Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

This week I ended up getting some organic chicken tenderloin. They were on sale. So I got 1 pack. A few days earlier I had made chicken curry, which was good, but I ended up not posting about it. This time it is really a keeper. We need (on the picture) 1 tsp of Knorr Chicken Flavor Bouillon 1 can of coconut milk 1/2 of a jar of green curry 1/2 tsp if ground ginger 1/2 tsp of ground coriander 1/4 tsp of ground cinamon 2 medium cloves of garlic mashed We also need (not on the picture) 1 cup of water 1 onion chopped 2-4 tbsp of olive oil salt/pepper to taste 1 lbs of chicken tenderloins cut into bite size pieces (any kind of chicken will work) Heat up the oil, add the onions and let them get translucent over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for a few minutes, like 5-7 minutes. Stir it. The goal is not get color on the meat, just to sear the outside.  Add the water and the bouillon powder.  Bring it up to a boil and cook for a minute or 2. Add all the remaining things from t...

A few days I saw a Reels where somebody made chicken drum sticks. All nicely laid with the meat side to the rim side in a frying pan. Next step was to add some garlic and honey, and then the stirring started. Gone all the nice layout... I decided to keep watching and the recipe then caught my attention. It was already almost midnight, I didn't write anything down. Here is what I came up with and that is a keeper. One needs: 2 chicken thighs, skin on with bones (I would guess, no bone no skin would work as well, but I have not tried this 2 tbsp of olive oil 2 gloves of garlic chopped or minced 1 can of diced tomatoes 4 tbsp Harissa 1 tsp of honey 1/3 of a cup of water 1/3 of a cup of low sodium Soy sauce 1/3 if a tsp of smoked paprika (more or less depending on desired spice level) Salt and pepper Pad dry the 2 chicken pieces. Salt and pepper them. Choose a frying pan where you have a matching cover. Add the oil to the frying pan and heat it up. Add the 2 pieces of chicken skin side...

Somebody posted a Harissa Chicken on Facebook. It sounded delish. So I worked my way through a few recipes. I didn't want to use a whole chicken. I didn't want to  eat all week from this. Here is what I came up with. 4 tbsp of mild Harissa 1 read onion quartered and then pick the leaves apart 1 red bell pepper, cut into bite size pieces 1 yellow red pepper cut into bite size pieces (I had some frozen yellow and orange bell pepper, so I wanted to use some of this) 2 medium potatoes, peeled and in cut into small pieces 2 chicken legs olive oil salt and pepper to taste Preheat the oven to 350F In a oven save bowl, add the peppers and the onions. Drizzle some olive oil over it and add the Harissa. Season with some salt and pepper.  Mix all of this up with your hand.  Then take the 2 chicken legs and put them on top. Coat them with Harissa as well.  Put it into the oven. After 15 minutes add the potato pieces. Make sure they are coated as well. Bake for another 35-40 minu...

 Saturday morning I ended up catching "The kitchen". Katie talked about slow cooking chicken breast. This is something I have not had in a long time. Normally chicken breast gets easy dry. What I made out of the inspiration: 2 chicken breasts, washed and pad dry 2 cans of diced tomatoes 1 can of tomato sauce 2 bell peppers, cleaned and cut into bite size pieces 1 medium onion coarsely chopped 1 tsp smoked ground paprika 1/4 tsp of ground tumeric 1/2 tsp ground Allspice 1 tsp of sweet paprika 1/4 tsp ground cumin 1 cup of water salt and pepper Mix the spices in a bowl and season the breasts with it. Add all the other ingredients into the slow cooker. Place the chicken breasts on top. Sprinkle all the remaining seasoning over everything. Cook on high for 4 hours. When done I ended up shredding the chicken breast a bit. Serve with rice. -Mahlzeit-

This year I asked around and work for things they would have over the holidays or something that is popular in their country. One of the suggestions was Chicken Biryani. I did read myself through plenty of recipes. I failed to figure out how the cooking process really needs to be. So I gave up on that part and made it my way.  So here we go:   2/3 of an eye balled plain yoghurt 1/2 cup of water 3-8 cloves of minced garlic fresh grated ginger , about 1.5 tsp a few dashes of ground dried turmeric 1/4 tsp cinnamon 5 pieces of green cardamon. I didn't have ground cardamon. 2 tsp garam masala 1 tsp cumin 2 tbsp paprika(not smoked) 3/4 tsp of salt.  All of that goes into a bowl and gets mixed. Add the chicken and make sure it is all covered and over night into the fridge. The next morning I added some oil into a non-stick pot. Add the chicken and cook it. I added a bit of water, to make sure, it is not sticking. I added the remaining marinade, and cooked until all the chic...

There are still some chicken thighs in the fridge and I don't care for chicken noodle soup, at least not at the moment. It is going to be baked.  Preheat the oven to 350F. Salt, pepper, thyme, a bit of smoked paprika, a bit of ground Allspice. Cover a baking sheet with alu foil, add the chicken thighs, add some olive oil and into the oven it goes. 45 min later it is all set and done. Serve with rice and a veggie. For me it was green peas. -Mahlzeit-

On Friday they had single packed Cornish Hen. Most of the time one has to buy 2. I picked one up.   I took it from the freezer this morning and by 5pm it was defrosted. I did cut the at the breast side, so I can flip the hen open. Seasoning: salt  lime pepper paprika ground chipotle pepper Line a sheet tray with aluminum foil, place the hen on it and into the oven for 45 min at 400F convection. Now I dial on my counter top oven 400F, the thermometer I have place inside, said 350F. Who knows what is right. I think the thermometer is correct, because I only baked bread in there and it didn't turn out that great. In a little bowl, mix 2 tsp of maple sirup and 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar. After 45 min, baste the hen, turn the heat to 350F. After another 10 minutes, baste again. After another 10 min turn off the heat and serve. As you can see, I already started to eat ...lol... and then I remembered to take the picture.  -Mahlzeit-

Meat has gotten really expensive. If something is on sale, I will buy and use or put it into the freezer. Last weekend I found chicken leg quarters on sale. 4 of them were just 6$. While they say, no antibiotiks and hormones, 2 of them were 2x the size of the other ones. Who knows. They were expertly packaged. Without opening the package the difference in size was not noticeable. In any event. I remembered a conversation with another customer about our favorite chicken leg recipes. Here is what I remembered and that is what I used. Spices: Montreal chicken spice (lots of it) Preheat the oven to 375F. Wash and pad dry the chicken legs. Leave a little bit of moisture, so the spice can stick. Liberally apply Montreal chicken spice on all sides. In a frying pan, that can go into the oven, heat some oil and sear the chicken legs. When they have some color make sure the skin side is up in the pan, add some water (for my 4 legs I added 1 cup) and put it into the oven. Check every 15 minutes f...

I got the idea based on something I saw on the food channel. The lady used cornflex as a breading. She also did not fry but baked the  chicken thighs.   A pack of boneless and skin less chicken chicken thighs is best for this. In a bowl mix 3 heaping table spoons of green jogurt 1/4 cup of butter milk 1 tsp of sweet paprika 2 tsp of Old Bay seasoning a bit of salt and pepper   Preheat the oven to 450F.   Line a baking tray with parchment paper and put a cooling rack to it. Add 4 cups of cornflakes into a zip lock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Empty them onto a deep plate. The assembly line looks like this. Salt and pepper lightly the chicken thighs, dip them in the yogurt mixture, dip them into the crushed corn flex. Put them onto the cooling rack onto the tray. Repeat until all are done. As you can see, I didn't add the cooling rack onto the tray. As a result there was not really a crust at the bottom side of the chicken. Oh well, live and learn. It di...

I would think, that everyone has a few go-to meals. Chili and  Koenigsberger Klopse belong into my list as well as chicken fricassee. We also call it exploded chicken. Once can use left over already cooked chicken, just specific favorite chicken parts or a whole chicken.  I decided, some of the meals need to go into the freezer, so I use a whole chicken. This cooks in a pressure cooker pretty fast. For cooking the chicken 1 whole chicken (mine was a large one) 2 bay leafs 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1 tsp of ground Allspice 4 carrots peeled and chopped into bite size pieces 4 stalks of celery chopped 8 cups of  water with 6 tsp of better then chicken bullion or 8 cups of chicken broth or chicken stock Add all of this to the pressure cooker. Check if the chicken has a bag with giblets. If so add everything as well, except the liver. The liver cooked with a bit of salt and pepper is a nice treat for me. Close the lid and follow the instructions of the manufacturer. I tend to add 2-...

It is always a challenge what to do with left overs. I had 4 chicken drumsticks and 2 uncooked chicken drumsticks lefter over. What to do with it? I decided to make a chicken noodle soup out of it it. In a pressure cooker, add the  uncooked chicken drumsticks chopped carrots, celery, onions water with chicken bullion flavor or chicken broth a little Allspice, thyme, 1 bay leaf Cook until it turns itself off. Release the pressure, open and add the grilled chicken drumsticks, close and let them come up to temperature. My pressure cooker has a 'keep warm' feature, so I can do those kind of things. When it is time for lunch or dinner, cook some noodles. Optional serve with some herbs or add some hot sauce. -Mahlzeit-

A long time ago I got a recipe to marinate chicken wings. I remembered it had balsamic vinegar. So with some reading this is what I came up with.   Marinade 1 cup of olive oil 1 cup of balsamic vinegar 1.5 tsp of sweet ground paprika 2 tsp of smoked paprika 1 tbsp dried thyme 2/3 cup of brown sugar 2 tsp of orange pepper (something I found  in a store and wanted to try. It has a nice citrus flavor) 1 tsp of Himalayan or sea salt Heat all of this a little bit on the stove to not more than hand warm. This is to dissolve the brown sugar. The brown sugar was already pretty hard. This is a good way to get rid of those things, that are a bit harder to get into the original condition. (I know the trick with the wet towel and the microwave) My bowl holds 8 drumsticks. Cover it is with marinade and then in the fridge it goes over night. If the drumsticks are not fully covered, turn them over before you go to bed. By then the meat started to take on a brown color from the balsamic....

I am trying chicken again. I like chicken thighs, because they are usually by itself juicy. Reading through several recipes on the internet. I came up with this. First I got to brine it.   Brine: 12 cups of water 1 medium onion, cut in half and then sliced 1/2 cup of kosher salt 1 cup of dark brown sugar 1 tsp of smoked paprika 1/2 tsp of thyme 1 tsp chipotle rib rack spice mix 2 tsp sweet and smokey salt fee seasoning 1 tsp allspice 2 cloves of garlic sliced 1/2 cup of orange juice with pulp 1 tbsp Worcestershire   All of this goes into a pot. Bring it to a boil, let it boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool down to room temperature. Wash and pad dry the chicken thighs and submerge them in the cold brine. In the fridge they go 8-24 hours. Based on current planing it will be about 14h in my case.   Saturday: The smoking starts. Temp is set at 200F. Remove the chicken from the brine and put on the smoker. After the first hour of smoking I did drip some BBQ s...

This weekend it was time to smoke chicken.  We need 1 organic chicken cut into 2 halfs 2 tbsp. brown sugar 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp of onion flakes 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp of Billy Bub's Texas Dry Rubb 1 tsp of oregano (dried) Mix all of this very good and spread it liberally over the chicken. Put the chicken in a bowl, cover and marinate over night in the fridge. The next day, preheat the smoker to 220F. Fill an aluminum bowl with water, cover it and stick holes in it. This is to have some humidity so the skin does not get rubbery. All of this goes onto the smoker for 4h or until the inner temperature is 170F on hickory pellets.  The last 2 hours I ended up basting it with sugar free BBQ sauce. -Mahlzeit-

It was time to make another chicken soup. In an attempt to clean out my freezer, I pulled the following out: 1 pack of chicken containing 2 chicken thighs with skin and bone and 2 drum sticks (they can still be frozen) 2 fresh bay leaves 2 small lime leaves From the fridge: 3 medium carrots cleaned and chopped 1 cup of celery chopped 1 medium to large onion coarsely chopped 3 sticks of leeks cleaned and chopped From the pantry: 10 whole Allspice 1/2 tsp of dried thyme 3 tsp of Knorr Tomato bullion powder 3 tbsp of veggie oil And last but not least: 4 cups of water and may be some more In a Dutch Oven add the olive oil, the  carrots, onions, celery, leaks. Over medium high heat, cook them for about 7 minutes, stir every now and then, just don't let anything burn. Add 4 cups of water, the remaining items from the pantry and the freezer. Over medium heat bring all to a boil, then take the heat down and let it simmer. Until the chicken pieces have separated I check every 10 minutes. Th...

 Today I decided to get my freezer organized. I found some chicken thighs. Hm, that was my hint to make a variation of a chicken curry. We need: 4 chicken thighs (can be frozen) 1 medium onion coarsely chopped 3/4 cup of celery 2 smoked paprika from a jar, cut into small pieces 5 cups of water 4 tsb chicken bullion powder 4 tsb curry 1 tsb ground cumin 1 tsb allspice 1 pinch of cinnamon 1 pinch of ground cloves In a Dutch Oven, heat some oil, add the celery and the onion. Let the onions get translucent. Add all the remaining ingredients, cover and bring to a boil. Then let it simmer. I added the chicken frozen. After 20 min, I took the chicken out and did cut it in slices and back into the pot. Simmer for another hour. If your chicken is not frozen, slice it before adding it. I ended up thickening the sauce a little bit with a corn starch water mixture. Serve with rice -Mahlzeit-

Yesterday I was at my favorite Asian Grocery store again. I worked my way through their spice isle. I have no idea what I am looking at most of the time.  On jar caught my attention. It looked like one of the very hot spices that I usually get at a Thai restaurant. So I picked one up. I also got chicken hearts. In my fridge there are still chicken thighs (no bones, no skin). This should make a good chicken noodle soup Britta's Thai style. 4 bone and skinless chicken thighs 2 packs of chicken hearts 8 cups of water 8 tsp of Knorr chicken bullion 3 carrots peeled and cut 1.5 cups of chopped celery 3 kaffir lime leaves 3 inches lemon grass, chopped into 1/4 inch chunks All of this goes into a pressure cooker. Use the chicken/meat program + 3 minutes In the mean time cook any pasta you like according to the package instructions. When the pressure cooker is done, make sure to release the pressure before opening. Serve in a bowl with cilantro or parsley as garnish and th...

The original recipe calls also for  mushrooms. I didn't have them. My variation goes like that: 6 chicken thighs without skin and bones (any remaining attached fat is welcome to stay :) ) 1 large onion coarsely chopped 1/2 tsb of allspice 1 clove 1 bay leave 2 slice of lemon 2 tbsp sour cream 1/4 cup half/half 2 tsp corn starch 1 tetra pack of veggie broth 1 tsb of margarine 3 tbsp capers ( I love them, use less if you don't) 1 tbsp caper liquid Chop the chicken thighs to  small  bite sizes chunks. In a Dutch oven, add the margarine and let it melt. Add the chicken and let it sear from the outside for about 5 minutes (keep stirring). Don't let it get really brown. This is not what we are after. Add the veggie broth, allspice, clove, bay leave. Bring it to a boil, turn the heat down, cover and let it simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. After 45 minutes add the mix the half/half and the corn starch. No lumps please. Turn the heat on high and slowly ...