beer-battered chicken.

What's better than Heineken? Why, Heneiken battered fried chicken, of course!

During our last Costco run we purchased 2 dozen bottles of Heineken. All for the ridiculous price of $24. This means that we have more beer than what we know what to do with it. Drink, for sure. But why not beer battered chicken?

Are you ready to take notes?

Heat oil in a pan.

In a large bowl mix together:
one cold bottle of beer, one cup of flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, dried parsley flakes and some paprika for an added kick. Be sure to season the batter adequately otherwise it might taste a little bland.

As I am obsessed with my recently purchased electric hand beater, I used it to whip the batter into a smooth, glossy, consistency but I am sure you could do the same amount of damage with a whisk and/or fork. Cut chicken thighs (or breasts) into thin (or thick) strips. Dip chicken fillets into the batter, coat carefully, and shake off excess batter.

Drop into the pan and cook for several minutes on each side. The aroma of the beer cooking will slowly begin to pervade through your kitchen and your mouth will begin to salivate long before the chicken is cooked through.

So yum.

You know what goes best with beer battered chicken. More beer!

cilantro chicken.

I love cilantro. However, I can't buy it too often as it doesn't keep very well for too long in the refrigerator. Before long, they get brown and soggy and I hate having to throw an entire unused bunch away. Anyway, Mr. Sachinky went to the Farmer's Market earlier this afternoon and returned with cilantro and other produce. I was determined to use most of it this weekend  before it could go bad on me. Something preferably with chicken. So after some research, I came up with this recipe, inspired from a Guy Fieri dish and it was, frankly, lip-smacking.

Pierce chicken pieces with a fork. 

Marinate chicken in a marinade of orange juice, soy sauce, honey, canola oil, salt, pepper, garlic, the juice of two limes, the zest of one lime, one fourth cup of cilantro and a hint of red chilli powder. The aroma is positively delicious and you will be tempted to lick the marinade off your fingers.

Let it sit for an hour.

Mr. Sachinky then heated up the grill and after three-four minutes in a pre-heated George Foreman, dinner was ready! Crunchy cilantro, ftw!

green chile chicken enchiladas.

I have been off Mexican food for a while now but Mr. Sachinky craves it often. So I decided to make him a Saturday afternoon surprise. Green chile chicken enchiladas! Suzanne bought it to work for lunch once and having tasted it, I found that I quite liked it, to my immense surprise. I called her earlier this morning and got the low-down and as suspected, it was easy as one-two-three.

Ingredients: Corn tortillas, jar of green chile, cooked/shredded chicken, shredded cheese. 

Layer corn tortillas in a pan. pour green chile and smear the tortillas with it. Arrange the shredded chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Add another layer with tortillas, chile and chicken. Top generously with cheese. I used the colby-jack-monterey variety. Bake at 400F for ten-fifteen minutes. 

chicken on a bed of mushrooms.

I wanted to try out something different this evening so I rummaged through the refridgerator and found chicken, white wine and mushrooms. So I gave this dish a shot. I was a little worried about it but it turned out great!

Step One: Lightly oil the bottom of a Pyrex dish. Line with sliced mushrooms, I used the run-of-the-mill button mushrooms but you can use portabella or shitake mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Pour a cup of white wine.

Step Two: Season two chicken breasts with salt, pepper and minced garlic. I had some pesto leftover in the refridgerator so I went ahead and rubbed some of it on the chicken as well.

Step Three: Place the chicken breasts on the bed of mushroom and drizzle some olive oil on top.

Step Four: Bake in a pre-heated oven (400F) for thirty minutes.

Step Five: Separate the chicken and mushroom and pour the wine-sauce in a sauce-pan.

Step Six: Bring to a boil with a glob of butter, a dash of cream, and a splash of chicken/beef broth. Once the sauce thickens, pour over the chicken pieces and garnish with fresh or dried parsley.

chicken in gravy.

--Steam a variety of vegetables, whatever you like, with a pinch of salt. I chose onions, potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, corn and green peppers.

--Boil chicken cubes with a pinch of salt, pepper, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes.

--Sautee vegetables in a couple of tablespoons of butter. Add the chicken and mix together, letting it simmer.

--Use a spoon of cornflour to thicken up the chicken stock. Pour into the pan with the chicken and vegetables. Let simmer till everything is cooked thoroughly. Season with salt, pepper, and dried parsley.

--Serve with crusty bread.

thai red curry chicken.

Skip the Thai take-out and save yourself $8. Trust me, you'll thank me later. So will your wallet. I will definitely make this for Ma whenever I'm home next since this is her absolute favorite.

Okay, time to chop, chop.

Slice bell peppers. Green, red, orange, yellow, whathaveyou.
Tear up some fresh basil leaves.
I had some mushrooms, so I figured, whatthehell, whynot.
Cube chicken or pork.

Heat skillet. Pour in a can of coconut milk. Simmer. Stir in a couple of table-spoons of red curry paste. A table-spoon of brown sugar. Several drops of fish sauce. (Or, of course, you could just be lazy and buy a can of red curry and skip all the above mentioned steps).

Cook your choice of meat with the peppers, mushrooms, basil leaves and bamboo shoots, if you have any.

Cover and let simmer till chicken is thoroughly cooked. Serve over steamed white rice.

(indian) chinese chilly chicken

Even though Mr. Sachinky (who has now renamed himself as Mr. Tubby) and I are on a "diet," I thought that India's victory over Pakistan in the semi-finals deserved a good dinner. So I decided to make Chilly Chicken. The kind we get back home from the roadside locality restaurant. It's not really Chinese, more like, Indian-Chinese. Adjust the level of heat according to your taste-buds.

Gather ingredients: Chicken, flour, soya sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, honey, ketchup, spring onion, onion, green peppers, mushrooms, red chilly powder, jalapenos and vinegar. (Phew!)

Step One: Chop mushrooms, spring onions, onions, green peppers in large chunks.

Step Two: Marinate the cubed chicken in soya sauce, minced garlic, and a pinch of red chilli powder for half an hour.

Step Three: Dip the chicken in flour. Shake off the excess. (This is important. I did not do this thoroughly enough so it got a little soggy). Heat oil in a pan and (preferably, deep) fry the chicken till it browns.

Step Four: In a separate pan, heat oil and sautee the onions, jalapenos, bell pepper. I had mushrooms lying around in the refridgerator so I threw them in as well. But that's optional.

Step Five: Add beef/chicken broth. Add a spoon of soya sauce, vinegar, tomato ketchup, honey (or a dash of sugar). Salt and pepper for taste. Then add fried pieces of chicken of chicken to it.

Step Six: Let the chicken cook till the gravy thickens. Add spring onions as garnish.

I could've made some noodles as an accompaniment but I was way too hungry by then and it smelled so good. So legit, even. So we polished them off with tortillas.

breaded chicken.

I love this dish because it is so versatile. You can serve this with pasta or salad or freshly buttered bread. Our favorite though is to cut it up and put it in sandwiches. Big rolls, lettuce torn up, a hint of salt and pepper on large sliced tomatoes. Mayo, swiss cheese, feta cheese. Bacon slices for variety. And a big dollop of Sriacha. Mmmm, I told ya, that shit goes with anything. Anyway, here's how you make my version of breaded chicken. Try it and let me know how it turned out.

Gather ingredients in an assembly line:

Flour mixed with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Two eggs. Or if you use four big pieces of chicken you might need an extra egg, like I did. Whisked, of course.

Chicken. I used four big pieces of thigh meat. We usually purchase breast pieces but this week they weren't on sale at Sunflower.

And a plateful of Japanese Panko bread-crumbs. Another solid investment.

Drench chicken piece in flour. Shake off excess. Dip it and cover it in egg.

Cover with bread-crumbs on both sides. If you want a heavier coating, press the bread crumbs onto the chicken with your fingers so that they stick. I prefer a light coating so I usually dust the bread crumbs on top of the meat.

Arrange said chicken on a greased baking sheet and bake the pieces in a 400F pre-heated oven for forty-five minutes.

Once thoroughly cooked, fry them in canola or vegetable oil for a couple of minutes on both sides till the coat turns golden brown for a not-so-healthy option.

PS: Plis to excuse the quality of the photographs. I took them with one hand on The Android.

chicken wontons.

Mummy's going to be so proud of me! I made dumplings from scratch! Okay, that's a lie, I cheated a little by buying some wonton wrappers I spotted at the grocery store earlier today. I decided to document the process, which was way easier than I ever imagined them to be. Instructions and pictures follow.

Step 1: Finely chop onion, mushrooms and green pepper. That is all I had in the refridgerator.

Step Two: Heat oil in a pan and fry garlic and ginger paste.

Step 3:  Fry the onion, mushroom, pepper mixture. Then brown half a pound of ground meat in the skillet. I used ground beef but you can use pork and chicken as well. I then poured some of 'Lawry's Szechwuan Sweet and Sour BBQ' marinade/sauce and cooked the beef mixture in it.

Step Four: Spread the wonton wrappers on a plate. Beat an egg.

Step Five: Line the edges of the wonton wrapper with a little bit of the egg mixture. Pour a tiny spoonful of the meat mixture in the middle of the wrapper. Then seal the edges. We started making them in the 'momo' triangle-shape at first, but gave up soon. Instead, we decided to go with the more traditional sui-mui 'twist on top' -- it's easier and pretty!

Step Six: Heat oil in another skillet. Fry the wontons for a couple of minutes till golden-brown. Flip and fry on the other side as well. The oil was too hot so they came out a little more brown than I would've liked. But they were delicious, nonetheless.

Step Seven: Serve hot with Kikkoman soya sauce as a dipping sauce. Tip: I usually don't like the bitter taste of soya sauce so I mixed a tiny spoon of sugar in to sweeten it. 

ENJOY! We sure did!