Recipes by Ingredient + Prep – Page 34 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Sichuan Chicken

I was craving spicy Chinese food on my way home from work, so I picked up two packages of chicken breasts from the grocery store to cook a quick and spicy meal. I knew I had all the Sichuan ingredients that I needed to make the base sauce but I wanted to make the cooking quick and painless. I decided to use the cucumbers I had in the fridge instead of buying any more vegetables that won’t keep during the week and I skipped coating the chicken with egg whites and cornstarch. The result was a light stir-fry that satiated my craving and calmed my hungry stomach.

Ingredients:
8 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips, patted dry with paper towel
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, cut into strips
2 bunches of scallions, chopped diagonally
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
peanut oil

For the Sichuan sauce:
2 tbsps Shao Xing rice wine
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 dried chilies, chopped
2 tbsps sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsps brown sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
a small knob of ginger, peeled, shredded

1. Combine the Sichuan sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Heat some peanut oil in a wok or a deep skillet. Cook the chicken strips briefly in the hot oil until they turn white. Remove the chicken and drain on paper towels.
3. Clean out the wok and add some more peanut oil. If there is water from cooking the chicken, let it evaporate by turning up the heat for a few minutes. When the oil is hot, add the Sichuan peppercorns and toast for a few seconds. Add the scallions and sauté until soft. Add the cucumbers and the Sichuan sauce. Stir to combine and let simmer for about 3 minutes.
4. Return the cooked chicken to the wok and stir-fry to combine and finish cooking. Season with more soy sauce as needed before serving with warm white rice.

Green Mango Salad

Mangoes are abundant in the Philippines. When I was growing up, we had a mango tree in our backyard. When the mangoes were ripe, they were sweet and supple. Slicing each cheek with a check board pattern allowed you to flip the skin up and push out the mango flesh. When they were still green, you peeled and chopped them to make a salad. A dab of shrimp paste gave it flavor perfect with cold beers.

Nowadays, I make this salad for barbecues and they’re always a hit. I usually just use salt instead of shrimp paste so that I don’t have to worry about vegetarian guests and those with allergies. For more color, add a handful of arugula or mixed greens. It’s also a good side to serve with a simple steak or leftover roasted chicken.

Ingredients:
2 green mangoes, peeled and sliced into smaller pieces
red onion, chopped
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 tsp shrimp paste

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. If not using shrimp paste or fish sauce, substitute with a jigger of fish sauce or a dash of salt and pepper.

Sardines with Linguini

I’ve been drowning in pork and beef for the last two weeks so I thought a dose of fish would do me good. Rummaging through the pantry, I found two tins of sardines and some pasta from my last visit to Trader Joe’s. Following a Sicilian recipe I found online, I threw some leftover rye bread in the food processor to make my own bread crumbs. I didn’t have capers handy but I can imagine it would have been the kick the dish needed–I settled for red pepper flakes instead. A splash of lemon juice before serving gave this pasta dish the fresh touch it deserved.

Ingredients:
linguini
2 tins sardines, drained
1 cup bread crumbs
a handful of parsley, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
red pepper flakes
oil, salt, pepper

1. Cook linguini in boiling water al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. While cooking the pasta, heat some oil in a skillet. Sauté garlic until golden brown and onions until translucent. Add bread crumbs and stir until toasted. Add parsley and season with salt and pepper. Remove to a plate.
3. Using the same skillet, heat a little bit more oil and cook sardines by sautéing and crushing them in smaller chunks. Season with red pepper flakes.
4. Transfer drained pasta to the skillet and toss with the sardines. Add back the cooked bread crumbs and keep tossing until combined.

Thai Beef Stew

The first time I made this in the Dr.’s kitchen, he said after tasting it: Oooh, like bœf bourguignon. While that comment was fine and good, I didn’t spend the effort to cook a French dish; I wanted to make a Thai beef stew. This recipe has been rehashed from that first time and I adjusted the coconut milk (more) and cut down the mirepoix (less). I used more of the Thai spices I bought from Kalustyan’s and was more generous with the galangal and the curry leaves.

Ingredients:
1 pound of beef chuck, cubed
1 can of coconut milk
two handfuls of green string beans
4 ribs of celery, chopped
a handful of baby carrots
a handful of dried curry leaves
a handful of Thai basil
a small knob of dried galangal
a small knob of ginger, peeled, minced
1 tbsp powdered lemongrass
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 cup of beef broth
oil, salt

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat some oil over medium-high heat. Brown beef cubes on both sides and remove to a plate.
2. Using the leftover oil and rendered fat, sauté onions until soft. Add Thai basil, curry leaves, lemongrass, galangal and ginger and keep sautéing until everything is incorporated. Season with some salt.
3. Return the beef to the pot including its juices. Add coconut milk and simmer for 45 minutes, covered. Stir halfway through just to make sure nothing has stuck to the bottom of the pot.
4. After 45 minutes, add 1 cup of beef broth and 3/4 cup of water. Add the green beans, carrots and celery. Cover again and let simmer for another hour or until beef is soft. Stir every now and then and add a small splash of water to make sure it doesn’t dry up. Serve with rice and tell your guests to mind the spice leaves and big chunks of galangal and ginger.

Tandoori Chicken

I was like a kid walking down the aisles of Kalustyan’s, the specialty food store in Curry Hill here in New York City. I found myself subtracting from my cart when it was time to pay for my purchases because I got carried away and bought spices I knew I already had at home.

I buy my oriental spices from Asia Food and Market in Chinatown, but Kalustyan’s carries more of the South Asian and Mediterranean ingredients that are not well-stocked downtown. I picked up some powdered lemongrass and dried curry leaves for my signature dishes, but I also bought new stashes of spice I regularly use like cumin, cinnamon and turmeric. I like buying them whole because I find great pleasure in grinding them by hand using my mortar and pestle and lining them up as I do my mise en place before cooking.

I chose to do tandoori chicken after a good night of eating Bangladeshi food one night last week. We skipped the usual suspects of tandoori and brown curries and opted to try dishes I’ve never seen before that came in all shades of yellow. While eating, we noticed that we were eating the same food that the taxi drivers were enjoying. I wondered out loud why they would even have tandoori chicken on the menu if no one ordered it. I know it’s probably for the diners who want to see something familiar so that the other dishes don’t sound too intimidating. The next day, I thought I’d made my own chicken tandoori just to see if it’s really an easy recipe to do at home. It is and so you might not see me paying for tandoori any time soon.

Ingredients:
4 pieces of chicken legs, 3 pieces of chicken breasts
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
a pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsps hot water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp hot paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1 small knob ginger, peeled, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon
oil, salt, pepper

1. Using a sharp knife, score the chicken flesh, each piece slashed two or three times. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and transfer to a glass baking dish.
2. Combine all the spices in a bowl with the ginger and garlic. Add the saffron including the hot water and mix everything together. Massage the spice marinade on the chicken, enough to evenly coat every nook and cranny. Using a spatula, spread yogurt all over the spiced chicken pieces. Cover the glass dish and refrigerate for several hours up to overnight.
3. When ready to cook, heat a frying pan with some oil. In the meantime, preheat oven 350º. Remove the chicken pieces from the baking dish and fry them until brown on one side. (I scraped off most of the yogurt and removed the larger ginger and garlic pieces.) Turn and fry until browned on the other side. Transfer to a new baking dish and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Squeeze some lemon juice on them before serving.