Simple and delicious chicken biryani

Those who love a good Indian and even those who may not be as adventurous, this is one for you.  A great introduction to Indian - this is like an Indian risotto, but much, much lighter.  Biriyani is one of those dishes you can pull together very quickly.  It's great in cooler weather, it's like a warm hug.  Not too spicy either, it doesn't have the 'hot-ness' of a curry but it has enough spice to make it aromatic and delicious... even to the smallest people at your table.

I adapted this recipe from the lovely Rachel Allen - I omitted the masses of garlic she has in her original recipe - I just don't think it needs it - but if you're feeling poorly and need the garlic, throw some more in!

Now you are going to need some herbs and spices.  If you don't have all of these, I suggest you grab them because you are not going to make this dish just the once I'm quite sure.  Secondly, these herbs and spices feature a lot in many other recipes and curries, so you will use them again guaranteed, in more than one dish!

My spice container labels have seen better days haven't they?

Ingredients:
300gr basmati rice
5 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cummin
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp root ginger peeled and grated (or I use 1 tsp of minced ginger from a jar)
2 tb butter
1 large or two small onions, diced
6 chicken thighs, roughly diced
4 cups (800ml) chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 cup raisins
2 tb chopped fresh coriander
1/4 cup flaked almonds

Method:
First thing you do in pour your rice into a jug or bowl.  Recipe calls for 300g, and I pour it to the 300ml mark in my jug and then cover it with water.  Set aside.

Then, split your cardmom seeds and sprinkle the lovely cardamom into your mortar and pestle.  Smells fantastic.

Add to this your cummin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, ginger and garlic, combine well with your mortal and pestle.

 In a pot that has a lid (a biggish one) melt your butter over medium high heat and sweat your onions.  They should be soft and translucent.  Add the contents of your mortar and pestle and allow to cook for about 1-2 minutes.

Then add the chicken and brown.  Whilst this is cooking, drain the water from your rice.

When the chicken is browned, add the rice. Stir until combined.

Add your raisins, and then your stock.

Finally, add your cinnamon stick and bayleaf (can be a dried bayleaf) and pop the lid on and turn the hob down to medium.

Come back about 20 minutes later and voila!  Your house smells wonderful and warm, and you are instantly STARVING.

Move off the hob, and give it a good stir. Remove the bayleaf and cinnamon stick.

Stir chopped coriander through the biryani

 Then serve into your bowls, sprinkling the almonds on top to serve!

Buffalo wings, made at home!

I have an embarrassing confession to make.  I never understood why buffalo wings were called buffalo wings... I mean, they are made with chicken.. it wasn't until a few years ago I twigged they hail from the city of Buffalo NY in the US.  I know.  I feel pretty dumb!

I never really had them until I went to the Philippines either.  The Philippines I refer to as the 53rd state of the US.. It still has a very strong American influence - in it's restaurants, shops and the accent.  There's still a strong American Military presence there also.  

So anyway, back to the buffalo wings... I was surprised at how tasty they were, how moreish and most of all how they were spicy without being too much.  I knew I had to make them for my hubby, a must-make on my list for a while.

The difficult thing about making buffalo wings here in Australia is the sauce most Americans use for it is bought at the store, but not readily available.  So I made my own.  You'll need 1 batch of sauce for 2kg of chicken drummettes.  So clearly you can make a lot, or you can use some of the sauce and make smaller batches.

I used drummettes.  I asked for them at my butcher, sometimes you can get lucky and buy them, but if you don't, just buy chicken wings and cut them at the joint.  Or if you can't be bothered, just leave them whole.

Makes 2kg  - serves 10-15 people for nibbles
Ingredients
2 kg chicken drummettes or wings
1 batch chilli sauce
50 g butter
3 tb worchestershire sauce

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees c

In a saucepan heat the sauce, butter and Worcestershire sauce until the butter is completely melted.  Set aside.

In a frypan, add about 3cm of canola oil and heat until it's ready for shallow fry (it's spits a little)
Add your chicken in batches, then transfer to a tray with kitchen paper to drain.

When all finished, pour the sauce over the wings, and heat in the oven for about 15-20 minutes.

Serve with blue cheese dip if you like!  

I made mine with 100g blue cheese crumbled into 2/3 cup mayonaise and 2/3 cup sour cream and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Just remember one thing.. don't double dip.. well...unless no-one is watching!

Oven baked Jerk Chicken

I've often come across recipes for 'Jamaican Jerk' chicken and think 'what the..?' but what the 'jerk' really refers to is the way the meat is slit or cut to absorb marinade.  This recipe is a super-easy one and I think I will be making this up in bulk in the marinade and storing it in the freezer.  Easy to pull out, defrost and 'bung in the oven'.  Even if you don't go down that route, to make it all up really does take no time at all.  This time I marinaded for only 30 minutes and had it on the table 1 hour later.

You can spice this up as much as you like, as I was trying this recipe out for the first time I thought I would tone down the chilli for my frills - they like chilli but I thought I would play it safe.  I think next time I'll ramp it up a bit, but you know know what you like, go with what you think is best.

I adapted this recipe from 'Cook Express' by Guy Mirabella. I love this cookbook, I got it from one of those liquidation book sales, so if you find it - pick it up!  I found a copy of it in Philippines and gave it to a colleague and his fiance as an engagement present, it's like the encyclopaedia of quick fix meals!

Ingredients:
1.5 kg chicken pieces
zest and juice of 2 limes
1 red and 1 green chilli, de-seeded and chopped
handful of coriander
handful of italian parsley
2 stalks thyme
3tb brown sugar
2tb vegetable oil
1tb cracked pepper
1tsp sea salt
1 tin of sliced pineapple


Method:
Score some slits into your chicken about 5mm thick and place into a ziplock bag.

Zest your limes (I just want to show off my microplane, I love this for zesting!)

Put the rest of the ingredients besides the pineapple and chicken in a food processor and give it a good whizz!

Now it looks like sludge, but it's delicious sludge, put it on top of your chicken in the ziplock bag...

Squeeze the air out of the ziplock bag, zip it up and give it a good shake and make sure the marinade is well distributed all over the chicken.  Put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or overnight if you like..

Preheat oven to 200 degrees c.

Place the chicken in a baking dish and place the chicken in the bottom.  Lay the pineapple rings over the top of the chicken and pour roughly half the juice from the tin over the top of the chicken.

Bake for 1 hour.  Serve with rice or salad

Yum!!

Luxury Chicken Pot Pie

After a few weeks in Manila I got a good grasp of what Filipinos like to eat by what they served in restaurants, what was available in food courts and what my workmates brought to work.   Here it's about about the meat, the sugar and the butter.  Everything here's quite Americanised with an Asian twist.

I asked people if they knew about the Pioneer Woman.  To by utter shock they don't know her in my circles here!  So I set about to correct this and ordered three copies of  The Pioneer Woman Cooks through Amazon - One for the maid who loves to cook but lacks inspiration, a new friend I've met who loves the same food as me and a workmate who is Filipino/Australian and his new Australian Fiancé as an engagement present.

It may seem a little over the top, but I know that book is MADE for Filipino families.  They love this kind of food.  There is a fast-food outlet here that JUST sells cinnamon scrolls!

So last weekend I set about using the book with the maid and we made this chicken pot pie.  I tweaked it a little by adding some corn (there's a distinct lack of vegetables here) and used butter in the pastry because I couldn't find any shortening.. but the results, spectacular!    The maid (Khim) was overjoyed with the results, she had never made pastry before and it was a real thrill passing on some kitchen skills to someone who really really loves food.

Give this a try for your family, I guarantee you won't make it once!


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
160g cold butter
1 egg
cold water
2 brown onions, diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks of celery, finely diced
3/4 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
2 rashers bacon, finely diced
2 cups shredded BBQ chicken
1/4 cup plain flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup cream
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tb ground black pepper


Method:
In a food processor process flour cold butter and egg until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add cold water little by little until the dough comes together:

Place in a ziplock bag or cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for one hour.

Meanwhile in a saucepan or pot heat some butter and ad onions, carrot, celery, corn and peas, heat and stir until the onion becomes translucent.

Add the bacon, stir well then add chicken and sprinkle the flour over the top, then stir well.

Add stock, wine and then the cream.  Add thyme and pepper and simmer for about 10 minutes before completely turning off and allow to simmer for a little bit..

Place in your pie dish whilst you make your pastry..

Preheat oven to 200 degrees c

Take your pastry dough out of the fridge and place onto a floured surface.  What I find easier if you at this time to shape your dough into roughly the same shape as your tin/casserole pot.

Roll out until about 4mm thick.  Roll back onto your rolling pin..

 

And roll onto your pie filling..

Cut around the edges, add some decoration with the cast off pastry and then with a fork, prick the surface of your pie, this allows it to become lovely and crispy... no-one likes soggy pastry!  Brush with some egg-wash (1 egg yolk mixed with a bit of milk)

Bake for 30-40 minutes until it's as brown as you like on top..

Dig in!  You'll wish you made two!

Seven ingredients to risottolaya!

Add this one to your meal plan.  Right now. Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200.  I saw a recipe for chicken jambalaya in the Good Food UK app and it looked amazing.  Only problem it was laced with capsicum and in our house - capsicum is poison - according to my husband.

I desperately wanted to make it and considered making him something extra so I could.  But in the end I couldn't be bothered and I used some of the base recipe and tweaked it a little to get an almost-risotto but not quite.    But truly it is so easy, kid friendly (not chili hot) and incredibly tasty. All my family included me were begging for seconds - sadly there were none!  So I was promptly told to blog it so 'Daddy can make it when you're at work'...  see, this blog thing comes in handy sometimes...

I used a tagine, but you don't need one if you don't have one.  Just instead of putting the lid on the tagine, put in a casserole dish with a lid/foil and place in the oven.


Ingredients:
1 large red onion, roughly diced
3 smoked chorizo sausages, finely diced
500g chicken thighs or breasts, cut into strips
500ml vegetable stock
400g tin diced tomatoes
300ml white wine
1 cup long grain rice


Method:
Heat some oil in your pan and soften your onions

Add the chorizo and cook for about 5 minutes over a medium heat.  Add chicken and brown, then add vegetable stock and white wine

Lastly add tin of tomatoes and uncooked rice.

Simmer with tagine lid or place in ovenproof dish with lid or tightly wrapped foil in preheated oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle it with parsley if you wish.. it will be lovely and saucy!

Serve!

Friends - do you adapt many recipes to cater to yours or your family's tastes?

How to make your own green curry paste and then green chicken curry!

I have been looking for a good green curry paste for what seems like an eternity.  I like to make my own curry pastes where I can so when lovely reader Kerrie said she'd made Jamie Oliver's I knew I had to have the recipe - she was kind enough to send it along to me, and then I realised whilst making it, I probably had it all the time - it's in the Ministry of Food Cookbook (or named also Jamie's food revolution).

It's super easy but you are making it in bulk.  What I did like I do with my homemade pesto is store it in small ziplock bags in the freezer.   This is much more economical than pastes and sachets. The taste is so fresh also, it makes a really big difference to the taste.


First of all, let's make the paste:
2 stalks fresh lemongrass
4 spring onions
3 green chillies
4 cloves garlic
thumb size piece of root ginger, grated
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 bunch of fresh coriander
2 tb soy sauce
1 tb fish sauce
8 kaffir lime leaves (fresh or dried)


Method:
Trim the stalks and the outers from the lemon grass and spring onions, add those with the garlic, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and chillies and into a food processor (or if you didn't have one, try chopping them up super super fine!)

Then crush your coriander seeds, and add those with the coriander, soy and fish sauces and give it another process.

Store in ziplock bags and put into the freezer for up to 3 months.

Now, let's make our curry - mine isn't exactly Jamie's - I used thighs instead of breasts and he does asparagus OR baby corn but I like both, I also doubled the coconut milk because I like it a bit saucy.

You'll need:
Ingredients:
1/3 volume of your curry paste (or 3 tb)
1 bunch asparagus, tailed and sliced into thin strips
1 small tin of baby corn
1/2 fresh red chilli (If you like a bit of bite, add a full one, I did!)
500g chicken thighs
400ml tin coconut milk
Juice of 1 lime (optional)


Method:
Take the tails and rind from your snow peas.  my frills love doing this!

Have your snowpeas, corn and asparagus at the ready....

Slice your chicken into strips

Heat some oil in a wok or large frypan.  Add your curry paste, chilli and your chicken, cook for a few minutes until chicken has been browned all over.

Add your asparagus and corn

And then your coconut milk, simmer for about 5 minutes - serve with rice

Add the snowpeas for the last 3 minutes or so..

Serve with rice!

Are you a Jamie Oliver fan or a green curry fan?  Or are you both?