The Efx3 Recipe Collection

I found a great blog post on cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com about how to use a whole chicken as the base for a week’s worth of meals.  I’ve tried most of them but this is my favourite by far. The recipe is easy and can be made fully vegetarian or with your meat of choice. Just remember to over-season the chickpea/chicken mixture because when you add the yogurt it’ll dilute any seasoning (and heat!).

Instructions below with my additions in italics.

Cook’s Illustrated’s Chicken Curry in a Hurry

Serves 4

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1/2 to 1 tablespoon curry powder (or to taste; mine is mild so I use about 2 tbsp)
Salt (I omit the salt since the stock has lots of salt in it)
4 garlic cloves, minced (optional, I hate chopping garlic so I skip it)
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
½ cup water (or vegetable/chicken/beef stock)
2 cups shredded of thinly sliced cooked chicken
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen peas (I don’t like peas)
1/4 cup raisins (or raisins)
1/2 cup plain  yogurt
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro (I didn’t bother with this either)

1. BUILD CURRY BASE: Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, curry powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until onion is browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

2. ADD WATER, MEAT, VEGETABLES, AND COOK: Stir in water, meat, chickpeas, peas, and raisins. Cook, stirring frequently, until heated through, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. GARNISH AND SERVE: Off heat, stir in yogurt and cilantro and serve. Over brown rice is a good option. (I’ve also served it over couscous and it’s delicious!)

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Enjoy! I know I do ^_^

A yummy, scrummy, Chinese-inspired chicken stir fry! Made with packet noodles I’m afraid, because that’s all we ever have. If you have fresh or dried noodles instead, adjust the cooking times to suit your ingredients. This recipe normally feeds about 3 people in my house.

Ingredients:
500g diced chicken breast
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 large green pepper, chopped
1/2 large yellow pepper, chopped
2 tsp chinese five spice
1/2 small glass of sweet white wine (I like Liebfraumilch)
2 level tsp lemon juice
3 level tsp soy sauce
4 knobs of butter
1 heaped tbsp plain flour, sieved
2 packets of Amoy straight-to-wok noodles (or whichever noodles you prefer to use)

Preparation time: 5-10 minutes (or 10-12 if you can’t get pre-diced chicken)

Cooking time: roughly 25-30 minutes on a medium heat

Method:
1. Heat about 100ml water in a wok until it’s almost boiling. You can do this on a high heat, and then turn it down before adding your ingredients.
2. Add the chicken and fry it in the water until it’s white all over. If you don’t think you have enough water, add more! Water has no calories and is being used here as both a sauce base and an alternative to cooking oils.
3. Slowly add the five-spice, lemon juice, soy sauce, wine, and half the butter, stirring after each ingredient is added (and until the butter is entirely melted).
4. Leave to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the meat is cooked through, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the onion, garlic and peppers. Cook just enough to retain some crispiness. This also helps to keep a lot of the flavour.
6. Add the rest of the butter, and the flour, to thicken your sauce.
7. A few minutes before you serve, add the straight-to-wok noodles and stir through the sauce until cooked.

Notes:
*Sauce looking a little on the dry/thick/gloopy side? Add more water! To prevent slowing your cooking time, use hot water.
*Teetotal? Try using non-alcoholic wine, or a sweet grape juice. Even just using water instead works, although you might want to use less lemon juice as it may be overpowering without the wine’s sweetness to compliment it.

This is a pretty experimental dish that I threw together one evening, so it’s not 100% up to par yet, but I’ve never had any complaints so far! Please let me know if you try it, and if you can suggest any variations/improvements!