Sous Vide Crispy Chicken With Spicy Coconut Sauce

Fun fact, I created this recipe while trying to reduce food waste and long work hours. (I hate throwing away money!) I work full-time as a PHP/Python developer for a company in Las Vegas and it often requires me to work long hours. As you can imagine there are times when a veggie starts to turn before I can get to it. When this happens I quickly turn them into a paste, or fermented product, that extends the shelf-life of the ingredient(s), gives them/it a ton of complex flavors and makes cooking dinner a snap! In fact all ingredients in this recipe, except for the chicken and coconut milk, are all custom blended creations I’ve came up with to reduce the money I lose throwing things away. I’ll briefly outline each paste used below, but a proper recipe is on the way. 🙂

Sous Vide Crispy Skin Chicken With Spicy Coconut Sauce

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cooking Time: 105 Minutes

Ingredients

Paste:

1. 1 Medium Red Bell Pepper, De-seeded

2. 4 Green Onions

3. 3 Inches Ginger (Peeled, or Unpeeled, is fine.)

4. 5 Garlic Cloves (Skin on is fine, but remove the root attachment.)

5. 1/4 Cup Flavorless Cooking Oil

6. 4 Chilies (De-seeded if desired.)

7. 1 Tablespoon Salt

Remaining Ingredients:

1. 4 Chicken Thighs, Bone In With Excess Fat Trimmed

2. 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, Ground Into A Paste

3. 1 Tablespoon Fresh Garlic, Ground Into A Paste (Fermented garlic works for this disk as well.)

Sauce Ingredients:

1. 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk, Full Fat or Low Fat

2. 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger, Ground Into A Paste

3. 1/2 Tablespoon Fresh Garlic, Ground Into A Paste (Fermented garlic works for this disk as well.)

Instructions

Red Paste:

1. Combine the red bell pepper, green onion, ginger, garlic, chilies, oil and salt in a food processor. Puree until smooth.

2. You can use your paste now or store in the fridge for up to 2 months as long as you do not introduce any moisture into the mixture.

Chicken:

1. Setup your sous vide machine and start it heating to 165 F / 73 C.

2. Put 3/4 cup of the paste for the chicken in a large bowl and set the remaining paste aside. Add the ground garlic and ginger and mix. Place the chicken in the bowl with your paste and coat completely. Make sure to loosen up the skin of the chicken with your fingers and massage some paste between the skin/meat.

3. If you have a vacuum sealer go ahead and vacuum seal 2 chicken thighs in a single layer. If you don't have a vacuum sealer don't worry. You can use gallon size zipper top bags and pushing out as much air as possible. You can do this part ahead of time and keep in the fridge to marinate overnight if desired. (If you do store your chicken in the fridge sit the chicken on the counter for 30 min to 1 hour to allow it come to room temperature.)

4. Place the sealed plastic bag(s) inside the hot water and cover with a lid. If you do not have a lid for the vessel you've chosen a big of plastic wrap, or tinfoil, will work perfectly fine. Allow to cook for 1 1/2 hours and remove the bags from the vessel.

5. Over a heat proof bowl, cut the top of your plastic bag and drain any juices from the chicken into the bowl. Place the chicken on a baking dish, cover and allow to rest while you prepare the sauce. Allow the chicken stock in the bowl to rest 1-2 minutes so any rendered fat from the chicken rises to the top. Using a spoon remove 1 tablespoon of the chicken fat and set side. The rest of the chicken fat can be discarded.

6. Move the top rack to the top of the oven. Then turn on your broiler on high and allow to come to temperature.

7. Uncover your chicken and place in the center of the rack and cook 4-8 minutes, rotating the pan half way, until the chicken skin to crisp and brown. Depending on your oven, it may not take the full 8 minutes.

Coconut Sauce:

1. In a medium skillet on medium high heat, add the chicken fat, remaining ground ginger and garlic paste(s) and saute for 1-2 minutes, or until it begins to brown. Pour in the coconut milk and cook until the oil in the coconut milk begins to separate from the solids. Add the 1 cup of the chicken stock while dragging your spoon on the bottom of your skillet to remove any fond from the bottom of your pan. Reduce the sauce by half, or until it reaches the desired level of thickness you desire. If you find the sauce is a little flat it's perfectly fine to add 1/2 teaspoon of chicken stock powder.

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#coconutmilk #CrispySkin #SousVide #Spicy

Braised Beef and Butternut Squash Curry – Multi-Cooker

I love curry! They’re amazingly easy to make, packed full of flavor and a great way to please a crowd in a hurry! Truth be told I love curry so much I’ve spent days researching the history of them. #NerdyLikeThat

One of the most surprising things I learned is curry dates back to at least 2000 BC to the ancient Indus Valley Civilizations. (Located in present day Pakistan. Which was part of India at the time.) As they migrated throughout the world the ingredients changed, but they all still use the same basic cooking techniques as they did in ancient times. I’ve wondered if these ancient people ever expected their style of cooking to be eaten by millions the world over?

When I started creating this recipe I had one goal… A quick, versatile dinner even when the idea of cooking makes my soul sad. Don’t have beef and/or butternut squash? Swap them out for chicken thighs and potatoes! Out of frozen vegetables? Use drained, canned vegetables instead! (Just add them at the end and simmer for 5 minutes.) Vegetarian? Swap out the beef for grilled paneer and the beef stock with water. The possibilities are endless and as long as you factor in basic cook times you’re golden!

Braised Beef and Butternut Squash Curry - Multi-Cooker

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients

1. 1 Lb Chuck Roast, Cut Into 1 1/2 Inch Cubes

2. 1/2 Lb Butternut Squash, Cut into 1 1/2 Inch Cubes

3. 8 Oz Yellow Onion, Finely Diced

4. 1 1/2 Cups Mixed Frozen Vegetable (Fresh vegetables if you prefer)

5. 8 Oz Full Fat Coconut Milk (Low fat would work as well.)

6. 1 Cup Beef Stock (Water is perfectly fine.)

7. 1 Tablespoon Ground Ginger

8. 1 Tablespoon Ground Garlic

9. 1/2 Tablespoon Turmeric Powder

10. 5 Fresh Curry Leaves (10 Frozen)

11. 1/2 Tablespoon Methi (Fenugreek) Seeds

12. 1/4 Inch Cinnamon Stick (About 3/4 Teaspoon Ground)

13. 3-4 Whole Cloves (About 1/2 Teaspoon Ground)

14. 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds

15. 2 Tablespoons Flavorless Cooking Oil

16. 2 Serrano Peppers, Finely Diced (Optional)

Instructions

1. Turn on your multi-cooker and set it to saute, or browning setting and allow to come to temperature.

2. Once the multi-cooker reaches temperature, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and brown the beef in small batches. Set the beef aside.

3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, turmeric powder and curry leaves along with the spices and allow to fry for about 1 minute. Add the onions, Serrano peppers and saute until browned. Pour in the beef stock and scrape the bottom of pot to release the fond.

4. Return the beef along with any juices to the pot with the onions and pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. Quick release the pressure.

5. Add the squash and 3/4 of the coconut milk to the pot and cook on high pressure for another 10 minutes. Allow the pressure to dissipate naturally.

6. Use the remaining 1/4 cup coconut milk to drizzle over the curry to garnish.

Did You Make This Recipe? Tag me on Instagram at @transchef.

#curry #multicooker #indian #BraisedBeef #coconutmilk

Roasted Eggplant (Aubergine) Vegan Curry

Growing up in rural North Florida in the 1980s no one we knew ate curry and vegetables always had meat, or meat byproduct (rendered pork fat, butter or stock), in them. So you could imagine my delight when I tried eggplant curry in San Francisco. I couldn’t get over how warm/spicy it was and absolutely floored when I discovered it was also vegetarian. As soon as I made it home the tablet came out and I spent the whole night researching how to make this dish. Over the years I’ve tweaked it to make it into a simple, easy to manage and vegan weeknight dinner that’s sure to perk up anyone’s mid-week blues.

Roasted Eggplant (Aubergine) Vegan Curry

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cooking Time: 30 Minutes

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 Lbs Aubergine (Eggplant), Sliced in half length ways from the top to bottom

2. 2 Small or 1 Large, Yellow Onions, Remove the stem end, but leave the root end intact, peeled and quartered

3. 2-3 Serrano Chili Pepper (Feel free to use your favorite fresh chili pepper.)

4. 8 Fresh Curry Leaves (Or 12 Frozen)

5. 6 Oz Canned, Whole Peeled Tomatoes (Ruffly Diced into 1/4 inch pieces.)

6. 1 Cup Water (Chicken, or Veggie, Stock would work as well.)

7. 1 Tablespoon Ginger/Garlic Paste (Equal parts ginger and garlic grated.)

8. 1/2 Tablespoon Turmeric Powder

9. 1/2 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika

10. 1 1/2 Tablespoons Garam Masala

11. 2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt

12. 2 Tablespoons Flavorless Cooking Oil

Instructions

1. Place your eggplant, onions and chilies on a sheet pan and place under your oven's broiler. Roast on high heat turning every 3-4 minutes until well chard. (The chilies peppers will become chard faster than your onions. So remove them about 1/2 way through the process.) Turn off the oven, remove the sheet pan and allow to cool enough to handle without the risk of burning yourself.

2. Dice the onions and tomatoes into a 1/4 inch dice and set aside.

3. Dice the chilies into a 1/8th inch dice and set aside.

4. Peel your egg plant and place the flesh on cutting board. Ruffly dice into a 1/4 inch bits and set aside. It's fine if you leave a little chard skin on your eggplant, but remove as much as possible.

5. In a medium size stock pot add your cooking oil, curry leaves, ginger/garlic paste and fry on medium high for 2 minutes.

6. Add the onions, 1/2 of the garam marsala along with 1 teaspoon of salt and saute until lightly brown on the edges.

7. Pour in the tomatoes, turmeric, paprika, and remaining salt with the eggplant and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until a nice fond appears (turns a medium brown) in the bottom of the pan.

8. Pour in the water and stir while scraping the bottom of the pan with your utensil until it's fully mixed. Simmer on medium high heat for 8-10 minutes, or until the curry tightens up. Add the remaining garam marsala stir to incorporate.

9. Serve over basmati rice, or naan bread, and enjoy!

Did You Make This Recipe?

How you went with my recipes? Tag me on Instagram at @transchef.

#Aubergine #curry #Eggplant #Roasted