Indian Chicken

This dish is a compilation of recipes that I have found online that claim to be authentic. The original dish is called "Butter Chicken" but this is so far removed from traditional fare that I call it Indian Chicken.  Some people don't allow any dairy in their diets when they're doing Paleo but I do so that's that. I have made this recipe many times and it turns out great every time, even when I leave ingredients out by accident or substitute other things.

Spicy Indian Chicken

Ingredients:
-4 boneless chicken breasts, cut up into cubes
-5 cloves of garlic (or 1 heaping Tbsp of minced garlic from a jar)
-1 teaspoon salt
-1/2 tsp black pepper
-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
-1/4 tsp ground coriander
-1/4 tsp ground cumin
-1/4 tsp cardamom (ground, not the pods)
-Juice of one lime
-1 onion, chopped
-1/4 cups butter
-1 can tomato sauce (14.5 oz)
-1 can diced tomatoes
-1 cup heavy whipping cream

optional:
-Sriracha sauce
-plain yogurt or low fat sour cream

Cooking Instructions

1. Place chicken with the garlic, spices and lime juice in a large Ziploc bag or a bowl. Stir to cover chicken in spices and marinate 30 minutes to 3 hours. Can be done overnight in the fridge, too.

2. In a large skillet or dutch oven, melt the butter until browned and add in the onion. Stir it until browned and translucent. Add chicken and cook until brown and cooked through.

3. Once chicken is done, pour tomato sauce and diced tomatoes over and stir. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Just before serving pour in the heavy cream. Serve over spaghetti squash or rice.

Notes:
-Adam doesn't eat onions so I leave them out now that we're married. They are an excellent addition but not central to the dish so don't fret if you have a picky eater.
-I have substituted the heavy cream with yogurt and sour cream with great success. You want your sauce to be a light orange color. You can also leave it out if you just want the chicken and tomatoes. The world is your oyster!
-I add in a swirl of Sriracha right before I add the cream. It gives it a nice kick. If you are afraid of the heat, squirt a little bit on your spaghetti squash (I mean a very small amount. Like, half of a dime IF that much) and mix it in to see how you like the flavor. This stuff is HOT!
-The combination of spices is important! Try to get them all if you can!

Spaghetti Squash: cut squash in half and microwave in a plastic bag for 6-8 minutes until it shreds easily and is tender enough to eat. It may need to go in for longer if you have a larger squash. I love this stuff and it reminds me of the cellophane noodles at a noodle house I used to frequent in Atlanta.

Again, I am not a chef nor am I a Paleo expert but when I decided to change the way I eat, this recipe came to mind. I often serve it with a green vegetable on the side (broccoli, asparagus, zucchini...). Adam loves it, and that's saying a lot!

Let me know how you like it if you try it!


-Sunny

Paleo

When I started researching Crossfit I kept coming across "Paleo" this and "Paleo" that. I finally got tired of being ignorant on the subject so I did what any brilliant mind would do. I googled it which led me to my favorite reputable source on all things academic: Wikipedia. Here is the article I found. Needless to say, I was wondering what in the Sam Hill Dick Cheney had to do with anything. I quickly discovered that what I was looking for was the Paleolithic Diet.

Simply put, it's the caveman diet. If you can't find it in the woods or kill it in the wild, don't eat it. Eliminate refined sugars (or all sugars, for that matter), grains and processed dairy. Now, "refined sugars and processed dairy" are my made-up terms for this explanation. If you want a more scientific description go look it up and the information will abound.

I went to a semi-Paleo diet for a week and I could really tell a difference. I was less bloated, I didn't get as hungry as often and I had more energy. This, coupled with the fact that I can eat unlimited bacon, really sparked my interest in changing over to this type of diet. My philosophy when dealing with food is "the closer to nature the better." Butter? Sure! Margarine? Yeah right! Heavy cream? Yay! RediWhip? Get real. Get it? Good.

When I started looking up things that I could cook that didn't include steak (nothing wrong with steak) or grilled chicken (nothing wrong with that either) I realized that 95% of the stuff made me want to vomit. I mean, come on. Beef heart stir-fry? Cow tongue kabobs? I knew that if I was going to do any cooking, it wasn't going to be by these recipes! So, I'm going to start posting recipes as I come across them. Most of them are ones I've been doing for a while but will be adapting for your Paleo culinary pleasure. I am not a chef. I can cook but I usually adapt recipes rather than make them up myself. Everything I will post is absolutely 100% doable. And I promise it won't taste like health food. Unless it is health food in which case it will be clearly labeled as such. New recipe coming soon.

-SM