Watching Weight: Day Ten

Simple Chicken Curry
I have come to the end of my weight watching series. Not because I won’t be watching and logging my food intake but because it has become repetitive for the purpose of this blog. Also, I have lost about 2 lbs without doing any high intensity exercise and just watching what I eat. I am going to continue doing that and gradually move on to some cardio workouts.
Now for the daily food log:
Breakfast: Cereal - 1/4 cup of raisin bran and 1/2 cup of cheerios with one cup of milk.
Lunch: Khichdi and a bowl of yogurt with a teaspoon of sugar.
Afternoon: A cup of tea with a couple of store bought dhokla.
Dinner: Chicken curry with two rotis and sliced cucumber for salad.
Dessert: A piece of dark Scharffenberger chocolate and a nectarine.

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Simple chicken curry
Serves 2
I do not cook meats often in my kitchen for a few reasons. For one, Tushar and I do not crave meat and are happy to consume lentils and veggies on a regular basis. I also do not like the cleaning up and the disinfecting involved with the knife, chopping board and the sink after handling meat. The only occasion I will make it is for guests who are carnivores or for a large party. Today was an exception. My friend in Atlanta had made a chicken curry when I was staying with her and it was delicious. She had cooked the marinated chicken in a toaster oven for 10 minutes and then added it to the simple curry. Of course I had to try it and of course it didn’t turn out exactly like her. But I was happy with the overall result.
Ingredients:
4—5 chicken tenders, chopped into bite size pieces
1 medium onion, chopped in big chunks
5-6 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of ginger
1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes in a can or 2 large tomatoes pureed
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp coriander-cumin powder (dhana jeera)

For marinade:
1/4 cup thick yogurt
1 tsp chicken tikka masala or garam masala
1 tsp red chili powder
Salt to taste

Method:
Combine the marinade ingredients and add the chicken pieces to it. Keep it covered for a few hours in the fridge. *Heat the toaster oven to 350 degrees and put the marinated chicken pieces in a foil lined tray. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes, turning over half way through.
In a mini food chopper, combine the onion, ginger and garlic and pulse to form a coarse paste. In a karahi or thick bottom pan, heat a tablespoon of oil and fry the onions till they begin to turn brown and leave oil on the sides. Add the spices and roast for a minute before adding the crushed tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes start releasing the oil. Add water if the curry is too thick. Slide the cooked chicken pieces and bring the curry to a rapid boil before turning it off. Garnish with cilantro and transfer to a serving dish. Sever with rotis and rice.
*Note: If you would rather skip the toaster oven step, just slide the marinated chicken pieces in the curry and boil for ten minutes before turning the heat off. Chicken tends to get rubbery and hard if boiled too long.

Chicken Salad Sandwich with salad greens and blueberries

In India, I had read about chicken salad sandwich in books and seen people order it on American sitcoms. But I had no idea how it was made or what its taste was like. Eight years ago when I came to the US, a newbie bride eager to taste all that this wonderful country had to offer, guess what, chicken salad sandwich was one of the first things I ordered in a diner. It was shredded chicken drowned in mayonnaise and mustard, slopped on two pieces of untoasted bread. I did not care for the taste or the texture and so did not eat it again for the next 6 years. Then one day I went with my friend Erin to the Celebrity Cafe. She recommended the Chicken Salas Sandwich (from henceforth to be referred as CSS) on the menu. I was skeptical but Erin’s recommendation, be they about food or movies, has never steered me wrong. So I ordered the CSS and loved it. It was not gooey like I remembered it. You could hardly taste the mayo and the mustard and it had bits of pecans and apples in it for crunch. The whole wheat bread was lightly toasted and there was a crunchy lettuce leaf under the salad to soak up the liquid and prevent the bread from getting soggy. A fan of CSS now, I wanted to replicate the Celebrity Café sandwich in my kitchen. After two years of trials and errors I have finally hit the jackpot. I just eyeball my ingredients for this recipe and so the following is an approximation of my recipe. You can adjust the ingredients according to your liking.

Craneberry Walnut bread from Bread Hause

Ingredients:

¼ cup Rotisserie chicken, shredded
½ tbs Mayo
1 tsp mustard of your choice
1tbsp pecan/ walnuts
2 tbsp chopped onion and or apple
A dash of salsa
Salt and pepper to taste

Run the shredded chicken and pecans through the food processor for a few minutes. Chicken salad is ready.
I pile it on two slices of hearty bread we get from a local German bakery. This time I had some cranberry walnut bread in the house. Yum!
Some store bought salad greens and blueberries and lunch is ready.