Creamy Vadouvan Chicken Breast With Caramelized Fennel Bulb and Asparagus

Healthy food doesn't have to bland,  boring,  and unappealing. There are few recipe that I would make over and over again just for that reason alone. One example is this creamy luscious chicken using  Vadouvan spice mix that I posted earlier. For a special occasions, you can splurge a little by using more expensive cut of meat, but for light everyday meal you can use chicken breast, you can even simplify it further by using tofu, paneer (Indian hard cheese), or just using different kind vegetables you desire. I hope you like it !

Creamy Vadouvan Chicken Breast With caramelized Fennel Bulb and Asparagus
serve 4 to 6 

2 pounds boneless and skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 Fennel bulb, halfed - sliced
10 asparagus, cut into 2-inch long
1 to 2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp brown mustard seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 dried bay leave
3 fresh curry leaves
3 tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 cup vadouvan spice mix
1/4 cup (or more) water or chicken stock
1/2 cup plain yogurt
salt, as needed

Heat oil in a medium size shallow pan, add sliced fennel, saute until until soft and caramelized a little. Add brown mustard seeds, cumin seeds, dried bay leave, and fresh curry leaves, saute until fragrant, about one minute. Now add the tomato chunks, follow by vadouvan spice mix, and the chicken breast, pour about 1/4 cup of water or chicken stock, stir. Cook and stir often for about 8 minutes (depending how big your chicken cubes are), replenish another 1/4 cup of water or chicken stock if necessary. Add asparagus to the pan, cook for a minute, stir in yogurt, taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. Cook another one minute, just enough to heat the yogurt. Transfer to a serving dish, serve with steam basmati rice, or Indian flat bread.

ARANCINE (Stuffed Rice Balls)

It is very easy to pigging  out of yourself on delicious little morsel like this arancine, especially when you are talking  and munching at the same time, sometimes you just don't realize how filling this can be. So make sure that you remind your guests there will be another dish coming.  I, very rarely to serve this as an appetizer, instead, I like to  serve my Arancine with vegetable salad as a main dish for weekend brunch or  lunch. This recipe can be easily become a vegetarian dish, instead of  beef filling, only put a few small cubed of mozarella inside. 

For The Risotto:

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tbs olive oil

1 lb Arborio rice

4 cups chicken stock, keep hot

1/2 tsp saffron, dissolve with 1 tablespoon hot stock

parmesan cheese (as much or as little as you wish)

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Saute the onion with olive oil in sauce pan over medium heat until translucent, add the rice and fry for a minutes. Add the hot chicken stock a ladleful at a time, as soon as the liquid is almost absorbed, add another ladleful of hot chicken stock, keep stirring and adding the stock until you use the whole 4 cup of the stock. Which by then the rice will be soft and creamy but the grain is still firm when you bite to it. It may take about 25 to 30 minutes. Add saffron liquid and parmesan cheese,  season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir, and let cool completely. 

For the Filling:

1 lb beef shoulder cut into small cubed

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1-16oz canned chopped tomato

pinch of nutmeg

2 tbs olive oil

2 tsp finely chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan set over medium heat, saute onion in olive oil until soft, add the beef, and the garlic. Stir, add canned tomatoes, and nutmeg. Continue to cook until the meat is tender on low heat for about 45 minutes. Add chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper. Cool completely.

Arancine

make about 8 - 10

Cooled risotto

Cooled beef filling

3 oz fresh mozarella cheese, cubed

2 egg whites, lightly whisk with a fork

2 cups dried plain bread crumbs

enough vegetable oil for frying

Dampen your hand with cold water, take about 2 tablespoon (depending how large you want you want it to be) of cooled risotto, flatten it, add about half tablespoon of filling, enclose, and form into a ball.  Dip arancine in the egg white, then rool it in the bread crumb, shake off  the excess. Place the ball in a baking sheet, continue this step until you use up all of the rice. Place the baking sheet in the Refrigerator for 30 minutes. Reserve any leftover filling for other use. 

Heat the oil in a large deep frying pan, set the heat to medium high. Fry the arancine in batches until golden on all side. To achieve the almost perfectly round and golden brown arancine, turning them often. Remove and drain the excess oil on a wire rack. Serve immediately, or for the shake of photo on your blog, do it now, so you will get a nice melted mozarelle that look very appetizing. If you wait too long or worse, cold, then you will get that hard mozarella look (like mine here).   

Beef Sambal With Lemongrass

I know that some of you will be concerned about the amount of red jalapeno use in this recipe. Don't worry, it will be mild enough if you seeded and discard the white membrane where the seed is attached to it. As always,  you are welcome to  substitute it with red bell pepper, just make sure that you saute the paste long enough to get rid of the extra liquid from the red bell pepper. The important thing is that this dish has to be red. Hope you will like it. Beef Sambal With Lemongrass 1 pound boneless beef shank, chop into small pieces 10 cloves garlic 10 red jalapeno, seeded - discard white the membranes 2 medium size Roma tomatoes ½ cup chopped fresh lemongrass 1 tsp toasted shrimp paste 1 tbs fish sauce salt and pepper, to taste handful fresh lemon basil handful fresh green chilies, optional 1 - 2 tbs vegetable oil 1 small can (5.6 fluid oz) coconut milk Place garlic, red jalapeno pepper, tomatoes, lemongrass, and shrimp paste in a food processor,  process to make a smooth paste. Fry the paste with oil on medium heat for 5 minutes, add the meat, and 1 cup of water. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour on medium heat until the meat is soft, add fish sauce, fresh lemon basil, green chilies if using, and coconut milk, stir and let cook for another 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed. Transfer to a serving bowl, serve with plain steam jasmine rice and simple saute vegetables.

Vadouvan Spice Mix

I am so glad to discover this delicious spice mix on Gourmet website, apparently, this is how the French interpret The Indian masala. So, I heard!

Vadouvan is one of those versatile spice mix, that not too hard to make, and can be added to anything from meat dishes, seafood, or even vegetarian dishes. I like to  make it in a big batch, then divide it into individual freezer ziplock bag about 1 cup per bag, then store them in the freezer up to a month. Each time I run out an idea of what to make that day, I simply grab one from my freezer, and toss it into my cooking.

This is my version of Vadouvan Spice Mix, it makes  about 3½ cups. The time of cooking is much faster then the oven roasted version, which will take about 1 to 1½ hours. It's up to you which recipe you use, the result is delicious nonetheless.

Ingredients:

1 tbs brown mustard seed
1 tbs cumin seed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 lb shallots, finely chopped
1½ lb onions, finely chopped
2 bulbs garlic, sliced
2 tbs fresh minced ginger
1 tbs cumin powder
½ tsp funegreek
5 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 tbs coriander seeds
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2  tbs cayenne pepper
a bunch fresh curry leaves
salt to taste

Heat oil in a medium to a large size frying pan over medium heat, add  brown mustard and cumin seed, as soon as you hear the brown mustard starting to crackle, add shallots, onions, and a pinch of salt, fry until the onions are translucent, add garlic, ginger, and cumin powder, stir.

Meanwhile, grind together  funegreek, cloves, cardamoms, and coriander seeds. Add this powder mix to the frying pan along with nutmeg, turmeric powder, cayenne pepper, and curry leaves, stir to coat the ingredients together. Season with more salt if needed. Lower the heat to medium low, continue to fry for about 10 or until it releases its fragrant, and the onion and shallots are soft. Taste, and adjust the amount of salt according to your liking. The vadouvan is now ready to use for your favorite dish.

Mushroom Monyet (Wild Mushroom En Croute)

I never entered any contest before, so when I found out the announcement at  Marxfoods about this mushroom contest, I didn't think twice about joining in. I commented to his blog to let him know that I was interested. The next thing I knew was this precious little package arrived at my house. Of course I was happy and excited to try them. The package consisted all of the ingredients needed for this recipe, they were perfect. I am very familiar with all of this mushroom with exception of black trumpet and matsutake, so I was glad that this two were included in the package. Whenever in season, I always try to buy fresh porcini, chanterelle, or morel, which is easily available in my grocery store. They are pricey, but worth every penny. When I cook with such a precious mushroom like this, I never really interested in adding too many herbs and spices that I would normally do in my cooking.  I always worry that the fragrant and spiciness will compete with the earthy flavor of this mushrooms. As for the pink peppercorn, you don't have to worry, the flavor is delicate, not too peppery spicy and has a tad of sweetness to it, so is not overpowering.



So here is my entry that I adapted from my own recipe created for my husband and my son so many years ago. This recipe has become a family recipe that I make from time to time, a recipe that I passed down to my sisters, brother, and to my son who is very much interested and likes to cook. And by the way, he can do a good job on braiding the pastry too :).

All mushrooms listed in this recipe can be purchase here.



Mushroom Monyet (Wild Mushroom En Croute)
Serve 8 as an appetizer or 4 as a main dish
~elra~

Ingredients:

1 sheet (about 8 to 9 oz) homemade or store-bought  puff pastry
1/2 oz dried matsutake
1/2 oz dried lobster
1/2 oz dried porcini  
1/2 oz dried black trumpet
1/2 oz dried chanterelle
7½ oz fresh shitake, discard the stems - sliced
1½ medium size onions, chopped
2 - 3 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4½ oz grated French gruyere
4 tbs crème fraîche
salt to taste
½ tsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed

1 egg yolk
1 tsp milk

Reconstitute the dried mushrooms by soaking them in hot boiling water until soft, about an hour or two. Drain, squeeze the excess water, then roughly chop. If you wish, you can reserve  the water for other use, such as to make stock.

Caramelized the chopped onion with 2 tablespoon olive oil about 10 minutes on a medium high heat. Once caramelized add all mushrooms including shitakes, lower the heat to medium and saute for 10 minutes, if looks a little dry add another tablespoon of olive oil. Season with salt and  crushed pink peppercorns. Set aside to cool. When the mushroom is cool enough add crème fraîche and the cheese, mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Roll out the puff pastry to 14 by 14-inch square, transfer to a piece of parchment paper, then place it on a baking sheet. Transfer the mushroom in the middle of the pastry, make a series of 1-inch slanting cuts on both side (between the mushroom filling). Start braiding the pastry by over lapping each of the slice on top of the filling to enclose it. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes up to 24 hours. Check this video on how to braid the puff pastry.

Preheat oven to 375⁰F.

In a small bowl, combine the yolk and the milk together. Brush pastry with this egg wash mixture. Bake mushroom monyet in the middle rack for 35 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve hot with simple green salad as a main dish, or cold as an appetizer.

Sweet and Sour Tofu

Can't get any more simpler then this. This tofu dish can be serve as an appetizer, combine with green salad, or serve as a main dish with plain rice and saute vegetable. For a completely vegetarian dish, simply omit the fish sauce and increase the amount of salt to your liking.

24 oz tofu

oil for frying

1/2 cup white vinegar
1 cup sugar

5 to 10 red jalapeno, seeded 

1/2 tbs finely chopped cilantro roots

5 cloves garlic

1/4 water

1 tbs fish sauce
salt to taste, optional

Cut tofu into triangle, place them on a colander and let drain for an hour. After an hour, pat dry with clean kitchen towel, or paper towel. Heat 2 to 3 tablespoon oil in a frying pan until a little bit smoky. Carefully add tofu, about 4 or 5 pieces, fry for about one minute on each side. Transfer to wire rack to drain the excess oil. Repeat with the rest of the tofu.

Grind together the garlic, red jalapeno, and cilantro roots to make a smooth paste. Transfer to a sauce pan, add vinegar, sugar and water. Cook until it becomes sirupy.

Return the tofu to frying pan, add the sauce and toss for a minute or so. Transfer to serving dish, serve as is, or as a main dish accompany with saute vegetable and plain rice.

Lubia Polow, Rice with Green Beans

My brother in law's father make the best Lubia Polow imaginable, actually he make the best Iranian Rice period. He likes to send a big pot of Iranian rice to my family, as you can imagine it always dessapear pretty quickly. The best part is, it is so good that we don't even seem to need a side dish, other then some fresh herbs. Thank you Mr. AE :)

Makes 6 servings

3 cups basmati rice, wash - soaked in salted water for an hour or two, then drained

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, sliced

1 stick cinnamon

1½ tsp advieh (Persian spice mix)

1 lb ground lamb or meat

2 lbs green beans, cut into ½-inch long

½ tsp limu-omani powder (Persian dried lime powder)

3 tbs canola oil

salt and pepper

2 tsp ground saffron, dissolved in 2 tbs hot water

4 tbs butter, melted

• In a large sauce pan, cook the onion with canola oil until soft and translucent. Add garlic, cinnamon, advieh, limu-omani, and the ground lamb or meat. Stir, cover the sauce pan and cook for 20 minutes on low heat. Uncover the pan, add green beans and limu-omani powder, season with salt and pepper. Cook another 10 minutes on medium heat.

• In a large pot set over high heat, bring about 8 to 10 cups of water to a boil. Add drained rice, boil briskly for about 10 minutes, gently stiring once or twice with wooden spoon to loosen the grains that might stuck in the bottom. Drain the rice in a large fine-mesh colander.

• Place about 2 ladles of rice in the bottom of a large nonstick pan, add a layer of meat-green bean mixture, repeat alternating layer and make a shape of pyramid. Drizzle with saffron water. Wrap the lid with a clean kitchen towel, then cover the pot with this lid to prevent the steam to escape. Make sure that your towel is securely tied, and no piece of this towel is hanging lose that might catch a fire. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes on the lowest heat.

• Open the pot, drizzle the rice with melted butter, gently mix and fluff the rice. Transfer to a large serving plate. Serve at once. If you like you can serve this with fresh herbs, such as lemon basil, spear mints, cilantro and parsley.