Easy Chicken Vindaloo: When bad music comes home

There are two piano songs that I truly cannot stand - one is "The Entertainer" and the second is "Fur Elise."  I grew up hearing these songs butchered repeatedly; they were the two songs most often played when someone mentioned that they played the piano and they were the songs that you played when you saw a piano and felt like tickling the ivories for a bit.

I remember at one point, my wonderful and completely white-haired piano teacher told me that I would never play Fur Elise.  She thought the song had become cliche (sorry Beethoven) and that the song was too often played poorly.  At the time when she told me this, I thought she was basically trying to come up with a nice way to tell me that I wasn't good enough to play the piece and it wasn't until much later I realized how true her words were; people love to play "Fur Elise."

At the beginning of the summer, Daughter #1 got "The Entertainer" and I looked the piano teacher right in the eye and said, "You're trying to kill me, right?"  She laughed and just said that it would be a fun song for Daughter #1 to play.  Fun for her.  Torture for me.  The plinking sounds of the piano keys bouncing around threatened to put a hole in my head, and it appeared that this song was going to be once again strangled, sent to an early death by Daughter #1.  I barely survived the two weeks of practice and breathed a huge sigh of relief when she moved on.

This afternoon, after Daughters' piano lessons, I heard Daughter #1 picking out the notes of "Fur Elise."

"Please top playing that.  It's not your song."

"It is mom!  Teacher Megan gave it to me!"

"What?  NO!  Show me!"  and she proceeded to show me her assignment sheet which clearly had written on it, "Fur Elise."  Inwardly I groaned and just walked away from the piano to the strains of the song which so much haunted my youth.  Daughter played the song happily, deciphering unfamiliar notes and rhythms and began making sense of the music, however torturous it was to me.

But in the same way Daughter #1 has to sort of destroy this song in order to learn how to play it, I do that in the kitchen as I try and figure out the best way to make certain dishes.  I make a mess of the ingredients, misfire a series of steps, and can make a complete hash out of something before it tastes good.  I don't doubt Daughter's ability to play the song well with enough practice (whether I can handle hearing all the practice is another story altogether) and the end result may be something she enjoys, whether it tortures me or not.  This vindaloo dish which I adapted from Ted Allen's cookbook In My Kitchen is probably at best, an amateur of a traditional vindaloo but I tweaked things and improvised to make the flavors as easy as possible for me to achieve.  Instead of toasting and grinding whole spices, I went with powdered spices and I also added a ton of vegetables so I could enjoy just a one pot meal.  The end result was something super delicious, probably not close to an original vindaloo, but all the same, worth making and eating.  I'll think of Fur Elise as I'll eat it, and perhaps the mix of vindaloo and painful song will come together into some strange, unexpected harmony.

Maybe.

Easy Chicken Vindaloo with Peas and Cauliflower
Adapted from Ted Allen’s In My Kitchen
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons coriander powder
2 teaspoons cardamom powder
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (reduce to 1 teaspoon if you want to reduce heat)
1 ½ teaspoons turmeric powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 garlic cloves
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper
2 to 2 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs left whole
14.5 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
2 medium yellow onions, quartered
10 oz bag frozen peas
12 oz cauliflower florets

Method
In a mini food processor, or in a mortar and pestle, process together, cumin powder, coriander powder, cardamom powder, red pepper flakes, turmeric powder, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, and lemon juice and 2 teaspoons salt.  Process together until a uniform paste is made.  Smear and massage paste into boneless skinless chicken thighs.  Refrigerate and set aside for about 30 minutes.  (can be left for 4 hours)

Puree tomatoes and onions in mini prep processor or food processor.

In a heavy pan over medium high, heat oil.  Add chicken and sear on all sides about 6 minutes.  Add tomato onion mixture, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 ½ cups water and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer covered, for 45 minutes.

Add peas and cauliflower and check seasonings.  Add salt and pepper if necessary.  Chicken should be tender and falling apart.

Serve with basmati rice and raita.

Raita
(makes about 5 cups - you can halve this recipe)
32 ounce container of whole milk yogurt
1 cup finely chopped tomato
1 cup finely chopped cucumber
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients and serve immediately or refrigerate in a covered container for up to 4 days.


Printable recipe

This is Ted Allen's fantastic cookbook.  If I ever get to write one, I'd like it to look like this.  An eclectic mix of recipes from different ethnic influences and a photograph to accompany almost every single recipe.  (A great dessert section as well.)

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