Chicken Pate

Again, I had never thought this was some thing to even consider making at home, but hey, its really easy. It was good the first time I made it, and I was so almost shocked it was so easy. Chicken pate is basically pureed chicken liver, cooked, with about half as much of butter or/and cream cheese mixed in. Shallots/Onions and garlic are really good also in the mix, as are cloves, cardamons, and my secret ingredient mace, which is covering of the nutmeg seed.
I'd rather, as you dear readers may have noticed, go recipe free at times-- opting for a intuitive, weighted description of the basics of the method. I think that helps a cook innovate on their own, so here goes:
Start by heating some butter, a large pat or 15g (one table sp), with large diced shallot and 4 cloves of chopped garlic. Add 2-3 cloves, cardamon pods, two pinches of shredded mace, 10 black pepper corns and two pinches of salt. When the shallots are translucent, add 250g of chicken liver. No, it doesn't have to be chopped. Just stir it around, for ten mins or so, and you are done. Puree this, with a hand held blender if you have one, and add more butter and/or cream cheese about half of the liver weight, total -- in this example, that would be 125g of butter. In the batch in the pic, I used about 70g of butter, and may be 75g of cream cheese. You can do it with out cream cheese, it just comes out thicker!
I added a teaspoon of gelatin, and poured it into a butter cake tray, and refrigerated it overnight. This helps set it, so that you can turn it out for a nice photo, but I've refrigerated this with out gelatin also -- and got a very spreadable pate.
Spread on a cracker, this has a rich, meaty taste -- and spices really gives its a very warm, rich flavor -- and goes very well, with the tart, chewy, fragrant, onion marmalade, with its lingering sweet kithul after taste.
I kid you not, you can keep eating this, until you've had too much!

Roast Chicken, with Braised Potatoes

This is more about the potatoes, really.
I've blogged about roasting chicken at high heat before, at 500F (260C) -- which keeps the chicken moist, and the skin ultra crisp. This time i did the same, with some improvements. I made a puree of garlic, shallots, salt, white pepper, vinegar and olive oil (yes, 1 whole bulb of garlic, 1 large shallot, and then rest in small quantities :) )..and carefully separated the skin from the chicken, and pressed in the puree, around. This is not hard to do, but you need, short, sharp knife. I'm lucky enough to have a nice one.
While that sitting, i made a real quick stock, with the neck, wings, and giblet/liver of the chicken, which was a prima whole. David Blacker's asked about stocks, recently -- and its a complicated subject, from even the little i know, and a proper one takes 24+ hours -- but you can make a quick stock in your pressure cooker in 40 mins or less. Just add the pieces, may be some vegies and let it cook, trying not to let the steam out at all, after the initial boil, since you want to conserve the liquid. For this dish, i used about 350 ml (1.5 cups, say) of water, in the pressure cooker.
Then i peeled a whole bunch of small potatoes..yes, i did it my self, since Chandra the cooking lady had left for the day, i got a special prize for it, so there! -sauteed them in butter and olive oil in a medium sized oven proof skillet, and when they were nice a coated, adding the strained chicken stock in. When it was simmering, i placed the marinaded chicken right over the potatoes
and transferred it to the oven, pre-warmed to high heat (260C). 15 mins on each side is plenty, some times you can do with less. Once the chicken is done, the juices have dripped into the potatoes, and they are really on their way, to being outa this world. If they are soft, remove from the skillet, and reduce the gravy, if not, let them braise until they are. Right at the end, you can add tarragon, or thyme to the sauce, which has a soft, comforting, real home made flavor. Salt to taste, and pour over the chicken and potatoes.

Not bad at all. This was my first try with potatoes this way, and they were soft, with out being mushy, distinct from the sauce, but really complimentary.
I made this for my niece, who then never showed up. She is sorry now, she says :)

Orange Chicken, with Chille Peanut Sauce

Readers of my blog know I like to use stocks as a base to secure the solidity of flavors. My lentil soups are an example of this, the idea being that lentils are cooked, reduced in a chicken stock, perhaps with a vegetable like red pepper, and then pureed and creamed. And of course, my basic chicken soup, which i make almost once a week, with stock, fresh or dried noodles and scallions, is another. Some months ago though, i thought i should 'kick this up a notch,' as that TV guy Emiril used to say. But my way.
What about marinating chicken, and then cooking it in the stock, i thought. This works really well, even with boneless chicken breast, a healthy but often flavorless cut. Marinating the sliced breast over night, in a over salted chicken stock, (which is called brine-ing -) does the trick. Even if you wash off the breasts once, lightly, before cooking, it will be super moist and flavorful as you cook it in the rest of the stock, with your favorite greens, because of the osmosis of the salted stock into the chicken.
Now that was good, but then i got ambitious. Yes, i tried to kick it up another little notch. Why not make the brine more complex, i thought, and add a complimentary flavor to the stock. Variations, no doubt abound, but i settled on a orange stock reduction brine (that just sugarless orange juice -- fresh is best, but expensive -- boiled down to a half with chicken stock, with a teaspoon of salt for a cup). I used boned, sliced chicken thighs this time, and let it marinade over night. When it was ready, i got the rest of the stock to a simmer, and added peanut butter, stirring until it was melted, and chillie pieces. Then I browned the marinated chicken, very quicky in a seperate pan, and added it to the stock, letting it simmer for 20 mins. Yes, brineing allows for shortened cooking times, which doesn't dry out the chicken as happens in 'traditional' Sri Lankan chicken dishes. Right at the end, add a sprinkling of fresh, crushed orange. A little cream, or coconut milk power is also a nice addition
I loved the flavor gradients of this dish, from the complimentary orange, to the stay invoking, smooth, nutty, hot on the mouth sauce, and the succulent chicken morsels. The critter who lives near the bar top, who claims to know about food and things said, "its bold!." Ah..well.

High Heat Chicken

Roasted or braised, or some where in between, I think high heat is the answer to focusing on the moist taste of chicken. Curries are all very well, but in Sri Lanka cooks often smother the taste of chicken out -- which is good in it own way, of course.
But then, its a different dish, not chicken really, its the mixture of spices and oil that is the essence of the dish.

Now if you are craving chickeny chicken; there are but two essential steps, I insist. Marinade the pieces (i love whole legs) in a little vinigar and salt for at least 20 mins (yes, you can add other stuff that you've ground down in blender, also), brown the bottom of the leg(s) in a oven proof skillet (or dutch oven) for 5 mins on a burner, and then roast in the oven, at 500 F for 25 mins. You can add some stock to the skillet, braise or pour a sweet glaze over it at the end. Whichever way --- But the basics are simple and reliable.

Sunday Extra

 
My posts on my short trip to the south of france, are being auto-posted by blogger, using the scheduling thing they have, but i couldn't resist a little some thing in between. its sunday. i didn't cook any thing special, but just reheated some roast chicken i had in the fridge.
now it was okay, but what was wonderful, was the fresh tomatoes and green chillies i added on top.
that's some thing to treasure about living in sri lanka: fresh green chillies, on any thing!

Stock Braised Chicken, with Green Chillie

I'm kinda behind on my blog.
Not because I haven't been cooking; in fact I've been trying my hand at a few new dishes, giant orange shrimp (with a oranage reduction and blanched peel)-- which turned out a winner, is one. But I made it at night for a dear friend, and I don't really take food pictures with artificial light.
So a full account of that will have to wait.
I have also been working on various ways of braising chicken; which can keep the chicken moist yet flavorful. Which Sri Lankan chicken curry which I eat all the time, remains a great favorite of mine -- there is a way that the power of cumin, coriander and other stuff overwhelms the chickiness of the dish.
Brining, (which means marinating in a high salt solution, over night or so) is a way to infuse what ever meat you are cooking with flavor, keeping it is extra moist in the process. This is because osmosis allows for the flavors of the marinade to enter the chicken as it sits in the high concentration salt.

Some times, you have to wash the meat before you cook it, since the salt coating can be too strong, but still the soaked in flavors can work wonderfully.
Earlier, I was brining slices of pork loin, which I was pan roasting.
Rcently, it was chicken, brinined in broth and then braised in the oven.
Once you've got your stock ready, this is a easy, 20 min quick, inexpensive but resteraunt quality dish.

Chicken Soup

A simple soup.
I made this with chicken stock (chicken parts -- wings, necks, gizzards -- and a carrot, and onion stalks, simmered, skimmed and strained) and added rice noodles, and the small spring onions, which I let boil for a few minutes.

Red Cooked Chicken

Red cooking, is a technique of braising -- Chinese, as we barberians say -- that uses lots and lots of dark soya sauce. I was leafing through a relatively new cook book I had got, by who is, arguably, the most productive and well recognized Sri Lankan foodie there is, Charmaine Solomon.
In Asian Favorites, which is a selected set of recipes from the massive and magisterial, Complete Asian Cookbook, the red cooked chicken, caught my attention. I was worried by the price of soya sauce, if I liked it the dish, wanted to do it several times -- but I found an inexpensive brand, Turkey, which turned out fine. You can pay Rs. 800 for a large bottle of soya sauce, so be carefully -- unless you want to!
The chicken is simmered, in loads of Soya Sauce, a little wine, water, sugar and spices -- add your own. Now the nice part is you can do it once, I did it with the whole chicken as Solomon describes, and then preserved the resulting, sauce which is now chicken 'soaked' left in the fridge for a few days, and did it again, with chicken thighs (see the fast talking, 'kick-it-up-a-notch' American TV Chef Emeril's take here) -- using the previous sauce. Now that was rich, and right at the end, I took the chicken out, and thickened the sauce a little by boiling it down carefully.
It was a big hit with critters that eat stuff, where I live.

Grilled Chicken Wings

Grilled Chicken Wings
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

Street Food, Kl, Malayasia. December 2006.
Well flavored, dripping, hot, and very inexpensive.

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad
Originally uploaded by pradeep jeganathan.

I had lunch at the Star Dust, Arugam bay on the 14th of December It was quite amazing. The chicken salad is dressed in yogurt, which is really well complemented by soft, succulent stalks of asparagus, and sautéed mushrooms. It is attractively plated, as you can see, with a topping of julienned Tomatoes. I only had one dish here on this visit, but I look forward to more.