Indian-Spiced Chicken & Potato Stew

I spent the morning with my husband shoveling our car out of the heavy snowfall.. without shovels! We ended up using boxes and wooden boards that we found around the house to get the job done. Although the general ridiculousness of the situation gave us both a big laugh, hard labor in below freezing weather is not fun. Cold days such as these call for warm, hearty stews.

I came up with this recipe about a year ago when I wanted a creamy stew with rich Indian flavors. The addition of  coconut milk tones down the acidity of the tomatoes and allows the cilantro to shine without taking over the show. It's savory, spicy, and a special treat for your chilly days. 

WHAT YOU NEED
2 cups chicken broth
13.5 oz can coconut milk
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
3 medium-sized chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
3 tablespoons ginger root, minced
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 cups potatoes, diced
2 teaspoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons garam masala powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup flour (for quicker thickening)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste 
Optional: Naan for dipping

Pour chicken stock, coconut milk, and crushed tomatoes into a large pot on medium-high heat and cook until boiling. While stock mixture  is warming, shred chicken, mince ginger, chop cilantro, and dice potatoes. 

Once the mixture is boiling, add in chicken, ginger, cilantro, and potatoes. Reduce to medium heat and allow to cook for 10 minutes covered. Stir in garlic powder, garam masala, black pepper, onion powder, and sugar.   

 In a separate small bowl, whisk 1 cup of the stew and 1/4 cup of flour together until smooth. If it clumps, add more liquid from the stew to the flour. This will prevent your flour from clumping in the pot of stew. Stir the stew-flour mixture back into the large pot of stew and allow to cook covered for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  During the last few minutes, add in salt to taste. Because I typically make my own very, lightly salted chicken stock, I use 2 teaspoons of salt. However, if you are using store-bought salted chicken stock, 1 teaspoon should be sufficient. Remember to taste as you add salt to prevent over-salting. Serve in a bowl and enjoy with naan!

Sweet & Spicy Beef Chili

 

Whether it's been handed down from generation to generation or of your own creation, everyone has a chili recipe. A content grin grows on your face when your family and friends take that first warm bite and go "mmm..." 

A few years ago, my chili was just ground beef, chili beans, and a packet of seasoning. Very easy and nothing special to eat. I decided to ditch the seasoning packets and start working on a chili recipe to call my own. It took three years, but I finally got that coveted "mmm..." from my family with this concoction. It includes warm spices like ginger and cinnamon - perfect for fall or winter. 

WHAT YOU NEED (Yields 6-8 bowls)

2 1/2 lbs ground beef
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 teaspoons dried thyme (or two bay leaves)
2 tablespoons minced garlic (or 3/4 teaspoons garlic powder)
1 cup chicken stock
32 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 cans of chili beans
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cumin
4 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon of red chili flakes or to taste (or 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste

Cook the ground beef on medium heat until fully cooked and brown. Ground beef tends to clump together, so break it into smaller chunks to make sure that it cooks evenly. If it leaves a lot of fat, drain as much of it as you can - this will prevent your chili from having that unattractive oily gloss on top. Don't worry, that small amount of remaining fat and pounds of ground beef will give you plenty of meaty flavor. Add in minced ginger, thyme, and garlic, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in your chicken stock and crushed tomatoes, and cover for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, turn down your heat to simmer, and stir in your mixture of cinnamon, cumin, brown sugar, chili powder, ground ginger, and red chili flakes.

How long should I let it cook?
You can let your chili simmer for 30 minutes to 2 hours, it's completely your choice. I prefer to turn it off at the 2 hour mark. This will allow your chili to thicken and provide the beef and beans an opportunity to absorb the flavor. If you're very hungry and don't want to wait two hours, go ahead and serve after 30 minutes- it will still taste amazing the next day after a long night in the fridge.

When you're ready to take it out, TASTE IT BEFORE YOU ADD SALT. Chicken stock has salt and the chili will get saltier as it reduces over the heat. If you feel like it needs additional salt after you taste it, go for it. Enjoy with sour cream and/or cheddar cheese!

Savory Salmon Cakes with Dill-Sour Cream

Good morning! If you're like me, on days when your free time is limited, time consuming kitchen activity is the last thing that you want to do. Salmon cakes are an easy, savory, and protein packed dish for evenings when you don't want to pay for take out or eat a frozen meal. 

When mixed with bread crumbs, salmon takes well to lots of herbs and spices. You can make salmon cakes from fresh or canned salmon. It just depends on your budget and palate. But, be cautious when adding salt or seasonings with salt to canned salmon. Additional salt is often not necessary as the sodium in canned salmon can be high. 

There are a number of ways to season salmon cakes. Here is my combination of seasonings that produce a batch of delicious cakes!

WHAT YOU NEED (Yields 6 salmon cakes)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 14.75 oz can of salmon (traditional style) OR 1lb of fresh salmon (cooked)
3 teaspoons old bay blackened seasoning

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper 

1 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

1/3 cup diced onion
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon sriracha

2 eggs

Dill Sour Cream

1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill

1/2 cup sour cream

pinch of salt

Place a pan on medium heat and coat evenly with olive oil. Flake your salmon in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl, mix old bay, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, and panko crumbs together. Beat onion, Worcestershire sauce, sriracha, and eggs into the seasoning bowl until mixed well. Pour the mixture into the large bowl with the salmon and mix well with a large spoon. Mold the salmon into medium sized cakes. 

Fry the cakes until golden brown on each side (about 2-3 minutes on each side). Allow salmon cakes to rest on layered paper towels until excess oil has been absorbed by the paper towels. Meanwhile,  mix your dill with the sour cream. Serve the dill sour cream on top of the salmon cake along with a little bit of sriracha for dipping. Enjoy!

Rosemary Lemon Pepper Fried Chicken

Now that the summer is upon us, I have reclaimed my weekends for cooking and excessive nap time! Hooray! I am full of new recipes and kitchen ideas, so let's get started! 

Having been raised and fed in Georgia, I enjoyed my share of crispy, fried deliciousness that makes the mouth sing praises unto the bubbling oil. Yes, frying (especially frying meat) is definitely an art that until recently, I had not mastered. 

Watching my mother drop a piece of breaded tilapia or chicken into a hot pan and jump four feet away from the scalding, airborne oil was not a treasured sight for me as a child. Humorous, but certainly not treasured. I am ashamed to say that my role in helping my mother fry food ended shortly after breading the meat. 

Fortunately, those dark days are over! Motivated by some good-natured teasing from friends and family, I have finally dared to fry my first piece of meat! Though I will never be able to add this particular skill to a resume (if I can, then my career plans have taken an awkward turn Oo), I am delighted to share my simple, but flavorful, panko fried chicken recipe with you all. 

WHAT YOU NEED
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 cups panko bread crumbs (I prefer honey infused panko)
Crushed red pepper to taste
Salt to taste
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts 
Olive oil

Heat oil in frying pan on medium heat. In a large bowl, combine, panko, lemon pepper, rosemary, and crushed red pepper. Taste your seasoned panko before adding salt as some prepared lemon pepper mixtures tend to be on the salty side. In a small bowl, crack and lightly beat your eggs with milk. 

Dredge your chicken breasts with the egg and coat them in the seasoned panko. For a crispier (and therefore, more delicious) crust, coat the chicken in the egg mixture and seasoned panko one more time before frying.

Now the fun part! Gently place your chicken breasts in the pan and step far away from the popping oil. Cook your chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side (or until golden brown and no longer pink on the inside). 

Remove crispy chicken to a plate coated in paper towels and allow the paper towels to soak up the excess oil. You'll be left with bright, aromatic, crispy, juicy chicken! Delicious over pasta or salad. Serve and thoroughly enjoy! 

What else is on the plate, you ask? A bed of lemon-mushroom pasta with basil and romano cheese served with a salad of chopped tricolor peppers dressed in a little olive oil and red wine vinegar. Garnished with a big, beautiful, basil leaf.

  

Parmesan-Basil Encrusted Swai

It's been a while! I hope that you kids are doing well. Once again, things have been pretty hectic. Papers, homework, and studying for exams has consumed my life :/. I haven't had a lot of time to cook anything new lately. Actually, I've been eating out so frequently that one of the security guards at my apartment has dubbed me "The Jimmy Johns Girl." =_=. First of all, I feel like she could have been way more creative with the nickname. I think that she just nicknamed me the thing that I happened to have that day. My overwhelming desire to go back to my given name was what prompted me to cook tonight. 

This recipe is really simple. Swai has a very mild flavor - not fishy at all like tilapia, so it takes well to lots of herbs and spices. Personally, I like softer fish so I tend to bake my swai. However, it can be breaded, fried, grilled, you name it! Experiment! This recipe has a peppery, creamy, sweet herbaceous taste to it. Here we go!

WHAT YOU NEED
4-5 large pieces of swai
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (you know, the "shaky cheese")
1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for drizzling)


Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Mix your parmesan, paprika, basil, cracked black pepper, and salt together. Feel free to taste the mixture before applying to the swai - this will allow you to make sure the mixture has a good balance of salt and pepper for your own taste.

 Drizzle olive oil over the top of your fish (you may want to rub it on the fish for a more even coating). Take each piece of swai and encrust the top of the fish with the mixture. Cover a 13-by-9-inch pan (whatever size works of you) with a piece of tin foil. Spray the tin foil with canola oil spray or coat with butter. 

Place the swai on the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the swai coating is golden brown and fish is flaky. And just like that, you're done! Enjoy!