Greetings inboxes!
It’s a Friday night, and I’m sitting here trying to figure out if I can get into Taylor Swift now that there’s a new album. I have never really listened to her, and every time there’s a new song, album, video and everyone posts about it, I always try to see what it is I am missing. I’m sorry, but what am I missing? Maybe I need to dig deeper into the lyrics.
I WAS INTERVIEWED FOR A PODCAST! I love listening to podcasts, and before I started Indy Dough, I started a podcast. I wanted to talk about food so badly. I also wanted to talk to more bakers outside of my own network, so I created Behind the Menu. Since I started Indy Dough, I don’t get to do as many interviews as before. I would be open to doing more, so I haven’t completely shut it down. I miss doing podcasts, and I was so excited that I got the opportunity to talk to Alan from 1 n 3 Podcast. We talked about my time working in restaurants, becoming a mom, learning recipe development was a job, and all the things about Indy Dough. I’ve really enjoyed listening to Alan’s podcast and learning more about other chefs and bakers within our city and surrounding cities. Once you’re done with my interview, make sure to listen to all the rest of his interviews!
I finally released new shirts (!!!!) and I’m so excited! These shirts have been in the making for the past few months. They say “Olly olly oxen free.” As a pop-up business, I feel like with the amount of times I get asked where I am or where I will be, I’m in this giant never ending game of hide and seek! I love it, and I wanted to create a shirt special to those feelings. These shirts are incredibly special to me because my friend Arielle created the logo, and my friend Sandro aka Dusty Nomad dyed them. Both of these people inspire me and I’m constantly searching for small ways to include the names of others in Indy Dough’s story. Sandro is a designer specializing in putting those designs to thread, and I’ve loved his dyed shirt releases he’s done in the past so I got him to help me create these! These were a labor of what I hope was love for Sandro as he hand dyed each of these. Because of them being hand dyed, there are variations in design and color that go between tan, rust, and grey. If you want to get one, check out this link here. There’s a flat rate for shipping.
Since my last newsletter I released my GoFundMe for a future brick and mortar, and I’ve had so many up and down emotions since I announced it. I’ve received so many messages about it and so many suggestions. The majority of them are so helpful and so encouraging. If you’ve donated or shared or sent me a keep going type of messages, I appreciate you so very much. I’m not going to spend this email talking about the GoFundMe because there honestly isn’t any real news to share.
Instead, I’m going to share a recipe with you. It has nothing to do with the holiday season but everything to do with what I want to eat this week and that’s Chicken Tikka Masala. We make this quite often, and not just for ourselves. I’d made this a lot for anyone who needed a meal after getting out of the hospital or someone who just had a baby. I feel like when people offer to bring you dinner it’s usually some sort of casserole, which I love. If you get a meal train for 2 weeks, though, there’s only so many casseroles I want to eat, speaking from experience.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
2 TBS vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 TBS fresh ginger (grated with microplane)
Sauce
3 TBS vegetable oil
1 medium onion (diced)
4 medium garlic cloves (minced)
2 tsp fresh ginger (grated with micro plane)
1 TBS tomato paste
1 TBS garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
for the chicken
∙mix together cumin, coriander, salt, and cayenne
∙rub onto chicken breast
∙cover on plate and place in fridge
∙mix together yogurt, grated ginger, oil, and garlic and set aside
for the sauce
∙in a large stock pot add oil and heat till oil is shiny
∙add in diced onion and cook until browned a little
∙add in minced garlic, let hang out together for a few minutes
∙add in ginger, tomato paste, garam masala, and cayenne cook until fragrant. Usually that means you walk outside to get something you forgot in your car, and you walk back in your house, and you’re like, “oh my gosh, what is that and can I eat now?”
∙add in crushed tomatoes, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil, once at a boil you may turn it down to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
∙while your sauce components are getting to know one another, start on cooking your chicken.
∙Set broil setting on oven and wrap a baking tray with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. If you don’t have a wire rack, it’s fine. You won’t get as crispy of chicken but it’ll still be tasty!
∙brush yogurt mix on chicken and place in oven for 15 minutes, flipping half way through. (This time may fluctuate based on the size of your chicken, take internal temperature until it reaches 165)
∙Allow your chicken to rest for 5 minutes. After it naps, chop it up.
∙While your chicken is resting, add cream to sauce.
∙Add chicken to sauce and stir in chopped cilantro
∙Serve with basamiti or jasmine rice and naan.
We’ve made this for vegetarians substituting chickpeas for chicken. We just drain and rinse and toss them with the spice mix for the chicken. We’ve also made this for a non-dairy consumer. I just didn’t put yogurt on the chicken and found a vegan cream for the sauce.
Thanks for everything guys,
Amanda