Chicken Korma

My husband LOVES Indian Food! My experience with it has not been so great. I like spicy food, but every time I've tried Indian food it was so spicy I couldn't taste anything. The fact that I don't really like curry probably doesn't help either. So one day I was looking in my Food Network magazine and I saw this recipe for Chicken Korma. I had never heard of it but it looked really good. I asked my husband if he'd hear of it and he said "yeah, it's Indian." So I decided to try it seeing as it does not have curry and I could adjust the spice to my liking. It was really good. I think it will definitely become part of our regular rotation. The recipe calls for ground chicken so I just took some boneless skinless chicken breasts that I had and pulsed them in the Cuisinart. I served the Chicken Korma with some fresh toasted whole-wheat pitas. I think next time I will try to make some homemade naan bread. For sides I served roasted garlic couscous and roasted broccoli (I was going to do an Indian cauliflower dish but the market was out of cauliflower!) All in all, this dinner was easy, healthy, the kids loved it, and it was better than most take-out. Score!



Recipe (Serves 4)

1 large red onion, 1/2 chopped, 1/2 sliced
1 1 inch piece ginger, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 t coriander
1 t cumin
salt
1/4 oil, plus some to toast pitas
3/4 lb ground chicken
1/4 plain yogurt, plus some for garnish
1/4 frozen peas, thawed (We're not a pea-eating family so I left these out)
1/4 c chopped cilantro, plus some for garnish
chopped cashews, for garnish

Puree the chopped onion, ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, 1/2 salt, and 1/2 c water in food processor to form a paste. (Note: I think I will use less water next time. Maybe my onion was extra juicy but this seemed like a lot of water and it took extra long to cook)

Heat the oil in skillet over med-high heat. Add sliced onion and cook 4-5 minutes. And the spice paste and cook 8-10 minutes until slightly dry (As I said mine was quite liquidy and took longer than this to cook). Add the chicken and cook, breaking it up, until opaque. Mix the yogurt with 1/4 c water, add to skillet and simmer over med-low heat 2-3 minutes. Add peas and cilantro, and season with salt to taste.

Heat another skillet over high heat. Brush pitas with oil and season with salt. Toast in skillet about 1 minute on each side. Serve the chicken mixture in the pitas and top with yogurt, cilantro, and cashews. (You can also serve with hot sauce so that individuals can make it spicier to their taste)