Indian-Spiced Chicken Pitas

Chicken Patties and Pitas
4 slices day-old french bread (1 cup fresh bread crumbs)
3/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, divided
1 lb ground chicken
1 tbsp grated fresh gingerroot
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2 garam masala
1/2 salt
2 pita pockets bread rounds split in half crosswise

Sauce and Vegetables
1/2 pain low fat yogurt
Chopped cilantro reserved from chicken patties
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz seedless cucumber
1 medium carrot, peeled
1/2 small red onion

Chop bread. Chop cilantro reserve 2 tbsp for sauce. Combine bread crumbs, remaining cilantro, chicken, ginger, pressed garlic, garam masala and salt; mix well. Form chicken mixture into four oblong patties about 1/2 in thick.

Heat grill pan (frying pan works too) over medium heat 5 minutes. Toast pitas on pan 1-2 minutes, turning once. Set aside and keep warm. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil; cook patties 4-5 minutes or until browned. Turn patties over; cook 4-5 minutes or until thermometer registers 165 F and centers are no longer pink.

Meanwhile for sauce combine yogurt, reserved cilantro, pressed garlic and salt; mix well. Cut cucumber lengthwise into long ribbons. Cut carrots into julienne strips. Slice onion lengthwise into wedges. Fill each pita half with one patty; serve with sauce and vegetables.

I sometimes substitute the french bread with bread crumbs. The part of the country we are in doesn't seem to have anything to exotic and the commasiary doesn't seem to have garam masala. So I mix together a bunch of different stuff. This what I use instead: Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning, chili powder, ground cumin, and paprika. That all goes in with meat mixture. Also James and I are fans of ground turkey, so often when it calls for ground chicken we use ground turkey instead. Now for the sauce I added some dill to it, and chopped cucumber real small and put that in too. We grilled the onions in the pan after the patties were done. I totally spaced and forgot to put the pitas in the fridge when we got them, so they had gone bad. We didn't use pitas this time, but normally we do when we make this.

This came from The Pampered Chef 29 minutes to dinner volume 2. When you use a pampered chef cookbook it tells you what pampered Chef item to use. I left that part out.