I recently visited Nepal, where they feature a lot of Indian foods. I fell in love with authentic Masala Chicken. When I got home, I just had to concoct my own recipe. This is pretty darn close to the real thing, both in terms of flavor and authenticity.
First, make some garam masala spice. Combine the following spices:
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
1.5 teaspoons ground cardamom
1.5 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
.5 teaspoon ground cloves
.5 teaspoon ground nutmeg
.5 teaspoon yellow curry powder
Mix well, then toss in a dry skillet and roast them over medium-high heat for about 60 seconds. Keep the pan moving so the spices don’t burn. You’ll want the mixture to get fragrant, start to darken, and just barely start to smoke. Once it’s there, remove from the heat and grind up the spices with a mortar and pestle.
Next, marinate 6 chicken thighs in plain greek yogurt with a dash of peanut oil, lime juice, and a couple cloves of minced garlic. Use a fork to poke holes in the chicken and let this sit in the fridge for a couple hours.
Now, make your spice mixture:
2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoons of the garam masala from above (save the rest for next time)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Whisk these together in a small bowl and set aside.
When your chicken is marinated and you’re ready to start cooking, start making your sauce. Caramelize one small onion in some butter in a medium sauce pan. Throw in a bit of grated ginger, minced garlic, and one (or more) minced red chili pepper. Leave the seeds in for some added heat 🙂 Add six small ripe Roma tomatoes to a food processor and make a smooth sauce. Add the spices and tomatoes to your sauce pan, then add a couple tablespoons of plain yogurt, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Go ahead and throw the thighs on a hot, oiled skillet or grill grate and brown them for 2-3 minutes each side. When they’re nice and browned but not cooked fully through, pull them off the skillet or grill and chop them into 3/4-inch strips. Toss them into the masala sauce and simmer for 10-15 more minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is thickened.
You’re done! Enjoy with some warm naan or over Basmati rice.
I found myself lying in an emergency room bed, again, on a Friday evening. I’m only 33 years old, but this was my third trip to the hospital. This time, however, I literally thought I was having a heart attack. I didn’t think it was related to my digestive problems. It turns out that your belly can play tricks on you. Evil, evil tricks.
It all started about a week before. I had a cold. A simple, common cold virus. I drank some kryptonite flavored cough syrup and continued my life. Digested blood can come in two flavors – bright red and obviously blood, or dark black and presenting uncertainty. On Monday, I had a large dose of the latter. I thought nothing of it for two reasons. First, this wasn’t that abnormal for me. Second, I thought it was probably the dye from the aforementioned kryptonite. Tuesday was a repeat performance that again I didn’t think much about.
Wednesday is where the real trouble began. I was working in my yard with my wife, and I found myself struggling to swing a pickaxe. I’m no body builder, but I’ve got solid muscles where they’re needed and this is normally an easy task for me. I was so winded I was physically forced to sit down. My heart was racing. My head was spinning. A tingling sensation on the left side of my body worked its way from my fingers to my chest. I sat down and relaxed for a few minutes, then I tried again. The symptoms returned. I decided that the cold was still keeping me out of the game and I gave up for the day.
On Thursday, I found it difficult to walk up the stairs to my office. I pushed through extreme dizziness and a headache and did the best I could into Friday afternoon.
Friday afternoon came, and I decided to see a doctor. I though to myself “maybe it’s the flu, I should get checked out.” Shortly after making the decision to head to an urgent care center, my symptoms came back in full force, leaving me crumpled in a chair with my head pounding, heart racing, and shooting pain down my left arm. I felt like I couldn’t breath. I lost and regained consciousness rapidly a couple times. There was a deafening ringing in my ears. I stumbled to the truck and my wife rushed me to the emergency room.
Pro tip: To skip the wait in the ER, just tell them you’re having a heart attack.
Within a matter of minutes of arriving at the hospital, I had an IV in, an EKG, and attention from multiple doctors. They drew and tested my blood. They took my personal and family history. I was struggling to formulate coherent sentences but got through it. After some time, they told me my heart was fine. They still seemed concerned, so they did a few more less-comfortable tests and found the aforementioned digestive blood. A few more blood tests were ordered. At this time, I estimate they had removed at least a pint of blood from my body. When the lab results came back, I was shocked to find out that my hemoglobin and hematocrit were in the toilet (no pun intended).
Hemoglobin is the measure of iron carrying capacity of red blood cells. Hematocrit is the ratio of red blood cells to whole blood. In a nut shell, my blood had lost the ability to carry oxygen to my cells. This was causing all the symptoms which are collectively known as “syncope”. The diagnosis was severe Anemia.
The first order of business was getting those numbers closer to normal. Both were dangerously low and I felt like I was on the verge of actually dying. After 24 hours of constant blood testing with the results only worsening, I signed my name on a consent form for a blood transfusion. They pumped a single unit of blood into my arm and within a few hours I felt better, albeit only slightly.
They make a big deal out of blood transfusions for obvious reasons. The clinical risks are minimal and it’s easy to gloss over the details in lieu of statistics – but I will share that it’s a bit strange having someone else’s blood put into your body. It feels a little bit like an organ transplant. They don’t mention the psychological effects in the consent. That said, I feel very fortunate that someone donated blood to help me <3
Receiving a blood transfusion. Just look at how white my skin is. I’m normally a pretty dark tanned guy. I really was that pale.
Next on the agenda were the fishing rods. And by that I mean for the second time in my 30s, I had a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy. To everyone’s amazement, they both came back crystal clear. After a couple more days in the hospital, feeling a little better, I went home and started a daily regimen of iron, vitamin b12, and protonix.
But the blood came from somewhere. They didn’t find the source in my upper digestive system, and they didn’t find it in the large intestine. That leaves only one place – the small intestine. So I was instructed to schedule a capsule endoscopy with my gastroenterologist.
I went into his office at 9AM a week later. I donned a sash-shaped antenna that connected to a fanny-pack-like belt with an electronic receiver. Then, I swallowed a large capsule with a camera on one end. I left the office and went about my day, while the camera sent two pictures per second to the receiver on my hip. At 4PM, I returned to the doctor and they downloaded the images. It was an easy, painless procedure that was over in less than a day, and it hopefully provided great HD images of the inside of my small intestine.
Capsule endoscopy
The jury is still out – I meet with my doctor next week for the results. It has been a slow recovery from the extreme anemia, but I’m slowly feeling normal again. Some days are harder than others, but I’m now able to handle light exercise again. The anemia “fog” has returned twice since leaving the hospital, but has not been bad enough to worry about.
I have changed my diet again and am eating only alkaline foods and drinking only water. I’ve given up all coffee, alcohol, and fatty foods. I’ve quit taking my allergy meds and all other pills. I’ve lost over ten pounds since my stay at the hospital, and continue to shed a few ounces each day. Sadly, I still don’t feel cured, but I am optimistic that the doctor will finally find the source of all this pain and anxiety that I’ve experienced for nearly a decade.
I can’t thank my lovely wife and sister-in-law for helping care for me and for the children while I’ve been down. I hope to never have to repay this particular favor, but you know I’ll always be there for you when needed.
In January, I vowed to go vegan to try to combat my persistent IBD. With the exception of my trip to Hawaii where I ate some fish and a bit of beef, I made good on the promise to eat only vegan foods.
The results are not positive, however.
I immediately gained 8 pounds and fluctuated within a net gain of 4-8 pounds for the entire month. This is surprising, since my diet was 75% fresh fruits and vegetables, with nearly all junk food removed. I expected to lose weight but the opposite happened. In February I turned off the vegan diet and immediately lost those phantom pounds. I truly don’t understand how or why this happened, but it did.
My IBD symptoms were neither positively or negatively affected. The vegan diet had absolutely no bearing on my periods of remission and flare ups. I was hoping for some change, either way, to tell me that diet plays some part in this disease. That didn’t happen.
One positive thing did happen. My health otherwise seemed to have improved, slightly. I had slightly more energy and slightly higher focus. I felt just a tiny bit “more alive”. I would definitely attribute this to eating more vegetables and a few other whole foods that I normally stay away from.
With all of that said, I’ve switched back to my normal diet for February, but am trying to maintain a greater intake of vegetables and fruits – at least a 3/1 ratio to meat and animal products. Hopefully this will help sustain the positive benefits of the diet without the weight gain.
Cut chicken breasts into even halves. Place in plastic wrap and pound until about 3/4″ thick.
Preheat your charcoal grill to about 300 degrees. Place the chicken breasts over direct heat and apply all a light sprinkling of all spices. Drizzle a bit of the honey over each breast to lightly coat the surface.
Cook the chicken for 7-10 minutes per side, or until heated to a safe temperature.
Sprinkle with parsley and basil and top with a generous amount of cheddar cheese.
Toast a bun, spread on some mayonnaise, add some lettuce and chicken.
Here is my recipe for Oktoberfest beer. This is a forked version of my first batch of Oktoberfest from kit, and it is delicious!
Ingredients
8oz Weyermann Melanoidin Malt
3.3lb Amber Liquid Malt Extract
2lb Light Dry Malt Extract
2oz US Liberty Hop Pellets
6g Muntons Ale Yeast
5oz Priming Sugar
2oz Light Honey
Instructions
Put the Melanoidin Malt into a muslin bag and place in 2.5 gallons of water in a large brew pot. Slowly bring the water up to 155 degrees and hold at that temperature for 15 minutes. Remove the grain bag after 15 minutes and discard.
Bring the resulting liquid to a light boil, then remove from heat and slowly add the LME and DME, stirring briskly to avoid burning on the bottom of the pot. Return to heat after all ingredients are evenly dissolved.
Bring back to a light boil mixture for exactly 15 minutes.
Add the hops and honey and continue boiling for exactly 45 minutes. Do not boil the hops longer than 45 minutes.
Run the wort through a chiller to bring the temperature down to 65-75 degrees. This should take 10-30 minutes depending on your chiller.
Transfer the wort to a fermenter of your choice. I prefer a fermenter that can be easily siphoned from.
Top off the mixture with cool water (again, 65-75 degrees) to bring it up to exactly 5 gallons. Splash the water briskly to oxygenate the wort as much as possible. Mix well to integrate the water into the wort.
Take SG reading and record in your log, then add the yeast. Cap off your fermenter and add airlock. Store the wort in a cool, dark place for 10-12 days, or until your gravity reading is 1.012-1.016 (or until it stops changing between readings).
Bring 1 pint of water to boil and dissolve the priming sugar. Allow the solution to cool to 75 degrees and add to the beer. Gently stir the beer so that the priming solution fully dissolves, but take care not to oxygenate the beer any more.
Filter the beer as you wish while transferring to your bottling device, again, taking care not oxygenate.
Bottle your beer, returning to cap the bottles 15-20 minutes later.
Allow secondary fermentation to take place in the bottles for approximately 2 weeks.
Combine honey with 1/3 gallon water. Heat to 180F for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally and skim protein from surface. DO NOT BOIL.
Reduce heat to 70F and add 1/3 gallon cool water.
Add Acid blend, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme, grape tannin, and campden. Stir well until evenly mixed.
Pour peach puree into mixture and stir until evenly mixed.
Add the must to a sanitized 1 gallon carboy. Top with cool water until full and add yeast. Mix slightly, one or two stirs will do it. Cap and airlock.
Take an initial SG reading. It should be around 1.190 depending on the type of honey that you use.
Primary fermentation will last for 21 days. Leave undisturbed in a dark place between 70F and 80F.
Carefully rack off the mead, leaving the sediment behind. Clean the carboy and add a single crushed campden tablet. Transfer back to carboy. TAKE CARE NOT TO OXIDIZE DURING TRANSFERS.
Secondary fermentation should last 30-45 days.
Repeat step 8 using a half campden tablet. Ferment for an additional 30-45 days or until clear.
Rack into bottling bucket and carefully bottle in wine or beer bottles. Best if aged an additional 6 months.
My wife Tina was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, a few years before the Bosnian war which broke out in April, 1992. Her family fled the country and sought refuge in Germany and later in the US. Of all the things she remembers about those days, an extensive mix of culinary delights tops the list.
During our travels to Daytona Beach to visit her family, we are delighted with traditional Bosnian and Greek dishes, such as Pita, Grah, and Ćevapi which I have taken a keen interest in.
At the risk of completely bastardizing one of her family’s flagship dishes, I bring you my Americanized Ćevapi, a delightful uncased sausage grilled over hot coals and served with somun bread, sour cream, and raw chopped onion.
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground lamb
1 large onion, diced fine
3 cloves garlic, diced fine
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground chili powder
1 egg
salt
pepper
Instructions
Hand mix together all ingredients except salt and pepper in a large bowl until everything is mixed well.
Carefully form sausages (think breakfast-sausage size) on a large platter and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper.
Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Grill over direct high heat over lump charcoal until sausages are cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.
Serve with cold diced onions, flatbreads, and sour cream.
