Some people ask me: Little Ninja Chef, is it possible to cook up a relatively easy 2-weeknight healthy Indian dinner? And I’d say: yes, absolutely!
On the menu is:
- baked chicken masala
- spinach and sweet potato bhaaji
- basmati rice with a sweet topping of caramelised onions, almonds and raisins
- mint raita (yoghurt)
My plan is to get this done within 90 minutes, basically the time required for the chicken to be prepared and bake.
Let’s have a look:
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- Making meditative zen patterns in roasting cumin. Roast on medium heat, making sure the spice doesn’t burn.
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- Chicken legs and thighs, naked and waiting to be dressed. Make slits in the meat with a knife to allow the flavours to seep in that much faster.
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- Marinade in a blend of yoghurt, tomato, chili, roasted cumin and coriander, turmeric, onion, garlic, ginger, lemon juice and salt to taste. Ideally, you want to marinate overnight, but I decided to wait only as long as the oven needed to heat up and it was still rockin’.
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- Prepping the bhaaji: diced sweet potato, chopped french shallots and ginger. Also starring: fenugreek (methi) grains and spinach.
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- Is there really anything better than butter melting in a pan?
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- Sliced onions having a sizzling love affair with butter. C’est “hot”.
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- Caramelised onions are joined by golden sultana raisins and almond chunks.
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- And exciting bhaaji of sweet potato and spinach.
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- Basmati rice topped with the caremelised onions, raisins and almonds. Makes rice exciting, it does.
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- Fresh out of the oven, ah, chicken curry, how you never fail to tantalize…
Success! I think it took all in all 100 minutes, but we ate well that night and had leftovers for another dinner and a lunch.
Little Ninja Chef 