Mexican-inspired peanut chicken and potatoes

I came across this recipe in my go-to Mexican cookbook. But, as usual, I didn't have all the ingredients so I adapted it to suit my pantry. It didn't require a lot of altering, and it was still damn delicious, so I thought I would post the recipe, with my alterations, so you can see how you go. 


Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
4 potatoes, sliced 
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup peanuts OR 1/4 cup peanut butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
2.5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper, to season
rice with or without veges to serve

(The recipe also called for 2 boiled eggs, sliced to serve, as well as 2 pork loins chopped into chunks, cooked the same as the chicken, and added the same time as the chicken. On this thinking, you could also have this as a pork-based dish, or have both the chicken and pork in there together.)

Brown the chicken in a heavy-based frypan. Once cooked through, set aside in a bowl. (if using pork as well, do the same)
cook the onions in the same frypan for about five minutes. 
add the potatoes, stirring for about two minutes.
add the paprika, garlic and cumin, stir and mix through for about a minute. 
add the stock and peanuts or peanut butter
stir it all through well. bring to the boil and let it gently simmer for about 10 minutes. 
Add the chicken and/or pork - allow to simmer for another five to ten minutes. 
whille that's all happening, cook your rice. 
I added some steamed finely diced carrot, capsicum and spring onion to my rice - but I think anything like that would work - beans, peas, brocolli, caulifower, asparagus etc - nothing too overpowering. 
Spoon the rice into your bowls and then spoon the delicious chicken mixture and sauce over the top. 
I topped mine with a freshly chopped chilli just to give it a bit of a kick

Rice paper rolls

It only takes the slightest warm change in the weather for me to start craving rice paper rolls again.

When I make these bad boys, they’re not those dainty little wraps you see in Vietnamese restaurants. I make some absolute whoppers, like, a fatter Chiko roll.  There’s no reasoning behind this, I just get carried away with trying to add as much salad and deliciousness as I can, and then the battle to wrap it successfully begins.

In short though, they’re amazing. When I know they’re on the dinner menu, I get excited all afternoon.

I have popped on two different meat marinades: I interchange them for the meat – pork, chicken or beef. But a simple boiled prawn would also be amazing, as would a simple grilling of the meat with no marinade at all.

Ingredients:

Marinade # 1 – Stickier BBQ flavour

2 garlic cloves, crushed,

1 teaspoon crushed ginger

½ teaspoon crushed chilli (optional)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon BBQ sauce

Marinade # 2 – herbier, lighter

10 basil leaves

3 mint leaves

2 garlic cloves, crushed

½ teaspoon crushed chilli (optional)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Ingredients for the rolls

1 carrot, sliced julienne

1 red capsicum, sliced thinly

Quarter head of lettuce, sliced

Half cucumber, sliced julienne

Large bunch fresh mint leaves

50 grams rice vermicelli noodles, cooked, drained and cooled

Pack of fresh rice paper rolls, ready to be soaked in water

 Hoisin sauce, to serve

Unfortunately (for you guys) I have no method that is easy to describe. I visualise it like a cigar – picture a rectangle in one-third of the circular wrapper that you place all the ingredients onto. And then it’s a matter of folding the short end over it long-ways, then folding the sides over, and then rolling it all the way over.

There is a number of online tutorials, I quite like this one.

This is what my table looks like just before we chow down - salads, mint, chicken, noodles, rice paper wrappers and a tray with warm water to soften the wrappers. 

Mexican chicken pies

This was something of a one-pot wonder for when I couldn’t decide if I wanted a casserole, something spicy or something all vegetabled up! So I created this based on a Mexican recipe for burritos with chicken and rice.

This made quite a lot – enough for dinner for probably six or more, mainly due to the amount of rice I inadvertently cooked. 

Ingredients 

2 chicken breasts diced

3 garlic cloves, crushed/finely chopped

1 onion, diced

2 carrot, diced

½ zucchini diced

1 capsicum, diced

10 or so mushrooms, diced

2 chillies, chopped or equivalent in dried chili

½ teaspoon ground/minced ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground cloves

3 teaspoons dried oregano

1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste

2 tins diced tomato

2 cups rice, cooked

4 sheets pre-packaged pastry

Method

Heat frypan, add in garlic and onion.

After a couple of minutes, add in chicken.

When the chicken is sealed, add in the spices, vegetables and stir occasionally for a couple of minutes.

Add in the tomato paste and tinned tomatoes, and about 1 cup of water

Preheat oven to about 190C.

Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes until the flavours are developed.

Turn off the heat, add in the rice.

 Prepare the tins  (I made a couple of small party-pie tin sized ones, and one big pie)

Cook for about 20 minutes, until pastry is cooked and brown.

Mini quiches

Mini quiches

Delicious lunches, snacks and finger foods - and they can be reasonably healthy too. 

My favourite thing about quiche is that just about any kind of leftover or vege can be whacked in there, add some egg and it tastes great. 

Tonight's was all about vegetables. And it's now my pre-made lunch for the week hurrah!

1 sheet shortcrust pastry
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 capsicum, diced
6 mushrooms, diced
1/4 zucchini, diced
1 tomato, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
basil, cracked pepper

 3 eggs and 1/4 cup milk whisked together
1/4 cup grated cheese

just about any vegetable, ham, salami, chicken, frozen peas or corn could be added in here

I made this in mini pie tins so that I can could make, but it could easily be made in mini-muffin trays or something similar depending on how big you want them. Also works in a big quiche tray. 

Pre-cook all the veges until they are just softened. 
Grease the muffin trays and lay the cut pastry over the tray holes. 
Divide up the vege mixture between the muffin holes, then pour over a little of the egg mixtures (keeping in mind it will expand when it's cooked). 
Sprinkle a little of the cheese on top, cook in the oven for about 20 minutes depending on how big theyare.

Chicken satay stirfry

I made this for dinner for two, but it made enough for lunch the next day as well. Use whatever veges you like in a stirfry, pretty much anything goes

2-3 chicken thighs

2 cups of vegetables, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons natural peanut butter

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

¼ cup chicken stock

1 tablespoon chili sauce or sweet chili sauce

-        --  Mix the soy, stock, sauce and peanut butter is a bowl.

Noodles or rice to serve with

Method:

Brown off the chicken in a wok. Set it aside. Cook the noodles/rice and set aside.

Fry off the garlic, and half-cook the veges in the wok with a little water if needed.

Chuck in the sauce mixture and chicken. If you want your noodles saucy, put them in there too, otherwise divide the noodles up between the serving bowls and spoon the satay mixture over them.

Spicy (or not so spicy!) Mexican vegetarian casserole

Once a week, the boy goes to tafe, so I am left to cook for one. While most weeks, I revel in eating eggs on toast as a crazy nothing-dinner, this wee I decided to attempt an old favourite – the one-pot wonder.

This is one of those great things where you can just chuck everything in a pot, whack it in the oven and enjoy it later.

I chose the vegies we had already, but you could add just about anything to this and it would work. 

In a big casserole dish I put:

1 onion, diced

1 red capsicum, cut into chunks

Half a big sweet potato, cut into chunks

2 carrots, cut into chunks

1 red chilli, diced

1 can Mexican beans

1 can tinned diced tomatoes

1 cup chicken stock

Dried or fresh herbs – basil, parsley, oregano, cumin

Pepper

Chuck it in the oven for about an hour. Depending on how big the chunks are, it might take longer.

I served mine with brown rice, and gave the boy a side serve of it with brown rice and sausages.