Recipes by Zola - Chicken Tikka Masala (Zola-style) with Cucumber Salad "Lean and Lively"

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Chicken Tikka Masala (Zola-style) with Cucumber Salad "Lean and Lively"

Zola Gorgon

"One Moment in our Family Album"

My niece Amanda has been in England studying at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This past week she earned her Master's Degree in The Immunology of Infectious Disease.

Now that's a mouthful!

But add this...While she was doing her research for her dissertation she completed a project on Anti-GPI IgG neutralization of TNF (and then there's some Greek symbol I can't even type) in serum samples of patients with acute malaria.

Wow. Another mouthful!

Not only am I proud of my niece, for working harder than she ever could have expected, to earn this advanced degree from such a prestigious university but there's so much more.

She had to move to London for starters. Now some of you might be saying "Poor thing. Had to live in London. Poor dear". Have you any idea how expensive London is? And to live there on a student budget? Out of her mouth on a regular basis came, "No I didn't do that. I'm just a broke student". On the other hand, walking is free and the tubes are cheap. Amanda saw a lot of a grand city. I've been there many times and this time Amanda was guiding me around. I think that's a first in my life experiences.

That was a mouthful to swallow for ME!

She also lived there during one of the most prolonged heat waves in England's history. It was hotter than blazes this summer. Most of London doesn't have air-conditioning. They aren't supposed to need it because it's not supposed to get that hot. That's the only evidence I needed that global warming is taking it's toll. I'm not sure I could have lived through the heat. The lab she was working in was not air-conditioned. I'm afraid if I worked in that lab the sweat dripping off my nose would have contaminated my experiments. I know she had to take precautions.

That's just plain YUK in my book.

In May, we were in London for a meeting. My husband and I got to spend parts of Memorial Day weekend hanging out with Amanda. The British, obviously don't celebrate the holiday the same way we do, but they have a bank holiday that day so it's a long weekend nonetheless.

We tried to do some things that would not normally fit in Amanda's budget. We also did a lot of walking together. Amanda told lots of stories about the friends she's made and the pub crawls as well as what they'd have for dinner. One cheap thing everyone learns to love is Indian food. It's plentiful in London and very reasonably priced. And if you like spice you're in a sort of heaven. They have a special section of London (Bricklane) that everyone (especially students) go to late at night to "have a curry". (That means get Indian food.) The place is so unique and special that you can even negotiate with the vendors on how much you are going to pay for your meal. Or negotiate a free beer to go with the meal. She says it's really fun. Although we did eat some Indian food while in London it's one neighborhood we did not get to.

I do, on occasion make Indian food. This is my latest creation for Chicken Tikka Masala with a cold cucumber salad on the side. The cold salad balances off the spicy chicken.

For those of you afraid of spice let me just tell you this is bland Indian food compared to some of the other dishes. The history of this dish is that in India this chicken is cooked in a tandoori oven. Not a big deal. The British (in the colonization days) thought this was still too spicy. They had not experience much beyond salt and pepper when it came to spice, so the chef threw on some tomato soup and yogurt to "cool it down" for the Brits. It worked. Indian food is now some of the most prevalent food in London. We have our US fast food places. They have their Indian curry houses.

By the way, this dish can be made totally from scratch but Tikka Masala sauce done the traditional way has so many ingredients it's too much for many households. Too many odd spices like fengeek to buy. I have found the jar sauce to work well so I just stick with this simple version.

Amanda is looking forward to the next part of her career. She's been working on elements that can cure malaria (still one of the biggest killer diseases in the world). The kind of lab she's looking to work in would be involved in research. Labs like the ones she's looking for are working on a cure for AIDS. Still others do other important research. She's not too particular at this point. So if you know anyone who's looking for a person like Amanda to contribute to their research work you can email me and I'll put you in touch. (dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com).

But that's not the only thing I'm bold enough to ask. I'm also going to ask you that if you make this dish, you take a moment out of your busy day to toast all the young people in this world who are trying to do their part to make this a more peaceful, healthy place.

Here's to you Amanda! (and your research buddies).

Cheers! And Thank You. Enjoy! Zola

Chicken Tikka Masala (Zola-style) with Cucumber Salad "Lean and Lively"

Serves 2 (can be doubled or tripled)

Chicken Tikka Masala (Directions below Cucumber Salad)

One package of chicken tenderloins (about 3 - 4 per person)
Olive oil spray
8 oz of Chicken Tikka Masala sauce (Get this in the ethnic section of the store. The one I use has no artificial flavors or ugly preservatives in it so it seems like a nice choice. You can decide on your favorite)
one half cup of diced green pepper
one large tomato diced

Cucumber Salad (also called Zalatta in India)

My version of the cucumber salad doesn't follow the traditional route. I took the flavors that I like in cucumber salads in Indian restaurants and put new twists on them.)

One large cucumber peeled
A light sprinkling of sea salt
2 - 3 tsp of malt vinegar (save the rest to put on French Fries like the English do)
one half tsp. of ground ginger or the same in grated fresh
one quarter tsp. (or less) of cracked red pepper flakes (use less if you don't like a spicy dish. Or leave it out)
One medium tomato sliced into quarter inch slices
3 tbls. of plain yogurt

Start making the salad first. Slice your cucumber very thin. I use a mandolin slicer set on level 2. You want the cucumber to be as thin as possible but not fall apart. Set the pieces of cucumber on a paper towel. Lightly sprinkle or grate sea salt over the top and let it sit for 10 minutes. You want to cucumber to "sweat" and absorb the saltiness. Then put the cucumber in a bowl. Toss the paper towel. Drizzle on malt vinegar, add the ginger and the cracked pepper flakes. Stir and let sit. This can sit on the counter while you make the chicken or stay in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

When the chicken is done (or when you are ready to serve) add the tomato and the yogurt. Stir to blend well and serve along side the chicken.

My version of Chicken Tikka Masala (directions below) is so easy it will make you smile.

Take the tenderloins out of the package, rinse and dry. Then spray them with olive oil spray. Put on your grill pan or on the outside grill and grill until no longer pink in the middle. Might take 10 minutes on medium. You just want nice grill marks. If you don't grill you can do the same thing in a sauté pan. Later it won't show the grill marks anyway and the flavor will not be much different.

When grilled, put the chicken in a large sauté pan and add the tikka masala sauce. Heat thoroughly, stirring the chicken to coat. This will only take a couple of minutes. When you are ready to serve, lightly stir in the green pepper and tomato. You don't need to cook them. They are there for color, flavor and texture (a little crunch here and there). Most Indian food is very boring looking. This jazzes it up a bit. I don't often use green peppers, but in this case they are a marvelous addition.

Serve the chicken tikka masala with the cucumber salad on the side.

If you are not doing "Lean and Lively" you can serve this on top of saffron rice or couscous.

Popadums with chutney would make a great appetizer. Serve something frozen for dessert and you'll have an authentic Indian meal.

This news arrived on: 08/30/2006

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