It’s January and work is already more stressful than it should be. After a lazy summer holiday, the last thing you want is to be teeth grinding and palpitating. These things are best saved for the middle of the year – when you really need a holiday.
In the spirit of living in the now, it’s time to cook a helluva mid-weeker, crack a beer and listen to some nice tunes while I chop and cook. This mid-weeker is a lazy but tasty one: tandoori chicken, Indian ‘festive’ rice and a minted green salad with pomegranate dressing.
It’s rather healthy and fairly simple to prepare.
Recipe- Tandoori chicken, Indian festive rice & minted salad with pomegranate dressing
Serves 2-3
Tandoori Chicken
2 small chicken breasts
2-3 tablespoons of greek yogurt
1-2 tablespoons good quality tandoori paste
Juice of 1/2 lemon, to serve
Indian festive rice
1 onion
2 cups basmati rice
Spices: 3 smashed cardamom pods, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt, to taste
Handful coriander, to serve
Slivered almonds and a handful of raisins, to serve
Minted salad
1/2 an iceberg lettuce, shredded
3-4 sprigs of mint leaves, shredded
1/2 red onion, sliced
1/2 large lebanese cucumber, sliced on the diagonal
Pomegranate dressing
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp red vinegar
2 tsps oil
Salt and Pepper
Method
Turn on kettle and boil some water. In a medium pot, fry off the onion in a little oil. Add spices and cook for another minute or so. Add rice, uncooked, and coat well, stirring continuously. After 2-3 mins, add 2 and 2/3 cups of boiling water. The water should create a lot of steam. Put the lid on, turn down to the lowest heat and simmer for 12-15 mins.
While that’s going, prepare the salad in a bowl by putting in the lettuce, mint, onion and cucumber. Make the dressing by adding pomegranate molasses, some red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and olive oil and shake.
Throw the tandoori chicken on the barbie, cooking quickly on a medium heat to get some nice chargrill lines on there.
When rice is done, fluff the rice with a fork and add the almonds, raisins and coriander.
Serving suggestions – delicious rhythm
Serve with some pappadums and mango chutney. A Kingfisher or two doesn’t hurt either.
Matched mixtape
Listen to my Stress Buster mix on Spotify
I feel a little better about the world now (could be the beeeeer…) and it’s time to relax out – a little piece of mind until another tsunami tomorrow.
delicious rhythm. 