Chicken & Paneer Tikka Masala over Cauli Rice

Chicken & Paneer Tikka Masala over Cauli Rice.. So last Friday when I was walking home from work, ravenous and well aware that I was still multiple hours away from dinner, I decided I just HAD to stop at Whole Foods to get a snack. What ensued was the purchase of a snack as well as a block of Paneer. "Why?", you ask.... well so did I. Have you ever seen something at the grocery store that you know you have no current use for but you are so excited or interested in it you grab it simply because you know you want to make yourself use it sometime soon? Well that is basically the big answer to that Why here.

Anywho I gabbed this block of paneer figuring I'd buy the rest of the accouterments for the meal on Sunday in my normal shopping trip, and I did. At TJ's I grabbed a jar of their Tikka Masala sauce, I made sure to get an extra chicken breast for shredding on Sunday in the slow cooker, and lastly a head of cauliflower to make into cauli rice.

On Sunday when I was meal prepping for the week, I made a batch of cauli rice by removing the leaves, giving it a rinse and chopping it into golf ball sized pieces. Then I dropped them in the vitamix and let it turn into rice in just a few short pulses. Into the Tupperware it went until Tuesday night.

The goods...

Come Tuesday night I chopped the paneer into bite sized hunks and fried them in a bit of oil, just quickly over high heat for a minute or less on each side until golden (probably not necessary and more caloric but oh well). Next I removed the paneer and added my sauce to the hot pan. I let it come to a light bubble and added in my already shredded chicken as well as the paneer back in. I let it all meld together and get nice and hot. On the side I was sauteing some broccolini as well as lightly roasting (350 degrees for 10 minutes) the cauli rice on a baking sheet in the oven.

I plated it all together and my goodness didn't it look just like the Indian flag???

 I was also extremely pleased to have some leftovers to turn into a Dahlicious quinoa bowl for lunch the next day!!! I added a few large spoonfuls of quinoa & chick peas then layered on the leftovers and voila!