I’m not a huge chicken fan. I never have been. I love my red meat. The only chicken I ever liked is fried, whether cold or hot, doesn’t matter which. However, since being told I am diabetic, I am trying to eat healthier foods. I don’t always succeed, but I’m trying, which means that I’m eating healthier than I was previously, but not quite as healthy as I could be. Moderation is what I’m going for, and a lot more likely than cutting things completely out. A lot of that has to do with shopping for groceries. Eating healthy isn’t cheap. It’s a lot more expensive to buy the healthier yams or sweet potatoes than it is to buy regular white potatoes, especially when you are feeding a family. So we cut back on some of the less healthy items and increase the healthy a bit: moderation. I have no problem with the idea of eating more fish, but the other half is deathly allergic to it, so I only do fish on those nights when I’m in the mood to have to cook twice, or when there’s a little extra money for him to have his beloved Taco Bell (yuck), and the girls and I can have whatever we prefer. Given the choice between fast food, so-called Mexican food or seafood, my girls nearly always choose the gifts of the ocean.
Since I can’t always do fish, and I’m cutting back on red meat, and fried chicken is about as unhealthy as it gets, I’ve had to be more creative in getting myself to eat chicken. It’s difficult. Offer me red meat in almost any form, and I am totally there, plate in hand, saying “Please, may I have some more?” But chicken? Meh, not so much.
Cue a trip down to Greenville this summer to get Aneira’s eyes examined. I couldn’t get an appointment in town until well after school started, and she needed new glasses before that, which meant going elsewhere. I couldn’t remember what time the appointment was, exactly, and couldn’t reach the office before leaving the house, so I decided to err on the side of caution and head out early in the morning, because I assumed that was when the appointment was, and the office was an hour away. Better to be early than to be late.
Oh, boy, were we ever early! The appointment wasn’t until the afternoon! Well, I wasn’t driving home just to turn around and drive back again, so we decided to wander around Greenville, which is a bigger town than the one we ended up in. And by lunchtime, while browsing a downtown shop, we got a recommendation for the Indian restaurant across the street as being not only inexpensive, but actually good. So off we went.
Now, it should be said that Aneira is not wild about trying new cuisine. But she’s opening up to it as her taste buds mature, so she agreed to this venture, and we ordered the buffet, which offered plenty of vegetable dishes, but there was only one meat on offer: chicken. And being the carnivore that I am, meat is always first on my list, even if not my preferred type. And the tandoori chicken was the least spicy offering, so I tried it.
This is what chicken dishes aspire to be. I pretty much melted on the spot. It surpassed every chicken dish I’d ever eaten in my life. I got Aneira to try some, and she gave it a tepidly favorable response. Well, that’s okay, better than I expected from a fourteen year old trying something new.
Several weeks passed, and Aneira made an astonishing request for dinner: she wanted tandoori chicken. There are no Indian restaurants in our town, which she knew, and that meant I would have to make it. Oooookkkaaaaaay…I have zero experience in cooking actual Indian food. However, a lot of Caribbean food is influenced by the Indian populations in the islands, and I do have some experience with Caribbean. But I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get the ingredients I needed, and I certainly wasn’t sure if it would taste anything like the restaurant’s version. But the fact that she had enough faith in my cooking to ask was enough for me. I found a recipe online at a site called Simply Recipe, and headed off to the store, where I did find garam masala. It’s fairly easy to find even Asian ingredients at a normal grocery store, even in a smaller town, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the garam masala at the local Harris Teeter.
Garam masala wasn’t the only thing I didn’t have on hand. I also needed ginger, which is not as big a deal to find. And I always have ground ginger in the spice cabinet, but fresh ginger, no. Same for plain yogurt. All three items are now a normal part of my kitchen supplies.
The recipe was easy to follow. The hardest part of it was making the marinade, and that wasn’t difficult, just time consuming and something that needed to be done early in the day, which is when I am least likely to want to do it. Dinner isn’t until evening; I generally don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen until I have to. As much as I like to cook, this smaller kitchen has been a challenge, and I’ve been avoiding it.
I am proud to say, the tandoori chicken was a hit, at least with the kids. Hubby, not so much, but the kids loved it. And I did too: it tasted just like the restaurant, and is also delicious cold. I was so happy with the results that it is now, much to hubby’s dismay, a part of the kitchen repertoire. If I must eat healthier, I’m going to find the tastiest way to do it!
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