Grilled Chicken In Creamy Cilantro Lemon Sauce

I have been inspired with this recipe skillet chicken with creamy cilantro lime sauce I found on Sally's Baking Addiction. The creamy cilantro is very very tempting, however I did not have an oven-proof skillet. Then it hit me, why not use the Happy Call Pan for all searing and grilling?

So it was time to clean the dust off the HCP, ok not really, but I have not used it for something new for a while now, so it felt like I have missed my HCP for a long long time. Then the excitement began. And this happened.

I replaced lime with lemon since I only had the latter. And also I put in extra vegetables like leek and mushroom into the gravy, because I love the garlicky aroma of the leek and well mushrooms go well with cream any time. And oh, the cooking cream was substituted with regular full cream milk. 

You Need:
1 onion - chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic - chopped fine
2 tbsp cilantro - chopped fine
some leek - chopped
shitake mushroom - chopped
chilli flakes
paprika powder
salt/pepper
1 cup chicken stock
2 splashes of milk
juice of a quarter lemon
2 pcs of chicken breast marinated with salt/pepper
some butter

Method:1) Heat up the HCP. Put some butter and start searing the chicken breasts. Each side for about 6-7 minutes. Take it off the HCP and set aside.

2) Heat up some butter in the HCP and sautee onion, garlic, half of the cilantro, leek and shitake mushroom till aromatic. You can also add the paprika powder and chilli flakes. 

3) Add the chicken stock and lemon juice and let it simmer for 5 mins. You can also add the milk or cooking cream and let it simmer and reduce for 8-10 minutes.
4) You can now add in the chicken, and lock the HCP cover. Let it cook for 8 minutes on each side with the cover locked.
5) Sprinkle the balance chopped cilantro and serve hot with the creamy sauce!

It really is very simple and fast to cook this using the HCP, in fact works faster than baking in the oven because it takes time to pre-heat as well. Thanks to the creamy sauce the chicken breast is unsually juicy and flavourful, something that is very rare when grilling chicken breasts on their own.

Happy cooking!

Creamy Butter Prawn With Spinach

I tried making this creamy butter prawn sometime last year when I first got my Happy Call Pan. At that time I followed the recipe from the Munch Ministry, except the salted egg yolks. I remember how creamy and absolutely yummy it was.

I had made a mental note to try this again, but this time I wanted to have more Indian spices in. Since I am mostly cooking one dish meals, I also I wanted to add in the green vegetable factor, the spinach. One thing I have discovered is that spinach goes well into most curry like dishes. You either put it in to stir fry before you make the gravy, else add in later, because its wilts away pretty fast. You also have a choice of chopping it fine, or leaving the leaves as it is.

While googling for a different recipe for inspiration, I came across this Steamy Kitchen blog on  how to prepare prawns with the bouncy bite, regardless of whether its fresh or frozen. Definitely great tips for prawn lovers out there.

As always, my supply of prawn was kinda underestimated. Its not my fault that the head and shells take so much of the package space. So the innovative me chopped some fish & soy pieces and added them together with the prawn, into the curry. You can omit it if you want.

You need:

1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, grated
2 tbsp butter       
500g prawn, shell and head removed
half can of evaporated milk
spinach, chopped
baby tomatoes, cut half
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
a little sprinkle of nutmeg powder
half tsp turmeric
half tbsp curry powder
half cup of water
salt and pepper

For marinade:
salt, pepper and corn flour

Method:
1) Marinate the prawns with the ingredients for 1-2 hours. You can almost see the prawns plumped up once marination time is over.
2) Fry the prawn in a lightly oiled pan till pink and set aside.
3) Heat up the pan and put in the butter, and sautee the onion and garlic for 5 minutes.
4) Add in the cumin, coriander, turmeric and curry powder. Give it a stir and smell the aroma. It would start drying up a little. Add in half cup of water and let it cook to a boil.
5) Add in the spinach leaves, and season with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg. Cook for 5 minutes.
6) Pour in the evaporated milk and let it cook further and reduce into thicker gravy.
7) After 10 minutes, you can add in the prawn. And it is ready to be served in 5 minutes!

I served it with some angel hair pasta, because I love the fact that it cooks so much faster than other pastas. And some roasted cashew nut on the side, because I am feeling generous. 

It is so creamy and rich to the taste. I wonder why don't we use evaporated milk more often in all dishes. It just makes anything so rich and sexy! Alright, back to reality, no we cannot have evaporated milk in everything if we want to take care of our waistline. Oh well, once in a while won't hurt!

This is also one of my secret as to how I get hubby to eat his spinach. No, no, popeye the sailorman trick doesn't do it anymore!

Happy trying!

Mother Of All Shortcuts

It is once in a blue moon request from hubby comes in that he wants to eat something healthy. I asked why, and he goes 'because I am on a diet'. Then I briefly recalled a conversation on Sunday night, that after the long weekend binging, he wants to go on a diet. I am surprised, because usually these diets don't last more than 24 hours!

Well, no sweat, I am all for the healthy cooking and eating. I just need the audience, that's all. I thought of making chicken wraps. But there was one roadblock. I did not have any tortilla wraps at home, thanks to Tesco for not stocking on when I shopped there on Sunday. And the frozen paratha would totally not serve the purpose.

Rummaging through my tiny fridge (yeah, my fridge is so tiny I am amazed how I can stuff so much goodies into it) I found the ready made pizza crust. I could literally see the light bulb illuminate inside my head. Or maybe it was just the lighting in the freezer. The point is, I found a solution.

I cut the pizza crust into half, so now I have two semi spheres. I slit it in the center to create a pocket, and now we a pita bread that can be filled with yummy goodness! And the texture is just right to be eaten toasted too.

The chicken breast preparation is so much inspired from tandoori recipe. A few hours earlier I marinated some chicken breast in yogurt, chilli powder, ginger & garlic paste, salt and pepper. Then I cook them with no oil on the Happy Call Pan. I love my HCP so much but I always forget give it credit all the time. Prep some salad leaves, baby tomatoes and black olives.

Once chicken is done. I am torn as to how to toast the bread. I did not want to use up another utensil that would add up to the amount of washing I have to do. And the HCP called out to me, 'I am not two-sided for nothing!' I saw the light bulb illuminate again!

So I turn the HCP, and toast my pita breads on the unused side, and voila! Fill the 'pita' with the healthy goodness. And then hubby ate the pita bread with all kinds of sauce, ranging from roasted sesame, japanese mayo and barbeque sauce! Oh well, I suppose we can go overboard with the sauce since we went healthy till now.

The last I checked, no complains over the healthy meal. I wonder what comes today, to diet or not to diet?! Till then I shall keep the light bulb to rest, else the electricity bills are gonna soar.

Chicken Pie Recipe

I am not so much into making crust for pie on my own yet. Since I was relying on the frozen puff pastry, I just opted to make a no crust chicken pie, with the puff pastry topping, something like a chicken pot pie.

Initially I set out to make 2 pies, chicken and vegetable separately, each in a 25x15cm baking dish. But the amount of chicken I prepared turned out to be quite a lot. So I mixed some of the vegetables into the chicken pie filling and made both pies with chicken and vegetable filling. You could reduce or increase the amount of vegetables as you like. You could even make it solely with vegetables only.

While preparing the chicken for this pie, I learnt an important tip to cook the chicken cubes as soft as tofu. I had asked around with mummies on the FB group, and finally put it to use, and see its effect with my own eyes, or rather taste buds.

Since I did not have any chicken stock for the pie filling, I cooked the chicken cubes in some amount of water, which will also double up as stock for the filling later.

The recipe makes for one pie in a 25x15cm baking dish:

You Need:

1 piece of chicken breast, cubed
some diced celery
some diced red pepper
cauliflower and broccoli florets
some spring onion cut into long pieces
some diced shiitake mushrooms
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
1 tbsp corn flour
100ml or 1/2 cup milk
100ml or 1/2 cup water
2tsp butter
Some oil
Some worcestershire sauce
Puff pastry rolled out enough to cover the baking dish
Some beaten egg for egg wash
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1) Marinate the chicken cubes in garlic and ginger paste, mixed with some corn flour for 30 to 60mins.

2) Once marination done, sautee the marinated chicken with 1 tsp butter. I used my HCP. Add the water and let it simmer cook for 10-15mins. Strain the chicken cubes from the stock and set both aside.

3)  Using the same or different pan, heat some oil. Add the remaining butter and sautee the onion. As it browns, add in all the vegetables (except spring onion) to sautee. Season with salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce. Add in the stock and let it simmer for about 5 to 10 mins.

4) Add in the cooked chicken and milk. Let it cook at low heat till it thickens. Once done let it cool while you roll the puff pastry.

5) Pour the filling into the baking dish and sprinkle the spring onion. Then cover with the puff pastry, pressing the sides to seal on the rim of the baking dish. Poke some holes on the top of pastry with a fork. Brush with some egg wash.

6) Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 20-30 mins, or till the pastry turns golden brown.

So my pie topping is a little shoddy, but now I will take note to roll it out a bit larger because as it cooks it shrinks a little bit. You can also crimp the sides using a fork or your fingers for more crunch. I did crimp it too, but apparently not good enough!

As for the chicken cubes, no doubt it turned out awesomely soft to the bite, just like tofu!

Happy trying!

Cooking For The Non Eater (Recipes)

In our household we have two good eaters (not including myself) and a NON eater. 

From the time Sanju started his solids, I never had headache over feeding him because he pretty much ate everything I prepared and fed him. As he grew older he became adventurous with his food like his father, and continued enjoying whatever comes on his plate (or spoon, cos he is spoon fed after all).

Then came Jeev. He has been very different from Sanju in many ways, and one of it is indeed eating. He is a smaller, slow and picky eater. He is very temperamental, and his preference changes from time to time. One day he likes something, next day he will reject it completely.

The past one week has been the first time that he rejected everything. I tried feeding from rice dishes, soup, pasta, noodles to capati. There were also moments when he happily did eat his capati, soup or pasta, but the next feeding he would reject it. 

Over the weekend he was somewhat different, enjoying the outings and eating at restaurants with us. Somehow it was so mind boggling to see him behave differently at home and outside.

Seeing the fussiness over food again this week, I let him have some finger foods such as nuggets and buns, and he was fine in munching on them over his own sweet time. Picky, and slow. So I gotta gear down and cater to his preference. Because I am his personal (non certified) chef after all.

Do not feel pity over this poor boy. He was hiding his face from the food as if I tortured him for fun. 

 

So I was a mom on a mission. 

First thing I tried egg fritatta muffins. The method is very simple, mix 4 eggs with half cup of milk, add grated carrots, some salt and pepper. Beat together, and slowly pour them into the muffin tins. Sprinkle each with cheddar cheese and parsley. Verdict: No go with Jeev, but other (great) eaters loved it.

 

Next I saw him munching on plain tortilla bread, and thought why not glorify it. So I toasted the tortilla bread in my HCP, spread some pasta sauce and sprinkle some cheddar cheese. Fold and let it stick.Verdict: A HIT (Jumping of joy!)

After that I thought why not upgrade the tortilla bread to homemade capati as it is rich with its own wholemeal goodness. Same thing as the previous tortilla bites, but this time I also spread some egg on it. Verdict: A HIT, although my capatis turned out a bit hard, gotta work on that.

So these have the little efforts in trying to get the non eater to eat something at least. From the observations, it can be concluded that he loves to self feed on bite sized food. Hence finger foods it is. Also I don't chase him for meal times anymore. I ask and let him eat as he pleases. Next in the list will be finger foods involving meat and fish. But I am hoping that this is just a temporary condition because its gonna be hard cooking a separate dish everytime for just Jeev. A happy kid is a happy mom is a happy kid!

Healthy Snacking Day

It was a rare day. Abnormally rare day. Unusually abnormally rare day. Ok I think you got my point there.

Since I was not cooking I baked and grilled something. My usually weekday bakes are usually breads or muffins that do not count any calories or fat in the worry of running off the scale. But I was itching to try something new, yet again. 

So this time I was baking a bread, a carrot and walnut bread which I got from the dailydelicious site. By the way, this site has been my bible, my best friend and my know-all ever since I started baking various buns. As I did not have any rye flour, I just omitted it, and added a little vanilla essence for the aroma and some milk because the batter was too dry. The final product was rather like a cake, but very less oily and almost non sweet cake, yet flavourful with the carrot and walnut.

Next was my task to cook some corn on the cob, for which I relied on my trusted Happy Call Pan to get the nice grilling effect. I might have cheated here a bit because I sauteed 3 cloves of minced garlic with butter before adding in the corn and half cup of water. Cook with pan closed, once water is almost evaporated, keep turning the corns till you get desired char grilled effect. And oh, you can dab the corns with more butter as you do this. Yummm *Paula Deen style* get your butter one!

 And here is my little kitchen helper helping me to clean the batter off the whisk. Yes, YUMM again.

Quick Fix With HCP

Please bear with me while I go on raving about my HCP. Cooking is an exciting hobby and essential daily chore for me. It is a great feeling cooking something new daily that I learn from a friend, the television or the internet. With the new HCP, even the same old dish becomes exciting and new, knowing that I have a different utensil to produce better result in a shorter amount of time.

Today afternoon I was about to spread some tuna on the wholemeal bread for my lunch when I remembered the HCP. Plus I also had some custard mixture balance from the cuppies. And I kind of felt like eating something cheesy. French toast came to my mind. And then I thought why not put a cheese in between the breads in a sandwich and make a french toast of it. Then I got cooking.

It took hardly a few minutes, and with the non stick surface, flipping was so easy. No, I did not try flipping the pan. I kind of forgot about that feature. Nevertheless, my cheesy french toast was so rich and satisfying. It also occurred to me that the HCP can make a very wonderful bread pudding, my favourite! I have like thousands of ideas in my head to utilise the HCP and I just can't wait for it!

I might just become an HCP expert soon and join the home tutors on a Tutor Spree! If I do indeed, you would be the first to know!

In the meantime, please drool over the picture.

More lessons learnt on the HCP.

HCP Lesson no.3 - Cook at low heat if you don't want the toast to brown more than intended.

Happy Calling - Mini Pie Cuppies

Happy Call indeed, when I received my Happy Call double sided pan! I had contemplated buying this pan for months now seeing mothers raving about it everywhere. I asked myself did I really need it? It took a while to answer the question, and by then I had found out the best price in the market, all the way from Gmarket in Singapore, which even provided free shipping to Malaysia!

What made me decide for it? Since it is a double sided pan, with a lock, I can fry anything and flip it while it is closed. This means my phobia for frying fish pretty much answered, and I can also fry my other favourites like egg tofu without worrying about the oil spluttering over the kitchen and with my kids playing all over the kitchen floor, safety is the most important factor. With the lock system it also means that food cook faster than the normal pan. How cool is that?

I have been cooking pretty much every day on the weekdays. And my current frying pan was wearing out anyway, I don't blame it, it was a cheap one to begin with. My kitchen utensils needed a desperate upgrade, and non stick surface is the way to go since we are getting all so health conscious (I have some baby weight to lose still).

Right before they go in the oven

 

I have been crazy over this muffin tray that I recently got, and wanted to make this little pie cuppies that I got inspired from Rachel Ray's recipe. It is a simple chicken ham crusted pie with creamy spinach filling. For the spinach filling, I just sauteed garlic, spinach, asparagus and red pepper. Added some milk and cream cheese to cream it up. I also filled up the cuppies with a mixture of 1.5cups of milk and 3 eggs beaten together, with some salt, pepper and ground oregano. There is still some balance left however, I am hatching my next plan on how to utilise it next.

After baking for 15 mins at 150C

Here is what I learnt today:

HCP lesson no.1: Do not flip the HCP if you are cooking with some gravy
HCP lesson no.2: Do not toss and shake the HCP as how you see the Korean dude do it on the video.

Ah well, I am still a beginner!

Now as I go back to cooking and painting the kitchen red with my new toy, stay tuned for more inventions!