite dry and chicken tests done with fork, about 15 minutes. Add hot water, cover pot, and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Makes 4 servings.


Fresh local, organic spinach (yum!), sauteed with 3 cloves garic, sliced, in some olive oil

Basmati rice

Both Christian and I really liked this meal. Ian ate some of it (maybe some chicken?), and then had loads of fun throwing his spinach everywhere. Will took one bite of his drumstick (the only chicken part he eats with relish -- just like me when I was a kid), and almost burst into tears. "I don't like this kind of chicken!!" It wasn't even a spicy curry, for heaven's sake.

Sigh.

In the end, Will ate two hot dogs, some corn on the cob and a popsicle for dinner. No spinach.

Oh well, all I can do is expose them to different foods, right? And, frankly, I totally enjoyed my dinner that night. Screaming tantrums, flying food and all.