Cinnamony Experiment

A few years ago DJ, her parents and I spent 16 days in Australia and New Zealand. As you may know...or imagine...their food isn't wildly different from food you will find in the US. Even so, we ate 12 meals at McDonalds. DJ and her parents actually ate there more often than I did, but on some days I decided to starve rather than eat one more french fry.

While I actually like going to McDonalds in foreign countries because they always have at least one "local" thing on the menu (Australia had a "McOz" which was a regular burger with beet slices between the lettuce and tomato), once is usually enough for me.

Anyway, since I am getting closer and closer to my goal, I decided it might be time to start slowly getting DJ used to the food and flavors we may be encountering outside of the Indian McDonalds.
I've decided to incorporate one Indian style dish into our weekly menu, and to try and keep it healthy.

Here's what we had on Saturday:

The Better Butter Chicken

from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry

written by Janet and Greta Podeleski

Recipe makes 5 servings. There are 293 calories, 11.4 g fat, 2.9 g fiber per serving.

2 tbsp butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp gingerroot

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp ground tumeric

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 whole cooked rotisserie chicken, skin removed and meat cut up

1/3 cup light cream

1/4 cup fat free sour cream (or plain yogurt)

1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro

• Melt butter in a deep, 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Cook slowly, stirring often, until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Add gingerroot, chili powder, tumeric and cinnamon. Cook 1 more minute. Add undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add cut-up chicken, cream and sour cream. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.  

When I first tasted the sauce, before adding the cream or chicken, I wasn't sure how the dish was going to go. It was really cinammony and I just couldn't imagine DJ being willing to eat it. I decided to go for it, finished the recipe and served it over some basmati rice.

I really liked it. It was flavorful (not too cinammony) and filling. The biggest shock was that DJ actually ate it! While she admitted that it wasn't the best thing she ever ate, she did kind of like it, which is good enough for me.