鳥のから揚げ: Crispy Chicken Karaage!

Tonight's recipe: CRISPY CHICKEN KARAAGE!

Ingredients:

-Chicken thighs or any kind of fresh chicken cut into bite size pieces

-Salt and pepper

-Soy sauce (2 tbsp)

-Ginger juice (squeezing grated ginger and mixing with water)

-Sake (1 tbsp)

-Potato starch (2 tbsp or more, depending on how crispy you like your chicken)

-1 beaten egg

-Sesame oil (extra, if you want to add some)

*Some of the ingredients might seem difficult to find, but all you need to do is look for the closest asian market  online and get them. Take into account that that crispy yummyness is only possible with POTATO STARCH, common flour won't do as fine.

Now follow the instructions of the video, enjoy and comment!

Yummy Tummy Chef

Halloween Gift

Party Appetizer #2: Chicken Croquettes.

Happy Halloween everyone, today I'm posting my last chicken recipe for the week. Hope this makes you see how practical it is to buy a whole chicken instead of just getting chicken breasts or thighs. With one single chick you can do roasted chicken, chicken stock and finally chicken croquettes. Anyway, here's the recipe, hope you're having a blast tonight. :)

Chicken Croquettes

Ingredients:

-Leftover chicken meat (for those of you who tried the roasted chicken, give it a go)

-Potatoes, carrots, pear or apple, tomatoes, onions and raisins (all the veggies from the Roasted Chicken recipe)

-Grated mozzarella or emmental cheese

-Potato starch or all purpose flour for the coating

-1 beaten egg

-Breadcrumbs (I use Japanese Panko)

So, many of you may have noticed that this recipe works for those who cooked the roasted chicken, and that thought couldn't be more accurate. Either way, I encourage those who didn't to take a look at this recipe. I'm sure by the end you will all want to give a try to both recipes. 

First things first, take your leftover chicken and veggies out of the fridge and blend them together in a food processor (this may take a long time depending on how big is your processor)

The result mixture should look somehow like this. One of the benefits of mixing the chicken with the veggies (potatoes included) is that you won't need to prepare a messy bechamel sauce (which is yummilicious for croquetas de jamón serrano, but not that necessary in this case)

Now, one you have that mixture ready, place in four different bowls your cheese, flour or potato starch, beaten egg and breadcrumbs. I used both potato starch and panko because it's what I had at home, but I guess normal breadcrumbs work as fine.

Look how tiny my food processor is....it took me a long time to blend the whole thing.

Now it's the fun though exhausting part. If you have friends nearby or a bewildered family member then grab him/her and handcuff his/her legs to the ground. Don't feel any shame. I didn't, I exploited my own brother into doing croquettes...you just can't go for the 20 or 30 on your own! 

(Short video on croquette making)

First, take a small amount of the patty in your hand and mold it with your hands for a few seconds, giving it a round form, then make a small hole in the middle of the patty, add some shredded cheese inside and wrap the hole with the patty, making a small ball (or big, if you're clumsy handed like my baby brother).

Then coat it with flour, beaten egg and finally with breadcrumbs. Repeat the whole process until you run out of mixture. (After doing 4 or 5 you'll get why I said the "catch that deer and never let it go" speech)

(Bro in sweatshop)

Once you have all your croquettes ready, you will have to keep them in the fridge overnight (they need to get  tightly thick so they don't fall apart while deep frying them) If you want to freeze them, now is the moment, place them on a tray and into the freezer. For the deep frying, make sure your oil is really hot before adding the croquettes, then lower it a bit (just a bit, take into account that if you add more than 3 croquettes the heat will go down and you don't want that to happen, otherwise the croquettes will break into the frying oil and you will have a mess)

After deep frying them, place them on a cooling tray or over paper towel in order to reduce the fat. Serve them on a plate and taste them with the sauce you like. I used Tonkatsu sauce :3.

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy....enjoy.

Yummy Tummy

First Video: Chicken Stock

So there it goes...we were both kind of nervous and about to panic but it sort of worked out.

Ingredients:

-Roasted chicken bones
-Some carrots (3/4)
-1 white onion (cut in 4 chunks)
-Leeks
-Fresh parsley or cilantro (whatever you find or have at home)
-Bayleaf or Rosemary (or both, this time I only had bayleaf)
-Dried herbs (such as basil, oregano...the ones of your taste)
-Salt & pepper
-Raisins (completely optional)
-Splash of white wine (optional)
*No need to add oil, the chicken bones will release all the fat needed for the stock.

*Cooking time: 3 to 4 hours at medium low heat.

This was the result:

Please give me your feedback and don't be too judgemental, take into account that the video hasn't been post-edited at all.

Videoblog, yes or no?

I'm considering the idea of video recording some of the recipes so it's better for you to get the whole idea.

I would like to know your opinion about it. 

Party Appetizer #1: Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients:

-About 30/40 sticky dates (better with seeds, they tend to be fresher than the deseeded ones)

-Cream cheese (the one you prefer, Philadelphia works just fine)

-Bacon strips (if you're going to cook about 40 dates you will need 20 long bacon strips)

-Grated parmigiano or mozzarella cheese.

This recipe is pretty easy and it is usually a blast at dinners and home parties. First of all, you will have to take the seeds out of the dates (unless you decided to buy already deseeded ones, which is fair enough).

Once you have all your dates deseeded, take some cream cheese with the pointy edge of a knife and fill the dates (don't put too much, you fatty). Now it's time to wrap your dates. Take all the bacon strips, place them all on top of each other, and cut them in half. Wrap the dates with the half strips and place them in lines on a baking tray. 

Finally, sprinkle some black pepper (if you feel like going spicy) and some parmigiano or mozzarella cheese on top of the wrapped dates. Let them cook for about 20-30 minutes at 180ºCelsius or until they look golden brown and crispy.

Let them cool for a bit and serve them on the same tray with some tooth sticks. Your friends will go crazy 200% sure!!

Yummy Tummy

Let's start with an old grandma recipe...

Hello y'all. I have finally got in my senses and I've decided not to continue with the punishment I put you under. Starting today I will make your life easier by posting here the yummy stuff I cook, giving you all the tips you need in order to have it done in (hopefully) just a few minutes. 

Just a few tips for the beginners and unexperienced in the kitchen:

-Cooking must be something you enjoy doing. Take your time (I'm not buying the whole "I'm so busy and I have no time for it", you always DO) and relax, play some music, have the ingredients ready and let yourself go. 

-Don't be afraid to take risks. Even if I give you my tips or steps for a concrete recipe, you can always think "seriously, what's wrong with you? why would you add sugar to that savory dish?". Add your own touch to your recipes, and please, once you're done, let me know. "SHARING IS CARING".

Having said that, let's inaugurate this blog by talking about one of my favorite's.

"Grandma Style Roasted Chicken"

Here are the ingredients:

-One whole clean chicken.

-1 large white onion

-4 medium size carrots

-1 pear or apple cut in 4 pieces (extra touch, roasted fruits really make a good combination with meat)

-Some dry raisins (optional)

-2 large potatoes

-Herbs and olive oil to marinate the chicken.

-Salt & Pepper

-1/2 splashes of wine/sake

-1 tablespoon of maple syrup/honey to caramelize the chicken and make it look brillantly roasted (optional)

For starters, the oven needs to be preheated at about 180ºCelsius for at least 20 minutes. 

First, you will need a whole clean chicken. I always get them at Carrefour for about 4'50/5 euros (if you live in Madrid). They are usually pretty big so they'll do the deal for you and 2 more people. Once you're done with the canibalism session, you can always save the leftovers for croquettes or chicken stock (both recipes I'll show you further on)

Once you have taken it out of the plastic bag, give it a rinse in the sink and then dry it up with paper towel. Put the chicken in a plastic bowl or a large plate and marinate it with the herbs, the olive oil and the salt and pepper. I usually add some bayleaf, dried basil, pinch of cummin, fresh rosemary and then I add the salt, black pepper (depending on how you like it, I add quite a lot of pepper) and about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Next step: caress the chicken like if you were doing a massage to your lover (in kitchen, you'll find, it's all about love). This way you'll get the whole chicken covered in yummyness. Now let it rest while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. 

In a large oven trail place the potatoes first (cut into slices, about 1 to 2 centimeters each, if you cut them thiner they will melt and become mash potatoes), then add some salt and pepper on top. Now the next layer,  place the onions (also cut into thin slices). Put the cut apples or pears on the corner edges of the tray and the carrots in the remaining edgy spaces (the distribution is not that important but you NEED to leave some space in the middle because that chicken has been naughty and he may not fit in) After that sprinkle some raisins over the tray, add one splash of wine or sake and place the marinated chicken in the middle of the cooking tray. 

Finally, place your baby in the preheated oven and low the temperature to 160ºCelsius. Let it cook for at least 1:45/2 hours. Don't get the chicken out of the oven too quickly because the meat may not be fully cooked and we don't want that, riiiiight?

*I strongly recommend tossing the chicken at least once. For that you will have to take the tray out of the oven unless you want to do a mess and burn yourself.

*You can add more splashes of wine or sake depending on how dry the layered ingredients look.

*During the last minutes of cooking, you may or may not add the honey/maple syrup to get the skin golden brown. I recommend doing it, it definitely adds a touch.

*Tying the chicken legs up is completely optional, but it looks more fancy (so do it if you're having friends coming over for lunch/dinner)

And voilà, that's the result. Hope some of you give it a try once (I know it takes time and will power but hey, the dish is worth it) 

P.S: if you make any adjustments please share it here. It'd be great to know your ideas. ;)

Yummy Tommy