Tandoori Chicken with Roasted Broccoli

I expected this to be spicier. I think it could have been spicier. I only used one red chilli in the marinade. I had asked my brother to try a raw one and his response after taking a bite was "ya, you'd die". So I was scared to put two in. But really after marniating and cooking for so long, peppers aren't quite as spicy as the raw thing! I guess it depends on the pepper... but this was fine. Live a little... put two in! It was pretty delicious though. Nice flavours. Enjoy!

Requires marinating over night (~12 hours)

Ingredients:
4 cloves of garlic
1-2 fresh red chillies
salt & pepper
1 large thumb-sized piece of ginger
1/2 a lemon, juiced
200g plain yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 heaped tsp paprika
12-15 bone-in chicken thighs & drumsticks (~1.5kg)
olive oil
broccoli
1 tbs garam masala
1/2 bunch of fresh coriander

Peel garlic and deseed chillies. Roughly chop and place in a pestle and mortar (or a small bowl if you don't have that). Bash the garlic and chilli into a rough paste with a good pinch of salt. Transfer to a large bowl. Finely grate ginger and add to bowl. Add lemon juice, yogurt, pepper, cinnamon, cumin, coriander and paprika. Mix well to combine. Add chicken and coat thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for around 12 hours.

When you're ready to cook, remove the chicken from the fridge and allow to come up to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Divide the chicken between two large pieces of aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil and close up to make tin foil packets. Place on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.

Carefully remove the tray from the oven. There is going to be some "juice" either on the pan or in the packets so be careful. Remove the foil packets from the tray. Open each one and with tongs put  the chicken directly onto the baking tray. Discard foil and any chicken juices. Cook for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.

After you put the chicken in the oven for the second time, prepare the broccoli. Cut up into little bite sized florets. Sprinkle with garam masala and a drizzle of olive oil. At 20 minutes left on the chicken timer, add to the oven. Broccoli should be tender and slightly charred.

Serve with basmati rice and raita (mix 1/4 cup yogurt, 1/8 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp coriander, some fresh coriander chopped, one green onion chopped.... you're also supposed to add cucumber, but I didn't have any).

Chili Con Carne

MM this was good. I severely burnt my mouth however because I was super excited and it was really really hot. So be careful. This is basically just chili... but with a little bit of mexican influence and on a whole other level.

Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 medium carrots
2-3 stick of celery
2 red peppers
olive oil
1 heaped tsp chili powder
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamon
salt & pepper
1 can of chickpeas
1 can of red kidney beans
1 can of tomatoes
1 lb ground beef
1 small bunch fresh coriander
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Serve with basmati rice, yogurt, guacamole & lime wedge

Directions:
1. Peel and chop onions, garlic, carrots and celery into very small pieces. The original instructions said "finely chop", but that seemed like a lot of work so I just cut them all very small. No need to be exact, just chop away.
2. Halve red peppers, remove seeds and stock. Roughly chop into bite site pieces.
3. Heat a pot (or deep dish pan) on medium-high heat. Add in about 1 tbs of olive oil and all the chopped veggies. Stir occasionally. When the vegetable begin to soften (5 or so minutes), add chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir every 30 seconds or so for a few more minutes.
4. Once the vegetables have softened and gained a little bit of color, add the drained chickpeas, drained kidney beans and tomatoes and mix. (At this point I was ready to eat it because it looked and smelled delicious).
5. Add in the raw ground beef and break any larger chunks up with a wooden spoon. Mix around. Fill the empty can of tomatoes half full of water. Add to pot. Mix. Add finely chopped coriander stocks, and put leaves aside.
6. Add balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer with a lid slightly askew for an hour. Stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.
7. Serve a top Basmati rice, with a dollop of plain greek yogurt, guacamole and coriander leaves.

Guacamole
Don't know how to make guacamole? SUPER easy. I find guacamole is different (but the same) almost anywhere you try it. It is almost always the same ingredients, but they change up the amount they use. Some places it super lime-y, some places it spicy, some places its garlicy. It is really all about taste. What you'll need:

ripe avocado
lime juice
salt & pepper
purple onion, chopped
hot sauce (Valentina, tabasco, sriracha - whatever you like... but preferably mexican) -
garlic powder (or real garlic chopped... but I was lazy)

Halve avocado, carefully remove the pit from one side. Scoop out the insides of both halves into a bowl. Begin to mush with a fork (or masher). If the avocado is ripe enough, a fork should be just fine. Add lime juice. Continue to mash or stir. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix. Tada!

As I mentioned, it is completely what you prefer which determines how much to put in. I like mine lime-y and garlic-y with a liiiiittle bit of a kick. Tonight I used 1/2 lime, 1/4 purple onion, 1/4 tsp Valentina hot sauce, 1/8th tsp garlic powder. Pinch of salt and pepper.