mild chicken masala

Need an excuse to buy some garam masala? Look no further!

I've got just the meal plan for you. It's easy and tasty. If you're afraid of spicy heat, don't be scared. It's a 'family style' recipe from Bon Appetit designed to introduce kids to Indian cooking. So, no heat, just subtle Indian flavours.

Here's the deal, I barely strayed from the original recipes so I'm just going to link to them here...

easy chicken masala -- Really, it's easy. Marinate, then bake. That's it.

caramelized cumin-roasted carrots -- Your basic roasted carrots, but with cumin tossed in with the olive oil and salt.

cucumber raita -- That cooling yogurt & cucumber spread that's so great on everything from naan to chicken.

And I served all of the above with some store-bought naan (but here's a recipe for whole wheat naan that I've been meaning to try) and a pot of basmati rice. (Basmati has a unique fragrance and texture -- don't settle for long grain white if you can help it.)

What comes next? Soup!

Since we had chicken, carrots and rice left over, I made soup. If you'd like to do the same...

Thinly slice the roasted carrots, remove the cooked chicken from the bone and dice, and finely chop 1 small yellow onion. In a medium saucepan, saute onion in a bit of olive oil. Add in 1 tsp ground cumin. Cook for 30 seconds or so before adding carrots, chicken and 3 cups chicken broth. Bring to boil then reduce heat to low. Add cooked basmati rice, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir through chopped fresh cilantro and serve in bowls with a dollop of plain yogurt and a dash of cayenne pepper.

It just occurred to me that the amounts of onion, cumin, etc will depend on how much leftovers you have. (Sorry, I'm slow.) So if this recipe is going to be at all useful, you should know that I used 1 tsp cumin, 1 small onion, 3 cups broth, and a small handful of cilantro, to about 1 cup sliced carrots, 3 drumsticks, and a couple of cups of rice.