Indian Week 2 - Butter Chicken!

Last week I went to a pot luck dinner which had an Indian theme. I prepared some butter chicken and cumin-seasoned rice. The dishes turned out well and I got a couple requests after for the recipe, which whipped me to write up this long overdue entry of what we learned in Week 2's class. This is an authentic recipe from my Indian Chef's grandma. The only alternation that I make is to cut off some of the butter. I like the recipe a lot because it's fairly easy to make (roughly 1hr cook time) and it's a lot healthier than butter chicken that you get in a restaurant as you can control the amount of butter that you put in. 

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, 8-pieced


For Marinade:
15g garlic paste
15g ginger paste
250g greek yogurt
lemon juice from 1 piece
1 tbsp vegetable oil

15g Tandoori spice10g red chili powder
10g cumin powder
10g coriander powder
2.5g turmeric powder
a pinch of orange colour powder
salt/pepper to taste

For Sauce:
1/2 cup butter (usually I just use 2 tbsp)
1 onion, chopped
700mL canned tomatoes, crushed
100mL 35% cream
5g toasted dry Fenugreek leaves
1/2 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
sugar, salt to taste
10g garam masala

Methods

1. mix half garlic/ginger paste, half of the powder spices and everything else from the marinade together and let the chicken sit in it overnight 

2. preheat the oven to 450F, bake the chicken for 20min

3. at the same, heat a hot and melt the butter, brown the onion (takes a good 15-20min to get golden brown at medium heat)

4. add the other half garlic/ginger paste, sweat it for 1min

5. add the second half of the powder spices, stir for 1min

6. add the crushed tomatoes, the leftover marinade if there is any and water to make it to a thick liquid

7. add sugar to adjust the acidity, simmer it for 15min

8. add the cooked chicken, simmer for another 5-10min

9. adjust seasoning with salt/sugar

10. off heat, stir in garam masala, Fenugreek leaves and garnish with cilantro leaves

BBQ Cooking - Week 4: it's all about chicken!

Just like last week's fish-themed class, this week's class was all about chicken! The two main courses were: Roasted BBQ Chicken with Sichuan Peppercorn Rub, and Jerk Chicken Legs. During the same week, I also made Tandoori Chicken in my Indian class. So basically, I was eating chicken for a week straight. I was chicken-saturated as much as a brine solution, but thankfully, each chicken dish was good in its own way, and distinct enough from the others.

Roasted BBQ Chicken with Sichuan Peppercorn Rub

Ingredients

Dry rub mix

30 g Sichuan peppercorns

30 g dried orange peel

Stock ale BBQ sauce

300 mL Millstreet stock or Tankhouse ale

750 mL ketchup

100 mL dijon mustard

5 cloves of garlic

1/2 onion, diced

20 g prepared horse radish

50 mL malt vinegar

10 g chili powder

5 g cayenne pepper

salt, pepper, brown sugar to taste

Butterflied whole chickens that look like being hit by a bus

                       

Methods

1. Cut the whole chicken into halves from the back side, leave the chest side attached

2. Season the chicken with salt/pepper, and rub its surface with olive oil

3. Use a food processor to grind the Sichuan peppercorns and the dried orange peel. Rub the chicken surface with the Dry rub mix

4. To make the BBQ sauce, heat some oil in a pan and sweat the onion and garlic. Add all the other ingredients, stir and reduce to a desired consistency. 

5. Grill the chicken at medium heat for about 15min until it's 80% done. Then brush the chicken surface with the Ale BBQ sauce. Grill each side for a few minutes while repeatedly basting the chicken with the BBQ sauce. 

BBQ chicken with roasted finger potatoes and grilled veggies

Jerk Chicken Legs

Ingredients

 4 large chicken legs

1 can of coconut milk

Marinade

2 bunches of green onions, chopped coarsely

1 bunch of picked thyme

1 large piece of ginger, chopped

3 scotch bonnet peppers (with seeds), halved

20 g crushed black peppercorns

30 mL white vinegar

10 g allspice

5 g ground cinnamon

30 mL molasses

water, used in dilute to get the desired consistency

Methods

1. Mix everything in the marinade together and purée them in a food processor

2. Take some of the mixture to marinade the chicken, at least for a few hours, and save some of the marinade for basting later.

3. Cook the legs slowly on the grill at low heat, baste them with the uncontaminated marinade repeatedly. 

4. During the last ten minutes, brush the legs with coconut milk

I know they look the same, but this is the Jerk. You will just have to take my word for it. 

French-Week 10: Seared duck breasts!

This week was our final French cooking class. According to the recipes in the class notes, we were supposed to make Caneton Roti au Confit d' Airelles Rouge (roasted whole duck). Our chef decided to teach us a bit extra. He roasted one whole duck as the recipe says and for the second duck, he took the breasts and legs off and cooked them separately.  The breasts were pan-seared and served with a cranberry/apple sauce, the legs were made into duck confit. For the duck that I got, I wanted to practice both ways of making the breasts and legs. The seared duck breast was very delicious, however I can't say the same about the duck confit. I accidentally neglected it for too long on the stove, it needs optimization next time. So for now, I will just cover the breast recipe. 

Ingredients

2 duck breasts (marinated overnight with salt/pepper/a splash of Brandy)

For the sauce:

360 g cranberries, chopped

1 cup sugar

2 tsp lemon, rind

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup diced apple

1 cup diced celery

Methods

1. take the marinated breasts, dry the surface

2. heat up a pan, add oil, pan-sear the skin side of the duck breasts first

3. turn the breasts and pan-sear the other side of the breasts 

 * the breasts should be 80% cooked from the skin side, and the rest 20% should be completed  from the other side

4. transfer the breasts to the oven, bake at 375F for 10min for Medium 

5. for the sauce, heat up a different pan, add a bit of water, add sugar and cranberries, lemon zest

6. bring the liquid in the sauce to a boil, then simmer for for 1hr to reduce the volume 

7. add in the diced apple right before the sauce is ready

* on the duck, I added a bit of warm fig jam which turned out to be a great addition!