Cooking for dad: Indian Chicken

Sunday Nov 14 is father�s day in Sweden. My dad usually likes to celebrate by gathering all his children � three of us � Godfather-style and have a big meal. In recent years, I�ve been the cook for these and other family gatherings, and this time was no exception. Attending was my brother Arno, his fianc�e Thina, my sister Silvi and her fianc� Tommy, her daughter Malin, and my parents. My own darling was home with a stomach bug and was in no mood for a family dinner. This group of people have two special requirements � no read meat, and no nuts. Generally not a problem since it leaves me with a lot of options. This year, I opted for a fairly simple meal � I made an Indian-style chicken, using ready-made sauce that I promptly forgot the name of. (It was something fairly close to that Arabian TV-channel, Al-Jazeera. Oh well.) In any case, it was a fairly spicy tomato-based sauce tasting heavily of cumin. With the chicken, I served Naan, mango chutney, small pearl tomatoes, finely diced red onions and a raita. I�m really, really pleased with the raita, so I�ll share the recipe:



Raita

300 ml of sour cream (could certainly substitute yogurt or cr�me fraiche)

1 cucumber, shredded (press out as much fluid as you can)

the juice of 1 lime

1 large bunch of coriander, chopped

1 tablespoon of sugar

salt, to taste



It was very yummy, and I�ll definitely be making it again. It doesn�t have a particular �Indian� flavour, so it�d go well with a variety of meals. I think I�ll try it with a baked potato, next time.



For dessert, I made Nigella�s Chocolate Pots from Nigella Bites. It was the first time I tried them, and it was incredibly simple! I doubled the recipe, omitting some of the spices, and ended up with this:



Chocolate Pots

400 grams of good dark chocolate

300 ml whipping cream

200 ml full fat milk

2 eggs

dash of vanilla extract

dash of cinnamon



You need a food processor for this. Crush the chocolate in the food processor. Heat the milk, cream and spices until just about boiling, and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for a little bit, and then blitz for half a minute. Add the eggs, through the funnel of the food processor. Blitz again, for 45 seconds or so. And that�s it! Just pour into tiny glasses � this made 10 1/2 small glasses, but Nigella specifies that her recipe (which is half of mine) makes 8 servings. (She must have really tiny cups.) We had these with coffee, and it was very appreciated. The chocolate pots are intensely chocolatey, with a smooth velvet texture. It�s much more dense and creamy than a mousse. Definitely worth a try!