Pollo a la Brasa with Potatoes

I was looking at this Peruvian restaurant's menu. I've never had Peruvian food before, but I'm always up for trying new cuisines, so I was intrigued. I hadn't a clue what I'd order if I went to the restaurant, so I did a little research.

One of the least adventurous dishes was the pollo a la brasa (Peruvian roasted chicken). I thought it looked yummy so I went and looked up some recipes and came to this one. I don't know how authentic this is but it was indeed yummy. Of course I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I tried. I really did, but I hate water brines, so I didn't do that. Instead, I had planned on marinating the chicken over two nights rather than just one. But then I got impatient and wanted to eat this. Next time I'll marinate it for two nights because the flavour didn't really get all the way into the chicken. Oh wells.

And it's easier to roast a chicken after it's been cut into 8 parts, so that's what I did. Hah. :P

I think this can be a dish that I could just serve on plain white rice rather than the potatoes. Or wild rice. I love wild rice.....or a rice pilaf! Oh the possibilities...


Pollo a la Brasa with Potatoes
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 1/4 cup canola oil/extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 medium russet potatoes, cubed

Directions:

1. In a large Ziploc bag, combine oil, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, garlic salt, paprika, oregano and soy sauce. Toss in the chicken pieces and massage until well coated. Marinade in the fridge overnight (or 2 nights).
2. Preheat oven to 375F. 
3. Add potatoes into the Ziploc bag. Massage until potatoes are well coated. Pour everything from the Ziploc bag into a roasting pan, arranging chicken to rest on top of the potatoes, skin side up.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through (165F when tested with a thermometer). Rest for 10-15 minutes before serving.
5. Serve chicken with the potatoes and a side salad.

Update: You can always freeze the chicken pieces for up to 2 weeks in the freezer and then take it out the night before you want to bake it to defrost in the fridge.

Celery & Chicken Stirfry

Oh this is a classic. Mom always made this while we were growing up. Sis and I love it. It's very simple and I've found it to be the perfect way to get rid of extra celery.

It's probably so simple for me because I'll typically have my chicken already marinaded and frozen so all I have to do is defrost the marinaded meat, chop up the celery, extra ginger & garlic and then start stirfrying. Takes less time than to cook the rice!


Celery & Chicken Stirfry
(serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed 
• 3 Tbsps soy sauce, divided 
• 1/2 tsp sugar 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch 
• 4 garlic cloves, minced & divided
• 1 inch knob of ginger, julienned & divided
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 4-6 celery stalks, cut on a bias
• 2 Tbsp water

Directions:

1. Combine 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, the sugar, salt, sesame oil, cornstarch, half of the garlic, and half of the ginger in a small bowl. Mix well. Add chicken and toss until well coated. Transfer into a Ziploc bag and marinate 2 hours or overnight in the fridge. 
2. Heat canola oil in a wok on medium high heat. Brown chicken. When all browned, toss in remaining ginger and remaining garlic. Stir until garlic is fragrant.
3. Add celery, water an remaining soy sauce. Stir to mix well and then cover. Cook for about 5-10 minutes, until celery is tender crisp and chicken is cooked through.
4. Serve with a big bowl of jasmine rice. 

Steamed Tofu Topped with a Minced Meat "Cookie"

So most Chinese families have their own recipe for "minced meat cookie". It's essentially just ground meat that's been steamed with seasonings and maybe some preserved veggies. Usually the meat is pork and usually it's not really ground pork, but pork loin that's been "chopped" up with a butcher's knife into what looks like ground pork - kinda like tartare texture. I love this stuff. I grew up eating this stuff.

I also love steamed tofu with just sesame oil, ginger, green onions and soy sauce. It's very basic and very yummy. K loves it. And he loves the meat cookie (as long as it's my mom who makes it for him). I decided to just combine the two. I did leave out the green onions though since my sister doesn't like green onions. Oh well. K didn't notice cuz he was too tired to stay up for dinner. Rofl. No worries. He did have a lot of fruit before going to bed. Lol...silly guy. :)


Steamed Tofu Topped with a Minced Meat "Cookie"
(serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb lean ground pork 
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce 
• 1/4 tsp sugar 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 inch ginger knob, minced
• 1 350g pkg soft or medium tofu

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine everything together except the tofu. Marinate 30 minutes on the counter or overnight in the fridge.
2. Drain and rinse the tofu. Slice the block into 1/2" thick pieces. Layer on the bottom of a shallow bowl or a plate with high sides. There'll be lots of water coming out of the tofu and meat, so you'll need a dish with sides at least 1 1/2" high. 
3. Pick off tablespoon size pieces of the marinated minced meat and dot the tops of the tofu. (If you just spread it on, you'll break/tear the tofu.)
4. Set a steamer rack on the bottom of a large pot or wok with enough water so that the dish is suspended above the water surface. Bring water to boil. 
5. Place dish on the steam rack. Cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium low heat.
6. Serve with a side of rice and some steamed or stirfry veggies.

Chicken Stirfry with Cashews

I love stirfries. Literally you just dump whatever you want into the wok and you quickly stirfry it. Add some toasted cashews, and it'll look all fancy schmancy. And of course some colourful veggies. But seriously, just find whatever leftover veggies and throw it into the wok with some sauce and you're good to go.

The really time consuming part is all that slicing and dicing. So I typically will do all that the night before and then put it all in the fridge for the day after. Dinner is served practically in 15 minutes. Well.....if you make the rice, then 30 minutes. But if you have a timed rice cooker, you can just set it to have the rice cook/finish cooking by the time you start dinner so that there's time for the rice to "rest" and fluff up. If you're not rice obsessed enough to have something that does that, it just means you can do all the prep work while the rice cooks. :P

Chicken Stirfry with Cashews

(serves 4-5)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed
• 3 Tbsps soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 inch knob of ginger, julienned
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic chili sauce
• 2 any coloured bell peppers, julienned
• 1 small onion, julienned
• 1/2 lb white mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 - 1 cup toasted cashews
• 2 Tbsps canola oil
• 2 Tbsps Hoisin sauce
• 2 sprigs of green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. Combine soy sauce, sugar, salt, sesame oil, garlic chili sauce, cornstarch, garlic, and ginger in a small bowl. Mix well. Add chicken and toss until well coated. Transfer into a Ziploc bag and marinate 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.
2. Heat oil in a wok on medium high heat. Brown chicken. When all browned, toss in remaining ingredients, except cashews and green onions. 
3. Mix well and stirfry until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender crisp. If the sauce starts sticking, just add a little water and scrape up the brown buts.
4. Turn off heat and mix in green onions and cashews. Serve with a side of rice.

Ground Pork & Sweet Potato Stew with Coconut Milk

This is a slow cooker meal, but I decided to use the stove top for this one. It was pretty yummy, I gotta say. K ate almost half an adult portion, so I'm pretty impressed. Hubby thought it was too sweet so he (as usual) doused it with some hot sauce. No worries. I had a feeling it'd be hard to get him to eat anything with sweet potatoes in it anyway.


Ground Pork & Sweet Potato Stew with Coconut Milk
(serves 6-8 divided into 2 bags)

Ingredients:

• 1 - 1 1/4 lbs lean ground pork
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsps packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp garlic chili sauce
• 2 tsps minced ginger
• 2 tsps minced garlic
• 1 400ml (13.5oz) can of coconut milk

Directions:

1. Divide all ingredients, EXCEPT the coconut milk, into two separate freezer bags. Lay flat to freeze. Defrost in the fridge overnight the day before cooking.
2. Dump everything from one bag into a large pot. Bring to a boil. Break up the meat using a spatula. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.
3. Stir in 1/2 can of coconut milk. Simmer for another 10 minutes with the lid off.
4. Serve with hot rice.

Slow cooker method: Just dump everything into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until potatoes are done. Stir in the coconut milk and cook on low for another 30 minutes before serving on rice.

September 27 Update: better when simmered with the coconut milk afterwards for only 10 minutes is enough.