Chiles Relleno de Picadillo (Stuffed Chiles Relleno)

I was watching the movie Tortilla Soup the other day.  One of my favorite movies. It has a really good story, but I watch it for the food.  All the foods are prepared  by two fabulous Chefs, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.  After watching the movie, I went through their cookbook "cooking with two hot tamales" to see if I could even find the recipes they prepared.  Must be in their other cookbooks.  Anyway, I saw this recipe and made some minor adjustments.  Roasted stuffed chiles are very Mexican-American.  I have made picadillo before, but this one is different.  It does not use your typical Tex-Mex seasoning.  I had a lot of fun making it for lunch one day. It went home with a couple of friends and now their husbands want to be my official food tasters.  Cut the recipe in half if the 12 is too many. I found people wanted at least two (2).

Ingredients:
1 1/2lb ground turkey
1 medium onion (minced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup raisins
5 Italian plum tomatoes (canned, drained and chopped)
1 1/2 tbls cider vinegar
1/2 cup toasted almond slivers
Salt and Pepper to taste

12 large poblano chiles
6 large eggs (separated)
1 1/2 tbls all purpose flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour (in a shallow dish)
3/4 tsp coarse salt (kosher)
Peanut or vegetable oil for frying

You can roast the chiles in an open flame if you have a gas burner. Rotating directly on the flame allowing the other layer to char.  Or you set your oven to broil.  Coat the chiles with a little oil and place on a tray.  Place under the heated broiler and allow to broil for 20 minutes, turning it occasionally to ensure charring on all side.  Once the outerskin is charred, remove from heat and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow to steam.

To make the picadillo, heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add onions, season with salt and pepper.  Stir the onions for approximately 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes continually stirring so as not to let the garlic burn. Add ground turkey breaking it up with a wooden spoon as you stir it with the onions and garlic.  Remove any clumps and cook until turkey is completely browned.  Add the cinnamon and cloves and cook for another minute.  Add the tomatoes, raisins and vinegar.  Lower the heat and allow simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pan juices are gone and all the ingredients as well incorporated; approximately 20-25 minutes.

Once the chile peppers have cooled. Uncover the plastic wrap and gently remove the outer layer or skin. The skin should come off in large pieces.  Be very careful so as not to tear the peppers.  Cut a slit across the top (stem end) of the pepper and then down the center creating a "T" opening.  With a small spoon, remove all the seeds and membrane.  Be very careful not to scrape too hard so as not to tear the pepper.  If you want heat, leave the membrane.  Loosely stuff each pepper with the picadillo and close with a toothpick.  

In a large bowl, beat your egg whites with salt until soft peaks.  Beat in each egg yolk one at a time. Then beat in the 1 1/2 tsp of flour until flour disappears.  Heat your oil in a large heavy skillet deep on medium with enough to fry the chiles.  As the oil is heating, roll the stuffed chiles in the 1/2 cup of flour in the shallow dish. Patting gently to remove excess.  When the oil is hot, dip the stuffed chiles into the egg mixture, shake off excess and carefully place in the hot oil.  Repeat with the other chiles. Do not crowd.  The chiles will brown pretty quickly, gently roll them over to ensure browning occurs on all sides evenly.  Remove from skillet and allow to drain on a paper towel.  Cover to keep warm while you cook the rest. 

To serve, place a stuffed chile relleno on a plate, ladle with your favorite salsa (red or green) and serve with your favorite rice (spanish or cilantro lime). Enjoy!

 

Tandoori Chicken

This is probably one of the most famous dishes from India.  This is absolutely wonderful. The spices add so much flavor, but not with heat. 

Ingredients:

3lbs chicken (assorted pieces)

1/2 lemon

2 tblsp melted butter or ghee

salt and pepper

Masala Paste:

1 tblsp ginger paste

2 tblsp garlic paste

1 1/2 tblsp paprika

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp ground cloves

3/4 cup yogurt

Few drops of edible red food coloring

In a small bowl, mix lemon juice and butter.  Rub the lemon juice and butter mixture all over the chicken pieces.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  In a separate bowl make the masala paste by combining all the masala ingredients and mix until all have been incorporated.  Using your hand, rub all the chicken pieces with the masala paste.  Make sure all the chicken pieces are well coated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours, preferably overnight. 

Preheat oven at 400 degrees.  Lay chicken pieces on a roasting rack and tent (lightly cover) with foil, place in oven and cook for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil. Change the oven setting to either broil or roast in a low setting.  Continue cooking the chicken for another 15 minutes or until chicken's juice runs clear.  Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes, serve garnished with cilantro and lemon slices.  This is great with the vegetable pulao on this same blogsite. Enjoy!

Middle Eastern Chicken Thighs

Cinnamon is not only for sweet dishes; it is great in savory dishes like this Middle Eastern Chicken Thighs.  The fragrance makes you feel like you are in some exotic land.  Dark meat is moister and has so much flavor, but if you like breast meat, feel free to use it.  Pair it with a beatiful red wine from Spain - Marques de Caceres Rioja Crianza - an earthy red wine with a hint of spice.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 lbs of chicken thighs

1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion (minced)
4 garlic cloves (minced)
1 can (14.5) diced tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1 cup peas (thawed)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl, mix cumin, coriander and cinnamon.  Coat chicken with the spice mixture. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet until hot but not smoking.  Add onion, cook until soft stirring continuously.  Add garlic and cook for approximately 30 second to release its fragrance.  Transfer onion and garlic mixture to a small bowl.  Add chicken and cook for 10 minutes or until brown turning once. Return the onion garlic mixture back to the skillet.  Stir in tomatoes and sugar until chicken is well coated.  Lower heat and cover.  Allow chicken to simmer until no longer pink.  Add the peas, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for another 2 minutes.

Kashmiri Style Chops

The cooking method to this is pretty interesting...so I had to try. It came out really great! I paired it up with the wild rice and mushroom pilaf and it was dinner. So simple.  I know it sounds very different, but I recommend it, you will not be disappointed.

Ingredients:
6 pork chops or lamb chops
1 piece cinnamon bark
1 bay leaf
1 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp peppercorns
4 green cardamon pods (pierced)
3 1/2 cups of milk (use whole)
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp of ginger pullp
1 tsp garlic pulp
1 tsp garam masala
salt and pepper
enough oil to fry chops

In a large sauce pan, place chops with milk, cinnamon bark, bay leaf, fennel seeds, peppercorns, cardamom pods, and salt. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and continue to cook for another 15 minutes or until chops are cooked through.

In a bowl, mix yogurt, flour, chilli powder, ginger pulp, garlic pulp, garam masala, salt and pepper. Mix until well blended.  Remove the chops from the milk and coat with the spicy yogurt mixture.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Make sure oil is not smoking or very hot. Use medium to low heat. Add the chops, fry until one side is golden brown, turn them over and brown the other side. When done, transfer to a serving dish and serve with lime quarter and your favorite rice.

NOTE: To make it spicier, just increase the chilli powder, garlic and ginger pulp, and garam masala in the spicy yogurt mixture to suit your taste.

Lamb with Spiced Cardamom Rice

Don't let the list of ingredients scare you. This is an easy dish to prepare and what wonderful aromas it generates during cooking. Once done, the presentation and the flavors are great. The original recipe called for clay pot cooking. The preparation was time consuming. I experimented using a crock pot and my trusty rice cooker and found an easy and convenient cooking method that did not require me to stay in the kitchen the whole time. I think you will find this dish easy and impressive.
Ingredients:
1 large onion (quartered)
2 garlic cloves
1 small green chilli (halved) optional
2 inch fresh ginger root
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) or regular butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil or light olive oil
11/2 lb leg or shoulder of lamb cut in chunks
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 cinnamon stick broken into at least 3 pieces
2/3 cup plain yogurt
2/3 cup rice
1/3 cup dried apricots (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
For the rice:
1 1/4 cup basmati rice
6 cardamom pods (split)
2 tbsp butter (cut into pieces)
3 tbsp cashnew nuts or sliced almonds
Garnish:
1 onion (sliced thinly and fried golden brown)
Sprigs of fresh cilantro
In a food processor, add the quartered onion, garlic, chilli and ginger and blend to a smooth paste. Heat ghee and vegetable oil in a pan. Fry the lamb in high heat in batches until brown. Remove from pan and set aside. In the hot pan, add the paste, ground coriander, cumin and broken cinnamon sticks. Cook for 1-2 minutes stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Return the lamb to the pan and gradually add the yogurt stirring constantly to ensure lamb is well coated. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. Transfer the content of the pan to your crock pot and set the temperature to low and allow to cook for 3-4 hours.
Prepare rice during the last 30 minutes of the lamb's cooking time. Rinse the basmatic rice several times until water runs clear. Soak the basmati rice for 20 minutes in cold water. Drain and in a pot add the water, salt and rice. Bring to a boil until liquid has evaporated (approx. 10 min); remove from heat.
If using a rice cooker, rinse the basmati rice until water runs clear. Add 2 cups of water and the rice to the rice cooker. Turn rice cooker on and let rice cooker complete the cooking process. When all water has evaporated and before the rice cooker "clicks" over to "warm", follow the transfer process to the crock pot.
Add split cardamom to rice and stir. Add chopped apricots to lamb. Pile the rice ontop of the lamb in the crock pot, dot with butter pieces and sprinkle with cashnew nuts. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes.
Uncover and combine the lamb and rice together. Spoon to a bowl and garnish with the fried onions and sprigs of cilantro. Enjoy!
Note: I've prepared this without the green chilli. The other spices provide so much flavor you don't miss it.