Ashwin is now 7.5 months old and he is growing fast. He has started crawling, standing up and squeals with delight when he sees us after his nap or when R comes home from work.  While everyone is happy for us, they are also concerned about our, “open adoption”. I decided to talk about it a little bit. A few questions we get asked

1.       Do you “have” to keep in touch with Ashwin’s birth family?

Yes, that is a choice we made. In our opinion, Ashwin needs to know where he came from. And it is only healthy that we talk about it openly.

2.       Are you not uncomfortable when they meet Ashwin?

Absolutely not.  We are happy that Ashwin gets to meet them, while he may not understand it now. He will cherish the pictures and memories we have for him. His birth parents have given us a blessing, why should we be uncomfortable?

3.       Is all this good for Ashwin?

We are doing what we think is best for him. Only time will tell, but from the research we have done, we think it is good for him.

4.       So who are his parents? Where are they from?

While we say open adoption, it means open among us – Ashwin, us and his birth parents. We want to respect their privacy.

This was the analogy I gave my friend when I was explaining about open adoption.  When we tell a child, don’t go into that room or don’t touch that- the child only wants to touch or go into that room more than he ever wanted. But if you let the child into the room or touch a particular object, his curiosity is satiated and he will not sneak behind your back to see what is in that room. That is exactly how adoption is. If you want to keep his birth parents info from him, he will wonder why and want to know more. It is his right to know about them, Period!

Every adoption situation is unique and we have been extremely lucky that we are able to have this open relationship.

Now what does all this have to do with Chicken Biriyani? This is what I cooked when Ashwin’s birth father came to visit. It was a success I think. It definitely was on the spicy side. If you are looking for a quick recipe, you should stop reading further on. This is time consuming, but well worth the effort. You know what, make an extra batch and freeze it.

Ingredients

Chicken  thighs – 1 lb ( can be boneless or with bone in) cut into 1-2 inch bite size pieces

To grind

Cilantro – ¼ cup, roughly chopped

Ginger – 1 T, minced

Garlic – 4-5 pods

Yogurt – 1/3 cup

Cloves – 1

Green Cardamom – 4

Green chillies – 4 (Serrano or thai)

Salt to taste

Rice

Basamati rice– 2 cups

Cardamom – 3

Star Anise – 1

Cinnamon – 1 inch stick

Cloves – 3

Saffron – 1 tsp

Milk – ¼ cup ( warm)

Masala

Oil – 3 T + 2 T

Red onions – 2, thinly sliced

Cashew nuts – 2 T

Bay Leaf – 1

Cilantro – 2 T, chopped

Mint – ½ cup

Fennel seeds  1 tsp

Garam Masala – 1 tsp

Tomato paste – 3 T

Salt – to taste

• Grind all the items marked, ‘to grind” to a smooth paste and add it to the chicken. Let it marinate for at least an hour to overnight in the refrigerator. Easy tip : add everything in a zip lock freezer bag, and it’s easy to mix without making a mess
• Heat oil in a sauté pan and cook until the onions are caramelized. Cook it on medium low.
• Add rest of the ingredients and sauté for a minute or two on medium low and set aside.
• While the onions are cooking, cook the rice
• Heat a large pot with water and when the water comes to a boil add whole spices and rice. Cook until the rice is done. ( cook rice like you cook pasta)
• Drain all water and set the rice aside with the whole spices.
• Heat 2 T of oil in a Dutch oven or a heavy bottomed pan with a lid
• Sauté the marinated chicken until it is almost done. Transfer the chicken to a plate, leaving a little bit on the bottom
• Add a layer of cooked rice and over it the onion mixture, repeat until all the chicken, onion and mixture and rice is over.
• Add saffron to the warm and slowly drizzle that over the rice
• Cover the pan with a moist towel and then cover with a lid and cook on very low heat for 20 minutes
• Serve warm with raitha

A box full organic spinach, half of which was used and the other half seemed like it was crying to be used. We both love spinach and  all the health benefits that comes with it – A carotenoid found in spinach fights prostrate cancer, ovarian cancer and excellent  for our bones. We try to have as much greens and vegetables as possible. Tonight the menu was to use left over cauliflower, one carrot, a little bit of peas and a lot of spinach.

We were in San Diego last week and while strolling through Balboa Park, a lady from one of the stalls calls us to taste Paella. We had just eaten a late lunch and since she said taste, we decided why not. She hands us a plate of paella and casually asked for $5. Though we felt duped, the aroma wafting the air and of course being on vacation makes us very forgiving. The paella was absolutely delicious.

Our friend Paul Somerhausen, who heads the  Sacramento Epicurean group is from Ibiza, Spain. We asked him for the recipe and he sent it to us right away and we then sent another email asking if we can blog this recipe and he said YES.  The recipe is easily adaptable to make either a chicken version, sea food version or vegetarian version. We omitted seafood in the this recipe and used a le creuset skillet and it worked perfectly.

In Paul’s words about Paella, “Paella is a very popular dish both in Spain and now around the world.  As you probably have found, there are dozens of versions of this dish.   But rest assured that there is no wrong way to prepare it; whether you want to make it mixed with meat and seafood like this in this recipe, or you prefer just vegetables, just white meat or just seafood, it will turn out just as tasty.

Paella is named after the pan it is prepared in, it is wide and shallow and usually has two loop handles, and has a unique dimpled surface to help distribute the heat.  There are many sizes depending on need. This recipe is based on a 16” pan that feeds up to 15 people, and also so it will fit in the oven.  Oven? You may ask, yes! Most people do not have a BBQ or fire pit big enough to cook it the more authentic way, plus the oven offers the advantage of controlled even temperatures.  If you do not have a paella pan yet, you could use an oven proof large frying pan to try this recipe, and adjust the measurements depending on the size of the pan you will be using.”

For a Seafood version include along with the rest of the ingredients1 lb. each of medium to large fresh clams in the shell,medium/large unpeeled shrimp, medium/large fresh (or frozen) mussels and calamari steak, cut into large bite sizes.

We used chicken and Andouille chicken sausages.

4 Chicken Andouille Sausages, sliced into think rounds

2 lb. boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces

Veggies:

1 cup frozen green peas

1 red bell pepper, cut into long strips

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 16 ounce can of diced tomatoes or 2 cups of fresh diced tomatoes

4-6 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups uncooked Spanish rice (calasparra or bomba, although arborio works too)

1 ½ quart of chicken or seafood broth

2 pinches of saffron

½ of a bunch of fresh parsley, minced

4-5 sprigs of fresh rosemary, whole

2 lemons, quartered

Extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450F.

In large pot slowly heat up the broth until it barely simmers, do not let it boil, but keep it barely simmering.

Heat up paella pan/ skillet over medium heat and add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil to coat bottom of pan.  Once the oil is heated add the onion and garlic and sauté them for 5 minutes or until they start to turn golden brown.  Then add the tomatoes, bell pepper, chicken, and sausages.  Sauté the mixture for another 5 to 7 minutes to ensure even heat exposure.

Sprinkle the rice evenly around the pan, and add the green peas .  Mix the ingredients thoroughly for 2 minutes to make sure the rice is throughout the mixture.  Crush the saffron finely and spread evenly over mixture. Pour over 4 cups of the preheated broth and turn the heat up until the liquid boils.   Carefully lift paella pan and transfer it to the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Open the oven and taste the rice at this point; it should be slightly undercooked and a little crunchy.  Check the level of the broth and add another cup evenly over mixture if none is visible anymore.  Close the oven and let the paella cook for another 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle parsley on top and spread the branches of rosemary evenly.  Cover the pan with 2-3 clean kitchen towels.  Let the paella rest for 10-15 minutes to finish cooking and to let the herbs infuse.  Serve the paella surrounded by the lemon wedges and enjoy!

For a vegetarian version, you can use tofu sausages and vegetables like carrot, Zucchini and mushroom along with green peas and bell pepper.

Verdict: It was flavorful and tasted very good. We will probably add a little seafood next time. This will be a regular in our kitchen! Saffron gives it that flavor which simply makes it heavenly.

This dish goes to the event JFI- Saffron. Sorry it is not vegetarian, but a dish that truly crown saffron the queen!

Stay tuned for some wonderful pictures this Sunday!

Sundays with Marlena Spieler

How is everyone doing after Thanksgiving?  We had a great time with family. We cooked both traditional and non traditional dishes, but it is the quality time you spend with family that counts right? When we get together, of course food plays a vital role and we always look for festive dishes to make. This is one such recipe from Marlena.

This is our adapted version of the recipe. We added Cayenne and mint to the recipe. If you wanted to make it vegetarian, use vegetable stock and add cauliflower and zucchini to the rice.

Chicken- 1 cup, diced
Garlic Cloves – 3 to 4, finely chopped
Turmeric- 1 tsp
Cayenne- 1 tsp, optional
Olive Oil- 4 T
Carrots – 2, diced or chopped
Cardamom pods- 6 to 8 (whole)
Long grain rice – 2 1/2 cups
Tomatoes – 9 oz, chopped
Chicken Stock-  4.5 cups
Mint – 3 T, finely chopped

For the lemon and mint relish:
tomatoes – 3 diced
Fresh mint- 1 small bunch, chopped
Scallions – 5 to 8, thinly sliced
lemons juice – 1 T
salt & pepper to taste

For the relish: Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Chill until ready to serve.

• Mix the diced chicken with half the garlic, cayenne and the turmeric.
• Heat a little of the oil in a pan, add the chicken, and fry briefly until the chicken has changed color and is almost cooked. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add the carrots to the pan with the remaining oil, and then stir in the remaining garlic, the cardamom seeds and the rice. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, chicken stock and mint to the pan and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the rice is tender.
• A few minutes before the rice is cooked, fork in the chicken, Serve with the relish.

Be sure to check Eileen & Mel’s blog!