Thursday, May 30, 2013

Coconut Chicken Curry Recipe



Ingredients:


1/4 cup whole unsalted cashews
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt To Taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp black mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp curry powder
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (14 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

How to make chicken with coconut milk:
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Spread the cashews in a pie plate and bake for 5 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly toasted. Transfer to a plate to cool.
  • Lightly season the chicken with salt. In a large, deep skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil until smoking.
  • Add the chicken and cook over moderately high heat until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and reduce the heat to moderate.
  • Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat until smoking. Add the mustard seeds and cook for about 1 minute, or until they stop popping. Add the cumin seeds, coriander and curry powder, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
  • Add the onion, ginger and garlic, and cook until the onion softens, about 10 minutes; if the mixture seems dry, add up to 1/4 cup of water to prevent sticking.
  • Stir in the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Return the chicken to the skillet and simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the peas and cook for 1 minute. Transfer the coconut chicken curry to a bowl, sprinkle with the cilantro and cashews and serve.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Chicken With Sesame Noodles Recipe


Ingredients:

  • lb spaghettini (get the thinnest spaghetti you can find)
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup sesame oil (some reviewers have said that 1/2 cup of oil is too much and have halved the amount, so use your own)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup sesame seed (or more)

Funky Chicken

  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
  • garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • teaspoon fresh ginger, chopped (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
  • boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • sesame oil, for sauteing

Directions:


  1. 1
    First make the sesame noodles: Cook the spaghetti according to package directions.
  2. 2
    Drain (I also rinse).
  3. 3
    In a jar, add the soy sauce, sesame oil and the sugar.
  4. 4
    Shake until well blended and the sugar has dissolved.
  5. 5
    Pour this over the pasta.
  6. 6
    Toss with scallions and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
  7. 7
    Set aside while you marinate and then cook the chicken.
  8. 8
    Funkying the chicken: In a bowl mix the soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, garlic, brown sugar and the ginger.
  9. 9
    Make sure the sugar has pretty much dissolved.
  10. 10
    Add the chicken, making sure it's all coated with the sauce.
  11. 11
    Cover and stick in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
  12. 12
    Remove the chicken from the marinade, and toss out the marinade left at the bottom of the bowl.
  13. 13
    Heat the sesame oil in a large non-stick pan.
  14. 14
    Add the chicken in batches and saute for about 10 minutes, or until done, adding more sesame oil as needed.
  15. 15
    Remove the chicken from the pan and let cool slightly.
  16. 16
    Slice the chicken diagonally into thin strips.
  17. 17
    Serve the chicken over the sesame noodles.
  18. 18
    Stand back and watch your guests/children/loved ones inhale this dish.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Creamy Butter Chicken Recipe


Butter chicken is supposed to be made as two seperate dishes that you subsequently mix together. The chicken has to be cooked (almost tandoori styles) and then mixed in with the mugh makni masala (Butter chicken spices...in this case in the form of a thick gravy)

For the Tandoori Paste (make 2 days in advance)




  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder 
  • 1 tsp Ground ginger 
  • 1tsp Clove (use powder if you're not using a magic bullet, use whole cloves if you are ) 
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg 
  • 1tsp Mace powder 
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Cumin (Jeera) 
  • 2tbsp ground Corriander 
  • 1tsp Fenugreek powder 
  • 1tsp Cinnamon 
  • 1tsp Fresh ground pepper 
  • 2tsp brown cardamom (don't use the green one....just don't) 
  • 3tbsp of Oil/ Ghee (Indian vegetable lard..yum!
Then toss that into your magic bullet/food processor and puree the crap together until it forms a paste. This will be sufficient for about 1kg of chicken. Let the paste sit overnight so the flavours meld together Remember people, feel free to toy with the ingredients. It's cooking, not rocket science!

For the Chicken: Cube 1kg of chicken breast. Trim off all fat (cause this is already unhealthy enough) and then coat with the Tandoori paste. Refrigerate over night.

For the Butter chicken sauce


  • 1 tsp red chilli powder (remember, this is supposed to be savory, not spicy, so don't over do it with the spice) 
  • 3 bay leaves 
  • 1 cinnamon stick 
  • 8 cardamom pods 
  • 8 pepper corns 
  • 3 Onions chopped (I like onions, like REALLY REALLY like onions, so feel free to use less) 
  • 2 tsp coriander power 
  • 2 tsp cumin 
  • 1 tsp ginger (crushed) 
  • 1 can tomato paste 
  • 2 tbsp dried fenugreek (raw seeds will work as well) 
  • 4 tbsp butter (Deal with it) salt to taste 
  • 1 cup FULL FAT CREAM (yeah, you want butter chicken, this is what's in it kids, and it's fucking amazing....ok you can use low fat yogurt, but seriously, treat yourselves, it's not like you drink 1 cup of cream a day...or at least dear god I hope not) 

So mix ALL of this together and blend it. If you have a magic bullet, amazing, if not just mix it together by hand. Let this liquid mix sit in the fridge while you cook the chicken.
FOR THE CHICKEN that has been marinating over night: Bring a frying pan with about 2 tbsp of oil to a medium heat. Then fry the chicken. Fry to the point where it's past browning, so about 3/4 of the way to cooked.

Then remove and store in a bowl. Do this for all the chicken. FOR THE SAUCE Bring your cream/yogurt mix to a boil. If it's the Yogurt you chose, add water to aid the boiling process. If you used the cream, you needn't add anything.

And make sure you SLOWLY bring it to a boil so as to not just burn the cream onto the bottom of the pan. Make sure you keep stirring so that disgusting skin doens't form on top of the dish (ew). Once this has reached a low boil, add the chicken in.

Let the chicken cook in the sauce for about 20 - 30 minutes and BAM! Butter chicken. Serve on Basmati rice garnished with cilantro :) It looks like a lot, but it's totally worth it.