Chicken

I’m still a pretty frugal shopper. Nothing thrills me more than to find a chic outfit at 70 percent discount on the clearance rack! When it comes to chicken , I look for deals too (no, not the clearance rack) but pound for pound, buying a whole chicken is a way better deal as I can create at least three meals out of one chicken for my family of four!
1) a good stir-fry with the breasts,
2) Thai curry chicken with the thighs, and
3) chicken noodle soup with the bones.
And I always buy organic chicken these days. Not only is it good for you, the clean taste and silky texture makes a big difference!

Chicken Skewers with Honey and Turmeric

One of my very first friends that I made through blogging was Bee of Rasamalaysia.com and she gave me this recipe to include in the book. Bee marinates chicken wings in a Malaysian combination of turmeric and honey. I’ve made skewers from her recipe, perfect for the outdoor grill. Turmeric is a relative of the ginger, and the powder is a deep, bright golden-yellow that gives Indian and Southeast Asian dishes a majestic glow. Recent research found something that Ayurvedic medicine has known all along . . . that turmeric has incredible medical benefits.

I use the tops of green onions, minced, in much of my cooking, but my absolute favorite part are the bottoms grilled. Once grilled, they turn so sweet and mild. I took the hint from traditional Japanese yakitori and added the sweet green onion bottoms to these skewers.

1 In a large bowl, whisk together the ginger, honey, soy sauce, turmeric powder, Asian chilli powder and orange juice. Add the chicken and mix well to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes to overnight.

2 Twenty minutes prior to cooking, set the chicken at room temperature to take off the chill and soak the bamboo skewers in water so that the skewers don’t burn on the grill.

3 Cut the green onion bottoms into 1 ¹ /₂-inch (3.75-cm) lengths. Skewer the chicken and green onion pieces, alternating each.

4 Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. If possible, leave one section of your grill on low heat. Grill on medium-high, 2 minutes each side and then move the skewers to the low heat to finish cooking, covered, for another 2 minutes. Watch the skewers, as the sugars in the honey and orange juice may caramelize fast!

SERVES 4 AS PART OF MULTICOURSE MEAL

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (see Jaden’s Ginger Tips, page 33)

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon soy sauce

¹/₄ teaspoon turmeric powder

¹/₄ teaspoon Asian chilli powder or ground red pepper (cayenne powder)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice

1 lb (500 g) boneless chicken breast or thigh meat, cut into 1-in (2.5-cm) cubes

6 green onions (scallions), bottom 6 in (15 cm) only

12 bamboo skewers

Maridel’s Chicken Adobo

I admit, I haven’t cooked a lot of Filipino dishes in my kitchen. But it’s not because I don’t like Filipino food, quite the contrary. In San Francisco, I just lived two exits away from a plethora of Filipino restaurants, where a lunch buffet was only $4.99! How can you beat that? So I asked my Filipino sister-in-law, Maridel, for her family’s adobo recipe.

Adobo is the national dish of the Philippines and refers to the combination of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorn. You can adobo pretty much anything from short ribs to beans. Unlike traditional western cooking, the meat is browned in oil after simmering, not before. I like to use skin-on dark meat for the adobo as it won’t dry out during the long simmering time. You can skip the browning if you run out of time. Serve with steamed rice.

SERVES 4 AS PART OF MULTICOURSE MEAL

1 ¹/₂ lbs (750 g) skin-on chicken legs and thighs

2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil

ADOBO SAUCE

¹/₃ cup (80 ml) cider vinegar (or white vinegar)

¹/₄ cup (65 ml) soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon sugar

¹/₂ cup (125 ml) water

1 In a large bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the Adobo Sauce. Add the chicken and mix to coat well. Marinate 2 hours to overnight in the refrigerator.

2 In a large, heavy bottomed pot on medium-high heat, add the chicken and the marinade. Bring to a boil and turn the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring the pot halfway through to redistribute the sauce and chicken.

3 Using tongs, remove the chicken to a dish. Keep the Adobo Sauce on the stovetop and turn the heat to high to let the sauce thicken for 5 minutes. Use a spoon to skim off some of the oil that may be on the surface of the sauce.

4 Set a frying pan over high heat. When hot, add the oil. Pat the chicken skin dry with paper towels and carefully add the pieces skin-side down to the pan. Careful, if your chicken skin is not dry, it may splatter. Fry for 2 minutes until the skin is crisp and a wonderful golden brown. Alternatively, you can place the chicken skin-side up (pat dry first) on a sheet pan. Set the oven rack to the top level and broil for 3 minutes until the skin is nice and crisp.

5 Pour the Adobo Sauce over the chicken and serve over rice.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

This is one of Mom’s signature dishes. If you like pure, silky, moist chicken, there’s no better way to cook it than this recipe. The Ginger Scallion condiment is essential to this dish. Because the chicken is gently poached, the condiment provides that explosion of flavor—that zing—that makes this dish come alive. This dish can be served warm, room temperature or even slightly chilled. If you’ve ever had this popular Singaporean hawker stall dish, this is my quick variation of it.

Mom usually cooks this dish with a whole chicken, but using boneless chicken pieces shortens the cooking time to make this a 30-minute dish.

Don’t throw out the poaching liquid! Season with salt to taste and serve as a warming soup with your meal. If you have time to cook the rice AFTER the chicken steeps, use the flavorful poaching liquid in place of water in the steamed rice recipe.

SERVES 4 AS PART OF MULTICOURSE MEAL

1 cup (250 ml) store-bought or homemade Mom’s Chicken Stock (page 31)

2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)

4 cloves garlic, whole, smashed

One 2-in (5-cm) piece of ginger, sliced into 4 to 6 coins, and each coin whacked with the side of knife

3 green onions (scallions), cut into 3-in (7.5-cm) lengths

Salt to taste

4 boneless chicken pieces with skin on (breasts, thighs or a combo)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 portion Ginger Scallion sauce (page 28) 1 portion Steamed Rice (page 129)

1 In a large pot (with a tight-fitting lid), add the stock, wine, garlic, ginger, green onions, salt and chicken pieces and pour enough water into the pot to cover the chicken by 1 inch (2.5 cm). Turn the heat to high and bring the broth to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, immediately turn the heat to low and let simmer for 3 minutes. Skim the surface. Cover with a tight fitting lid and turn the heat off. Let the chicken steep in the hot broth for 20 minutes.

2 While the chicken steeps, cook the rice and prep all the ingredients for the Ginger Scallion sauce and have it at the ready. (Prep, but do not heat up the oil for the sauce yet. You’ll finish the sauce just before serving).

3 Check the chicken for doneness by poking the thickest part with a chopstick or paring knife. If juices run clear, it’s done! Remove the chicken, plunge in an ice bath, pat dry, brush all over with the sesame oil and let cool at room temperature.

4 With a small fine-meshed strainer or ladle, remove the garlic, ginger and green onions from the broth. Skim the surface of the broth if necessary. Taste and season with additional salt, if needed. The remaining broth is served as soup (or, if you have time, used in place of water to cook the rice).

5 Serve with the Ginger Scallion sauce, rice and the soup.

More Options

If you are going to cook this with a whole chicken (use a small 3 ¹/₂-lb/1.6-kg chicken), like the traditional Hainan Chicken, double the amount of chicken broth. To the pot, add the whole chicken, chicken broth, wine, ginger, green onion, garlic and salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer the chicken for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let steep for 40 minutes. Check doneness. Plunge the whole chicken in ice water bath, pat dry, then brush with sesame oil all over. Let cool enough to handle. Use some of the poaching broth in place of water to cook the rice (page 129) and the remaining poaching broth as soup. Carve the chicken and serve with the Ginger Scallion sauce, flavorful rice and soup.

Pan-fried Mango Chicken

It amazes some of my friends that I can whip, whirr and stir up a meal with whatever I can find in the kitchen or farmer’s market. It’s not that I have countless recipes memorized—oh, quite the contrary. The talent comes from nothing more than learning just a handful of cooking methods and then adapting them to the ingredients you have on hand.

This pan-frying technique originally comes from chef and author Nigel Slater. I use his basic formula for chicken and add my own touches with curry powder and luscious mango chunks. The garlic mellows out and softens during the cooking, and the perfect bite is a bit of mango, a bit of garlic and juicy chicken. You can purchase a whole chicken, carve it yourself and save the bones for soup (page 31). But if you’re too chicken to carve it yourself, buy already cut-up chicken. If you’d like to use boneless pieces, cut the cooking time by a few minutes.

SERVES 4 AS PART OF MULTICOURSE MEAL

1 tablespoon high-heat cooking oil

One whole chicken (about 3 ¹/₂ lbs/1.6 kg), cut into 8 pieces (leave skin on)

1 teaspoon curry powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons butter

10 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

1 cup (250 ml) store-bought or homemade Vegetable or Mom’s Chicken Stock (pages 31–32)

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 mango, peeled and cut into 1-in (2.5-cm) chunks

2 tablespoons minced fresh mint

1 Drizzle the oil all over the chicken and season with the curry powder, salt and pepper.

2 Heat a large sauté pan over high heat and add the butter. When the pan is hot and the butter is bubbling, add the chicken pieces to the pan, skin side down. Fry until the skin turns a golden brown. Add the garlic cloves to the pan, filling in the space between the chicken pieces. Turn the heat to medium-low and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

3 Cook for 15 minutes, then flip the chicken. Cover again and cook an additional 15 to 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink near the bone.

4 Use tongs to remove the chicken to a platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm. Tilt the pan and spoon out some of the fat. Turn the heat to high, pour in the stock and rice vinegar and, with a wooden spoon or spatula, scrape the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan.

5 Add the mango chunks and fresh mint to the pan and let cook for 1 minute. Taste the sauce and season with additional salt if needed. Pour over the chicken pieces and serve with Steamed Rice (page 129).

Thai Coconut Chicken Curry

I call Thai curry my “emergency hurricane food” because in Florida, every year right around late August, we start getting some nasty hurricanes. I always like to keep a ton of food on hand, just in case I have an urge to host a dinner party in the middle of emergency evacuation. When our area is instructed to hunker down for the storm, guess whose house everyone comes to? Most of the ingredients in my Thai curry are from canned goods, like curry paste, coconut milk, baby corn and bamboo shoots. You can even skip the chicken altogether and substitute canned straw mushrooms.

How much curry paste to use is totally up to you. I prefer a spicier curry, so I use 4 ounces (125 g) of Maesri brand curry paste. My advice is if this is your first time making curry and you are spice-shy, start with half of the amount. You can always whisk in more later. If you find that you’ve added too much curry paste, just add a bit more coconut milk or water if you need to dilute. It’s a good idea to read the instructions on your can of paste if you are using a different brand.

To enhance the canned curry paste, I add fish sauce, sugar, Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves, but that’s totally optional. The more “enhancers” you add to the curry, the better tasting it will be. For tips on coconut milk, see page 20.

SERVES 5 TO 7 (WHEN SERVED WITH RICE)

4 oz (125 g) Thai curry paste

4 cups (1 liter) coconut milk, divided

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

3 fresh kaffir lime leaves, torn (optional)

6 oz (175 g) skinless, boneless chicken, cut into thin, bite-size pieces

One 8-oz (250-g) fresh or canned sliced bamboo shoots

One 15-oz (430-g) can baby corn, cut in half lengthwise

¹/₂ red onion, sliced

¹/₂ cup (12 g) loosely packed fresh Thai basil or sweet Italian basil leaves

1 Add the curry paste to a medium pot and turn the heat to medium-low. As the pot heats up, the curry paste will begin to fry, release its oils and become fragrant. It’s best to keep the heat fairly low as you are doing this—otherwise you may burn the curry paste.

2 When the pot is hot and the curry paste is fragrant, pour in half of the coconut milk and turn the heat to high. Whisk until the curry paste has dissolved into the coconut milk. Pour in the remaining coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar and kaffir lime leaves. Bring the curry to a gentle boil and then add the chicken slices, bamboo shoots, baby corn and red onion. Stir well and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until the chicken has been cooked through. Timing depends on how thin you’ve sliced your chicken. Turn off the heat, stir in the basil leaves and serve with steamed Jasmine rice (page 129).

Thai-style Chicken in Sweet Chilli Sauce

Despite its name, sweet chilli sauce is not spicy at all—it’s sweet with just a teeniest tiniest tinge of heat. The sauce is gorgeous with bits of chilli floating in the sauce. The kids like to dip French fries and chicken nuggets in it! If you don’t have kaffir lime leaves, just leave them out of the recipe. The rest of the dish has so many different flavors that I promise you won’t miss it!

1 In a large bowl, make the cornstarch slurry by stirring together 2 teaspoons of soy sauce and cornstarch until the cornstarch has dissolved. Add the chicken and toss to coat well. Marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature.

2 Set a wok or large frying pan over high heat. When a bead of water sizzles and evaporates upon contact, add the oil and swirl to coat. Add the chicken slices in one layer and cook for 2 minutes, flipping halfway. Remove the chicken from the wok, keeping as much oil in the pan as possible. The interior of the chicken will still be raw (it will get added back into the wok to finish cooking).

3 Lower the heat to medium and add the shallots, kaffir lime leaves and garlic. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the red and yellow bell peppers and stir-fry for 1 minute, until the peppers are softened, but still have a nice crunch to them. Pour in the fish sauce, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce and stir well. Add the chicken pieces back to the pan and let the entire thing simmer for 2 minutes. The chicken should have finished cooking (cut into a piece and check) and the sauce should be glossy and thickened. Turn off the heat and stir in the fresh basil leaves.

SERVES 4 (WHEN SERVED WITH RICE)

Cornstarch slurry: 2 teaspoons soy sauce plus ¹/₂ teaspoon cornstarch

1 lb (500 g) boneless chicken, sliced into thin, pinky sized pieces

1 tablespoon high-heat cooking oil

3 shallots, sliced thinly

2 fresh kaffir lime leaves, sliced into thin slivers (optional)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

¹/₄ cup (65 ml) sweet chilli sauce

1 small handful fresh Thai basil or sweet Italian basil leaves (about ¹/₄ cup/12 g)

Baked Crispy Chicken with Citrus Teriyaki Sauce

Look how crunchy crispy the coating on the chicken is! Ya think I fried it? Nope! I’ve lightened the traditional dish by baking the chicken instead, a technique that I’ve adapted from the cool cats at Cooks Illustrated. The chicken is coated with Japanese panko, which are marvelously flakey and feather light breadcrumbs.

The Citrus Teriyaki Dipping Sauce is light, tangy and perfect for dipping. My kids like it when I cut up the strips for them, and they eat them like chicken fingers. Serve these with steamed rice or Mashed Potatoes with Miso (page 121).

SERVES 4 AS PART OF MULTICOURSE MEAL

¹/₂ cup (50 g) all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1 cup (120 g) panko breadcrumbs

1 lb (500 g) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Nonstick cooking spray

CITRUS TERIYAKI DIPPING SAUCE

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons orange juice

3 tablespoons sake

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons mirin

1 In a saucepot, bring all ingredients for the Citrus Teriyaki Dipping Sauce to a boil. Turn the heat to low and let simmer for 6 minutes until slightly thickened.

2 Preheat the oven to 475°F (245°C).

3 Line up 3 shallow bowls. Put the flour in the first bowl, the eggs in the second (and beat with fork), and the panko in the third bowl. Also have nearby a sheet pan with a baking rack placed in it.

4 Pound each chicken breast to a 1 /₄ to ¹/₂-inch (6 mm to 12-mm) thickness. Season each piece of chicken on both sides with salt and pepper.

5 You’ll work with one piece of chicken at a time. Lightly dredge a piece in the flour on both sides. Then dip in the beaten eggs, making sure that you coat the entire piece. Then, pat in the panko, pressing gently to adhere the crumbs. While the chicken is still in the shallow bowl with the panko, spray the topside with cooking spray. Place the chicken piece onto the baking rack with the side you’ve just sprayed facing down. Then spray the other side with cooking spray. Repeat with the remaining chicken pieces.

6 Bake for 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then cut into several pieces. To serve, lay a bed of shredded lettuce on a plate, top with the sliced chicken pieces and serve with the Citrus Teriyaki Dipping Sauce.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This dish is for my husband, Scott, who totally digs the standard Chinese take-out. The only time we eat out at Chinese restaurants is if we’re visiting Mom and Dad in Los Angeles for some authentic dim sum fare. But at home in Florida, I’d just rather make simple Chinese dishes at home than to spend money on so-so take-out. But after 2 years of living in Florida, Scott started showing interest in shopping and offered to take me to the mall several times. What kind of wife would I be if I didn’t take up on his kind offer?

And then it hit me. He wanted to take me to the mall because he was craving Panda Express, a Chinese fast food chain located in malls and airports. I’d be in the dressing room, shimmying into some fancy jeans and Scott would sneak off, order Sweet and Sour Chicken or Orange Chicken and scoff it down. Ahhh . . . my American husband was craving the Chinese-American classics that I never really cooked at home. Serve over steamed rice.

SERVES 4 AS PART OF MULTICOURSE MEAL

1 egg white

2 teaspoons cornstarch

¹/₂ teaspoon salt, divided

1 lb (500 g) boneless and skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1-in (2.5-cm) chunks

One 10-oz (300-g) can pineapple chunks (reserve the juice)

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (see Jaden’s Ginger Tips, page 33)

¹/₄ cup (65 ml) white vinegar

¹/₄ cup (65 ml) ketchup

2 to 3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil, divided

1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-in (2.5-cm) chunks

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1-in (2.5-cm) chunks

1 In a bowl, whisk together the egg white, cornstarch and ¹/₄ teaspoon of the salt. Add the chicken pieces and stir to coat evenly. Let sit for 15 minutes at room temperature or up to overnight in the refrigerator.

2 In the meantime, whisk together 1 /₄ cup (65 ml) the reserved pineapple juice, ginger, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar and the remaining ¹/₄ teaspoon of salt.

3 Set a wok or large sauté pan over high heat. When a bead of water instantly sizzles and evaporates, pour in 1 tablespoon of the oil and swirl to coat. Add the red and yellow bell peppers and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the wok onto a plate. Wipe the wok or pan dry.

4 Return the wok to the stove on high heat. When a bead of water instantly sizzles and evaporates, pour in the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and swirl to coat. Add the chicken, spreading it out in one layer. Let the chicken fry, untouched for 1 minute, until the bottoms are browned. Flip and fry the other side the same for 1 minute. The chicken should still be pinkish in the middle.

5 Add the cooked bell peppers, pineapple chunks and the pineapple juice mixture. Let simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Roasted Eggplant

This is a healthier, lighter version of the Chinese classic. The eggplant is a porous vegetable, and like a sponge, soaks up a lot of oil when fried. Roasting the eggplants first creates a very delicate, silky texture. Find the slender lilac or violet Asian eggplant, as they are sweeter and less bitter than the round, bulbous globe variety. Choose a firm, heavy eggplant with no wrinkles. Make sure that you pierce the eggplant several times to let the steam escape. Failure to do so will result in an exploding eggplant in your oven! (Trust me . . . it’s a pain in the butt to clean!)

Most of the time, you’ll see eggplant sliced on the diagonal, but since we’re roasting it whole, it’s difficult to slice once it’s cooked. I thought I’d have a little fun cutting the eggplant the way I learned in Japan, with a bamboo skewer. You’ll get strands and ribbons of silky eggplant. Lay the eggplant on its side, hold by the cap and insert a bamboo skewer or toothpick just under the cap and slide to the end. Rotate and just keep doing that all around. You can cut off the cap and discard, but my kids loved the way it looked just like this.

SERVES 4 AS PART OF MULTICOURSE MEAL

3 to 4 Asian eggplants, about 5 oz (150 g) each

1 teaspoon sesame oil

6 oz (175 g) ground chicken

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)

1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar (or good quality balsamic vinegar)

1 ¹/₂ tablespoons soy sauce

¹/₂ teaspoon sugar

¹/₄ cup (65 ml) store-bought or homemade Vegetable or Mom’s Chicken Stock (pages 31–32) or water

1 tablespoon high-heat cooking oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 green onion (scallion), thinly sliced on the diagonal

1 Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).

2 With a fork, pierce the eggplant several times all around to let the steam escape. Arrange the eggplants on a sheet pan and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the eggplant. The skin should be wrinkly and you should be able to pierce it very easily with a fork. Remove and let cool on a rack. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, brush the eggplants with the sesame oil. Hold the eggplant by the cap and insert a bamboo skewer or toothpick right under the cap and slide down to create long strands. Cut the cap off and discard if you’d like.

3 Spread the ground chicken out onto a cutting board. Use your cleaver or chef’s knife to rat-tat-tat chop and mince the ground chicken further. Ground chicken has little fat, and mincing will help loosen up and create a lighter texture.

4 In a small bowl, mix together the wine, black vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and stock or water.

5 Set a wok or large sauté pan over high heat. When a bead of water sizzles upon contact and evaporates, add the cooking oil, swirl to coat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 15-30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry until almost cooked through, about 3 minutes. Pour in the rice wine mixture and add the cooked eggplant. Cook for 1 minute. Scatter green onions on top.

FAR LEFT FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Celery is cheap, plentiful and flavors many of my soups; Scott, me, Mom and Dad—celebrating my 8/8/08 birthday in Vegas (yeah, that’s a tiara I’m wearing on my birthday!); Japanese shimeji mushrooms.