Tag Archives: Chicken

White Chili With Chicken

This white chili with chicken recipe is packed with flavor but has no heat so it is great for those who don’t like spicy foods. In fact, I came up with this recipe after a friend of mine asked me for a chili recipe that her kids would like. This one has plenty of flavor without the kick. And, it cooks up pretty quickly – 30 minutes, plus time for chopping, making it an easy weeknight family meal. It also freezes quite well making it perfect for a make-ahead dinner plan.

No tomatoes or tomato sauce are included in white chili, hence the color… or lack thereof. This recipe calls for ground chicken thighs, which provide enough fat to keep the meat flavorful and moist. Poblano peppers and Anaheim peppers add a nice touch of flavor without being spicy. Cumin and chili powder provide the main chili flavorings without the heat.

To make the chili, add peppers, onion and garlic to a pot with the EVOO and sauté for four minutes. Add ground chicken stir to mix all ingredients through and break up the chicken so it is in small pieces rather than chunks. Cook for four minutes.

White beans are used instead of the traditional red kidney beans, and a cup of corn helps round out the heartiness of the chili. Low sodium chicken stock serves as the liquid and masa harina is used at the end for thickening. The chili cooks in just 30 minutes in total.

Grated Monterey Jack cheese works as a nice complement, yet, the chili is flavorful enough that it doesn’t need really need it.

White Chili With Chicken

Ingredients:

2 lb ground chicken thighs

2 large poblano peppers – (about ¾ lb in weight)11oz

4 Anaheim peppers – 11oz

3 garlic cloves

1 onion

3 tbls EVOO

1.5 cups frozen corn, defrosted

1 15 oz can white beans, such as Northern

4 cups chicken stock, low sodium

2 teaspoons cumin

2.5 teaspoons chili powder

2.5 teaspoons kosher salt

Juice of 2 limes

2 tablespoons masa harina

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Shredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

Remove stems and seeds from peppers and dice. Dice onion and mince garlic. Add peppers, onion and garlic to pot with the EVOO and sauté for four minutes. Add ground chicken and cook for four minutes, with constant mixing to help break up the chicken. Then add the stock, beans, corn, chili powder, cumin, salt, and lime juice. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook 25 minutes. Mix the masa with 1/2 cup cooking liquid and mix through until masa is absorbed and add back to pot along with cilantro and mix through. Simmer, covered for five minutes. Serve with grated Monterey Jack cheese, optional.

Makes 6-8 servings

Pumpkin Curry With Chicken

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Pumpkin curry is one of my favorite Thai dishes. Typically it is made with canned pumpkin and full-fat coconut milk, however this recipe uses light coconut milk, which has about one-third of the calories and fat than regular coconut milk. The curry is not as rich as it would be using regular coconut milk, but this dish is very flavorful and healthier. Fresh pumpkin is also used, since it is autumn and pumpkins are in season and this makes for a great warm dish for the cooling autumn evenings. I find this dish filling on its own though you can serve it with rice as it is done in Thai restaurants.

I used Kabocha squash also known as Japanese pumpkin for this recipe. Kabocha pumpkins are green on the outside and typically weigh about 3 pounds. They are popular for their strong yet sweet flavor and moist, fluffy texture. You can easily substitute the orange pumpkin varieties that you find around Halloween. This curry recipe calls for 4 cups of pumpkin, skinned and cut into about 1 inch pieces. I used about 2/3 of the 3.5 Kabocha squash.

The first step in making this curry is to sauté the chicken for a couple of minutes – about one minute on each side. The chicken will be only partially cooked, as it will finish cooking in the curry sauce. I do this as it keeps the chicken tender. One pound of chicken tenders are cut into pieces, about 1/3 each. You can buy whole boneless and skinless chicken breasts and cut them into pieces, if you prefer, but the tenders are pre-cut which makes it quick and easy.

After you remove the chicken from the pot, you’re now ready to make the curry. To the pot with the reserved oil, add the garlic and ginger and sauté for one minute, then add the light coconut milk, Thai red curry paste, turmeric, lemongrass, sugar, Kaffir lime leaves and the fish sauce (use a light colored fish sauce as it is better quality) and bring to a simmer.

Then add chicken stock and mix through. Add the pumpkin and chicken and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 4 minutes so the flavors mesh and the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the lemongrass pieces and Kaffir lime leaves from the pot and add the vegetables. This recipe calls for mushrooms, Bok Choy and red bell peppers, but you can use any vegetables you want. Cover the pot and simmer for 4 more minutes until the vegetables are cooked through. Add the juice of the lime and mix through. Serve with chopped cilantro to garnish, and rice if you want a more filling meal.

Pumpkin Curry With Chicken

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken tenders – cut tender into thirds

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 cups Kabocha squash or orange pumpkin, skin removed and cut into 1 inch pieces (3.5 lbs about 2/3 of)

1/2 tablespoon grated ginger

2 garlic cloves, grated

1 13.5 oz. can lite coconut milk

2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste

3 tablespoons of good quality fish sauce (such as Nam Pla or other light colored fish sauce)

1 tablespoons brown sugar

2 lemongrass stalks cut into 2 inch pieces

3 Kaffir lime leaves

½ teaspoon turmeric

¾ cup of chicken broth (I use low sodium)

8 oz. of white or crimini mushrooms cut in half or quarters, depending on size

1 bunch of Bok Choy (about 1/2 lb) cut into one-inch pieces

1 red bell pepper, cut into one-inch pieces

Juice of one lime

4 tablespoons chopped cilantro to garnish

Serves 4

Heat oil in a pot on medium-high flame until hot. Add chicken and fry for 1 minute on each side and remove from pan. To the pot, add garlic and ginger and sauté for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, Thai curry paste, turmeric, lemongrass, sugar, lime leaves and fish sauce to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the chicken stock and mix through. Add the squash to the pot along with the chicken and simmer covered for 4 minutes. Then remove lemongrass and lime leaves and add the mushrooms, Bok Choy and red pepper and cover simmer for 4 more minutes. Add the juice of the lime and mix through. Serve with chopped cilantro to garnish and rice if you want.

Judy’s Chicken – Chicken with Mushrooms and Lemon

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My mother was a very good cook. It was her love for cooking and food that helped shape my cooking skills and love for food. Her way of teaching me to cook was for me to sit with her in the kitchen and watch. And then the next time she made the dish, she would let me get involved in one or two of the steps: mixing, adding seasoning or slicing, etc. If I kept her company often enough, I was pretty much involved in making all aspects of the dish… Just not at once.

There is a chicken dish that she made pretty often and for holidays. It was her signature dish. She was a different kind of cook than I am, as she often used pre-mixed packets, mixes and bottled sauces and mixed them in with her own blend of dry and wet ingredients. For her signature chicken dish, she would mix in a brown mushroom gravy packet with her lemon juice, white wine and mushroom sauté. Except when she made the dish for Passover, because then, the flour in the packet was “off limits” for holiday. And it was this version that I loved more than her original because it had more of a lemony flavor. And it’s the version I make today.

This dish calls for breading and pan fry thinly sliced chicken cutlets. I slice a half chicken breast into 3-4 pieces length-wise. You can use breadcrumbs or the less glutinous Einkorn Flour, which works quite well, or if you are making it during Passover, matzo meal. The matzo meal actually gives the chicken a nice thicker coating than the breadcrumbs which holds up really well in this dish.

The chicken gets cooked twice in this recipe. First, pan-fried, then baked with the mushroom sauté and some chicken stock. For the pan-fry alt and pepper the chicken then dip it into an egg wash and then into seasoned matzo meal, breadcrumbs or Einkorn Flour. When all the chicken has been coated, heat the oil in a pan on the stovetop and pan fry for 3 minutes on each side, until the coating is a bit browned. I use about 3/4 cup of olive oil for 3 lbs of chicken, adding a little at a time so that the chicken doesn’t absorb more oil than necessary. When the chicken is a bit browned on each side, transfer to a baking dish and repeat with the remaining chicken.

To make the mushroom sauté, add to the same pan that was used to pan fry the chicken, the remaining oil, sliced shallots, garlic, and sauté for a minute, Then add the mushrooms and parsley. I use a mix of white, portobello and shitake mushrooms, but you can use any mixture that you like. Add the salt and pepper and sauté until the mushrooms are soft. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, then add the lemon juice and zest. Cook for about 5 minutes until the liquids blend. Pour mushroom sauce over the chicken, and then add the stock. Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 375° for 50 minutes.

If you are making this dish ahead, pan fry the chicken and store in a separate container. Then make the mushroom sauté and store that in a separate container. When you’re ready to bake, add the chicken to the ovenproof dish, then top with the mushrooms mixture and add the stock. Cover the dish and bake.

Judy’s Chicken – Chicken with Mushrooms and Lemon

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

3lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

1.5 cups matzo meal

¼ cup parsley

2 eggs plus 1/2 cup water

Salt and pepper

1 cup vegetable or olive oil

For the mushroom sauté:

¾ lb mushrooms – you can use any kind. I use a mix of white, shiitake and portobello

½ lb shallots, thinly sliced

¾ cup chopped parsley

3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

¾ cup lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

½ cup white wine

To bake:

1 ¼ cup chicken stock

Slice the chicken breasts thinly so that you get 3-4 pieces per half breast. Salt and pepper the chicken. Add 2 eggs plus ½ cup water to a dish and mix through. Add matzo meal and ¼ cup parsley to another dish and mix through. Dip chicken into egg wash then coat with matzo meal. Set on a plate. When you have finished coating all pieces of chicken, heat a sauté plan with ¼ cup of oil and pan fry the chicken in batches, about 3 minutes on each side, until they start to brown slightly. You will need to add the remaining oil in batches – ¼ cup at a time – as you cook the rest of the chicken. Put pan-fried chicken in an ovenproof pan.

When all the chicken has been pan-fried, add remaining oil to (you will have about ½ cup. Add garlic and shallots 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and remaining 3/4 cup parsley and sauté 1 minute. Then add mushrooms and sauté until soft – this will take a few minutes. When mushrooms are cooked through, add 1/2 cup white wine and deglaze pan, then add the lemon juice and zest. Cook for about 5 minutes until the liquids blend. Pour mushroom sauté over the chicken, and then add the stock. Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 375° for 50 minutes.

Serves 8-10

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Tag Archives: Chicken

White Chili With Chicken

Pumpkin Curry With Chicken

Judy’s Chicken – Chicken with Mushrooms and Lemon