On Feb 16, 6:18*pm, koko > wrote:
> This is what I made this cold rainy day.
> It was either this or chicken and dumplings. When I read the spices
> that went into this dish I knew it was no contest, I could roll around
> in these spices and be perfectly happy.http://i42.tinypic.com/bhwsxi.jpg
>
> If you don't want to click through it's on my blahdy blah blah blog.
>
> I was very happy I had all the spices called for in the recipe, but
> not all of them were ground. So I got out my trusty little mortar and
> pestle and got busy. The first spice I had to grind was...
> cardamon. I cracked open the pod and was given the gift of tiny little
> black seeds.http://i43.tinypic.com/2helrnn.jpg

Next time, just throw the cardamon pods in whole. When they've given
up their goodness, you can fish them out (lest someone bite down on
one and get a big surprise). I originally used whole cloves and
cardamon,
but got tired of raking through the finished dish to remove them.

> Some needed chasing around the cutting board but all were present and
> accounted for before being smashed to smithereens.
> Believe it or not, I ground the exact amount needed.http://i43.tinypic.com/2448rdi.jpg
>
> Next was the coriander.http://i43.tinypic.com/k4t7ro.jpg
>
> Talk about chasing seeds all over the place. At least these little
> buggers were bigger. They were ground up quickly.http://i44.tinypic.com/24bq4qt.jpg
>
> Now that all the spices are ready, it's time to round up the rest of
> the ingredients.
>
> The recipe calls for heavy cream to be added. Now, I've tried to like
> tomato based sauces that milk or cream were added to and I just can't.
> There's not much I don't like, I just can't do it. To me pink sauces
> are very off putting, I can't even eat that Vodka Pasta Sauce. I'll
> spare you the reason why, I don't want to ruin your appetite for this
> dish. Trust me you'll thank me.
> I substituted the cream with some of my wonderful homemade chicken
> stock I made yesterday. I just had to reduce the sauce a little toward
> the end.http://i44.tinypic.com/n6upzt.jpg
>
> I started by cooking some onions in butter, once they were cooked and
> staring to take on some color I added the garlic and ginger.http://i42.tinypic.com/2dgu78m.jpg
>
> When the garlic and ginger became fragrant I added the spices to the
> onion and cooked them gently until they became fragrant also.http://i43.tinypic.com/2lwlnva.jpg
>
> Then the tomatoes were added and cooked until blended with the spices
> and onion.http://i41.tinypic.com/jztyyh.jpg
>
> I considered not adding a whole cups worth of chicken stock, reasoning
> that it's not equivalent, texture wise, to heavy cream and that the
> sauce might suffer by adding it. I then reasoned that if I let the
> sauce reduce it would concentrate and richen the sauce.
> I really hate reasoning with myself because at times I can be so
> unreasonable. *http://i39.tinypic.com/e6a7tu.jpg
>
> The sauce simmering and bubbling away to reduce a little.http://i41.tinypic.com/fdsvw0.jpg
>
> It's great topping some couscous.http://i40.tinypic.com/33jo2e8.jpg
>
> I didn't add the chicken to the sauce, I sauced some chicken. I want
> to try the sauce with some other things, shrimp for one and maybe some
> pork.
>
> This is just great and I'll make this again for sure. Thank you Cindy.

Well, now I feel like I've really made a contribution to r.f.c, after
all these
years. <glow>

Cindy