Monday, April 26, 2010

Easy Chickpea Curry

I made this Friday night and we put it into some pita bread for a nice picnic at the park. I served it with spinach and plain yogurt wrapped up inside. You could also put it over rice for a weeknight sit down. The spice is around a medium here. Feel free to tone it up with a little more ginger, garlic and jalepeno, or tone it down with a little less curry powder. To make the curry paste, I use my little kitchen-aid chopper, but you can also just chop it all up as small as possible if you don't have one

Serves 4
$6

Ingredients

1 Tbls olive oil
1/2 small organic onion - diced
3 organic garlic cloves - minced
1 tsp minced organic ginger
1/2 organic jalapeno - minced
1 Tbls curry powder
1 x 14.5 oz can diced organic tomatoes
1 x 25 oz can organic chickpeas
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Put the olive oil over medium heat in a pan on the stove
  2. If you're using the food processor, put in the onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno and pulse it until it's a nice paste (about 15-20 seconds). If you're doing it by hand, chop away!
  3. Add the paste to the pan and sear it for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure none of it burns.
  4. Add the curry powder and mix it in with the paste
  5. Pour in the tomatoes and chickpeas and stir it all up
  6. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Let it cook for 30 minutes until the sauce as reduced down and the flavors are amazing. Salt and pepper to taste
  7. Enjoy!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hungarian Chicken Paprikas

I first had this dish in Albany, Oregon the great mom and pop restaurant Novak's (literally mom and pop - Mama Novak and Papa Novak are there pretty much every day). It's got such a comforting complex flavor but is so easy to make! The nice short list of ingredients makes it fit the budget! I like to cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces before browning, but you can cook them whole as well. This is great over rice, egg noodles (or egg dumplings if you can find them)

Serves 6 - $17

Ingredients
  • 1 large organic onion - chopped
  • 2 Tbls olive oil
  • 3 Tbls Hungarian Paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 3 lbs Chicken Thighs
  • 1 cup Organic Chicken Stock
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 chopped organic tomatoes (or 1x14.5 oz can)
  • 1 cup organic sour cream
  • Rice, noodles or egg dumplings for 6

Directions
  1. Heat the olive oil in a medium to large sized pot over medium-high heat
  2. Throw in the chopped onion and cook until soft - about 10 minutes
  3. Add the chicken, paprika, salt and pepper and stir it until the chicken and onions are coated in seasony goodness
  4. Cook the chicken about 6 minutes stirring occassionally until lightly browned
  5. Put in your chicken stock, water and tomatoes and bring to a boil
  6. Begin cooking your rice or noodles (Put this here so you don't forget you need something to put this goodness on:)
  7. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, juicy and tender
  8. Remove from heat and stir in your sour cream
  9. Enjoy!