Chicken stir fry with Yellow Capsicum

A simple rice dish paired with a semi-gravy, almost stir-fry like dish is one of my favorite ways to enjoy a quick weeknight meal. I cook mostly vegetarians side dishes at home to pair along with rice on weekdays and try to limit eating non-veg to weekends but Manish and my little boy are chicken and fish lovers. Manish feels if he eats only veg meals two days in a row then he's on a diet :-P I donno how lil'Appu feels but he ceratinly doesn't eat his food as fast as how he does when he is served fish or chicken :-)

Anyways this dish was one of my quick experiments on a weeknight when I felt it would be good have some chicken and also make use of the lone Yellow Capsicum that got lost in the wee corners of the vegetable tray in my fridge :-) The dish pairs very well with simple Jeera Rice or plain white Basmati rice.

It's an Indianized stir fry, no soy sauce or ketchup or deep frying the chicken. I just used our regular masalas and cooked the dish without extra water and added the capsicum at the end after turning off the heat. The capsicum cooks slightly with the heat from the dish but still stays crunchy.  

It was the first time I'm trying a yellow capsicum, I've only tried the regular Green and Red variety. I must say I really liked the flavor of the capsicum which was slightly sweet yet not too overpowering. And not to mention the beautiful color it adds to the dish.

I used boneless and skinless Chicken thigh meat cut into small cubes. They cook quickly and stays soft and juicy once cooked. No extra water is added for the gravy. The dish is mildly spiced and is not overly spicy so it was perfect even for my 3½ year old to chomp down with the flavorful rice. 

Chicken stir fry with Yellow Capsicum

You’ll Need

2 or 3 Boneless skinless Chicken Thigh meat (cut into small cubes)

1 Large Red Onion , cut into large squares

1 Roma Tomato, cut into cubes

1 Tablespoon fresh Ginger –Garlic paste

2-3 Green chillies, slit lenghtwise

1 Yellow Capsicum , cut into cubes

½ teaspoon Turmeric powder

1 teaspoon Red chilli powder

2 teaspoons Corriander powder

1 teaspoon Garam masala powder

Salt to taste

Handful of Corriander leaves , for garnish

For tempering

1 Tablespoon Oil (I use Oilve oil)

1 teaspoon Mustard seeds

1 teaspoon Fennel seeds

2 Dry Red chillies

1 sprig Curry leaves

Directions

1.In a large pan, heat the oil and crack the mustard seeds. Then add the fennel seeds. Finally add the dry red chillies and curry leaves.

2. Add the ginger-garlic paste, red onions and green chillies and saute for 2 minutes.
3. Then add the spice powders : turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala. Roast the masala spices and then add cubed tomato. 
4. Finally add in the cubed chicken pieces, give everything a stir, add enough salt, cover the pan with a lid and cook on medium-low heat until chicken is fully cooked through.

3. Once the chicken is cooked, take off the lid and cook on medium heat until gravy thickens. Once desired gravy consistency is achieved add the yellow capsicum, give it a good stir and turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Rice ( I served it with spiced Jeera rice)

-Manju 

Chicken Salad Pinwheels

We love Chicken Salad sandwiches at home, including my little 3 yr old. My younger sister, Maya is an ardent fan of chicken salad sandwiches and I must say she's the gal who introduced my family to this creamy and yumm sandwich when we were kids :-) 

I had absolutely no interest at all in cooking when I was a teenager….hehe.  Maya used to be the food experimenter at home, I preferred to be the taste-tester and mummy used to reluctantly agree to her wishes of trying something new now and then. She happened to eat a chicken salad sandwich from a friend’s house one day, got the recipe from the friend’s mom and instantly wanted to try it at home as it seemed very easy. She must have been in 6^th grade then.

We did not even know this sandwich was called chicken salad sandwich back then. Maya’s sandwich recipe was simple, it had chicken pieces that was boiled in water with ginger-garlic paste, salt n pepper and pulled apart, grated carrots, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, but it was the tastiest sandwich we had ever eaten. 
Creamy, chunky and really good.  Every time daddy brought home chicken to make chicken curry we would reserve a few pieces to make our favorite chicken sandwich and I happily helped her while she made it ;-)

I learnt how to make chicken salad sandwich the way it's made here in the US after watching it on some show on Food Network. Along with cubed chicken and mayonnaise, celery, cranberries, walnuts or even grapes, herbs like dill or cilantro or parsley, sometimes even a dash of hot sauce is added in the mix and it's usually served cold.  I've tried it several times at home and must say Manish & I very much enjoy it every time and of-late our lilAppu too.

These sandwich pinwheels were just a fun idea of mine one day after I came back home from work. It was a long day and I needed to rejuvenate myself. My favorite way to de-stress is try out something new in the kitchen...lol! I decided to make chicken salad sandwiches as that would keep me busy for a while, but then while taking out the bread I thought why not roll out the bread with a rolling pin, add the chicken salad and cut them into 1” sized pieces.

Turned out to be a fun dinner and lil’Appu and Manish totally enjoyed it and had no clue how many sandwiches they actually ate that night in the form of pinwheels  ;-) I did not trim out the crust of the bread, but you can for a better presentation and I've used whole wheat bread.

This is a fun idea for a tea-party or as an appetizer for any gathering.  Serve it cold or at room temperature. I love adding walnuts and dried cranberries for extra crunch and flavor but was out of those the day I made these, but I’ve included that in the recipe below which is how I usually always make.

You can even use tortilla or chapatis for filling the chicken salad in and roll them up and cut into pinwheels. Stick a toothpick at the end to hold it together and serve as appetizers. Bread easily sticks together at the end.

Chicken Salad Sandwich
Makes 2-3 regular sandwiches or 3 pinwheels per slice of bread ;-)

You’ll Need

2 cups boiled and diced or shredded Chicken

2 celery stalks (chopped)

½ of a Red Onion or White Onion (minced into small pieces)

¼ cup walnuts

¼ cup dried cranberries

1 Tblsp of finely chopped Cilantro or Dill leaves

1 cup Mayonnaise

½ cup thick Yogurt or Sour cream

2 Tblsp Lemon juice

Salt – to taste

Fresh ground black pepper – to taste

Red chilli powder or Paprika or Cayenne Pepper or Hot sauce – a pinch or a dash for flavor

Sandwich Bread – toasted or not as needed

Directions

1. Boil the chicken pieces (leg, thigh or breast pieces) in  water enough to immerse the pieces. Add salt and pepper and cook until the chicken is bone tender and pulls apart easily. (Occasionally I also add fresh grated ginger-garlic while boiling for more flavor)

2. In a large bowl, mix together all the other ingredients : celery, onion, walnuts, dried cranberries, cilantro/dill, mayonnaise, yogurt/sour cream, chilli powder/hot sauce and lemon juice.

3. Toss in the chicken pieces once cooled and mix everything together, add more salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste and refrigerate until the flavor sets, about 2 hrs.

For the pinwheels

1. Take a slice of bread, roll it out with a rolling pin to become thinner.

2. Spread the chicken salad on top, roll the bread slice, trim off the ends (or not) and cut into 1” thick pieces. Enjoy!

For a basic chicken salad sandwich

Serve on artisan bread or regular sandwich bread  with some lettuce and sliced tomatoes with the chicken salad spread on top, make a sandwich and enjoy with some chips and a pickle.

Notes:

1. The Chicken can be boiled in chicken broth if preferred.
2. I like to use bone-in chicken as it has more flavor and pulls apart easily. If using only chicken breasts cut into small cubes.
3. Some recipes include adding Dijon mustard paste either in the chicken salad or on the bread slice , but that's your choice.
4. You can even use Rotisserie chicken.

It's a super easy recipe and trust me kids will love it as it is creamy and not spicy. I had included chicken salad sandwiches as appetizer for Appu's Dino b'day party in the shape of dinosaurs ;-) The kids loved it and it was all gone... For more flavor I spread a little ketchup on one slice, chicken salad on the other and sandwiched them up and cut into dino shapes :)

-Manju