Girl Cooks Indian

So... I've spent hours, that have added up to days, that have added up to weeks sitting in a conference room with my wonderful friend, Reeta. While our eyes became strained and bleary from scanning thousands of lines of Excel, we talked to maintain our sanity. And we talked. And we talked.

Subjects have ranged from boys, to crazy Korean spa experiences, to things that cannot be spoken of on the Internet.

And then one day, I mentioned that I'd like to make Indian food. And then the next day, Reeta brought me a cookbook to borrow - Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking (an Expanded New Edition of the Classic on Indian Cooking).

So the next Friday night, my hubs got to eat this... Chicken Masala on Basmati Rice with a side of Spinach and Onions and Garlic Naan.

And this was made from this (please note, in my first attempt at food blogging, I have left off most of the ingredients that made it into the dish... and left in the drink I was partaking while making the dish):

And while chopping up the onions... I looked like this:

Sorry for the awful pic... but I can't help myself. Wow, do I hate choppin' onions!!!

The dinner was delish! And the recipe is below:

5 tbl veg oil

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

1 inch cinnamon stick

6 cardamom pods

2 bay leaves

1/3 tsp peppercorns

1 large onion chopped

6 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 can crushed tomatoes

3 lb chicken breast, cubed

1 1/2 salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp garam masala

Put the oil in a large, wide pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves and peppercorns. Stir once and then put in the onions, garlic and ginger. Stir this mixture around until the onions pick up brown specks. Now put in the tomatoes, chicken, salt and cayenne pepper. Stir to mix and bring to a boil. Cover tightly, turn heat to low and simmer for 25 min, or until the chicken is tender. Stir a few times during the cooking period. Remove cover and turn up heat to medium.

Sprinkle in the garam masala and cook, stirring gently, for about 5 minutes.