Tamarind Glazed Chicken

I'm on the hunt for some new cookbooks.  Our big box bookstore closed and since then I've been going through cookbook withdrawal (they did carry a good selection of cookbooks).  I love looking at cookbooks and finding a good ethnic cookbook whose recipes I can tweak a little (sometimes not at all) to fit my Paleo needs.  I've been testing out Indian inspired dishes and have discovered that I really like some of the flavor profiles.  I think my next cookbook purchase will be an Indian cookbook.

I stood in front of my bookshelf the other day and pulled Padma Lakshmi's Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet off the shelf.  I had marked a couple of recipes way back when but never tried any of them.  I found this one which originally called for fish as the protein.  She mentioned that it would be good for chicken and so I went with that.  

Tamarind Glazed Chicken Legs

1 1/2 c. water

1 ounce (about golf ball size) of tamarind pulp

1 small onion, diced

2 T ginger, minced

1-2 t. honey

12-14 chicken legs

1. In a small saucepan bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat and add the tamarind pulp.  Break the pulp up with a fork.  Cover the saucepan and let it set for about 20 minutes.

2. After 20 minutes, mash the tamarind some more.  Use your fingers to knead any clumps.  Pour the mixture through a strainer using a spoon to mash the pulp through as well as any liquid.

3. Place the chicken legs in a baking dish, rub with the fat of your choice and season with salt and pepper if desired. Place in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.

4. In a skillet heat some fat and add the onion.  Saute for about 5 minutes then add the ginger and let cook about 1-2 minutes.

5. Add the strained tamarind gravy to the skillet and cook at a slow simmer, adding the honey after 5 minutes, until the sauce is reduced by half. 

6. When the chicken reaches the 15 minute mark flip the legs over and cook for another 15 minutes.

7.  Pour the tamarind sauce over the chicken legs and cook for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is cook through.

Coconut Carrots

This is a quick carrot dish that allowed me to use up the coconut liquid I'd been saving after skimming the cream out of the cans.  I don't usually cook with butter but I was at my parent's place and they don't have all the pantry items that I do.  So, I put a big pat in the skillet tonight.  If you don't use dairy I suppose you could use coconut oil which is probably what I would use when I'm at home.  I just peeled the carrots and sliced them in half length wise then cut them in half inch diagonal chunks.  I put them in the skillet with the butter and let them cook until they were starting to brown a little then I added about a quarter cup of chicken stock and the coconut liquid (which was reserved from two cans of coconut milk after removing the cream).  I covered it and let it bubble away until the carrots were soft then I removed the lid and let it simmer until the sauce was reduced to a thick caramelized cream.  Quite delicious!!

Hawaiian Meatballs

I just call these Hawaiian meatballs because it's catchy.  I suppose the only thing that makes 'em remotely Hawaiian is the addition of pineapple in the sauce.  But one thing about it, they're pretty tasty.  Slightly sweet from the pineapple with a little kick on your taste buds from the red pepper flakes, plus a little savory or perhaps "umami" from the fish sauce. 

I had two recipes that I didn't quite have the ingredients for and as I was looking at them trying to decide which on to make I thought I would pull a little bit from each.  I'm trying these with ground pork the next time but I had to use chicken and turkey since it's what I had on hand.  One thing I wish I had was a little arrowroot to thicken the sauce some but really it's quite fine without it.  A thicker sauce is simply more visually appealing.

This recipe just sort of came together over the stove so I might tweak it a little the next time.  Perhaps bump up the heat a little or add some more pineapple.  But at any rate this gives you a good jumping off point.

Hawaiian Meatballs

For the meatballs:

2 lbs of ground meat (pork, chicken, turkey, etc)

2T Red Boat fish sauce

2T Coconut Aminos

2t. curry powder

2 green onions, diced

1t. ginger, minced

1t. cilantro, chopped

salt & pepper to taste

For the sauce:

1 can coconut milk

1C chicken broth

1 t. Red Boat fish sauce

1t. Coconut Aminos

1/2 t. curry powder

1 green onion, diced

1/2 T. red pepper flakes (more if you like it hot)

juice from 1/2 lime

juice from 1/2 lemon

2T. crushed pineapple

3T pineapple juice

2t. basil, chopped

1.  Mix all the ingredient for the meatballs in a bowl and then form into meatballs.  Make them whatever size you like.

2.  Put a little fat of your choice in a large skillet and fry up the meatballs.  I like them to be a little crispy on the outside.

3.  Remove from skillet.  Then add the ingredients for the sauce to the skillet. 

4.  Stir and bring to a simmer.  Add the meatballs and simmer in the sauce for 10 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

Pork in Coconut Milk

Back to my 3 ring binder I went in the hopes of finding a recipe for the pork steak I defrosted.  What I found was a recipe that I printed from the NY Times.  It turned out so much better than I hoped and will certainly be a go to recipe for me.  It's super simple and the flavors are great!  I paired it with some sauteed kale and it was out of this world.  Well, that might be a little over the top but it was really good.  Sorry I don't have a picture with the kale on the plate but I added it as an after thought.  I had tried kale a few times before and wasn't that crazy about it.  But it paired up really well with this dish which I hadn't planned on.  It was so yummy that I told my brother-in-law that he should try it.  My sister and her husband (they are still scared by Paleo) ate a plateful and said it was really tasty.  So, I may get them converted at some point.

Pork in Coconut Milk

2T neutral oil, grape seed
2-3 pounds pork shoulder steak, cubed
3-4 T shallots, diced
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
1T minced fresh ginger
2 cans unsweetened coconut milk
1 T. coconut aminos or tamari
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat oil in a dutch oven.  Add the pork and brown, season with the salt and pepper.
2. Once pork is browned, add the shallots, jalapenos and ginger.  Cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the coconut milk and coconut aminos and/or tamari.  Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Serve with kale.

Sauteed Kale
1-2 bunches of kale, chopped
1/2 small onion, diced
2-3 pieces of bacon, chopped
1-2 T water

1. Cook the bacon bits in a large skillet until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy.
2. Add the onion and cook until it begins to get soft.
3. Toss in the kale and the water and cover the skillet.  Cook for about 3-4 minutes.

I shall think on you no more

One thing I like more than eating and cooking is watching movies.  There's something magical about a movie theater when the lights dim and trailers start playing.  Then the movie starts and you're transported somewhere else for two hours and the troubles for the day are long forgotten.  The cinematography, the soundtrack, the script...all of it, I love it all.  Lines from movies sneak in to my conversations and the best part in when someone recognizes it but too often  they don't. 

The other day I was explaining to someone the tenets of Paleo.  An incredulous response was returned and they stewed around on the thought of no grains.  That always gets people especially when they start thinking of all the stuff they make/buy with grains.  I just chuckle and confirm that it's all out.   I replied "I shall think on it no more" and then giggled to myself.  You see, that a line from a favorite movie on mine.  You guessed it, Rob Roy.  The original line is "you" instead of "it" but hey, I was referring to grains and not a person.  Don't you think Liam Neeson makes a more handsome highlander than Mel Gibson?  I have no qualms in admitting that I like Rob Roy much more than Braveheart.  Sorry, that's just the way it is.

Anyway, back to grains and Paleo.  I've been rather fortunate since switching over this time and haven't had any major cravings.  I think it's because I went cold turkey.  Now, that's not to say that I haven't spent thirty minutes thinking and drooling about Kuntz's Drive-In's steak strips or slightly gooey chocolate chip cookies.  I have.  One night I spent some time masterminding an ingenious plan of driving the two hours to Kuntz's without my family finding out.  I should tell you that it's probably been ten years since I had a steak strip from Kuntz's so why I spent all this time hatching a plan to sneak out there is beyond me.  The other time I obsessed over a food was when one of the docs brought chocolate chip cookies to work and left the huge container in the break room...unguarded.  I meandered to the break room to look at the Superbowl potluck and I spied the container on the third table.  My eyes locked on and I slowly made my way down the line, taking fleeting glances at the crock pots as I passed.  At some point I reached down and grabbed a carrot stick and approached the cookies.  I slowly walked passed them and, while crunching on that carrot stick, resisted the urge to take the lid off for a better view.  To remove that lid was pure danger and I knew it.  I made my way back to my desk and spent the next half hour thinking about the texture of those cookies in my mouth.  I snapped out of it when I had a vision of myself as Cookie Monster.   

I usually realize after a few minutes of obsessing over some pre-Paleo food that I'm doing nothing but undermining myself.  I make myself stop and one of the ways I do it is to think of that line from Rob Roy.  "I will think on you dead until my husband makes you so.  And then I will think on you no more."  Yeah, a little dramatic.  Plus, I'm not married.  And you can't really kill grains with a broadsword and I change the line a little bit but it's what I think of and it gets me through.  That and I think of how crappy I felt before.  Just do what you've got to do to get past the moment and think on it no more.  Just don't give in to temptation.

If you've hung with me this long I think you deserve a recipe.  What do you think?  Well, yesterday while hunting and gathering recipes I came across one that I was eager to try.  When you read the recipe it sounds like a lot of time for burger but it really does not not take that long.  The longest step was making the sweet and sour aioli sauce.  If you don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen, I suggest making the sauce ahead of time and storing in the fridge then make the burgers the next day.

Fire-Roasted Tomato Burgers with Aioli Sauce

Recipe by Scott Pampuch for the 2010 Muir Glen Tomato Vine Dining Tour
Makes 6 burgers

Sweet & Sour Sauce
1/4 c. juice reserved from canned tomatoes (below)
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar

Aioli Sauce
1 pasteurized egg yolk
2 Tbsp. grated lemon peel
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 clove garlic
3/4 c. vegetable oil
Sweet & Sour Sauce (above)
1 Tbsp. reserved tomatoes (below)

Burgers
1 lb. lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 can (14.5 oz) Muir Glen Organic or Meridian Ruby Fire Roasted diced tomatoes, drained, 1/4 c. juice reserved, 1 Tbsp. tomatoes reserved
4 oz. bacon, crisply cooked and chopped
1 egg
1/4 c. chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1.  In 1-quart saucepan, mix sweet & sour sauce ingredients. Simmer over medium eat about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce coats back of spoon. Cool to room temperature.

2.  In food processor, place egg yolk, lemon peel, lemon juice, and garlic. Cover; process until blended. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle oil, and then cooled sweet & sour sauce through feeder tube until blended. Pour into small bowl and stir in reserved 1 Tbsp. canned tomatoes; refrigerate.

3.  In large bowl, mix ingredients for burgers; form into 6 patties. Heat gas or charcoal grill. Place patties on grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook 8-10 minutes on each side or until meat thermometer inserted in center of patties reads 160 degrees F.  Remove and top with aioli sauce.

NOTES:  This was served on buns which I left out but the rest of the recipe is as printed.  It turned out really good but I think the next time I will reduce the amount of tomatoes in the beef or just increase the beef.  It seemed rather sweet to me but my sister thought it was fine.  I don't know if it's because I don't consume sugary sweets anymore and that's why it was sweet to me.  I would probably cut the honey back some the next time I make it.

The sauce makes way more than you need but that's a good thing because I kept thinking of other meats and seafood to serve it with.  I actually think that the sauce isn't something I would normally serve with beef but it was tasty.  My sister was having grilled shrimp for her dinner and she used the some of the sauce for her shrimp and absolutely loved it!!  Tomorrow we are getting swordfish, tuna or salmon steaks for supper so we can have the sauce with them.  We both agreed that it would also make a great sauce for pork.  Oh, I forgot to mention that I forgot to add the tablespoon of tomatoes to the sauce but I don't think it matters.