Mini Chicken Pot Pies

 

Chicken Pot Pies

Grandboy #2 spent the evening with us and for dinner I made chicken pot pies. Very quick and easy, it took barely half an hour to put this together. It uses just 5 ingredients, all of which are available at our local supermarket.

Burmese Shan Noodles

 

Shan Noodles

Rice Noodle Dish from the Shan States of Burma.

I've never made or had this before and was pleasantly surprised at how light this noodle dish was compared to Ohno Khaukswe. No coconut milk anywhere, but delicious nevertheless.

Components are:
Rice Noodles
Chicken Curry
Chicken Broth and
Garnishes 

Chicken Rezala

Chicken Rezala

Mum's Rezala was always delectable. She made it with bone-in chicken pieces that were fried until golden brown and then marinated in whipped yogurt. Her chicken rezala was succulent and delicious! 

Mine is a lazy (wo)man's shortcut that still tastes very good. It involves massaging the yogurt marinade into the chicken and setting it aside for at least 30 minutes at room temperature. I prefer using Greek yogurt so that there is less chance that it will curdle during the cooking process. Adding a teaspoonful of cornstarch to the yogurt will thicken the gravy as the chicken simmers. Greek yogurt should be brought to room temperature before marinating.

A surprising twist to the traditional razaila recipe is to add ground white pepper. It adds a spicy heat and the white pepper keeps the gravy light-coloured and creamy.

Chicken & Broccoli Lo Mein

Chicken & Broccoli Lo Mein

Any noodle dish, whether in the form of a soup or stir-fried is so comforting, especially during these cold winters. Today we had a lo mein with chicken & broccoli that was drenched in a garlic-soy sauce which was poured over and tossed with a package of Ajinomoto Vegetable Chow Mein. Delicious!

If you're making your own there's no need to add sauce to your noodles. Use this sauce instead.

Kosha Murgi Alu - Chicken Curry with Potatoes

Kosha Murgi

This is a simple stir-fried chicken curry with cubed potatoes. It's cooked on the stove-top rather than in a pressure cooker because the chicken cooks quickly in about 20 minutes on a simmer. This dish goes well with hot Basmati/jasmine rice or any Indian bread, accompanied by a dish of lentils or vegetables.

Skinless and boneless chicken thighs come in packages of 12-16 pieces at Sam's Club so I cut each into bite-size pieces, marinate them in ginger & garlic paste, salt, Kashmiri mirch and oil, divide them into 4 separate Ziploc bags and freeze them. The night before cooking a chicken dish, I transfer a bag of marinated chicken from the freezer to the refrigerator so that the chicken is completely thawed. A couple of hours before cooking, I take the package out of the refrigerator and bring it to room temperature on the kitchen counter. 

Dal Gosht - Red Lentils and Meat Stew

Dal Gosht

Lentils are a central part of Indian meals at our home. Every now and then in the summer time when it's too humid to cook, it makes sense to combine lentils with lamb, beef or chicken to shorten the time spent at the stove. This hearty stew combined with any vegetable dish and a fresh salad makes for a quick and easy dinner.

I've used chicken pieces which had previously been marinated in oil, ginger, garlic and paprika and frozen. It's defrosted overnight in the fridge and brought to room temperature before cooking. The chicken curry is cooked separately from the lentils and then combined to make this stew.

My sister gave me a package of Moroccan Tagine spices (thank you, Rene) which I used to spice this dish. The ingredients listed on the package include coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, dehydrated garlic, red pepper flakes, black pepper, basil, cumin, nutmeg and cloves. This sounds very similar to the spices found in North Indian garam masala, which is a good substitute. 

Chili Chicken

This is a popular dish on Chinese menus at restaurants in India and Kolkata in particular. When I was pregnant, I craved Chinese food and couldn't get enough of it. Pickles and other tart condiments, which are a common craving for women who are pregnant, have never appealed to me. I must have been addicted to the ajinomoto (a.k.a. MSG) used in Chinese cooking. Anyway, Chili Chicken had a special place on our order at Chinese restaurants. The more hot chilies there are in the dish, the better, so use as many as you and your family can handle.

Kid-Friendly Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Mini Chicken Pot Pie

One of our three grandsons has dinner with us once a week and it's always a challenge to come up with something palatable for them. Today I made these little chicken pot pies that can be made in under 30 minutes. It took me 10 minutes to assemble them and 15 minutes to bake in the oven. And they're just the perfect size for children to hold in their little hands. Serve them with a side of salad or fruits and a stress-free dinner's ready in no time flat!

The crust was made from Pillsbury crescent rolls dough that were coaxed into each compartment of a muffin pan.The filling was made with diced fajita chicken strips (any cooked chicken will do), frozen mixed vegetables consisting of carrots, peas, celery, potatoes and corn and a can of cream of chicken soup. I used Campbell's cream of chicken soup because I was in a hurry, but homemade cream of chicken soup is really easy to make. 

Each package of dough contains 8 crescent rolls and I used the 'grand' or big sized rolls.

The broad side of the triangle of dough was stretched to cover the bottom and sides of each compartment and the pointed end was wrapped around the top with a hole in the center to allow steam to escape.

Cooked until the tops were golden brown, these little pot pies were done in just 15 minutes. Note that the empty compartments were filled with water.

Needless to say, it was a hit with our Grandboy this evening!

Ingredients:

1 (8 rolls) can Pillsbury Grands! Big & Buttery Crescent Rolls, separated

1/2 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen mixed vegetables for soup

1 (10 oz.) can  or homemade Cream of Chicken soup

1/2 (16 oz.) pkg. fajita chicken strips, diced

salt to taste

Pam butter-flavored spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*F and grease muffin compartments with Pam spray.
2. Microwave vegetables (without water) on high power for one minute or blanch in boiling water for 1 minute and drain.
3. Combine chicken, vegetables, soup and season with salt to taste.
4. Line muffin compartments with broad side of crescent roll dough, leaving pointed end hanging over lip of compartment.
5. Fill with chicken mixture to mound over the top and wrap the pointed end of the crescent roll around the top, leaving a space for steam to escape.
6. Fill empty compartments with water and bake at 375*F for 15 minutes until tops are golden brown. 

Serve with a side of soup or salad.

Cheesy Fajita Open-Faced Sandwich

Cheesy Fajita Sandwich

Here's a lunch that can be prepared in under 5 minutes. We had fajitas for dinner the night before so I put away two little portions for lunch the next day. The chicken breast strips come already cooked with fajita spices and can be found in the frozen section of the supermarket. Combined with strips of colourful sliced onions and sweet & hot peppers, the chicken fajita strips are laid on top of a mixture of grated Mexican cheese, mayonnaise and red pepper flakes with a sprinkling of fresh herbs.. Once toasted in the toaster-oven, the cheese melts and forms a creamy base for the chicken fajita. These open-faced sandwiches taste great on crusty Italian bread or tortillas.

Serve with a fresh salad and/or fruit. This meal is served with a 3 Bean Salad.

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken fajita strips, cooked & frozen

1 cup sweet multi-coloured peppers, sliced

1 serrano pepper, sliced

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, sliced

2 Tbsp. grated Mexican cheese

2 Tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tsp. crushed dried red peppers

2 green onions, chopped

1 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped

2 flour tortillas or 4 slices of toasted bread

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Toss chicken, peppers and onions in the hot oil until cooked but still crisp.
3. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Mix grated cheese, mayonnaise and red peppers in a bowl.
5. Spread on tortillas or bread, making sure to work all the way to the edges.
6. Top with prepared fajita strips and sprinkle with green onions & cilantro.
7. Toast in a toaster-oven just until cheese melts.
8. Serve right away with a salad and/or fruit.

Chicken Do Pyaza

Chicken Braised with Two Types of Onions 

We had company for dinner tonight. This last week has been pretty busy so all the cooking was done starting early this morning. It's the middle of winter in Michigan (USA) with temperatures plunging into the single digits, making the task of cooking meat and fish rather difficult because all the windows need to be left open to air out the house.

I used all shortcuts possible while making this chicken dish. Do (two) Pyaza (onions) means a gravy made with two preparations of onions. The chicken was marinated overnight, brought to room temperature and then cooked with finely sliced onions and garnished with crispy, deep-fried red shallots. We're very fortunate that birista or deep-fried onions/shallots are now readily available in Indian and Oriental markets in North America. 

Besides using fresh tomatoes, tomato paste was also added to thicken and provide a rich, red colour to the gravy. Kashmiri mirch which is an aromatic paprika from India also adds to the rich, red colour. I was first introduced to this way of cooking meat and poultry by a friend in New Delhi close to 45 years ago. I was only just finding my way around my kitchen when this kind gentleman came over one day and taught me to make this. Although he has long since left this world, his kindness and patience remains a precious memory.

Ingredients

1 lb. chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces

3 large onions, sliced finely

1 medium tomato, diced

1 + 1 tsp. garlic paste

1 + 1 tsp. ginger paste

1 + 1 tsp. Kashmiri mirch/paprika

1/4 tsp. tandoori masala

1 tsp. tomato paste

1/2 tsp. Bengali garam masala powder (ground cinnamon, cardamon & cloves) 

1 + 6 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 sticks cinnamon

2 black, large cardamom

1/2 tsp. shah jeera or cumin

2 cups simmering chicken broth

1 cup + 4 Tbsp. deep-fried red shallots

salt to taste

Directions

1. Clean chicken and marinate in the fridge overnight (or minimum 2 hours) with 1 Tbsp. oil, 1 tsp. each ginger & garlic pastes, 1 tsp. Kashmiri mirch, tandoori masala and salt to taste. 
2. Bring marinated chicken to room temperature before cooking.
3. Blend diced tomatoes with 1 tsp. each ginger and garlic pastes.
4. Heat oil over medium high heat, fry chicken until golden brown & set aside.
5. In the same pan, sputter shah jeera, cinnamon and black cardamom.
6. Add sliced onions and stir-fry until translucent.
7. Stir in tomato paste and stir-fry until oil resurfaces.
8. Add blended tomatoes, garam masala & remaining Kashmiri mirch.
9. Stir well & simmer over medium heat until oil resurfaces again.
10. Add browned chicken, 1 cup deep-fried red shallots and broth, lower heat to medium-low, cover & simmer for 30 minutes until gravy is thick and reduced by half.
11. Adjust salt to taste, garnish with remaining deep-fried red shallots & transfer to serving dish.

Serve with hot Basmati rice, Indian bread or tortillas.

Chicken Rezala with Mint

Chicken Rezala with Mint

Legend has it that Chicken Rezala was born in Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) by bawarchis (cooks) in the kitchen of the Nawab of Lucknow. It is an elaborate preparation involving the paste of poppy seeds & nuts, yogurt & ghee, among other ingredients.

Here is a simplified version of the same, taken up a notch with the addition of mint chutney, that is light, delicious and perfect for lunch with loochis (puffed bread) or hot Basmati rice. If mint chutney is not available, make your own by blending a bunch of mint leaves with cilantro stems, lime juice, salt to taste and a smidgen of sugar. This chutney goes well with Indian appetizers such as samosas or pakoras.

Chicken Fajita Casserole

Chicken Fajita Casserole

This deconstruction of a chicken fajita meal combines all its ingredients into a hot & bubbling casserole. I had to come up with something quick that would also appeal to our grandsons (6-8 year-olds) and this met the criteria, especially because we had chicken fajita strips in the freezer. The young boys and their grandparents enjoyed scooping it up with Doritos and heated flour tortillas.

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg. (16 oz./1 lb.) fajita chicken strips, cubed or shredded
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced new potatoes
1 can (10.5 oz.) Campbell's cream of chicken soup
2 Tbsp. low-fat sour cream
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
1 pkg. (16 oz./2 cups) reduced fat grated cheese
6 stalks green onions, whites only chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Set aside 1 Tbsp. grated cheese for garnish.
3. Mix remaining ingredients together and place in an 8" x 8" Pyrex dish.
4. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, garnish with grated cheese.
5. Return to oven and bake for 5 minutes more until cheese melts.
6. Serve hot with Doritos or tortillas.

I shared this on:

Quick & Easy Burmese Ohno Khauk Swe - Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup

Ohno Khauk Swe in the Bowl
Boiled Egg Noodles
Chicken in Coconut Soup
Garnishes

This Burmese meal is a popular street food that is brought to your doorstep by hawkers on foot in Yangon, Myanmar. It is a breakfast meal which we can now have any time of the day because it's prepared at home.

Ohno Khauk Swe in the Bowl

The one-pot meal comprises a bowl of noodles topped with chicken in a coconut soup and garnished with a number of fresh and deep-fried condiments. Gather friends and family together to share in this heartwarming meal that is ideal for a rainy or snowy day.

Boiled Egg Noodles

Fresh egg noodles are readily available in North America at Asian markets. These are easy to prepare by simply soaking in boiling water for less than 5 minutes. Dried egg noodles take between 10-12 minutes to cook through. Either way, the noodles should be cooked just prior to serving and should be drained and rinsed in cold water to prevent clumping.

Garnishes

2-3 limes, cut in wedges

Cilantro, chopped

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled & diced

Deep-fried garlic

1 large or 2 medium white onion, sliced

1 bunch green onions, diced

Deep-fried diced onions

2 Tbsp. chickpea flour, toasted in a dry skillet until golden brown

Chicken in Coconut Soup

This soup could be quite tedious to prepare as outlined in a previous post. I've been toying with this quick and easy method for preparing this dish which usually requires that the chicken be browned and onion made into a paste in the blender. 

The shortcuts used to make this soup included the use of a pressure cooker to cook a whole chicken in a red lentil soup base that was flavoured with diced onions, garlic, lemon grass powder and paprika. The cooked red lentils served to thicken the soup and flavour it.

An alternative method to cooking this in a pressure cooker is to use a slow cooker or crock pot. Follow steps 1 through 7 on low setting for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours. Shred the chicken as in step 7 and add back to the crock pot along with the coconut milk and cook for another half an hour.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut in 8 pieces & marinated in 1/2 salt & 1/4 tsp. turmeric.

1 cup red lentils or masoor dal, washed and drained

4 cups chicken broth or water

1 large onion, peeled & minced

8-10 cloves garlic, peeled & minced

1 tsp. Kashmiri mirch/paprika/cayenne pepper

1 tsp. lemon grass powder

1 tsp. shrimp powder

1 tsp. shrimp paste

1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk (cream settles on top of can)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients, except coconut milk, in a pressure cooker.
2. Bring to a boil and adjust salt to taste.
3. Cover, bring to full pressure and lower heat to medium.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes, remove from heat and allow pressure to dissipate.
5. Remove cover from pressure cooker and carefully take out chicken pieces.
6. Separate chicken from bones & discard skin and bones.
7. Chop chicken into bite-size pieces and return to pressure cooker.
8. Add coconut milk plus cream and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes.

Allow guests to serve themselves with noodles, soup and garnishes.

Chili Chicken

Chili Chicken
(with ground chicken)

GrandBoy #3 spent the evening with us last week and we had 'walking tacos' made with ground chicken. 'Walking tacos' are a salad of taco meat, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, julienned cucumbers, mild salsa, et al, that are mixed well with crushed doritos. Each person is handed a package of doritos which is crushed in the bag. The chips are topped with taco ingredients and mixed well right in the bag. The idea is that each person is able to walk around and enjoy the bag of 'walking tacos'. It's a great on-the-go dinner that is fun to eat.

There were only three of us for dinner that day, so there was half a package of ground chicken left that I froze to use later. The entire package of ground chicken was browned with onions, garlic and tomatoes, and at that point half went into the 'walking tacos' and half was frozen.

Today, all I had to do was add the sauces, peppers, green onions and quickly stir-fry it for dinner.

Taiwanese Style 3 Cup Chicken

3 Cup Chicken

In the Serving Bowl

Over the weekend, we had a guest from Taiwan staying with us and she mentioned this dish. I had seen it being made on TV and hunted down a recipe some time ago. Pauline and I shopped for the ingredients at the Asian market but we didn't get around to making it. 

Today we're going to a concert with friends and I've made this one-pot dish for dinner. We'll have it with steamed rice and a salad.

From what I gather, it's called 3 Cup Chicken because it uses equal proportions of dark sesame oil, dark soy sauce and wine (I used rice wine) for the sauce. It's really easy to make with very little preparation involved.

One recipe grabbed my attention because it marinates the chicken pieces in baking soda for 10 minutes and then thoroughly rinses the pieces under running water. It's incredible how beautifully soft the chicken becomes with this little trick.

I added some umami to the dish with the addition of a little Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce). There's plenty of salt in the sauce ingredients so I didn't add any more.

Refrigerate left-overs because this tastes even better the next day!

Ingredients

1½ lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut in bite-size pieces

2 Tbsp. baking soda
20 slices ginger
20 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 cup rice wine
1/4 cup dark soy sauce (regular soy sauce is ok too)
1/4 cup sesame oil
1½Tbsp. kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)

1 tsp. sugar

1 large bunch Thai basil

4 stalks green onions,  cut in 1” lengths

Directions

1. Mix chicken with baking soda and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Rinse chicken well under running water, mix with a little salt and oil & set aside.
3. Stir rice wine, soy sauce and kecap manis in a bowl and set aside.
4. In a large skillet, heat sesame oil over medium-high heat.
5. Stir-fry garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
6. Add chicken and cook until browned on all sides. 
7. Add remaining ingredients except basil and green onions.
8. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. 
9. When sauce reduces to ¼ cup & reaches a syrupy consistency, garnish with basil & green onions.

Serve over steamed rice.

Ohno Khauk Swe Made Easy

Coconut Chicken Soup

Lunch is Ready!

My bowl of Ohno Khauk Swe

I've made this meal many times and usually follow the recipe used by my family. You may notice that it's not a simple preparation, so this time I made several modifications to simplify the process. First of all, I planned ahead and did the shopping earlier in the week. Two nights before, after making sure that the ground chicken and chicken thighs had been refrigerated to thaw overnight, I made the onion-garlic-ginger-chili paste and refrigerated that also. The night before, I prepared the soup to which I made one time-saving change. Instead of roasting the half-cup of chickpea flour used to thicken the soup, I cooked half a cup of red lentils (masoor dal) in two cups of water and added it to the soup along with the coconut milk towards the end. This not only saved a whole lot of time, but also added a lovely flavour and creaminess to the soup. It also lightened the soup so it was not as rich as in the original recipe. On the day of the lunch, all I had to do was heat the soup, cook the noodles and prepare the garnishes. Using ready-made deep fried onions and garlic are further time-saving ways of simplifying the preparation of this meal.

Minty Chicken Curry in Yogurt Sauce

Dadu's Ceylon Chicken Curry

Mum used to make this scrumptious recipe of Dadu’s (Grandfather). He was a

gourmet cook and loved International cuisine as much as Baangal (East Bengali) food. The combination of mint, cilantro and yogurt gives this chicken curry a very unique flavour.

Mayz' Taco Salad

Mayz spent the evening with us last week and on the way home I asked him, 'What is the most interesting thing you ate since we last saw you?' and he thought about it for a while and replied, 'Taco Salad!' With a vigorous nod of his head he said, 'It was very good!' He had it at home, his Mama made it and he gave me a list of everything in it. What he liked best about the Taco Salad were the Nachos that were crushed and mixed in with everything else.

This recipe is dedicated to Mayz, who is GrandBoy #2, age 6.

Chicken Cooked in Coconut Milk and Flavoured with Curry Leaves

Chicken Keema in Coconut Milk

I’m trying to encourage my curry leaf tree to grow, so I was determined this week to use a couple of stems. Ground chicken was on the menu and it occurred to me that it would taste sensational cooked in coconut milk with a generous helping of curry leaves. I added the curry leaves in 3 stages – first of all, while tempering the mustard seeds, then while frying the onions, garlic and ginger and finally at the end as a garnish. And I followed my friend’s advice to shred the curry leaves added while cooking to extract as much flavour from them as possible. It’s amazing how good the combination of coconut milk and curry leaves tastes! This chicken curry is cooked until dry but still moist, which makes it perfect to eat with chapatis or tortillas, but also tastes good with rice.

Very Easy Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala

The Chicken Tikka Masala I've had in Indian restaurants look wonderful but seems unattainable in one's own kitchen. The inspiration for this dish came from the Internet and it was so easy to make. The chicken can marinate in the freezer in a Ziploc bag until it's ready to be cooked. I used Campbell's tomato soup because it's well-seasoned and less tangy than pureed tomatoes and the coconut milk gave it a creaminess that was delectable!