Spiced Moroccan Chicken Wrap with Eggplant Tomato Jam

I know, I know... long time, no cook.  But it's not that I haven't been cooking, it's just that what I have been cooking hasn't been new or particularly blog-worthy.  And, yes, since moving to Bangkok I have definitely been cooking a little bit less frequently.  Food is so delicious and cheap here, whether on the street, in a restaurant or at the market!

Anyway, this spiced Moroccan chicken wrap is a recipe from The Cozy Apron that I have cooked twice now, once in Jakarta and once in Bangkok, and both times I failed to get a good photo because it was dark and also because the dish was so tasty we snarfed it down immediately.  But please do check out The Cozy Apron for some mouthwatering pics.

The dish is full of spices and garlic and pretty healthy: awesome.  It consists of 3 parts (hummus, spiced and grilled chicken, eggplant and tomato "jam"), which seems like a lot, but none of the steps is particularly taxing or time-consuming.  You can make the hummus in advance (although we liked it to be room temp on the sandwiches, not cold), which helps the flavors meld and the chicken can be marinated overnight (I started marinating mine in the morning and that was sufficient, too).  We thought the sandwiches were good with a little lettuce for crunch, too.  Mmmm.

Sambal Chicken Skewers with Pineapple Jicama Salsa

I know, I know... another sambal-centric dish.  But, in my defense, these dishes were eaten a month apart, only blogged right in a row. Furthermore, this Bon Appetit recipe made the cover of the July issue, so the juicy chicken was just staring at me constantly from the coffee table, tempting me.  It had to be made.

A simple, tasty marinade/sauce for BBQ chicken, for sure.  However, for me, like in the case of the sambal/banana/shrimp dish, my Indonesian sambal (labeled "EXTRA PEDAS") was a bit too spicy... I think the heat from the stuff I buy here is several notches higher than the sambal oelek you get in the U.S.   Tim and I had a couple coughing fits while eating this (which may also be partially due to the fact that I cooked this chicken on the cast iron grill pan inside, being too lazy to wait for the charcoal to heat up outside). We did think the flavor was nice despite the excessive heat, though.

I served the chicken with a side of cooling pineapple-jicama salsa and some lime and cilantro couscous.  I think the salsa was the big hit of the night: crunchy, fresh, a little sweet, super healthy... give this recipe a try for sure!

Chicken and Kailan in a Garlic, Ginger, Miso Sauce

Still trying to use up my stash of miso and take advantage of the super cheap baby kailan (Chinese broccoli) at the grocery store.  I mashed two recipes together and ended up with a pretty tasty meal:

I marinated the chicken as described in this Rasa Malaysia recipe.  Then I steamed the kailan as described in Steamy Kitchen's recipe, set it aside, cooked the chicken in the wok, set it aside, then cooked the garlic, ginger, miso sauce per Steamy Kitchen.  Tossed it all (chicken, kailan, sauce) together and served it on top of rice.  Pretty good!!

I bet you could use this sauce/methodology with lots of different greens- bok choy, kale, broccoli...

Miso Peanut Butter Grilled Chicken

After buying a big container of miso for making my carrot ginger miso salad dressing, I was looking for other interesting ways to use it. I thought maybe it might go well with peanut butter since it went so well with the nutty sesame oil in the salad dressing, so I did some Googling and found this grilled chicken recipe with just those two ingredients featured. The recipe, which is from a famous Hawaiian chef, Sam Choy, is the subject of raves all over the internet and I had all the ingredients on hand, so why not? 

The photos don't really do it justice, but it was pretty awesome.  Super tender, a teeny bit sweet, but nice and salty and savory...  definitely some umami going on.  I served it with some rice and baby kailan (Chinese broccoli) sauteed in garlic and chili.  Yum.

Another potential peanut butter miso combo recipe: cookies?  I am intrigued.

Peruvian Style Rotisserie Chicken

To take full advantage of the versatility of my new grill, I bought an electric rotisserie attachment for it.  Luckily, I had thought ahead and installed an outlet right next to the gas supply line where the grill sits.  The cord was *just* long enough to reach.

My first experiment with the rotisserie arm was Peruvian Chicken (in honor of all the joints near the Irving St house that serve this tasty and very tender grilled chicken).  I followed this basic recipe and bumped it up a few notches with additions such as onion powder and smoked paprika rather than the standard variety.

Chicken marinating for 6+ hours in the fridge

Messy transition from marinating bag to skewer

More or less in the right place

I trussed the chicken once it was in place to help it rotate better and placed a pan underneath to catch the drippings

Excess marinade used for basting

Couple of hours later...

De-skewering time

Fully roasted bird

The product was tasty.  But too wet for my taste.  I would prefer a crispy skin.  Thinking that the basting may have kept it from crisping up.  Will try again and report...

Cilantro-Lime Chicken and Pineapple Skewers

This recipe for cilantro-lime chicken pineapple skewers in last week's Washington Post Food Section caught my eye, and conveniently, I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand.  

Tim and I have been trying to take better advantage of all of the tasty tropical fruit here in Jakarta, and so we had purchased some mangosteens, pineapple and bananas and were able to use about half the pineapple for this recipe and still have half left over for snacking.  

Super easy and quite a tasty recipe... grilled pineapple is so good.  I used bird's eye chilis instead of the serranos called for, and it was a little spicy.  "A little too spicy" seems to be a running theme here, eh? 

Served with couscous cooked with garlic, green onion, a little butter and chicken stock. 

Balinese Chicken Satay and Peanut Sauce

While relaxing in Ubud, Bali (where there was less praying and loving than eating), Liz, Meghan and I took a cooking course (or "culinary experience," if you will) with the Lobong family, described in detail at my other blog.  The course was pretty awesome and I think we learned a lot, but recreating the recipes at home was a bit of a challenge, as once I looked in the recipe booklet we were sent home with, things were a little bit unclear, to say the least.  I may have to volunteer my editorial services (not like my blog is a paragon of perfect writing by any means, but this cook book is really struggling in the areas of English writing and completeness).

I decided to start with what I thought might be the simplest recipe we learned, Balinese chicken satay with peanut sauce.  In the end it's not all that time consuming, with the caveat that you've made the basic Balinese spice paste, base gede, in advance.  The spice paste is not difficult, but does involve unwrapping about a million garlic cloves and shallots, as well as peeling ginger, turmeric root, and galangal (or, in this case, lesser galangal or kencur).  Luckily I had a brand new peeler from Amy for this task (THANKS, AMY!).  The spice paste recipe makes a ton, can be frozen in ice cube trays for future use, and is used in a lot of Balinese recipes.

Once the spice paste is made, you basically just have to cut the chicken, toss it in some paste along with some keffir lime leaves, palm sugar and salt, marinate while you heat up the coals and then grill it.  The peanut sauce is pretty straightforward, too, although I couldn't get mine to thin out into a sauce- it was pretty thick and peanut-buttery despite all my best efforts.  I tried using my new big ole' mortar and pestle, but it was a little too much elbow work for my post-work arms, so I moved on to the food processor to finish off the peanut sauce.  Perhaps therein lies the problem.

Once I hear back from Lobong on the vagaries of their written recipes, I'll post the recipes here!

Sesame and Panko Crusted Chicken

Tasty, easy weeknight meal:  sesame and panko crusted chicken breasts served over an arugula salad with an Asian vinaigrette.  

The gingery, spicy vinaigrette it split in half at the beginning and serves both as a marinade for the chicken and as a salad dressing.  The crispy sesame and panko crust on the chicken is awesome. 

I added some romaine hearts to the arugula for crunch- I'm pretty sure you could use about any green for the salad.  Be sure to pound the chicken breasts flat so that they cook evenly- you don't want to accidentally burn the sesame seeds while trying to cook the fat part of the chicken breast.

Pretzel-Crusted Chicken and Spinach Salad with Strawberry Balsamic

I saw this recipe for pretzel-crusted chicken in the Washington Post's "All We Can Eat" blog this week and had to make it... it was so good! Super crunchy, slightly salty crust. Mmm. I made the sauce a little bit differently from the recipe, mostly because I was preoccupied while cooking, but it was still good- mayo, minced dill, a hint of honey and a hint of lemon juice.
Very loosely based on this recipe, we turned a little more of our abundant strawberry harvest into some sweet (but not overly so) strawberry salad dressing. Pureed strawberries with minced shallots, a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper... healthy and delicious on a salad with some tangy cheese (goat cheese or feta worked for us).

Chicken Stroganoff

Tim is making his annual March pilgrimage to the a Pogues concert at 9:30 Club, so I decided to cook a mushroom dish while he's gone (he's not a mushroom lover). Beef Stroganoff is one of my all-time favorites, but I'm a little beefed out these days, so I made a chicken Stroganoff instead. Not quite as awesomely delicious as the beef version, but pretty tasty!

Sunday Dinner Sliders

Sunday Sunday Sunday....sliders! Tony took the lead this week and made three different types of sliders: meatball, cheeseburger, and chicken ranch. There was also a very tasty chipotle mayo. The chicken ranch sliders came from a cookbook that Tony's parents gave him, Knights Around the Table: Volume 2.

Ranch-Style Chicken Burgers:

1lb. lean ground chicken
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 T cilantro, finely minced
2 T Ranch salad dressing

Tony also added 1/3 cup bread crumbs and subtracted 2 T diced green chile peppers

Roasted Acorn Squash with Maple Syrup and Chicken and Apples with Honey Mustard Sauce

Two recipes from Simply Recipes last week... I tackled this simple roasted acorn squash last week, while Chuck cooked this chicken with apples with honey mustard sauce, while Madison and Tim worked on their Halloween costumes.The roasted squash was tasty, although I think I came to the conclusion that I like butternut squash better than acorn squash... it seems sweeter and not as stringy.

The chicken had a good flavor, but the directions seemed a little weird... why would you bread the chicken, and then have the breaded chicken simmer in sauce? The breading soaked up the sauce and got super soggy. But the sauce tasted good!

Served with roasted broccoli...

Grilled Rosemary and Dijon Chicken Thighs

Lots of leftover chicken after our beach weekend. Needed an easy way to cook and use it up quickly... queue Meghan and Liz, who volunteered their rooftop for some grillin'. I marinated the chicken thighs in rosemary, Dijon, honey and garlic, based on this recipe, figuring that was a good flavor combination for re-use of leftovers in chicken salad, etc. I forgot to take a picture of the grilled chicken itself because it was a wee bit dark on the rooftop (better to see the cool moon last night).However, I did get a photo of the chicken salad made with the leftover chicken... made with Greek yogurt, mayo, celery, green onions, apples, dried cranberries and a touch of parsley. Mmm.

Thai Time: Thai Corn Fritters and Pad Kee Mao (kinda)

It was Thai time tonight at 1346.

A probably-not-authentic-but-tasty-nonetheless version of Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) with chicken and broccoli. The sauce has the quadruple threat: sweet, spicy, sour, salty.

Served alongside some delicious Thai-style corn fritters dipped in sweet chili sauce.

The corn fritters are tasty, but dangerous! Chuck was in charge of frying these up, but when the oil got hot and made contact with the corn kernels, they popped like popcorn. Actually, more like searing hot corn kernel mini bombs. Chuck has the battle wounds to show for it, too.
So, beware if you attempt these corn fritters. They are not to be fried by the faint of heart or those slow to react in the face of fast-moving projectiles.

Fire-Roasted Corn and Tomato Salsa

Tomato time continues!

Today's recipe was a fire-roasted corn and Roma tomato salsa, served on top of chicken quesadillas (chicken breast was rubbed with cumin, chili powder and garlic salt before cooking) with chipotle-lime sour cream. Yum.
This salsa is really nice- it's fresh, it has a kick, and the sweetness of the fresh corn compliments the acidity of the tomato and lime. Super easy, too, especially if you don't bother to peel the tomatoes (which I didn't because I was lazy).

Jazz in the Sculpture Garden Spread

More Jazz at the Sculpture Garden goodies... chicken satay with peanut and a spicy rice vinegar dipping sauces, summer rolls with mango and red pepper, sesame noodles... plus lots and lots and lots of sangria!

Apricot Chicken and Roasted Garlic Green Beans

So, it's been a while since I've done any serious cooking, but I picked some good recipes to break that streak this week. We got a pound of super cute mini-apricots from the CSA this week and I wanted to use them in a savory recipe... Simply Recipes to the rescue! This apricot chicken recipe was really nice- sweet, a little spicy, a thick rich sauce...mmmm.Also, this green bean recipe is a keeper, for sure. I saw it on Daisy Cooks, but had trouble finding the recipe online. I improvised... roasted some garlic, threw it in my salad dressing whizzer-thing with a little bit of chicken broth, added salt and pepper, threw it over slightly sauteed green beans from the CSA, threw the cover back on for a few minutes and then served! Awesome and so easy.

Both recipes got two thumbs up from both Chuck and Tim. Tim said it was "the best apricot dish I've had since I got back from Armenia." He got back from Armenia last Friday. Thanks a lot, Tim.

Salad with Chicken Paillard, Red Currant Vinaigrette and Goat Cheese

Red currants are beautiful! I always thought it was a bit of hyperbole when food writers or cooking show hosts referred to berries or other fruits as "jewel-like," but I think that description really applies to red currants. They glow like little shiny rubies. Mmm.

The red currants are a little tart. We decided to throw them into a salad with goat cheese, toasted walnuts, lemon-marinated chicken paillards, and this red currant vinaigrette. Pretty decent, definitely pretty to look at, but seemed to be missing a flavor. Bland. I've yet to figure out what it's missing, though. Any ideas?

Thai-Style Stir-Fried Chicken and Green Beans with Basil

I got the first of the season's green beans from the CSA this week and needed a simple but exciting way to prepare them that didn't involve going to the grocery store... couldn't deal with the crowds after a long weekend of Chicago-style drinking and an extra long day of workin' hard for the money.

A little Googling was all it took: Thai-style stir-fried chicken and green beans with basil. The recipe I used is a simplified (only about 7 ingredients!) version of this Thai staple: gai pad krapow. Mine was heavier on the green beans (1 lb) relative to the chicken (also 1 lb). And it was spicy and delicious. Try it.

Chicken, Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas

After a long day catching some Rolling Thunder and doing a little shopping at Eastern Market, we were jonesin' for some Tex-Mex food (well, I was at least), so we whipped up these tasty chicken, black bean and spinach enchiladas with a sour-creamy sauce and a tomatillo salsa. Pretty good! We grilled the chicken after sprinkling it with chili powder and cumin, then shredded it. I think next time I would add some of the white sauce to the interior of the enchiladas to glue them together and moisten them a bit. Otherwise, quite tasty!