Recipe of curry mix is a secret of every chef-cook... I buy the already ready one but... I mix three different types of curry mix: yellow mild one (bought in a supermarket next to home), roasted brown one (bought from a Sri Lankan grocery) and hot red one (bought in Seychelles). In any case you may try to buy curry mix powder of different colours from different shops, better form the ethnic groceries, and I may assure you, the taste will be different...
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 4
500g chicken breast
2 carrots
2 zucchini
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
2.5tbs yellow mild curry
0.5tbs hot curry
0.5tbs turmeric / curcuma
0.5tbs roasted curry
1can (400ml) coconut milk
1 bay leave
fresh parsley
fresh basil
fresh coriander
1tbs flour
salt
8tbs olive oil
To accompany:
350-400g (about 2 glasses) Basmati rice
440-500ml water (25% more than rice)
1. Chop garlic and onion finely.
2. Pour olive oil into a saucepan and add onion and garlic, and all the spices.
3. Lightly fry the spices stirring over low heat till the flavour enhances.
4. Cut chicken breast into stripes and add them to the spicy mix, stir well.
5. Peel carrots and cut them into wheels, add them to curry and stir.
6. Cut zucchini into chunks and add to curry.
7. Cook chicken with the vegetables for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt and a bay leave.
8. Shake the coconut milk can well before opening as it tends to splitting.
9. Pour all the coconut milk to curry and stir.
10. Cook for about 15 minutes or till the vegetables get ready.
11. Adjust the salt.
Note: Curry should be a bit salty as you will cook rice without any salt.
12. Mix 1 non-full tablespoon of flour with 1tbs of oil to prepare a vegetable roux (thickening mix for sauces) and add it to your curry to thicken it, stir well.
13. Chop fresh herbs finely and add them to your curry at the very end of cooking.
14. While curry is being cooked, pour cold water in a separate pan and add Basmati rice. Stir well in order for rice not to stick one grain to another.
15. Cover with a lid and bring to boiling over a high heat, then reduce the heat to low and cook for about 10-12 minutes (necessary for Basmati rice to be cooked) or till the water is all gone.
16. Swith off the heat and let the rice sit: keep the pot covered to finish cooking with the steam.
17. To nicely serve the rice, take a small bowl and spread a drop of oil over the inner surface.
18. Press rice inside the bowl pairing it to the edge.
19. Turn the bowl upside down over the plate and it's done.
You may serve two or three of these rice "domes" per serving, it just depends on the bowl size.
Note: I would like to specify that this method produces the Asian style cooked rice, as it will result in being a bit sticky. I prefer it this kind!
Note: If you like the Indian style rice, you need to wash the rice thoroughly 4-5 times and let it soak for about 10 minutes in cold water, then discard the water and add fresh water to cook the rice....
ENJOY!!!
In this recipe I used the part of roasted chicken we had for dinner but it is also possible to grill or steam some chicken breast.
This salad may be served as an appetizer or as a main dish for a light lunch.
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 2
1 chicken breast / 2 thighs and drumsticks
or 200-250g chicken breast (to grill or steam)
1 green apple
1/2 small onion
1 tbs mayonnaise
2 tbs plain thick yogurt / sour cream
1/2tbs Dijon mustard
1/2tbs Worcester sauce (optional)
salt
lettuce leaves for decoration
1. If your chicken is not cooked, then grill or fry or steam it according to your taste.
2. Cut chicken into small sticks.
3. Cut onion in very thin slices.
4. Sprinkle onion with some lemon juice to reduce the bitterness of the onion.
5. Peel half an apple and remove the seeds.
6. Cut the apple into small triangles.
7. Mix together mayo, yogurt and mustard.
Note: Add some Worcester sauce if you like it...
8. Use a small bowl per serving, dress the bowl with some lettuce leaves.
9. In a separate bowl mix together chicken, apple, onion and season with the sauce and some salt.
10. Transfer the salad into the small bowls with lettuce leaves and serve.
ENJOY !!!
If the best parts of a roasted checken for you are those that are slightly burned and crispy..... then this recipe will become your favourite!!! Every part of chicken here is crispy. The recipe is extremely easy, the ingredients are very plain, the only thing you need is patience!!! Wait one hour and don't try to increase the heat!!!! You will burn your dinner!!!
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 4
1 whole butterflied chicken
4 rosemary sprigs
salt
chilli
1 garlic clove
100 ml EVO oil
Ask you butcher to open the whole chicken in a butterfly stile, they have sharper knives and much more practice in cutting the meat... The way they cut it here is along the chicken breast, then they just make it flatter by smashing it open, twisting the wings and fixing the chicken drumsticks with the skin.
1. Wash the chicken and dry it with the paper towels.
2. Season the chicken with salt, chilli and insert the rosemary sprigs under the wings and inside the drumsticks skin.
3. Pour the oil into a frying pan and place chicken the skin part into the oil.
Note: The oil should be about 1cm deep.
4. If you have a special pan, that has a flat lid a bit smaller then the pan itself, use that, as I don't have it, I just use a sauce pan full of water. You need to use some weight so that chicken remains flat when it's ready.
5. Cook the chicken over the medium-low heat.
6. Turn the chicken upside down about every 10 minutes. At the very end fry the chicken, skin side, for some minutes to add some more crispiness to the skin.
7. Take the chicken out of the frying pan and put over a serving dish, skin side up. Wait 5-10 minutes to proceed as chicken will be boiling hot.
8. Squeeze the garlic clove and rub it over both sides of chicken.
9. Serve the deviled chicken with some salad, as raw vegetables suit it perfectly.
ENJOY !!!
You need just chicken thighs and an orange for this dish, some herbs and oil.... and some good will as always! Very easy to prepare, a bit more to wait, satisfaction guaranteed!!
Even the beginners can prepare it!!!
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 4
4 chicken thighs
1 orange
2 rosemary sprigs
various herbs to taste
salt
EVO oil
1. Clean the thighs from the skin and wash it.
2. Peel the orange with a vegetable peeler, just the orange part of the zest.
3. Salt the thighs and put them in a pan in which you are going to cook it.
4. Sprinkle with some dry herbs that you like and put some zest and rosemary under the thighs and some more zest on top the thighs.
5. Squeeze the orange juice and pour it on the thighs.
6. Pour some EVO oil over .
7. Cover the pan with an aluminum foil and cook it in the oven at 250C for 30 minutes.
8. Take the pan out of the oven and pour some juice from the pan over the thighs.
9. Cover with the foil and cook for 20 minutes more.
10. Then turn the thighs over and take the foil away.
11. Brown the thighs for about 10 minutes.
12. Turn them again and brown the other side for 10 minutes.
13. Take the thighs out and put them on a dish.
14. Pour the orange sauce to a sauce pan and while it start boiling, dilute 1/2 teaspoon of flour in 25-30 ml of water and pour it to the boiling sauce.
Mix well and wait till it gets dense.
15. Serve the sauce in a separate plate.
I served the chicken thighs with a Grapefruit and Radish Salad, the recipe of the salad is HERE.
ENJOY!!!!
Chicken breast is one of the dishes that people cook very often, it's low in calories and very digestible.
This recipe can become a festive one as it presents itself well. You only need to pay attention to the size of the chicken breasts: you should buy the smaller ones so they can become one per portion...
INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 4
600-700g double chicken breast
200g mushrooms
4-5 slices of speck /smoked ham
1 medium potato
150g Stracchino cheese (creamy fresh cheese)
1 garlic clove
2 rosemary sprigs
salt
EVO oil
1. Peel a potato and boil it till it's ready.
2. Slice mushrooms and fry them with some EVO oil and a garlic clove cut in halves (remove it when the mushrooms are gold in colour)
3. Cut in stripes smoked bacon, or as I used, speck, add it to mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes to add to the dish a nice smoky flavour.
4. Cut potatoes in small cubes and mix with mushrooms and speck.
5. Add Stracchino cheese and mix well, add some salt if needed.
Note: Stracchino is and nothern Italy young cow's cheese, has no rind, creamy texture and slightly soury taste. It's normally eaten by itself or spread on fresh bread. In some Italian regions it's used to fill in Focaccia or Piadina, typical bread Liguria and Emilia-Romagna.
If you cannot find this type of cheese, you may use Philadelphia or any fresh creamy cheese.
6. Divide the chicken breast in two parts, cut off if necessary the excess parts in order to have two neat filets.
7. Insert a sharp knife into the larger part of the meat and try to make a cut inside the meat to create kind of a pocket. Be careful not make holes in your the pocket...
8. Fill in the pocket with the filling you prepared before.
9. Seal the opening with some toothpicks.
10. In a glass/ceramic pot pore some EVO oil and place the chicken breasts inside.
11. Pour some more oil on top the meat and add some fresh rosemary.
12. Cover the pot with aluminum foil and cook in the oven at 250C for 30 minutes. Then uncover the pot and cook for 10 minutes more on the upper rack to brown the top a bit.
13. Serve with the it's sauce and Bon Appetit!!! But don't forget to remove the toothpicks...
Note: A piece of advice: To make a neat and sharp cut wait till the meat is warm, if it's hot you won't be able to cut it well.
1 medium onion
8. Shake the coconut milk can well before opening as it tends to splitting. 
