Fongolicious

beans

Crumbed Green Beans with Toasted Almond Silvers

December 15, 2020

0 Comments

breakfast

Savoury pancakes - herbs and cheese

November 13, 2020

0 Comments

Cajun

Mexican-style Pulled Chicken with Beans and Rice

November 04, 2020

Don't you love good accidents? When you "wing-it" and it just turns out. This dish was one of those..."lets try it" and yep we're doing it again.

This was originally just a slow cook chicken dish with kidney beans. Then we added rice and then presto - a new dish was born.

Really hard to go wrong with this. The flavours are largely Mexican and Cajun influenced and the rice style is akin to Spain's paella. Whatever you want to call it, it's delicious!

Ingredients

3 to 4 chicken thigh fillets
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (optional)
1 to 2 tablespoon smokey paprika
Olive oil for coating pan
1 large onion, diced
1 medium capsicum, cubed
~3 to 5 coriander roots, finely chopped
~1 teaspoon cumin powder
~1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 x 400g canned crushed tomatoes
1 x 400g canned red kidney beans
1 dash garlic powder (finely minced 1 clove if you're using fresh)
~1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
~1/2 teaspoon dried basil
~1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
~1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
~1 teaspoon dried coriander leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup basmati rice
~1 to 2 Tablespoon liquid smoke

~ see notes

Method

Season chicken fillets with your favourite spice mix. Our household favourite being the Masterfood's Cajun Spice Mix. Sprinkle over with turmeric powder, smokey paprika.
Prepare other ingredients - capsicum, onion, coriander roots.
In pan over medium to high heat, add olive oil to coat pan. Saute onions until translucent. Add coriander root and capsicum and saute for a couple of minutes then move to the contents to the side of the pan or remove from pan and set aside.
Add a dash of oil the cleared area of pan, then add chicken fillets, flavoured side down. Sprinkle with cumin and ground coriander over the chicken. Brown off.
Add canned tomatoes then turn heat down to low. Add kidney beans and dash of garlic powder. Add tarragon, basil, marjoram, coriander (fresh or dried), oregano and bay leaves. Add approximately a cup of chicken stock (we used powdered chicken stock and water in the empty tomato can to rise the can out. Stir, cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Check and stir every 15 minutes or so.
While simmering, wash rice.
Remove chicken from pan and rest on plate for about 10 minutes. Add rice to pan. Stir and cover for approximately 15 minutes or until rice is cooked. You may need to add more water if it's starting to catch at the bottom of the pan.
While rice is cooking and chicken has rested, shred/pull chicken using a couple of forks. Add liquid smoke over shredded chicken.
When rice is cooked, stir-in shredded chicken and remove bay leaves.
Serve with some grated tasty cheese, a dollop of sour cream, fresh coriander leaves and your favour hot sauce. Alternative, wrap it in a warm cheese tortilla.

Notes

These are approximate values. Add more if you want more, don't add or add less if you don't like.

0 Comments

asian

Filipino Bihon Noodles

October 26, 2020

During my university years, parties were never really a party without our friend's mum making Filipino Bihon noodles and lumpia spring rolls (recipe). To me it was just staple comfort food that simply gives you a hug and makes you feel loved. For so long I've asked for the recipe or to be shown how to cook this but it never really happened. Fortunately, I recently stumbled upon Pickled Plum's blog and found this recipe. Also known as Bihon Pancit or in my household - bahoon noodles (don't ask why - weird names just happen).

It's pretty easy and can easily be made vegan/vegetarian. Below is my adapted version.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
~250g boneless, skinless chicken breast/thigh (sliced into bite size pieces) - for vegans/vegetarians use firm tofu or omit entirely
1 small onion (finely chopped)
~400g pack bihon noodles, or thin vermicelli or rice noodles
Chopped up vegetables such as carrots, cabbage and green beans, scallions (chopped bite size slivers - see picture)
salt and pepper to taste

Pancit Sauce:

2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce (I use the vegetarian version)
1 teaspoon sugar
Light shake of garlic powder

Method

In a wok or a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and heat. Add onion and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the cooked chicken and season with a little salt and pepper.
Stir in the veges (in order of time required for it to cook) and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until a little tender.
In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients for the pancit sauce - mix then add to pan and bring to a boil.
Add noodles and stir until all the noodles are coated with the sauce. Keep on stirring and cooking until the noodles are tender (3-4 minutes). Initially it might seem a bit futile but persist, use the sauce to soften the noodles and continue to stir.
Add more stock (or water) if the dish is dry before the noodles are tender.
Season with salt and pepper and more soy sauce if necessary. Serve immediately with fresh coriander, sesame seeds, fried onions (all the favourite toppings).

0 Comments

asian

Thai chilli basil noodles - Pad Kee Mao

October 26, 2020

Accidentally vegan, I made this stir-fry with rice noodles to just use up the leftover veges and expiring tofu in the fridge.

You can use other veges, obviously. Simply add it in order based on the time required to cook it.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
~150g firm tofu, diced in like inch logs
Broccoli, separated the stalks from the florets
Carrots (I diagonally sliced the cross-section of a carrot then maybe like half or third the cross section to make little flat match-sticks)
Celery (around 2-3 sticks, diagonally sliced so they're similar shape and size to the carrots)
Choy sum, I used half a bundle (Separate stalks from leaves. Stalks I chopped in half so they're a bit smaller. Maybe halved the bigger leaves.)
Mushrooms, sliced - i used around 4 med size ones.
Fresh coriander - not essential but I have heaps at the moment. Separated the root, stalks and leaves. Root I finally chopped. Stalks I roughly chopped. Leaves I kinda hand tore before serving.
2-3 tablespoons of the chili basil sauce/paste (see below)
1 heaped tspn corn flour
1 flat tspn raw sugar
3 globs of veg. oyster sauce
like 3 dashes of normal light soy-sauce
drizzle sesame oil at the end
1/2 kg rice noodle (I really can only get the ones you have to slice yourself that comes in like a 1kg folded up sheet)

NOTE: I would have also a zucchini too but I forgot - but these would be similar shaped to the carrots. You could also use capsicum, cauliflower, eggplant, etc.

Method

Marinate the sliced tofu in chili basil sauce and a dash of soy. Stir and set aside.
Prep all your veges, coriander and onion.
Slice up your noodles (if you have to).
Make a slurry in a cup with corn flour, sugar, oyster sauce, soy sauce and some water. Stir to dissolve the corn flour.
Heat wok, add oil (I use either sunflower or peanut - olive is too thick and flavourful for this kind of dish) to coat the base. You know when oil is ready when it bubbles around a wooden cooking utensil. Add onions and saute. Add coriander root. Stir. Add carrots and broccoli stalk(s). Stir. Add choy sum stalks, celery. Stir. Add broccoli florets and mushrooms. Stir. Add choy sum leaves and coriander stalks. Stir. Sprinkle very lightly with salt and a generous dash of water and cover. This allows the veges to steam slightly. Probably like half a minute or so. You can obviously adjust the heat to where you feel comfortable. I usually have it between medium and hot. At the point the choy sum leaves might just be starting to wilt. Remove all the veges from the wok. It will continue to slowly cook while you cook the tofu.
Add a bit more oil to the pan then add the marinated tofu. Brown this off as best you can. Hard to see when there is sauce all over it. I guess I notice the tofu getting a bit softer. I then added the noodles. Out the packet seemed a bit dry and stuck together, so I added a bit of water and tried to steam it. Once it started softening up i could stir the tofu sauce and coat the noodles, at this point add the slurry you made. Stir that slightly then add the veges back in the wok. Stir it up. At this point you're also re-warming the veges too. Turn the heat off. Drizzle with sesame oil, sprinkle with black pepper, sesame seeds and coriander leaves. Serve. If it's not spicy hot enough, I would probably add pickled jalapeno slices but up to you. I also like adding fried onions from the Asian store too just for added texture.