Tag: main course
Chicken with Coconut Milk
Chicken with Coconut Milk
Pollo con Leche de Coco is a popular Colombian dish. Chicken is seared and braised in coconut milk, creating a nice gravy. I used drumsticks in this recipe, but you can use any part of the chicken. You can even use fish or shrimp in this recipe. Fish will take 10 minutes to cook and shrimp 4-5 minutes depending on size. Serve the chicken with heaping mounds of steamed rice.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lbs chicken drumsticks
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper chopped
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper chopped
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups coconut milk
- salt to taste
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Sear the chicken drumsticks for 3-4 minutes a side. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Sauté for 8 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste, chicken bouillon, cumin, and black pepper. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the coconut milk. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get up all of them good brown bits. Bring to a boil.
- Add in the drumsticks. Cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Take the cover off the pan. Turn the heat up to medium high and simmer for 5 minutes to help thicken up the sauce. Turn off the heat. Garnish with cilantro.
Colombian Style Pork Chops
Colombian Style Pork Chops
The marinade for these Colombian style pork chops is really easy to make. Not only does it go great with pork chops, but is a great marinade for really any cut of pork: baby backs and spare ribs, pork tenderloin, pork shoulder, and pork loin. It also is a great marinade for chicken, shrimp, scallops, salmon, snapper, tuna, swordfish, and on and on…Again, I always recommend using bone in pork chops. They are always juicier. A 1” thick pork chop will take 5-6 minutes per side over direct heat on a grill. Thinner chops will take a minute less; thicker ones at least a minute more per side. Always let what ever meat you are cooking rest for a good 10 minutes before serving to allow the juices to redistribute into the meat. If you cut right into the meat off the grill, the juices bleed out, making the meat dryer.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- food processor
- chimney starter
- charcoal
- charcoal grill
Ingredients
- 4 bone in pork chops 1” thick
- 3 limes juiced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 2 tsp black pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Using a food processor, pulse all the marinade ingredients together.
- Marinate the pork chops for 4 hours.
- Start the charcoal in a chimney starter until they are gray. Pour in the grill and place the grate on. Put the pork chops directly over the charcoal.
- Grill for 5-6 minutes a side.
- Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Zigni
Zigni
Zigni is a traditional Eritrean dish of stewed beef in a tomato sauce seasoned with berbere spice. The dish is always served on top of injera. Zigni is fairly spicy, so adjust the amounts of berbere to fit your taste buds.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 lbs beef stew meat
- 2 medium tomatoes diced
- 3 green onions chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 4 tbsp berbere
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add in the beef and brown for 5-6 minutes.
- Add in the green onions and garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Mix in the berbere spice and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes. Season with salt.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 2 hours.
- When finished, the sauce should be smooth and the beef will be tender.
Berbere Spice
Berbere spice is a building block for all East African cuisine. It has a nice smokey and spicy taste. It is the main spice ingredient in Zigni, Doro Wat, and many other Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Somali dishes. Berbere spice is great on meat, fish, vegetables, and eggs.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp ginger
- 1 tbsp granulated garlic
- 1 tbsp dried basil
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tbsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 tbsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cardamom
Instructions
- If you have any whole spices, lightly dry toast them in a pan for a couple of minutes. Then grind them in a coffee grinder used for spices only, or grind them by hand in a mortar and pestle. Mix all the spices together.
Injera
Injera is an East African staple, eaten with just about every meal. Similar in appearance to a buckwheat crepe, the injera is made out of teff flour. Teff is a grain grown in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The flour is mixed into a thin pancake like batter. The batter is left to ferment in the refrigerator for 2 days, giving the injera a flavor similar to sourdough. When ready to cook, ladle some of the batter on an oiled nonstick pan over high heat. The injera takes no more than 2 minutes to make, with no flipping required. The batter is thin enough to cook completely through. The injera is torn and eaten as a scoop for your food.
Equipment
- upright mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups teff flour
- 1/2 package dry active yeast
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients except the salt in an upright mixer for a minute.
- Add the salt and blend for 15 seconds.
- Cover the batter and let sit in the refrigerator for 2 days.
- Lightly oil a nonstick pan over high heat. Pour a ladles worth of the batter into the pan, making a circular shape.
- Cook on 1 side for up to 2 minutes. No flipping required.
