Chicken Biryani

Recipe taken from website indianhealthyrecipes.com

I used 2 cups rice, and it was to much. Next time 1 cup at least.

Rice was also mushy - too much water?

Had cooked the veggies separate in oven.

Ingredients:

Chicken marinade:

-6 TBSP plain yogurt/Indian curd (I used Greek yogurt)

-2.5 TBSP ginger garlic paste

-1-2 TBSP garam masala

-1 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp turmeric

-1-2 TBSP red chili powder

-2 TBSP lemon juice

Spices in pan:

-ghee

-1 bay leaf

-4 green cardamoms

-6 cloves

-1 inch cinnamon piece (FORGOT)

-1 star anise

-3/4 tsp caraway seeds

-1/2 onion (thinly sliced) yellow or red? + sliced serrano peppers

-mint leaves (didn't use)

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken for 1 hr or overnight

2. Rinse basmati rice (TRY 1 CUP), and soak for 30 min. Drain into colander after 30 min. 

3. Heat ghee in pan and add spices --> then add thinly sliced onions + serrano peppers

4. Boil 1.5 cups water with salt (rice cup)

5. Add marinated chicken and cook (don't overcook)

6. Add 1/4 cup yogurt + 1 tsp garam masala + mint leaves + 1/2 tsp chili powder (DID NOT DO)

7. Layer rice all over chicken

8. Pour 2/3 water across sides of pan + 1/3 water over the rice gently

9. Level rice on top + add mint leaves on top (DID NOT DO)

10. Cook on medium heat until rice completely cooked. Add more boiling water if needed

11. Rest covered for 15 min

Spicy Sweet popcorn

Wanted a popcorn that used cardamom.
Used macrocmama.com and 177milkstreet.com recipes

Amounts are estimated.

Try skipping the cayenne or try paprika instead as we were coughing

Ingredients:

-Ghee melted

-1/8 - 1 tsp cardamom

-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

-1/2 tsp cumin

-1/4 tsp coriander

-1/4 tsp ginger powder

-1/4 tsp hot paprika/cayenne -- NEXT TIME SKIP BC COUGHING

-1/8 tsp salt

-1/8 tsp turmeric

-1-2 tsp brown sugar

Kofta (sans Kebab)

Modified from themediterraneandish.com
I just used the spices from the recipe and added to ground turkey. Typically, you have a feeling how something is going to taste based on the spices, but I had no idea how it would taste, and it turned out pretty good! Eric appreciated that it was different than typical.

Ingredients:

-1 medium yellow onion, diced

-garlic, diced

-ground turkey- used 2 lbs total - 1 lb of 99% and 1 lb of 93% lean

-salt and pepper

-1.5 tsp ground allspice (used 2 tsp)

-1/2 tsp cayenne (used ~3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp ground green cardamom (used ~3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp ground sumac (used ~3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (used 3/4 tsp)

-1/2 tsp paprika (used 3/4 tsp)

Directions:

1. Cooked garlic and onions in pan 

2. Add ground meat + spices

Served with Mediterranean roasted veggies + Mediterranean rice

Sprinkle of roasted pine nuts, grape tomatoes (cold), and avocado as toppings.

Mediterranean chicken sandwiches

Eric likes chicken sandwich from Papouli's, so wanted to give it a try on the stainless steel pan.

Loosely used receipt from little spice jar.

Ingredients:

-Chicken breasts (I used 3 large chicken breasts and split in half for 6 servings, but next time would try the thinly sliced chicken breasts (5 to a package, buy 2 and freeze the rest for later).

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp black pepper

-1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

-1/2 tsp dried oregano

-1 tsp fresh thyme

-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

-1 Tbsp minced garlic

-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (1 lemon + zest)

-3 Tbsp olive oil

-1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken for 30 min - 2 hrs in everything from above

2. Grill (I used stove)

Notes:

-Would try the thinly sliced chicken breasts as above because uneven weights

-Served on brioche buns (Eric like HEB brand better), but he said he would prefer to use sourdough bread next time

-On the sandwich, also used red onions, butter lettuce, avocado, jalapenos and tomatoes from the garden.  Eric also made an asparagus dip from the ends of the asparagus that served as a sort of sauce - very yummy!

-Served with "double B potatoes" - boiled baby potatoes, then smashed them in the pyrex dish, seasoned with rosemary, garlic, and spices, then baked in oven.  On reheat, I put them in the ceramic pan to heat up (takes a while, so do this first)

-Also served with asparagus

Black Beans in Instant Pot

Used recipe from loveandlemons.com

Roughly 1 cup or half bag of beans to 3 cups of water. So if full bag or 2 cups, then 6 cups of water

Half a bag was too much too cook for 5 lunches, so would try 1/4 next time.

Still playing around with the times of cooking. Did 22 min cook time and a little firm, so would try 25 min next time.

If using in chili, would try soaking prior 8-24 hours beforehand.

*UPDATE* Black beans caused too much gas.  So recs online say to soak overnight and rinse thoroughly.

Ingredients:

-8 oz black beans (half the bag) ~ 1 cup --> yielded about 465 grams of black beans

-3 cups of water

-spices of your choice: minced onion, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, serrano, salt, black pepper; could try real onion, real garlic, lime juice, bay leaf.  Skip the oregano because Eric sensitive to it.

Directions:

1. Sort through beans and pick out rocks

2. Rinse beans

3. Add 3 cups of water to 1 cup of beans

4. Add spices

5. Cook 25 min + 20 min natural release

6. Drain again

Brazilian Cheese Bread

Got recipe from Simply Recipes.

Was really good and easy! Need to add to the party rotation.

There was more than enough batter for my mini muffin tin. So would just messy pour everything in instead of one at a time and pretty.

Dumped the olive oil into the blender, then used the dirty cup to grease pan.

Probably baked for 18 min.

Used the Gruyere cheese from prior recipe.

Ingredients:

-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pan

-2/3 cup milk

-1 1/2 cups (170 g) tapioca flour

-1/2 cup (66 g) packed grated or crumbled cheese, your preference

-1 tsp salt or more to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  Grease olive oil onto pan.

2. Blend all ingredients into blender and pulse until smooth

3. Pour batter into muffin tin. Leave 1/8 inch from the top.

4. Bake for 15-20 min until puffy and nicely browned.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Modified from Skinnytaste.

It was good.

--I didn't measure out the Cajun seasoning, but I know it was more than the 2-4 tsp recommended.  I would say to do even more.  There was a light to moderate coat on the chicken when I sprinkled, but I would do a heavy coat when looking at it.  

--I also added extra cayenne to the chicken - would do even more.

--I made it dairy free, so didn't use the milk

Next time:

--I would flavor the pasta - boil in chicken broth + Cajun seasoning.

--Keep the pasta separate from the chicken/veggies when serving because you get most of the pasta in the beginning meals and less in the later meals.

--Eric said he was willing to try the mushrooms, but didn't add

Ingredients:

-half a bag of linguine

-chicken (typical 2 lbs tenders cut into cubes)

-garlic powder, Cajun seasoning, paprika

-olive oil

-Veggies: 

---bell pepper trio thinly sliced

---red onion, thinly sliced

---jalapenos (weren't hot enough, so use some serranos next time

---mushrooms???

-garlic, minced used a whole bulb

-2 Roma tomatoes, diced

-1 cup low sodium chicken broth

-1/3 cup skim milk (didn't use)

-1 Tbsp flour (didn't use)

-3 Tbsp light cream cheese (didn't use)

-fresh cracked pepper

-scallions

Directions:

1. (Didn't do) Make slurry by combining milk, flour, cream cheese - set aside

2. Marinate chicken generously with Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, cayenne, pepper

3. Boil pasta with chicken broth + Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, cayenne, pepper

3. Cook chicken, set aside

4. Cook veggies - seasoned with Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, cayenne, pepper

5. Reduce heat - add broth and tomatoes (+ slurry)

6. Top with scallions, avocado, crispy jalapeno, cracked pepper