Tag: carrots

Chicken Tikka Masala Indian Meal

My husband introduced me to Indian food when we first started dating. It was love at first bite. I believe my first was The Clay Oven in Portland, Maine, soon followed by forays into Indian Row in New York City. When we moved to California, we went to Kulbir’s India Palace in Alameda faithfully for over a decade.

I remember being a new mom, apprehensive because it had been three days and I still didn’t have any breastmilk. My daughter was under a bilirubin light in Children’s Hospital in Oakland. My husband and my parents managed to convince me to take a break and go out to eat. I had a bit of raita and it was like a dam broke. My milk had arrived! From then on, I became a believer in the medicinal power of raita.

Raita

Combine 1 cup of whole milk organic plain raw yogurt, 1/2 cup shredded cucumber, 1/2 cup shredded carrots, 2 tablespoons chopped mint or cilantro, and 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to eat. I usually do this before anything else. The longer it chills, the more the flavors come together.

The entree in this Indian meal is a Western favorite: Chicken Tikka Masala on basmati rice. On the side, we have naan, raita, tamarind chutney, and sweet mango chutney.

We are lucky to have naan in our grocery store. If you don’t, there are easy recipes online for making it from scratch. Last resort, you could always get it at Amazon. Also in our grocery store ethnic aisle are tamarind chutney and sweet mango chutney. They also have hot mango chutney, but the sweet mango chutney has enough spice to make me happy. The tamarind chutney comes in a concentrated paste that needs to be diluted and sugared to taste.

I start the Chicken Tikka Masala in a crockpot early in the day. Believe me it’s worth it.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients:
1 pound organic chicken tenders
15 oz organic tomato sauce
1 medium onion, minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
Pinch cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
1 cup whole milk organic plain raw yogurt
Green onions or cilantro for garnish

Combine all ingredients except yogurt in a crockpot. Set on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Ladle a cup of sauce from the crockpot into a medium bowl. Whisk the yogurt into the sauce until smooth. Stir back into the crockpot. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve on a bed of basmati rice and topped with cilantro or green onions.

Basmati Rice

Before I add yogurt to the Chicken Tikka Masala pot, I get started on the Basmati Rice to make sure everything is served warm altogether. Melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or ghee in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 1/2 cups basmati rice and stir it about until rice is translucent and slightly toasty, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 1/4 cups water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cinnamon stick, and a bay leaf. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heart to low and cover for about 14 minutes until liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender. Fluff rice with a fork.

And serve.

December 6, 2018
Carrots for Red Highlights in Hair

My husband’s grandmother was an Irish redhead. My husband’s mother had auburn hair. Our daughter’s hair bleached blond under the sun, and darkened as she grew older. She has natural copper highlights in her hair when the sun hits it. She wanted more of that red to come out. Tonight she showed me a YouTube video of how to use ingredients from our kitchen pantry to enhance the red highlights in her hair. Here’s the video:

We didn’t have cranberries but we had everything else. So here’s what we whipped up:

Ingredients:
3 medium organic carrots, grated
3 tablespoons organic plain yogurt
2 tablespoons raw honey

Other things needed:
plastic shower cap
plastic bag to wear over clothing
paper bag or old newspapers to stand on and catch drippings

Get ready by pulling a plastic bag over clothing and spread paper bag or old newspapers on the floor to catch the drippings. Mix the ingredients together in a bowl. Spread all over hair until it is all soaked and caked.

Put a plastic shower cap over head. Let it sit for at least half an hour. Rinse it out in the kitchen sink so the carrot shavings don’t clog your bathroom drain. Jump in the shower and wash/shampoo hair as usual.

It really works! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Carrots do stain. I’m wondering now if it would be just as effective to juice the carrots and use that instead of grated carrots. It would save us the trouble of picking out little carrot shavings out of hair, which we had to do a lot!

We’ll try cranberries when they become available in the fall. I bet beets would do the job too.

April 28, 2013
Carrot Cupcakes

When my daughter was two we spent the year in Maine. Her Grammy grew a garden and took the wee one out to pick carrots throughout the summer. Grammy has now been dead for two years, but my daughter, now 8, still thinks fondly of her and those freshly picked carrots. So in honor of the coming of spring and of Grammy’s recent birthday, we made Carrot Cupcakes. Happy birthday, Grammy!

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
2 cups organic sugar
3 cups shredded organic carrots
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda, aluminum-free
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup organic canola oil
4 large eggs, free-range and organic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth. Pour into cupcake pan cups only about halfway to 3/4 of the way. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Test with a fork and when it comes out clean, the cupcakes are done. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
10 oz organic cream cheese
10 tablespoons organic butter, softened
3 1/3 teaspoon orange extract
5 cups organic powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Stir in orange extract and powdered sugar gradually.

March 11, 2013