Over the past week I’ve overindulged a bit. Steakhouse last friday with friends, pizza Saturday, then a dinner out with Michael on Monday to celebrate my getting the new job.
To celebrate we ended up a the Road House Grille in Skippack. Michael went for the steak, but I was impressed with their seafood selection and ordered a seafood pasta (Jumbo Lump Crab Meat, Shrimp & Scallops with Fresh Basil & CherryTomatoes in a Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce over Black Fettuccine). It was a delicious meal, and there was so much seafood on my plate! Possibly more than actual pasta. Yum. But after dinner I was so full of rich food I decided it was time to take off of eating out for a few days ;)
When we went grocery shopping on Tuesday I picked up the ingredients that I needed to try a few new meals, one of them was Tandoori Chicken, which we had last night:
First I had to prepare the Tandoori Marinade:
3/4 cup low fat plain yoghurt
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1/4 cup finely minced onion
2 teaspoons minced ginger root
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons ground bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper powder
Just mixed all these ingredients together. Then put the 1 pound of skinned chicken breasts in the dish, covered and marinated in the refrigerator for a few hours. After a few hours I took it out of the refrigerator and put it all into an 8×8 baking dish with 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Put it in the oven, uncovered, at 400F for 15 minutes, then lowered it to 350 for another 25 minutes.
When it was done I was surprised to see how it had gone from a nice creamy sauce to a more watery one. I prepared some parboiled rice to go with it, but since the sauce wasn’t creamy it ended up being runny and a bit to spicy for that type of rice (which isn’t dry enough to soak up the liquid). I also made up some Onion Kulcha, but that didn’t come out too well, probably because I don’t have a cast iron skillet to cook it properly, and again, with the watery sauce it didn’t make a very good side. How disappointing! At least the chicken was good, I just need to find better sides.
We also picked up a box of No Pudge brownie mix. I’m not really into the whole “No fat” “Low fat” thing, rather disillusioned to the growing national obesity rate when we have more fat reduced/free foods than ever. So I always eat fat full things and know full well what I’m putting in my body. But hey, these no-pudge brownies had a cute pig on the cover and we were buying yoghurt (the only thing you add to the brownie mix) anyway, so we decided to give them a shot.
I made them up last night (except I used the low fat yogurt I bought for the Tandoori Chicken, so they’re “low fat” instead of “non-fat”) the verdict? They aren’t the same as normal brownies, have a darker chocolate taste to them and it seems like something is missing. But they are yummie chewy and great for being low in fat.