Indian Spiced Chicken Pitas

Sometimes you just need something simple, undemanding. A meal you don’t need to really think about, plan for or work up a sweat to pull off, something you know you’ll love just by reading the recipe title.

Indian spiced? Vaguely. Certainly not the kind of aromatic and mouth-watering way that I think of when I crave Indian food. It’s one of my favorite cuisines, my most requested meal away from home. These pitas made me think more of Gyros than Indian food.

But quick, simple and uncomplicated was in order for dinner, and once all the fixins’ were ready, we stuffed our pitas and then our mouths. I don’t know when I’ve seen a sandwich disappear so quickly. Mine was so full that the pita basically exploded.

Delicious? Absolutely. We both went back for seconds.

I have a confession to make; see those red onions above? Superbly sliced thin and perfect? The tomatoes, all in a row and the same size? The perfectly julienned spinach? Anyone notice the regimented slices of beets in my last post?

I did it all by hand; a bit scary, it’s so neat and perfect, huh? But here’s the deal; when I was in culinary school one of the coaches for our student competition team told me that I was a perfectionist and I got kind of ticked off. He said something to the extent of  “Why would you get mad about it if it’s true?” Problem was, I didn’t know it was true and it irked me that he was pointing out a truth to me that I hadn’t realized. Once I accepted it, it made my life easier, and quite frankly, I was able to tone down a lot of that need for perfectionism after recognizing and acknowledging it. It makes it easier on my psyche for accepting the inevitable errors and mistakes, whether in the kitchen or elsewhere in my life.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t like to WOW the masses with my ‘human mandoline’ skills when I can.  If you like how I can slice that onion, you should see what I can do, by hand, to a clove of garlic.

Indian Spiced Chicken Pitas
Eating Well magazine, June 2009

1# chicken breasts
2 T. garam masala
1/4 c. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings for pitas: sliced tomato, sliced red onion, shredded romaine or spinach

Blend garam masala and oil and brush on chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and refrigerate for about an hour. Prepare to liking either on your grill, stovetop or oven method.

Cucumber Raita
Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni

1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 medium tomato
1 green chili, optional
1 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. sour cream
1 t. roasted and ground cumin seeds
2-3 T. finely minced cilantro or mint (both together is divine)
1/2 t. kosher salt

Blend yogurt and sour cream with a whisk. Stir in chopped cucumber, chili, tomato and seasonings and stir to blend. Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Stuff pitas with chicken and toppings, serve dressed with raita.

KATE’S NOTES:
I added some finely minced green onion to the raita and about a teaspoon of garam masala. We did not have sour cream on hand. The raita would have been slightly more tangy and sour with it, but it tastes just fine without it too. Sahni’s recipe calls for removing the pulp from the tomato but I left it in. It also calls for grating both the cuke and tomato. That would be entirely up to you. I like a chunky raita so I chopped them. I do, however, highly suggest fresh cumin seeds- really for everything- because the flavor is much more pronounced and brighter than pre-ground cumin. You would need a dedicated spice grinder or a mortar and pestle for them. Both work well.

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The soul of a cuisine

I’m a recent covert to ‘No Reservations’, Anthony Bourdain’s travelogue of the different cuisines indigenous to countries all around the world. His travels dig deep into the heart of the foods that come straight from the ancestry of a culture; for Tony, the more authentic it is, the better he likes it and the more he implores you to understand, to accept and explore for yourself. Admittedly, some of his meals don’t exactly make me want to run for the kitchen in joy- like the brains, bull penis, chicken rear ends, seal eyeball and live octopus I’ve watched him partake in-  but there are times where I am so mesmerized by what’s on the plate in front of him that I simply can’t stop thinking about it. Like his two-episode sojourn through India.

I am a huge fan of Indian food, and I think that if Tony were sitting across from me in a bar with a lot of empty beer bottles between us and he was asking me his infamous question of  “If you had one last meal before you were to die, what would you eat?” I would glaze over in a cumin and cardamom swoon and list off all my favorite Indian dishes, one after another. From pappadums to paratha, from smoky Bharta to Bise Bele Bath, fragrant Daals and fiery curries, I could go out in a haze of garlic, ginger and smoke, lost in the aromatic stupor brought on by the subtle yet aromatic flavors of this fabulous food. Watching Tony’s two episodes and all those familiar dishes left me craving something, anything Indian.

Mike and I took full advantage of a recent kid-free Saturday, and after a thorough sweat bath cross country ski outing in 35 degree weather- and a shower, of course-  we dropped ourselves into the familiar surroundings of one of our favorite Indian restaurants for their lunch buffet. It helped. A lot. But it wasn’t enough. I had to have more.

I have no less than four Indian/curry cookbooks in my cabinet. Four. In prior times, I’ve cautiously turned the pages of Julie Sahni’s tome to Indian food- Classic Indian Cooking- only to close it and set it, with resignation, back in its spot. This book was a tough sell for me as I am extremely visual when it comes to food and it reads like a droning novel with no pictures. I like my pictures. But as I prepared my chosen recipe from this book, I began to realize why so few Indian cookbooks have any stunning photographs. Indian food, for all it’s red chili and striking turmeric glory, is not the prettiest cuisine to behold. My most treasured Baingan Bharta- a smooth blend of smoky, charcoal grilled eggplant with tomato and peas looks like a pile of mush on a plate, but explodes with flavor in the mouth. How do you photograph that? You can’t. It’s a cuisine that begs to be experienced, hands, eyes and nose with all tastebuds on high alert. It is not for the pages of a book.

This chicken dish I took on, simply called Chicken in Onion Tomato Gravy, started off as a massive amount of onion

that you brown to a burnished hue and to which you add the small green cardamom pods and sultry cinnamon sticks essential to the heart of Indian food

along with chopped tomato, an awful lot of minced ginger and garlic, the aforementioned turmeric, a dash of blazing red pepper and of course…..chicken, and cook it in that delightful mash until the meat falls apart at the touch. Then, as the cookbook tells you, you leave it for preferably two hours.

(insert the sound of tires screeching to a halt here)

Are you kidding me?

This smelled too good, and looked so amazing, that it was all I could do to leave it for a half hour while I fired up the rice cooker and steamed off  the basmati. Two hours?? Maybe if I ate this way all the time I would have bestowed upon me the patience to await such a feast. But I don’t.

Now tell me….with all that goodness on a plate, would you wait? Naturally this is one of those dishes that develops its flavors more as it sits; I know that. The leftovers will likely rock my mouth. As it is, I can hardly even wait for that. The taste was marvelous- slightly sweet, deep and oniony, rich but not heavy. Several hours later, Mike turned to me and said “My dinner is still so nice and warm in my stomach!”

(cue the stars in my eyes, birds chirping, the lilting flute)

(jump for recipe and notes)

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Curried Lentils w/Sweet Potato and Chard

Curried Lentils With Sweet Potatoes and Swiss Chard

Yield: 8 to 10 side-dish servings; 6 main-course servings.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded if desired, then minced
4 to 5 cups vegetable broth as needed
2 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into
1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups dried lentils
1 bay leaf
1 pound Swiss chard, center ribs removed, leaves thinly sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/3 cup finely chopped tamari almonds, for garnish (optional), available in health food stores
1/4 cup chopped scallions, for garnish.

1. In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, garam masala, curry powder and jalapeño. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

2. Stir in 4 cups broth, sweet potatoes, lentils and bay leaf. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. (If lentils seem dry, add up to 1 cup stock, as needed.) Stir in chard and salt and pepper, and continue cooking until lentils are tender and chard is cooked, about 30 to 45 minutes total.

3. Just before serving, stir in cilantro, lime zest and juice. Spoon into a large, shallow serving dish. Garnish with almonds if desired and scallions.

RECIPE NOTES: I am not a fan of swiss chard, so I used spinach instead. I added several diced carrots to the dish as well as the potato and that was delicious. At the end of the cooking time I dumped in a cup of cooked wheat berries (i keep them in the freezer). It adds more nutritional value to the dish and a nice nutty and chewy texture.
I cooked this for at least an hour and I think it could have cooked much more as the lentils still seemed a tad chewy. It’s hard to determine how much time is needed, but the potato was getting mushy and I didn’t want to cook it too much longer for fear they would fall apart. The spinach, if used, can be stirred in just a few minutes prior to serving; it won’t need much to make it wilt. It can be eaten alone, no doubt; we love the rice; so for us that was perfect. We did not top it with almonds.

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