Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicken. Show all posts

Monday, January 15, 2018

Indian Tandoori Cooking

Tandoori Chicken is cooked in a clay oven called the Tandoor. Tandoor is heated by the charcoal or wood which also provide the smoky flavor to it. Marinated chicken skewed on a skewer and cooked in Tandoor.
Photo: Wikimedia
Traditionally, tandoori dishes are cooked in a tandoor, an oval-shaped clay oven with a small fire in the bottom.  The heat rises gradually but ultimately reaches a much higher temperature than a barbeque.

A tandoor is normally used to cook naan bread, meats, and kebabs (meat or paneer).   The bread is stuck to the sides, the kebabs stood vertically and whole chickens rested on a grid over the fire.

For domestic cooking, a tandoor is not really convenient but the meat dishes can be reproduced on a barbeque or in the oven.  The bright red appearance of tandoori meats which you may see in Indian restaurants is produced by a food dye which really isn’t necessary to enhance the look of your tandoori dishes.

I have a great fondness for tandoori style food.  It has flavor, without being "hot" or high in calories or too filling.  In fact, it's an ideal dish summer or winter, if you fancy something a little different.  As a bonus, it doesn't take hours to prepare.  Of course, you can take all the effort out of it and use a pre-prepared mix, but I think they have less flavor and you can’t use them for anything else, whereas if you use the individual spices, you can make other dishes as well.

You can easily make tandoori chicken (whole), tandoori lamb chops (pork would be more unusual, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use it, if you prefer) and lamb tikka (kebabs) but my personal favourite is chicken tikka because it’s so quick so here’s my own recipe.

This recipe serves two people - multiply it for as many people as you want.

Ingredients

2 Chicken breasts
1 small tub Greek yogurt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ginger powder
½ tsp chili powder (or to taste)
1 small clove garlic, crushed
salt to taste
1 tbsp lemon juice

Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

Mix the spice powders and garlic into the yogurt.  You can use low-fat yogurt if you prefer.  You can also use fresh ginger or ginger paste from a jar rather than ginger powder but go easy on the quantity as it can be quite over-powering.  

At this point, you can also mix in the salt and lemon juice but if you do so, don’t leave the chicken to marinade for more than about 20 minutes or it will become very dry when cooked.  If you want to marinade it for a longer time, add the salt and lemon juice just before you cook the dish or sprinkle on to serve.

Thread the chicken onto skewers and either barbeque or cook on a grill using medium heat until the chicken is slightly browned and cooked through.





For a light meal, serve with salad, pitta or naan bread and lemon wedges or for something more substantial with rice and dahl.

Author: Liz Canham




Wednesday, December 6, 2017

CHICKEN Korma

Chicken Korma - Photo. Wikimedia
The Royal chefs of the great Moghul Emperors made an enormous contribution to the richness of the celebrated Northern Indian cuisine, using cooking techniques which were mainly similar to those of the western world but raising them to new heights with their exquisite blends of spices and herbs.

Kormas were created for festive occasions and are considered by many experts to be the greatest expression of the master chef's skills. A korma is mildly spiced and enriched with cream and ground almonds.

The korma technique can be applied to meats or to vegetables and calls for a thicker braising sauce than that normally used in western cooking. The use of butter and cream in the preparation results in a thick, savory sauce that clings generously to meats and vegetables.

Chicken Korma, reduced to simple terms, is nothing more than braised chicken but the judicious blending of spices that are used to create the braising sauce makes it one of India's most popular dishes. There are many great and complicated recipes but this one is simple, quick to prepare and will have your tastebuds dancing:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb boneless chicken thighs, cubed
1/3 jar of Sharwood's Curry Stir Fry Sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp ground almonds
3 tbsp light cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat the oil in a wok or deep-sided frying pan, add the chicken and stir for 5 minutes until almost cooked. Add the curry sauce, chicken stock, ground almonds, and cream. Simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Serve immediately with plain boiled Basmati rice, garnished with the cilantro. Delicious with spoonfuls of Sharwood's Major Grey Chutney. Preparation time: 5 minutes; cooking time: 10 minutes. Serves 3-4.


Thursday, October 12, 2017

Chicken Tetrazzini

This delicious and easy to make pasta dish is a meal on its own!  A cream sauce is the signature of this pasta casserole that is believed to be invented in San Francisco, where it was named after the then-famous opera star Luisa Tetrazzini.

Photo: Flickr


Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts (cut into 1" cubes)
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
1/4 cup Butter
2 Large finely chopped Shallots
2 cups Sliced Mushrooms
1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
4 tsp. Chicken Boullion
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/3 cup Sherry
2 cups Water
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
4 cups of cooked Egg Noodles or Seashell Pasta
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preparation
In a large frying pan, cook diced chicken in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  When cooked all the way through, remove chicken with a slotted spoon leaving juices in the frying pan.
Add 1/4 cup of butter to the frying pan and saute shallots and mushrooms, cooking on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Mix 1/4 cup of flour, chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper then sprinkle over cooked mushrooms and shallots.  Add Sherry and water and boil for 5 minutes.

Stir in Heavy Cream then add salt and pepper to taste.  Add cooked chicken and noodles then serve hot.

Author: Jim Rutherford