First of all when I say “Indian” food, today it means dot Indian and not feather Indian food. I actually love both and live in an area where we have more feathers than dots. Speaking of the continent India, I suddenly have this deep yearning to visit this place. “The 100 Foot Journey,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” and “Eat. Pray. Love.” all have me dieing to visit India. I especially want to visit after watching the “100 Foot Journey.” That movie was as phenomenal as “Julia Julia”! I love how they overemphasize the rich spices, food pairings, and color that Indian food brings to the table, especially the dinner table! I also, got really hungry watching this film. haha.
This week’s adventure started out with good intentions of working out and turned into a night of Freakshow, Cycle Buff Beauty, exotic spices with butter-slathered-chicken and of course, lots of laughter!
It all started on Tuesday about 5:10 p.m. My friend was M.I.A. and of course I had to rescue her and drag her off to the elliptical and stretching. Little did I know that instead, we sat around the table brainstorming leadership theories and how we could totally write communication textbooks that were 1) more engaging and 2) cut the crap and friggin got to the point, better than 3) any paid author could produce! Theory quickly gave way to starvation and before we starting cutting up the table for dinner we sat around for another 10 minutes in a highly riveted and educational discussion of: “What do you want for dinner?” “I dunno, what do you want?” “I dunno, ummmmmm” “?” …. Eventually Indian food was thrown eagerly into the hat and we quickly consulted our good friend, Google. We came up with Paleo Buttered Chicken and it was definitely the best choice.
Baby Methi or Fenugreek Leaves
Of course we had to make a mad dash to Albertsons for very basic ingredients like Turmeric, Garam Masala, and Fenugreek Leaves (which we didn’t find, because these ingredients are not basic, but rather exotic, wild, and powerful spices that every woman should have as a companion in their spice cabinet/lazy susan). Just a quick FYI, sarcasm is dripping from my lips….. Also, I still don’t think I understand what baby methi or fenugreek leaves actually are. I need a chef friend or someone of Indian decent to explain it to me. I am also fairly certain that it doesn’t grow in my neck of the woods.
Anyway, we may or may not have become thirsty at the grocery story and felt a strong ne
ed and compulsion to drive on over to the local and nearby winery. We were delighted to sample various delicious, dry, and “earthy” reds. Yes I love the earth AND I love earthy reds that are so dry that my husband refers to them as dirt-earthy wines. I declare them delicious and the two we choose have super bad ass labels. Wine #1 we had before and loved: Cycle Buff Beauty – a Shiraz & Malbec blend. Wine #2 super bad ass label: Freakshow – a Cabernet and slight Petite Sirah blend. Both are amazing and very interesting to look at. It definitely makes the conversation go in a certain direction.
After we journeyed far and wine for Indian spices, Cilantro, organic chicken, and delicious red, red, wine (break into song!) we were ready to rock and roll. Quickly we chopped up the chicken into cubes. Th
e funny thing is this, it wasn’t quick. Apparently Albertsons doesn’t have organic chicken without bones in it…… and apparently, my knife was dull…… So after a quick knife-sharpening session, I was able to slaughter enough chicken off the bone to create the masala. I was able to painstakingly peel and chop to pieces the ginger (which you should always use a spoon to do), onions, and garlic. Once I was sauteing the ginger, onions, garlic and about 4x the amount of butter….. It made the most delicious smell a kitchen could hope for! We did use a cast iron skillet for maximum awesomeness and higher iron count. 🙂 Additionally, we used butter instead of Ghee. I am not a huge fan of Ghee and if it is grass-fed organic butter, it is okay for this Paleo-queen-bee!
Now I am the queen of NOT following recipes, so of course I used a red pepper instead of green, coconut milk (full fat) for the coconut cream, and we garnished our masala with Greek Yogurt and Cilantro. I encourage you to be adventurous and try new and daring ways of tweaking your meals. You may find that they are indeed delicious and doable.
the Ripple
The end result was amazing food that just kept hopping over into my Ripple….. 😀
I hope you can enjoy it too!
Here’s the lowdown on linkage:
Paleo Butter Chicken – https://www.pinterest.com/pin/A3AsRAAQQEADCjGktpYAAAA/?fb_ref=Default
The Ripple – http://www.thefirstripple.com/
Freakshow – http://www.michaeldavidwinery.com/our-wines/freakshow/
Cycle Buff Beauty – http://www.vsimports.com/wine.php?id=621
Masala with RED peppers
Mixing all the ingredients together
Final product (it’s beautiful!)
Persevering Thru Paleo 