Chicken and Butternut Salad

 

 

I’m chilling in the coffee shop/restaurant Ginger and Fig, in Pretoria. I’ve just hooked up to the wi-fi and the password code is the funniest I’ve heard in a while. The story of Ginger and Fig is a very cool one. Although the owner (he is a ginger) does not fit the profile of the story. He looks very much like Lucas Parker of Crossfit fame, and someone not to F#$* with.

The food is very good, lovely ambiance and the coffee is at this date my favourite in Pretoria, eclipsing Haloa, Vintage coffee and Lucky bread by the fairest of margins. They use Doubleshot coffee beans which is locally roasted in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, #supportlocal. I would certainly recommend this place for an all-round experience.    

There is so much I’ve wanted to share but the time and my own personal laziness have prevented the outpouring of my knowledge. This recipe was born out of items that I had in my freezer but not particularly fond of. The chief culprit, chicken fillet. Why oh! why did we buy chicken fillet. All the best proponents of the chicken have been removed, bones, skin etc. It’s like a laboratory generated meat with a propensity to not cook properly. The weirdest thing is that we pay more for it. Rant aside I hope to have worked out a recipe using one of my disliked ingredients with another childhood phobic word, i.e. SALAD.

The recipe also uses an air fryer (marketing beguilement of note), to complete a trifecta of pet hates. Last rant-tjie (synonym in English/Afrikaans for small rant) I promise………for now. On to the recipe!

Ingredients

·         Chicken fillets (250g), cut into cubes

·         1 tsp chilli flakes

·         1 tsp freshly ground pepper

·         1 “medium” butternut, cut into blocks (apologies for the term medium, I do not even know how to describe the butternut size used)

·         1 green pepper

·         3 Tbsp Olive Oil

·         1 small red onion (cut into cubes)

·         3 Tbsp Feta (crumpled)

Method

·         Mix chicken fillets, chilli flakes and pepper and place in air fryer for 13mins @ 220 deg C (ensure that the fillets are cooked)

·         Remove chicken and place in bowl

·         Add butternut to air fryer and cook for 15mins @ 220 deg C

·         Place green pepper and olive oil with chicken in bowl and mix around

·         After 15mins add onions and coconut oil to butternut and mix around, then place in air fryer for 20mins.

·         After 20mins, remove butternut and onion and combine with chicken.

·         Add Feta and serve…….Either hot or cold!!

Bon appetite!!

 

Beef Karai Potjie

These days (last 5 years) I really enjoy eating a chicken Karai. This is a Pakistani dish with very wholesome flavours. Karai is also the name given to a kind of “indian style” wok to cook over the fire. You might immediately notice that the heading and the small knowledge snippet have discrepancies. For one it is beef and not chicken. The cooking apparatus is named twice. This doesn’t bode well for a simple/wholesome dish (my cooking mantra).

There a method in my naming convention. Beef is the meat used in the dish (obviously), Karai in this case does not point to the cooking apparatus but rather the recipe and the potjie is the cooking methodology/apparatus. This is a kind of Afrikaans/Pakistani fusion dish.

For all my adoring fans, you might be wondering why I went AWOL instead of me going on about the recipe, well in a nut shell, I visited Morocco with my better quarter and so did not get the opportunity to blog, and sadly my tagine that I bought was confiscated at Morocco customs for no particular reason, but the country is flippen awesome.

I found this recipe via google for chicken and have used it on a number of occasions. When making this dish with fresh ingredients the taste is amazing. When I eat out I have to look for an alternate recipe since I much prefer my own homemade chicken karai.

This was an experiment to use the same chicken recipe with beef and same procedure but in a potjie. Let’s just say the flavour was amazing. The recipe has been scaled for a potjie.

Ingredients:

• ·         3 Tbsp butter

• ·         3 cloves garlic, crushed and diced

• ·         2 Tbsp ginger, diced

• ·         5 tomatoes, liquidised

• ·         3 chillies chopped up (mild heat)

• ·         2 tsp turmeric

• ·         2 tsp salt

• ·         1kg beef chopped in small pieces (I prefer approximately 20mm cubes)

• ·         1 handful/bunch of coriander (or any other meaningless measurement of size)

Method:

• ·         Place empty potjie onto fire, let pot heat up

• ·         Add butter, ginger and garlic until garlic changes into a brownish colour (not burnt)

• ·         Add tomatoes, chillies, turmeric and salt – stir and let water substance reduce to a Jam like texture

• ·         Add Beef, mix and cook until tender

• ·         Add coriander and serve!



Served with Aubergine salad

 

 

Beef Potjie and potjie event

You might remember from a previous post where I prepared a springbok potjie. Today is also a potjie recipe but it is very easy. What I would like to convey in addition to the meal recipe is an event "recipe". The event in this case is a potjie event.

As with most of my posts this begins with a little rant. I remember my mom going through a lot of effort and stress preparing for the arrival of guests for a meal and/or stay over. Once the guest arrived the entire time would be lots of fun and some of my best memories are from those occasions. In a way it feeds the notion great reward comes with hard work. I recently witnessed this "pre-event stress" and this time tried to argue that all this effort was unnecessary. The general reply was "what would people think off me". This response is also a core problem with people hitting the gym and starving themselves trying to look "good" based on what people "expect", another rant for another time......the vanity effect.

The point I was making is that generally people visit because they want to experience your company, robust debate, catch up, plan, partake in good fortune (baby, wedding), just have fun etc. You as a person or couple or family already bring the main ingredients of a good time, the snacks or meal which causes the major amount of stress is not even discussed or there is a passing comment, "compliments to the chef" which takes all of 1% of the total face to face/event time. These points can be debated but essentially life is too short to sweat the little stuff. Question, " How many people rave about the meat/salad/décor at a braai/barbeque?"..........huh?............I hope my point is made!

Potjie Event Recipe

• Rule 1: Decide on the fly what to place in the potjie and buy those raw ingredients beforehand eg: beef, carrots, oil, potatoes, chicken etc (Marco-ingredients)
• Rule 2: Start fire when guests arrive. I have attached some pictures below on how I start a fire, its clean and takes advantage of the fire's abilities to spread (bush veld fires is an example, little human intervention), this takes about 1 to 1.5 hrs before the heat is raging.

Step 1: Place charcoal (not briquettes) into braai, place blitz on charcoal (I used a old potjie as my braai stand) 

Step 2: Light blitz

Step 3: Let blitz burn out

Step 4: Place potjie on heat source (The fire will spread over time on its own)

• Rule 3: Prepare Potjie with guests (Refer to recipe below)
• Rule 4: Insert Potjie onto fire (weather raging or not)
• Rule 5: Decide on drinks and/or snacks and go pick it up (Generally I offer, cold water, biltong (Jerky) and nuts, normal snacks I have at home) 
• Rule 6: Sit around and chat, throw a ball (of any shape) with the kids/ friends, jump in the pool or whatever the guests came over for, look at the baby, wedding photos, movies (Lord of the rings marathon with Potjie.....what an idea!!)
• Rule 7: Do not disturb potjie until about 3 to 4 hours in, and check if it ready.
• Rule 8:Dish, Eat, continue conversation and have fun.
• Rule 9: Keep dishes to a minimum, hence I enjoy disposable plates and eat with my hands

I know I call them "RULES" they are more suggestions but this process combines the prep and guest visit into one. Also the other plus side is that your guests do not feel inadequate (Unless they are soulless mother fathers) because of your pre-event prep. It is just loads of fun. On to the recipe!

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp ginger
4 Tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
3 cardamom
1 stick cinnamon
1-2kg beef
2 onion
2 tomatoes
4 sprigs tyme and rosemary
Green beans and carrot (This is your choice and depended on space in potjie)
Sprinkle of salt for end

Method:
Liquidise garlic, ginger, 1 Tbsp coconut oil, salt, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon
Marinate beef in paste from above step
Insert 3 Tbsp coconut oil into pot
Insert onions cut into blocks
Insert beef
Liquidise and insert tomatoes
Tie rosemary and type into bunch and insert into pot
Place green beans and carrots
Sprinkle salt at the end
NB: The prep is layered and to not disturb the potjie with spoon in the middle of the cooking time
Cover and place potjie onto fire
Cook for 2-4 hours depending on potjie depth and intensity of fire
Dish and enjoy!

Spinach - slaw

Spinach......the coolest thing about spinach growing up was popeye. This leafy vegetable has been getting a hard time since most of us were juniors. It might have even been classed in the same realm as broccoli. Personally I enjoyed a creamy spinach but the cream part is generally considered unhealthy. One of my good friends from a town called Kathu (yes there is a town by that name in SA), showed me a really nice white sauce and I might place it on this blog in the future with her blessing.

Anyhow almost all the dishes that I have been inserting into this blog have mostly been mains. This dish can be eaten as a main but generally makes a good side. The thing I do not enjoy about spinach is that it takes quite abit time to process the leaf and once you cook it the output is very little relative to the effort. The raw taste is rather bitter and generally people of the sub-continent persuasion will curry it.

What I like about this recipe is that it is quite quick to make, volume-ous, maintains a small crunch and compliments protein mains quite well if needed.

The ingredients can be adjusted to the desired feel and taste

Ingredients:
1 bunch of spinach (a bunch is such an arbitrary measurement, since the bunch "size" is determined by the grocer. "my grocer is better than yours?")
1 handful macadamia nuts (I just had these at home, much cheaper than the other types of nuts, I suppose it could work with other nuts. A peanut is a legume, not a nut nut)
5 Tbsp Olive oil
5 Tbsp Greek Yoghurt
2 cloves garlic

Method:
Remove spinach leaf from stork
Place leaves (obviously after it have been washed), macadamia nuts, olive oil, yoghurt and garlic into blender (food processor)
Blend to desired consistency
You can add in salt if you feel the taste is too natural

Voila and enjoy!

Vegetable "Lasagna"

I'm sure you might have guessed by the use of quotation marks that this is not a true Lasagna, in fact this is more a bake recipe. I've never really been a fan of lasagna, if I was going to indulge in a carb it might as well be a briyani!

The reason I decided to name this dish a lasagna is because when I visited Italian restaurants, my fellow patrons would order a pasta based dish or pizza and I would have some sort of veg bake. This dish is similar to a veg bake but is oh soo good and not that difficult to eat.

The other issue is that I do not consider a pasta a natural food, obviously its made with flour, its like limp bread when cooked.

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
1 yellow or red pepper (bell type), diced
1 spring rosemary
2 cardamon
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 clove garlic smashed and sliced
2 cups mushrooms sliced
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup cheese

Method
Place pot on stove with slow heat 20% of total stove rating
Place oil, onion, pepper, rosemary, cardamon, salt and garlic into pot
Cook until onion is "soft/glazy"
Add mushroom and cook until flavor smell is strong
Add Greek yogurt and just mix until yogurt warms up but does not cuddle
Pour mixture into baking tin and layer cheese on that (dishes, I simply do like that)
Insert in oven on grill for 10 mins or when there is a crispy layer of cheese on top
Remove, serve and enjoy

Enjoy!

"Fried Chicken Wings"

Well this week I've shown glimpses of my inefficiencies and this post contradicts my high horse rant of the last Friday post (AND I contradicted the rant within the post). Essentially I am one day late with my "weekly" recipe post and I did not upload a post related to Project LOL. I have let down my readers and for that I am sincerely sorry. I cannot promise it would not happen again but at least I hope to convey how serious I take my breach of trust. I have essentially taken my (metaphorical) high horse shot it and preparing it for a future recipe.

Enough self depreciating fluffy stuff, on to the recipe! This recipe was born from my indulgences in hot wings. I have featured this recipe on my previous blog, but I do not want to deny my new readers the joy for "Fired" chicken.

I use the devious marketing gimmick the "Airfryer". The recipe itself is very simple and I sincerely hope you enjoy. The only draw back to this recipe is that you might create a few more extra dishes and make a little mess on the preparation table.

Ingredients:
8 Chicken Wings
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 heaped table spoons of desiccated coconut

Method
Crack and beat egg and place in bowl
Combine salt, pepper and desiccated coconut in another separate bowl
Dip chicken wing (hopefully washed and dried) in egg and then in dry coconut mixture
Place in air fryer and cook for 40mins at 220 degree C
Check on the wings 10mins before time to ensure that the outer crust is crispy

Voila and enjoy!

"Fish and Chips"

Here I go with another post which is not quite as it should seem hence the quotation marks. I apologize for leading my readership on. I believe that if you change your life style ,"lifestyle change" so rotund people don't feel down, you should embrace it wholeheartedly and not look for something that is "just like". Have cauliflower rice for what it is cauliflower rice and NOT because it must replace regular rice. Nothing replaces the real ma-coy. Find dishes that you enjoy making and eating and leave it at that. IF you find a substitute you always have that link to something you were trying to change. Something like smoking and the twisp revolution.

After that ideology I present "fish and chips" which contradicts every thing I wrote in the previous paragraph. The problem is I'm not sure how to name this dish. The dish tastes awesome for what it is but cannot replace a good 'ol Hout bay fish and chips (fresh, batter dipped and fried).

The appliance that makes the chips portion possible is the result of marketing wizardry and has been named the "air fryer". In truth this is just a compact convection oven but in the soulless world of money anything goes to make money right? It worked and I bought one and it makes some wonderful food but lets get something straight it does not replace deep fried (see above paragraph). As you can see from the picture my air fryer is a white one and does not look like the currently trendy Phillips black one (among South African's of Indian ancestry is my personal reference). The Phillips black one looks like Darth Vader and mine looks more like the storm trooper. And true to the storm trooper motto it is slightly cheaper and feels a little inferior in quality but works just fine.

For the people that like a little speed in terms of the preparation of their food this recipe works quite well. And onto the recipe-



The chips:
Ingredients
1 medium Aubergine (cut into "chip" shape)
1 Tbsp coconut oil or olive oil or 2 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp dried herbs

Method
Mix aubergine, oil, salt, pepper and herbs
Place in air fryer for 30 mins at 220 degrees C from cold
Take out mix and inspect
place for another 10 mins to crisp if required

The Fish:
Ingredients
1 can sardines in brine
1 Tbsp coconut oil/olive oil or 2 Tbsp melted butter
1 whole chili
1 tsp garam masala

Method
Place oil and whole chili in flat pan and heat up on medium heat
once oil is hot add garam masala
once spice is sizzling and strong aroma's arising from pan
add drained sardine and cook until the edges of the fish are crisp

Combine both dishes and enjoy!

Chicken Wing "Stir fry"

The question on what determines a stir fry? is it the wok, use of soy sauce, thai paste or that someone from asia should cook it. Ethnically geographically I'm close enough and cook with a wok to warrant the use of the term. I should Google the requirements but I'll leave that to my knowledgeable audience.

We (Wife and myself) received this electric wok (Is the use of an electrical wok cheating, probably) as a wedding present. It is simply one of the best appliances we own and the only wedding appliance that has survived The Cull.

The Cull is spring cleaning on steroids, in a nut shell anything we don't use was disposed off by any means. 15 random appliances including old heaters, pots, pans, brand new cutlery sets even our dining table was cut down. We did make a DIY table that suited our requirements. (I should blog that)

This wok uses about 1.5 KW of energy and generally wok cooking is quite quick, so assume 30 mins cooking time and an Eskom rate of R5.00 pKWh (This is an illustrative cost, actual cost should be lower), which works out to R3.75 for a cooking session. You can also control the heat of the wok and I cook at about 30% of full power so the cost is reduced to R1.25.

This is one of the few times I enjoy food that is cooked quickly. Vegetables change into a vibrant form of their original colour and spice/vegetable/meat flavours combine to form something spectacular.

I chose chicken wings purely because I enjoy them but they have always been fried (Chicken Licken/KFC style). The other plus with chicken wings is that they are quite cheap relative to a whole chicken, 30 p/kg vs 50 p/kg (2014 cost scale).

The question on eating the skin/fat is a debate for all "knowledgeable" people out there. Its weird but observing our "knowledgeable" folk interact on this topic is like watching school yard bullying. Ganging up with like minded opinions (patting each others back), instructing people on "do what I tell you or die" or "do what I tell you because I am a doctor/dietitian/engineer/accountant/school teacher", verbal personal attacks......... this seems like how politicians behave as well, hmmmm.

On to the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp butter
2 tsp garlic (smashed, chopped and diced)
2 tsp ginger (julienne)
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cloves
1 onion sliced (medium size)
12 chicken wings
2 handfuls string beans (cut to preference length)
1 carrot (cut to preference length) (this was the lat one in the fridge, so I used it)
1 broccoli (broken into florets)

Method:
Turn the wok power dial to 1 or 2 of 6 (16-33%)
Insert butter, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and onions
Saute until onions are soft
Add chicken wings and sear the skin
Insert beans and carrots and cook until chicken is cooked but not so long that the beans lose their crunch
Add broccoli and mix into existing flavors and leave it cook until broccoli green becomes very vibrant and bright
Serve

Enjoy!

Roast smoked chicken

Figure 1: Roast Smoke Chicken with yoghurt sauce

The next cooking apparatus I like using is a oven pot. It is sturdy enough to be used in the over at almost any temperature, it has a deep base which plays into this recipes requirements.

Generally I like cooking food that has a quick preparation time and cooks at long "chilled" pace. Not literally chilled then it would be closer to a gravlax, google that! I enjoy cooking food at a slower pace because it gives me the freedom to undertake other undertakings (there is failed attempt at sophistication) at the same time and gives the ingrediants flavour time to infuse with each other because generally I think up my recipes on the fly (I acknowledge that there might be something similar out there but these concoctions have come from my own brain) and the protein/meat does not have time to marinate.

What I like about this recipe is that you use fresh ingredients, whole spices and chicken gets smoked and then roasted in the same pot.

The products or spices being used for the smoking process and then reused to create an alternative sauce where the smoked product mixes with the chicken stock. At the end of the cooking process I take the stock and mix it with double thick Greek yoghurt, just because it feels better and easier to handle when I eat the chicken. The Greek yoghurt addition is one of my favourite tricks and I use it often and you shall see it often on this blog.

Ingredients
1 chicken (free range I feel is generally better but then again it could be mental convincing, cost is roughly the same free range vs conventional (as opposed to an unconventional chicken, which comes with more drumsticks) )
2 Tbsp Ginger
3 cloves garlic
3 cardamom
2 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika (or any dry spice you want to try)
2 sticks cinnamon

Process (the pictures below illustrate the cooking order)
Pre-heat oven at 150 deg C (200 Deg C if you want some speed but then the cooking time is 1 hour)
Liquidise ginger, garlic, salt and cardamom (how very un-paleo of me, I should take a pestle and mortar and grind the marinade together and grow them arms)
Take paste and place between chicken skin and meat
Place paprika and cinnamon in cooking pot (the chicken will inherit a smoked flavour from these ingredients)
Place a raised surface in cooking pot (this will allow the chicken to be roasted all round)
Place chicken on raised surface
Cover and place in pre heated over for 1.5 - 2 hours (the lid should offer a very tight seal but not air tight, you want the chicken to maintain moisture but not create pressure)
Take out chicken and use flavoured stock how you see fit (I use the yoghurt move)

Enjoy!!

Figure 2: Ingredients and apparatus (salt is in hiding)

Figure 3: Liquidise Ginger, Garlic, Salt and Cardamom. Place between chicken meat and skin

Figure 4: Place Paprika and cinnamon at bottom of pot and raised grid thereafter

Figure 5: Place Marinated chicken on raised grid

Figure 6: cooked product, refer to figure 1 for plated visual