3/4 cup brown basmati rice
1/4 cup wild rice
2 cups chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fennel seed
4 cardamom pods
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and fry fennel seeds, cardamom pods and garlic until seeds turn brown.
2. Add rice and stir to coat with oil and spices.
3. Add chicken stock and let it come to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and cover until rice is cooked. Season with salt to taste. Remove cardamom pods before serving.

Makes 4 servings

4 skinless chicken thighs
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon turmeric
3 red chili peppers, dried
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon garam masala

1. Toast seeds over medium heat in a skillet until they begin to release their aromas. Grind in a mortar or food processor and return to pan.
2. Add the oil, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, chilis and garam masala and mix well.
3. Add the chicken thighs, mix into spices and cover with coconut milk (add more coconut milk if necessary to cover completely.)
4. Reduce heat and cover, cooking until thighs are done, about 20 minutes.

Makes 4 servings

2 cups cauliflower florets, boiled
1 large potato, boiled and diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon sugar
salt

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet with onions, garlic and ginger and cook until onions soften.
2. Add the ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric and sugar and mix well.
3. Coat cauliflower and potato in mixture. Season with salt to taste.

Makes 4 servings

Shannon's been sick since last week and she's getting progressively worse, she even had to stay home from work today. I'm sure the high-carb meals and desserts I've been preparing lately haven't helped her at all. All of these classic comfort foods have really been catching my eye lately, but hopefully this dinner will help get her back into tip top shape.

I was reading just yesterday on The Spice is Right that turmeric is a miracle cure for minor cold ailments. Combined with some ginger, garlic and a bit of spice I'm hoping to alleviate her sickness in no time flat. The coconut milk doesn't have the same mucous-infusing properties as dairy, so there's a bit of creamy sauce without having to worry about swallowing snot all night! Swallowing snot isn't appetizing at all, is it? No.

The Cold Lickin’ Chicken is extremely flavorful, which is to be expected considering how much spice is packed into it, but the flavor didn't really transcend the surface. Perhaps if it was allowed to stew for longer this would've happened. 3 peppers was a bit too much heat for me, but it certainly cleared the sinuses.

The Curried Cauliflower and Potatoes is simple enough. You could make it even simpler and substitute a tablespoon of curry powder for all of the other spices while still yielding a similar result, but I like the aroma of the coriander and cumin seeds. The original recipe I found also called for lemon (vitamin C and antioxidants — take that, cold!) but I left it out because I was too lazy to cut a lemon. Really, that's the only reason. I'm sure it would've tasted fine.

I'm not sure why I had the idea to make Fennel Rice Pilaf because I'm not particularly fond of fennel nor am I aware of its medicinal properties. Somehow, this dish works. At first I found myself not liking it instinctively, but felt a compulsion to continue eating it. By the time it was gone, I wanted more. Perhaps fennel seed has addictive properties that I am unaware of, it's like the nicotine of spices. Some of the rice mixed with a neighboring onion and it was quite the treat. Fennel and onions are a match made in heaven. Is this common culinary knowledge because I feel I've stumbled across something amazing here. I can see some baked fennel onions in my future, or maybe that will pass once I'm through the withdrawl. Time will tell.