Chicken | Rachel's blog

Posts from the ‘Chicken’ category

Coconut Lime Chicken with Sweet Coconut Rice

I’ve been meaning to make this chicken for a while and it did not disappoint (great sauce) but the highlight of this meal was actually the rice! This rice is so full of coconut flavor and is sweet and delicious with a great texture too. I don’t cook rice too often but I will definitely be making this again frequently!

Coconut Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups white or Jasmine rice
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
2 cups water
1.5 tsp Kosher salt
Splash of white vinegar
3 tsp white sugar
Handful of chopped green onions for garnish
Black pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine rice, coconut milk, water, salt, vinegar, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil
Turn heat to low and cover for 20 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Allow to stand 5 minutes.
Add green onions, black pepper (if desired), and additional salt if necessary.

Coconut Lime Chicken

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut flat or pounded flat or cut into thin strips)
3 tbsp oil
zest of 1 lime
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
pinch cayenne
1 small fresh hot chili, such as Thai or Serrano, minced (optional)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Fresh limes, cut into wedges

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except chicken, fresh cilantro, and limes to create marinade.
Add chicken and marinade to a large bowl or ziploc bag and chill in the refrigerator for up to two hours.
Once you are ready to cook the chicken, remove each breast from the marinade.
Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Boil continuously for at least 2 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn.
In a heavy skillet or grill pan, heat a splash of oil over high heat.
Place the breasts in the hot pan and cook without turning for a couple minutes
Flip the breasts over and cook until the other side is golden, it shouldn’t take long depending on the thickness of your chicken.
Sprinkle with fresh lime juice and cilantro. Optional: cut into strips or chunks and serve over rice with sauce on the side.

Chicken Pot Pie

I absolutely love chicken pot pie! I’ll often try to make 2 pies with this recipe so I can have extra because these are awesome leftovers! This time I made 1 regular size pie and a couple mini pies. There are all kinds of chicken pot pie recipes out there but this is my go to and absolute favorite. It’s easy to add or take out different veggies as desired. Sometimes I make my own pie crusts, but for this recipe I usually just buy a pre-made crust. You can cook them in regular pie dishes or deeper dish pans as well.

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
2 medium potatoes, small cubes
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/3 cup milk
4 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts (the recipe often makes enough for 2 pies)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside. If the potatoes are cubed small enough then boil them along with the chicken and other veggies, if not, boil them in a separate pan until they are soft enough to stick a fork in them (but not too mushy)
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Maple Thyme Roast Chicken

Somehow we inherited an enormous quantity of maple syrup when we moved into our new apt. from our friends who had previously lived here. I wanted to find some unique ways to use some of it, instead of eating pancakes every day. I’ve been cooking more whole chickens lately because they’re pretty economical and quite simple to make! This recipe turned out great, especially the crispy maple skin.

Ingredients:

4-lb. whole chicken, rinsed and patted dry
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
a handful of chopped fresh thyme, extra sprigs for garnish
1/8 tsp. cayenne

Directions:

Position a rack in the upper third of oven and heat the oven to 400°F. Rub 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper all over the chicken and set it breast side up in a 9×13-inch baking dish
In a small bowl, whisk the maple syrup, oil, vinegar, thyme, and cayenne with 1 tsp. salt. Pour the mixture evenly over the chicken. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/4 tsp. salt and several grinds of black pepper. Roast the chicken, basting or brushing it occasionally with the pan juices, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the deepest part of the thigh registers 165° to 170°F, 45 to 50 minutes. (Keep an eye on the pan juices; if they seem to be burning, add a couple of tablespoons of water to the bottom of the pan.)
Let the chicken rest for a few minutes, cut it into pieces, drizzle it generously with the pan juices, and serve

Recipe from Fine Cooking

Chicken Biryani

I tried another classic Indian dish out for dinner last night. My coworker and I went to an Indian grocery store last week after work so she could show me which spices and other ingredients she buys when preparing this dish. The spice mix made it quite easy to prepare this dish quickly. I had no idea how much I was supposed to put in but my estimate turned out well! This was a good level of spiciness for me (I prefer moderate spice levels). You could easily add another chili or two to up the spice level if you want. This turned out great, and is much healthier than some other Indian dishes that use a lot of cream. I served it with some boondi raita and homemade naan (which I’ll post later sometime).

Ingredients:

Rice:

1 cup long-grain rice, preferably Basmati
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
2 pinch saffron
2 tablespoons milk

Chicken/Veggies/Sauce:

2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)
1-2 lb chicken, cubed
4 medium chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned)
1 green chili finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 cup yogurt
~2 tbs biryani masala (spice mix from Indian grocery store)
1 head cauliflower, sliced
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
2 tablespoon chopped mint leaves
optional: nut or raisins for topping

Directions:

Rice:

Wash rice gently changing water several times until the water appears clear. For fluffier rice, the rice should be soaked for at least 15 minutes prior to cooking.
Drain the rice and put it into the saucepan. Add water, oil, and salt, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling reduce the heat to low and cover the pan.
Cook about 15 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the water has evaporated. Turn off the heat and fluff the rice with a fork.
For a few minutes soak saffron in warm milk then gently fold the milk into the cooked rice.

Chicken/Veggies/Sauce:

Blend tomatoes to make a puree.
In a bowl add yogurt and spice mix and mix together
Add all the vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, bell pepper, ginger and green chili) to the yogurt. Mix it well then let it marinate for 10 to 15 minutes.
Heat a frying pan with a small amount of oil for cooking the chicken. Season the chicken cubes with salt. Add 1 tsp cumin seeds to the hot oil. After 1 minute, add the chicken and cover. Cook until chicken is cooked through.
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add remaining 1 tsp cumin seeds.
After the cumin seeds crack, add the tomato puree, and cook on medium-high heat. While cooking the tomato puree cover the pan so gravy does not splatter all over the burner. Cook until tomato mixture starts leaving oil and reduces to about half the volume.
Add the marinated vegetables and cooked chicken to tomato puree. Let it cook covered for 10 to 12 minutes on medium heat until vegetables are tender but not mushy. Stir the vegetables in between so they cook evenly.
Mix the vegetables and chicken mixtures with the rice and garnish with chopped mint leaves.

Recipe adapted from Manjulas Kitchen

For the most part I expect to be posting new dishes but I’ll also post some of my favorite recipes and pictures from things I’ve made in the past. I saw a picture of this dish and wanted to make it immediately because it looked so beautiful in the pan. I didn’t have preserved lemons so I just added extra salt to the dish. I loved the combination of flavors in this dish 🙂

Ingredients:

2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 lbs of chicken thighs and legs
Salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
The rind from 1 lemon, cut into thin strips
1 cup green olives, pitted
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Combine all the spices in a large bowl. Pat dry the chicken pieces and put in the bowl, coat well with the spice mixture. Let the chicken stand for one hour in the spices.
Heat the oil in a skillet on medium high heat. Sprinkle the chicken pieces generously with salt and place skin side down in the tagine or skillet for 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Lower the heat to medium-low, add the garlic and onions over the chicken. Cover and let cook for 15 minutes.
Turn chicken pieces over. Add the lemon slices, olives, raisins, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a simmer on medium heat, then lower the heat to low, cover, and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and quite tender.
Mix in fresh parsley and cilantro right before serving. Adjust seasonings to taste.

This recipe came from one of my favorite blogs, Simply Recipes

Chicken Tikka Masala

I ordered take-out Indian food on Friday and was reminded of my decision to try cooking more Indian food after my trip there this summer. I looked up a basic chicken tikka masala recipe and was surprised at how easy it looked. I tried it out last night and the result was amazingly delicious (no wonder, after seeing how much cream goes into it). I would highly recommend trying this out for dinner for a change up from your typical chicken dishes! It is best served with either rice or naan bread (or both!)

Ingredients:

1 cup yogurt
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbs minced fresh ginger
1 tsp salt, or to taste
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tbs butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
½ tsp salt, or to taste
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, garam masala, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Grill or pan fry chicken until cooked through
Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with cumin, paprika, and salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve with rice and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Adapted from allrecipes

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: