Guest Post by Irfana: Green Chicken

A chicken dish in Indian cuisine is usually an orange or red color, not green. However, this recipe uses the Indian spices and puts a twist on it by making it green. This is a very simple and very easy chicken dish that takes maybe half hour to make. I usually make this when I don't have much time and want something not too spicy or with salan in it. It has a very tangy and sour taste and goes great with naan or on top of plain rice. I even used it to make a sub-sandwich and it was delicious, just put some cheese on it and toast, and it's a gourmet sub! Here is what you will need: 1 boneless chicken breast, half a bunch of fresh cilantro leaves, 1 green chili pepper, half onion, ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 lime, 2 tablespoon of yogurt, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.

Cut the chicken breast into small pieces and set aside. In a blender put cilantro, green chili, garlic, ginger, onion and blend until it becomes like a paste. Then add the salt, chili powder and cumin powder, squeeze lime juice and add the yogurt to it, then blend some more. In a pot or pan add the olive oil and the cumin seeds, when it is hot and the seeds are moving around, add the paste from the blender and mix, put the heat on medium, then add the chicken and mix it well until all the pieces are coated. Cook until the chicken is done. It should be fairly dry and not too oily. You can always adjust any of the stuff according to your taste. Enjoy.

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Chicken Lasagna

 Guess who's back? Back again. I am back. Tell a friend. This has been on hiatus, unfortunately, thanks to my enemy who we'll call 'Gabapentin'. Big G has stopped me from doing the things I love (cook, draw, take pictures) and also don't love (study, attend class, wake up). He's still in my life, but isn't making that big of an impact anymore...which isn't entirely good. I mean, it's good for you. You get this blog back. I just get a pain in the neck. However, I've also been on hiatus thanks to my not-enemy who we'll call 'Super'. Let's not get off topic though. Anyhow, I've made food, but haven't photographed it because I left my charger back home, and just now got it this past weekend. After nearly two months, what was the first thing I photographed? The pile of coins accumulating on my table. Cool, I guess.
The past couple weeks have been nothing short of chaos. Exams and life have pulled me under and buried me into the ground, but I broke through. Despite what people say, I got me some of that upper body strength...I can tear through six feet of dirt if needed! Last night, instead of studying for my physics exam, I decided I wanted to make food, while comforting myself. It took me less than five seconds to decide lasagna was the perfect solution. I swear, I was Italian in another life. Who knows, perhaps I was, perhaps I will be?    
Whatever it may be, lasagna is excellent when you don't feel like cooking anything that takes more than a single pan to make. I love the versatility of it: you can make it as healthy or as unhealthy as possible. I settled for something in between. I kinda went Parmesan-happy on the top (that's the unhealthy part, happy Super?), but I had chicken as the protein (that's the healthy part). Confession time. I cheated when I made this. I didn't have the energy to make things from scratch...so I used store-bought sauce...I know, blasphemy, blah blah. Don't judge me. Everyone has their lapse of judgment at one point or another. But you try making all that in under an hour with a physics exam looming over your head. I did, however, get the noodles to be cooked to perfection, thanks to a little trick I used for the first time on this lasagna. Yay for experimentation. It's 2:09am. I need to sleep. Goodnight all.

What's in it:         lasagna noodles, tomato/basil sauce, mushrooms, bell pepper, parsley, oregano, paprika, mozzarella, Parmesan, ground chicken