Firecracker Chicken

Tags

Baked Foods, Chicken Recipes, Chinese

Firecracker Chicken is crispy chicken tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce. The dish is done in two steps, first browned until the chicken is crisp in a pan stove top and next the cooked chicken is tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce and baked to perfection.

This dish an be served as an appetizer or as a side dish with plain rice or fried rice. I like using chicken thighs for the dish because of the texture but chicken breast works fine.

Preparation Time : 10 minutes

Cook Time : 15 minutes

Bake Time : 20 minutes

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

Skinless boneless chicken : 500 grams (cut into chunks)

Salt and pepper to taste

Corn flour/starch : 2 1/2 tablespoons

Eggs : 2 beaten

Scallions : To garnish

For the sauce:

Hot sauce : 1/3 cup

Red chilli flakes : 1 tablespoon

Rice Vinegar : 1 tablespoon

Brown Sugar : 2 tablespoons

Instructions:

Take the chicken chunks in a bowl, add salt, pepper, corn flour/starch and mix well to coat.

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13×9 tray  or cookie sheet with aluminium foil and keep aside.

In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients listed under for the sauce and keep aside.

On High flame, heat oil in a wide pan. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg and put them in the pan in a single layer. It will take 2 batches to cook all the chicken. Cook the chicken pieces 3-4 minutes per side until the chicken is light brown and crisp.

Once the chicken is done, add the chicken pieces to the baking pan, pour the sauce and coat well. Make sure the chicken is in single layer.

Bake the chicken for 20 minutes. Turn off the oven, garnish the chicken with scallions and serve hot with plain rice or fried rice.

Breadsticks

Tags

Baked Foods, breads

Kids love Olive garden breadsticks as they are soft, fluffy and chewy with buttery topping. Making these breadsticks at home is really easy. They are so delicious, they are gone in no time.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Resting Time : 2 1/2 hours

Bake Time : 12 minutes

Makes : 12

Ingredients:

Active dry yeast : 1 1/4 teaspoon

Warm water : 1 cup + 2 tablespoons

Sugar : 2 tablespoons

All purpose flour : 3 1/2 cups

Salt : 1 1/2 teaspoons

Oil : 3 tablespoons

Topping:

Butter : 2 tablespoons

Salt : 1/4 teaspoon

Garlic powder : 1/4 teaspoon

Instructions:

In a bowl, add yeast, sugar and 1/2 cup warm water. Stir and cover. Let it rest for 10 minutes to activate.

In a large bowl, add all purpose flour, salt, yeast mixture, rest of the water, oil and knead well for 7-9 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Transfer the dough to a greased bowl, cover with wet cloth or cling wrap and let it rest for 1 1/2 hours or until the dough is double it’s size.

Gently punch the dough down, divide into 12 equals portions. Make each portion into a 9 inch rope on a lightly floored surface and place them on a greased and dusted cookie sheet.

Cover with wet cloth or cling wrap and let it rest for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F during the last 15 minutes of second proofing.

Place the cookie sheets into the oven and bake for 12 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

In the meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix all the ingredients listed under topping.

Take the breadsticks out, gently brush the topping and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

I served the breadsticks with olive oil dip made with extra virgin olive, fresh ground pepper and salt. They taste delicious with Marinara sauce.

 

 

Spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie)

Tags

Baked Foods, Blogging Marathon, Greek dishes, side dishes

Spanakopita is a famous Greek Pie. It’s flaky on the top with a delicious spinach, feta cheese filling. Pastry sheet gives a nice crispness to the dish. This can be served as a side dish with meat or a main dish with some salad.

I called a friend when I chose to do Greek dishes as she always made her family Greek dishes for potlucks. She shared me this delicious recipe.

Simply replace egg with flax meal to make this a vegetarian dish. (1 tablespoon flax meal and 3tablespoons water for each egg)

Sending this recipe to our BM #109, week 3 day 2 under Countries by Alphabet where I’m doing Greek dishes.

Preparation Time: 2o minutes

Cook Time : 1 hour

Makes : 6 pieces

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

Puff Pastry sheet : 1 package thawed

Extra virgin Olive oil : 1/2 cup

For Filling:

Baby Spinach : 2 cups

Parsley : 1 cup finely chopped

Onion : 1 large finely chopped

Garlic : 2 cloves minced

Extra virgin olive oil : 1 tablespoon

Eggs : 3

Feta Cheese: 1 1/4 cups crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, add all the ingredients listed under for filling and mix well to combine.

Unroll the pastry sheet, roll it a little. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and place the pastry sheet in the pan, apply olive oil generously, evenly spread the filling over the sheet. fold rest of the sheet and cover the filling.

Gently press the sheet to close the edges. Bake for 1 hour or until the crust is golden. Let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting.

Serve immediately. The left overs can be refrigerated for 2-3 days.

 

 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM#109

Paneer Tikka

Tags

paneer, side dishes, Starters

Paneer Tikka is a famous veg appetizer. Paneer and veggies are marinated, put on skewers and grilled in a tandoor (a traditional clay oven). Here we are going to make the tikka stove top. It can be made in the convection oven too.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time : 15 minutes

Serves : 3-4

Ingredients :

Paneer : 2 cups cubed

Onion : 1 large cut in 1 inch cubes

Peppers (Green, red and yellow): 2 cups cut into 1 inch cubes

For Marinade:

Peanut oil : 2 tablespoons

Ginger garlic paste : 2 teaspoons

Yogurt : 1/2 cup

Red chilli powder : 2 teaspoons

Coriander powder : 1 tablespoon

Amchur/dry mango powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Garam Masala : 1/2 teaspoon

Kasuri methi : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Method:

Add all ingredients listed under for marinade and mix well.

Add paneer, onion, peppers and toss well to coat. Let it sit for 15-30 minutes.

Heat oil in a pan, spread the paneer and veggies single layer and cook for 3 minutes each side until completely cooked.

You can put the marinated pieces on skewers and cook on all sides too.

Squeeze some lemon juice and serve immediately.