Indian Fusion Pork Chops

I don't know what's gotten into me these days, but I've been craving savory spiced foods. Last night I made variation of a middle eastern dish, traditionally stewed lamb with dried apricots and other dried fruits. I used chicken and instead of apricots I had dried persimmons and cranberries left over from thanksgiving. Severed over a bed of steamed brown rice it was delicious.

Today all I had in the fridge was pork chops, yogurt, old bread (refrigerated) and frozen peas. Luckily, I also had turnip greens from the garden. I was craving stuffing so I knew exactly what to do with the bread. But I wasn't sure what to do with the yogurt. I couldn't decide if I wanted to have a traditional breaded and fried pork chop dinner with stuffing and stewed southern turnip greens or something savory with lots of flavor.

I decided to go with an Indian theme (so I could use the yogurt.) I ended up making a tikki masala pork chops browned on the stove top and finished in the oven, sauteed turnip greens with onion and garlic, and a tomatoe based korma stuffing. Overall I say it was a success.

Tikki Masala Pork Chops

4 Pork Chops
1 c Greek Yogurt
1/4c Vegetable Oil
1 tbs Curry Powder
1 tsp Chipotle Powder
1 tsp Mustard Seed
Salt and Pepper

- Mix all the ingredients and marinade the chops for at least 1 hour.
- Heat 2 tbs of oil in a heavy skillet and brown the chops on each side for 3-5 minutes before flipping.
- Top them with left over marinade and throw them in a 375 preheated oven covered for 20 minutes.

Korma

3 c Diced bread cubes
1.5 c Chicken stock
1 tbs Tomato Paste
1/4c Melted Butter or Ghee
1/4c Yogurt
1 Egg
1 tsp Cumin Seed
1 tsp Tumeric Powder
1/2tsp Ground Ginger
1 c Frozen Peas

- Dry out the bread cubes in the oven at 425 for 5 minutes with the oven ajar. Mix all the other ingredients together.
- Toss everything together and bake in the oven covered for 15 minutes. Then take off the cover off and bake for another 5 minutes.

Sauteed Turnip Greens

5 c Chopped Turnip Greens
1 Medium onion, sliced
4 Garlic cloves, minced
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

- Heat a tbsp of oil and add the onions. Brown it, add the garlic. Stir once to coat evenly and salt. When the oil gets hot add the chopped greens one handful at a time and toss with oil. Wait 1-2 minutes inbetween before tossing in more. You're trying to flash fry the greens without burning the onion and garlic.