Category: International

Tangy Chicken Tacos

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These tacos use all green ingredients and have flavors that remind me of Salsa Verde. They are delicious.

If you are lucky enough to have a Mexican grocery store nearby, you can easily get tomatillos, serrano pepper, cheese and good fresh corn tortillas.

I often use Asadero cheese or Queso Fresco, but most grocery stores sell shredded Mexican cheese, and I use that sometimes, too. (Do not use Taco cheese, which is seasoned, as it will really drown out the other flavors.)

If you can’t get tomatillos, I’ve read that you can use green tomatoes and a splash of lime as a substitute.

Be careful with the serrano pepper – they are 5 times hotter than a jalapeno. You can also substitute a jalapeno for the serrano.

1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 1/4 tsp cumin
1 serrano pepper, diced
1/2 lb. tomatillos, rough diced
3/4 cup cilantro, rough chopped
corn tortillas, warmed
1 1/2 cups Mexican cheese, crumbled or shredded
2 cups romaine lettuce, rough chopped
1 cup chicken broth
limes

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and saute 5 minutes. Add onion, cumin and pepper, and cook for a few minutes until onions are soft. Add tomatillos and chicken broth. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 25 minutes.

Check salt and pepper and sprinkle with cilantro.

Serve with warm tortillas, cheese and lettuce and fresh lime.

These would also be good with Shrimp. Just remove the shrimp from the shells, and add them 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

Thai Coconut Chicken Casserole

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This is a great quick supper. It’s delicious and so colorful. Red Curry Paste is available at Asian Markets, and online. It may even be in some regular grocery stores.

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper
1 can light coconut milk
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, heated in a small pan or a microwave until just boiling.
1 – 2 tsp Thai Red Curry Paste. (I use Mae Ploy.)
1 cup jasmine rice (regular rice is fine, too.)
2 red bell peppers, chopped and sauteed
8 oz. green beans, trimmed and sauteed

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add oil to a saute pan and saute chicken until browned on both sides. Cut into smaller pieces and place in an oven proof pot. Add all other ingredients except for peppers and beans. Cover and cook 25 minutes at low heat.

While chicken and rice are cooking, add more oil to the saute pan and cook veggies for a few minutes until soft, but not mushy.

Remove chicken and rice from oven, top with peppers and beans, and serve.

Easy Fajitas

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1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs, cut thin

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chipotle pepper powder (can use more if you like it spicier)
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp olive oil

4 red, yellow or green peppers, thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, cut into thin strips
1 red onion, cut into thin strips

Tortillas
Sour Cream
Salsa
Fresh Limes
Guacamole

Mix all spices, cornstarch and water in a medium bowl. Add in chicken, peppers and onions and stir to coat thoroughly. (You can use any kind of pepper or onion – it’s just fun to use different colors.)

Heat more olive oil in a large frying pan. Add everything and saute on pretty high heat for several minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the peppers and onions are soft and starting to brown a bit. You can grill it – which is more traditional, but the chipotle pepper lends a nice smokey flavor even if you just pan fry it.

Serve it with warm tortillas, with fresh lime juice squeezed over it. Top with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.

Kumy’s Hindu Aloo (Potatoes)

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This is a wonderful, tangy, spicy golden potato dish with fresh cilantro and jalapenos. Really quick and amazingly good – one of Kumy’s specialties.

Kumy’s auntie, Shirin Auntie was an especially good cook, and such a lovely person. So was her husband, Chotu Uncle, and I miss them. (Story about them below.)  She taught Kumy how to make this dish.

When I asked him about the name, he said Shirin Auntie grew up in Bombay and learned this vegan dish from  a Hindu neighbor.  Aloo means potato, and anyone who has had these potatoes says they are “Kamal!”  (Amazing!)

4 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cubed in 1″ cubes (we like Yukon Gold)
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
fresh ginger, peeled with a spoon and sliced very thinly (about 1.5 tsp)
3/4 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 jalapeno, sliced in half, seeds removed
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 lemons, juiced
4 jalapenos, held by stem, and cut twice from bottom
1 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Boil potatoes in salted water until they are soft. Drain and squeeze lemon juice over them. Heat oil in a frying pan, and add garlic, ginger and mustard seed, frying for 2 minutes. Add cumin seed, 1 sliced jalapeno, turmeric and salt and saute for just a few moments. Add the boiled potatoes and lemon juice and stir gently. You want to blend everything nicely without crushing the potatoes. Take the 4 jalapenos which have been partially cut and gently push them into the potatoes. Garnish with the cilantro. Serve with extra lemon juice.

Chotu Uncle and Shirin Auntie lived in a house with a beautiful garden – filled with beautiful plants in enormous sizes, and they loved cats and kept one as a pet, which was quite unusual. I always loved visiting them and seeing their garden.  

Later, they moved into a very nice apartment in the Royal Apartments.  One of my favorite memories was when they’d left the laundry room window open one day, and a mother bird began to build her nest just inside the window.  

They were so enchanted that they let her build the nest and raise her babies there – watching the progress with bated breathed, and tip-toeing in and out so as not to disturb them.  How could you not love someone like that?

Spanish-Style Garlic Shrimp

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Made this for Christmas 2009 and it was quick and surprisingly good.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp hot paprika
1 lb. raw, good-sized shrimp, washed and patted dry (I like the easy peel ones.)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 lemon, juiced
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Saute onion for 5-7 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and paprika and saute another minute or two, until the garlic smells cooked. (One of my favorite instructions in a Pakistani recipe was “to cook until a cooked aroma evolves.” No guesswork in that one, no sir!)

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the shrimp, tossing to coat.

Saute shrimp for a couple of minutes, until it turns nice and pink. Add Parsley and lemon juice.  Check seasonings and serve.  This is heaven with smashed potatoes, or serve it with crusty bread to soak it all up.

Kumy’s Daal

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Of course Kumy is a wonderful cook, if he ever cooks. He has been known to add red pepper flakes, extra black pepper and garlic to just about anything, which guarantees that it will be delicious.

But this is a very traditional Pakistani dish – true everyday food. Daal means lentils and there are dryer versions and soupier versions. This one is soupier and should be served with rice.  If you really want to jazz it up, you can also use a good mango chutney as a condiment.

1 1/2 cans of diced tomatoes
6 whole dry red peppers (the long skinny kind)
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp salt

Heat oil in a large saucepan, and add dry red peppers, salt and tomatoes. Cook 10-15 minutes on low heat.

2 cups daal, rinsed and drained
1 tsp turmeric
10 cups of water

Add to pan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

2 Tbsp oil
6 dry red peppers
3 smashed garlic cloves
2 tsp whole cumin seeds

Heat oil in a small frying pan. Add peppers, garlic and cumin seeds and saute quickly, about 1 or 2 minutes. (This is called a “Bagaar”.)

Pour the oil and spices over the daal and stir to blend it. Check seasonings and serve.

Louisa’s Puerto Rican Chicken & Rice Stew

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My friend Louisa introduced us to this amazing stew at their Winter Solstice Party, and it was love at first bite.

Louisa and her husband Bill have a wonderful tradition:  they host a Winter Solstice Party that’s a potluck dinner, with food that represents the sun: round, hot, yellow or somehow sun-related.  (One year our friend Josh brought home-made sushi, which worked since it was food from the land of the rising sun!)  It’s always fun to think of a dish that reminds us of the sun and to see what everyone else brings.

They ask everyone to come around sunset and to bring a candle for a candle exchange.  Their house is only lit with candles and the light of the fire in the fireplace, and it’s cozy and warm. It’s a really wonderful tradition and a chance to catch up with friends and to reflect that even on the longest night, the sun will rise again.

Anyway, I asked Louisa for her recipe, which she was kind enough to share.  It makes a lot and is one of our family’s favorites.

2 tsp garlic, crushed
2 tsp fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried
1 tsp each cumin, salt, black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast sections, cut into bite size pieces
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
4 oz. turkey ham or bacon, or real ham or bacon, diced
1 can diced tomatoes with juice
2 cups rice, washed (I use basmati)
6 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1/4 cup green olives, halved
1 Tbsp capers

Mix garlic and spices, and rub into chicken. Heat half the olive oil in a big dutch oven, and brown chicken (about 10 minutes.) Remove from pan.

Add more olive oil, and saute onion and green pepper for 5 minutes. Add ham and tomatoes and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken back in and simmer 20 minutes.

Add rice and stir, then add stock and stir to combine. Bring stock just to the boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 17 minutes. Add cheese, peas, olives and capers, and cook 5 more minutes.

It’s meant to be soupy, so you’ll need to serve it in bowls. So good. Thanks, Louisa!

Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli)

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This is a vegetable that’s always available in Asian Markets and one of our favorites. It has a milder flavor than broccoli, and is much leafier. You could substitute spinach I think. Or you could use Broccoli rabe. Whatever you use – it’s a super quick side dish and so good. I served it tonight with Thai Fish and rice and it was a perfect plate. It does use sesame oil which is available in Asian Markets and adds a wonderful flavor.

1 bunch gai lan, washed
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp soy sauce (check label for gluten)
1 Tbsp rice vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed.

Start a large pot of well-salted water to boil.

Add all other ingredients to a large frying pan. Stir well and heat on medium/low heat, stirring constantly. Cook until the sauce is starting to get quite sticky and a little thick, 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Lay Gai Lan on a cutting board, and cut it in 2″ strips, starting at the bottom of the stem. As soon as you have stem pieces cut, toss them in the boiling salted water. Continue cutting leave into 2 inch strips and add the leaves to the boiling water. Boil for just a couple of minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, or tongs, remove the Gai Lan from the boiling water, shaking as much water out as you can. (Some will remain.) Add to sauce and stir to distribute the sauce all over the Gai Lan. Serve immediately.

If you are making it with spinach, there is no need to boil the spinach, just add it to the pan as soon as the sauce begins to thicken. The moisture in the spinach will thin down the sauce and make it just perfect.

Here is a photograph of Gai-Lan:

Gai-Lan-Chinese-Broccoli

Asian Cabbage Slaw

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Simple and delicious – great for a picnic.  Great side with grilled chicken.

2 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp oil
2 tsp sugar
pinch salt

Mix in a large bowl

3-4 cups cabbage, sliced thin
1/2 cup grated carrots
1 cup cilantro, chopped
4 scallions, cut into 2″ pieces, and slivered into “matchsticks”
1/2 jalapeno, split, deseeded and minced

Dump all veggies into the bowl and toss well.

Dobar Chicken with Port Wine and Gorgonzola

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This recipe is Slovenian I think. I originally thought it was from one of our family Christmas Eve dinners, but I can’t remember ever having Slovenia as the country. Wherever I found it, this chicken was delicious and very, very purple!

2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, and cut into strips
olive oil
salt & pepper
Penne pasta

Slather chicken with olive oil and salt and pepper generously. Cook on a George Foreman grill. You could also just pan fry them. Meanwhile, cook a box of Penne pasta in salted water.

1 tsp butter
1 1/4 cups port wine
3/4 cup half and half
6 oz Gorgonzola cheese
1/8 tsp each Salt and Pepper
1/2 tsp parsley

Melt butter in a sauce pan and add wine. Cook on medium heat until it’s reduced by half. Add half and half, cheese, salt and pepper. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly for another 5 minutes or so.

In serving bowl, place cooked pasta, then strips of chicken and top with wine sauce, and garnish with parsley. You can also garnish it with grapes, halved and soaked in port wine.