One poor decision that I repeatedly make in my life is going grocery shopping when I am hungry. Suddenly everything from Super Pretzels to Little Debbie Zebra Cakes look appetizing (except that Zebra Cakes always look good). This time I managed to make it through Wal-mart without indulging any of my sinful pleasures, because I knew that I was going to go home and make Spicy Chicken. My roommate Hannah and her friend Alex were also over, and we decided to make it together. My excitement mounted as I open the cookbook, but the moment I turned to page 159, I wished that I had brought the Zebra Cakes because I knew that I wouldn't be able to make Spicy Chicken tonight.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
8 large chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 can (14.5 oz) crust tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons honey
1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups hot couscous*
*we used pita bread because, for reasons I do not know, wrote pita bread on my grocery list instead of couscous.
1. In a nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in oil about 4 minutes, turning once, until brown
2. In 4 to 5 quart slow cooker, mix onion, diced and crushed tomatoes, honey, cumin, and cinnamon. Add chicken. Spoon mixture over chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low heat for 7 to 8 hours
4. Stir in peanut butter until melted and well blended. Serve chicken and sauce over couscous.
Luckily, Alex had a bit more cooking experience than I do, and decided that we could sauté the recipe instead of putting it in the crock pot for 7 to 8 hours. I was a little hesitant, because of the hummus experience, as also because if this was a failure, bean tacos were our only other dinner option. Bean tacos didn’t sound too satisfying to Alex and Hannah, who have little more sophisticated taste than I do, so we decided to sauté the recipe instead. Here is what we did:
1. First, we followed step number on the original recipe, and part way through cooking the chicken we added onions since Alex said they should be cooked longer.
2. One the chicken was done; we dumped everything else except the peanut butter into the pan.
3. Once it had simmered for a while, we pulled it off the burner and added the peanut butter.
While my directions may seem vague in comparison to the original, don’t be too concerned. This recipe, even with our alternative cooking method was amazing. It was by far the best dish I have ever cooked; although that is really not a substantial claim since I haven’t cooked that much. Whether you make this in the slow cooker or on the stove, it is definitely worth the effort.
Love your blog. It is always interesting to read. Have you tried any Chi recipes that are low calorie? Will get busy and try your Spicy Chicken soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Laura - dad and I are trying to figure out how to post comments. So far, we are anonymous. Dad signed up for some blog thing so we'll try that next.
ReplyDeleteFunny! Reminds me of the movie Julie and Julia... :-) Sue Moriarity
ReplyDeleteSo I tried the chai recipe and here's my experience. I sent my husband to the store to buy cardamom...after spending 30 minutes on the phone trying to describe to him what cardamom is, navigating him to the "spices" section and spending $10 on the cardamom, I had everything I needed. Well, at least I thought so. I didn't think I had a tea strainer so I didn't want to boil the tea leaves in the water because I had no way to separate them. So I started to make the tea in my big tea pot by dumping the boiling water over the leaves, which, ironically were in a large strainer in the tea pot. After realizing this, I dumped everything back in the pot on the stove and continued. I added the rest of the ingredients and here came the fatal error. I didn't want to take the time to hand grind up peppercorns (although apparently I had time too with the cloves), so I just ground some in my pepper grinder and dumped it in. Needless to say, it was way more than 2-4 peppercorns! I completed the recipe and sat down to enjoy a wonderful cup of chai and started sneezing...way too much black pepper! The chai was awesome in spite of the spiciness! Overall a great recipe. Oh did I mention that I burned the tea leaves on the bottom of the pan so badly that I had to throw the pan away and discovered that I already had cardamom at home! Apparently you aren't the only Wespetal who needs to learn how to cook : )
ReplyDeleteHaha! That's pretty funny Katie. It sounds like something I would do. It's probably a Wespetal thing: we like to eat well, but we are also very efficient, so we also like to cut corners...and that is not always a good idea. I think you know how to cook, I just think you need to learn which corners you can cut and which ones you can't!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for reading everyone, and feel free to post your own recipes that I can also try!
ReplyDeleteHere is a low calorie Chi recipe, I haven't tried it, but it looks good.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kitchenparade.com/2009/01/sugar-free-chai-tea.php