Spicy Chicken (possibly with cheese)

I discovered this recipe on Lisa Tries to Cook and Get Healthy. Of course, I changed it somewhat because that's what I do. This recipe appealed to me for a variety of reasons. First of all, it uses chicken breasts, and lately I've been finding that my local green grocer sells that particular cut for 19 yen per 100 grams (21 cents for 3.5 oz. or 96 cents per pound) on occasion. That's as cheap as chicken gets in Japan. When I find these sales, I load up on breast meat and freeze it.

The second reason is that this is a fairly simple recipe, though I made it fussier and more complex because, again, that's what I do. Third, it's fast. With an original cooking time of 20 minutes, it takes a lot less time in the oven than I'm used to and this is something I appreciate as we gear up for four and a half months of misery in Tokyo (humid and hot, then hotter until around mid October). And finally, it uses spices I tend to only use for Indian-style dishes. Using cumin for something which isn't Indian gave this dish a different flavor and I'm all for dressing up my breasts (chicken breasts, you dirty-minded people) in an unusual way.

Chili Chicken

For this recipe, you need:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

I decided I wanted to marinate the chicken and add an acidic component in order to enhance the flavor and increase the chances of tender, juicy white meat. First, set up the marinade:

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• the juice of half a small lemon (only use fresh juice)
• 2 tsp. ground cumin (I think it could use more, I misread the original recipe and thought it was "teaspoons", but it was "tablespoons")
• 1 tsp.  salt
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 1/3 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Whisk all of the above together in a medium bowl that you have a lid for. Dredge the chicken in it (rub them together if necessary to coat evenly as it's a small amount of liquid). Put all of the breasts in the bowl, seal with the lid and leave in your refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Longer is fine. I think mine marinated for about 5.5 hours, but I'm thinking overnight would be just as good.

• 2 small green peppers (piman, in Japan), cut into rings
• 1 small diced yellow onion
• 1 large tomato (coarsely chopped)
• Colby Jack cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 205 degrees C. or 400 degrees F. Place the marinated chicken into a lightly greased baking pan (or sheet). Layer the vegetables on top of the chicken and cook in the preheated oven until the juices in the chicken run clear. Top with cheese if desired and serve with a green salad.

Mine took about 38 minutes, but the breasts I used were large and crowded in my pan. I also layered more vegetables than Lisa did in her original recipe. The one thing I learned this time and will do differently next time is not to slice the thin-skinned Japanese peppers so thinly. Next time, I'm making thicker rings so they don't burn in spots.

My husband liked this a lot, and the chicken came out nice and moist (as you can see by the picture, the interior is juicy). The vegetables compliment the spices well and take on a roasted flavor. I had mine "as is" and my husband had his with cheese. I think it is certainly good either way, but I took a picture of mine because he cut his up pretty fast.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Cashew Chicken Salad

Note: this is another recipe transferred from my old blog.

This is a rare recipe that is all my own creation rather than a derivative or modification of another recipe. However, I can't say that the concept of combining cashews and chicken is exactly a novel one and I'm sure that there are recipes out there like this one. There is one relatively unique ingredient though.

Cashew Chicken Salad recipe:

• 4 (half) chicken breasts (with skin is best)
• salt, pepper, onion powder (to taste)
• 1-2 tbsp. olive oil (for frying)
• 1 cup cashews
  
• 1 medium onion (diced)
• 4-6 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar (I used Mizkan)
  
• 1-2 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon

Sprinkle the chicken with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Heat a large skillet. Add the olive oil and tilt the pan to coat the bottom with oil. Place the breasts skin side down in the skillet, cover, and cook over medium heat until half done (it may help to split especially large breasts for more even cooking). Turn over and finish cooking. Be sure to keep the chicken covered at all times to keep the juices inside. When the chicken is just finished, remove it from the pan and allow it to cool enough for it to be handled comfortably. Reserve the juices in the pan.

Place the cashews in the bottom of a very large bowl and coarsely crush them (I use the bottom of a large, sturdy cup). Add the diced onion to the bowl. Remove the skin from the chicken and cut it into bite-size pieces. Add it to the bowl then sprinkle it with garlic powder and cinnamon. Pour the reserved juice over the chicken. Add the mayonnaise and stir well. The juices and mayonnaise will combine to make a savory dressing. If necessary, add more salt to taste. Serve warm or cold.

This recipe will require a bit of experimentation to meet your specific seasoning and consistency desires. Some people may prefer more or less mayonnaise and/or cashews. I like a lot of garlic and my husband actually likes a great deal of cinnamon on it. After I add the initial one tablespoon, he has me pour more over the top of his serving.

Cinnamon may seem an odd seasoning for chicken but it works very well. My sister, who is a member of the SCA, told me some time ago that cinnamon was used frequently to season various meats in the middle ages. If you're squeamish about using it, I'd recommend at least adding a teaspoon and sampling it before giving up on using it. It really does add greatly to the taste of the salad.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Inauthentic Chicken Pulao/Biryani

Note: Yet another transfer recipe from my old blog.

One of my favorite Indian dishes is chicken biryani. Prior to coming to Japan, I had never sampled Indian food because I was born in a rural area and there were no ethnic restaurants in the area during most of the time I lived there. In fact, there wasn't even a Chinese place within reasonable distance of my home until a few years before I moved to California and married.

I've had biryani at several Indian places in Japan and though it is often different, it's always been good. Unfortunately, it is also quite expensive, so I rarely have it from restaurants these days. Now that my income is about 1/3 of what it was when I worked full-time, I have to be mindful of these things.

I've been trying to create something close to the biryani I enjoyed at restaurants for some time and have been messing around with a chicken pulao recipe on Quick Indian Cooking for months and months trying to get it to come out somewhere in the neighborhood of the tasty dishes I've had from the kitchens of actual Indian cooks. I made the recipe pretty much as it was given at first, but I think none of the spices I can buy locally are fresh or potent enough to really do a good job. I've tinkered with it and finally come up with something I believe works with the quality and type of spices one can buy in Tokyo. By the way, the reason this is pulao and not biryani is that the rice is cooked with everything else. In biryani, it is cooked separately. If you're interested in authentic Indian cuisine, then I strongly recommend Quick Indian Cooking. The recipes are excellent and easy.

My recipe is quite good, though it certainly is not easy. This is probably the 7th or 8th time I've made this dish and this is the last version. I'm quite pleased with it. The tomato paste really brought something to it and I think this was the best mix of spices considering my limits in terms of freshness and options.

Absolutely Inauthentic Chicken Pulao

for marinade and meat:

• 2 cups low fat yogurt
• 1/4 inch fresh ginger
• 2 small garlic cloves (or 1 big fat one)
  
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper
• 2 large raw chicken breasts (1/2 breasts, actually) cut into bite-size pieces (or use 4 breasts if you have a pan big enough to cook everything and want a meatier biryani)
  

for cooking:

• 1/4 inch fresh ginger
• 2 small cloves garlic (or 1 big fat one)
  
• 1 cinnamon stick broken into 4 pieces
  
• 1.5 star anise (mine are fragmented such that all the points are broken off, so about 8 "tips")
• 2 small bay leaves (or 1 large one - though I prefer 2 small)
  
• 2 cardamom pods
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste (in Japan, you can buy this in individual packets with 1 tbsp. in each)
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
  
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. hot garam masala (use regular if you're sensitive to hot spices)
  
• salt to taste
• 2 large thinly sliced onions (or 3 small ones)
  
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 4 cups chicken stock
• vegetable oil (any unflavored oil) or ghee (clarified butter) as needed (I used Canola oil - but I bet ghee would be tastier and give it that restaurant greasiness)
  
• 1 very small diced green pepper (optional)
• cashews (optional, as garnish)

Marinade instructions:
Put the yogurt into a bowl with a lid. Add the salt and pepper. Blitz all of the garlic and ginger in a small bowl food processor (or mince the garlic and grate the ginger). Add half of the ginger and garlic to the marinade and set the other half aside to use in cooking. Whisk the spices into the yogurt. Add the chicken, cover with lid, and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours to overnight.

Cooking instructions:
Add about 1-2 tbsp. oil to cover the bottom of a large, deep skillet. Heat the oil over medium-high heat then fry the bay leaves, cardamom pods, star anise, cumin seeds and cinnamon stick pieces until they become fragrant. Create a little free space in the pan and add the ginger and garlic that you previously set aside. Fry the fresh spices until they are aromatic and lightly brown. Be careful not to burn any of the spices. If they start to cook too quickly, turn down the heat.

Add the sliced onions to the spices and stir. Cook the onions until they are golden brown and translucent. They should reduce in size to about half their original volume as you cook. If you want green peppers, add the diced peppers and cook them about halfway through the cooking of the onions. The peppers don't have to be soft, but they should be a little wilted before you move on to adding the chicken.

Push all of the vegetables and spices to one side of the pan. Move the pan off center on the burner such that the vegetables and spices aren't getting much of the main heat from where they have been pushed to the side. Add the chicken and yogurt marinade to the empty side of the pan. Stir the turmeric into the yogurt/chicken mixture. Cook with medium to high heat until slightly browned. A lot of the moisture from the yogurt will boil off, but all of it does not have to. Add the chicken stock (omit if you are not cooking the rice with the chicken, see below), hot garam masala, and tomato paste. Stir these in gently and carefully until they are dissolved. Allow this to simmer for at least 15 minutes, longer is okay, but if too much liquid boils off, you'll need to add in some water to make sure there is enough moisture for cooking the rice.

Add the uncooked rice, stir to distribute the rice evenly and cook over medium heat until it just starts to bubble. Cover the pan and turn the heat down as low as possible while still allowing the dish to simmer. Allow to cook until most of the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. This should take around 40 minutes, but it depends on the kind of rice you use and the type of pan. You'll have to test the rice for doneness by tasting it or cutting it with a fork.

Not cooking the rice with the meat: Note that you can just cook the vegetables and chicken without cooking the rice if you'd like to have the rice on the side. Just do not use the rice and chicken stock and cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Be careful not to overcook the chicken - it should be "just done" inside.

Note: You can salt this at any stage of the cooking or wait and add salt when you eat it. In my experience, it will need to be salted again at some point. The salt from the marinade will not be enough.

For serving, I usually take tongs or chopsticks and pick out all of the bits of whole spices just so we don't have to take them out as we eat or don't accidentally bite into a bit of star anise or a cardamom pod. Also, I don't want stronger spices permeating the finished dish in select spots (esp. the cinnamon) when the leftovers are stored in the refrigerator so I like to get them out before storing.

I think this would also be good if about a handful of raisins were added at the same time as the rice, but my husband doesn't like raisins in these types of dishes so I've never tried it (though all of the biryani I've ever had in restaurants has included raisins). Also, the pictured version does not have green peppers in it, but I have used green pepper in this dish before. It's good, but you have to be careful not to overdo it or the green pepper flavor will be too strong and dominate the dish.

Finally, keep in mind that my spices are crap. I think they're old because most of them are not typical in Japanese cuisine and spend a lot of time on store shelves before being sold. If you are using better quality spices, you may need to scale back to avoid making things too intense.

by Shari (Orchid64)

All Wrapped Up

Fajitas: Not the most photogenic of meals.

Given my recent lethargy in regards to new spur-of-the-moment creations, I have lately taken to prepping a single large dish at the beginning of the week and then eating it for the following five days until the weekend strikes and I have time to repeat the process. This one-week-meal concept can be seen in my recent lasagna post as well as an unposted (but upcoming, someday) tuna casserole one. Several friends of mine (well, one, generally ;) often remark upon this process wondering how I could possibly eat the same dish all week long (in some cases for two meals a day) and not get bored of it, and my usual response is to grunt noncommittally and continue daydreaming about corn pie. However, I figure this post presents me with a decent opportunity to expand upon my usual eloquence.

Truth be told, I certainly do get bored with the same meal all the time. Ideally, I would love to prep several large dishes over the course of a weekend, freeze some of the results, and then coast through a month off of a single weekend's worth of work. I do think it's safe to say that I would not get tired of this process so long as I had a relatively large pool of big (and freezeable) dishes to draw from due to the simple fact that leftovers are, to me, one of the greatest creations for lazy people all over the world. The idea that I can go the store and pick up ~$10 worth of ingredients and have the resulting meal last me seven sittings is something I draw a great deal of happiness from, as it appeals to both my lazy and frugal sides. I suppose one thing that helps keep these meals fresh over the course of a week is the memory of the number appearing on the cash register and winding up lower than the average cost of a single meal at a restaurant.

Of course, the catch-22 in this brilliant plan is the very fact that it stems from laziness, which tends to prevent one from spending an entire weekend prepping several dishes to be enjoyed over the course of a month. Indeed, it is often more than I can muster to put together a single dish, let alone several. As such, it is somewhat rare that I manage to freeze anything, and instead I wind up eating the same thing day in and day out. Boring, yes. Expensive? No, and that's probably worth its weight in boredom at this point.

Chicken Fajitas
(Method for preparing chicken stolen from Shari)

Ingredients
4 Chicken breasts*
1 tbsp Flour
1 tbsp Corn starch
2 tbsp Seasoning**
2 Medium onions
2 Bell peppers (whatever type you prefer)
1 Bunch green onions
3 Cloves of garlic
4 tbsp Butter
1/4c Soy Sauce
1/4c Hoisin Sauce
A crapton of cheese
Sour cream as desired

*Any cut of chicken will do, of course. I just happened to have breasts on hand.
**I didn't have taco seasoning on hand, so I mixed up some of my own: 1tsp onion powder, 1tsp garlic powder, 1tsp cayenne pepper, 1tsp chili powder, 1tsp ground cumin, and 1tsp some random steak seasoning that I wanted to get rid of. The steak seasoning had salt, so I omitted it from the mix; otherwise, add salt in there too.

Procedure
1) Slice the chicken into thin strips.

Note my bag of seasoning waiting at the top.

2) Toss the seasoning into a bag and mix with the chicken until all the pieces appear to be coated. Set the bag aside to absorb the seasoning for an hour or so (longer wouldn't hurt!).

Sexy? No. Delicious? We'll see!

Note: I don't recommend refrigerating the chicken, as I feel it gets a quicker sear and a better consistency from sitting at room temperature. Don't worry; it's sealed up, and even if some bacteria work their way in there, our seasonings contain natural antibacterial agents that will take care of things. Try to relax; you're so uptight!

3) While waiting for the chicken to finish soaking, chop your veggies to their desired consistency. I minced the garlic, chopped the onions into half-circles, and sliced the peppers into strips.

4) Heat the butter in the wok on high heat until it starts smoking (actual smoking, no wispy nonsense). Throw the chicken in there and allow the heat to come back up.

5) When the chicken starts to fry (you can tell from the bubbles boiling up in the butter on the edges), stir gradually to ensure that all the meat gets evenly cooked. More or less. At this point, add the garlic as well.

Notice the lovely browning we get on the portions of the chicken covering the pan. We want that everywhere!

6) When the chicken is cooked, scoop it out with a slotted spoon and set it in a bowl to relax for a bit.

7) Add the bell peppers and regular onions to the remaining sauce in the wok and stir fry in the same manner. If necessary, add a little more oil or butter.

Cooking the veggies in the residual chicken juice brings the flavors in the dish together nicely.

8) When the onions become translucent, add the soy and hoisin sauces and stir to coat.

9) Remove from heat and pour the entire mix into the bowl with the chicken. Add the green onions and stir to combine.

Ok, so hoisin and soy sauces aren't exactly Mexican flavors... but they taste good!

10) Wrap in a tortilla laced with sour cream and the aforementioned crapton of cheese and you're all set!

Lessons Learned
This is a fairly simple recipe; even I managed to not screw it up. However, this did teach me that I actually like yellow bell peppers, which leaves only green ones on my hate list. They brought a great sweetness to the spice from the seasoning mix, which turned out just about perfect (although somewhat heavy on the cumin--next time, cardamom or coriander perhaps?).

Fried Chicken

Few foodstuffs photograph better than fried chicken, in my experience. It *always* looks tasty.

During one of my recent shopping excursions to the yuppie mecca that is Whole Foods, I determined that although I was loading up for a pending barbecue, some more immediate food was in order, as I had managed to make it until early afternoon without eating. Thankfully, the place always has a huge variety of sandwiches, stir fries, burritos, and most anything else one could desire for immediate snacking contentment. As I was waiting for my sandwich to be made, I spied a fried chicken thigh that could not be ignored. Consequently, I demanded they fork it over forthwith and happily made my way back home for some snacking goodness.

Imagine my surprise when, upon biting into my deep-fried and crusty goodness, I was greeted with an unpleasantly chewy texture that was oddly reminiscent of--nay, completely identical to!--that most feared of poultry-related foodstuffs: raw chicken! Sure enough, closer inspection revealed that either the person running the fryer that day was a bit overzealous or they simply didn't understand the complexities of frying large chunks of potentially hazardous meat. (Of course, this is a complicated process that most people don't think completely through, but I assume when I pay for a fried piece of bird flesh that the person handing it over would at least err on the side of *over*cooking it.)

Unfortunately, while my ironclad stomach probably would've churned through the leg with only minor complaints, my mouth could not abide the texture of raw chicken sliding across my teeth and I had to throw the thing out. (I initially made some attempt to salvage it by quick-cooking it in the microwave before realizing I was full and no longer cared to try.) As one might imagine, this left me with a completely understandable craving for some fried chicken that I could ensure was at least mostly-cooked before it met with my mouth. This craving, much like one for bacon, would not be denied, and I set about preparing myself for my first attempt at frying in anything deeper than a thin film of oil. You might guess that this led to a learning experience; the chicken (as seen above) turned out quite pretty and very tasty, but could (and will) definitely be improved with my next attempt. Nonetheless! You've come here for a recipe, and one shall be provided!

Note: This obviously isn't so much a recipe as it is a procedure, which was mostly stolen from Good Eats (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/fried-chicken-recipe/index.html). That said, I'll list out all the components I used anyway.

Fried Chicken
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, sliced up into its operative bits (I reserved the wings for a future buffalo wings attempt)
2c buttermilk
2c flour (for dredging)
Chicken seasoning of your choice
14-16oz of shortening, depending on pan size

Procedure:
1) After eviscerating and dividing the chicken into its more fryer-friendly components (read: 2 thighs, 2 breasts, 2 drumsticks), place it in a sealable or liddable container with the buttermilk for 24 hours (refrigerated, of course).

2) Place the shortening in a cast-iron or other style skillet that's suited to frying and bring it to 325F.

Note: It is extremely important to keep the oil above 300F in order to ensure that the food doesn't get oil-logged. However, it is equally important that the oil does not exceed 325-330F, lest it start smoking. I'd strongly recommend that after the oil reaches 325F, you let it stand at that temperature for a while to ensure that it has reached equilibrium before placing the chicken in.

3) While the oil is heating, allow the chicken pieces to drain in a colander or on a wire rack.

4) Liberally season the dredged chicken pieces with the selected seasoning (I don't know what mine is, as I stole it from a coworker).

Yes, that's a disposal in the picture. So I rested it on a rack in the sink. So what?

5) Dredge the chicken in flour, making sure to shake off any excess that can be removed. You want a thin coat, as any flour that can easily fall off probably will during the frying process. Allow the pieces to rest for a few minutes and verify that the oil is at the desired temperature.


6) Increase the heat slightly on the burner (about 1 number higher, on my burners) and place the chicken in the pan, skin-side down (if cooking with the skins). Try to place the thighs in the center of the pan, as they take the longest to cook.

Note: Increasing the heat at this point is designed to compensate for the colder meat being added.

As you can see, I have my probe thermometer in the oil to ensure that the temperature stays where I want it to (also worth noting: it didn't)

7) After 2 minutes, lower the heat back to the original level and allow the chicken to fry for about 12 minutes before flipping each piece and frying for an additional 12 minutes.

8) Remove the chicken from the oil and allow it to drain on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. Although fried chicken is best served cold (in my opinion!), it can be served immediately without many complaints, in my experience.

Lessons learned:
Keeping the oil at the listed temperature is extremely important to ensuring that the crust is .. well, crusty. My chicken came out *slightly* undercooked, although certainly not to the extent of the purchased chicken leg. That said, the pieces were also oily, as I didn't maintain the temperature carefully enough. A friend mentioned that her dredging process was much more complicated, involving several different dredging steps which might add additional flavor. I think next time, I'll marinate the meat in a more flavorful liquid, then season, flour, egg white, and additional seasoning to see if that comes out more favorably. Then again, this tasted pretty good already, so I may decide not to mess with semi-success!

Turkish Yogurt Marinated Chicken

This recipe is another hoisted shamelessly from the folks at WorldWide Recipes (as linked in previous posts), and I refer to it as 'Turkish' because that was their term for it. I question how Turkish it is, but that really wasn't the point anyway. Below, I've listed my slightly modified version.

Marinade:
2 cups (500 ml) plain yogurt
1/2 cup (125 ml) olive oil
3 Tbs (45 ml) lemon juice
1 onion, finely chopped
2-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
A good couple squirts of hot sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Protein:
6-8 pieces of chicken (about 1.5lbs, I think)

Mix all ingredients in a zip-top bag or sealable bowl and add the chicken. Shake about some to make sure the chicken gets coated and refrigerate for 6-12 hours (I just stuck it in for 24; I don't think it hurt anything).

Now, since I seem to have forgotten to get a picture of the marinade or the chicken prior to cooking, I'll just move along to cooking. I used an outdoor grill for this recipe, and in retrospect, I wouldn't recommend it again. This would probably be better baked at 350-400F, as I think the gentler cooking process would help the marinade adhere better to the meat. Regardless, I grilled it for ... well, until it was done, flipping once to ensure proper doneness.

Ok, so it may not look particularly appetizing here. It still tasted good. Besides, chicken thighs are hard to cook prettily.

After the chicken finishes cooking, let it cool for a bit and salt to taste. The end-product of my version didn't have much in the way of residual marinade on it, as you can see:

As you can see in the top-right corner, I served this with the leftover garlic bread from my Brazilian Lime Marinated Salmon.

Lessons learned:
As I mentioned previously, I wouldn't grill the chicken next time. The chicken was very moist, but didn't carry the depth that the marinade seemed to suggest (the marinade itself smelled wonderful). I might also consider adding an herb garnish (basil or rosemary) for a bit of added flavor at the end.