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Tandoori Chicken Recipe – Learn How to Make This Wonderful Indian Dish

Tandoori Chicken, along with the equally delicious Butter Chicken, is often called the national dish of India. It is ubiquitous throughout North India. In every city, every town, there are dozens of restaurants serving succulent pieces of tender chicken grilled to perfection in clay ovens or ‘tandoors.’ This dish is to India what vodka is to Russians and hamburgers to Americans.

The unique taste of tandoori chicken can be attributed greatly to the tandoor in which it is cooked. This cylindrical clay oven, which is typically about 3-4 feet high, imparts its own flavor to the meat. The heat is provided through coal or charcoal burnt at the bottom. The meat is skewered through and placed in the oven for about 7-10 minutes. It is usually served with a spicy mint and yogurt ‘chutney’, onions, and a thin bread called ‘romali roti.’

In terms of spices, it incorporates all the spices typical to Indian cuisine: red pepper, cumin, dried coriander, turmeric, and ‘garam masala’. The best thing about tandoori chicken is its versatility. It is often used in other dishes like Butter chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, etc.

Here’s a simple tandoori chicken recipe:

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken – 800gms

Red chilly powder – 2 teaspoons (you can find it at Indian stores)

Lemon juice – 2-3 tablespoons

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt – to taste

Yogurt – 1.5 cups

Ginger paste – 1.5 tablespoons

Garlic paste – 2 tablespoons

Garam masala powder – 1/2 teaspoon (you can find it at Indian stores)

Olive oil – 2 tablespoons (for better results, use mustard oil)

Butter – 2 tablespoons

Chat masala – 1 teaspoon (find it at Indian specialty stores)

Cooking Method:

1. Make small cuts in the chicken. This is to allow the marinade mixture to go deep inside the meat.

2. Rub a mixture of salt, lemon juice, salt and a hint of black pepper over the chicken. Set aside for half an hour.

3. For the marinade mixture, combine the yogurt (make sure to remove all excess water) with all the ingredients mentioned above: red chilly powder, ginger and garlic paste, garam masala, cumin, and oil.

4. Rub this marinade mixture into the chicken. Cover and keep in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (the more, the better).

5. Take out the chicken and allow it to come down to room temperature. Then, skewer the chicken and place it inside a preheated tandoor. If using an oven, keep the temperature to 200°C/400°F.

6. Cook for at least 8-10 minutes. Use an oven glove to take it out of the oven and baste the chicken with butter. Place in the oven again until done.

7. Serve hot with sliced onions, thin bread (romali roti) and mint chutney. Sprinkle with a hint of chat masala if you want.

So there you have it: a simple tandoori chicken recipe. While cooking it in a normal grill or oven won’t be the same as cooking in a tandoor, this will still taste wonderful. Guaranteed.

How to Cook Lima Beans (aka Butter Beans)

There wasn’t a Thanksgiving in my home, when I a was a girl, that didn’t include lima beans. For that matter, lima beans were a side dish at practically every Sunday-with-the-kinfolks meal. Only, we usually called them butter beans.

Lima beans are popular in the southern part of the United States, perhaps less so in other regions, but good anywhere and any time, in my biased opinion. The trick is to cook them right.

Oddly enough, cooking lima beans the right way does not mean cooking them the way I remember most of my southern kin did it, and even the way the restaurants we frequented did. They all seemed to think you had to cook them into mush, as well as oversalt them. If that’s how you are used to eating lima beans, and you enjoy them that way, then don’t let me stop you. But be aware that the recipes I give below are calibrated to produce limas that are about halfway between “hard” and “mush” on the cooked beans scale.

One fact I recently learned is that lima beans are more southern than even I had suspected: They were being grown and eaten in South America thousands of years ago.

Fresh lima beans are the best, although they require more work to prepare, including shelling them. You’re most likely to find fresh limas at a farmer’s market, especially in the South.

Alternately, feel free to use the dried or frozen ones that your supermarket carries. You can probably find both large and small (“baby”) sizes; my preference is for the small ones as they seem to be more resistant to turning mushy as you cook them, but either will work fine.

If you start with dried lima beans, you should soak them for at least five hours and preferably overnight before cooking. Keep in mind that dried limas will swell from soaking and cooking, at least doubling in volume. So, a cupful of dried limas will cook up to 2 cups or a little more.

Lima Beans, Southern Style

If you go to a down-home style restaurant or cafeteria in the South and order lima beans, the odds are 10 to 1 that this is how they’ll come out to the table. We’re talking authenticity here!

Ingredients

1 lb. lima beans, large or small (dried limas commonly come in 1-lb. packages)

1 chopped onion

1 or 2 ham hocks

1 large clove of garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cooking oil

Directions

1. Soak lima beans overnight (if using dried beans)

2. Rinse beans in a colander under cold running water.

3. Dump beans into a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.

4. Remove beans from heat, cover and let stand until fairly well cooled–at least 30 to 45 minutes. Then, drain the beans and set them aside.

5. In the pot, saute ham hocks, onion and garlic in cooking oil until the onion turns clear. Put in the beans and cover it all with water. Add salt and black pepper.

6. Bring pot to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add water as necessary to keep the beans covered.

7. After a half-hour of simmering, begin checking on beans to see how well cooked they are. You might want to stop the cooking early, depending on how tender they are–and whether or not you like your lima beans mushy!

Succotash

This is the other main way to enjoy lima beans, at least where I grew up. Succotash basically just means lima beans and corn. The onions and tomatoes give it extra interest.

Ingredients

3 cups lima beans

3/4 cup onions, diced

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 cups kernel corn, already cooked (according to package directions)

2 cups peeled and diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Put lima beans in large pan or pot. Cover with water and boil 4 to 6 minutes, or until beans are tender. Drain.

2. Melt butter or margarine in a small skillet over medium heat, then pour into the pot you will be cooking the beans in.

3. Add beans, onion, corn and tomatoes to the pot. Saute for 4 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. Remove from heat, mix in the salt and pepper, and serve.

Best Fresh Salsa Recipe

Here is the best salsa recipe I have ever made.

My family does not even like regular jar or store bought salsa anymore. I use to make salsa and cook the ingredients on the stove but once was in a hurry and just used everything straight from the garden, after a little washing. The result was a flavor burst in my mouth with all the wonderful flavors that were not toned down by cooking them away.

Hope you enjoy and give me your comments.

8 tomatoes

3 green peppers

4 jalapeno peppers (you can remove some or add some depending on your taste)

1 small onion

Garlic cloves or minced garlic

salt

Olive Oil

Parsley

Lemon or lime juice

Cut off the tops of the green peppers and remove seeds. Cut off the tops of the jalapenos but do not remove seeds. Cut the outer skin off the onion and cut in four sections.

Place these items in a food processor and run until everything is small. I usually do not leave big chunks of the jalapeno as small chopped bits blend better and give flavor throughout the salsa.

Drop in 1 teaspoon on minced garlic. You can use the stuff out of the jar from the store or put in 2 whole cloves.

Wash the tomatoes and cut off the tops and cut them in half our fourths and put them in the food processor on top of the already chopped up peppers and onions.

Process these until the tomatoes are well chopped. Open the food process and remove the container and put a strainer in your sink and pour the mixture from the processor into the strainer and let strain all the excess liquid from the tomatoes. I usually use my well washed hand in their to stir up the salsa and speed up the process but you can use a big spoon. When Most of the excess liquid is gone dump the strainer mixture into a bowl or container.

Add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 3 to 4 tablespoons lemon or lime juice. I prefer lime juice but once ran out and used lemon juice and it worked just as well. I use the bottled juice but it you have fresh it would be even better. Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

Stir everything together with a spoon and quickly get out your chips and get some because as soon as your family knows you have homemade salsa made it will not be around for very long.

How to Cook the Chicken Inasal From the Philippines

If you have never been into the Philippines, then grilling a Chicken Inasal will give you a taste of a very popular dish in that country. If you have been into the Philippines but have never tasted the Chicken Inasal, then this is your chance to compensate for the half of the trip that you missed.

The Chicken Inasal originated in Bacolod, Philippines, and it can be translated as “Chicken Barbecue.” It is famous for the sweet, spicy and sour juice in the chicken that goes inside out after being roasted. It is usually served with garlic rice, a dipping sauce made of soy sauce and vinegar, and sometimes, people in the Philippines enjoy with a cold bottle of beer.

To have a taste of this goodness, first, you have to cut a whole chicken in half and over-night, apply a marinade made of ginger, lemon juice, soda, vinegar, brown sugar, onion, salt, and pepper. Before and while grilling, the chicken has to be regularly basted with annatto oil. This oil is made by heating corn oil with annatto seeds. Once the annatto seeds’ aroma and color became prominent, salt, butter, and vinegar, were to be added while the oil simmers for a couple of minutes. You will know that the chicken is ready to eat if you take a look inside its meat and see that its color is now yellow-orange instead of white.

Now that you have the recipe for the Philippine’s Chicken Inasal, it is time to call your friends, have a party and turn that grill on your backyard to enjoy the Chicken Inasal the way people from Bacolod do.

Crunchy Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

12-ounces Chicken breast tenderloins, Breaded & Frozen,

8-cups Mixed salad greens, cut into bite size pieces,

1-cup Red cabbage, shredded,

1-cup Carrots, shredded,

3-medium Green onions, sliced,

1½-cups Chow Mein noodles,

Creamy Oriental Dressing,

(See dressing recipe below).

Instructions:

Make dressing and set aside; cook chicken according to directions on package and cut tenderloins into strips, 4 to 6 pieces each.

Combine chicken breast tenderloins, mixed salad greens, shredded red cabbage, shdded carrots, sliced green onions, Chow Mein noodles and the Creamy Oriental Dressing (See dressing recipe below), in a large bowl; toss to coat; divide into 4 plates and serve.

Ingredients & Instructions for Creamy Oriental Dressing:

¼-cup Asian Sesame dressing and marinade

⅓-cup Yogurt or mayonnaise

Dash Salt

Dash Pepper

1-teaspoon Sesame seeds

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until creamy; makes about ½ cup.

Note: To give it that grilled taste, grill chicken breast about 7 or 8 minutes per side or until there is no pink in the thickest part of the chicken. If you don’t have time to cook chicken then substitute the chicken with canned chicken, (wont’ be breaded) or frozen, already cooked chicken strips. These are just a few ideas to make things with what you already have.

Serves 4

This fantastic Crunchy Chicken Salad Recipe can be found in “Lettuce Eat” Cookbook along with many more delicious and exciting salads at http://www.cristiescookin.com.

Easy Lemon Chicken Recipe

If you haven’t tried cooking lemon chicken yet, then it’s high time for you to give this mouth-watering dish a try. This is a recipe created by a Chinese chef which has a delicious taste with the twist of lemon.

Lemon chicken is a recipe that is famous throughout the world. There are several ways on how you can cook lemon chicken. For the Canadian recipe, the chicken is deep-fried or sautéed and then a coating of sweet and thick lemon-flavored sauce are applied. In Australasia, there are two ways on how they make lemon chicken. The first one is to coat chicken pieces with bread crumbs, baste it with lemon juice and then bake it in the oven. The other method is to coat the chicken with batter, deep fry it and then cover with lemon sauce. For Italians, what they do is to roast the whole chicken with fresh lemon juice, mirepoix, white wine and fresh thyme. The Spanish do the same as what they do in Italy but with different seasonings.

There are different recipes of lemon chicken but for this time, try the baked version. What you will need for this recipe are:

- 4 pounds of chicken thighs and legs,

- 2 tablespoons of lemon zest,

- 1/3 cup of lemon juice,

- 2 cloves of crushed garlic,

- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme,

- 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary,

- 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper,

- 3 tablespoons of melted butter, and

- lemon slices.

For the chicken parts, do not remove the skin and the bones but you will need to trim off the excess fat. You can also use chicken breasts if you do not want to use thighs or legs.

For the preparation, you will first need to marinate the chicken. To do that, mix well the lemon juice, lemon peel, rosemary, thyme, salt, black pepper and garlic in a bowl. If you want the marinade to penetrate well into the chicken, you will have to cut into the parts one or two times by half an inch. Place the chicken and the marinade inside a freezer bag and rotate the bag for the chicken to be coated well. Place the bag in a bowl and refrigerate for about two hours.

When the marinade is done, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Place the chicken pieces in a baking dish, forming a single layer with the skin facing up. Set aside the marinade. Brush the melted butter on the chicken using a pastry brush. Bake the chicken for about an hour or until the chicken skin is already golden brown and the juices are already clear. For the remaining marinade, use that half-way during the baking, basting it on the chicken. When the chicken is already done, remove from the oven and cover with foil for about 10 minutes before you serve. Garnish with the lemon slices and pour lemon juice on top or on the side depending on your preference. Lemon chicken is best eaten with rice so be sure that you have some when you are preparing this delectable dish.

Lemon chicken is easily prepared but it surely is a delicious meal that you will enjoy every minute of eating it. You will not regret cooking lemon chicken so prepare now your ingredients for a luscious meal.

Two Tasty Vietnamese Chicken Recipes

A lot of people assume that all Vietnamese food is very spicy or, worse still, identical to Chinese food. Poultry plays a large part in Vietnamese cuisine and fresh vegetables and fruits are popular in these recipes.

Fish sauce is used to flavor poultry, beef and pork dishes, just as it is used to season fish, seafood, and vegetarian meals. In fact, fish sauce is used more for its saltiness (rather like soy sauce) than for its fish flavor. The following two recipes will show you how tasty Vietnamese recipes can be and how easy they are to prepare.

Fruity Baked Chicken with Lemongrass

This appetizing recipe makes enough to serve four people and it is good with boiled rice. You can either cut up a whole bird to make this or just use your favorite parts of the bird. Let it marinate overnight for a more intense flavor.

What you will need:

• 1 whole skinless chicken, cut up
• 2 minced cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1/2 cup low-salt soy sauce
• 2 unripe bananas, in quarter slices
• 2 diagonally sliced stalks lemongrass, just the bottom 6 inches
• 4 halved slices fresh pineapple

How to make it:

Mix the soy sauce with the lemongrass, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, and oil in one bowl and put the bird in a second bowl. Pour the mixture over the bird, then cover it and leave it to marinate for at least three hours in the refrigerator.

Arrange the bird in a baking dish in one layer. Add the pineapple and banana and pour the rest of the marinade over it. Cover and bake for half an hour at 350 degrees F. Turn the meat over and bake it for another half an hour or until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear.

Chicken with Bamboo Shoots in a Tomato Sauce

This serves six people and it is nice with Chinese noodles or rice. Spanish-style tomato sauce is good for this recipe. The fish sauce, bamboo shoots and sesame seeds gives this easy dish a typically Asian flavor. Without those ingredients, it could pass as a Spanish or Italian dish.

What you will need:

• 2 green onions, in 1 inch pieces
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, in strips
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 2 tablespoons crushed, toasted sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 oz can bamboo shoots, drained

How to make it:

Combine the chicken with the bamboo shoots, green onion, pepper, and garlic salt in a covered container and chill it for fifteen minutes. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the chilled mixture. Cook it for ten minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink.

Combine the water, tomato sauce, and fish sauce and pour this over the poultry. Turn the heat up to moderately high and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover the pan and turn the heat down to low. Cook for ten minutes. Sprinkle the crushed sesame seeds over the top and serve.

Filipino Recipes – Chicken Curry Recipe – Pinoy Food

Filipino-style chicken curry is a favorite dish loved by most Filipinos. It is a deliciously spicy chicken recipe that will leave a burning sensation in your mouth. Of all the chicken recipes that I know, this is my second favorite next to fried chicken. After your first try, it will surely become one of your favorites, too.

Ingredients:

• Chicken – 1 lb (cut into serving pieces)
• Oil – 2 to 3 tbsp
• Potatoes – 3 pcs (peeled, quartered and fried)
• Garlic – 3 cloves (minced)
• Onion – 1 large (quartered)
• Patis (fish sauce) – 1 tbsp
• Curry powder – 3 tbsp
• Water – 1 cup
• Red bell pepper – 1 pc (cut into big squares)
• Celery stalks – 3 pcs (cut into 1-1/2″ long)
• Coconut milk or evaporated milk – 1 cup
• Salt and pepper –  to taste

Cooking Procedure:

• Fry the potatoes in a pan then set aside.
• Fry the chicken pieces using the same pan until it the color turns slightly brown.
• Add the onion and garlic then sauté for 1 to 2 minute or until soft.
• Pour in the fish sauce and add the curry powder, salt and pepper as seasoning. Stir for about 2 minutes.
• Pour in the cup of water then cover until it comes to a boil. Adjust the heat to low and add the fried potatoes, bell peppers and celery. Simmer until half done, takes about 3 minutes.
• Pour in the milk and cook for 7 more minutes. Stir occasionally. When using evaporated milk, cook in a shorter period to avoid curling of the liquid.
• Take out from the heat and serve while hot.

Boiled Chicken Recipe

Boiled chicken is a basic recipe that forms base for many other recipes. It is great way to cook chicken to perfection and get soft, tender chicken pieces. Boiled chicken recipe varies according to your choice some like to boil whole chicken and some prefer small pieces. The cooking time will also vary according to the quality and quantity of chicken. In this simple recipe below, it will take almost an hour and 45 minutes to cook the chicken. You can store the boiled chicken pieces for future usage. This will save your time a lot in case you are in hurry to prepare something quickly for your guests.

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (3 pound)

One large size onion, cut in halves – unpeeled

Three carrots, slice into chunks – unpeeled

Grossly cut celery – 2 stalks

Whole peppercorns – 1 tablespoon

Water to cover up

Directions

Take a large bowl to put the ingredients. Place the chicken in that bowl along with the other vegetables like peppercorns, celery, carrots and onions. Add water as per your requirement to cover all the ingredients in the bowl. Put a lid on that bowl to cover the bowl and let it boil for some time. After sometime decrease the heat and let it boil gently and cook it for one and half hour until the chicken pieces can be pulled off from the bones. Remove the chicken from the water and place it in a platter to let it cool down. Cooling it off chop or shred the chicken as per your requirements.

You can omit carrots and add some parsley and a teaspoon of Cajun seasoning and a bay leaf to add a different taste. If you like the taste of garlic, then add a clove into the boiling vegetables.

Chicken Breast Recipe With Broccoli

Chicken Beast recipe are easily the favourite recipes for cooking chicken because they have more meat, which means you get more servings from each dish you prepare. When you add broccoli to your chicken breast recipe you nor only make the chicken taste better, but the dish will also look very appealing. The ingredients for cooking chicken breast recipes with broccoli allow you to choose between fresh or frozen broccoli so these are dishes that you can cook at any time of the year. You do have to cook the broccoli until it is tender to use it in these chicken breast recipes so that it will taste just right.

Recipe for Chicken Breast With Broccoli

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts cooked

2 bunches of fresh broccoli or 2 packages of frozen broccoli – 10 oz. Each

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 cup of mayonnaise

1 tsp. Lemon juice

1/2 tsp of curry powder (optional)

1/2 to 1 cup of shredded cheese (cheddar cheese is best)

1/2 cup of bread crumbs (grate day old bread to get the best results)

1 tbsp of melted butter

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350°.

Cook the broccoli in a pot of water until it is tender. Drain off the water and arrange the pieces of broccoli in a greased rectangular baking dish. Arrange the chicken breasts on the top of the broccoli.

Then, mix the soup, curry powder, mayonnaise and lemon juice together. Pour this mixture over the chicken breasts. Sprinkle the cheese over this layer and top with the bread crumbs.

Bake the casserole for 25-30 minutes.

This recipe yields 6 – 8 servings.

For more recipes visit my Chicken Breast Recipes blog.

bon appetit!