Indian Spiced Chicken

Today for lunch, we went to a local indian restaurant. It was amazing. I have not had indian food in years, other than that which I have cooked myself, so it was quite memorable....and filling.

This trip got me in the mood to cook today, so I picked up some chicken and delved into my spices and came up with something that was tasty!

Ingredients:
2 Chicken Breasts
Vegetable Oil
Sesame Seeds
Turmeric/Tumeric
Garam Masala
Hot Smoked Spanish Paprika
Cumin
Coriander
Ground Black Pepper
Cloves
Cardamom Pods
Fenugreek Seeds
Garlic Salt
Pearl Couscous

So I grabbed a metal mixing bowl and mixed together everything but the Vegetable Oil, Pearl Couscous, and Chicken Breasts. I did not include an amount on the spices because everyone should have fun with this recipe and mix together what you think is right! Once that was mixed, I took my large saucepan and poured in around 2 cups of the Vegetable Oil. I then turned the heat to medium-high and turned to the chicken.

You should be able to trim the Chicken Breasts and cut them into smaller portions/chunks in time to turn around and add the spice mix to the oil. The oil should be about to boil at this point. I turn the heat down to about medium when I add the spices in. Mix them together as best you can.

Once that is done, add the chicken in. Let cook for about a minute, then flip the chicken. Do this periodically until you think it's done, which should be no more than 10 minutes. However, cut a piece to check so you do not get sick!

I also used my rice cooker to cook up some Pearl Couscous (1.5 cups Couscous: 2 cups water) and had that with the Chicken. It was very tasty and I am lucky enough to have some for my lunch tomorrow! Enjoy!

Tasty Summertime Tomato Sauce

This tomato sauce was kind of just thrown together with what was in my kitchen and I decided it was tasty enough that it needed to be put up here!

Ingredients:
6 Greenhouse Tomatoes
4 Carrots
4 sm Sweet White Onions
1 md Red Onion
1 Green Bell Pepper
2 Anaheim Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers (cored)
Italian Herb Mix
Garlic Salt
Cumin/Coriander
Tumeric

I started with 6 Greenhouse Tomatoes and pureed them in my trusty Food Processor. Added to this was 4 Carrots, also pureed in the food processor. All put into a large saucepan, with the heat on medium.

After I had those two ingredients in the saucepan, I proceeded to use my food processor to chop up 4 small Sweet Onions, 1 Red Onion, 1 Green Bell Pepper, 2 Anaheim Peppers, and 2 Jalapeno Peppers(cored). Then I stirred them all together and added about 3/4 cup of Dark Beer. Stir.

Once I had all of that stirred to an even consistency, I grabbed the spices. My Italian Herb Mix went in first, about 3 spoonfuls. Then I added Garlic Salt, maybe 2 spoonfuls...maybe. Here I added Ground Cumin/Coriander and Tumeric. About 2 spoonfuls of each. Stir heavily. Let cook with semi frequent stirring for about 10 minutes, then turn off heat and serve at your discretion. I served them with some sliced Sourdough Bread. Enjoy!

Tangy BBQ Sauce

I meant to post this the other day, however time got away from me once again. I attempted to make my own BBQ sauce....I say it's a success.

Ingredients:
1.5 cup Ketchup
1.5 cup Red Wine Vinegar
0.5 cup Water
2 Tsp Spicy Brown Mustard
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tsp Ground Tumeric
1/4 cup Ground Black Pepper
2 pinches Oregano
2 pinches Sage
2 pinches Thyme
2 pinches Basil

Pretty much just get a mixing bowl and add the ingredients in starting from the top of the list. You can adjust the rest of it to your own tastes. Also, using a blender or food processor could help out.

Side Note: Potatoes are great with this BBQ sauce!

Salsa Spectacular!

Had a relaxing weekend and today I decided to make some salsa. Two different kinds really. I didn't think one kind would do it, however the second is almost half salsa - half arriabata sauce.



Verde Salsa

Ingredients:
4 Roma Tomatoes
2 Med. Yellow Onions
2 Poblano Peppers
3 Anaheim Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers
2 spoonfuls of Spice Mix

Spice Mix:
McCormick's Steak Seasoning
Garlic Salt
Tumeric Powder
Curry Powder
Marjoram
Oregano
Basil
Ground Black Pepper
Ground Cumin
Ground Allspice
Ground Nutmeg

The Spice Mix is pre-mixed together and was mixed in once everything else was mixed together. The Ingredients were added in the order listed, top to bottom. The Roma's, Onions, and Peppers were all diced up/almost pureed in a food processor first.

Mix together and serve with tortilla chips. I used Tostito's Scoops since they are the best for salsa if you ask me.

Roja Salsa

Ingredients:
6 Roma Tomatoes
1 Lg. White Onion
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
3 Hungarian Wax Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers
3 spoonfuls of Spice Mix*

*Spice Mix is same as listed above. I keep it in a jar since I tend to use it a lot.

The Roma's were pureed in my food processor, along with the onion, wax peppers, and jalapeno's. The bell peppers were just diced up by hand. What makes this one very different is that once the tomatoes and onion were ready, they went into a saucepan. I turned on the heat to medium and added in the bell peppers, then the wax peppers, finally the jalapeno's. On top of all that, the spice mix. I stirred it all together, as well as every few minutes for about 10 minutes. Then turned heat off and it was ready for serving, also with Tostito's Scoops.

Indian Spice, Oriental Nice

So in addition to the Portobello's cooked tonight, I found some large White Button mushrooms causing trouble in my kitchen. They had to be cooked unless total anarchy break out!

I grabbed my cutting board and quickly severed the stems from the mushrooms by hand, placing the stems on the cutting board and caps to the side. Once this was done, I grabbed one of my kitchen knives and proceeded to chop up the stems into small pieces.

At this point, I grabbed my large saucepan (freshly cleaned for some odd reason?) and lined up the liquid portion of what they will be cooked in...sake, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, lime juice, and a small portion of spicy mustard. This all goes into the pan right as I turned on the burner to just above medium. Add the spices in and stir to make sure it mixed properly. Give it about thirty seconds before next step.

Add the diced up mushroom stems, stir into mixture of spices and such.

Leave the stems alone in there and grab your mushroom caps. Place these all gill side down. Cover saucepan. Proceed to have a drink or water (or something stronger perhaps?) because cooking is hard work!

Ok, your minute is up. Now uncover the mushrooms and flip them over so the gills face upwards. Leave it uncovered and enjoy the aroma fill your kitchen and beyond.

Let them cook this way until they are spongy, then take off to serve. The stems you mix in with the caps either on top of them or to the side, either way they will be tasty.

Spice Mix:
Oriental Hot Mustard Powder
Ground Tumeric Powder
Ground Black Pepper
Curry Powder
Shredded Tarragon Leaves
Smoked Hot Spanish Paprika
Garlic Salt

Doppelbock Portobello's

Tonight brought about another experiment at using beer to pair with food. I chose to use a local beer, Rahr Brewery's The Regulator, which is a Doppelbock.

So I used a mix of spices which mainly consisted of Hot Oriental Mustard Powder, Ground Tumeric, Ground Black Pepper, Garlic Salt, and Smoked Hot Spanish Paprika.

I had a metal mixing bowl filled about 1/2 way with Rahr doppelbock, then put the mushrooms in for about 20 minutes.

After that I started up the burner for my large saucepan. In this went the mushrooms, gill side down, and most of the beer they soaked in, about 1/2 way up on the mushrooms.

Then about 1/2 the spice mix on the mushroom caps.

Wait about 2 minutes, flip mushrooms, then put rest of spice mix on top.

Wait about 2 minutes, they should be close to being done. You can tell this by checking if they are all spongey, if so they are done. If not, keep cooking.

OPTIONAL: the stalks of the mushrooms you can dice up and just add into the mixture. Also, topping with shredded cheese is always a nice way to add a little extra.

Chef's Choice Chili

So as many of my friends around here know, I absolutely LOVE to make chili. I love it. I make it a lot during the colder months, however after making the Tomato Sauce yesterday, I decided that I have gone too long without chili.



Homemade Tomato Sauce:
-Get your soup pot or large saucepan depending on how much you are making. Mine filled a large saucepan since I did not make my normal amount(about 1/2 of normal).
-Mix all your spices together in a bowl to your liking, or straight in the pot like The Chef does. I went heavy on the basic ingredients as well as the Tumeric and Cajun Perfect Pinch. The rest I went light on since they are just there to smooth out all the flavors.

-Now that your spice mix is making your kitchen smell amazing, onto the food processing happy times! Basically I like my chili smooth with not a LOT of huge chunks in it. The order I processed was Roma's, Greenhouse Tomatoes, Onion, Carrots, Poblano Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers. Add to pot as you go, turn the heat on med-high when you add the Roma's and stir them in with the spices. A little olive oil will smooth it out if necessary.

-Grab your grouping of green onions and dice them up almost to the white part. You can put the green onion's roots into water and they will grow back! Add to pot.

-Stir everything together evenly and turn to medium heat. Once it starts boiling, change the temperature to low or simmer.

-Let simmer for about an hour, then it should be tasty enough to eat!

Homemade Tomato Sauce:
6 Roma Tomatoes
2 Greenhouse Tomatoes
1 White Onion (Large)
2 Jalapeno Peppers
2 Poblano Peppers
4 Carrots
1 cup diced Green Onions

Spices for Tomato Sauce:
Cayenne Pepper*
Chili Powder*
Garlic Salt*
Ground Cumin*
Ground Allspice
Ground Cloves
Paprika*
Celery Salt
Ground Black Pepper*
Ancho Chili Powder*
Ground Tumeric Powder
Curry Powder
Mesquite Seasoning*
Perfect Pinch Seasoning - Cajun

*are the basics, the rest are choice ingredients.

For Chef's Choice Chili:
-First get a pot the size you think you need for the chili, or maybe a little bigger.

-Get your pound of ground beef and brown it in the pan with Lowry's Seasoning, maybe some butter too if you love calories as much as I do!

-Once the beef is all browned and tasty smelling (yes take a sample to make sure, you know you want to!), you get your tomato sauce and add it directly into the pot. Stir.

-Use food processor for white onion, then add it in. Stir. Let it cook on low to medium-low for about 30 minutes.

-That time frame is just a rough estimate of time needed, so whenever your frequent tastings of it say it is done just dish it out.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 White Onion
Lowry's Seasoning
Shredded Cheese