Tag: Chicken
Kuku Paka (Coconut Milk Chicken)
Kuku Paka (Coconut Milk Chicken)
Kuku paka is a popular Kenyan dish highlighting it’s Indian influence. Kuku in Swahili means chicken, while Paka in Bengali means delicious. Yes, this is delicious chicken. Chicken pieces are marinated in a heavily spiced coconut milk marinade. Traditionally the chicken is grilled over charcoal to add smokiness to the flavor, but you can roast the pieces in the oven if you don’t have a grill. Once the chicken is cooked through, it simmers for a few minutes in a reduction of the marinade. The chicken is best served with rice and sweet potatoes.
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken pieces skinned
- 2 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 Roma tomatoes chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2” ginger minced
- 3 bird’s eye chilies minced
- 3 cups coconut milk
- 2 limes juiced
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Purée the onions, garlic, tomatoes, chilies, and ginger in a food processor. Mix together with the spices, coconut milk, and lime juice.
- Marinate the chicken with half of the marinade for 8 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil.
- Bake the chicken for 45 minutes.
- While the chicken is roasting, heat up coconut oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add in the remaining marinade. Simmer for 20 minutes until thickened.
- Place the roasted chicken pieces in the sauce.
- Simmer for 5 minutes.
Belizean Stewed Chicken
Belizean Stewed Chicken
My good friend Sam Gilles was just recently in Belize and brought me back some recado rojo paste. It was literally tied up in a sandwich bag. This really excited me because that shows how homemade this paste really is. Now I had to do some research on how to cook with it. What I discovered is that it is pretty much the same thing as achiote paste that I’ve used in making pibil chicken, which is from the Yucatán part of Mexico, right next to Belize. Now everything is making sense.Stewed chicken is one of the most popular dishes in Belize. Chicken pieces are marinated in the recado paste, then stewed with a ton of onions until the meat falls off the bone. The chicken is typically served with beans and rice or with Belizean-style johnny to sop up the sauce. It turns out that you can buy recado rojo at most Latin markets. If you can’t find recado paste, achiote is an acceptable substitute.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 lbs bone in chicken thighs
- 1/2 cup red recado paste
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 1/2 lime juiced
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Place the recado paste in a bowl.
- Mix the paste with 1/2 cup water until it is thinned out.
- Marinate the chicken thighs with the recado for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- Heat up cooking oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown the chicken thighs for 5 minutes a side. Remove from the pot.
- Sauté the onions for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken back into the Dutch oven with the rest of the marinade. Pour in 1 cup of water.
- Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 90 minutes.
Sesame Wine Chicken Soup
Sesame Wine Chicken Soup
Ma You Ji Tang is a Taiwanese style sesame wine chicken soup. This soup is most appropriate for the cold weather months, as it is great for your immune system. Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties; red dates helping regulate blood pressure, aid in digestion, and are high in vitamin C. Dark meat chicken will work the best for this soup, so I used 2 whole legs; cutting the drumsticks in half and the thighs into 4 pieces. The soup can be served over noodles or rice and is topped with lots of green onions and cilantro.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp black sesame oil
- 6 slices ginger
- 2 whole chicken legs drumsticks cut in half; thighs cut into 4
- 2 cups michiu cooking wine or shaoxing cooking wine
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 12 dried red dates
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- salt to taste
- 2 portions somen noodles prepared according to package directions
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat up 2 tbsp of sesame oil in a pot over medium high heat. Sauté the ginger slices gor 3 minutes. Remove from the pot.
- Add in the chicken. Brown on all sides for 10 minutes in total.
- Pour in the chicken stock and cooking wine. Bring to a boil.
- Add in the dried red dates and the sautéed ginger slices. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Stir in the sugar and the last 2 tbsp of sesame oil. Season with salt to taste.
- Place a portion of the somen noodles in a bowl.
