Tuesday Night Dinner

Ever since I heard the partners of my company were going to Istanbul, I've been dreaming about the tavuk (chicken) kabobs and tomato 'salad' with bread I ate in a little alley way restaurant near the New Mosque. I literally search this place out when I found myself back in Istanbul for the day after a experiencing a travel detour between Egypt and Italy (but that is another story).

Today that craving intensified after hearing all about the Istanbul trip this morning, and coming home I decided to bust out the Turkish chilis I purchased from the Spice Market in 2009 (oops). End results:

Chicken: I regret not using these chilis before. They're freaking good now, and I'm sure they were much better two years ago. I usually like chicken thighs, but realized a while back that the consistency of thigh meat just doesn't do it for this style of cooking. This time around, I used skinless, boneless chicken breast cubed in large 1 1/2 inch sections. I let that marinate in the chilis, olive oil, ground coriander and salt for awhile, and then seared the meat on both sides in the skillet. I actually ended up semi steaming them since I put the lid on the pan in an attempt 'lock in the moisture'. I then finished the chicken off in the oven for five minutes and let rest.

Sauce: What a freaking epiphany I had in making this yogurt sauce. It was a perfect complement to the chicken and really simple: yogurt, thinly sliced red onion, salt, cumin, and maybe cayenne pepper. Refrigerate and done! I forgot lemon, which I was going to put either in the sauce or on the chicken to give the dish a little acid, but oh well.

Bread: I've become a master at making dough. I'm way too impatient to ever become a great baker, but I've learned my lesson and now I 'proof' my yeast (or is it 'proof my dough'?) in a 1/3 cup of hot water instead of the full cup. My dough actually rises every time! And is so damn good. I just use a conventional dough/bread/pizza dough recipe and cook it in a hot pan on the stove. MMM oh and don't forget salt or else the dough tastes like crap.

Now if I can only figure out how to make that spicy tomato puree that should go with the chicken...