indian spice rub

This is a recipe I snagged from the Everyday Food magazine: all-purpose spice rub. Online they don't give the suggestions for making different varieties, but the print magazine does. In order to make this more Indian-inspired, replace the oregano and thyme with cardamom, ground ginger, curry powder, and tumeric.

Indian Spice Rub
1/3 cup coarse salt
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cardammom
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon tumeric

Put everything in a jar and shake it. Spoon out as much as you'll use for whatever you're coating, then put the jar away in the cupboard. Keeps for about 6 months.

I like to use this on chicken breasts, but you could use it for anything. (I'd like to try tofu cubes some day.) Per Martha's instructions, coat the chicken breasts in a little vegetable oil, then coat them with the spice rub, 2 to 3 tablespoons per pound of meat (measure out the spice rub beforehand and put what you'll need on a separate plate so as not to contaminate your whole jar). Let it sit for awhile to soak in the flavors or throw it on the grill right away.

In order to cool down the spiciness I pair this chicken with an apple slaw inspired by an episode of Everyday Food on PBS. Their full recipe is here, Tandoori chicken with yogurt sauce. It's really good and pretty easy, but sometimes on a hot summer evening you want something even easier that you don't have to light the oven for. To make the apple slaw I grate an apple or two, mix in some plain, nonfat yogurt, some lime juice, and some chopped fresh cilantro. Everything is "to taste" and dependent upon how much I want to make.

Make some rice and this meal is complete. And completely tasty and quick.