Yellow Like Sunshine - Kourouma Curry

Named after the king, this house specialty invokes royalty. It is a dish with a savory perfumed scent that invades our favorite Sri Lankan restaurant and holds many fond memories. 

When I asked the restaurant owner why none of the Indian import shops had any curry mixes called Kourouma, he grinned the biggest grin and confirmed, "You can only find it here!" So he helped me understand the recipe with an emphasis on the yellow curry. "It has be yellow curry or it won't taste the same." I finished my plate, fetched a to-go bag to freeze for later, and went out shopping to scout out the ingredients.

Now I can make it on my own at home with several simple Indian ingredients. 

1 whole Chicken
3 tbsp Yellow curry
1 Onion
1 Tomato
1 can Coconut milk
3 tbsp Almond powder
1 star anis 
5 cloves (clou de girofle)
1 tsp cumin
1 cinnamon stick
3 tbsp Fried basil
3 Green onions
1 tbsp Fresh cilantro


Basmati Rice tinted with safran


Cook the curry in the coconut milk to make the sauce. Add the chicken and the other spices. Simmer together for 20 minutes. If you're using chicken pieces without bones you may need to add some bouillon because the bones are flavorful. Serve over safran rice.

Waldorf Salad On Croissant

I used non GMO (OMG) chicken breasts. It always feels good to do something healthy for my body once in a while.

Serve on croissants sliced in half to make the perfect brunch sandwich.

5 chicken breasts
1/2 cup (75 g) sliced almonds
1 celery stalk
1 cup (1/2 grappe) white grapes
1 granny smith apple
1/2 cup (25 cl) crème fraiche*
1 tbsp (càs) dijon mustard
salt
cayenne pepper (piment d'espelette)
12 croissants

Dice the chicken breasts and sauté in olive oil. Chill.
Toss with diced apple, sliced celery, and halved grapes.
Mix dijon mustard into sour cream and pour over the salad.
Sprinkle with almonds and cayenne pepper.

*The closest thing to real crème fraiche is light sour cream. Some recipes call for mayonnaise or fromage blanc. I thought mayonnaise sounded too heavy this morning, but you can probably do a mixture of any or all of these creamy sauces depending on the flavor you're looking for.

Northern Chicken Curry Noodle - Hong's Kao Soi

Hong is one of my sister's best friends. This aspiring cooking show host came to my kitchen to teach us how to make the traditional Thai soupe from her village. It was a blast! In true cooking show fashion she and I cooked up large quantities of soupe all afternoon. Then when the guests arrived she demonstrated how to make the recipe from scratch. Then we pulled out the reserves to serve everyone the delicious soup.

Since then Hong has opened her own restaurant in New York City. Her site is incredible, and her food EVEN BETTER! Check it out. Click. click. click.

Traditional Kao Soi
6 legs and thighs of chicken bones and all *if you want the right flavor, you've got to cook it on the bone!
2 tbsp (càs)oil
3 cups (800ml) coconut milk
4-5 tbsp (càs)Thai red curry paste
1 tsp (càc)curry powder
½ tsp (càc)turmeric powder
1 cardamom, crushed
10 thai basil leaves
1 ½ cups of water
1 onion
a pinch of sugar
2 tbsp (càs) fish sauce *to taste

GARNISH
6-7 cups (250g) of Chinese Bah-mi egg noodle (I just use the local brand)
3-4 cups oil for frying
4 shallots
3 limes
fried dried chillies
a handful of cilantro, chopped

Into a large thick bottom pot fry the chicken thighs in the oil. Once they're seared and golden on the outside add the coconut milk, spices, water and everything in the first list through the fish sauce. Simmer.

Fry one cup of dry noodles until they're golden don't let them get brown.
Remove the noodles from the oil and fry a few dried peppers.

Slice the shallots very fine. Cut the limes into wedges, make sure you have enough for all your guests. Chop the cilantro. Set aside in individual bowls for easy garnishing.

Confirm that your chicken is cooked all the way through.

Bring water to a boil. Drop in the rest of the egg noodles and allow them to boil for 2-3 minutes!

SERVE
Serve cooked noodles in a bowl, pour chicken soup over the noodles, garnish with veggies, spices and fried noodles with a lime wedge on the side of the bowl. Have each guest squeeze the lime into the soup just before taking the first bite. Yum! Thais traditionally eat this soup with a fork and a very large spoon and not chopsticks as you may think. ;)

Chicken Muscatel

Chicken Muscatel
4 fresh chicken breasts
1 onion
2 heads of garlic
1 bottle of Muscatel

Sear the chicken breasts to seal in their juices. Remove them from the pan.

Brown the onions and garlic in a tablespoon of water. When they're thoroughly colorful, add the chicken  and half a bottle of Muscatel. Simmer until cooked through and tender. Serve with mashed potatoes and steamed fresh asparagus.

Pure Hearts Make Better Soup - Rotisserie Chicken Soup

"Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart, and cannot make a good soup." - Ludwig van Beethoven

This winter my hubby invented the best soup ever! I was feeling under the weather, and the moment he saw me miserable, the big soft teddy bear in him came out. "What can I make you for dinner?" he asked. It's uncanny, every time I catch a cold the first symptom to present itself is laryngitis. So naturally, the first thing I want to eat is a nice soothing soup. Rob's Rotisserie Chicken Soup is not super complicated but the order you cook the ingredients may surprise you. Follow his advice, start with the little veggies, their tender juicy flavor is worth the extra attention...

Rotisserie Chicken Soup
olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
1 branch of celery
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 rotisserie chicken
18oz (500g) noodles

Heat your olive oil, simmer the diced onion, carrot, and celeri until soft. Add the chicken broth and rotisserie chicken and bring to a boil. Add the noodles. Serve when the noodles are tender.

*Looking for an extra challenge? - If you would like to make this recipe from scratch, you can start with a small whole chicken. Butter the chicken and roast in the oven using either a roasting pan or roasting bag to contain all of the juices. After an hour of roasting use all of the juices and the chicken parts in your soup.

Cook With Abandon - Enchiladas Verdes

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." ~Harriet van Horne

Apparently I'm getting wimpy. I thought it would be wise to put in half of the peppers and then taste the salsa to see if it needed more spicy hot. So I made it up with three little green chili peppers and tasted it and it kicked back. So I had my guest try it, warning him it's spicy hot. He took a taste and stared off into space. Thinking it must have taken his breath away, I go, "So, what do you think? Is it too spicy?" He goes, "I'm still waiting for it to kick in." I'm like, hum, that's odd.

Then I serve the meal and warned another friend it was spicy. She goes, "Maybe just a small piece, I don't like spicy." Then she LOVED it and ate the the WHOLE thing! Meanwhile, I could barely get mine down it was so hot. Finally, I just picked out all of the little green pepper pieces and left them on my plate. My hubby says I'm a wimp and next time I need to put all five peppers in. I'll let you judge for yourself...

Enchiladas Verdes

One Fresh Chicken
2 cups frozen chicken broth or 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
2 tsp (càc) salt
1 pound fresh tomatillos - about a dozen
5 fresh green serrano peppers - I use three
1/4 onion
1 clove garlic
1 pinch salt
12 corn tortillas
1/4 cup (6cl) vegetable oil
1 cup (100g) crumbled queso fresco
1/2 onion
1 bunch fresh cilantro

In a large pot, combine chicken breast with chicken broth, one quarter onion, a crushed garlic clove, and salt. Cover the pot over medium-low heat, and boil the stuffing out of that chicken! (about 20 minutes) Pull the chicken out of the liquid, and let it cool in a strainer over the pot in front of a big drafty window.

When it's cool enough to handle shred the chicken with your hands.

Place the tomatillos in a pot of water, enough to cover them. Bring them to a boil, and continue boiling just until the tomatillos turn a different shade of green (bright green to dull army green). Strain tomatillos and place in a blender with the reserved chicken broth, and another quarter piece of onion, another crushed garlic clove, a pinch of salt, and serrano peppers chopped up with scissors. Blend. Ta-da! Green Salsa!

Fry your corn tortillas in vegetable oil and layer with paper towels between them. Dip the crunchy tortillas in salsa to soften them, stuff them with shredded chicken and a scoop of salsa. Roll the wrap, top with a scoop of salsa, queso fresco, chopped cilantro, and the rest of the onion, chopped.

***VARIATION - Flour tortillas stray a bit from the authentic tradition, but sometimes I need recipes that I can make ahead and pop in the oven at the last moment. So I shredded the chicken and purée the salsa then right before my guests arrive I stuff big floppy burrito tortillas with chicken, salsa and sour cream. Then I wrap them and snuggle them together for a nap in a shallow baking dish. I cover them with green salsa while they bake fifteen minutes. Then I serve them with extra green salsa, onions and sour cream. Yum!

Aude to Africa - Couscous Kabyle

Africa, africa, there are so many things I love about Africa. When it comes to cuisine, I either love it or hate it. There are very few dishes I've tried that I can roll in my mouth and say, that's so, so. Nope. It's either absolutely to die for, or please don't ask me to eat that again. So when I was asked to prepare an exotic 100% African meal I knew just what I was going to make, and it wasn't going to be fufu.

I had a friend come over to cook with me and she brought a big giant pot and a big giant bowl, because we would be cooking for a crowd. She also brought a traditional Couscous grain that she brought back with her from Algeria. It tasted better than any Couscous grain I've ever bought in the stores!

We steamed the Couscous the traditionnel way. It took all day! Steam, fluff, steam, fluff, steam. Then we had to roll each handful between our hands and let the grains fall individually into the bowl and the stuff still wanted to stick together when we were trying to serve it.

The stew was perfectly seasoned, due entirely to the fact that my friend was helping me. I know this because I've made the dish several times since and the first time it was bland and didn't have flavor. I've realized that some things you just can't follow the recipe on, or my spices aren't as strong as theirs because I had to add four times what the original recipe calls for! The second time I tried to make it, it tasted like tomato soup, so I've adjusted that over time as well.

The night in question there would be too many guests in my house, and no plausible way to sit 30 of us around my dinning room table, so we pushed all of the dinning room furniture into the living room and we laid out african print blankets and picnic-ed indoors the African way.

We lounged and talked and heard stories about Africa late into the night. It was an absolute culinary masterpiece and a truly joyous occasion to be shared by all.

One traditional recipe fed everybody with plenty to spare, but the recipe I'll share with you is designed for four people. Four big hungry people. I figure that's more practical and if you do decide to feed the whole village you can always multiply.

Couscous Kabyle

INGREDIENTS

4 tbsp (4 càs) oil
2 cups (1/2 k) couscous
2 thighs and drumsticks
2 onions thin wedges
2 tomatoes
2 potatoes quartered
2 turnips quartered
2 carrots cut like carrot sticks
1 pinch of black pepper
1 tbsp (càs) ras-el-hanout
4 spicy dried red peppers
1 sm zucchini
1 1/2 cup (425g) rehydrated chick-peas
(If you're using dried chick peas let them rehydrate in a bowl of water over night)

PREPARATION

Prepare the couscous according to the package directions. If you're using dried rolled couscous you'll have to rince it in cold water then strain it and allow it to puff 30 min.

Cut the thighs at the joint. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot. At medium-high heat, brown the chicken with the skins bones and all in the oil until crispy and golden. Add one chopped onion. Brown. Then add 4 cups water.

Run the tomatoes through a vegetable mill. Add the other onion, the tomatoes, potatoes, turnips, and carrots. And let it stew for two hours.

A half hour before serving crush the red peppers with a mortar and pestle and add the spices, zucchini, and chick-peas to the stew. Allow the flavors to marinate 30 min. and serve over the couscous.