Channa Masala

So, blog? How's it going?

I have been up to my ears this spring in photo editing and such, so this blog has sadly fallen by the wayside. However, soon enough, especially later this summer, I have high hopes to get on the more regular blog train! (This may or may not have to do with exciting announcements that involve states called Vermont.)

On to the food. Alex and I have pretty much given up cooking meat for most meals during the week. A. We've decided we're only consuming sustainably raised stuff. and B. it's turned out quite a bit cheaper to eat mostly veggie, which is lovely. and C. These veggie dishes are super quick and easy, and flavorful, which is awesome for a weeknight meal.


As if to prove how lazy I was feeling last night. I didn't want to grab my actual camera. Sorry for the cell phone photo!

I was in the mood for something Indian flavored last night, and remembered starring Smitten Kitchen's recipe awhile ago, so figured I'd give it a try.

I made this in like 25 minutes, which is great for any night of the week I think! It was fairly spicy, but pretty tasty! I'm betting on it tasting even better as leftovers, as I don't think it had quite enough to cook and let the flavors meld as we were mighty hungry! I was tempted to add some potato as well, which I might do next time.

Chana Masala
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

A bit of olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 hot green chili pepper, minced (we used jalapeno, as that's what we had)
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used more a heaping 1/4)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes, (smaller diced is better)
1 bell pepper, diced
2/3 cup water
4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice of 1 lemon

Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat with oil until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, paprika and garam masala. Cook with spices for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes with their juice and the bell pepper. Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice.

Enjoy!


We had ours over a bed of quinoa, but rice would be tasty as well!

Indian Spiced Slow Cooker Chicken

I love when I can use my crockpot. Granted, it requires me to plan a bit ahead, but it's SO nice to come home to a hot meal already prepared! Alex also enjoys the bonus of less dishes for him.

I picked up Sensational Slow Cooker Gourmet by Judith Finlayson at the library a couple weeks ago on a whim just to try and find some new recipes. I have her vegetarian version, and have liked the recipes there, so I thought this one might be good as well. Though I didn't find too many things I liked, I did like the sound of her Indian Spiced Chicken and decided to give it a try last week.

I altered the recipe a bit because a. 3 lbs of chicken is a crap ton for two people ( I still have leftovers only using 2 lbs!) and b. Judith says in her recipes to cook everything first then put it in the crockpot. I find this completely ridiculous. If something is going to cook all day, I do not need to saute the onions first. Don't be silly.

On to the recipe!

Indian Spiced Slow Cooker Chicken
Adapted from Sensational Slow Cooker Gourmet by Judith Finlayson

2lbs chicken (I used chicken breasts)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp tumeric
olive oil
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs ginger grated
1 tbs cumin
2 tsp coriander
salt to taste
1 cup barley
1.5 cup chicken stock
28 oz diced tomatoes
1/2 jalepeno pepper, finely diced
3/4 cup plain yogurt

Place the chicken in the slow cooker and sprinkle with lemon juice and tumeric. Add the rest of your ingredients except the jalepeno and yogurt. Stir around with a wooden spoon to mix everything together. Set the crockpot to low, and come back for dinner in about 6 hours. Before serving, add the pepper and yogurt and mix together and heat for another 10-15 minutes to meld the flavors. Serve with rice and fresh steamed veggies! Enjoy!



Alex and I thought this was good, and it made a TON! The one problem I had was the chicken overcooked and was a bit dry. The recipe calls for 6 hours, which, is annoying as clearly I'm gone at work for longer then that. Ours ended up cooking closer to 8 or 8.5, so I imagine if I only cooked it for 6, it would have been better. I might try this again on a weekend when I have better control of the cooking time. Even still, Alex didn't even notice and thought it was great!