Nutty Chicken

I bought a new cookbook yesterday! I was in the bookstore, walking through the bargain book aisles and I saw the newest edition of a cookbook that I absolutely love! It’s called Bet Ever Indian Cookbook by Baljekar, Fernandez, Husain & Kanani. I bought a book last year by the same name and it has served me very very well. It has step by step instructions with pictures along the way. I was so excited that I made a dish from the book last night. Although I made some tweaks to the recipe, I thought it was really good!

Chicken in Nut Sauce
Adapted from Best Ever Indian Cookbook

2 medium onions quartered
2 T. Maggi Hot & Sweet (or tomato paste)
½ c. peanuts
1½ t. garam masala
1 t. garlic minced
1 t. chili powder
1 T. lime juice
¼ t. ground turmeric
1 t. salt
1 T. yogurt
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
¼ c. raisins
1 lb. chicken cubed
½ c. water

In a blender or food processor, blend onions into a paste. Add Maggi, peanuts, garam masala, garlic, chili powder, lime juice, turmeric, salt, and yogurt to the onion paste and blend well for about 1½ minutes. Heat oil in a pot. Once hot, turn down heat to medium and add paste to pot and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add raisins, chicken and water and cook for 12 minutes more. Make sure chicken is done and server hot over rice.

The recipe actually called for cashews but I didn’t have any on hand. It was very nice with the peanuts, but I would like to give it a try with the cashews. The recipe also called for lemon juice instead of lime juice, and tomato paste instead of Maggi Hot and Sweet.