I'm back. It's been ten months since my last post. A lot has happened. Last time I talked about maybe going back to eating meat so that I can learn how to properly make food from cuisines I am really interested in. Well I started eating meat again, and then I got really busy...so busy that at one point I was working three part-time jobs.
In February I landed a part-time job at the Hammer Museum as visitor experience lead while also working at Blick. In February, I also found out that my dad has glioblastoma (stage 4 brain cancer), and then finding out that his life expectancy is cut to maybe three years...ten years at most.
In July I started working at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and left Blick in the same month. And this week, I will be leaving the Hammer for a mixture of reasons and my dad will be going through his second brain surgery. For now I will be just focusing on family and working at LACMA. And now that I have a bit of time, I will be cooking some more.
A lot has happened within those months--it's hard to talk about all of them in one blog post. My relationship with food changed within those months too. I was so busy, I ate mostly take-outs from restaurants and packaged foods from groceries. Not at all ideal. And because of my dad's condition, I became paranoid about my environment: cancer-causing elements that even some plastic food containers have. I may be drinking healthy smoothies, but is the plastic cup that the food is in releasing cancer-causing toxins? And I ate a lot of food in plastic containers...
I know that after my dad's surgery (if it's successful), I will be using most of my free time at the hospital with him, taking over for my mom so she can make a living. But my plan with my left over free time is to cook, and have my mom teach me if she's willing.
Today's recipe is not Filipino food though. Hammer is a great place to meet amazing people, and that's where I met Tanu. She was my underling, but she's older and has more wisdom than I do. She's filled with love, and she's one of those people who makes me feel light and worry-free. She made dinner for me and a few other friends one night and this is one of the dishes she served. She was very humble about it, but I thought the dish was amazing so I asked for the recipe.
Here's how to fuck it up:
1 medium onion
3 cinnamon sticks
3 cardamom pods
turmeric powder
red chilli powder (mirchi powder)
1 spoonful garam masala
1 spoonful garlic ginger paste
1 spoonful plain yogurt
half cup water or chicken stock
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs (Tanu used breasts)
cilantro
vegetable oil
butter
Put the chicken in a bowl. For the marinade, puree half of the onion and add into the bowl along with the garlic ginger paste and yogurt. Cover, refrigerate, and let sit for at least two hours (I left mine overnight). Mince the other half of the onion. Pour in oil in a sautoir or a braiser. Fry the cinnamon sticks and the cardamom pods until fragrant, set heat to low and add in the minced onions. It's important that you caramelize the onions slowly to develop proper sweetness. It also serves as the gravy thickener. Once onions are caramelize, add in the chicken along with the marinade, turn the heat to medium, sprinkle in turmeric and red chilli powder (for color), cover and cook until it releases liquid--about 10-15 minutes. Afterwards, add in the water or stock and a spoonful of garam masala, cover and simmer for 10 minutes more. Uncover, then reduce liquid until gravy is thick. Add cilantro leaves. Swirl in butter and a dollop of yogurt if desired. Eat with hot rice!
