Holy Cilantro, Batman!

May 7, 2009 3 Comments

I wanted Indian food tonight.  I love Indian food.  It is, without a doubt, my favorite ethnic food.  I love it so much that I wanted to learn how to cook it after years of gorging myself on Indian takeout and curry buffets.  I did a lot of research on a good Indian cookbook and one name kept popping up:  Madhur Jaffrey.  She is one of the world’s bestselling Indian cookbook authors, so I went out and bought her book “Indian Cooking.” Boy am I glad that I got it, too.  There are FANTASTIC recipes in this cookbook.

Tonight I cooked a dish called Hare masale wali murghi which is a lemony chicken with cilantro.  LOTS of cilantro.  (If you don’t like cilantro, you are as crazy as the people who don’t like Bleu cheese.  You can’t change my mind on this.  If you dislike these two things, you are looney toons.)  This is also a really easy dish to make.  I had all of the ingredients on hand and I was able to have a lovely dinner on my table in about 45 minutes.  Here’s the recipe, but let me say again that if you love Indian food, you really should consider buying this cookbook because it really is just awesome.  I make homemade yogurt for my son because of this cookbook!

Here is the recipe:

Two 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

240 ml (1 cup) water, divided

6 Tblsp. vegetable oil

1 kg 175 g (2-1/2 lb.) chicken pieces, skinned

5 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped

200 g (3 cups) cilantro (weight without roots or lower stems), very finely chopped

1/2- 1 fresh, hot green chili, very finely chopped

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. salt or to taste

2 Tblsp. lemon juice

Put the ginger and 4 Tblsp. water into the container of an electric blender.  Blend until you have a paste.

Put the oil in a wide, heavy, preferalby nonstick pot over medium high heat.  When hot, put in as many chicken pieces as the pot will hold in a single layer and brown on both sides.  Remove the chicken pieces with a slotted spoon and put them in a bowl.  Brown all the chicken pieces this way.

Put the garlic into the same hot oil.  As soon as the pieces turn a medium-brown color, turn the heat to medium and pour in the paste from the blender.  Stir and fry it for a minute.  Now add the cilantro, green chili, cayenne, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, and salt.  Stir and cook for a minute.  Put in all the chicken pieces as well as any liquid that might have accumulated in the chicken bowl.  Also add 150 ml (2/3 cup) water and the lemon juice.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Cover tightly, turnheat to low, and cook for 15 minutes.  Turn the chicken over.  Cover again and cook another 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.

If the sauce is too thin, uncover the pan and boil some of it away over a slightly higher heat.  YIELD:  6 servings.

Now that you’ve looked the recipe over, I will offer my tips.  I used boneless skinless chicken breasts today.  It’s something that can be found in many American households these days and they are convenient for quick weeknight dinners.  However, chicken with the bone still in them will yield much more flavor.  The sauce for this dish is so flavorful that I wasn’t missing anything.

I didn’t have turmeric today.  It would have added an extra tang to the dish as well as a gorgeous color.  If you don’t have it or can’t find it, make the dish anyhow and just omit it.  It’s still really delicious.

Pre-Chop

Since we are dealing with screaming hot oil in this recipe, you want to go ahead and do all of your chopping and measuring before you even begin cooking.  Once you start, it’s going to go really fast.  When you put the garlic in the hot oil, watch it like a hawk because it can burn very quickly and then it will turn bitter.

I went ahead and used a little bit of zest from my lemon to add to the sauce.  The real flavor of citrus comes from the zest rather than the juice.  It was a nice note in the complex taste of the dish.

Lemony Indian Chicken

This is the finished dish.  There’s no pretty picture of the final product today because….well…I got excited and started eating before I remembered the need for a picture.  Sorry about that, but I’m sure you understand!  Please try this recipe and PLEASE consider buying this cookbook.  I’m not being asked to pimp this cookbook or anything, (It doesn’t need pimping!) I just really really love this cookbook and it’s one of maybe three cookbooks that I can’t live without.

Enjoy everybody, and if you’ve never tried Indian food before, let me know and I can suggest some dishes to try that will hook you!

  • Print
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Technorati
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
Filed Under Main Dishes Tagged With chicken, food, Indian, madhur jaffrey, recipe

Cinco de Mayo Feast

May 5, 2009 1 Comment

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody!  As you know, today is a day to celebrate Mexican heritage.  Since I love Mexican food, I always like to celebrate the fifth of May every year by making a Mexican feast.  Sometimes it is a simple plate of tacos and tortilla chips with salsa and other times it is a more complicated feast.  I went for something a little more complicated this year and it was delicious.  Ok kids, brace yourselves.  This is going to be a long one……

I wanted to make fajitas with a marinated skirt or flank steak.  Alas, my grocer was not carrying those cuts of meat (weird…) so I ended up buying a brisket.  I made a marinade for the brisket and let it marinate overnight.  I then slow roasted the brisket in a 250 degree F oven for 5 hours to ensure tenderness.  Here’s how to do it:

Marinade:

zest and juice of 1 lime

1 Tblsp. garlic powder

1 Tblsp. onion powder

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried chili powder

1/2 Tblsp. salt

1/4 Tblsp. black pepper

4 chipotle peppers, finely chopped (I use the canned ones in adobo sauce)

1 Tblsp. adobo sauce (from the can)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Just mix it all together (it will be a thick paste) and cover both sides of the meat and store in an airtight container overnight.  Cook the meat on a sheet pan and when it has finished cooking, cover it in aluminum foil for 45 minutes before cutting.  After you cut the meat, saute lightly in a skillet with sliced onions and then serve with tortillas.

I also decided to make guacamole and pico de gallo as condiments for the fajitas.  These are super easy dishes and are very fresh tasting in contrast with the savory meat.

I prefer a creamy guacamole over a coarse one.  Simply throw 1 avacado (peeled, and roughly chopped), 3 cloves of garlic (also peeled and roughly chopped), and the zest and juice of 1 lime into a food processor and process until smooth.  Easy easy.

For the Pico de Gallo, dice and deseed one large tomato, place it in a bowl.  Finely chop one jalapeno pepper, 1/3 cup of onion (minced) and 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro.  Zest and juice 1 lime and toss with the tomato mixture.  Bam,  Pico de Gallo.  Easy easy.

Guacamole and Pico de Gallo

Simply spread the guacamole on your tortilla, add your meat and onions, then top with the Pico de Gallo and roll.  It’s very delicious and fresh tasting.  The perfect way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Cinco de Mayo Feast

I would be remiss if I neglected a wonderful drink to go with this festive meal.  I’m not much of a beer drinker, so my next option was a Lime Margarita.  I love a fresh margarita, i.e. it doesn’t come in a pre-mixed form.  I saw Ina Garten (Food Network Barefoot Contessa….my favorite FN cook!) make a fresh margarita once and wrote down the recipe.  I’ve been dying to make this drink and was happy that I finally had an excuse.  Here’s the recipe:

Margarita

Ina Garten

1 lime, halved

kosher salt

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

the juice of 1 lemon

1 cup Triple Sec

1 cup White Tequila

3 cups ice

I made my mix ahead of time in a cocktail pitcher and put it in the refrigerator to chill before blending with ice.

Margarita Mix

Simply mix the lime juice, lemon juice, Triple Sec and Tequila together.  When ready to blend, put the 3 cups of ice in your blender and blend with the mix until frothy.  Use the halved lime to rum along the rims of your cocktail glasses and dip into a shallow dish containing the kosher salt.  This is a fresh tasting and delicious margarita.  I’ll be making this for my mom this summer and we’ll drink it pool-side.

Oh yeah, I promised a finished picture of my Key Lime Pie:

Key Lime Pie

I let my whipped cream sit out a little too long so it was deflated when I piped it onto my pie.  It still looks nice.  It was a very good Key Lime Pie, especially with that pretzel crust.  Please try that recipe.  It doesn’t get any easier and it is very good.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody!  I hope you enjoyed it as much as my family and I did!  Enjoy!

  • Print
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Technorati
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
Filed Under Beverages, Main Dishes Tagged With cinco de mayo, cocktail, condiments, fajita, food, guacamole, margarita, marinade, mexican, pico de gallo, recipe

Chicken and Dumplings: Comfort on a Cold, Rainy Day

April 11, 2009 Leave a Comment

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are doomed to live through many cold, rainy and gray days.  After about the fifth gray day in a row, one can feel the blues starting to set in;  that’s when I turn to a comfort food.

I classify a comfort food as something that tastes like home.  Whether my mother made it for me as a child or not, it has to have “Mother’s Love” all over it.  Since I am originally from the East coast below the Mason-Dixon Line, I tend to find Southern comfort foods right up my alley.

I love Chicken and Dumplings.  My mother made it a handful of times when I was a child, but I always loved it.  It’s thick, rich and loaded with chicken flavor.  And the greatest thing about it is that I always have the necessary ingredients on hand to make it any time.

Some people find the dish a little intimidating.  The dumplings can be a little tricky, but stick with me kids!  I’ll teach you the ways of the dumpling.

chickenanddumplings

The first step is to chop 1 large onion and about 6 cloves of garlic.  I know you’re screaming at your computer screen right now about the amount of garlic I’ve used, but trust me.  The broth of this dish can be very bland and we need to really make sure it is fragrant and well flavored.  If you aren’t a huge fan of garlic, by all means, cut it back to 2 cloves.

chickenn'dumplings

Now, in a dutch oven, heat 1 Tablespoon of butter and 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over Medium heat.  When hot, add the onions first and saute until tender and translucent.  This will take about 4-5 minutes so while the onions are cooking, cut three boneless skinless chicken breasts into bit-sized pieces and set aside.

When the onions are cooked add the garlic and saute for only a minute or two.  You will know  when the garlic is hot because you will SMELL it (with 6 cloves, you’d better smell it!).  Add the chicken pieces and stir in.

Now add 1 cup of milk and about 6-8 cups of chicken stock (use stock instead of broth for a better chicken taste).  I make my own stock and always have some in the freezer, but there are brands at the supermarket that are fine; although homemade really is best.

Now that all the liquid is in the pot and making it’s way to a simmer (still over Medium or Med-High heat), you need to contemplate spices.  Add about 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 Tablespoon of dried sage and about 1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce.

chickenn'dumplingspice

The sage and Tabasco just add some kickass taste to this dish.  As I said before, this dish can very easily taste bland.  The sage adds this cozy, fragrant taste to the broth.  The Tabasco really can’t be detected except for that warm feeling in your throat as you eat the dish.  I always put either hot sauce or cayenne pepper in creamy soups, sauces or gravies because of that heat in the back of the throat.  It’s comforting.

While your broth is getting hot and building to a simmer, prepare your favorite biscuit or dumpling dough.  I’ve even seen people take the prepared biscuits in the can and cut them up and use them as dumplings.  All that matters here is that your liquid is in a rolling simmer before you start dropping the dough in.  Once the dough is in, DO NOT STIR!  Put a lid on it, set a timer for 15 minutes and do not, I repeat, DO NOT remove that lid to peek.  The steam inside of that pot will make those dumplings puff into soft and gooey love.  Just maintain a simmer or low boil in the liquid during the cooking process.

When the 15 minutes has passed, lift the lid and notice how your broth has gotten thick and creamy thanks to the partial breakdown of the dumplings as they cooked.  At this point, the dish is ready to eat!

chickenn'dumplingsdone

I like to serve mine in a small bowl on the side of a plate of mashed potatoes and sauteed greens.  That way you can pick the dumplings and chicken pieces out of the dish and then dump the creamy broth over the mashed potatoes like gravy.  My husband and I were practically licking our plates after this meal and were thrilled to see that there were going to be leftovers.  This dish makes fantastic leftovers!

  • Print
  • email
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Technorati
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
Filed Under Main Dishes Tagged With chicken, chicken an dumplings, comfort food, dumplings, food, Southern food