Tandoori Chicken Pops and Chana Masala

Today we made an expedition to Pak Halal, a local Arab/Muslim/Indian grocer/meat market. Picked up a large jar of ginger-garlic paste (I wanted something smaller but that was all they had), as well as a can of chickpeas, and then headed off to Dillon's to get spices/etc.

Tonight I'm making tandoori chicken pops and Alex and I are together making chana masala (chickpea curry). I've never had chickpeas or curry before so this should be interesting. Alex made a big deal the other night about how he feels like he can't cook because I cook so often and so well (whatever), so I said he should feel free to make something, and now he wants to make the chana masala together. Which theoretically I have no problem with except for the part where our kitchen is too small to comfortably fit two people. I guess we'll see.

--time cut!!--

Dinner is... well, I don't know. I've only had tandoori chicken once, and one thing I remember about it (aside from it being a bit underdone) was that it was a deep red color. This was NOT a deep red color. Part of it may be that it was fried, rather than baked/roasted (it was supposed to be Indian food-stall eats). But a big problem was that you take the chicken, still thoroughly coated in the thick yogurt marinade, and then toss it in flour and fry it. And for whatever reason, the flour would NOT stay on the chicken during frying. Slipped off. As for the flavor, not too spicy, but definitely something different from plain American-style fried chicken. I'm mostly just glad I got it cooked all the way through.

The curry is interesting though I'm not sure if I like the flavor. It's got some kick to it but isn't all that spicy. Strong cumin flavors. The chickpeas are an okay texture but don't add much in the way of flavor. It's a little soupier than I would have liked... it's not so much liquid to make it a soup but I thought it would be thicker. I even took the lid off at the end to try to evaporate some of the moisture but it didn't succeed very well. Also, it made a lot. The recipe said "Serves 2" and I should have known that meant as a main dish rather than a side dish.

On a side note, I'm washing it down with Mexican Coke, made with real cane sugar. Delicious.