Indian food for all

Well, I made Indian food for Thomas and us tonight. I am not sure how successful his share was, but our share was pretty amazing. I'm going to go ahead and record it here. He didn't sleep well last night and this evening has been too fussy to eat much of anything, even milk. So I'll try it again tomorrow. The texture is a little grittier than what he's used to (I put it through the food mill) so maybe that's the problem. I wonder if I should put it through the food mill then blend it...

Presumably as we test other spices on Thomas, like garlic and onions, this will become closer and closer to one meal for everybody.

Indian Mango Chicken for the whole family

1 ripe mango
1 c plain (whole-milk or low-fat) yogurt, with extra yogurt for blending baby's portion
2 c basmati rice
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 yellow onions
3 chicken breasts
1 chicken thigh, with skin removed
2 tsp ground ginger for adults' portion
1/8 tsp ginger for baby's portion
2 tsp cumin
about 1/3 head fresh garlic, minced
10 cardamom pods
10 cloves
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 dash cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Peel mango (wear gloves if you might have a sensitivity to mango skin - it makes some people break out). Wash hands, knife, and cutting board. Cut mango flesh away from pit. When you can't cut any more off, pick up the pit and squeeze the juice into a blender container. Add the flesh and 1 c yogurt, and blend until smooth.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Rinse rice and soak for at least 30 mins. Drain, add 3.5 c water, and cook in rice cooker.
4. Thinly slice onions.

Cook:
1. Pour 1/2 c yogurt mixture over chicken thigh in covered baking dish. Add 1/8 tsp ginger (and any other spices your baby has already had without trouble) and turn to coat chicken. Cover and put in oven, bake 35 mins.
2. Add butter and oil to saute pan on stovetop and heat. Add onions and cook until they are becoming clear (about 10 mins).
3. Add whole spices (cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, garlic) and cook until onions start to brown.
4. Add ground spices, stir, add chicken. Cook about 5 mins on each side until browned.
5. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken, stir, heat until bubbling, then turn down heat and simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes until done.

Serve:
6. Pull baby's chicken off bone, add rice, and add extra yogurt or water if needed. Run through food processor or food mill.
7. Put adults' chicken on bed of rice, pour sauce over top.