Saturday, March 28, 2009

flying tandoori

No it is not a new airlines...but I do have to tell you about the disaster(s) I had yesterday in and out of the kitchen.

It started in the morning, trying to get my toast out of the oven, I branded my finger with the element. My reflexes were not quite awake yet and I left it to sizzle a bit (Ssss)...itai (ouch, now I kind of know how those cows must feel)!

Then when I went to the market and tried to pick out a lemon, 3 of them flew off the shelf....sigh...I ended up not buying any.

And then the disaster of all disasters was trying to prepare tandoori chicken for dinner, I used this recipe. As I was measuring out the spices into a ziploc container to marinade the chicken, my unzipped jacket somehow went into the container and proceeded to drag the container off the counter. I tried to catch it, which ended up with me volleyball bumping it instead and spices flying everywhere...of course, I screamed...

I walked carefully to the bath area to brush myself off. Spices were on my sweats and house slippers....afterwards, I noticed there was also a nice "spice trail" to the bathroom...

I took out the vacuum cleaner and vacuumed everything (hopefully everything) that spilled, then I started measuring the spices again.

I guess I should be thankful it happened with only the dry spices and not with the yogurt and other wet ingredients.

After marinating the sasami (skinless chicken breasts) for about 4 hours, I baked it for 10 minutes in a 350F (180C) oven then put it under the broiler for another 17 minutes, turning once halfway.

I also made some hummus using a recipe that I had printed out from the Food Network (the recipe is no longer on their site). It was a recipe by Mina Newman, executive chef of Layla Restaurant (not sure if she or the restaurant is still there in NYC).

I toasted a handful of pine nuts, then cut up half of a carrot, cucumber, red pepper & green pepper. I added 5 or 6 teaspoons of the hummus and mixed it well.

Then I took out 1 graham pita from the freezer and toasted it. I cut it in half and filled one half with half of the hummus mixture and a sliced tandoori chicken breast.

The results...a great dinner and a nice way to end all the madness in the kitchen (for now).

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Funny post, leaving a "spice trail" was especially cute. And your dinner looked delicious. And for your burn, try Burt's Bees Res-Q ointment if it's available there. It comes in a small round green tin (like a lip gloss sized tin) and is really soothing.

Anonymous said...

Could have been worse. ;-)

Glad you're okay.

Paz

Anonymous said...

Oh nooooo! :D Glad it still made a great dinner though!

genkitummy said...

whoa, sounds like a rough day. i'm glad everything turned out okay at the end.

Rowena said...

Every now and then I also have "flying tandoori" days and just try not to swear too much. It's especially worse when I drop food, because the dogs are there in a second, licking or eating stuff off the floor. Puppy spit and food on italian tile is so not nice!

Jenster said...

Ouch. Hope your finger feels better soon.

I think all of us have those "I should have stayed in bed" days now and then. I'm glad that your day at least ended with a delicious dinner!

Deb said...

Atsui! You need one of those mini-wooden tongs:) Oh dear. . . well the end product looks just yummy and hopefully worth all the trouble! And just think - tomorrow HAS to be a better day;)

K and S said...

Thanks Anon, I put some Japanese menthol salve on it, which is supposed to be good for burns and I have my Hello Kitty band-aids on :)

You are so right Paz :)

Me too Su-Lin :)

Thanks Genki :)

I wish I had a "natural vacuum" cleaner, I may have been able to avoid the spice trail Rowena :)

Thanks Jenster :)

You are right Deb :)

Thanks everyone, Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

So glad dinner was good after the day you had.

Why is it that it is usually never just one thing that goes wrong?! It seems like when I start the day by dropping something or burning myself or making a mistake I can't do anything right for the rest of the day.

K and S said...

I've heard that bad things occur in threes Deb, I wish good things would too :)

Take care.
Kat

Suze said...

Hope your finger is better. At least your dinner turned out alright. 8)

K and S said...

Thanks Suze, it is taking a long time to heal because I am always touching water, but hopefully it will be back to normal soon :)

Take care.
Kat