Recipe: White-Girl Chicken Masala

Photo stolen with thanks from Food 

Network, but you get the idea.

Another Trader Joe's-centric recipe! I promise I'm not getting any kick-backs from them.

I love Indian food, but lack the skill and spice-knowings to make the authentic stuff myself. Instead I employ TJ's Indian simmer sauces to modify my usual stir-frys into something a bit more filling, but still healthy. Here's an easy recipe for faux curry that'll feed 4–6 people, depending on their appetities.

2 bottles Trader Joe's Masala Simmer Sauce, from nearish the store's marinara sauce section (the Korma and Curry varieties work great too)
1 large boneless chicken breast, cut into small pieces (cage-free organic if you want to go to heaven)
½ head cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized florets (if you don't like caulifower, you can substitute potatoes, though they may extend the cooking time)
1 cup sliced white or button mushrooms
1 cup carrots, chopped into small medallions
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
¼ cup onion, chopped

½ cup frozen peas

½ cup frozen sweet corn kernels

salt

1½ cups brown rice, dry
3 cups water
1 tsp olive oil

1. Dump the sauce into a large sauce pan and set the burner to medium-high.

2. Chop the chicken, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, onion, and garlic as noted. Add chopped ingredients plus corn and peas to sauce and stir. Once the sauce has begun to bubble, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover and let simmer, stirring very occasionally.

3. Once carrots have begun to soften (15 minutes, give or take), begin the rice. If you don't have a rice cooker (like me), combine rice, water, and olive oil in a medium sauce pan. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to low and let simmer until water is absorbed and rice is soft (about 35–45 minutes). Do not stir.

4. Add salt to sauce to taste. Serve over rice.

Easy Lunch on the Cheap

If you're lucky enough to live close to a Trader Joe's, I've got a quick and easy, low-calorie lunch suggestion for you. Provided I have the three simple components stocked, I eat this for lunch every damn day:

1 box Trader Joe's Creamy Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Soup
1 TJ's Spicy Jalapeño Chicken Sausage, chopped into tiny pieces
¾ cup TJ's frozen organic sweet corn

The chicken sausage is already cooked, so just toss all that in a saucepan, grind some black pepper in, warm it up, and you've got two meals' worth of healthy, filling soup—and for only about 300 calories and less than two bucks per serving. It also freezes and reheats beautifully.