Tag: limes

Chicken Fajitas with Cilantro Avocado Sauce

I love, love, Mexican flavors and this recipe is a great example of the food I love to cook and eat. I made this dish this past summer and served it with a nectarine salsa- you can substitute apples or some pineapple for the summer fruit…

2 cups cilantro
3 green onions
½ cup chicken broth
Juice of 2 large limes
1 to 2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt

Transfer all the ingredients into a blender. Blend well until a smooth sauce is formed. Taste for seasonings and keep aside. Take out 3 tablespoons of the sauce and keep aside.

1 pound chicken breast, sliced into strips
1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 orange pepper, sliced

Marinate the chicken in a bowl with half of the cilantro sauce. Marinate the onion and peppers in the other half of the cilantro sauce. Transfer them to a fridge and marinate for 2 to 3 hours. Take out an hour before cooking.

1 medium avocado
¼ cup full fat yogurt
Salt

Add the avocado and yogurt to the blender with the remaining cilantro sauce. Add a bit of water if needed and blend till smooth. Keep aside as a sauce for the fajitas.

3 to 6 tablespoons oil
4 to 6 corn tortillas

Heat a grill pan or regular pan with 2 tablespoons oil. Cook the chicken strips in 2 to 3 batches till golden brown and cooked through. Add more oil and cook the onion and peppers and add them to the cooked chicken.

Heat the corn tortillas and add some of the chicken and pepper mixture. Top with some avocado sauce and serve.

Chicken Breast with Kumquats

Kumquat Chicken

This was a great dish to make. Someone mentioned kumquats a while ago and how the didn’t know what to do with them. Kumquats look like tiny little oranges. They are quite tart if eaten raw but provide a great tangy citrus flavor if cooked correctly. It reminded me of a chicken and kumquat dish I had at Spice Market in NYC. It was a very memorable and delicious meal- I am sure the yummy cocktails helped a lot.

I started thinking of that dish and decided to look it up online. After a lot of visualizing, I came up with this recipe. I first put the dressing together. I was able to get fresh lemongrass at whole foods. The kaffir lime leaves are available at the Asian stores. I bought a big pack and have them stored in the freezer. These two flavors are quite important to this dish.

I coated the chicken with a spice mix and marinated it for a few hours. All together, this dish has a few steps but it is very worth it.
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Pad Thai with Seasoned Tofu

Pad Thai1 I made this dish after reviewing a restaurant Nine Thai in Chatham, NJ. It was a really good restaurant with a friendly staff and great food. I gave it a great review and decided to replicate their pad thai at home.

I have been eating pad thai for years now and love ordering it at restaurants. I have always thought this dish as extremely complicated and hard to make.

Since I had to replicate a dish, I decided to take this one on. After a bit of research, I realized the noodle dish is really not hard to make- it just has a lot of ingredients. Once you have them on hand- it doesn’t take that long. You can control the amount of fat and salt when you make popular take out dishes at home.

In this case, I made it super healthy with tofu, bean sprouts and garlic chives. I had most of the ingredients at home- like tamarind, fish sauce, tamari, etc. I decided not to add any meat but it will be delicious with chicken or shrimp.

If you love eating pad thai in a restaurant, definitely make this homemade version- it is delicious.

10 oz extra firm tofu, cut into thin strips about an inch long
2 teaspoons tamari

Place the tofu strips in a zip lock bag with the tamari and marinate for 2 to 3 hours.

½ pound rice noodles- soaked in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain and keep aside.

Sauce

1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
3 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons palm sugar
2 tablespoons tamari
1 teaspoon chili paste with garlic

Mix the tamarind, fish sauce, palm sugar and chili paste in a small bowl and keep aside,

3 tablespoons extra light olive oil
2 medium shallots, sliced thin
3 green onions, chopped (white parts only- save the green parts for the garnish)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup garlic chives, cut into 1 inch long segments (optional)
2 cups bean sprouts
2 eggs, beaten with 1 teaspoon salt

Garnish

1 cup chopped salted roasted peanuts
½ cup cilantro, chopped
3 green onions, chopped (the green parts only)
One lime cut into wedges

In a large frying pan or a wok like sauce pan heat the olive oil and add the marinated tofu. Saute on high heat for 2 to 3 minutes or till the tofu is golden brown. Add the shallots, white parts of the green onions and garlic. Saute on medium high heat for a minute. Add the garlic chives and sprouts and mix well. Move all the mixture to the side of the pan and make a well in the middle. Drop the eggs and scramble for 30 seconds and then mix with the rest of the mixture. Add the drained noodles and mix well. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tamarind mixture and mix well. Add the peanuts, cilantro and green onions. Mix well and check for seasonings. Squeeze the lime and serve.