We get asked all the time: What do you cook at home? Here's a little dinner inspiration from our software engineer, Micki Balder.
Typically I think of myself as a pretty creative cook. Yet as I prepare for a move, and my kitchen gets progressively emptier and emptier, putting dinner on the table has become a growing challenge. I'm a little defensive of my pantry goods: I don’t want to throw out that pomegranate molasses! I already threw out a bottle the last time I moved. I’m sure we can figure out a way to use a cup of it in two days. And that tandoori spice? Nah, we’ll figure something out. Let’s hold onto it. That being said, not many meals can be made of pomegranate molasses and tandoori spice alone. The goal in the past few weeks? To eliminate as many of those sauces, spices, and grains as possible, without acquiring too much more in the process. Challenge, accepted.
Back to that tandoori spice. My roommate Ben, inspired by a delicious chicken tikka he'd had a few days before, suggested we marinate some frozen chicken breasts we had in yogurt and the spice blend. All we needed to buy was one or two small containers of Greek yogurt. Splendid. After letting cubes of chicken marinate for the afternoon, the rest came together pretty quickly. We sautéed the chicken, throwing in some chopped scallions towards the end of cooking, since they were starting to look sad and meant we'd have at least something green in our meal.
Ben popped some basmati rice into the rice cooker, his favorite kitchen tool, while I mixed a tzatziki-esque sauce of yogurt, salt, chopped garlic, powdered garlic, and sumac (a great spice to have on hand if you don’t have any lemon). We packed the rice into the bottom of a bowl, topped it with chicken and scallions, and finished with a dollop of the sauce (plus a bowl of it on the side for extra dipping). Served with a side of Bob’s Burgers and a glass of whiskey. (Clearing out the bar side of my pantry? A whole other story.)
