Monday, November 10, 2014

Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza


Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza
We decided to make an Asian-style pizza and came up with the idea of Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza. Chicken Tikka Masala (check out the recipe by What’s for Lunch Honey) is a delicious Indian recipe and makes a killer topping for the pizza. The exotic tastes of the spices and the chicken paired beautifully with the cheesy pizza. It was scrumptious and we couldn’t stop eating it.

Ingredients:

10 oz skinless and boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 jalapeno, deseeded
Salt to taste
One (1) 12-inches store-bought pizza crust or three (3) 7-inches mini pizza crusts
Olive oil for brushing
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese
Handful of coriander leaves/cilantro, chopped, save some for garnish

Marinade:

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground garam masala
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
Pinch of cinnamon

Tomato Sauce:

4oz tomato sauce
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Spice Mix:

1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt masala

Method:

1.In a bowl, marinade the chicken with the Marinade for at least an hour in the refrigerator.
2.Line a layer of aluminum foil in a baking pan for grilling. Spread the marinated chicken in a single layer on the pan, discard the remaining marinade. Grill the chicken at 450F for 6-7 minutes, turning at half time.
3.While the chicken is cooking, prepare the Tomato Sauce and Spice Mix in separate bowls. Remove the chicken from the pan when it is done and discard the juice.
4.Heat a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Sauté the garlic and jalapeno until aromatic. Pour in the Spice Mix and sauté until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes on medium heat. Remove the jalapeno and discard.
5.Add in the Tomato Sauce and stir well to mix. Sprinkle salt to taste and continue to simmer until the sauce thickens, another 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the chicken meat into the sauce and mix well.
6.Pre-heat the oven to 450F. Place the pizza crust on a pizza pan and brush lightly with olive oil. Spread the sauce/gravy on the pizza crust. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese. Arrange the chicken on the pizza. Top it with the sliced onions, chopped cilantro and the remaining cheese.
7.Reduce the temperature to 425F. Bake the pizza for 8-10 minutes. Remove the pizza from the pan when is done and garnish the remaining chopped cilantro.

Garlic Shrimp


Garlic Shrimp
Garlic and shrimp are two of my favorite ingredients and I love pairing them together whenever I feel like having a shrimp dish. Most people in the United States prefer shelled shrimp, but for garlic shrimp, I strongly suggest you to cook the shrimp head-on and with the shell intact. The shrimp head and the shell “soak up” the fragrance and nuance imbued by the chopped garlic and butter used in this garlic shrimp recipe.  The natural sweetness of the shrimp heads and shell also add depth to this dish.

Ingredients:

8 oz. medium-size shrimp (head on, shell on, slit the back of the shrimp and deveined)
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste
1/8 teaspoon sugar or to taste
1/2 teaspoon Chinese rice wine
Some chopped scallions

Method:

1.Rinse the shrimp with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
2.Heat up a wok with olive oil or butter. Lightly saute the chopped garlic until aromatic. Add shrimp into the wok and stir well with the garlic and add rice wine. Cover the wok with its lid and cook for about 1 minute. Add chopped scallions, and salt and sugar to taste. Dish out and serve garlic shrimp immediately.

Chili Crab


Chili Crab
Chilli crab is a seafood dish popular in Chinese. Mud crabs are commonly used and are stir-fried in a semi-thick, sweet and savoury tomato and chilli based sauce.

Ingredients:

1 Dungeness Crab (about 2 lb size)
1 sprig of coriander (chopped for garnishing only)
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of tamarind juice
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
1/4 cup of water

Spice Paste:

8 dried red chilies (soaked in hot water and deseeded)
1 tablespoon of taucheo (soy bean paste/sauce)
3 cloves of garlic
1 inch of fresh ginger

Tamarind Juice:

5 seeds of tamarind
Water

Method:

1.Clean the crab and chop it into pieces. Save the green and juicy stuff inside the shell and set aside.
2.Pound the spice paste with a mortar and pestle or grind them using a food processor. Make sure that the spice paste is finely blended or pounded.
3.Soak the tamarind seeds in some warm water for 15 minutes. Extract the juice and discard the seeds.
4.Heat up your wok and add cooking oil.
5.Stir fry the spice paste until fragant and spicy.
6.Add the crab and 1/4 cup of water and do a quick stir. Cover the wok with its cover for 3 minutes.
7.Add the green and juicy stuff from the shell and stir well.
8.Add in sugar, tamarind juice, a little salt to taste and continue stirring for about 2 minutes or until all crab pieces turned red.

9.Dish up, garnish with chopped scallions and serve hot.

Bacon Parmesan Hasselback Potatoes


Bacon Parmesan Hasselback Potatoes
Hasselback Potatoes with bacon & parmesan. Easy hasselback potatoes at its best. Sinfully delicious but quick and super easy to make.

Ingredients:

4 large yukon gold potatoes
4 tablespoons salted butter
5 slices bacon, chopped in 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method:

1.Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Clean potatoes and pat dry.
2.Cut vertical slices in the potato, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide. Make the slices deep but don’t cut all the way through the potato.
3.Slice the butter in thin pieces and then cut in half. Place butter slices in alternating slits of the potato. Season with Kosher salt and pepper to taste.
4.Put potatoes on a sheet pan or in a casserole dish and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, basting with the melted butter every 15 minutes. Potatoes are done when the skin is crispy and the flesh is easily pierced with a fork.
5.While potatoes are baking, in a medium skillet cook bacon on medium high until golden brown and most of the fat is rendered. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.

6.Top potatoes with cheese (you can nestle some of the cheese into the slits) and cover so the cheese melts (or place back in the warm oven for a few minutes). Top the potatoes with the bacon and serve warm.

Parmesan Bacon Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes


Parmesan Bacon Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes 
Parmesan Bacon Pumpkin Mashed Potatoes – supper yummy baked pumpkin mashed potatoes loaded with parmesan cheese and bacon. Rich, sweet, cheesy and so easy.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
15 ounce can pumpkin
2 tablespoons maple syrup, or to taste
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 slice bacon, cut into small pieces

Method:

1.Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to boil, turn to heat to medium-low and cook potatoes for 20 minutes or until they are completely cooked. Drain the water.
2.Preheat the oven to 350F. Mash the potatoes and stir in the remaining ingredients to the mashed potatoes until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
3.Transfer the mashed potatoes to a baking dish and top it with the Parmesan cheese. Bake the mashed potatoes until the surface turn golden brown, for about 15 minutes. Pan-fry the bacon bits until crispy.

4.   Remove from the oven and top the top with the bacon bits.  Serve warm.

Curry Clams


Curry Clams 
Whenever I go back to Penang, I would never miss out ordering this dish at the “Ikan Panggang” (grilled fish) hawker stall. Even though ikan, a Malay word that literally means fish, you can find all sorts of grilled seafood. One of my favorite this this curry clams, which is basically clams seasoned with some curry powder and seasonings, and grilled on a flat griddle over banana leaves. I simply love the aroma of the curry powder and the burnt smell from banana leaves.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. Manila clams
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 1/4 tablespoons seafood curry powder
1 tablespoon Malaysian Lingham’s hot sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce or to taste
A few sheets of fresh or frozen banana leaf (rinsed and wiped clean and dry with paper towels)

Method:

1.Rinse clams with cold water thoroughly, scrub the shells, drain the water, and set aside.
2.Heat up the pan on medium heat and add a little cooking oil to coat the surface. Lay the banana leaves on top of the pan. Add the remaining cooking oil onto the banana leaves, add clams into the pan and start stirring. As soon as the clams start to open, add curry powder, hot sauce, oyster sauce and stir well with the clams. Cover the pan with its lid and cook for a few minutes or until all clams are open.
3.Dish out and serve immediately.

4.The banana leaves will be burnt when the clams are cooked, but that’s the essence of this dish as burnt banana leaves impart an impossibly earthy and tantalizing aroma to the clams.

Soy Sauce Beef


Soy Sauce Beef 
Malaysian food is my native cuisine and the passion, love, and enthusiasm I have will never change. Truth be told, I’ve been trying to save my Malaysian recipes, for the possible opportunity to work on a Malaysian cookbook in the future.

Ingredients:

8 oz beef flap meat, cut into pieces
2 shallots, sliced thinly (or 1/4 onion, sliced)
2 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons kicap/kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)
1 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce or to taste

Method:

1.Rinse the beef with water and cut it across the grain into pieces. Pat dry and set aside.
2.Heat up a wok with the oil. When the oil is heated, add the shallots and stir fry until aromatic or when the shallots turn light brown. Add the beef into the wok and stir for a few times. Add the sweet soy sauce and soy sauce and stir to blend well with the beef. Cook for a few minutes or until the beef is cooked through. Dish out and serve immediately
3.You can add a few bird’s-eye chilies or some cut red chilies if you want it spicy.

4.You can also add a lemongrass (white-part only, pounded) to make it extra aromatic..