Chicken masala with zucchini and cauliflower

Okay, so this is another case of me being incapable of reading a recipe. Not only did I forget that I needed to marinate the chicken, but I completely forgot to include cardamom -- despite the recipe title including the word "Cardamom". (I was a bit distracted today :-) I also altered the recipe to skip a few steps (in the interest of time and fewer dishes) and to include more veggies (cuz who doesn't need more veggies?).

Chicken masala with zucchini and cauliflower (but no cardamom)
based on this recipe


1 c plain soy yogurt
2 tbsp garam masala
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 inch ginger, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into several pieces
1 zucchini, sliced
1/2 head cauliflower, chunked
4 tbsp cashews
handful cilantro, chopped

Combine the yogurt and all the spices in a bowl, then whisk in the ginger and tomato paste; set aside. Saute the onions and garlic until softened, then add the chicken. Cook until the chicken gets a bit of colour, then add the zucchini and cauliflower. Pour the yogurt/spice mix on top, add the cashews, and stir. (I added a bit of water as well, to sauce it up a bit). Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes or so (stirring occasionally) until the chicken is done. Stir in the cilantro, and dish it up over rice.

This dish is heavily perfumed -- so much so that it reminded me of church incense. (That was a bit of a turn-off for me.) But when I added some hot lime pickle to jazz it up, it was absolute heaven in a bowl. The cashews were wasted in this, since they lost all their texture -- next time I'd either omit them or sprinkle them on top (probably omit). And I'd definitely add cardamom next time. Or at least I'll try to ;-)

ps The soy yogurt turned out quite good -- not sweet, but not really tangy enough for my taste. And there was a faint flavour of vanilla, but I may have imagined that. It was quite runny as well. (I'm not really selling this, am I?) But when adding to a dish like this is was definitely good enough. And one benefit of using this was that the sauce didn't separate when boiled (unlike regular yogurt).