This is our favorite recipe, to be made anytime. If I ask my son, what shall I make for dinner or lunch, he would say "chili chicken" or "grilled salmon". I make this recipe, so many times.... usually, in a rush at last minute, so never had time to properly photograph it. I had photographed this, long time back and I did not like the pictures, so I want to do it again sometime, but as I said, I always make it in a hurry.... so if I make it in leisure, will try to take better photographs for this recipe.
Ingredients:
- about 400 gms chicken fillets( or breasts)
- 1 red and 1 green capsicum
- 1 red onion
- 7 garlic flakes
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 3 green chilies
- 1 red chili
- 2 tbsps dark soy sauce
- 2 -3 tsp vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tsp of ajinomoto( msg-- optional)
- a bunch of spring onions chopped for garnish
Recipe:
- Wash and clean the chicken. Pat it dry with kitchen paper. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
- Grate 4 garlic cloves and ginger, chop 2 chilies and keep them in a bowl.
- Add 1 tbsp soy sauce and 1 tsp vinegar and mix well.
- Add chicken pieces to this marinade. Add about 1/2 a tsp of salt and 1 tsp of freshly pounded black pepper.
- Keep it aside covered with cling wrap in a refrigerator for about 1 hour ...to even 24 hours(1 day)
- Mince the remaining 3 pieces of garlic, 1 green and red chili, onions and capsicums.
- Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan.
- Add garlic, chilies and stir-fry on high for 30 secs.
- Add onion, stir-fry again for a minute.
- Add the capsicum, stir-fry for 2 minutes.
- Add another tbsp of soy sauce and 1 to 2 tsp of vinegar.
- Add marinated chicken. Lower the heat to medium and stir-fry .....for 3-5 minutes till the chicken is cooked.
- Serve hot, garnished with spring onions as an accompaniment with rice or just as is ....if it's a snack or an appetizer.
Quantity:
- 3-5 servings with rice/other curry or 2-3 servings as an appetizer
Notes:
- The chicken requires only 4-5 minutes to cook, if they are in small bite size pieces.
- If u get chicken shreds,(like I have got, in the picture) that means, it's slightly over cooked. You need to get a nice even brownish coating. A tip, I recently learnt about cooking chicken from my friend Lakshmi. However, this chicken is delicious, even if it is slightly overcooked.
- You can make it a day ahead... or marinate longer to get maximum flavor.
- Msg can be added after sauteing the onions, before adding capsicum. It gives good flavor to the chicken.
- You can also add a chicken stock cube in the end and some water and corn flour to make a gravy.
- The number of chilis and flavorings, I use..will make it a mildly spicy chicken. Do increase the number of chilies for a fiery taste..... :) Adjust the quantity of soy sauce, vinegar and salt and pepper accordingly.
- For vegetarian version of this recipe -- Try out the chili paneer recipe here....:)
- You can make similar recipe with boiled eggs.
Usually, I cook and eat vegetarian meals at home, but I have been working out a lot for the past 2-3 months, and I was advised to have protein rich and natural meals with lots of fruits and vegetables..... and this meal fits the bill. The recipe is quite simple.You can eat it, as an appetizer, with rice, with spaghetti or just with grilled vegetables...
Ingredients:
- 600 gms chicken (I used breast pieces)
- 10/12 shallots (you can use regular onions - 2 nos)
- 7 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 fresh chilies (I used the red ones)
- Juice of half a lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 egg
- 1 large bunch of coriander leaves
For the sauteed vegetables:
- 2 carrots
- 1 head of broccoli (You can use any other vegetable like cauliflower, mushrooms, baby corn..... or any combination you like)
- 1 tsp of butter/olive oil
- more olive oil to grease the pan -- You can omit this, if you have a nice non-stick or cast iron pan
Recipe:
- Mince the shallots, chicken, chilies, coriander in a food processor.
- Grate the parmesan cheese and the garlic.
- Mix everything well together with a spoon.
- Add salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste.
- Add lemon juice and mix it well.
- Make small balls of the mixture and lay them in a platter.
- Cover with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes or more.
- When ready to make the patties, grease a skillet with some oil.
- Flatten the balls and lay them on the skillet 1 inch apart.
- Cook them on low to medium flame for about 3-4 minutes till the outside is browned.
- Flip them and brown the other side.
Sauteed Vegetables:
- Chop the vegetables in bite size pieces.
- Heat a tsp of butter or olive oil in a pan.
- Add the vegetables. Stir fry them on high heat for a minute, then lower the heat and cover the pan. Let the vegetables cook for another 3-5 minutes.
- Take them out in a different pan and keep aside.
- Serve the chicken patties piping hot, with a side of vegetables garnished with more lemon juice and coriander leaves.
Quantity:
- Makes about 20-23 patties.
- Serves 3-4 people.
Notes:
- You can grill the patties in the grill mode of the oven about 10-15 minutes.
- You can add grated vegetables, (like carrots and broccoli) to the patties.
On last weekend, we visited a restaurant on the beach, which served freshly caught prawns cooked in sambal sauce. They were really delicious. Sambal paste is a widely used paste in Asia,especially in Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean cuisine. Inspite of living here for more than an year, I haven't tried to learn much about cooking the popular food here...., so I thought this recipe was a good one to start. What I have made today, may or may not be very authentic, I read about sambal paste recipes on the internet and found that there are 100s of recipes according to countries, regions and even cooks. These are the common ingredients-- spicy red hot chilies, shrimp paste, garlic and shallots, plus and minus some ingredients. Lot of information about Sambal paste here !! This is how, I made this recipe......
Ingredients:
- 5-6 cloves of garlic
- 5-6 red chilies(I have used bird's eye chilies, can use dried red ones too...soak them in water for about 10-15 minutes)
- 1 tbsp shrimp paste -about 15 gms (I used belacan , that is a malay variety of shrimp paste)
- 3 stalks of lemon grass
- 4-5 shallots
- 1 lemon (juiced)
- about 1 kg of chicken (I used about 850 gms of whole chicken with bones, without skin)
- salt to marinate the chicken -- about 1 tsp
- 2-3 tbsp oil
- coriander leaves and chili to garnish
Recipe:
- Wash and clean the chopped chicken. Drain out all the water. Rub a tsp of salt over the chicken and keep it aside.
- Keep one stalk of lemongrass aside, chop the remaining two, after removing outer layers. Remove skins of the garlic and shallots and tops of the chilies.
- Put it all in a blender or a food processor and pulse for 20 seconds, till it all comes together as a paste. You can do it by hand too, with the help of mortar and pestle.
- Add the block of shrimp paste to the above paste and pulse again to get a fine puree. Add lemon juice to the paste. Sambal paste is ready.
- Heat about 2-3 tbsp oil in a pan. Add the sambal paste to it.
- Saute it, stirring well for 3-4 minutes.
- Add chicken and let the spices get coated onto the chicken.
- Stir well and let the chicken cook for 4-5 minutes till it becomes white.
- Add about 1- 1.5 cups of water(I added the water to the grinder in which I made the sambal paste and kinda cleaned out the sambal paste) to the chicken, and let it simmer on low flame for another 7-8 minutes.
- Garnish with chopped lemon grass, coriander and lime wedges.
- Serve hot with fragrant jasmine rice.
Quantity:
- I have used the least possible chilies to make the sambal paste. You can increase the chilies to 10 or even more for a really fiery hot sambal paste.
- If you are using dried red chilies, soak them in water for 10-15 minutes.
- To reduce the heat, remove the seeds.
- My version was fairly okay in terms of spice level.... even my little one could have it(just the chicken without the gravy), so I did not feel the need to remove the seeds.
- You can add a bit of sugar to the paste to balance the tartness of the limes, heat of the chilies and saltiness of the shrimp paste. I didn't add.. !!
- As with other chicken recipes, make it ahead and let it sit in sambal sauce for 6-12 hours. It tastes really good that way....!!
- You can use this paste to make prawns or grilled fish too...!!
- A special note to my Malaysian and Singaporean readers: Do let me know, how do you make your Sambal paste !!!
