Ginger Orange Chicken

Ginger Orange Chicken

2 cups of cooked rice
3-4 chicken breasts, chopped
salt and pepper
1 large onion
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder

1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh ginger
3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
½ cup water
½ teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon chili powder


Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the coconut oil in a skillet. Brown the chicken and onion. Mix the cornstarch with a cup cold water and stir. Mix the other ingredients in a bowl and add to chicken, then add the cornstarch simmer for 15-20 minutes until chicken is tender.  Serve over rice. Serves 4

Garlic-Coconut Crispy Fried Chicken Gluten-Free

Garlic-Coconut Crispy Chicken

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons coconut oil

4 garlic cloves, minced, plus 6 cloves peeled and smashed

6 thin-cut, boneless chicken thighs

2 cups coconut flakes

1 cup white rice flour

3 eggs

2 tablespoon garlic powder

½ cup cornstarch

Salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine 3 tablespoons oil, minced garlic, and chicken in a zip-lock bag and refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients.

2. Spread rice flour in shallow dish. In another shallow dish, whisk egg whites until foamy. Combine coconut flakes, garlic powder, and cornstarch in third shallow dish.

3. Start mashed potatoes while the chicken is marinating.

4. Remove chicken from bag and season with salt and pepper. One at a time, coat chicken lightly with rice flour, dip in egg whites, and dredge in coconut mixture, pressing to adhere. Place chicken on a wire rack set over a baking sheet and let dry 5 minutes.

5. Heat ½ cup oil and 3 smashed garlic cloves in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until garlic is lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Discard garlic and fry a pan full of chicken until crisp and deep golden, about 2 minutes per side. Be careful the coconut will burn easily. The chicken will finish cooking in the oven.  Transfer to a baking pan. Set aside oil, wipe out skillet, and repeat with remaining oil, garlic cloves, and chicken.

6. When all of the chicken is fried, bake in the oven for 1 hour or until the chicken is completely cooked.

Save the garlic oil for chicken gravy to go with the mashed potatoes. You can also throw the discarded garlic into the potato water for added flavor. 

Garam Masala Chicken

A friend gave us some whole garam masala. We didn't know what to do with it until we found this recipe. I think right now this is my new favorite spice. Since it came whole I processed it in my blender. My husband laughed because after it was ground it looked like dirt, but it sure tastes better than dirt!

Garam Masala Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 (3 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 cup water

2 teaspoons garam masala, divided

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken breasts in the hot oil and cook until browned on one side, about 3 minutes. Flip the chicken and add the onions; cook another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic salt, and water to the chicken; stir and season with 1 1/2 teaspoon garam masala. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir the remaining 1/2 teaspoon garam masala through the mixture. Raise heat to medium and bring mixture to a boil. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, about 5 minutes more. 

Rosemary Chicken

1 to 2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon of rosemary, ground
1 teaspoon of season salt
1 bunch of broccoli, chopped
1 small onion, chopped

Place olive oil into a frying pan. Sprinkle the chicken with rosemary. Add to hot pan. Add broccoli and onions to the pan, sprinkle the vegetables with season salt. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink.

Chicken Caesar Salad and Homemade Caesar Dressing

Caesar Dressing

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce *

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Add salt and pepper to taste. Can refrigerate for up to 2 days.


Chicken Caesar Salad


Left over shredded chicken
1 piece of toast, broken into pieces*
Caesar Dress

I like to make Chicken Caesar salad the night after I make Crock pot Chicken or Roasted Chicken.
1. Place the toast in the toaster.
2. Place shredded chicken on a plate.
3. Top with shredded toast and Ceaser Dressing

*omit the Worcestershire sauce and toast if gluten free is desired or find a gluten free brand

Chris’ Coconut, Butter Chicken Curry

Chris’ Coconut, Butter Chicken Curry

This is a combination of two different curry recipes that I have modified and tweaked repeatedly until I have a dish that is so good all I want to do is eat it all day.  Happily, I do have more self control than that!   In some cases there may be better ingredients (like pureed tomatoes instead of canned ones that you puree yourself), but in Korea you learn to make do with what you can find.  It should take about 40-60 minutes to cook.

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cut into small pieces

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp curry powder

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1-2 large sweet potatoes, diced into small pieces (1/2” or smaller)

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger root (I chop the whole thing up and freeze what I don’t use)

4 small hot peppers, sliced into small pieces (optional) (I use the Korean Kkwari gochu which are very hot)

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp curry powder

Pepper (to taste)

1 tsp salt (or more/less to taste)

2 tbsp butter

14.5 oz canned tomatoes (pureed in a blender)

½ can tomato paste (8 oz I think)

1 large can pineapple

2 14oz cans coconut milk

1 cup cream

In a medium bowl, place chicken pieces, lemon juice, 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 tsp curry powder.  Mix well and let marinate.

In a heavy skillet or wok, cook onion, garlic, sweet potatoes and ginger in 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter until fragrant, about 4 minutes.  Add curry powder, pepper, salt, tomato puree, tomato paste, butter, and pineapple with juice and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in marinated chicken and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 11-15 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Stir in the coconut milk and cream.  Cook on low heat until well heated, but do not bring to a boil.  Serve over hot cooked rice.

Roast Chicken

The flavor in this chicken was amazing. I didn't have fresh herbs so I used dried and it still came out great. 

Ingredients

1 roasting chicken

Salt

Black pepper

2 tablespoons dried thyme or 1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs

1 lemon, halved

6 pieces of garlic

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks

2 tables spoons dried fennel or 1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges

Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with ½ the thyme, lemon, and garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove from oven and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. 

White Girl Enchiladas

I love Enchiladas. It used to be that at every Mexican resturant I would order chicken enchiladas with red sauce. The red sauce started giving me heart burn however, so I found a great recipe for green sauce enchiladas. Then I moved to Korea and cannot find enchilada sauce. I was delighted on a recent trip back to America when my friend Laura served us enchiladas in white sauce. I could eat them without them eating me and I could find most of the ingredients in Korea.

Due to the ingredients I had available I had to modify almost every ingredient in her original recipe, but this is what I did.

2 cups chicken or turkey
360 grams of plain yogurt (or one container of sour cream)
1 envelope of cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups of water
1 cup of milk
9 or 10 tortillas (click her for my homemade tortilla recipe)
Lots of cheddar cheese

Bring the soup and liquids to a boil in a sauce pan. Stir the mixture until most of the lumps are out.
Add in the chopped meat and yogurt/sour cream.

You will layer the pan like you would for lasagna. Place some sauce on the bottom to keep the enchiladas from sticking to the pan. Then layer tortillas, sauce, and cheese, repeat tortillas, sauce then cheese two more times or until your pan is full.

Bake at 400 for 40 minutes.

The next time I make this, I will make it in the crockpot and see how long it takes.

If you are cooking this meal in America you may want to follow Laura's original recipe instead of mine:

3 lbs. cubed boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked

1 container of sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom

1 8oz. can diced green chili's 

soft tortilla shells

shredded cheddar cheese

combine chicken, sour cream, cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, and green chili's in a bowl. In a baking dish, spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom to prevent sticking, on the top of the sauce layer tortilla shells until covering sauce. Then add another layer of sauce and top with cheese. On top of the cheese add another layer of tortilla shells. Then add a layer or sauce, and top with more cheese. Bake, covered, at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Be careful when buying yogurt in Korea. I use plain yogurt instead of sour cream because it is cheaper and I can buy it in smaller quantities. This time we accidently bought the wrong yogurt so our enchiladas had a sweet taste to them. Since I was using turkey it reminded me of cranberry sauce. 

Chicken Gravy

Chicken Gravy

Oil from cooked chicken

Flour

Milk

Salt

Chicken bullion

When you are finished frying your chicken do not remove the oil or clean the pan. Instead take 2 table spoons of flour and mix it well with a cup of cold water. Pour this into the pan with the oil. Bring it to a boil. Add as much milk as you need to make the amount of gravy that you want.  Add one teaspoon of chicken bouillon (I use Better Than Bullion from Costco). The gravy should thicken as you stir it. Add salt to taste.  Serve over Crispy Garlic Chicken or Creamy Mashed Potatoes. 

Crispy Garlic Chicken Cutlets

Crispy Garlic Chicken Cutlets

Serves 3 to 4

Look for cutlets that are between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick or make your own by slicing 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts in half horizontally.

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves , minced, plus 6 cloves peeled and smashed

6 thin-cut, boneless, skinless chicken cutlets (about 1 1/4 pounds), trimmed

3 slices hearty white sandwich bread , torn into large pieces

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 large egg whites

1 tablespoon garlic powder

4 tablespoons cornstarch

Salt and pepper

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Combine 3 tablespoons oil, minced garlic, and cutlets in a zip-lock bag and

refrigerate while preparing remaining ingredients. Pulse bread in food

processor until coarsely ground. Bake bread crumbs on baking sheet until

dry, about 20 minutes.

2. Spread flour in shallow dish. In another shallow dish, whisk egg whites

until foamy. Combine bread crumbs, garlic powder, and cornstarch in third

shallow dish. Remove cutlets from bag and season with salt and pepper. One at a time, coat cutlets lightly with flour, dip in egg whites, and dredge in crumbs, pressing to adhere. Place cutlets on wire rack set over baking sheet and let dry 5 minutes.

3. Heat 1/2 cup oil and 3 smashed garlic cloves in large nonstick skillet

over medium heat until garlic is lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Discard

garlic and fry 3 cutlets until crisp and deep golden, about 2 minutes per

side. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate and place in warm oven. Discard

oil, wipe out skillet, and repeat with remaining oil, garlic cloves, and

cutlets. Serve.

Save the garlic oil for chicken gravy.

Crockpot Chicken

1 whole chicken cut in pieces

1 cup of water
Salt or season salt to desired taste
1 cup of mushrooms chopped
1 large onion diced
1 large carrot chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped in half

1. Place rinsed chicken pieces in Crockpot.

2. Add chopped vegetables

3. Add desired amount of salt (always use more in the Crockpot)

4. Add water until the chicken is slightly covered

5. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

6. Serve

7. When the broth has cooled drain it into another bowl. Freeze the broth and save it for other recipes such as refried beans.