Cardamom and Ginger Chicken
I was cooking for a book club meeting. We were discussing ‘The Space Between Us‘ and since it is a book based in Mumbai, India- Indian food was requested.
I thought of making appetizers or finger foods. One of my friends suggested I make chicken tikkas. That was a good idea- but I wanted to change it up a bit.
After giving it a few thoughts I decided to use cardamom as the primary flavor. I love using cardamoms- I have a huge bag my Mom got from India. I store them in one of my two freezers- yes I have two additional freezers in my basement. What do I have in them, you ask? Well, one of them is full of extra spices, flour and rice- mostly all Indian groceries. The other one has spare breads, some meat, frozen vegetables and lots of other things I don’t have room for in my kitchen freezer which by the way is huge as well. As usual, I digress- I love the floral flavor and use it in sweet and savory dishes. Most of all, I use it in masala tea.
I also decided to use ginger in the chicken to simply ground the taste a bit. The rest of the ingredients are pretty much the same as the other chicken tikkas I have made in the past.
It is great to have in the fridge- my daughter loves the chicken and I like to usually make it on the weekends so I can use it through the week especially for her lunch.
Give the cardamom and ginger chicken a try- you won’t regret it…
- 1 pound chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- 5 cardamom pods, seeds taken out and crushed or 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
- ¼ cup non-fat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup half and half
- 3 teaspoons salt
- Juice of one lemon
- 3 to 4 wooden skewers, soaked in water for a few hours.
Preheat oven to a medium broil.
Mix the ginger, cardamom powder, yogurt, half and half, salt and lemon juice. Marinate over night.
Slide the chicken pieces into the skewers. Broil under the broiler turning the chicken skewers once till golden brown. It should take about 10 to 15 minutes.
