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

1. 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.
2. Prepare other ingredients - capsicum, onion, coriander roots.
   
   
   
   
   
3. 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. 
   
   
   
   
   
4. 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.
   
   
   
   
   
5. 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.
   
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
6. While simmering, wash rice.
7. 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.
   
   
   
   
   
8. While rice is cooking and chicken has rested, shred/pull chicken using a couple of forks. Add liquid smoke over shredded chicken.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. When rice is cooked, stir-in shredded chicken and remove bay leaves.
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. 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.
    
    
    

After many conversations with OG about favourite dishes we grew up with, there was always mention of Playboy Chicken. First I thought, oh skinless chicken! Or a chicken and rabbit dish. I soon learnt, it’s a dish from the Playboy magazine. I think further questions about the circumstance wasn’t really warranted. So I moved on. Tell me more about this dish. “It was creamy, with capsicum and curry dumplings.” Sounded good. So I emailed for the recipe from his mum and it came looking like this:



Fortunately it was transcribed for me also.

So below is my slightly amended version. I didn't have any cognac or sherry, so I just used a couple tablespoons of whiskey and we had a bit of fun setting it a light!

I tried to take photos as I went to demonstrate outcomes of certain stages. However, as this was my first time, I wasn't sure if this was correct. It turned out perfect, so I’ll be sure to post more photos upon my next attempt.

Ingredients
Dumplings
1 cup flour (120grams)
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn curry powder
1/4 tspn turmeric powder
3 Tblspn butter, chopped (~44g)
1 Tblspn chives, finely chopped
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

Supreme Chicken
~3 Tblspn butter
1/2 medium brown onion, 1/2 inch dice
500g chicken fillets (breast or thighs – I prefer thighs) cut into big pieces
1/2 medium green capsicum, 1/2 inch dice
1/2 medium red capsicum, 1/2 inch dice
~150g button mushrooms, quartered
2 Tblspn  cognac (optional)
3 Tblspn dry sherry (optional)
1 1/2 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock
3/4 cup cream (regular thickened cream or cooking cream works fine)
3 Tblspn butter, melted (43g)
3 Tblspn plain flour (26g)
salt/pepper to taste

Method
1. Prepare dumpling mixture – Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, curry powder, turmeric. Add butter to flour mixture and rub butter with flour mixture until it resembles fine bread crumbs. 

Butter rubbed into flour mixture resembling fine bread crumbs

2. Add egg, milk and chives. Mix until blended. Batter should be lumpy and not too firm. Set aside.

Mixture after egg, milk & chives

3. In a large skillet (heavy base fry pan) over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons of butter. Turn heat up to high and add onion. When onions turns translucent add chicken fillets. Brown chicken off.
Note: If the chicken catches at the bottom of the pan, that’s normal.
4. Add capsicum and turn heat down to medium. Sauté until capsicum softens.
5. Add cognac and sherry and set aflame. This is completely optional. When flames die down add mushrooms, stock and cream. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
6. In a separate bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of melted butter and flour. Add to simmering chicken pan. Stir constantly until sauce thickens. Add salt/pepper to taste.
7. Using tablespoons to form dumplings, drop them into the pan. The dumplings will be partly submerged. Turn heat down to very low and cover. Simmer for about 15 minutes to cook the dumplings.

Dumplings just added to pan

Dumplings after it's cooked

Cooked dumplings from the top view

Note: Do not stir dumplings in pan.

8. When dumplings are cooked, serve chicken, dumplings and veges hot.

Hi All! Yes I'm finally back in the kitchen and on-the-line after a 6+ months hiatus while OG and I traveled the world. Hope I wasn't missed too much, and you've all been enjoying my previous recipes and some of my happy snaps on Instagram.

Before you ask, I did picked up a few interesting recipes on my travels, which I'm eager to try out and share with you.

This specific recipe was inspired by an Asian cookbook I saw in Vancouver, Canada. It was written in Japanese, so I didn't understand the recipe, however, the picture says it all (see below).



I decided to adapt it to suit the summer-y flavours of Sydney. I was thinking Caesar Salad in popsicle form. So I “whipped” these up for a friend's house warming pot luck party. Risky move though, considering I made up the recipe and have never tried it before and all I was going off was a picture. However, I'm very proud of them and they went down a treat.

Other adaptations: If Caesar Salad isn't your thing, perhaps lamb kofta with baby spinach could be a good mix. Also, I think the one in the picture is some sticky sweet pork and cabbage.


Ingredients
4 rashers bacon, diced
500g mince chicken
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 large egg (or 2 small)
~75g Parmesan cheese, thickly grated or finely chopped
Pepper to taste
1 tspn dried parsley
1 tspn dried oregano
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
2 heads of baby cos lettuce
Caesar salad dressing to serve

Method
1. In a small fry pan, sauté bacon until crispy. Set aside to cool. Tip: leave the fatty bits on the bacon (remove the rind). This will be the "fat" or the "oil" for the meatballs.

2. In a mixing bowl combine chicken, garlic, egg(s), cheese, pepper, herbs and cooled fried bacon. Mix until thoroughly combined.

3. Preheat oven to 210C.

4. Using tablespoons, form balls with the chicken mixture. Roll them in the panko breadcrumbs. Place crumbed balls on a baking paper lined baking tray.

5. Bake balls for 15 to 30 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. Turn half way through to allow to brown evenly.




6. Remove from oven and allow to sit for about 10 minutes to allows crumbs to crisp up and balls to cool down enough to handle.

7. In the meantime separate lettuce leaves and wash thoroughly.

8. Using a small bamboo skewer, skewer a leaf, stalk side, then skewer a ball. Place on serving tray. Repeat for remaining leaves and balls. Tip: you can skewer two of the inner leaves as they're a bit smaller.

9. Serve warm with Caesar salad dressing in a small dipping bowl.

This past weekend, I was flown down to Melbourne, thanks to Bulla Cream, as one of six finalists to Bulla's search to find 3 ambassadors for their brand and products. We had a cook off with George Calombaris, a celebrity chef and a spokes person for Bulla Cream.

Personally, an exciting moment for me as this competition was an off chance that I entered. As I don't normally enter competitions, let alone become a finalists in them. Being in the top six of about 500 entrants, it's pretty flattering and I would say this blog would have played a huge part. So thank you for the support and for encouraging me to keep this hobby going.

We were very well looked after by everyone and especially the folks at Bulla Cream and T-garage. Who work very hard at their jobs and made every effort to make us feel comfortable.

So I won't delve into too much detail about the challenges that faced us. But below is brief description on what we were faced with and some snaps of the day.

So what did we do?
Challenge #1 - photo shoot. I think this is self explanatory.

Challenge #2- introductions and pitching. I went first, introducing myself, where I'm from and why I want to win. So it was about pitching yourself. Happy with what I said and glad I went first. I was very nervous but I got through.

Challenge #3 - simple 3 egg omelette. We could use whatever ingredients and equipment that were available. Sorry I didn't take photos of my omelette. But I can tell you it was very simple. Literally 3 eggs, bit of water, a bit of salt & pepper, dash of cream. In the middle a bit of fresh parsley. Turned out well. I was happy, George was happy and said he would buy that at a cafe! *blushes* thanks George!

George and Travis hacking into my beautiful omelette

After this, we got to see George demo his 3 egg omelette.I wasn't far off his recipe and method.

Us sampling George's omelette

Challenge#4 - replicate George's dish - fresh egg pasta with snapper fillet and spinach creme. We watched George demo this dish, then got about 45 minutes to do the same. Below my snapper. The biggest challenge here was the fish. We had to fillet it ourselves, and it was a first for many of us. George was impressed with my filleting attempt, so yay! I actually ate mine for lunch. Tasted fantastic! Happy!

Me filleting a snapper

My snapper dish

Challenge #5 - tasting - we were given a soup and had to pick out the 20 ingredients. This was tough! I quickly got through 12, then it was a slow slog to 20 with a bit of guess work in between. But I got to 20 so happy with that. Found out later - only got 11 out of 20 right! ha! Just passed! 

Challenge #6 - 22 minutes and a mystery box. 22 minutes to cook a dish for 1, with some or all the ingredients in the mystery box and a few other basic ingredients around. So the mystery box contents = fresh beets, zucchini flowers, goats cheese, chicken wings and vegemite. Apparently bonus points for mixing things that don't normally go together. I made crispy panko vegemite chicken wings with a goats cheese dipping sauce. Yes, you read that correct, Vegemite! I did it inplace of salt! Figured that would work! Picture below. I was worried, in the time frame the chicken wasn't cooked. Thankfully it was! PHEW! And George liked it, so happy!

Me concentrating really hard!

My crispy panko vegemite chicken wings with goats cheese dipping sauce

My dish pose with George

George and Travis hacking into my dish. Me looking nervous... hoping it's cooked through

We finished the day with another cooking demo from George. This time, it was eyes only - so we could sit back and enjoy the show. George showed us a few things about chicken. And I learnt a few neat tricks to best use different parts of the chicken. Whether I'll replicate in the kitchen, I'm not so sure. I rather buy the bits I want from the butcher. But you never know when it will come in handy.







All in all, a full on day. As I sit hear typing and waiting to be picked up for lunch, where the ambassadors / winners will be announced, recap on yesterday's events. I don't care if I win or not. I had a great weekend. I met a bunch of fantastic new people. I cooked. I stepped out of my comfort zone. I met George. And I did my best in the challenges. I can't complain.

As they say in Fiji - Bula vinaka Bulla Cream! 

Update:

I won! I'm the seasonal sensation! ;)

If you want to see my recipes and videos - check out the Bulla Cream website - www.bullacream.com.au

After the successful introduction of quinoa to my family last week, the expectation has been set pretty high with everyone saying “so what are you cooking for us next week?!”. This week I bring gumbo. “Gum… what?” They said. Gumbo, a Southern American favourite – is a stew is so full flavour. It took me a few hours to make and on the day before as it gets better with time. But its well worth the effort. I even had requests for leftovers to take to lunch the next day.

You’ll find all different sorts of gumbo recipes on the web and it's up to you what goes into it, however there are a few key ingredients that makes gumbo unique. These include capsicum, celery and onion (what is known as Cajun the holy trinity), okra and the mixture of herbs listed in the recipe below. As far as the method goes, the steps, though lengthy are basic. Brown off meat > make roux (this determines the colour of the gumbo at the end) > add the greens, herbs, meat and stock > simmer> add okra > simmer more > serve.

Ingredients
> Meat
1kg chicken thigh fillets - cubed
1/4 cup cajun spices (refer to my BBQ Cajun Chicken post for more detail)
500g chorizo sausages – sliced (can also use any other smoked, cured sausage)
250g bacon - roughly chopped
1 to 3 tablespoons oil

> Roux
1/2 cup plain flour
1/3 cup oil, margarine, butter, lard (some sort of fat – depending on your dietary requirements)

>Veges
1 large capsicum – diced
3 sticks celery – diced
1 large onion – diced
2 to 3 green onions, scallions, shallots – diced (whatever you have available)
1/2 cup okra - chopped (usually find them frozen)

> Herbs & Spices
6 to 8 cloves garlic – minced
3 dried bay leaves
generous serves (about 1 to 3 tablespoons) of dried herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley, basil)
cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper – to taste

> 4 cups of chicken stock

Method
1. Brown the meat – in a large, heavy base pot, heat oil and fry sausages, set aside. To same pot fry bacon lightly, set aside with sausages. To same pot add chicken (you may need to do it in batches to not crowd the pan). Add oil if necessary. Set chicken aside. The base may catch from all this fry. That’s fine, it will lift soon enough.

2. Make roux – Under medium to low heat, heat fat to a runny, almost bubby consistency. Add flour and stir with whisk constantly, until roux becomes smooth, silky and a deep chocolate brown. (approximately 20 to 30 minutes  -longer if your heat is lower). Be sure not to burn your roux. If you smell the flour burning, lower the heat. If you start seeing black specks, you’ve burnt it, throw it out and start again.  Here is a good example of making a dark roux. The darkness of your roux will determine the darkness of the gumbo. When the roux reaches the right colour, add the onions, capsicum and celery to the roux, turn off the heat, and keep stirring until the roux cools down to stop it from cooking/browning further.

3. Combine and simmer – Once the roux is cooled slightly, return the pot to a medium heat and added stock, meats, herbs and spices (including garlic and cayenne pepper). Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Stir in okra and simmer for another 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning – add salt if necessary. At this point, if you want to add seafood, you add it now and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until seafood is cooked. You can also add gumbo filé.

4. Serve – Serve over hot rice (or corn bread) with fresh parsley.

This pasta dish is a Fongolicious original. Decided to “wing it”, be a bit creative with what I have to work with and it turned out really well. Tasty, not heavy and going back for seconds! Definitely will go in the regular rotation. This recipe will serve probably 2 to 3 people. The tip on this one is slow and steady makes it really tasty!

Apologies for the dodgy photography job. My camera is on loan at the moment, so I had to make do with the phone camera. I tried to add some special effects - unsuccessfully, but trust me – it tastes good. Hopefully I’ll refresh the picture soon. Meanwhile you can enjoy the chinatown food court style pictures.

Ingredients
300g angel-hair pasta
2 chicken thigh fillets - stripped
1-2 clove garlic – minced
1/2 medium onion – chopping roughly
250g mushrooms - thickly sliced
1/2 cup semi dried tomatoes - sliced
Dried herbs including: basil, oregano, parsley, chives, tarragon, dill (all in varying volumes. The first 3 mentioned are a must.)
3 Tbspn butter
3 Tbspn olive oil
cayenne pepper - to taste
salt and pepper - to taste
1 cup fresh baby spinach
Chilli flakes – optional
freshly grated parmesan cheese - to serve

Method
1. Marinate chicken with minced garlic, herbs, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper, cayenne pepper. Mix to coat chicken and set aside.

2. Start boiling salted water for pasta, but don’t put the pasta in yet.

3. In a fry pan on medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter as the pan heats, then add 1 tablespoon of oil. Add half of the chopped onion until translucent then add mushrooms. Allow to cook slowly on medium heat. Stir occasionally. Once cooked, set aside.

4. In the same fry pan heat semi dried tomatoes. You can add some oil from the jar of tomatoes for some flavour. Should take about 2 minutes. Set tomatoes aside with mushrooms, leaving any residual oil.

5. To the same pan on medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter to pan, if necessary – add the other 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add remaining onions until translucent then add chicken. Slowly cook the chicken. Cover and stir occasionally. It will start sweating. That’s good. It will form your gravy. At this stage the flavour from the residual mushroom and tomato oil, the butter and the herbs will start to meld.

6. As the chicken will take a while to cook, cook the angel-hair pasta as per instructions. Should take around 3 to 5 minutes.

7. To the fry pan with chicken, add the cooked mushroom and tomatoes. Stir to combine and bring heat back up to heat returned ingredients. Turn the stove back down to low and stir through baby spinach to get it wilted.

8. At this stage the pasta should be cooked. Add cooked pasta to fry pan and stir through.

9. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese with chilli flakes.