A New (Old) Tradition: Sunday Dinner

Our formal dining room gets a lot of use - but only because the front door is in that room.  Truth be told, we eat almost all our meals downstairs, while watching movies and TV.  Sometimes, this means we're a bit distracted when we're eating.

Dan had the great idea to eat at the dinner table once a week - Sunday night - so that we can enjoy the food and each other's company... and enjoy the artwork and decor in that room.

After this week, we may be starting another tradition - making crock pot meals on Sunday.



I had picked up The Indian Slow Cooker: 50 Healthy, Easy, Authentic Recipes back in February, when we made an Indian dinner for our annual Oscar's viewing night (with Dan's folks).  Dan broke it out this week and planned Chicken Vindaloo for tonight.



The recipe was really simple to throw together when I got up (around 10am), basically chopping, a little cooking, and pureeing things before tossing in the slow cooker.  Then we made some basmati rice just before we were ready to eat.



We ended up cutting the recipe in half, and still had plenty for dinner plus our lunches for tomorrow.  The full recipe is below.  The vindaloo had a good amount of spicy heat (we used serrano chiles), and was a perfect warming meal on a rainy Sunday evening.  And the company couldn't be beat.

Chicken Vindaloo
2 Tbspn vegetable oil
8 large yellow or red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
6 Tbspn white wine vinegar
1 (8 inch) piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into chunks
20 cloves garlic, peeled
6-10 green and/or red Thai, serrano, or cayenne chiles, stems removed
1 Tbspn turmeric powder
1 Tbspn ground coriander
1 Tbspn garam masala
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1 Tbspn black peppercorns
1 heaping Tbspn rock salt
1 Tbspn black mustard seeds
4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup water



Warm the oil in a large, shallow frying pan (skillet) over medium-high heat and fry the onions until brown and almost caramelized, about 4 minutes.  Be careful not to burn.  Add the vinegar and cook, stirring, until the liquid evaporates, about 2 minutes longer.  Remove the onions from the oil and puree in a food processor along with 2 Tbspn of fresh oil.  Add to crock pot. In a food processor, puree the ginger, garlic, chiles, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, and cinnamon.  Add to crock pot. In a mortar and pestle, grind the peppercorns, salt and mustard seeds together into a powder.  Add to crock pot.  Add the chicken to the crock pot and stir to combine.  Add the water and cook on high for 7 hours.  Serve with roti, naan or basmati rice.