COOKING WITH JAZ: January 2015

Friday 9 January 2015

MEXICAN: CHICKEN TACOS WITH SPICY RICE & BEANS

Hey everyone,

Happy Thursday!

The weekend is almost here and what is more perfect than some homemade chicken tacos for dinner.

They're sooooo good and even easier to make.

If you're like me, Kenyan and living in Kenya, you know that Mexican restaurants are not as common here. I think the only place I've had a taste of Mexican cooking is at the Java coffee house since they serve burritos and fajitas with beans and rice. I almost always order the same meal when I go there. So I figured, why not make the same at home for me and the hubz.

Ingredients:- (Serves 4)
1 Packet 8 soft tacos [I bought them at Nakumatt Ukay]
500gr Beans <approx 3 cups>
3 boneless chicken breasts
3 onions
2 tomatoes
1 red hoho/capsicum
1 green hoho/capsicum
7 cloves garlic
Mixed lettuce
4 avocados
1 chilli pepper
Edam/ Cheddar cheese
Black pepper
Curry powder
Pilau masala
Cayenne pepper
Soy sauce
Royco
2 cups rice
1 lemon

For the Beans:-

I had previously boiled them the day before for about an hour. The tricky thing about beans is that most times they are either too hard or too mashy. To avoid both, monitor them well as they cook and stir regularly.

>Peel and chop 1 onion and 4 cloves garlic and put to cook in a sufuria/ saucepan with a few tablespoons olive oil. <You can also use vegetable oil>

>Wash and and grate two tomatoes and add to sufuria/saucepan.

>Follow by adding 1 tablespoon curry powder and tomato paste. Use a little bit of water so that the paste doesn't stick to the sufuria.

>Add pre-boiled beans and mix well

>Add 5 cups water with one tablespoon royco and leave to cook slowly over a moderate heat.

>Stir occasionally and allow to cook for about 1 1/2 hrs

> When the beans are almost done season with salt, black pepper and some chopped chilli <optional> and cook for another 10 minutes

For the rice:-

>Use double cups water per cup rice. Use a tablespoon olive/vegetable oil. Season with salt, pilau masala and a hint of turmeric powder for color.

For the tacos:-

>Preheat oven to 180 degrees

>Grate some edam/cheddar cheese and put aside

>Peel and chop avocados and mix with 1 chopped onion, a hint of salt and the juice of half a lemon <The lemon helps the avocado not to oxidize and turn black. Refrigerate>

>Peel and chop 1 onion and 3 cloves garlic and put to cook in a sufuria/saucepan.

> Chop chicken breast in small chunks and put aside.

>Wash and chop red and green capsicum/hoho and add to the sufuria/sauce pan to cook.

>Shortly after add the chicken chunks

>Season with salt, black pepper and a dash of soy sauce<approx 4 tablespoons> and leave to cook. <The aim is for the chicken to be juicy but we do not want a stew so no water is needed>

> Once chicken is done, remove from heat. Follow by placing soft tacos on a greased oven tray and start by putting the cooked chicken and top it with grated cheese.

>Put in oven to cook until the cheese is melted for about 3-5 minutes.

> Once they are done, top them with mixed lettuce and guacamole.

When serving, put a portion of rice, beans and the tacos on the side of the rice so that they don't drain the sauce from the beans. Serve when folded <see picture below>

Enjoy :-)

Also I'll have you know:-
-I'm up to 16000+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you all for following and trying out my recipes.

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Have a lovely week :)

Sincerely,

Jaz.

Wednesday 7 January 2015

3 MEALS: ONE KEY INGREDIENT: SPICY SAUSAGES

Hey lovely people,

First of all, I pray your week has started of well.

If you love breakfast as much as I do, you must love spicy sausages. I usually buy the farmers choice brand and have come to use them in many ways in my kitchen.

At first I only made them for breakfast or as a snack until I began to experiment and funny enough, these are now key meals in our home.

Have you ever watched the program "chopped" that comes on the food network? If you haven't seen it, you must! Its addictive and very original. It features 4 chefs [mostly amateur and sometimes professional] competing for a sum of money, by making the entree, main course and dessert. The flipside though is that they are presented with very interesting ingredients on every round. Let me call them "somewhat strange" ingredients. Sometimes they get salty ingredients for dessert and sometimes sweet ones for the entree and main course. Its amazing how "out of the box" the meals are since everyone does the coolest and weirdest things with the same ingredient and that is how they stand out in the end.

So think of this as chopped, instead of the usual sausages and toast for breakfast, you can use these same sausages and make them in a funkier way.

>To start with, have you ever had SCOTCH EGGS
This is one of the easiest ways to incorporate spicy sausages in a different way for breakfast. Check the full recipe on the link below:
http://cookingwithjaz.blogspot.com/2014/03/bachelor-meal-of-week-spicy-scotch-eggs.html

>How about SPICY MEAT BALLS
I absolutely love meatballs and the hubby does too so I make them every now and then. Below is a recipe that works perfectly for me and I absolutely love how the spice in the sausages gives them so much more flavor apart from the beef.
http://cookingwithjaz.blogspot.com/2014/02/spicy-pork-beef-mini-meatloaves-with.html

>Lastly SPICY BAKED PASTA
This is my favorite since I make pasta at home almost twice a week. Gimme spaghetti, gimme maccaroni, gimme tortellinis, but just gimme pasta in any shape or size.
Here is a simple recipe to try out and enjoy.

Ingredient (Serves 3)
5 Spicy sausages
Pasta about 300 grams
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 large Red hoho/ capsicum
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup Cooking cream
1 tablespoon royco
Cheddar/ edam cheese
Oregano
Basil
Olive oil

>Start of by boiling some water for your pasta. Once it has boiled, add the pasta, a hint of salt and oil and leave to cook for 10-12 minutes. Once it is done, drain the pasta in a colander and put aside.

> Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

>In a pan, cook the spicy sausages for about 5 minutes. Once they are halfway done, but hard enough to cut, allow them to rest for a few minutes, then cut them in large chunks.

>Grate the cheese and put aside.

>Peel and chop onions and garlic. Wash and chop the red hoho/capsicum and set aside.

>In a sufuria, put chopped garlic and onions to cook with olive oil. Shortly after, add the red hoho and allow to cook. Follow by adding the tomato paste and spices except the royco. I like allowing the spices to cook at the beginning before adding the protein so as to remove any bitter taste. Use a little bit of water so that the spices and paste don't stick to the bottom of the sufuria. Add the chopped sausages and allow to cook. Follow by adding cooking cream and 1 tablespoon royco in 1/2 cup water and seal with a lid.

>After about 5-7 minutes, when the sausages have picked up all the flavors in the sufuria and the sauce has thickened, add the drained pasta and shredded cheese and mix well for about a minute. Remove from heat and add a bit more cheese and bake for 5 minutes until cheese has melted.

Simple, fast and sooooo good!

<Note: This recipe doesn't work the same with normal sausages since the spicy ones have so much more flavor.>

So there you have it, 3 ways to make nice meals with spicy sausages as the key ingredient.