Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken for those that don't know the real name - smile)

So I used the Ghee this evening! I had lovely high rez photographs of the cooking and the food. However, someone (who shall remain nameless) dropped my SD card in water. This is the lone iPhone photo that remains. I promise next time I will keep my SD card safe!

I wanted to try the Ghee that was given to me by Pure Indian. I will say I did not buy it and that they gave it to me for free. I wanted to give it a real review and use it with an Indian dish. I made Chicken Makhani using the ghee to not only saute the veggies but the chicken.

For those not familiar with Ghee, it is butter with the milk solids and water removed by cooking it down. This ghee is even more special because it comes from grass fed cows. I have made this Makhani recipe many times (I will post it in a second post) and this ghee gave the dish a new level of flavor. The richness was unmistakable and it added flavor that had been missing from the dish.

Store bought Ghee has a tendency to be heavy and oily. I was worried that this would be the same but I am very happy to report that that is not the case. Pure Indian ghee is light and very smooth. It flavors are soft and earthy and very smooth. I tried the sauteed veggies before combining them into the gravy and they were so delicious I wanted to eat them by themselves. This bodes well for just using this ghee on top of roasted vegetables.

The undeniable fact that this ghee added depth and flavor to this dish? My Korean mother who does not like Indian food and has never eaten my Makhani before tried a bite and then I thought I was having a stroke because I saw her with a bowl of it and some rice. She has never eaten any Indian food before. Ever. The only difference this time was the Ghee.

For Pure Indian Original Ghee I give it five stars. It's a great addition to any cook's kitchen who is serious about flavor and health.

Next I will use some of their spiced Ghee for cooking. Stay tuned to see if they are as good as the original! (smile)

Gonna Make Some Flour

Weird huh? Yep I am going to try to make flour in my Ninja. Yes, I have a Ninja kitchen system. Yes, the Ninja from the infomercial. For those of you who are not familiar with the Ninja this is what it looks like.

I do realize I should take a picture of my own Ninja but it is 6:45am as I write this. If I go out to my kitchen now to pull out the Ninja my lovely boxer dogs will decide it's time to wake up. Once this happens mayhem will ensue. 

This includes running in the yard, wanting to eat lizards, and trying to sit on me to squish me. So, this morning after the mayhem I will post some pictures of me making flour. It's also not nice to make flour so early that I scare sleeping Korean women. 

(shudder)

What kind of flour am I going to make? Masa flour! I'm making pupusas today. Well, I'm going to attempt to make pupusas today. Pupusas are dish from El Salvador. I got exposed to them by a co-worker and I wanted to see if I could make it myself. I mistakenly bought Masa that wasn't fully flour and I'm going to use my Ninja to make it into flour. Hopefully this works (laugh). If not it's off to the grocery store with me. 

I will chronicle my attempts later on!

A Butcher, a Baker, and a Paleo Girl

I love to bake and being Paleo has kinda put a damper on that. I really am not tempted to eat any of what I bake but I really would like to be able to bake more things that are Paleo friendly. This has lead me on a long journey of finding alternatives.

The two I have found are Almond Flour and Coconut Flour. They have their pros and cons and I haven't started using them 100% exclusively yet. It's also the holiday and when I bake I like to just bake. I've given most of it away and only ate small bits. This really made me notice a few things.

Paleo really does work for me as evidenced by the tummy problems and heart burn I had (smile). I don't like fad diets. So once-in-awhile I get it in my head that Paleo is a fad and I'm not doing anything positive. Then I eat a cookie (laughing).

I am debating the merits of doing another leptin reset. It worked very well for me before and maybe it will again. Hm....

One of the best things I attribute at least partially to my diet? The fact that I feel better and my MS hasn't been as 'bad' this year. When I say bad I mean muscle spasms and small things like that when combined add up to a big thing. It's been rather nice.

I'm going to have to find a way to make baking paleo so I can combine two things I enjoy. Maybe it's not possible but I'm going to try! 

Ghee!

Well peeps I have been buying ghee (clarified butter) to cook with since doing the paleo/leptin foodie thing. I am a bit lazy so buying was easier. I was told by this cool new app from Nom Nom Paleo that making ghee was easy! SO, I put my big girl pants on and decided to make some!

I get my butter! 2lbs of it to be exact! Go large or go home! (No, I don't eat the rice that's on the table or use the PAM spray. My Korean mother does though! I'm surprised there isn't a can of spam there...) 

2lbs of butter is a lot of butter (yeah the pictures suck but I'm using my iPhone sue me). So, I cut it up into slices like a bread loaf! 

And put it in the pan.

I also get my cheese cloth strainer and huge measuring cup! Thank you again Nom Nom Paleo app! If you look close you can see my new name and enough spices to kill a small village of people. 

Look we have bubbles!

Lots of foamy stuff happens (shocked look). You can't see it in this photo but once the little milk soilds get brown they start to float to the bottom. Then you know you're done! Soooo, I strained it! 

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. This is after i strained all of the nasty out of the butter.

















AND we have ghee!! IN a jar...next to a pink flowered rice cooker. TADA!

It took maybe an hour. I was thinking it would take less time but I didn't take into account I was melting 2lbs of butter. It really was easy if not time consuming. I also was scared that I would burn it so I may or may not have sat on a stool next to the stove for an hour texting people and posting on facebook. 

Time for me to go for a walk in this 1000 degree Florida weather! Will blog more if I live!