Cooking 101 :: Indian

I have decided I want to learn how to cook better.  The problem, as I told my mom tonight, is that I don't really like following the recipe. She laughed and as she's said many times in the last few years "Well, that may be another genetic problem...".  Which I should have realized.  I've been asking her for years for her spaghetti sauce recipe which came from her mom, which is the best spaghetti sauce on the planet.  Everytime I ask she says "well you'll just have to watch and take notes next Christmas... I have no idea what the recipe is."  Alas, I am left with 5 Tupperware containers full in my freezer but still no idea how to make it.  Maybe next year...

So when I cook I decide what I want to do and that's it.  I make it up and if it's good, GREAT, if it's not... well better luck next time.  So last night I made chicken tikka masala.  Which is supposed to look like this....

via

No mine was not pretty like that but it did taste pretty good. So I am going to start a new series called Cooking 101.  This is not for a foodie {well maybe only to laugh at}, this is for other girls like me who are trying to learn how to cook but for whatever reason still aren't fantastic. It's not going to be pretty folks...

The Ingredients... or some at least. And that ginger was my snack.... so....

Don't be deceived... I am only cooking for myself. Clearly I need to learn how to do that in my prep work. Now I realize the chances of any of you using this recipe are slim. But I'm going to write the blog post like you are anyway... humor me.

I used 1 green and 1 red bell pepper, julienne cut carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, and green cabbage but you can pretty much use whatever you want.  I have a love affair with cooked veggies so I always use more than I should.  Most real chicken tikka masala's I found didn't even have veggies in them... snooze... so make it your own.

I use jasmine rice mostly because I like it more than normal rice but also because while you're cooking it it makes your house smell incredible {yes, like jasmine}.

Be warned this is no minute rice. It takes in total 30 minutes to cook so you might want to start it first no matter what you are adding to it. It's worth it!

I kind of forgot to take pictures in between steps here.  Just sauté all of the veggies until al dente, cook the chicken in a separate pan and then dump the veggies, chicken and tikka masala sauce in the sauté pan.  After you mix it up add some jasmine rice to your plate or bowl and then add the veggies and chicken on top of it.

Success! It was actually pretty good.  I'm not going to tell you what I did tonight to make it even better {add more sauce and a dash of almond milk} I feel like most foodies will judge me for it....

This was the fail of the night.  I was using a spatula as a flyswatter....

Luckily that was supposed to be tonights leftovers so no I didn't go hungry. Thanks for your sympathy.

xoxo,

Molly