Recipes

Foji’s Indian Chicken

March 20, 2012 By April 2 Comments

Some of you may not know, but my ex husband is Indian, from India not American Indian. For years I have enjoy cuisine. I am grateful I was able to learn how to cook a little bit of Indian food from my ex’s family. My son loves when I cook it for him at home. He says it’s delicious but not as good as when his dad’s family cooks for him, LOL! Anyway, this dish is LEGENDARY in my ex’s family. It’s his uncle’s creation, hence Foji’s Chicken. Foji is the Indian word for uncle. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t love this dish.

Ingredients

8-12 skinless pieces of chicken legs, or 6 breasts
3 cans fire roasted tomatoes, pureed in blender-optional*
1 large chopped onion, pureed in blender-optional*
5 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 inch of ground ginger
2-3 ground garlic cloves
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp Shan chicken curry powder
2 tsp cumin

Directions

Saute onions in oil on medium high heat and add cinnamon and cloves. After onions are caramelized, add tomatoes and let simmer for five minutes. Add Shan chicken curry powder, garlic, ginger, cumin, and garam masala then let simmer for five minutes. Add approximately 8-12 skinless chicken pieces, whichever pieces are your favorite will work. Foji usually uses legs. I used breasts and it was delicious, too. If you use breasts, I would cut them in half and only use six. Turn burner down to low and let simmer for 45 minutes and stir every 20 minutes or so. After simmering and chicken is cooked through, check for salt and add if needed.

This dish is not hot but it is spicy. But don’t let that deter you from trying it. If you are afraid it might be too spicy for you, buy or make plain yogurt when you are purchasing the ingredients. That is what my ex’s family use to take the spiciness of a dish down a few notches. Just put a good 2-3 tbsp dollop onto of your chicken and sauce and mix in to cool it off.

Serve this dish with basmati rice, or white rice if it’s all you have. When you prepare the rice, add about 4 cloves to the pot while you are cooking the rice. This is very typical to do when cooking rice. In the picture above I used saffron rice to serve with. Also, I added a can of chick peas to my chicken mixture. My son and I love them. It only made it better to us! I also added 1 tsp of turmeric but you can leave this off if you don’t like it.

Are you brave enough to try and make Indian food?

Shared on the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.

Pin It

Filed Under: Family, Featured, Food & Fitness, Recipes Tagged With: healthy cooking, indian chicken, single mom kitchen

Homemade Kimchi

March 20, 2012 By April 2 Comments

I LOVE kimchi! I especially love it with Asian noodles, a little grilled beef, and an egg over easy like I used to have at a mom and pop Korean restaurant where I went to college years ago. I have made it a few times before with variations on the traditional recipe and really didn’t like them that much. I researched several recipes in hopes of recreating traditional kimchi without Korean chili powder, trying to be cheap and not buy an ingredient! I have to say this version is pretty great.

Ingredients:

1 head of napa cabbage
2 tbsp dried, minced onions-1 fresh bunch of scallions is better but I didn’t have any
1/2 inch grated ginger
1 clove grated garlic
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/8 cup of siracha
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
Kosher salt

Directions:

Core the cabbage by cutting the head in quarters then cut the core out. Slice each wedge in 1 inch wide strips. Place cabbage in large colander/strainer bowl with enough salt to liberally coat all pieces. Set inside sink or another container to catch the water that leeches from the cabbage. Stir cabbage once an hour for approximately four hours. Wash cabbage thoroughly to remove salt. Then use your hands or a salad spinner to squeeze excess water out of cabbage.

Place cabbage in mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pack the kimchi mixture tightly down into a container so there are no air bubbles trapped underneath the mixture. Leave 1-2 inches of head space between the cabbage and the lid. Place the lid on the container then let sit in a cool, dry place for 2-3 days.

The batch pictured above never really bubbled up. But, usually when I make kimchi it does. Check for mold and any other signs of something amuck. If the mixture is bubbly, or not, but smells like spicy, sour cabbage, it’s eating time! Place container in refrigerator and enjoy.

Have you ever tried kimchi?

Shared on the Heart and Soul Blog Hop.

Pin It

Filed Under: Featured, Food & Fitness, Recipes Tagged With: health, healthy cooking, homemade kimchi, single mom kitchen

Freezer Cooking

March 12, 2012 By April 5 Comments

This past week I have done some batch freezer cooking every time I’ve been in the kitchen. Recipes I’ve put away are 6 breakfast burritos, 18 beef and bean burritos, and 6 chicken verde taquitos. Plus, I pre-chopped 5 pounds of onions, 6 bell peppers, and 3 zucchini for the freezer. Here are the recipes if you are interested.

Breakfast burritos: 7 whole wheat flour 6″ tortillas, 14 eggs-scrambled, 14 turkey sausage links-chopped, 1 box of frozen spinach-sqeezed completely dry, and 1 cup of any kind of cheese you like.

I did not season the scrambled eggs. I try to use very little sodium. Plus, I used pepper jack cheese which is full of flavor. I mixed all the ingredients together then scooped approximately 1/2 cup onto each tortilla shell and rolled up.

Tip: These are decent sized breakfast burritos, not huge, but decent. You can cut these in half with a serrated bread knife before you microwave it and just eat half with a piece of fruit yogurt and coffee and have a very filling, nutritious breakfast and make the burritos last longer.

Beaf and Bean Burritos: 8 inch flour tortillas, 1 lb of fajita seasoned ground beef with onions and peppers, 1 cup chopped zucchini, 1 bag of birdseye southwestern seasoned rice-or 2 cups of any rice your have that is precooked, 1 bag of black beans-2 cups-cooked from scratch, 1 cup of cheese, and 1 can of diced tomatoes.

I always cook my beans from scratch to control the sodium and seasonings. To reduce gas and stomach upset, I recommend the quick soak method on the back of most dry bean bags. It has worked every time I make a pot of beans. For these black beans I added light salt, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and chili powder, not much because the meat has fajita seasoning. When the beans are finished I completely drain them. I just browned the ground beef and drained it. Then in the same pan I sauteed the onions, peppers and zucchini. I saute separately so the grease from the beef doesn’t absorb into the vegetables. Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl. Lay out each tortilla shell and scoop approximately 3/4 cup of the mixture onto the shell. Fold over one side of the shell to cover the bean mixture, then fold in the ends, then roll the shell on over and close it up. This makes a sort of pocket burrito with a square shape.

Tip: I plan on serving these with a guaca salad and fruit for a nutritious, quick lunch.

Chicken Verde Taquitos: 6 whole wheat tortilla shells, 2 cans chicken breast meat-drained, 1 box frozen spinach-completely squeezed dry, 1 package cream cheese, and 1 can of diced green chiles.

Mix together all ingredients. Scoop approximately 1/2 cup of mixture onto tortilla and form into a thin, long strip. Tightly roll up tortilla and place in freezer bag.

Tip: I plan on baking these on my pizza stone and spraying with smart balance cooking spray. This will save calories by not frying them in grease as is the traditional preparation but not sacrifice any of the brown crispy goodness. I will also be serving these with guaca salad.

What are recipes you use for freezer/batch cooking?

Pin It

Filed Under: Featured, Recipes, Time Saving Food Prep Ideas Tagged With: batch cooking, beef and bean burrito, breakfast burrito, chicken verde taquitos, freezer cooking, healthy cooking, single mom kitchen

Homemade Ketchup

March 8, 2012 By April 7 Comments

You guys might remember my huge canned tomato purchase. When I bought all those tomatoes this is what I had in mind. I was down to my last bottle of ketchup and knew I wanted to start making it from scratch to control the amount of sugar. I have to say it’s very easy to make your own. And even though I didn’t get crazy with my seasoning, you can flavor it any way you want and start with a blank palette.

These are the ingredients:

Canned tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, brown sugar, onion, garlic powder, cinnamon, onion powder, cloves, and nutmeg.

First of all, I had some grape tomatoes starting to shrivel up in the fridge I wanted to use so I included those. I think you can use any type of brown sugar you have on hand. You could even use honey, agave nectar, truvia, stevia, sucanat, or whatever sweetener you choose. If you are a splenda user, you can use that, too. I am trying to abstain from splenda from now on myself.

A little tip I use in the kitchen, when I saute veggies I add one tsp of fat and water to soften the vegetables. This way, I don’t use much fat, the veggies get soft and caramelize and the water helps the little bit of oil spread and cover everything to keep it from sticking too badly.

The first thing I did was saute my onions and grape tomatoes. I cooked them until all the tomatoes had burst and the onions were soft and clear and starting to caramelize.

Then I added all of the canned tomatoes and juice and cooked until the pot come to a small boil. While this was happening, I got out a big bowl, my fine mesh strainer, and my blender for the fun to come.

If there was a part to making ketchup that was negative it would have to be this: tomatoes stain everything, including immersion blenders! I used my now pink immersion blender to puree all the tomatoes and onions. Word to the wise, make sure you use your immersion blender appropriately and don’t lose attention for a second. Otherwise your kitchen will have ketchup splatter all over it. Like this:

I was cleaning tomatoes off the stove, the wall behind the stove, the cabinets above the stove, and my utensils and containers sitting around on the counter, too. I’m not even going to show you a picture of the shirt I had on!

After everything is pureed nicely, I decided to still run everything through the blender just to make sure. Because not only did my immersion blender get stained, it got warped as well. Don’t ask…..

Once blended, I passed the mixture through my trusty strainer I use for gazpacho, tomato juice and homemade tomato soup. This step is necessary for the ketchup to have the right end consistency. I poured the strained tomato mixture back into the pot and started to add the seasonings. I didn’t measure anything. Don’t let that scare you if you aren’t as comfortable experimenting in the kitchen or as comfortable with your culinary skills as I am. It’s really easy. You just do it to your taste. You add vinegar, approximately 1/4 cup for the sized batch I made. Then add sugar. I added 1/2 cup brown sugar to start with. As I added other seasonings and cooked the mixture down to reduce I would add things along as my tongue seen fit, including more sugar! I ended up using 3/4 cup of brown sugar for this batch. For personal taste likes and health reasons I added a touch or turmeric. I ground fresh cinnamon and cloves in my spice blender, approximately 1/2 tsp each. And I used my microplane grater to shave some nutmeg in, maybe 1/8 tsp. Last thing I added was 1 tsp each of garlic powder and onion powder.

If I had a word of advice, I would say save the garlic powder til the end and TASTE! I ended up putting too much garlic powder but it still tastes good. Start with 1/4 tsp of garlic powder. Also, remember I said you can put whatever flavors in it you like? This would be a great time to add chili flakes or anything else you like.

I will definitely continue making batches of ketchup and tweak the recipe as I go. You should know you can use this ketchup to can with your regular vegetables if you put up food in jars. I made a small batch so it will just go in the fridge for now. And, be prepared for the smell. Your house will smell like hot ketchup for the day.

Anyone have flavors, ingredients or recipes for your favorite homemade ketchup?

Pin It

Filed Under: Featured, Food & Fitness, Recipes Tagged With: canned tomatoes, from scratch cooking, homemade ketchup, single mom kitchen

Greek Salad

February 20, 2012 By April 2 Comments

I wanted to share this recipe with you quickly this morning because of how fabulous it turned out to be. Do you ever just go to the kitchen to fix something for lunch but really don’t want the same old thing? I do that sometimes. The other day when I made this up was one of those days. I had some red potatoes and feta cheese that needed to be used so I thought let’s make some sort of Greek salad. It ended up being a ‘kitchen sink’ Greek salad. I used drained, diced tomatoes, green beans, grilled chicken chunks, Almond Accents almond slivers, and Greek vinaigrette. I put some extra oregano in, because that’s a typical Greek ingredient. And it ended up delicious!