caliking
is Blowin Smoke!
Cooked indoors yesterday for a change. Decided to make chicken korma because I had a hankering for it.
Started with a whole chicken form Costco. Skinned it and cut it up into pieces.
Gathered up the spices, sort of mise en place. Whole spices included bay leaves, dates, saffron, star anise, mace, black cardamom, green cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, and fennel seed.
The ground spices ( I could have used whole coriander and cumin but I had just ground some a couple of days ago). Turmeric, coriander, garam masala, salt, cayenne, cumin, and almonds ( I know they are whole, but I needed a place to put them.
Toasted the whole spices then ground them up. Took the seeds out of the green cardamom before toasting. After toasting, I removed the bay leaf, black cardamom, star anise, and cinnamon to add to the pot later. I blanched the almonds, peeled them and toasted them too, to grind with the other whole spices.
Sliced some onions and started frying them in a little oil. The recipe called for about a cup of oil, but my arteries can't take that, so I used about 1-2 tbsp. Just took a little longer to brown, but much healthier.
Once the onions were browned, I removed about 80% of them to grind/blend with 3/4 cup of plain nonfat Greek yogurt.
Added the cut chicken to the pot with some ginger and garlic paste - about 3 times more garlic than ginger.
When the chicken was a bit browned, the spices went in. It had been smelling great already,but when the spices hit the pan, it was like an aroma bomb went off. The scent of saffron, cumin, coriander, mace, and other masalas filled the kitchen.
Oh and a few helpings of this were added to the chef during the cook. :becky:
Added the yogurt + onion blend and let everything get friendly for a little while, then added 1 cup of water to make some sauce, and a couple of green chilies to kick it up a notch.
Plated shot, with brown basmati rice, on a stainless steel thali.
It was mighty tasty, but my mom's chicken curry still wins!
Started with a whole chicken form Costco. Skinned it and cut it up into pieces.
Gathered up the spices, sort of mise en place. Whole spices included bay leaves, dates, saffron, star anise, mace, black cardamom, green cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, and fennel seed.
The ground spices ( I could have used whole coriander and cumin but I had just ground some a couple of days ago). Turmeric, coriander, garam masala, salt, cayenne, cumin, and almonds ( I know they are whole, but I needed a place to put them.
Toasted the whole spices then ground them up. Took the seeds out of the green cardamom before toasting. After toasting, I removed the bay leaf, black cardamom, star anise, and cinnamon to add to the pot later. I blanched the almonds, peeled them and toasted them too, to grind with the other whole spices.
Sliced some onions and started frying them in a little oil. The recipe called for about a cup of oil, but my arteries can't take that, so I used about 1-2 tbsp. Just took a little longer to brown, but much healthier.
Once the onions were browned, I removed about 80% of them to grind/blend with 3/4 cup of plain nonfat Greek yogurt.
Added the cut chicken to the pot with some ginger and garlic paste - about 3 times more garlic than ginger.
When the chicken was a bit browned, the spices went in. It had been smelling great already,but when the spices hit the pan, it was like an aroma bomb went off. The scent of saffron, cumin, coriander, mace, and other masalas filled the kitchen.
Oh and a few helpings of this were added to the chef during the cook. :becky:
Added the yogurt + onion blend and let everything get friendly for a little while, then added 1 cup of water to make some sauce, and a couple of green chilies to kick it up a notch.
Plated shot, with brown basmati rice, on a stainless steel thali.
It was mighty tasty, but my mom's chicken curry still wins!
