Spicy Curried Chicken Salad

Herbed and Rosemary Crackers served with Spicy Curried Chicken Salad

This chicken salad is a great relief from the old boring, plain salad.  And you can serve it anyway you want… Great with garden salad or serve it with your favorite crackers and of course as sandwiches!

Note:  If you are short on time… you can buy whole roasted chicken from the grocery store or at Sam’s Club.  You’ll save a dollar or two if you buy it at Sam’s Club.  Or you can also use canned chicken chunks.

The skins of these roasted chicken are great to eat – crunchy, when they first came out of the oven.

Shred or chop roasted chicken…

What you need to make Spicy Salad Dressing…

Make the dressing…

Mix the chopped chicken and dressing…

Serve Spicy Chicken Salad over a bed of garden salad…

Serve Spicy Curried Chicken Salad with your favorite crackers.
These are Herbed and Rosemary Crackers served with Spicy Curried Chicken Salad…

Spicy Curried Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts halves (about 2 pounds) – roasted, skinned, deboned, and chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

½ of small red onion – diced

2 TBSPs. hot banana pepper rings – chopped

Curried Chicken Salad Dressing:

½ cup mayonnaise

1 TBSP. no sugar added sweet relish

1½ tsps. hot madras curry powder

1 tsp. kosher salt (less if using regular table salt)

¾ tsp. smoked paprika

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 TBSP. spicy brown mustard

½ tsp. hot sauce (optional)

In another bowl, combine dressing ingredients.

Pour curried dressing mixture over the chicken.  Stir to mix until dressing coats the chicken pieces.  Add the chopped celery, red onion and hot banana peppers.  Chill in the refrigerator before serving.

Serve over garden salad, with crackers, and as sandwiches.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Tess

Orange Ginger Chicken

Crispy.  Well seasoned and slightly spicy. This Orange Ginger Chicken will rival the ones you’d get from Chinese restaurants.  Maybe better.

This idea was inspired by our trip coming back from Fort Myers three weeks ago.  We stopped by at Kentucky Fried Chicken and order chicken bites with Orange Ginger Sauce.  So I decided to recreate the sauce at home.  My son thinks my sauce tasted better and without all the chemicals and preservatives…

In this photo… I used chicken breasts, which I sliced and pound.  But I also used boneless chicken thighs… and these did not need pounding.  I don’t like to do extra work… so I prefer to use boneless chicken thighs…

What you need…

kosher salt and spices

pounded and seasoned with kosher salt and spices

all purpose flour with kosher salt and spices

dredge seasoned chicken with the seasoned flour

allow the dredged chicken to sit for at least 10 minutes before frying.  this process allows the breading (seasoned flour) to adhere to the chicken.

fry breaded chicken in hot oil

Make the Orange Ginger Sauce. You will need the following:

combine sauce ingredients, EXCEPT the cornstarch in a small sauce pot

And bring to a boil over medium heat.  Let boil, uncovered for 3 minutes.

mix cornstarch with water

And drizzle over the boiling sauce, while whisking constantly.

I’m supposed to have the photo of the sauce here… but forgot to take a photo of it by itself…

So here’s the finished product – the fried chicken and Orange Ginger Sauce with Crispy Sweet Potatoes Tempura.

fried chicken breasts with orange ginger sauce and crispy sweet potatoes tempura

Orange Ginger Chicken

2 pounds boneless chicken thighs

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 TBSP. smoked paprika

1 TBSP. kosher salt

½ tsp. cayenne

½ tsp. ground clove

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 cup cooking oil for frying

Combine paprika, kosher salt, cayenne, ground clove and nutmeg in a bowl.

Generously season chicken thighs with the combined spices.  Set aside.

In medium size mixing bowl, combine flour with the remaining seasoning.

Prepare the Orange Ginger Sauce before while you let the chicken thighs absorb the seasoning.

Orange Ginger Sauce:

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice ( 3 medium oranges)

1 TBSP. honey

2 tsp. grated ginger

½ tsp. mustard powder

Pinch ground black pepper

¼ tsp. cayenne or less depending on hotness desired

1 tsp. soy sauce

¾ tsp. cornstarch mixed with 1 TBSP. water

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pot.  Bring to a boil over medium heat. Let the sauce boil, uncovered for 3 minutes. Stir the cornstarch mixture and drizzle it over the boiling sauce.  Remove sauce from heat and cool the sauce.

Heat a large skillet and add the cooking oil.  Heat oil just before it starts to smoke.

Dredge the seasoned chicken with the seasoned flour.  Shake off excess flour and fry chicken thighs in the hot oil.  Fry chicken about 3 – 4 minutes on each side or until cooked.  Drain fried chicken over paper towels.

Serve chicken with the Orange Ginger Sauce on the side for dipping.

Serve chicken with Crispy Sweet Potatoes tempura.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Tess

Easy Green Chicken Curry

This is going to be the easiest green chicken curry you’ll ever make.  Can be done in less than 30 minutes with simple ingredients.  It’s like going to your favorite Thai restaurant… except more economical…

I could use some cilantro here… but I didn’t have it on hand.  And really… this was a last minute dish.  So… I have to live with what I don’t have…

Ingredients:

Season chicken with 1 tsp. kosher salt and ¼ tsp. ground black pepper.  Set aside.

Sauté garlic and ginger.

Add green curry paste sauté for a few minutes.  (As you can see… I am very generous with the green curry paste.  These are heaping tablespoons… So you can imagine how spicy this curry was!)

Add coconut milk.

Stir until curry paste is well incorporated with the coconut milk.

Bring coconut milk to a boil.

Add seasoned chicken and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

Taste to see if you need more green curry paste.  Otherwise, stir in chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with a bowl of rice.

========

Easy Green Chicken Curry

2 large chicken breasts – cut into bite size pieces

kosher salt and ground black pepper

4 garlic cloves – minced

2 inch piece ginger – minced

1 – 3 tablespoons green curry paste*

2 cans coconut milk

2 TBSPs. olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Season chicken with 1 tsp. kosher salt and ¼ tsp. ground black pepper.  Set aside.

Heat a medium size skillet and add olive oil.  Sauté garlic and ginger.  Add green curry paste sauté for a few minutes.  Add coconut milk.  Stir until curry paste is well incorporated with the coconut milk.  Bring coconut milk to a boil.

Add seasoned chicken and bring to boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked.  Taste to see if you need more green curry paste.  Otherwise, stir in chopped cilantro.

Serve hot with a bowl of rice.

Tess Kitchen Secret:

Green curry paste is hotter than red curry paste.  So start with 1 tablespoon.  You can always add more later once the chicken is cooked.  The 3 tablespoons of green curry paste I used here makes this chicken curry very spicy!  But my husband likes his curry this way.

So here’s the scale of hotness in this curry, based on the number of tablespoons of green curry paste you use on a scale of 1 – 10:

1 tablespoon = 4 (good average heat)

2 tablespoons = 7 (hot, above medium heat)

3 tablespoons = 10 (superhot)

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Tess

Braised Spicy Chicken with 40 Garlic Cloves

Forty garlic cloves sound like a lot of garlic!  Some of you probably wonder how pungent or garlicky this dish is… Considering the large amount of garlic cloves in it.  If you are slightly worried… don’t be.  Because the garlic cloves are left whole and undisturbed.  Peeled of course!  The garlic remained mild and slightly sweet in flavors.  Not too strong at all.  The dish gives a nice surprise… And it makes you look forward in anticipation… to have at least one garlic clove in every bite.  Maybe I should have called this dish Garlic Lovers’ Delight with chicken… (chuckle).

So for garlic lovers out there… this dish is for you…

Kitchen equipment or tools needed:  Oven proof pot or skillet with lid or a large baking dish.

Ingredients:

3 ½ – 4 pounds chicken drumsticks or other parts you like

40 large garlic cloves – about 3 large garlic heads

1 medium onion – sliced

Zest and Juice of 1 large lemon

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 TBSPs. cornstarch

2 cups chicken broth or boiling water + 2 chicken bouillon cubes

2 TBSPs. chili garlic sauce (or to taste)

3 TBSPs. olive oil + 1 TBSP. vegetable oil

Spices and Seasoning:

3 tsps. kosher salt

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp. cayenne

1 tsp. ground cumin

Combine seasoning spices and seasoning in a small bowl. Set aside.

Wash chicken and pat excess water with paper towels.  Generously sprinkle spices and seasoning mixture on the chicken pieces, patting lightly for it to adhere. Set aside.

Place garlic cloves in a large bowl and pour hot water over them.  Let it stand for about 2 minutes.  Immediately pour the water off the garlic.  Peel the garlic cloves and trim the root end.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat a large, deep, oven proof pot or skillet and the olive and vegetable oil.  Just before the oil starts to smoke… brown the chicken pieces on all sides.  Transfer browned chicken to a large dish.  Set aside.

Using the same pot or skillet… sauté the peeled garlic cloves until wilted.  Remove wilted garlic to a platter and set aside.

Sauté the sliced onions until translucent.  Deglaze the skillet with the boiling chicken broth, scraping the browned bits and pieces stock at the bottom of the skillet. Add dried thyme and lemon zest.  Stir and simmer the broth over medium heat.

In a small bowl… combine cornstarch with one tablespoon water.

Slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture into the simmering broth.

Place the browned chicken pieces back into the skillet.  Stir to make sure the chicken is somewhat submerge in the broth.  Transfer this skillet into the preheated oven and bake chicken for 30 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven and stir the chicken.  Add the wilted garlic cloves and chili garlic sauce.  Stir to combine.

Bake the chicken for another 15 minutes.  Taste for additional salt and black pepper.

Serve with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes or  Rosemary Red Roasted Potatoes Or Mashed Potatoes.

Sorry guys.  I don’t have step by step instruction photos for this dish.   I will have to put this on my “to do” list.

Rosemary Red Roasted Potatoes

Creamy Wasabi Mashed Potatoes:

Ingredients:

4 large baking potatoes (about 4 pounds) – scrubbed and skin intact

3 TBSPs. butter

¾ – 1 cup warm heavy cream – start with ½ cup and go from there

½ – 1 tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 TBSP. Genuine Wasabi paste (or according to taste.  I use S & B Brand.)

Boil potatoes in their skins until tender, about 45 – 50 minutes.

Peel potatoes while still hot.  (I use a tong to hold the potatoes so I don’t burn myself.)

Place in a large bowl.  Add butter and mash the potatoes.  Add warm heavy cream, salt and black pepper. Fold in to combine.  Fold in the Wasabi paste.

Serve warm.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking!

Tess Harris