Tandoori Quesadillas – Cooking with “The Comfort of Apples”

By
Prerna Singh
-
This is not a sponsered review.
IMG_9327

You must be wondering that what the heck happened to me? I was wondering the same! I mean first our family was traveling to California for this tiny get together with friends and with us we brought some painful bug. All three of us were down with cold and A got flu too. Well, somehow when our health came back on track and I thought of connecting again with my blog and with you wonderful readers I realized that I’m having such a terrible writers block! I mean I try to just talk to you here just as I would talk to my friends sitting on a couch sipping a cup of tea but I still need some words right? And for a blog post one also needs some good food which I was not really cooking for the past one week. So to cure both my writers block and my cooking block I went to a (infact two) lovely people who are both great chefs and writers too and have just released a book. The Comforts Of Apples!

IMG_9325

Well, I’m talking about Philip and Lauren. A GORGEOUS chef and writer duo who happen to be real life parteners too. How cool is that? The lovely world of social media brought me in touch with Phil and Lauren who are just really great people to say the least. One day on twitter I was chatting with Lauren and she told me about this new book which they were going to launch soon and I showed my excitement and told her how much I was looking forward to seeing it. And the next thing I know her publisher calls me to ask for my address as she wanted to send me a copy of her new book! I was so amazed and touched by her graciousness.

IMG_9331

So very soon I receive this gorgeous book in my mail and I loved the book the very moment I saw it! The book is named “The Comfort Of Apples – Modern Recipes For An Old-Fashioned Favorite”. I found it so creative of them to create such great recipes all involving apples. I mean who doesn’t like apples and I am sure I am not the only one with an occasional challenge of what to do with a ton of apples sitting in my kitchen.

AppleChutney

When you think of apples the first thing that comes to mind is something sweet. I was amazed to see diverse range of recipes created simply around apples. The book reinforces the best part about food – you can do so much and come up with delicious surprises! I want to congratulate Lauren and Phil on this great book which I know is doing really well and if you like anything apple then this book is an answer to all your cravings!

TandooriQuesadillas2

Don’t worry this is not the end! There’s food involved in this post too! I liked and have tried several recipes from this book but something that I really loved and I thought was interesting was the recipe for Tandoori Quesadillas. Indian and Mexian flavors brought in together in a great way with the help of apple juice with the biggest surprise being Apple Chutney. It was amazing how it helped marry all the flavors together.

IMG_9310

So I thought that this all-time favorite Mexican recipe loaded with Indian flavors all combined together with a punch of The Comfort Of Apples would be perfect to be presented on Indian Simmer! I hope know you’ll like it.

Tandooriqesadillas1

Ingredients:

4 pounds chicken legs (6-7 legs), seperated into thighs and drumsticks, skinned
4 cups apple juice
Juice of 2 lemons
5 cloves
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon cumin seed
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2-inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 cup greek yogurt
1 tablespoon tandoori food coloring (optional)
1 tablespoon salt
1/8 teaspoon fresh black pepper
8 ounces goat cheese, softened
1/2 cup minced cilantro
8 large flour tortillas
apple chutney
1 cup toasted coconut

Method:

In a large bowl , combine the chicken, apple juice, and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hr.
Toast the spices in a small saucepan over low heat until fragrant. Use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to coarsely grind the spices.
In a food processor or blender, puree the spices, garlic, onion, ginger, yogurt, food coloring, 1/2 tsp of the salt, and the pepper until smooth.
Drain the juices from the chicken, and toss the chicken with the yogurt – spice mix to coat. Refrigerate at least 6 hours, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Lift the chicken pieces out of the yogurt marinade, shaking off any excess. Place the chicken on a foil-lined tray, season with remaining salt, and bake for 25 to 30 mins. When cool enough to handle, shred the meat into a bowl along with any juices from the tray. Fold in the goat cheese and cilantro.
Lower the oven temperature to 200deg. F. Place one tortilla in a large pan over medium heat. Scatter 1 cup chicken evenly over the tortilla leaving a 1/2 inch border on all sides. Top with a layer of chutney, sprinkle generously with the coconut, and cover with another tortilla. Pressing lightly with spatula, cook until browned on the other side. Turn onto a tray and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Cut each quesadilla into quarters and serve.

“Get Grillin’ with Family Fresh Cooking and Cookin’ Canuck, sponsored by Ile de France Cheese, Rösle, Emile Henry, Rouxbe and ManPans.”

Prerna Singh
http://www.indiansimmer.com

39 Comments

  1. Hello,
    We love your recipes, especially when its on Tandoori.
    These are so delicious.
    I have always looked at your blog for the various pictures and the way you write.Just Love it!
    You have shared some nice information about Tandoori Quesadillas in this post.
    The points you mentioned are genuine and perfect.
    The content completely describes about the topic you wanted to portray with us.
    Thanks for sharing such valuable post.

    Regards
    VentairIndia Team

  2. I would talk to my friends sitting on a couch sipping a cup of tea but I still need some words right? And for a blog post one also needs some good food which I was not really cooking for the past one week. Cheap Viagra

  3. What lovely photography.
    As good as this book is, your photography adds equally as much magical taste to the experience, and I am sure those lucky to eat at your table must be leaving with very memorable moments to savor.
    WOW! Keep up your wonderful postings and photography and musings.

    Suvir Saran

  10. Hi Prerna….first of all let me congratulate you since i find you so much grown & groomed in terms of your cooking as well as writing with every new post of yours…& before i forget to mention…your photography as well :). Being a vegetarian, i am not the best person to comment on your above recipe but i am sure it must be lovely just like your other ones…the above comments prove so.
    I am writing just to wish you good luck to continue doing the good work & stick to this platform that helps you express so well.

  13. such a nice quesadilas! I know that the Korean use nasi pear juice to marinade their beef, but hey, apple juice and chicken – i would try that!

  17. Indian and Mexican flavors are my two favorites! So… Tandoori Quesadillas must be good. I will be trying this recipe for sure.

    As for your pictures, I love how you teased us, just a little, with the book not quite in focus, leaving us with the desire to learn more about it. Beautiful apple photos with clear photo of book really touched me. How nice that the authors sent you a copy and Thank you for sharing with us, your readers.

    Hope you and yours are all feeling much better.

  20. very interesting, I would have never seen apples factoring into such a spicy and indian/mexican dish. Looks lovely. BTW – is the apple chutney recipe also in that book?

Leave A Reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.