un-complicated: easy chicken masala

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm no genius.

I don't have the answer to all of your questions and I won't pretend to know something when I really don't. But given the opportunity and time - I will find you the answer and I'm damn good at keeping my promises. Determination and integrity aside, the other thing I'm pretty good at is multitasking.

I've been getting flak from this particular girl about making food that's too complicated. I will admit, for presentation purposes there is some detail work that goes into each of my featured dishes but almost all of the recipes are actually easy. And trust me - there is no presentation when I'm eating by myself and after photos have been taken. So when my old professor was rambling on about nonsense during class, I was on the Epicurious app looking up easy, dinner ideas. The first thing that popped up? An easy chicken masala. 

You make a marinade, dump it into a ziplock bag, add chicken, marinade until you come back from school/work and bake in the oven until it's done. Nothing pretentious, easy and light years away from complicated. 

See? Are you reading this post? I make simple, comfort food!

Easy Chicken Masala

Adapted from Epicurious, Serves 4

- 4 skinless chicken breasts

- 1 cup plain yogurt

- a bunch of cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

- 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

- 1 heaping tablespoon of garam masala

- 1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger

- 1 large clove of garlic, crushed/skin left on

- salt and pepper

- 1 large onion, cut into 0.25" rings

1) Mix yogurt, cilantro, olive oil, garam masala, ginger, clove of garlic, salt and pepper. Mix together until incorporated and dump into a large ziplock bag.

2) Remove excess fat from chicken breasts and add them into the ziplock with the yogurt marinade. Remove excess air from the ziplock and close. Evenly coat the chicken breasts with the yogurt marinade. Leave in the fridge and marinade for at least 2 hours turning over once in the process. This can be done 1 day in advance.

3) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

4) Arrange the onions in a thin layer on a baking sheet to form a bed for the chicken. Once the oven has preheated, place the chicken breasts on top of the spread out onions discarding any excess marinade.

5) Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until the juices from the chicken run clear. Garnish with cilantro for blog purposes but it's completely unnecessary.

Happy? :-)