recipes and some explanation

The Better Butter Chicken
Yield: 5

Fragrant Indian butter chicken.

This recipe is divided into two parts: making the Tandoori chicken, then using the Tandoori chicken to make butter chicken! You can make the Tandoori chicken a day in advance.

Tip: PC Memories of Kashmir Spicy Tandoori Sauce is perfect for this recipe.

Tip: You can find almond butter and cashew butter in well-stocked grocery stores and health food stores. The only ingredients are almonds or cashews. That's it. No hydrogenated stuff, no extra weirdo ingredients that you can't even pronounce. Nut butters are a great source of protein and good fats like monounsaturated and omega-3.

Per serving: 314 calories, 12 g total fat (4.8 g saturated fat), 33 g protein, 19 g carbohydrate, 4 g fibre, 120 mg cholesterol, 534 mg sodium
Ingredients:
Tandoori Chicken

* 10 large boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 21/4 lbs / 1.1 kg)
* 1/2 cup bottled Tandoori marinade (see Tip)

Butter Chicken Sauce

* 2 Tbsps butter
* 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
* 1 tbsp minced garlic
* 1 1/2 Tbsps grated gingerroot
* 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
* 3/4 tsp ground turmeric
* 3/4 tsp ground coriander
* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp ground cumin
* 1 can (28 oz/798 mL) diced tomatoes, drained
* 1 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
* 1 tbsp brown sugar
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup light sour cream (not fat-free)
* 1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
* 1 tbsp cashew/almond butter (Tip)
* Hot cooked basmati rice (optional)


Directions:
Tandoori Chicken

1. Poke raw chicken thighs in several places with a fork. Place chicken in a large, heavy-duty, resealable plastic bag. Add Tandoori marinade to bag. Turn bag several times to coat chicken with marinade. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Place chicken thighs in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until cooked through. Do not overbake the chicken, or it will be dry. When cool enough to handle, cut into bite-sized pieces and add to the butter chicken sauce as directed in recipe.

Butter Chicken Sauce

1. While chicken is baking, make sauce. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook slowly, stirring often, until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Add gingerroot, chili powder, turmeric, ground coriander, cinnamon and cumin. Cook 1 more minute. Add drained tomatoes, broth, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
2. Transfer half the sauce to a blender and purée until smooth. Return puréed sauce to pot with remaining sauce. Mix well and return to heat. Stir in sour cream, cilantro and cashew/almond butter. Add cut-up Tandoori chicken and mix well. Cook just until chicken is hot. Serve over hot basmati rice, if desired.

Tandoori Salmon
Yield: 6
Ingredients:
Tandoori Salmon

* 6 x 6 oz salmon filets (175 g)

Marinade

* 6 tbsp tandoori powder (100 mL)
* 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (125 mL)
* 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (125 mL)
* 1/2 cup canola oil (125 mL)
* 1 tbsp each minced garlic, shallots and ginger (15 mL)

Lime Coconut Butter Sauce

* 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (125 mL)
* 1/3 cup coconut milk (full fat) (75 mL)
* 1/2 cup 35% cream (125 mL)
* 1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed (250 mL)
* 1 tbsp chopped green onion (15 mL)
* 1/4 tsp salt (1 mL)


Directions:
Tandoori Salmon

1. Preheat oven: 400 degrees F (200 C)
2. Pat salmon dry. Place in non-reactive dish and set aside.
3. In bowl of food processor, mix together tandoori powder, fresh lime juice, cilantro, canola oil, garlic, shallots and ginger. Pour marinade over salmon, covering completely. Marinate in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
4. Remove filets from marinade and gently scrape off excess. Reserve leftover marinade.
5. Lightly oil a grill or grill pan. Grill salmon filets so that they are marked in a criss-cross fashion.
6. Brush filets with reserved marinade, and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degress F (200 C) 4-5 minutes to desired doneness.

Lime Coconut Butter Sauce

1. Bring lime juice, coconut milk and cream to a simmer. Whisk in cold butter. Season with honey, green onions and salt.

Aromatic Basmati Rice
Yield: 2

A recipe is merely words on paper; a guideline, a starting point from which to improvise. It cannot pretend to replace the practiced hand and telling glance of a watchful cook. For that reason feel free to stir your own ideas into this dish. When you cook it once, it becomes yours, so personalize it a bit. Add more of an ingredient you like or less of something you don’t like. Try substituting one ingredient for another. Remember words have no flavour, you have to add your own!
Ingredients:
Aromatic Basmati Rice

* 1 cup of basmati rice
* 1 1/2 cups of water
* 1 tsp of garam masala
* pinch of salt


Directions:
Aromatic Basmati Rice

1. Put rice, water and seasonings into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn heat down, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn heat off and let rest 5 to 10 minutes.

Garam masala is a blend of ground spices common in the Indian cuisine, whose literal meaning is 'hot (or warm) spice'. There are many variants: most traditional mixes use just cinnamon, roasted cumin, cloves, nutmeg (and/or mace) and green cardamom seed or black cardamom pods. Many commercial mixtures may include more of other less expensive spices and may contain dried red chili peppers, dried garlic, ginger powder, sesame, mustard seeds, turmeric, coriander, bay leaves, cumin, and fennel. While commercial garam masala preparations can be bought ready ground, it does not keep well, and soon loses its aroma. Whole spices, which keep fresh much longer, can be ground when needed using a mortar and pestle or electric coffee grinder.

Garam masala can be used during cooking, but unlike many spices, it is often added at the end of cooking, so that the full aroma is not lost. Garam masala is not "hot" in the sense that chilis are, but is fairly pungent.

PREPARATION: Heat a heavy skillet on a medium flame and gently roast all ingredients (leave cardamom in its pods till later) except the dry ginger, till they turn a few shades darker. Stir occasionally. Do not be tempted to speed up the process by turning up the heat as the spices will burn on the outside and remain raw on the inside. When the spices are roasted turn off the flame and allow them to cool. Once cooled, remove the cardamom seeds from their skins and mix them back with all the other roasted spices. Grind them all together, to a fine powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder. Store in an air-tight container in a cool, dark place.

Basmati Rice is a variety of long grain rice, famous for its fragrance and delicate flavour. Its name means "The Fragrant One" in Hindi, but it can also mean the "Soft Rice." Basmati Rice can only be cultivated in the Indian subcontinent at the Himalayan foothills. [citation needed] India and Pakistan are the largest cultivators of this rice.

The grains of basmati rice are much longer than they are wide, and they grow even longer as they cook. They stay firm and separate, not sticky, after cooking. Basmati rice is available both as a white rice and a brown rice. Brown rice takes longer to cook than white, about 30 minutes as opposed to 10. Due to the high amount of starch clinging to the rice grains, many cooks wash this rice before cooking it. Soaking it for half an hour to two hours before cooking makes the grains less likely to break during cooking.

Traditional basmati plants are tall and slender, and their stems are prone to breaking in high winds. They have a relatively low yield, but produce high-quality grains and command high prices in both Indian and international markets.