Ingredient No. 3!

   What, it's already March?! How did that happen? I understand that February is a little bit shorter than other months, but come on.... we just celebrated Valentine's Day not so long ago! Anyways, I'm a little behind with my "new ingredient a month" project (since I still live in February!), but I'm gonna make it up now. This month's ingredient might not be "exotic", it's something that many of you use every single day, but for some reason I've never cooked with it. Tomatillos - green vegetables that resemble unripe tomato in a husk. I think they are actually called "Mexican husk tomatoes".

 

   When I was searching for some interesting recipes, I saw a lot of tomatillo salsas and sauces, but I wanted something more than that, something different (not that there is anything wrong with salsa!). And then I found it: Green Pozole, made with chicken, tomatillos (duh!), hominy and herbs - it sounded delicious, it looked delicious... and it turned out delicious! 

Ingredients:

* 1 lb tomatillos
* 2 lbs chicken thighs
* 2 (15 oz) can hominy
* 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, sliced
* 4 oz sunflower seeds
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 cup fresh cilantro
* 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
* 1 tbsp vegetable oil
* lime
* salt

Garnish (optional)

* red onion, sliced
* radishes, sliced
* cilantro

Directions:

1. Bring about 8 cups of water to a boil.  Add 1/2 chopped onion, 2 garlic cloves, bay leaves, and some salt. Cover the pot, and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

2. Add the whole chicken thighs and cook gently (uncovered) for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and set aside to cool a little. Strain the broth and set it aside for later.

3. In a food processor or grinder, grind sunflower seeds until they form fine powder. Set aside.

4. In a pot, heat 3 cups water with remaining 1/2 onion, tomatillos, cilantro and oregano. Cook covered for 10 minutes, until veggies are tender. Discard the cooking liquid and place the cooked veggies into a standing blender, add remaining garlic and blend everything until smooth.

5. In a Dutch oven, heat vegetable oil, add the pureed veggies (be careful as it will splatter) and cook the sauce uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the ground sunflower seeds and 1 cup of the broth reserved from cooking the chicken, stir and cook another 5 minutes.

6. Shred the chicken and add it to the sauce together with the hominy and the remaining broth (add as much as you like - depending on the thickness you want to achieve). Season with salt to taste and simmer everything for additional 5-10 minutes.

7. Serve in a bowl with sliced radishes, red onions and lime juice (you can also add avocado).

   What a cool dish! I am definitely going to make it more often (especially that my boys loved it too). It's super filling and hardy, but light and fresh at the same time. The bright and crunchy garnishes make it even "fresher". You can garnish it with all the things I mention or you can just mix and match, but if my two year old loved all of them (even the red onion!!!) you should definitely give it a try!

Enjoy,
Magda.

Cravings.

   I've been craving Indian food for a while now but somehow every time we go out we end up anywhere but an Indian restaurant. So I got tired of waiting and decided to take matters in my own hands and make my own chicken korma (favorite Indian dish ever). Delicious and tender chicken, creamy and flavorful sauce (made out of my favorite nuts - cashews) and wonderful aroma of all the spices. It's a serious dish and it's very hard to stick to only one serving! It really was a hit in our house, my husband loved it (and probably ate half of it by the time I was done taking pictures for the blog) and Christopher devoured his first Indian dish like a pro!
   Recipe makes ... probably anything from 4 to 8 portions, depending on how much you love Indian food.

Ingredients:

* 4 chicken breasts
* 1 large onion
* 2 garlic cloves
* 5oz cashew nuts
* 1 cup milk
* 15oz tomato puree
* 6oz plain Greek yogurt
* 3 tbsp olive oil
* cilantro for garnish

Spices:
*1 tsp of each:
   - turmeric powder
   - garam masala
   - coriander powder
   - cardamom powder
   - ground ginger
   - curry powder
   - salt
* pinch of cinnamon

Directions:

1. Place coarsely chopped onion and garlic in the food processor and blend until pureed. Transfer into non-stick pan and cook for 5-6 minutes.
2. In the meantime, combine all the spices in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add cubed chicken breast and toss everything until every piece of chicken is coated with spices.
3. In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil and add spiced chicken. Cook everything for 3-4 minutes. There will be some almost burned looking crust on the bottom of the pot, but it's all good. Add 1 cup of water and cook for a minute or so until water evaporates.
4. Add cooked onions and tomato puree and mix to combine. Scrape bottom of the dish to remove all the "burned" spices and mix them into the sauce.
5. Place cashew nuts and milk in the food processor and blend until it forms very smooth paste. If it's too dense, you can add a little bit more milk. Add cashew paste to the chicken and cook everything on a very low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
6. Add Greek yogurt, cook for 1 more minute, garnish with cilantro and enjoy with Basmati rice!

   I could eat this dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.... no kidding! Sometimes I make it with chicken tights rather than the breast - it's really good as well. To be honest, you could probably put a piece of shoe lether in this sauce and it would be delicious!

Enjoy,
Magda