My Name Is Nuggets And I'm A Big Fake Butter Chicken.

 

   So, unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks you've seen Nuggets the "Big Fat Chicken" who's actually an Indian Mynah bird and not a chicken at all. My great aunt Amelia had an Indian Mynah, it fascinated me as a kid as it knew all the best swears and never tried to pass itself off as anything but a "Dirty Bird".

But watching Nuggets started me thinking about Nuggets. Not the bird, but actual nuggets like chicken nuggets. I don't cook meat much around here. Generally, it's family holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Passover, or Easter. Depending on which side I'm cooking for. I've been cooking Indian food for 32 years now and with all the variety of vegetarian and vegan dishes available in Indian cuisine I don't need meat to make a fancy meal. I've used banana flower, jackfruit, mushrooms and a variety of other vegetables that take on the meat role in any dinner production but I couldn't get nuggets out of my head. I wanted nuggets but no chicken.

Then I saw it. Okay, so I know it's weird and I don't generally keep up with the Kardashians but I couldn't help but notice  this 

Yeah, there's a lot to unpack here, but ignoring Kourtney, and Travis, all I was seeing was PLANT CHICKEN!!!!!

I cook with Beyond Meat products fairly often when I need something that mimics meat but isn't, like Kheema Mattar. Nobody pays me to cook with it, or has ever given me any of this stuff for free to try. I read about it, bought it myself, and everybody here, likes it a LOT. Hard case carnivores included.

 

One thing I like about their stuff is that the spices and side ingredients are kept to a minimum. This is important to me especially when I am going to be adding a lot of spices. I want it to have the same bare bones quality that meat or a plain vegetable will have so that the recipe determines the flavor and there are not a lot of other notes being played.

One of the reasons I haven't bought other faux meats is precisely that. There are always too many additives . Especially in the world of nuggets. That is why I got so excited about Daring Chicken

This stuff is pretty pristine, flavor wise. At least the original variety. I could spice the hell out of this and it wouldn't have a bunch of other flavors interfering.

I visited the website, read reviews, and then went out and bought some. But first I wondered where did this faux chicken come from. Travis Barker, Kourtney Kardashian????

Nope. It was this guy. 

Drake.

Yeah, Drake is one of the investors in Daring Foods, Chicken. I was looking for basically vegan  "naked chicken" and Drake said...I got this!

First time cooking this, I decided to try a very simple weekday dish , Butter Chicken.  I don't make Butter Chicken very often, and I'd just made it last week using Jackfruit in place of chicken so I thought, "great we can contrast them". The perfect opportunity, and damn, did it work!

  This dish took less than an hour to make, which worked great for a workday meal...and there were leftovers. Something I'm particularly fond of as I don't want to finish a days writing and then immediately start cooking. It's great to get a break every few days

So I'm calling this  Drake's Fake Butter Chicken.  

 Here's What You Need:

1 package of Daring Chicken Original Plant  Based Chicken

1 can of coconut milk

1 cup tomato puree, I used a bottle of passata

1 large brown onion diced

3 cloves of garklic or 3 shallots minced

1 Tbs grated fresh ginger

1 Tbs vegetable oil. I used coconut oil

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp Karshmiri chili powder , more if you want it hotter

1/2  tsp ground cumin 

1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs nutritional yeast

2 Tbs dried fenugreek leaves  (aka methi) 

Cilantro to garnish

Here's What To Do:

Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, and add the diced onion. Saute for about 3 minutes or so

 Add in the garlic or shallot, and  ginger.

Then add in the spices on top of that.

Saute for another two minutes or so.

Now, add in your Daring Chicken...

...sugar,  nutritional yeast, and fenugreek leaves...

...and tomato puree...

 ...and lemon juice.

Turn the heat up a bit and simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes.

 When your Daring Chicken is tender, add in your can of coconut milk.

 Mix it in and turn the heat down so that the coconut milk doesn't separate.

Serve it up, scatter some chopped fresh cilantro on top.

 I served this with Basmati rice cooked with cashews, sultanas, spices, and saffron.

Was it good? You bet. Did my carnivore like it? You bet. He kept saying his head knows it's not real but his body says CHICKEN!!!! 

He kept saying "it's like in the Matrix.Joey Pants and the steak!"

 And I said  "yeah, but dude, you're not hooked up to some alien battery draining your energy while they feed you imaginary  head meat. This is Drake's Fake Butter Chicken, and you're really eating it and it's delicious."

So there you go.  Nobody paid me to eat this fake chicken, I bought it myself and I love it.  The only thing I'm not crazy about is that it's made of soy, but wahtcha gonna do. It's damn good.

Coming up next, I'm going to pick up more of this Daring Chicken. It stores great in the freezer, and I'll be trying it as part of a hot and spicy South Indian Chicken dish, also, I'll be doing some other Summery recipes, Indian and Italian which is how we roll around here. 

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Lamb Tikka Tandoori For Two, Or Celebrating In A Time Of Plague

When I first got my Homdoor Tandoor oven I had big plans. We'd just refinished the deck (ourselves)... 

...and renovated the garden for outside dining and entertaining.

We were all set, let the fun and games begin. 

I fired up the Tandoor for the first time in early 2020. I made Naan bread. 

A week later I came down with Covid. My tandooring, my writing, my cooking, basically everything stopped for two months and change while I recovered.

By the time I was ready to go again, nobody was doing any entertaining. There weren't any vaccines yet, and no one wanted to get sick.  So my Tandoor Party Plans went..poof!

We finally got our vaccines and then we went into an early fire season. There were no burns, no lawn mowing, no grilling, no open flames of any sort.  We went through evacuation after evacuation  and fire was no one's friend. 

When 2021 rolled around we were hoping for better times, then came Delta and no one wanted to party, no how no way. 

So we haven't eaten out in nearly 2 yrs now. Everything we eat is cooked or baked by me. We've had a few friends over ( 2 or 3) to eat in the garden, and that's it. We've gone to a couple of friends' houses where we've visited safely, but other that it's zoom city around here. Which is why when we celebrated our anniversary this year, I decided that a Tandoor For Two would be exactly what we needed! The weather gods were kind also, and I managed to cook this right before the latest Atmosphreric River gave us a dunking.

I planned an Indian luncheon of Lamb Tandoor, An Indian Spinach Coconut and Peanut Powder Salad...

...pomegranate raita,...

...sour cherry chutney, Basmati rice with almonds, sultanas, and whole spices, plus a couple of slices of a raspberry mousse cake from our favorite local bakery, Scandia to top it off.

Luckily an early blast from the Atmospheric River hit us last month so we had an official end to fire season here in Sonoma and outdoor cooking was back on again. Perfect for Tandoori Lamb!

So here it is, a simple marinade, 1 and 1/2 lbs of  lamb cut from a a butterflied leg, add a Tandoor oven and the magic happens.

This recipe is a classic Tandoor marinade (there are many)  adapted from Madhur Jaffery

Lamb Tandoor

Here's What You Need:

1 and 1/2 lbs of butterflied leg of lamb, trimmed of fat and cubed into  1 inch pieces.

2 onions, chop one up, set the other aside for a garnish later

3 inch long piece of fresh ginger peeled and chopped 

3 cloves of  garlic or 4 shallots, peeled and chopped

2/3 cup lemon juice

1 Tbs ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground tumeric

1/4 tsp ground mace

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup olive oil

2 and 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper 

1/2 to 1 tsp Kashmiri chili, or Cayenne, (I use 1 tsp)

1/2 tsp orange food coloring

 

Here's What To Do:

Put the chopped onion, garlic or shallots, ginger, 4 Tbs of lemon juice into a food processor or blender. Blend it at high speed to get a smooth paste.

Using a large bowl with a non metallic lining, add in the paste.

Add in all the other ingredients.

Cut the lamb into 1 inch chunks to fit on your skewers.

Take the lamb chunks and make little jabs in the cut pieces with a knife. This is to allow the marinade to permeate the meat thoroughly.

Now take your lamb chunks and put them into the marinade paste

Give it a little massage in there making sure all the paste gets well rubbed into the meat.

Cover your container and stick it in the fridge to chill for 24 hours or overnight. Turn the meat cubes  over a few times while they're sitting in the marinade paste.

Before Cooking:

Peel the second onion and cut it into very thin rings. Soak the rings in ice water, cover and refrigerate them.

Oil the tandoor skewers, then slide the meat chunks onto them and baste them again. I use a cut up chunk of  raw potato as a stopper to keep the meat from sliding off the skewers while cooking. Let the meat sit on the skewers and dry for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking them.

When you are ready to cook, light your tandoor! My Homdoor is powered by propane, it can also be used with coals, but for an area like mine that is subject to  wildfire... we use propane.

Your tandoor should be at about 480 degrees when you add the skewers.

Adjust the lid, for proper temperature control and cook for 10 minutes, reaching in and rotating the skewers every few minutes.

After 10 minutes, take them out and rest them upright

Baste them again with the marinade.

Then let them rest hanging for about 5 minutes.

Then put them back into the tandoor. Cover, and cook for another 5 to 8 minutes, depending on how you like your lamb.

When the lamb is cooked remove the skewers.

Slide the meat off of the skewers and serve.

I served this over Basmati Rice with Sultanas, almonds, and whole spices. Add on the thin rings of onion that were chilled in the fridge.

I used a platter Paula Wolfert had given me. It was made by the King of Moroccos potter and is absolutely stunning. After all it was our anniversary and even if we've been living our lives in sweat pants and "nap dresses" the last two years there are times when one has to freshen up!

We topped the lunch off with a couple of slices of Scandia's delicious Raspberry Mousse Chocolate cake. I'd gladly show you a picture but it got eaten too fast!

This Lamb Tikka recipe can be made on a BBQ also but I highly recommend a tandoor for authentic flavor and a whole lot more FUN! It certainly beat last years pandemic anniversary which we spent zooming with family.

I'm getting an outdoor heater so we can take advantage of non-fire weather and invite our friends over to tandoor while the tandooring's good!

Coming up next: Pomegranate Mint Raita and Reine di Saba, aka Queen of Sheba Cake. 

Perfect for holiday desserting! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori