Chicken Vindaloo

It has been a busy day around here, volunteering at my son's school, grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, laundry, I almost didn't fit in writing about our Indian dinner last night. 

Indian food is relatively new to me.  I grew up in a pretty conservative food household.  Cashew Chicken was considered adventurous for Chinese food.  Indian, Thai, Japanese - unheard of.  We did live in the midwest, so coming across those type of restaurants would have been difficult, and it just wasn't something my Mom had any interested in cooking.  In her defense, even if she would have wanted to try it, I think my dad would have revolted.  He has gotten better as I have gotten older, but still when he goes to a Chinese buffet, he mainly goes for the fried shrimp.



So being that Indian food is new to me, I have had some hit or misses in the past.  Then my husband ordered Kitchens of India from Amazon for me to try.  I must say, I almost NEVER cook from a box or mix, but these are amazing!  Super simple, but really really good.  Then I saw Rachael Ray make this Chicken Vindaloo on her show, and I thought why not?  I will try it.  It was good, but very similar to the stuff in the mix.  I told my husband after dinner that even though it was more work than the other stuff, I am still proud that I was able to make from scratch something that tasted as good as the mix.  The mix is made in India, and it claims to be authentic - so I am going to believe that it is!



I pretty much followed her recipe exactly.  So instead of typing it all out again, I will just  link you to it.  The one change I did make was leaving out the Cardamom.  It was almost $7 for the bottle, and since you only needed 1/4 tsp, I couldn't justify buying it.  This was the first recipe I have ever seen it in, so I don't see myself going through the whole bottle of it.

 Serve with some Naan bread for a delicious meal!  (Naan recipe to follow in a different post, so stay tuned)  If you are a fan of Rachael Ray recipes you should check out Taste and Tell.  She has a great "Saturday's with Rachael Ray" series that is full of great recipes!