Tomato Curry Chicken

I've been wanting to learn how to make more Indian dishes, but the difficulty with a lot of Indian food is that it contains significant amounts of either cream or yogurt, which doesn't work so well for us. In my search for dairy-free Indian food I stumbled across the following recipe for Indian Tomato Chicken. It got great reviews and didn't look too difficult to make, so I thought I would give it a try. Let me tell you, this recipe is really easy and it tastes great! The hardest thing about the recipe is making sure that you have all of the spices. I modified the spices a little bit in my version to suit our taste, and I added some peas for color. I'm so excited that now I'm going to try to find some more Indian recipes that are dairy-free.

Tomato Curry Chicken
serves 3 adults, maybe 4?

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts that are organic or kosher
• 14 oz. crushed or pureed tomatoes. Try to use tomatoes without citric acid, such as Pomi strained tomatoes.
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup uncooked basmati rice (or use more rice if you prefer)
  

Instructions:

Place a medium-size pot over medium heat and add the canola oil. Finely chop the onion and add it to the pot. Saute the onion until tender. While the onion is sauteing, measure the cumin, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and salt into a small bowl. Thoroughly rinse the chicken and cut each chicken breast into about 8 cubes.

When the onion is soft, add the minced garlic and spices to the pot and stir for about 1 minute. Transfer the chicken to the pot and stir so that the onion mixture coats the chicken. Saute the chicken for about 3 to 4 minutes, until the outside of the chicken has cooked. Then pour the tomatoes and bay leaves into the pot, stir, and cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to low so that, once the tomatoes heat up, the liquid will be barely simmering. Cook for 1 to 2 hours, until the chicken is done and the flavors have melded. A couple of minutes before serving, remove the bay leaves and stir in the frozen peas.

To make the rice, bring 5 cups of water to boil in a medium pot. Thoroughly rinse the uncooked rice using a sieve or strainer. Add the rice to the pot and stir briefly. When the water returns to a boil, turn the heat down to medium so that the water simmers vigorously. Partially cover the pot with a lid and cook the rice for 10 minutes. Drain the water from the rice and then return the rice to the pot. Let the rice sit in the covered pot until ready to serve.

Mexican Ranch Dressing

What kind of salad goes well with Mexican food? In need of something to go with a Mexican-themed main dish, I came up with this modification of my regular ranch dressing. It's similar to ranch dressing but has a bit more of a kick to it, due to the chili powder. I also like the addition of some lime juice and chopped cilantro. I didn't have any tomatoes when I took the picture of the salad above, but tomatoes or other vegetables would be great as well.

Mexican Ranch Dressing
serves 2 to 3 adults

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Hellmann's Real mayonnaise (not the light version). I recommend Hellmann's because it's labeled gluten-free.
  
• 2 Tbsp. Lactaid milk
• 1 Tbsp. sour cream (not low-fat). I recommend Daisy brand, which contains just cultured cream.
• 1 tsp. lime juice (or 2 tsp. if you want a bit more of a lime flavor)
• 1/8 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
  
• 1/8 tsp. onion powder
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (optional)
  

Instructions:

Whisk together all of the ingredients in a small bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors meld. Serve over Romaine lettuce and other salad toppings.

Banana Brownies (egg-free)

Since it's still been so cold here, I've been craving baked goods. And because chocolate baked goods are the best kind, I decided to experiment with egg-free banana brownies. After some tweaking, I think I like these egg-free brownies even better than the original ones. They are nice and chewy with a great chocolate flavor. This time I sprinkled the chocolate chips on top, but it would also work to stir the chocolate chips into the batter.

Banana Brownies (egg-free)
makes an 8"x8" pan of brownies

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed meal
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana (approximately 2 large bananas)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips. The two kinds I use that do not contain milk fat are Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips and Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8"x8" Pyrex pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease the foil with canola oil.

Chop the unsweetened chocolate and place it in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the 3 tablespoons of canola oil to the pan and stir. Stir frequently until the chocolate has melted; then remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and sea salt.

Returning to the pan with the melted chocolate, stir in the sugar, flax seed meal, and vanilla. Mash the bananas using a fork or a food chopper and stir the mashed banana into the pot with the chocolate. Pour the chocolate banana mixture into the bowl with the flour and stir just until no traces of flour remain. Fold the chocolate chips into the batter, if desired.

Pour the batter into the Pyrex pan and spread to smooth. If desired, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top of the batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the brownies cool in the pan for at least 1 hour before cutting them.

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup

Since buying a jar of fish sauce and a bottle of Thai red curry paste, I've been looking for ways to use them. This soup recipe uses both ingredients and tastes great, especially on a cold, rainy day like today. I started off with the following recipe for coconut curry soup. However, I modified the recipe to use red curry paste, which gives the soup more of a Thai flavor. So if you like Thai food, you should really try this soup. The coconut milk gives it a creamy taste, something that I miss since going mostly dairy-free. I also like the fact that the soup does not call for all that many ingredients, and it's really quite easy to make. Even better than that is the fact that Michael and the girls all think it's great.

Coconut Curry Chicken Soup
serves 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 1 "rice-cooker" cup of long-grain white rice, like Thai jasmine, to make about 2 cups of cooked rice
  
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 lb. (to 1.25 lb.) boneless skinless chicken breasts that are organic or kosher
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 to 3 medium carrots (to make 1/2 cup chopped carrots)
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp. red curry paste. I use Thai Kitchen brand because it's gluten-free.
  
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce. I use Thai Kitchen brand because it's gluten-free.
  
• 2 cups Imagine Organic chicken broth OR Trader Joe's Organic free-range chicken broth
• 1 can light coconut milk. A can with guar gum is okay, but avoid any other additives.
  
• 2 broccoli crowns or 1 small bag of baby spinach
• 1/2 cup frozen peas

Instructions:

Place 1 "rice-cooker" cup of uncooked rice in the rice cooker with the appropriate amount of water and start the rice cooker. Chop the onion and carrots and set aside.

Place a 4-quart pot over medium-high heat. Thoroughly rinse the chicken breasts and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Pour 1 tablespoon of canola oil into the pot and let the oil heat up. Then add the chicken to the pot. Let one side of the chicken brown before turning the cubes so that another side browns. Toss the chicken pieces until all of the sides have browned, about 2 minutes in total. The chicken should not be fully cooked inside since it will cook some more later on. Transfer the chicken and any chicken juices to a bowl.

Pour another tablespoon of canola oil into the pot and lower the heat to medium. Add the onions and carrot to the pot and saute until they have softened, stirring occasionally. When they are soft, add the coriander, red curry paste, and cayenne pepper to the pot. Stir for 1 minute. Then pour the lime juice, fish sauce, chicken broth, and coconut milk into the pot, and stir. Increase the heat to medium-high to bring the liquid to a simmer.

While the liquid is heating, cut the broccoli crown into approximately 4 cups of bite-size florets. If using baby spinach instead of broccoli, measure about 4 packed cups of spinach and chop the spinach into bite-size pieces. When the liquid has come to a simmer, add the chicken with its cooking juices and the broccoli florets to the pot, cover the pot with a lid, and reduce the heat to low. Let the soup barely simmer for 15 minutes. (If using spinach, just add the chicken to the pot.) After the 15 minutes, add the spinach, if using, the cooked rice, and the peas. Stir and serve.