Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Chicken Saag
















Last night I went to see a collection of short films that were showing as part of the Tribeca film festival. Each film was inspiring in its own way and covered all sorts of topics. Two films especially stood out. One was about difficulties faced by young kids with diabetes in poor countries and a program whereby they are provided with free insulin and education. The other was about a young guy who started a business where he sells shoes and donates a pair of shoes to poor kids for every pair of shoes he sells. In two years he sold 65,000 pairs of shoes and also donated 65,000 pairs of shoes.

Anyhow, the screening started at 7:30pm and I did not have a chance to eat before, so I was starving throughout the films! And so, while the films were playing, my hungry tummy could not help but conjure up images of food! I thought about chicken saag a lot for some reason.

This is how I made it.

Ingredients:

3 skinless and boneless chicken breasts washed and chopped into about 1 inch pieces
1 package of chopped frozen picture
1/2 medium size onion chopped finely
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tomato chopped finely
1 clove garlic chopped finely
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
3 or 4 cardamom pods
3 or whole cloves
salt and freshly crushed black pepper
1 cup water

Method:

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and fry in 1 tablespoon of oil till the outside is slightly browned. Remove chicken from pan and set aside. Pour the remaining oil in the pan and on low heat cook onions till translucent. Next add the garlic and ginger paste and stir and cook for a minute or so. Then add chili powder, turmeric and garam masala and cook for a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes and stir. Next place spinach in the pan and cover with water. Break down the spinach and mix together. Add cloves and cardamom. Then place chicken in pan and mix together with spinach. Season with salt and pepper and then out on high heat for a minute and then simmer with the lid closed for about 10 to 15 minutes or till chicken is fully cooked. Taste and adjust salt accordingly.

I ate this with pita's which I warmed on the stove. Yum!




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looks good! Not sure if you realize that one of the main ingredients you have listed is "chopped frozen picture". I think you meant spinach. :-)