Tag Archive for 'spicy'

Chicken Biryani

Published
by
marc
on May 20, 2008
in Indian and Poultry
. 12 Comments

While most often associated with northern Indian cuisine, Biryani is a dish with Persian origins found in various forms from Iraq to Thailand. As you might imagine, there is a huge variety of different preparations stemming from the vast swath of land it calls home. Common elements include some type of meat (goat, lamb or chicken), rice, and spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, coriander and mint.

I’m not going to say that my recipe originates anywhere specific, but it rely heavily on Indian flavours. Though it takes a bit of prep work, it’s not complicated and there’s a lot off leeway to improvise with your own blend of spices. The chicken gets married to the rice between layers of caramelized onions. This symbiotic relationship keeps the chicken moist while infusing the rice with some serious flavour.

It’s fantastic with a cucumber raita and a squeeze of lemon, cooling off the heat while adding a fresh zing that brightens all the spices in the dish. The ingredient list below might look intimidating at first glance, but there’s nothing all that exotic on the list and it all comes together in about an hour + cooking time.
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Ramp kimchi & Ramp confit

Published
by
marc
on April 29, 2008
in Pickle, Spring, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 12 Comments

So this weekend we made another trip north to pick ramps. This time we brought home a grocery bag brimming with these delightful members of the onion family (they’re sweet and have a flavor somewhere between leeks and garlic). The reason for this large harvest is that L had the brilliant idea of making ramp kimchi, and I wanted to make a ramp confit.

Kimchi, for those unfamiliar, is a fiery Korean side-dish that’s pickled in a potent mix of chili powder and garlic. The specifics and vegetables vary by region and season, but Korean families take pride in the number of urns of kimchi they prepare per year. Prior to winter, families would gather to pickle the last of fall’s vegetables to last them through the cold months until spring.

Confit on the other hand traces its roots to France before refrigeration where meats like duck and goose were cooked in their own fat to preserve them. The word is derived from the verb “confire” which quite literally means “to preserve” and can refer to fruits or vegetables as well as meat.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the common thread here is 2 ways to preserve these perishable gems so they last more than a few days. I figured it would be fun to employ methods coming from 2 continents, and the results were fantastic!

While ramps are a vegetable that aren’t available in Korea, they work perfectly for kimchi because of their strong (though not overpowering) garlic flavor. The long leaves are well suited for wrapping around a slice of steamed pork, or a bit of rice and the flavors just burst with spicy goodness in your mouth.

The confit on the other hand roasts the ramps in an ample amount of olive oil, rounding out the flavor and intensifying the sweetness. The olive oil it’s cooked in is redolent with ramp’s leeky garlicy aroma and is marvelous on pizza dough or bread.
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Chickpeas with spring greens (vegan)

Published
by
marc
on April 23, 2008
in Soups & Stews, Spring, Vegan, Vegetable and Vegetarian
. 4 Comments

If I were ever to become a vegetarian, I’d have to move to the south of India. In an area that’s primarily vegetarian, the people have adapted the use of spices and aromatics to infuse even the most humble vegetables with loads of umami.

This is something I came up with last night based on a 5 year old memory of a dish I had at a Keralan restaurant once. If you’re looking for an authentic Chana Masala, you’ll have to look elsewhere. However if you want something light and fresh while savory and deeply satisfying, this is your dish. On one side, ingredients like the chickpeas, onions and spices add some savory heft to it, while the curry leaves, spring greens and lemon juice pull it back in the other direction.

Simple to cook and easy to clean up, the only problem you’ll have making this is that you’ll want to eat all of it!

2 tsp oil
10 curry leaves chopped
1 Tbs ginger minced
1 large clove of garlic minced
1 serrano or jalepeno pepper minced
1/4 onion diced
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
14 oz can whole tomatoes in juice
15 oz can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
2 medium swiss chard leaves roughly chopped
5-6 ramps roughly chopped

Lemon wedges for serving

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat until very hot. Add the curry leaves and ginger, frying until fragrant. Add the garlic, peppers, onions and spices and saute until the onions are tender.

Add the tomatoes by crushing them through your fingers along with the juice. If this is too messy for you, you can chop them, but i like the chunky texture of hand crushed tomatoes. Add the chickpeas then turn down the heat to simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

When most of the liquid is gone and what remains creates a nice thick sauce, add the chopped swiss chard, cover and cook for a few minutes until the chard is bright green and wilted. Add the ramps and cook for another minute or two.

Serve immediately with lemon wedges for squishing and some quinoa or Chapatis.

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Mapo Tofu (Marpo Doufu)

Published
by
marc
on March 10, 2008
in Chinese, Japanese, Pork and Tofu
. 3 Comments

Mabo Tofu

For the same reasons people love antiques or old Victorian houses, I love foods of legend that have a story behind them. I had a fairly intense day presenting to the entire partnership of a venture capital firm (with 3 continents video conferenced in).

While some might consider cooking a stressful activity reserved for days with lots of time, I actually see it as quite the opposite. When I got home I wanted to make a food from my childhood that’s both familiar and comforting.

Depending on who you ask, you’ll probably get a different story about the origins of Mapo Tofu, but the commonly accepted myth is that this dish was created by an old woman with meager means who cooked it for weary travelers that happened upon her shack along a remote country road. Some versions go on to say she once cooked the dish for the emperor of China.

Whatever the history, the dish was appropriated by my people in more recent history and is as common as mac & cheese on a Japanese dinner table. Asian groceries stock packets of sauce you just heat up with tofu, but that would be cheating, and it’s not much harder to make from scratch. I usually make this with varying spices, sauces and veggies, but I figured I should document something to give y’all a starting point.

1 Tbs dark miso
2 Tbs Mirin or other sweet cooking wine
1 Tbs oyster sauce
2 tsp asian chili sauce (Tobanjan, Gochujang, Sriracha, etc)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn starch
1/4 cup water

2 cloves of garlic minced
1 Tbs ginger minced
1/2 lbs. ground meat (I use pork but you can use turkey, beef, or veggies like eggplant)
14oz package silken tofu cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 scallions sliced thin

Mix the first group of ingredients in a bowl to make the sauce. Adjust seasonings as you see fit.

Put a splash of oil in a hot saute pan and fry the garlic and ginger until fragrant.

Add the ground meat and break it up with a wooden spoon. When the meat is cooked, drain off any excess oil and add the sauce mixture.

Stir to combine, then add the tofu. If the sauce seems thick (or non-existent), add some water and cook until the tofu is heated through. If you’re using silken tofu, be careful not to mash up the tofu too much.

Stir in the scallions just before taking it off the heat and serve with white rice.

I make different versions of this sauce depending on what’s in the fridge and as always I encourage you to experiment with what you have. Some things I’ve tried include Szechwan pepper, chinese 5 spice powder, hoisin sauce, dengjang with varying amounts of chili sauce (I like it spicy). For vegetarians, you can leave out the meat, or include veggies like red bell peppers, onions, or eggplant.

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Chipotle turkey chili with pickled jalepenos

Published
by
marc
on March 9, 2008
in Mexican, Party, Soups & Stews and Winter
. 0 Comments

Chipotle turkey chili with pickled jalepenos

It used to be that the word “chili” would conjure up images of brown chunky mush that looked (and smelled) like something you would feed a furry four legged companion. The only thing that would make the chili of my memories remotely edible was to douse it with loads of cheese, sour cream, onions, and salsa.

Recently I was contemplating the contents of my pantry and given barren shelf with a lone can of smoked chipotle chilis and cannellini beans (aka white kidney beans) staring back at me, I decided I’d throw old notions of chili out the window. What I came up with was a fresher alternative that still captures the spicy warming essence of what good chili should be.

As in keeping with this blog’s name, I encourage you to take liberties on the ingredients and come up with your own perfect chili. Some ideas include replacing the turkey with crumbled extra firm tofu, using different spices, and serving it with different things. The picture above illustrates what I did with the chili on day 2.

Chili
2 tbs - good olive oil
1 - medium onion diced
1 - celery stalk diced
1 - jalepeno, seeds removed and minced
3 - garlic cloves minced
1 tbs - minced ginger

1 - bay leaf
1 tbs - ground cumin
1 tbs - ground coriander
1 tsp - cinnamon
1 tsp - chili powder

1 lbs - ground turkey

2 - chipotle chiles (canned in adobo sauce) diced
2 tbs - Adobo sauce from the chipotle chiles
3 cups - low sodium chicken stock

1 16 oz can - cannellini beans drained and rinsed

Pickled Jalepenos
2 - Jalepeno peppers sliced thin
1/4 tsp - salt
pinch of sugar
2 tbs - white vinegar

In a medium saucepan, saute the first set of ingredients in the olive
oil over medium heat until soft and starting to caramelize. Add the
spices and cook for another minute until fragrant.

Add the ground chicken, turn up the heat and break up into small
chunks until cooked through.

Add the chili’s, reserved adobo sauce and chicken stock and bring to a
boil. Turn down the heat, add the beans and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve with pickled jalepenos and toasted bread rubbed with a clove of
raw garlic.

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