Lime Coconut Chicken

This is a basic recipe. You could also add at the beginning ginger, garlic, lemongrass or chilli. At the end you could add kaffir lime leaves, coriander or mint. 

500g chicken thighs, diced preferably, but also whole
2 tablespoons coconut oil
Juice 1-2 limes
Coconut cream – enough to make it the consistency you want
1 tspn sugar or honey
½ tspn salt

Melt coconut oil, add juice of ½ lime and fry chicken, cooking until it is thoroughly cooked, 10-20 mins.
Remove chicken to a plate and increase heat. Evaporate chicken stock until it is tan in colour. 
Remove the excess fat.
Add coconut cream, a little at a time, until it’s a consistency you like. If serving over rice you may want it runny. If serving by itself you may want it a little thicker. You may need to use a whisk to incorporate the caramelised stock and coconut cream.
Add chicken, remaining lime juice and salt to taste. Also add any precooked vegetables you like. (I like broccoli diced tomatoes and capsicum)
Taste for seasoning adding extra salt, sugar or lime juice as you prefer, then serve.

Velveting Chicken - Keeping chicken breast juicy

"Velveting" is a Chinese technique used with lean dry chicken breast to make it more succulent and juicy. Although Chinese, you can adjust the flavours to whatever cuisine you're cooking. I like to use chicken treated this way in pastas and salads. You can double triple or quadruple the recipe easily. Just be sure to use a lot more boiling water.

2 tablespoons cornflour
1 tablespoon liquid - this could be soy sauce, Chinese rice wine, white wine, brandy
1 tablespoon oil - this could be a neutral oil, olive oil, sesame oil.
Pinch each of salt and (optional) sugar. No salt if you've used soy.
2 chicken breasts diced into small, even cubes. The size doesn't really matter, but having them all the same size does, so they're all cooked at the same time.

1.) Toss the first 4 ingredients together and mix well to combine. Add chicken pieces, mix well and place in fridge for at least 30 mins, and up to 24 hours.
2.) Bring at least 2 litres of water to the boil. When it's boiling give the chicken a big stir to break up the coating. Turn the heat off and move the pot to one side.  3.) Then add the chicken and stir gently to ensure water surrounds each piece.
Leave in the water until cooked. This will depend on the size of the pieces of chicken. Test one to see. Try not to overcook them because they can become dry and stringy, and that's exactly what you're trying to avoid. I think slightly undercooked chicken breast is better than overcooked.
If you're cooking them to add to a stir fry undercook slightly because the chicken will receive it's final cook in the wok.
4.) Drain the water away. This can be done immediately before you use it, or prepared hours ahead.

Explanation

The salt and sugar act as a brine and migrate into the flesh of the chicken, changing the structure of the proteins so they retain more liquid. The cornflour mixture acts as a coat to protect the chicken from loosing moisture and the outside of the pieces from the harsh heat of the water. Magic!

Chicken, Zucchini and Lime Balls

500g minced chicken
2c grated zucchini, from 2 or 3 zucchini
3 Tbsp oil

Seasonings

2-3 green onions finely sliced
3-4 tbsp mint
1 clove garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp gelatine (this helps keep the meatballs juicy)

Juice from 2 limes

Mix seasonings thoroughly together in a large bowl.

Toss through grated zucchini.

Add chicken mince and mix thoroughly.

Heat olive oil in a non stick pan over medium heat.

Use a small scoop or a heaped tablespoon to scoop meatballs into the pan. Cook for about 7 or 8 minutes on the first side. Flip and cook an additional 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown and the centers are cooked through. You may need to do this in 2 batches.

Remove meatballs from the pan.

Raise heat and reduce the liquid in the pan until it is browned.

Pour off the extra oil.

Add meatballs back to pan and toss to coat.

Serve immediately or serve chilled.

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts Poached modified from Cooks Illustrated recipe

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
(Optional brine - 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup salt, 2 tablespoon sugar, 6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled)

4 litres or quarts water

Method

Pound thick end of chicken breasts until about the same thickness as the rest of the breast.
(Optional) Place in pot with water and brine  Stand at room temperature 30 mins.
Heat over medium heat until 77 Celsius or 175 Farenheight, stirring occasionally to distribute heat evenly.

Remove from heat, cover and stand 17 - 22 minutes. Check thickest part for doneness.

Drain and use.

Chicken with Honey, Cardamom and Rosewater

8 chicken thigh fillets

1 t cardamom

Salt to taste

2 tspn honey

1 Tbspn rosewater

Place 8 chicken thigh fillets into a baking dish.

Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon cardamom and salt to taste

Drizzle with 2 teaspoons honey.

Cover and cook at 150 for 30 mins.

Drain stock from chicken into a saucepan. Boil it until it becomes syrupy.

Add 1 tablespoon rosewater

1 tablespoon butter.

Swirl together until the butter is melted, and pour over the chicken thighs. 

Lemon Cream Chicken with Oven Baked Rice

Serves 4-6

This dish is easy to serve to a crowd. The recipe doubles or triples easily, but the time in the oven may need to be longer for both dishes.

Lemon Chicken

1kg chicken thighs or breasts

2-3 lemons

350 mls cream

Salt and pepper

Place chicken in saucepan and cover with water. Bring to slow simmer, and cook 5 mins. It needs to be slightly underdone. Remove chicken cool and dice into 1cm pieces.

Grate zest from lemons, then juice.

Combine diced chicken, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper in an ovenproof dish. Add cream. Stir to combine. Cover and reheat in oven at 150 for 15 mins, or until hot.

Serve over rice.

Oven baked rice

2 cups basmati rice

4 cups water

2 tbs butter

1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 150.

Boil water.

Add butter, salt and rice. Reboil and stir. Place in a covered dish in oven.

Cook 25-30 mins. Fluff up before serving.

Chicken with honey mustard sauce (based on Cook’s Illustrated Pan Seared Chicken Breasts)

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees

2. Place chicken in baking dish.

Optional – prick with fork 5 times and rub with salt.

Optional – cover with foil

3. Bake at 150 for 30 mins

4.Make a slurry with 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1 tablespoon flour and 1 teaspoon cornflour Brush this over the top of the chicken breasts.

5. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in frypan and fry chicken slurry side down until brown.

6. Brush other side with slurry, flip and fry until brown.

7. Remove chicken to plate.

Optional – mix together 1 tablesponn mustard, 1 tablespoon honey and 4 tablespoons cream.

Add to pan, heat and pour over chicken breasts.

French Pot Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

1 chicken

Oil and salt

Preheat oven to 130 degrees C.
Use a deep pot that can go on top of the stove, and in the oven.

Heat a little oil over medium high heat in the bottom of the pot.

Place the chicken breast side down, and heat 5 mins, or until brown.

Turn chicken over and repeat on the bottom.

Cover pot and place in the oven for 45 mins to 1 hour, depending on the size of the chicken.

Sauce (optional)

Remove chicken to serving dish, and boil juice over high heat until thick and syrupy.

Carve and serve.

See also Chicken in Honey Mustard Sauce adapted from Cook's Illustrated
http://shannonfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/07/chicken-with-honey-mustard-sauce-based.html

Tamarind Sauce for Chicken

This sauce is delicious served with steamed or fried chicken.

First make the tamarind water.
Pour 100 mls water over 1 tablespoon (30g) tamarind from a block. Leave to soak then strain, pushing down on the tamarind to extract as much flavour as possible.

Fry 1 diced onion until brown
6 thin slices ginger, shredded

Add tamarind water
2 tablespoons kecap manis
½ teaspoon bottled chilli (or to taste).I use Masterfoods, but you could also use fresh.

Simmer a few minutes to combine the flavours, then serve over chicken.

Crispy Oven Fried Chicken

80g (2 slices) white bread

1 clove garlic

½ bunch (30g) parsley

4-6 slices (120g) tough italian bread

1T olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 chicken breasts (appx 400g)

80g (1/3 cup) Kewpie (Japanese mayonnaise)

Makes 10-14 strips

Preheat oven as hot as it will go.

Process until finely chopped, white bread, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper.

Add Italian bread and olive oil and process so small chunks of bread remain.

Remove tenderloin from 2 chicken breasts. 

Cut breasts into 4-6 pieces diagonally against the grain.

Place Kewpie in a bowl and toss chicken strips through. 

Roll chicken strips into breadcrumb mixture, pressing to ensure the coating sticks well. 
It is helpful, but not necessary, to refrigerate the chicken at this point because the coating will stick better.

Place chicken well spaced on baking dish lined with baking paper.

Cook 10 to 15 mins, until just cooked. If it’s not brown and crispy enough, place under a hot griller instead of leaving in the oven, because the chicken might dry out.

 I like to call this “Inside Out Stuffed Chicken”. My kids call it 'worms' because they're long and green. 

This recipe can be multiplied - doubled, tripled even quadrupled. But don't put more than a double quantity in the oven at once because it will create too much humidity and they won't go so brown and crisp.

See also Chicken in Honey Mustard Sauce adapted from Cook's Illustrated 

http://shannonfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/07/chicken-with-honey-mustard-sauce-based.html