Family Fridays- Chicken Tikka Masala

 It's my favorite time of the week, Family Fridays!! This week we're doing it a little differently. Instead of a reader sharing a recipe on here, I'm sharing a recipe on Mixed Roots Stories. Today's super delicious recipe is Chicken Tikka Masala! This is probably the most popular recipe I've shared. Who doesn't like moist chicken in a creamy tomato sauce paired with some really good naan? Exactly. I learned this recipe about four years ago. We went to visit my in laws and we all decided to spend the weekend enjoying great food. We had chicken curry, naan, parathas, fish cutlets, and more. One night, while we had a few pots of Indian food simmering on the stove, Stevie-nanna (my father in law's brother) taught me how to make Chicken Tikka Masala. I've made it three times a month since! I even got so bad while I was pregnant with Levi and made it three times a week. What can I say? I had to give the baby in my belly what he wanted and he wanted himself some amazing Chicken Tikka Masala. If you'd like to see the recipe, go check it out at Mixed Roots Stories. 

Chicken Masala

Oh, new recipes. I love them. This week's new recipe is chicken masala. Think chicken curry with an edge of tomato-ey goodness to it. 

We've been enjoying a lot more Indian food since we moved. It's been my chance to try all of my Indian food on my husband's family. A lot of my husband's cousins are in town for summer break. What better way to spend time with them than around food. 

Not to mention, my father in law has a second stomach for Indian food. I always joke that my husband has a second stomach for pizza and now I understand where he got it. It doesn't matter how much we eat for a meal, my father in law will always have Indian food after. I love it. 

This week, I decided to try my hand at chicken masala. Wow. It had the spice level for my husband and the vegetables that I like. 

I was also able to see my kid's spice tolerance has gotten better. They devoured it. Now, don't worry. If you don't have the same love for spice, you can adjust it. I noted the different options for the chilies and chili powder. Try it out and see what you think. It's always better to get more mild and add some putchady to it. 

Ingredients:

2 lb of drumsticks
1/2 an onion (diced)
1-2 green chilies
1 tsp turmeric
1 bay leaf
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
1 tbs butter
1 tbs oil
1 tsp-1/2 tbs of Indian chili powder
1 tbs tomato paste
1 cup or water
1/2 tbs cumin powder 
1/2 coriander powder
3 potatoes (diced)
1 tbs garam masala
1/2 tbs salt
4 tomatoes (diced)
1/4-1/2 cilantro

Directions:

Heat oil and butter in a deep pan, over medium low heat. When the butter melts, add in the onions and chilies. Brown the onions and add the tomato paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes and add the turmeric, bay leaf, ginger garlic paste, chili powder, cumin powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, and salt. Cook for two minutes. 

Rinse chicken and cut the skin off. Add the chicken into the pot and mix well. Cook the chicken on low for ten minutes. 

Mix in the tomatoes, cilantro, potatoes, and water. Cook on low until the chicken and potatoes are done. 

You can serve this with rice and yogurt. 

Family Fridays #3 Junnu

I'm very excited about this week's Family Fridays edition! I was able to get a recipe for my brand new pressure cooker! I've never used one, but everyone here assures me it makes life much easier! Instead of an Indian dish taking a full day to cook, it only takes 30-45 minutes! This week's recipe is brought to us by Padma. She is going to teach us how to make Junnu. Her and her husband have two beautiful children and she wants to share a bit about her family with us. What makes this dish special to you?My three siblings and I grew up eating Junnu. I missed it after moving to the US, but didn't know how to make it. One day, a friend of mine brought it to my Telugu fellowship. She shared the recipe with me and now I can make it whenever I want!  JunnuIngredients:3 eggs1 cup sweetened condensed milk1 1/2 cups half and half milk Few peppers1 tsp of cardamom                         Directions:Beat 3 eggs in a big bowl and add condensed milk. Mix. Add half and half and combine. Add in crushed peppers and cardamom on top of it and put the lid on. Pour some water in your pressure cooker. Put the bowl inside the pressure cooker and close the it. Let it cook for 40 to 45 minutes over low flame.Do you want to share a family recipe? If so click here. Did you like this post? If so don't leave before you sign up for my weekly newsletter!

Khichidi Recipe

The sun is here. It's here at last!! My kids run outside as soon as they see the sun. they took it a step further this week and decided to get the sprinkler going... In 60 degree weather! Hey, that's swimming weather in the Pacific Northwest. We sat outside all day. With my iced coffee in hand, I watched them run through the sprinklers and try to convince the dog to go with them! Making a big, complicated dinner was out of the question. Instead we managed something a little more simple and tasty! What is it you ask? Khichidi. It's so good and really good for you. You know you want to try it out. Ingredients:

1 c. red daal

3 c. rice

1 small onion or small handful of chopped onions

1 green chile chopped

1 broken cinnamon stick

4-5 cardamom seeds

Palmful of salt

Butter

Optional: 3-4 curry leaves

 

Directions:

 

Add daal and rice to the rice cooker. Wash. Drain. Add 6 cups of water.

 

Heat a pan to medium heat. Add butter and oil (enough to cover onions). Add onions and saute until golden brown. Add the cinnamon, cardamom, curry leaves, and green chile. Cook 1 minute. Turn to low. Add ginger garlic paste and turmeric. Cook for 5-8 minutes. Mix in with rice and cook in the rice cooker. 

 

If you want the rice a little firmer add less water.

 

This is a delicious meal and you can serve it with a dollop of yogurt. 

Can You Eat Spicy Food While Nursing?

Oh this baby. He is always so full of smiles. My cousins even go as far as to say he is only ever smiling or crying! He only cries when he's hungry, so imagine a full day of the happiest baby alive. One question that comes up every time I have a new baby is how I eat while nursing. A lot of people stop eating practically everything while nursing, in fear of what it could do to their babies little bodies. I have never been one of them. I drink a cup of coffee every morning, eat spicy Indian food, and my babies have never been the wiser. WHAT! She eats spicy food while nursing!?Yep. You heard me right. Now, before I continue, kids with allergies are obviously a different case. My kids have never struggled with food allergies, so this works for us. There have been a few times when my children struggle a bit with me eating spicy food. If it's a significant amount, I will cut back a bit and slowly add more into my diet every week. Allow their bodies to adjust. Why go through all the work? You are developing your child's palate while you're nursing. Indian food is a staple in my family. That means my two and three year old eat spicy food on a daily basis. By helping their bodies adjust while nursing, it makes it a norm for them when we introduce solids. I continue this process with their baby food. I add curry powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, etc. Here are a few baby food recipes I've used. Kids are eating spicy food in India every day, it's just as possible for my kids to. Joel loves telling our friends about some kids he met in India. They were eating chili peppers like candy! Do you think their moms stopped eating spicy curries while nursing? Nope!

Do your kids like spicy food?

Indian Hospitality

Do you love food? I don’t just mean do you like to eat, I mean do you love food? Do you love making things for people and take pride when you watch them enjoy it? If so, maybe you’re a little more Indian than you think. 

 

One thing you will notice about Indian events is that it’s typically around food. I’ve never been to an Indian get together that didn’t include a large feast of some kind. I figured it was just a coincidence at first. I finally figured it out after a few years when our son Liam had his second birthday. 

 

I had planned this big party. It was also a bit of a going away party for us since we were moving that same week. My husband wasn’t incredibly interested in the party planning. He was more interested in what we were getting our little toddler. 

 

The day of the party rolled around and we spent the whole morning setting up. I laid out the snacks and the cake. We finished and I sat down with a sigh of relief. Then Joel came in asking where all the food was. Did he miss the adorable treats I decorated our table with? I annoyingly pointed to the table. He couldn’t believe it. He assumed we would have a huge lunch for everyone.

 

Wouldn’t everyone be hungry? 

 

I reminded him that most kids parties were this way. We hadn’t planned a dinner party, rather a toddler’s birthday party. He looked at me like I lost my mind and I figured he had no idea what he was talking about. 

 

I quickly noticed the common theme amongst all Indian parties in the few years following. Joel’s mom came for his college graduation party and quickly jumped in when she realized I hadn’t planned on dinner for it. I figured snacks all the way. Nope. She changed that to a HUGE Indian feast. I didn’t complain because who doesn’t want massive amounts of Indian food?!

 

Indian families love food and love getting together to eat with one another. It’s not just about feeding people, it’s the fact that sitting around together and enjoying a meal is special. 

 

Most of the times I’ve gone to Joel’s families houses, I’ve been pregnant. I always crave Indian food while I’m pregnant. When we all get together for dinner, his family is constantly asking if I want to eat or if I want more. I was the size of a house, so I knew I didn’t look malnourished, yet they were always offering food. Joel explained to me that in Indian culture, it’s rude to not offer food. 

 

Indian hospitality is beautiful. They’re always making sure you are full and taken care of. This is something I’m trying to teach my kids.

 

When someone comes to our house, I want them to ask if they’d like a drink. I want them to know they are a host when people are at our house. They don’t get to be selfish when others are here. They need to make sure our guests are taken care of. I love that Indian culture will teach this to my children. 

 

Are you hosting an event soon? Make it an Indian theme! A few meal ideas are chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, chicken curry, keema curry, daal, naan, or parathas. 

 

 

 

 

Paratha Recipe

As I'm sure you know by now, we make a lot of Indian food in our house. This means we need to have rice and roti (Indian bread) on hand. Typically, I will buy a huge bag of parathas and keep them in my freezer. While they are extremely delicious, I decided we needed some homemade, fresh from the skillet parathas around here! I posted this recipe a few years ago and decided to update it. This is a great recipe because you can tailer it to your specific tastes. It's a very forgiving dough and you can see where your imagination takes you. Ingredients:2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flourWarm water2 tsp oil1 tsp salt1 tbs garam masala1 1/2 tsp fenugreek leavesDirections:Pour all of your dry ingredients into a bowl. Mix them, add your oil, and slowly add your water until all of the dry ingredients come together. The stickier your dough, the more moist your parathas will be. Make sure you don't make it too sticky, otherwise it will be too hard to work with. Knead your dough for two minutes and then set it aside for twenty minutes.Pinch off a chunk of the dough and roll it into a ball. It should be about the size of a golf ball.Roll out your dough to about half an inch thick. Brush the top with oil and sprinkle with flour. Cut a small slit in your dough.Roll your dough like shown in the picture. This by no means needs to look nice or be perfect.Place the tip of this in your palm or on the counter and press down to flatten.Roll your dough out one more time.Heat a pan on medium high heat, add a small amount of oil, and fry up your parathas. Cook them until they turn golden brown or start to bubble.These are delicious, flaky, and make your mouth water as you begin to smell them! Serve this with butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, chicken curry, or any other Indian dish. I turned my back for one minute and already found bit marks from  my little boys.

Chicken Keema

I think all of the pregnant mothers should come together and protest against pregnancies going past 37 weeks. The last few weeks of pregnancy drag on forever! All you want is to be done being pregnant and meet your newest little addition! Add in constant contractions that never do anything and the waiting can drive you crazy! Liam is getting impatient too! Every morning he asks me, "Mama, when is baby Lucas coming out and your belly getting small?"Isn't it crazy that my three year old understands my pregnancy that much!? Levi just yells, "Baby" and hits my stomach, proceeded by an, "I'm sorry baby," with a kiss. I'm pretty sure that is a look into the future of their relationships together. Liam will be the big brother always trying to help with the baby and Levi will have a love/hate relationship with him.I've heard the third baby is always more scrappy than the others. I guess it makes sense!We're trying to fill our time with fun things. This week it's been making Indian food and dealing with a clogged sink. Dirtying up more dishes is probably the last thing I should be doing with a clogged sink, but how can a family live without Indian food? Much less a pregnant woman CRAVING Indian food!Are you dying to know what we made? I know you are! We made chicken keema, Sharline's famous coconut green beans, and roti. YUM.Liam even taught grandma how to eat with her hands! He was so proud to share what he's learned!Ingredients:1 tbs ginger garlic paste2 tsp salt2 lb ground chicken1 handful of roughly chopped cilantro1/2 a diced onion2 tbs butter1 jalapeño, halved1 tsp turmeric1 heaping tbs coriander1 heaping tbs cuminDirections:Heat your pan on medium heat. Add in your butter, jalapeño, and onions. Allow your onions to brown. Drop in your ginger garlic, salt, turmeric, coriander, and cumin. Cook down your spices for 2-3 minutes. Crumble in your ground chicken. Let your chicken cook 2/3 of the way and then add in your cilantro. Turn your heat down to medium/low and simmer until your meat is done. How easy is that!? Serve it with Sharline's famous green beans and some roti and your life will be complete!

Chapatis

What are a few staples in your meals throughout the week? 

 

I make a lot of rice, bread, and vegetables. Every one of my meals has one of those incorporated in. It always helps on those less creative evenings. Instead of having to think up a unique side dish, I can pull out one of the staples. I also know my whole family likes all three of those. 

 

What are the staples in Indian meals?

 

They use a lot of rice, roti (bread), and lentil dishes. I don't think I've ever had an Indian meal without one of those things. 

 

Today, I’m going to share a little secret with you. I’m going to give you the roti recipe!!! Roti simply means bread. A few types are naan, chapatis, parathas, etc. 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup of flour

1/3 cup warm water

2 tbs oil

 

Directions:

 Mix all of your ingredients together. The dough should be a little sticky. Sprinkle a bit of flour on your surface and rolling pin. Pinch off a bit of dough and roll it out to about 1/4 of an inch. 

 

Heat a pan to medium high heat. Add a bit of butter and fry your chapati. Add butter and flip when golden brown spots start to appear on the bottom. 

 

You can make these to you or your family's preference. If you'd like them to be more moist, add a bit of water. You can also decide how thick you'd like them to be. 

 

These are traditionally made with whole wheat flour, but my family likes white flour best. 

 

You can serve these with chicken tikka masala, chicken curry, lentil dishes, etc. 

 

Enjoy!

Sharline's Famous Coconut Green Beans

We all have that one person in our lives. That person who's known for one recipe. One amazing dish. Joel's family has Sharline or Chinnapinni as we call her. She makes this dish every time she has people come over. It's famous with all of her Indian and white friends! The true test is that Joel hates vegetables and this is one of his favorite sides! What is it you ask? Coconut green beans. While we were on vacation, I begged her to teach me how to make them. I've tried to make them before with no success. They were missing a key ingredient, the coconut! As soon as you try these bad boys, they'll be a staple in your house. There is just one rule that comes with these green beans. Tell everyone they are Sharline's Green Beans!!

Ingredients:

1 pound of frozen green beans2 tbs oil2 tbs ginger garlic paste2 tsp turmeric1 tsp Indian chili powder1-2 tsp salt1 1/2 tbs coconut powder **I got my coconut "powder" from the Indian store. It looks more like coconut flakes.**

Directions:

Heat your pan to medium heat. Add in your oil. When the oil is hot add your onion and brown. Drop in your turmeric, ginger garlic paste, salt, and chili powder. Cook down for 2 minutes. Add your green beans.**You can use fresh or frozen green beans. If you decide on using fresh, add in 1/8 cup of water.**Put a lid on your green beans and cook until tender. I like to cook mine and leave a bite to it. At the very end, add in your coconut and cook for another minute or so.Serve and enjoy! 

How To Cut Your Cooking Time In Half

While on vacation with Joel’s family, I’ve learned the tricks of the trade. I’ve usually seen Joel’s mom and dad cooking Indian food. Joel’s mom works most of the day and then will come home and cook. She has a bit more time to come home and do everything from scratch. Joel’s dad has even more time to prep food and cook meals throughout the day. 

 

What about when you’re busy with kids all day and then have to help them with homework at night?

 

Or you have work all day and school at night?

 

Is there a way to make Indian food a little quicker? Yes!Here are a few things I saw Joel’s aunts and uncles do. 

Keep some prep food frozen. 

I’ve always said fresher is better. However, there are a few things that you can have frozen and won’t change the taste at all. A few of those would be diced onions, halved green chilies, diced tomatoes, and ginger garlic paste. 

Prep food at the beginning of the week. 

There are a few things you’ll need whether you’re making Indian food, Mexican food, or American food. Diced onions are a huge staple in our house. Look at your meal plan at the beginning of the week and see what you’ll be using a lot. Then you can have the diced tomatoes, diced onions, shredded chicken, cut lettuce, etc in separate tupperware containers. This will definitely save you time in the long run.

Cook Multiple Indian Dishes On The Weekend. 

This is by far my favorite. I always wonder how Joel’s family has the motivation to cook huge dishes every single day. I learned the secret… They don’t! Joel’s aunt, Chinnipinni, made three main dishes, four sides, and rice on the weekend. She also had some chapatis and roti on hand. This way she could take them out each night and change up the combinations each night. It was brilliant! 

Left over Indian food!? I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking about reheating a hamburger and fries you got from the restaurant over the weekend. It’s never good. The difference is that Indian food is way better reheated. The spices have time to develop and it just gets better. 

 

If you wanted to do this with American food, it’s just as easy. You could make up a big thing of shredded chicken, black beans, seasoned ground beef, and grilled veggies. Then have some staples on hand like pasta, rice, pesto, etc and you can change it up all night.

What do you do to save time when cooking?

 

Must Haves For Cooking Indian Food

As our little family has been cooking Indian food more often, I’ve realized there are a few things I’ve needed to make it easier. Or that I’ve had to go out and buy because I refused to hand cut lamb one more time. If you’re planning on making Indian food, here are a few things you should have. Although, I’m sure these things are great tools when cooking anything and you’re probably all going to laugh and tell me you’ve had these things since you moved out on your own. 

Cooking Scissors

When you’re making biryiani, chicken curry, chicken tikka masala, lamb curry, etc. you’re going to need to cut your meat. You’ll either be cutting them into bite sized pieces or cutting the skin off and scoring them. Whatever your need is, cooking scissors are a MUST. It makes the job go so much quicker and you don’t destroy the pieces of meat because you’re using dull kitchen knives like I did. Rice Cooker 

I don’t think I’ve ever had an Indian meal without rice. It’s one of those staples that you pair with everything. My kids are also HUGE rice fans. I know that some of you are way smarter than me and know how to cook rice on the stove. However, when you’re already using your stove to simmer all of you curries, it’s nice to have a rice cooker tucked off in the corner to use. You don’t even need a huge one. We upgraded from our teeny-tiny-barely makes a cup of rice rice cooker this year and have a good medium sized one. One day we’ll move up to the huge Indian sized rice cookers, but for now our little one suits us just fine. 

A Sharp Knife Or A Knife Sharpener

Notice I didn’t say sharp knives. I said a sharp knife. Joel and I need to save up and buy a great sharp knife collection. The problem is that Joel and I have different taste. I would buy the cheapest sharp knife set and he would buy the best of the best. Seeing as that is a HUGE gap, we’ve been waiting. As long as you have a good sharp knife or a knife sharpener you’re good. Trust me. Cutting tomatoes with a dull knife ruins your whole day. 

Plastic Or Glass Containers

As you start to cook Indian food, you will end up with a new set of spices. I always recommend buying in bulk or going to the Indian grocery store. The spices are amazing and a way better price. A mistake a lot of people make is bringing them home and keeping them in opened bags inside a pantry or cabinet. The spices will be ruined if you keep them like this. You need to keep them in airtight containers. 

Lot’s Of Friends To Experiment Your Indian Food On

This one is my favorite. I’m always trying out Joel’s families recipes or finding new ones online. I need to have some people around to taste the food and see what they think. I’m usually nice to my friends and try it out on my family first. If they don’t like it we just order pizza. Indian food is the best to have with a group of people! 

Ginger-Garlic Paste

When you start cooking Indian food, you'll notice a few ingredients repeat themselves. One of those is ginger-garlic paste. It's delicious! I've been making Indian food for a little over five years now and I've noticed I'm becoming a better cook. This has nothing to do with me. It's the fact that I've seen the light!!! Or rather how delicious food can be and I've used some of the techniques I learned in making signature Indian dishes in my everyday meals. I've started using ginger-garlic paste in just about everything! It deepens the flavor and adds a bit of a kick. You can go straight to your local Indian market or you can make it in your very own kitchen. I like to make it because I know it's fresh and like I said we use it all the time. Ingredients:Whole gingerWhole garlicOlive OilDirections:Cut the skin off your ginger and chop it up into chunks. Smash your garlic and take the skins off. Add equal parts ginger and garlic to a food processor and then add a bit of olive oil. Puree. Add enough olive oil for the ginger and garlic to become a thick paste. Make sure you add a little at a time because you can always add more if it's still too thick. 

Your Inner "Greatness"

As you all know, Joel travels quite a bit for work. He had a bit of a break in travel the last week or so, but he's getting really busy the next two months. I'm due in December so he's trying to get all his travel in before so he can take some time off. It's definitely worth the next few busy months for help later. I'm still not entirely sure having three kids under four is possible...These little boys sure miss their daddy when he's gone. We decided to take a little family trip to Vancouver, Wa. We packed it full of some super fun things!Bollywood Theater was by far my favorite! It was delicious! If you're in the Vancouver, WA area you have to go and tell me what you think!!! You walk in to see a Hindi movie playing and stand in a super long line. The word is out. This place is a hit! Don't let the line scare you, their service is amazing!!They use authentic Indian utensils and dishes. If you were to go to a restaurant in India, you would see the set up in the picture above. They even have a little modern flare to some of the dishes. Everything we got was spicy. On purpose. Oh man was it amazing. Don't worry, they have white friendly, not so spicy food as well. Liam wasn't as thrilled with the heat level. I kept giving him these cucumbers in yogurt to help. Nothing was helping. He was getting upset and I made a final attempt to give him a cucumber. Joel saw what I was doing and stopped me. "Babe, you know those are really spicy right?" Umm..... Nope. I'm a "great" mom. I finally gave Liam regular yogurt and it fixed it all. After I tormented him. Come on, I know you all have them. Those moments where your inner "greatness" comes out. Share your stories!  

Pappu Recipe

At what temperature do you send your kids out to your sprinkler or kiddie pool? I lived in California for about ten years and swimming weather there is completely different than swimming weather here. There it would be at least 90 before you'd even consider swimming. Here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest... Well, it was 70 today and my kids were outside in the sprinkler and pool. Crazy?  Yes, but they loved it and I know countless other kids were doing the same thing here.  We also made some yummy pappu! Which was also one of the very first Indian dishes I learned how to make. It is a delicious lentil dish that you serve with rice. It's easy to make and everyone I have ever made it for loves it. Do you want to know another great thing about this dish??? It's gluten free! I have a few lovely friends and family members that are gluten free and this is a go to dish when they come over. Their are a few different variations of this dish. The one I make was taught to me by Joel's dad.Ingredients:2 dry red chilies (you can also use red pepper flakes if it's all you have)1/4 an onion chopped2 tbs butter 3 tbs olive oil1 tbs black mustard seeds1 cup lentils (I use urad daal)1 chopped tomato1 tsp turmeric1 tsp chili powder4-6 cloves of garlic diced finely5 cups of water1 tsp salt1 tsp cumin seedsDirections:Wash your lentils. Put the lentils in a bowl and fill it with water. Use your hands to mix it all around. Strain the water and repeat until the water is clear.In a medium sized pot, combine your water, onions, turmeric, chili powder, and lentils. Cook on medium/high heat. Cook the lentils until they're soft. Next, use an emersion blender or an actual blender. Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Your mixture should be the thickness of a good hearty tomato soup. Put the mixture back in the pot and keep it on low. In a separate small pot, heat your oil, butter, and garlic on medium heat. Once the oil starts to bubble add your dry chilies,cumin seeds, and mustard seeds. Turn it to medium low and stir. The garlic cooks quickly so you want to make sure you are watching. When the mixture turns golden, add it to your lentil mixture. Add some salt and your tomatoes.Cook on low for about 20 minutes and serve with rice. 

Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

Here it is... The recipe you have all been waiting for!You may have thought you had tried the best Indian food out there, but unless you have had this dish you were sadly mistaken. This is the BEST!We moved to Washington about a year ago and introduced my family to this dish. Let's just say we had it every day for about three months! It's also super simple to make.

Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe

Ingredients:

1 lb of diced chicken breasts2 small cans of tomato paste2 garlic cloves2-3 tbs olive oil or ghee1 Shan chicken tikka bbq packet1 tbs methi leaves1-2 tsp chili powder1-2 cups of plain yogurt1/2 quart heavy whipping creamoptional- extra yogurt, basmati rice, naan

Directions:

Dice up your chicken and add your chicken, 1/2 of your Shan packet, and enough yogurt to coat all of the chicken. Put the chicken in the fridge and let it marinate overnight or for about 3 hours.Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.Put your chicken on a deep cookie sheet and spread it out so chicken isn't on top of each other. Place it in the oven until your chicken is cooked through.Heat a pan on medium low heat. Add in the olive oil and diced garlic.When the garlic starts changing colors, after about 5 minutes, add in the tomato paste, methi leaves, and chili powder. Constantly stir so it won't burn. If it starts to get too hot, turn it down to low. Cook for about 10 minutes.Slowly add in the heavy cream, while stirring. You want to make sure you keep a deep orange color to the base. Turn the sauce to the lowest setting. When the chicken is done, add it to your sauce.The left over sauce on your cookie sheet is heaven. DO NOT THROW IT AWAY! In our house, my husband calls it Man Sauce. It has an extra kick to it. You can add it to the sauce and chicken mixture or keep it in a small bowl for people that like the heat to add to their dish.Serve this with rice and or naan.

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Samosa Recipe

Are you ready for one of the best appetizers you will ever have in your life? I hope so because this is the recipe for samosas! I made them for my family last night and I was barely able to take a picture of the finished project because my cousins and husband kept sneaking in and eating them!I made meat and potato samosas, but you can stuff them with anything that sounds good to you!

Meat and Potato Samosas

Ingredients:

Dough-3 cups of flour2 tbs semolina flour1/2 tsp salt1/4 cup of vegetable oil1/2 cup of warm waterFilling-1 lb ground meat (I used turkey)1 tsp salt1 1/2 tbs cumin powder1 tsp turmeric1/2 diced onion2 tsp chili powdervegetable oil2 tbs ginger/garlic paste1 1/2 tbs garam masala5 large potatoes1 cup peas

Directions:

Peel and boil your potatoes until tender. Strainthem and set them aside to cool.In a separate pan heat you oil on a medium/low temperature. When the oil is warm, add your onions. Cook your onions until they are a nice golden brown color.Add in the turmeric, cumin powder, chili powder, ginger/garlic paste, and garam masala and cook for two minutes. Add in your ground turkey. If you are using any other meat, besides ground turkey, brown/strain your meat first and then add it at this step.When your meat has cooked, add in your salt and peas. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add in your potatoes, mix, and cool.As your filling is cooling, you can start on your dough.Add your dry ingredients into a bowl (salt, flour, and semolina flour). Mix and add your oil.This is where you will get your hands a little dirty. Slowly add your water, a little bit at a time. While you are adding your water, you will mix it with your hands. Make sure all of your dry ingredients are mixed into your dough and start kneading. Knead until your dough until it starts looking like the picture below and has become more elastic.Separate your dough into six balls. Roll them into a circle. Take one dough ball and roll it out into a large circle. It needs to be very thin.Cut your dough in half.Pick up one piece and wet the edges.Fold the straight edges so they overlap and press together. This allows you to have a triangular pocket to stuff your filling inside.Spoon your filling inside. Continue to push your filling down so you can make sure it is nice and full. If your dough starts to break, touch it with a bit of water and pinch it together.Take the top half and fold it over.Then take your other top half and fold it over. Pinch the seam so there are no holes or openings. If there are any holes, your filling will come out during the frying process.Take a deep pot and fill it with enough oil to fully cover you samosas. Do not heat your oil until you are done putting your samosas together because your oil can burn. Heat your oil on medium high. Test our oil by putting a small piece of dough in. It should instantly start bubbling and sizzling.Add your samosas in three at a time. Turn them over after 20 seconds. Take them out when they are a nice golden color.You can serve these with a nice cilantro chutney! Watch out because these things fly off the plates at our house and everyone LOVES them!