Chicken Tikka Masala

I am relatively new to Indian food, my family weren't exactly into exotic food growing up. I have only been eating it for a few years, but I absolutely love it. After a trip to an Indian restaurant, and the attached Indian grocery store, I have been attempting to cook Indian food over the last few months. I think a lot of people are intimidated by the ingredients and avoid cooking Indian food, I know I was. However, if you can find this stuff, it is really easy to cook a lot of great Indian dishes.

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe. I realize he isn't Indian, but I love his recipes and I'll take his advice on most things. Also, because of its popularity, chicken tikka masala is thought by many to be the true national dish of England, so I'll take his word for it.

Chicken Tikka Masala

adapted from Jamie Oliver

For marinade:

1 red chili, deseeded

1 clove of garlic, peeled

A thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

A pinch of paprika

1/2 Tablespoon of garam masala

A teaspoon of tomato puree

The stems from 3 cilantro sprigs, leaves reserved

2 chicken breasts, cut into large cubes

Mix up the chili, garlic, ginger and oil in a food processor. Then add the paprika, garam masala, tomato puree and coriander stalks and process to a smooth paste. Place the chicken cubes into a bowl, add the paste and mix it all up. Marinate for a few hours, or overnight if possible.

To finish it:

1 medium onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

A pinch of ground cinnamon

A pinch of ground coriander

A pinch of turmeric

Half a 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes, chopped (or a 14 oz. one if they make them)

100 ml of plain yogurt

100 ml of heavy cream

Fry the onion, pepper and spices over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, yogurt and chicken pieces and cook for another 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Just before serving, stir in the cream and minced coriander leaves.

I used a jalapeno when I made this, and only put in half (because of the original recipe), because that's about all I can get around here. There was no heat at all. Chicken tikka masala shouldn't be too spicy, but I would definitely use the whole chili.

I served this over some steamed white rice. It would be great with some homemade naan, but that's for another time. 

Chicken Cacciatore

I recently bought a nice new dutch oven and have been stewing and braising quite often to justify spending money I didn't have. This recipe looked pretty good to start with but I tweaked it a little. I added the mushrooms and red chili flakes. I got stuck with plain old button mushrooms because the grocery store was strangely out of most of their produce. Must have been all the students coming back to school. I would have liked to use creminis.

I read through the recipe once or twice and then just started throwing things together. I stupidly threw the basil in and stewed it with the chicken, which turned it an unappealing brown color. Remember just to sprinkle it over the top when plated, that will add a nice freshness and keep the colors vibrant. I obviously wasn't thinking clearly that day and used extra virgin olive oil to brown the chicken. This of course led to a nice burnt pan bottom. In the future I will try to remember to use plain olive oil or a blended oil (they have a higher smoke point and won't burn as easily).

Chicken Cacciatore
Adapted from Giada de Laurentiis

8 chicken pieces (I used thighs and legs)
Kosher salt
Pepper
All-purpose flour for dredging
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
3 garlic cloves, minced
A few shakes of red pepper flake
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes with juice
3/4 cup chicken stock
3 Tablespoons capers, drained
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Season the chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge the chicken pieces with flour and pat off the excess.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot (it should be wavy but not smoking) add the chicken pieces skin-side down and saute until brown (5 or 6 minutes). This will render some of the fat out of the skin so it's not so chewy and soggy. After the chicken is browned, remove it to a plate. Add the butter, pepper, onion, garlic and the red pepper flakes, season with salt and pepper and saute until the onion softens (about 5 minutes). Deglaze the pan with the wine and scrape the little brown bits from the bottom of the pan, this will help flavor your sauce. Cook until the wine is reduced by half (about 3 minutes). Next, stir in the capers, stock, oregano and the tomatoes with their juice. Add the chicken pieces back into the pot and simmer, covered until cooked through (approx. 30 minutes).

When the chicken pieces are cooked, remove to a plate. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce for about 5 minutes until it has thickened a little. Taste your sauce, what does it need? If you seasoned your ingredients throughout it might not need anything. Be careful of adding to much salt because the capers are pretty salty.

Spoon the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with fresh chopped basil.

Chicken Chow Mein

I love Chinese takeout. The morning after a night out drinking I get a craving for grease, cornstarchy sauces, steamed dumplings and anything deep fried. Lately though, I have been interested in trying more authentic food, which is nothing like what you get at takeout restaurants. I think there are some common misconceptions about Chinese cuisines that discourage people from attempting too cook them. Mainly that they are super complicated and include hard-to-find ingredients. This may be true for some dishes, as it is for any cuisine, but there are also a lot of great, simple dishes.

This recipe uses chinese five-spice powder. Five-spice is a common ingredient in a lot of Chinese cooking. As you can probably guess, it includes five different spices. Apparently, there are a couple different kinds of five-spice powder, which I was unaware of when I went to buy it. The most popular type includes star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and ground fennel. Unfortunately, I got another kind which has star anise, anise, cinnamon, cloves and fennel. I really wanted the Sichuan peppers in it, which isn't really pepper and causes a numbness in your mouth, but more on that another time. I was just ecstatic to find five-spice powder in the supermarket. Too often I strike out on ingredients like that. It just tasted like anise, which I really don't like that much. But if you like that flavor, you should try this recipe.

Chicken Chow Mein

adapted from Ching-He Huang

5 oz. dried, wheat flour noodles (the ones I used were called Chow Mein noodles)

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil, plus more if needed

11 oz. skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips

Dash of dark soy sauce

1 tsp. five-spice powder

1 tsp. chile sauce

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 Tbsp peanut oil (or other groundnut oil)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely sliced

1 large green onion, sliced lengthwise

2 Tbsp. light soy sauce

Freshly ground black pepper

Cook the noodles in salted, boiling water until al dente. Then drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Drizzle a little of the toasted sesame oil onto the noodles and toss them around. This helps flavor the noodles and keeps them from sticking.

Season the chicken with the dark soy, chile sauce and five-spice powder. Then, coat the strips with cornstarch.

Heat up your wok (or pan) and add the peanut oil, it should be super hot. Add the chicken strips and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked through. Then, add the bell pepper and cook for 1 minute. Add the onion and cook for 1 more minute. Add the cooked noodles and season with light soy, 1 tsp. of sesame oil and black pepper. Enjoy if you like anise!

Notes:

1. Chow mein is a traditional Chinese takeout dish which literally translates to "stir-fried noodles."

Crispy Lemon-Fennel Chicken

A  perfectly grilled steak, tender melt-in-your-mouth pork, a freshly picked juicy piece of fruit. These are simple things which I really enjoy. Add crispy chicken skin to that list. You can have the best recipe and most amazingly flavored piece of chicken in the world but if you bite into a big piece of chewy, fatty skin it just won't matter. Food is all about flavor and texture, and that is what this dish is all about.

Crispy Lemon-Fennel Chicken

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

4 chicken legs

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

Salt and Pepper

Crush the fennel seeds in a mortar and pestle or put them in a plastic bag and smash them up with a rolling pin. They don't need to be a powder, just do it roughly. Mix all the ingredients in a big, resealable plastic bag and throw in the chicken. Massage the marinade into the chicken and then place in the refrigerator

for at least a half hour (a couple hours would be better) and turn occasionally.

Preheat your grill to high heat. Put the chicken on skin-side down and render the fat out of the skin until it is crisp (about 5 minutes). Flip the chicken and give the other side about 3-4 minutes, just for a sear. Then move the chicken to medium heat to finish cooking, about 10-12 more minutes.

This chicken went really well with a simple grilled asparagus. I tossed the asparagus in olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Put the asparagus on the grill about 5-7 minutes before the chicken is finished. They should still be a little crunchy, and the pepper flakes give it a nice bite.

Thai Chicken Curry?

 

Mom, what are we having for dinner? That's a question I ask just about everyday when I'm home from school. I would say 85% of the time I get "chicken" as an answer. This usually means grilled chicken breasts or chicken fajitas, but not today! I have been wanting to make thai food ever since the only thai restaurant in my town closed a couple weeks ago. I've also been eyeing all the fresh basil I've got growing. So, tonight was the night for thai.

I had originally wanted to make a thai green curry. Take a look at the picture above and you can probably figure that didn't work out (it isn't green!). Needless to say, I ran into a few roadblocks. I went to the store to grab a couple things I didn't have on hand. Green curry paste, all sold out... Well this wasn't that big of a deal, they had two rows of red curry paste right next to it. People in this town should diversify a little. So, thai red curry it was going to be. I just needed fish sauce. All sold out. Well here I panicked a little. Fish sauce isn't so easy to replace, nothing else tastes like fermented fish juices. First, my mind jumped to anchovies. I struck that out of my mind pretty quick because if I told anyone in my family there were anchovies in something they would declare it inedible before even trying it. I was to far into this to change the menu though, so I started scanning the condiments. Soy sauce, no, hoisin, no, oyster sauce, well... They don't taste at all alike but they both come from the ocean, so what the hell.

So what we have here is something kinda like a thai red chicken curry. Luckily, it was really good! My sister even said, "it's okay." That's onpar with a michelin star in my book, she is the pickiest eater ever and usually refuses to try anything new. She did tell me, "don't start making it everyday." Don't worry, I won't.

Thai Red Chicken Curry
adapted from bon appetit magazine
takes about 25-30 minutes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (don't use olive oil)
3/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
2 teaspoons red curry paste
1 14-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
2-3 teaspoons oyster sauce (adjust to taste)
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 sliced hot chili
1/4 cup fresh basil and a little extra for garnish, chiffonaded
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus wedges for garnish

Heat oil in large wok or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots, bell pepper, most of the hot chili and curry paste; stir until softened, about 3 minutes. Add coconut milk and oyster sauce, bring to a boil. Add chicken and stir until just cooked through. Stir in basil and lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve curry in bowls garnished with some more basil, hot chili slices and a wedge of lime for squeezing. I served this with white rice on the side for sopping up the broth.

Notes

1. I used a long hot chili for this, it was red and was about as spicy as a jalapeno. The curry paste itself is not really spicy. Peppers and chilis are spicy because they contain a compound known as capsaicin, which basically binds to pain receptors. Capsaicin is not water soluble, which is why water doesn't really help when your mouth is burning, they are fat soluble. Thai coconut-based curries are generally the the milder form of thai curry because the fat in the coconut milk binds to, and removes, the capsaicin in chilis.

2. I would not use olive oil in this dish, it has a low smoke point and may get a burnt taste at the high heat.

3. Much of this recipe is season to taste. I ended up adding a little more basil and lime juice. I also like my food spicy so I added a lot of chili. You can adjust all these things to your own taste. Also, coconut milk is pretty bland. I tasted this before adding the basil, lime, salt and pepper and it was incredibly bland. As soon as the salt was added it enhanced all the other flavors. So don't panic before everything is in the pot.

4. Chiffonade is when you layer a few leaves ontop of each other, roll them into a tight cigar shape, and slice across thinly. It produces long, thin strips. I did it this way so the green basil would be in strips like the bell pepper and scallions.

Chicken and Corn Burritos with Poblano Peppers

I absolutely love peppers. They are one of my favorite ingredients and I especially like poblanos. The poblano is a dark green pepper from Mexico which has a waxy skin and a mild heat. You may know them from Mexican Moles or Chili Rellenos. The flavor of a poblano is deep and earthy/fruity. I know that doesn't really make sense but the flavor is hard to explain, I'll just say they are really good. This is a very quick and easy texmex dish which features the poblano.

Also, please forgive my pictures. I am amazed at how awesome the pictures are on some blogs. I'm not much of a photographer, but I promise I'm working on it.

Chicken and Corn Burritos with Poblano Peppers

adapted from bon appetit magazine
takes about 30 minutes

3 tablespoons safflower oil

3 poblanos, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion, diced

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 3/4 teaspoons ground cumin

1 3/4 teaspoons chili powder

3/4 cup homemade or store-bought red taco sauce

2 cups cooked corn kernels

6 burrito-size flour tortillas

Grated Mexican cheese blend or queso fresco

Chopped fresh cilantro

The original recipe called for the poblanos to be added without being roasted. I think this would have been a mistake because of the waxy, tough skin on the pepper. Whenever I use poblanos I always roast and peel them. Not only does this remove the waxy skin, but it intensifies the flavor of the pepper. If you have never roasted a pepper before, it is simple. Rub the peppers with some oil and place on a hot grill or underneath the broiler. Rotate the peppers until all the skin is black and blistered.

After the peppers have been blackened, remove from grill, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. This will steam the pepper, allowing it to finish cooking and loosen the skin. After the peppers have sat for 10-15 minutes, remove them and pull the skin off. Finally, remove the stem and seeds and chop the meat of the pepper.

Place the oil in a large pan and add onion, cook until softened. Add the chopped poblanos, chicken, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the chicken until almost cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Add the taco sauce and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the corn and heat through. Adjust your seasonings and remove from the heat.

Heat your tortilla on the burner or in the microwave to make it nice and pliable. Add the chicken mixture, cheese and chopped cilantro. Enjoy!

A couple things:

1. When I made this I scaled down the recipe a little and only used two poblanos. Their flavor was slightly lost in the dish and I think it would have been much better if I had used another pepper. For the full recipe I think four poblanos would be fine to use.

2. I used my favorite jarred taco sauce for this but I think it would be better with a homemade one. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a recipe for a taco sauce I like better than the store bought one.

3. If you have never had cilantro, I wouldn't add a lot. Cilantro is a very pungent flavor which can easily overpower everything.

4. I use safflower oil when I cook Mexican food because it has no flavor or odor. I think Mexican food is all about the ingredients and spices so I try not to mess with them to much. I do the same with Asian foods. They have safflower oil at my local supermarket in the specialty foods section. However, if you don't feel like owning another oil, you can just use olive oil.