I'm an Omnomnomnivore... nom nom nom :D

YAY! Here is my first cooking post!!

Preston has been asking to go out and get Indian food pretty much whenever we go out BUT ever since we had a terrible experience at a place called Bombay Bistro, I've been turned off of going out for Indian Food. The food at that place wasn't terrible, it was okay, but I sorta can't go back to a place that spilled a beer all over me, then charged me for it... I know there are plenty of other Indian places, I know this, I've been to them, but Bombay Bistro totally soured me to the whole restaurant experience.

So to please Preston's need for Indian food, I decided I was going to try and make some myself.

I came across these recipes on Budget Bytes.

Everything I have made from her blog has come out so so good, except for the miracle mac and cheese... but that was probably because of user error. 

Here are the links to the recipes: 

Tandoori Chicken Dinner and Homemade Naan

So the first thing that Budget Bytes says is to marinate the chicken EARLY. I was going to make this Monday night, but I went grocery shopping way to late, so I ended up moving this dinner to Tuesday. I marinated the chicken at 10am and let it sit in the fridge until I started cooking, which was around 7pm. 

Chicken is cut into thin strips and I have my spices all ready to go!

Looks pretty gross, but it smelled really good. 

So around 6pm, I decided to start cooking, I wanted to start with the naan. Here are some pictures of getting the dough ready:

Wet Ingredients, had to wait for the yeast to make everything bubbly

I was super surprised that the dough called for Greek yogurt, who would have thought to use that in place of milk? I'm not a fan of Greek yogurt, so I didn't find the smell all that pleasing. 

All the wet ingredients mixed together, pretty gross, haha

So I forgot to take a picture of the mixing of the wet and dry ingredients, but after you mix them and create a dough, you let it rise for about 30 minutes. That's when you get to the fun part, and you get to use a rolling pin. 

                 

Preston thought it would be funny to take a picture of me with my "blue Mohawk". I went and took a shower, while waiting for the dough to rise.

BLUE MOHAWK!

My first attempt at cooking the naan was a failure... partially because of the burnt milk from the miracle mac and cheese I made the night before. My stove kept smoking, so I had to clean it really quick so I could cook the naan. It was quite frustrating, but after that first piece, everything else came out perfect! I added some garlic powder to each little naan piece before I placed it on the skillet, this did cause a bit of a burn taste, so I think next time I'm going to incorporate the powder into the dough, Preston and I LOVE garlic naan. 

YAY! A finished piece, so yummy

After I finished the naan, I got started on the other two sides, yellow jasmine rice and curried chick peas. I didn't take any ingredient pictures, I was in a rush because it was already past 7 and I needed to be done before the Supernatural finale!

Nom Nom Nom

Budget Bytes cooks her chicken on a George Foreman grill. I don't have one of those, so I used my panini maker. It worked really well, but was a PAIN IN THE BUTT to clean!

Chicken before cooking

Chicken while cooking

Chicken after cooking

I was so excited to see that the chicken had taken on the typical yellow color of tandoori chicken. I was a little worried when the marinade didn't look too yellow. Can you see where I stole a little piece in that last picture? Heehee, it was really spicy and really yummy.

Here is the final result!

I have to say, the rice was my absolute favorite part. It tasted so freaking good. I had never made rice before... that wasn't uncle Ben's quick rice, so I was really pleased with how this came out. The chick peas on the other hand... totally didn't cook long enough. They were tough and just not all that tasty. Once again that is pure user error, I was paying more attention to the rice, than the chick peas, so they didn't get the full attention they deserved. 

So my first shot at Indian food was a success, my dad, who never ever wants to go get Indian food really liked it and is now willing to go to a restaurant to get "the real thing" haha

My dad's 50th birthday is this Sunday and I decided I'm going to do a zombie theme. My dad LOVES The Walking Dead, so I'm gonna do my best to put together some cool zombie themed cupcakes. I'm really excited. I'll be sure to take pictures and make another post all about it!

Until next time!

-Laura