Winner, Winner, Indian Chicken Dinner!!

   Every summer two of our best friends go to their house in Finland to spend time with friends and family. They're always back before the Finnish winter starts and who can blame them. Sometimes while they're gone, some of their family come and stay in their house in Sonoma. This summer Hannu and Eva came to visit .

   Eva does hair and makeup for films and TV, Hannu has a rock band and is a  songwriter/musician. They're a lot of fun and we always love spending time with them. Last time they were here, I cooked an all-American Saturday night dinner for them, catfish, locally grown collard greens and buttermilk biscuits with local blackberry honey. Since they both mentioned they love Indian food, this time I decided to do a Saturday night chicken dinner, Indian style. I served a Papaya, walnut, and watercress salad , Yogurt rice , Mango chutney , and as an entree, a Mangelorean Chicken dish known as Chicken Ajadin aka Chicken with Fresh Coconut.

   Most of the time when I give a big Indian dinner, I don't cook chicken. I know everybody likes chicken but maybe that's one of the reasons I don't cook it. When I go out, I always like to have something I don't normally get at home, and let's face it, most meat eaters eat a lot of chicken. Of course any Indian chicken recipe, if you don't have a whole lot of time to cook, chicken is your man..or rather bird.

   This entree comes together pretty fast. The sauce is made quickly and then the chicken simmered right before serving. So you don't need to cook this meat for hours to tenderize it. Chicken unlike  lamb or pork curry, is best when cooked fast and gently. The recipe involves dry roasting and grinding up a combo of spices for a masala, which then goes into the sauce the chicken is cooked in. This dish can be made in about an hour. You can't get much easier then that.
 

Coconut Chicken Curry

Here's What You Need:

2 lbs of chicken meat off the bone cut into 1 and 1/2 inch pieces. Either dark meat or a combo of light and dark.
2 Tbs of fresh lemon juice
1 bay leaf
10 fresh curry leaves (if you have them)
2 medium sized red onions, chopped
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 and 1/2 tsp of salt
3 tbs of vegetable oil ( I use coconut oil)
A 1 inch long cinnamon stick
5  cloves
1 inch piece of peeled chopped fresh ginger
5 chopped shallots
3 chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
1 cup grated fresh coconut or frozen unsweetened coconut (available at most Asian or Hispanic markets)
2 Tbs fresh chopped cilantro

For Masala

A  1 inch in cinnamon stick
3 cloves
3 green cardamom pods
6 whole black peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 Tbs coriander seeds
1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds
1 tsp of white poppy seeds
6 dried red chilies

Here's What To Do:

Place the spices for the masala in a hot skillet and dry roast them for about 4 minutes or until they're fragrant.
Let them cool.
Put them in a spice grinder or processor and grind them up to a powder. Set it aside.
Cut the chicken into 1 and 1/2 inch pieces.
Put the pieces into a large bowl.
Add the lemon juice, salt and 1/2 tsp of the turmeric.
Mix everything together and set it aside for about 20 minutes.

Take a large skillet, kadhai or wok and heat it on medium.
When the pan is hot, add in the vegetable oil. I used  the Organic Virgin Coconut Oil that the folks from Sonoma Harvest  gave me to try.

When the oil is hot, toss in  the cinnamon stick, cloves, and bay leaf.
Saute it all for about 1 minute then add the onions and curry leaves if you're using them.
Cook everything for about 3 minutes or so then add in the ginger and shallots.
Cook it all down for about 5 minutes or so, then add in the tomatoes and 1/2 tsp of salt.

Mix it all together.
Add another 1/2 tsp of turmeric the ground masala powder you made and stir everything together for about  2 to 3 minutes.
Cook it until the oil starts to rise to the top.
Add in the fresh coconut, stir and cook it for about 3 minutes.

Toss in the chopped cilantro and stir it up.

Add the chicken pieces and saute them until they're coated with the mixture.

Add in 1 and 1/2 cups of water and bring it all to a boil.
Once it's boiling, pop a lid on things turn the heat to low and let it all simmer for about 15 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through.
That's it. Serve it up...

... tasty coconutty chicken curry that's fast, tasty and even better the next day. If there's any left. Add in some mint parathas and Anaheim chiles with peanuts, and green beans with coconut, it's a meal.

   We had a great time with Hannu and Eva. After dinner the instruments came out, guitar, banjo, and uke. It was the sort of evening people used to have 100 years ago, only with Indian food, and sheet music on the iPad. Everybody stayed til after midnight.

Hannu's horse and rider which he photographs everywhere in the world he goes, had a great time too.

   So there you have a different twist on the conventional Saturday night chicken dinner but what's for dessert?? Just think floating cheesecake. Enough said, it's coming up next. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Peppery Chettinad Chicken Curry, A Restaurant Entree In An Hour

    It's a cold, cold and wet, wet week here in Sonoma. After a crazy hot week just a few days before, nature put us on notice that Winter wasn't quite done with us yet. We're also re-arranging the office, making room for a couple of gi-normus monitors... all the better to Skype you with my dears. While trying to get our regular work done, and trying to move mail and various other things from one 'puter to another, we still have to eat, and of course around here, eat well.
   I've found that when cooking Indian food that involves any sort of meat or fish, less is more. A little goes a long way, a stitch in time saves.... whatever, and all that other good stuff. One nicely sized, boneless chicken breast in a recipe scaled down, feeds two with a couple of sides, and no one leaves hungry. There is also none of that embarrassing surreptitious unbuttoning of the pants under the table. Not exactly the way one wants to end a romantic dinner on like say...Valentines Day. At least not until one's in the privacy of ones own boudoir. In other words, it's not quantity but quality, and this traditional chicken dish makes a perfect lunch or dinner along with a leafy green, and some rice. I also tossed in the left-over sambar from yesterday. Gotta love that.

Chettinad Chicken Curry

So here's what to do:
 Heat 3 Tbs of vegetable oil (I always use coconut oil) in a deep skillet or kadhai.
When the oil is nice and hot toss in:
 A 1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped
 8 shallots finely chopped

 Stir it around sauteing it for about 30 seconds or so and then add in:
 3 onions cut in half and then cut into quarters and thinly sliced.

Stir fry the onions for about 15 minutes until they're lightly browned, then turn up the heat and add in:
 2 boneless chicken breasts (each breast should weight about 1/2 pound) cut into 1 inch pieces.

Stir the chicken pieces around and brown them lightly.
Turn down the heat and it's time to spice things up.
 Toss in:
 1 and 1/2 tsp of turmeric
 3 tsps of  ground coriander
 2 and 1/2 Tbs of ground black peppercorns
 1 and 1/2 tsps of salt
 Give it all a good stir and blend the spices with everything else, this should take about 4 minutes.
 Now add in :
 3 chopped tomatoes. Now around here this time of year, that is not possible, so I substitute with canned organic, no salt added tomatoes.
 1 and 1/2 cups of plain yogurt

Mix it all in well, bring it to a boil and then turn it all the way down to simmer. No curdling allowed.

 Pop a lid on the pan and simmer everything slowly for about 15 to 20 minutes. When the chicken is nice and tender add in:

 8 curry leaves
 2 tsps of Garam Masala
 3 Tbs of lemon juice
 Cook for another 5 minutes and serve.

 Together with some spinach with Indian spices, coconut cashew rice and the leftover sambar, the meal was on the table in a bit less than an hour. Wow.
 Coming up next, cooking rice in coconut milk for an extra kick. Meanwhile I'm waiting on my dongle..ooooh....and everytime I look at my new computer I feel like an air traffic controller. 

Take Me Out To The Living Room. A Hearty Sandwich For The World Series.

   I have to hand it to the folks at Nature's Pride Bread. They do make some tasty goods. The last time I sampled some, I turned it into an Indian style Bread Pudding with coconut and pineapple. Tasteee! But the real test of any bread is how good does it stand up on its' own. When the rubber meets the road and the chicken meets the bread and crosses the road... whatever. My husband is the bread expert around our house and when the big box arrived from the Natures Pride people, I had all I could do to keep him from getting into it right away. He loved that bread so much the last time when I made bread pudding from it, I had a pretty good idea he'd go nuts if I served it to him in a sandwich.
   I have to confess here. I don't make a lot of sandwiches at our house. I've never been much of a sandwich girl, but I thought what is the best way to test this bread? The answer was clear; toasted with something yummy in between.

 So since I am a 5th generation San Franciscan, and San Francisco is up against the Texas Rangers in the World Series this year. I thought I'd fix my game-watching husband a World Series Special and put my Natures Pride Oatmeal Bread to the test.

    As most of you know, I haven't been chewing a lot lately, not since my dental surgery on the 8th. So I couldn't participate in this little road test. Alan however is the maestro of sandwiches and was eagerly looking forward to knocking off the writing early this afternoon in order to catch the game action. I needed to come up with a truly Series-worthy sandwich.
   I knew he was serious about this sandwich test when we were at the market this morning and he grabbed a bag of Kettle Chips because "they'll look really good on the plate in the picture, don't you think?" Sure.
  Also "Orangina looks great in a wine glass, right? And the bottle has a cool shape that photographs really well". Okay for the Orangina.
  Ever since I'd made all those fig preserves I'd been wanting to use them, and I thought what a great idea for a San Francisco Series Sandwich.  I'd bring together some NorCal Favorites with a Tuscan twist. 'Cause that's what my home town is all about, right? Figs, organic roast chicken with lemon and rosemary from the garden, a nice aged cheese, tender butter lettuce and thin sliced red onion.

   The first thing I did was to pan roast a chicken breast in a 425 degree oven. I tucked some fresh rosemary and lemon under the skin, drizzled it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, then popped it in a cast iron pan and let it roast for about 30 minutes.
   I decided to turn the Nature's Pride Oatmeal Bread into a sort of bruschetta. I toasted it on a traditional European brustolina grill, a gift from some Finnish friends.

The bread toasts on a nifty little metal grill that looks like a hunk of bed springs and sits on top of the burner so the bread is gently toasted from below. Perfection.
   Now about those fig preserves. I wanted to pair them with a great cheese. Figs love Paranno cheese, but they were out of it at the market so I settled on an aged Gouda. Not too shabby.
I figured that the figs would serve as a sort of chutney for the chicken, and to put a bit of bite into it, the cheese on top. I spread the figs and the thinly sliced cheese on the Nature's Pride Bruschetta.

I took the rosemary and lemon slices from under the skin and then sliced the breast meat  into thin sandwich slices.

 I placed the chicken on top of the fig preserves and the cheese,  then topped that with some thinly sliced red onion and a leaf of butter lettuce then topped it all off with another slice of Nature's Pride Oatmeal Bread turned bruschetta.

    I served it and awaited the verdict.

So did Patsy! Unfortunately she had to settle for kibble.
  What's the verdict on Nature's Pride and the World Series Nor Cal Tuscan Sandwich???? Alan ate two of them. 'Nuf said??

Update #1:  No matter what anyone says, baseball is a blood sport too. The Giants walked all over the Rangers last night. Sandwich magic? Maybe.

Update #2:  I'm a proud Food Ninja and am in a Food Ninja competition. I'd love to have your vote,  so  please go to Lafujimamas' site and cast a vote for me. I'm entered in the Ninja Recipe Category for Chili Verde, Cooking While Unconscious.

To The Mattresses Chicken..Now Eat It, I'm Going Back To Bed.

    Back in the day when we'd have some nutso deadline and have to get a script turned in, and there was no time to cook and even less time to go out to eat, I'd do what I used to call "To The Mattresses Cooking!  This is based on the scene in the first Godfather where Clemenza teaches Michael how to cook a huge kettle of pasta sauce for holed up members of the Corleone family.

   I kind of  adapted that philosophy. It's called around our house, "To The Mattresses Chicken." Over the years this easy, rapid way of making an oven baked version of non fried "fried" chicken became a standard. Paired with a green salad, or a nice cole slaw, it's a dish that keeps, is good hot or cold and once it's cooked, takes no time to whip up a quick meal.

 So, in the midst of my dental recovery I figured it would be a great way to fix a couple of easy meals in one fell swoop, meaning I start it , your sous chefs  aka"kitchen squirrels"  finish it. While it bakes the cook can go to bed and get much needed beauty rest. It's a fast simple chicken dish in a hurry and here's how it goes.

    The first step is skinning your chicken. Use whatever parts you'd like. Legs, wings, breast, it doesn't matter. Pour a cup or so of buttermilk over the skinned chicken and set it in the fridge from 1/2 hour to overnight to mellow.

Pre heat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare the breading mixture.
  In a plastic bag or bowl mix together:
  1 cup of dried breadcrumbs finely ground
  1/2 cup of fine ground corn meal
  2 tsp of salt
  2 tsp of dried oregano
  1 tsp of baking powder
 A pinch of cayenne
 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.

  Put the pieces of chicken into the bag and shake it until the chicken is well coated. 

Remove the chicken from the bag and place it on a baking rack set on top of a cookie sheet covered in foil. Spray the baking rack with non-stick spray. I give the chicken parts a little burst on non stick spray also.

    Pop it into the oven for about 45 minutes. Then hit the rack. Tell your little kitchen squirrels that they can take it out after 45 minutes and then they can eat. You do not need to be disturbed for this chicken.  Also remind them to turn off the oven before they enjoy their chicken or else you will pad out hours later in your fuzzy slippers to find that it's still on. Ovens do not turn themselves off!
   This goes well with almost anything, as I said cold or hot, slaw, beans, fries, salad..you name it. They can fix it. I settled on a simple salad of sliced tomatoes fresh from my neighbors garden (she gave them to me, I didn't climb any fences) with a bit of crumbled ricotta salata on top and the whole, drizzled with a bit of virgin olive oil and fresh ground pepper.

    Coming next, more gleaning! I went for figs this morning before my dentist appointment. I now have about 10 lbs of figs and there are preserves to make! My entire kitchen smells of autumn. Figs and apples. Intoxicating!

Through The Looking Glass Dinner: Tandoori Chicken Plus....

About a month ago we had a group of friends over for a Tuscan style roast chicken dinner. It was Spring and I was returning to my Italian roots.
Alan had suggested that I do the same menu only with the Indian version of each dish, sort of a Through The Looking Glass Dinner.

 So the same people  we had last month are coming back for more. The only thing I've not duplicated are the fava beans, as it's getting a little late in the season for them. I was worried about toughness. So, off with your Fava beans!

Since I'm giving away 2 Ceramic Chicken Cookers and 1 set of  Ceramic Game Hen Cookers courtesy of Early Morning Pottery as part of my 1 Year Blogiversary I thought I ought to use my Ceramic Chicken Cooker to do what they'd originally been intended it to do. Make Tandoori Chicken!
 I've had an entire chicken marinating in tandoori spices since yesterday. In the past whenever I've cooked Tandoori style I've cooked on clay tiles inside the barbecue which is as close to a real deal Tandoor oven as I can get. This time I'm trying the Chicken Cooker and can't wait. It works perfectly just plain roasting, so it ought to give me a great tandoori experience.
 I've just finished setting up the dessert which was inspired by a recipe from my talented friend Shirley at Enriching Your Kid. The first course is a cold soup courtesy of  the brilliant Sanjana at K.O. Rasoi. My naan bread is nestled close to my Volvo in a warm garage rising merrily. There are other dishes afoot and I'm going out to the farm now to see what the earth holds for me.

The Chess Players...And The Chicken.

  Not the great film The Chess Players by Satyajit Ray. This is the story of a devoted wife (me)who is giving up her Sunday so that her husband can pursue his obsession, and the chicken that made it all possible.

   The wife in The Chess Players was able to while away her time in different fashion. She had an army of servants, I am on my own.

And as I recall there was no chicken. This event is occurring on Sunday, stay tuned.

Chanukah Lunch Indian Style!

What do you get when you cross an Italian girl from San Francisco with a Jewish guy from New York City...Indian food! Usually. My husbands' sister after all, got me started with all this Indian cooking 20 years ago and I've just taken it from there. Celebration dinners at our house generally revolve around Indian dishes except when it comes to anything involving any of our relatives (except my sister-in-law). My parents are extremely suspicious of my cooking and always think I'm going to put something strange in their food. If it's not straight up Italian they won't even go there, and even when we took them to Michelin starred Italian restaurant Terra in Saint Helena, they were suspicious of the food and considered it too "alta cucina" for them. It's a no win situation there.
Over the years with Alan, I've learned to make brisket and latkes, cheesecake and borscht, pickles sweet and sour, and how to braid and bake challa bread.
So while trying to decide on an interesting Chanukah meal at our house, I went over my recipes for brisket and latkes, both potato and zucchini, when I got the bright idea, "Hey! Why not go Indian!" Which is what I did.
A few years back, my sister-in-law gave me a book of Jewish food around the world. She also gave me a book on the varied kitchen of India. Recipes that range from the heights of the Nepalese border to the Christians of Kerala and yes, the Jews of Cochin.
As it so happens there have been Jewish communities in India for over 2000 years and there is a long and varied cuisine involved.
I dragged out my cookbooks and went on the hunt for a good Chanukah menu.
I decided on an adaptation of a recipe from Claudia Rodens' Book of Jewish Food
Macalcal Chicken or Chicken in a Coconut Sauce accompanied by Spiced spinach with chickpeas and chapattis.
This chicken dish has an origin from the Bene Israel people who cook in the style of Western India. Legend has it that they first came to India after a shipwreck off the coast during the time of King Solomon. Their cooking has emerged as a blending of the cooking of their Hindu and Muslim neighbors with its' own twist. Let's say that this twist involves coconut milk, lots of it. What's not to like about that?!
The chicken dish is easy and can be prepared in about 1 hour.
1.) Start with 2 large skinless boneless chicken breasts. Cut them into bite-sized pieces.
Set them aside.
2.) Peel and cut 2 large onions in halved thin slices. Toss them in the heated oil. Place the lid on the skillet and turn down the heat. This will cook your sliced onions more quickly. When they're a nice soft golden color you're ready for the next step.
In a skillet heat 3 Tbs of vegetable oil.
3.) Add 3 large finely chopped shallots and
4.) A 1 inch piece of finely chopped ginger and
5.) 1/2 tsp of turmeric. Mix it all up well.
6.) Add in the chicken pieces and salt and white pepper to taste.
Cook it for 5 minutes or so, keeping the chicken moving and turning.

7.) Add in 1/2 lb of new potatoes cut into thick slices...or and here's what I did today in the name of lightness..and a lack of potatoes. 1/2 lb of thickly sliced zucchini.
Then,
8.) Add in 1 cup of coconut milk and some water to cover the meat and veggies.
9.) Add in 1 tsp of sugar, adjust the seasoning then simmer it all for 30 to 45 minutes..until everything is nice and tender. Then,
10.) Add in 3/4 cup of sliced blanched almonds and 2 Tbs of sultana raisins.
Cook it all a few moments more and serve it nice and hot.
The vegetable I served with it is a simple spinach and chickpea side. This was fast too.
Spinach and Chickpeas
In a deep skillet or karhai heat
1.) 2 Tbs of olive oil
When it is hot, toss in
2.) 3 large finely chopped shallots
When it is beginning to soften add
3.) 10 oz of chopped spinach
Stir and toss it till it cooks, it will take about 1 minute.
Now toss in:
4.) 1 tsp of ground coriander
5.) 1/2 tsp ground cumin
6.) 1/4 tsp ground garam masala
7.) 1/4 tsp of salt
Then add in
8.) 1 can of chickpeas stir them until they are heated through and seasoned and serve.

Alongside this I served hot homemade chapatti and a chilled 1/2 guava juice/ 1/2 iced organic green tea blend with a sprinkling of chia seeds, you can also use basil seeds.

So there was our lunch, supplied by cookbooks from my sister-in-law and her family who live on the opposite side of the country from us. It was the next best thing to being able to get together for the holidays.

The Rubba Chicken Circuit

As I've mentioned before I've been absolutely entranced by the ceramic chicken cooker from Early Morning Pottery that Paula Wolfert gave us as an anniversary present last year.
It took me awhile to get around to using it, but I have really been working that thing of late. It might not be the most dignified way to cook a bird but it always turns out just the way I want it. Can't knock that.
Last week I picked up a whole bird and was thinking of roasting it tandoori style on my little ceramic cone. Well, one thing led to another, we're just finishing a script and there was a little bit of confusion about telling Wednesday from Friday and bang..suddenly it was Sunday and I'd not marinated my bird. What to do? A Rub.
Rubs are great. I mean who doesn't like a massage? If you're a fowl about to be roasted there are worse and far more unhealthy ways to go.
Rubs can be any combination of spices massaged into the meat and left to marinate. Sometimes I top a rub by drizzling chicken breasts or quail with olive oil before cooking. I do the same with other meats or fish. Most of the time I remove the skin before rubbing but in the case of this whole bird, I didn't.
The recipe for this rub is very easy. It only contains three spices, and I originally found it on Epicurious's website years ago and have been using ever since.
1.) 1/2 tsp allspice
2.) 1/2 tsp of cayenne
3.) 1 tsp of salt
black pepper to taste
That's it. Of course you'll need to mix up a larger batch of this rub to cover a whole bird. I usually make up a fairly large amount and keep it in a jar in my larder..for whatever I want to give a spicy rubdown to.
What did I do to get this lovely color? I rinsed and dried the chicken inside and out. Rubbed the cavity and the outside with the dry rub mix then took a lemon, stuck it all over with a fork so the juices would release and uh.....inserted it in the chicken, where the moon don't shine.
After that I mounted him on his little ceramic throne and squeezed the juice of half a lemon over him.
The ceramic throne went into a baking dish with about an inch of water in it and then into a 400 degree preheated oven for about 1 hour and small change.
It was wonderful. The chicken was golden and smoky with spices. Served with a Gujarati carrot salad, some curried small potatoes with eggplant and a raita with boondi...we had a feast.
One of these days I am going to try this tandoor style, but for now I highly recommend it as a lovely,quick and easy early fall lunch or dinner.