Unique Chicken Recipes

Chicken we eat it all the time and most of us could use some new ways to spice things up in the kitchen with our native meat of choice.

So, here we will post delicious new and interesting ways to have our favorite meat the chicken. Will be updated frequently.

First up!

Maple mustard Chicken

Ingredients:

4-6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

1/2 cup of maple syrup

1/3 cup of stone ground mustard

2 Tbsp quick cooking tapioca

Instructions:

Spray a shallow cooking pan with cooking spray and place chicken breast inside. In a bowl combine, maple syrup, mustard, and tapioca, pour over chicken. Bake for 45 mins to 1 hour and serve with rice, quinoa, or even mashed potatoes.

Slow Cooker Asian Glazed Chicken

Ingredients:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

4 teaspoons sugar

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce* (more of less, depending on how hot you like it)

1/2 cup water

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons green onions, finely chopped

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Instructions:

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken in crock pot. Combine soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, sugar, garlic, ginger, hot sauce, and 1/2 cup water in a bowl and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours OR high for 3-4 hours. Once done cooking, pull chicken out and place on large plate. Mix together cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and pour into remaining liquid in the slow cooker. Turn heat to high (if it wasn’t already) and cook for another 15 minutes (or until sauce thickens a little bit). Shred chicken and add back into liquid in slow cooker. Serve over rice, topped with green onions and sesame seeds.

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

3 pounds chicken thighs

2 cups soy sauce, If using Kikoman's, make sure its low sodium

2 cups water

1½ cups brown sugar

1 bunch green onions, reserve some for garnish later

¼ cup sweet onion, finely chopped

½ tsp. garlic, minced

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk

Instructions:

Trim chicken of any fat. For chicken breasts, since they are thicker, I poke them with a fork all over so the marinade can soak in. In a large bowl, mix soy sauce, water, brown sugar, onions, garlic, sesame oil, and coconut milk. Pour marinade over chicken and marinate for at least four hours, overnight is preferred. (for chicken breasts, I would definitely say over night is best to ensure the flavor is greatly absorbed) Grill chicken until chicken is cooked through, switching sides half way through. It is delicious over coconut rice, garnished with green onions and any additional soy sauce if needed! To make coconut rice: Replace half of the water in your rice recipe with coconut milk.

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 tbsp (30 mL) all purpose flour

1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt

1/4 tsp (1 mL) pepper

2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 sweet green pepper, chopped

1 tsp (5 mL) dried Italian herb seasoning

1 28 oz can (796 mL can) diced tomatoes

1/2 cup (125 mL) sodium-reduced chicken stock

1/3 cup (75 mL) tomato paste

2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

Toss chicken with flour, salt and pepper. In large shallow Dutch oven, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat; brown chicken, in batches and adding some of the oil if necessary. Transfer to plate. Drain fat from pan.

Heat remaining oil in pan over medium heat; fry onion, garlic, green pepper and Italian seasoning until tender, 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, stock and tomato paste; bring to boil.

Return chicken and any juices to pan; reduce heat and simmer until thickened and juice run clear when chicken is pierced, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley.

Caribbean Food Series (Rice Dishes)

Caribbean Food is notably the most highly spiced and flavorful food in the world. It tickles every taste bud and leaves you wanting more every time. Every Island has a signature dish and a special touch that they place on the not so signature ones that make it unique to it's culture and people.

Let's explore every island and their diverse palette and dive into some delicious cuisine shall we, as we seek to diversify the meals on the international table with some Island flavored recipes.

Today, we shall explore rice dishes as the Caribbean has a number of spectacular ones from each island. Each dish was of some influence to the natives that inhabited the island, whether it be the Chinese, the Africans (whether Nigeria or Ghanaian) or even the Spanish settlers.

• Fried Rice or Vegetable rice (as known by some)

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice (see note below)

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup diced carrot

2 scallions

1/2 cup diced bell pepper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1/2 teaspoon grated ginger

2 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 large onion diced

3/4 teaspoon salt (optional) as per individual taste

1/2 cup diced celery

The first thing we need to do is to chop and cube all the vegetables we’ll be using in the vegetable fried rice. Try to keep the pieces uniform in size to allow for even cooking and try not to be too big as we need everything to cook fast.

Heat the vegetable oil on a med/high heat is a wide pan, then add the crushed garlic and ginger and stir for 2-3 minutes to release all the flavors so as to properly infused the fried rice with tons of flavor. Then add the diced carrots and allow to cook for a few minutes.

Add all the other vegetables after the carrots have cooked for a few minutes and stir, allowing to cook for a few more minutes. Follow up with the soy sauce and sesame oil and the rice.

NB: When pre-cooking rice, it is important to not cook all the way, only cook 75% of the way then take it off and run under cold water in order to separate the grains and keep them that way.

At this point the salt could be added to taste. Please keep in mind that the soy sauce does contain salt so add a little at a time, tasting as you go.

Serves: 3-4 people

• Chicken Pelau

Ingredients

• 2 – 2 ½ lbs. mixed chicken pieces or legs and thigh, cut up and rinse with lime juice
• 2 limes, juiced
• ¼ cup green seasoning
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 plum tomato, chopped
• 1 medium size carrot, diced
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced/chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced/chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, DE-stemmed or leave whole
• 4 pimento flavoring peppers, chopped, optional
• 2 cups frozen pigeon peas, boiled for 15 minutes
• 2 cups parboiled long grain rice
• 2 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoon brown or white sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 cups hot water
• 4 sprigs parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ketchup
• 2 packs chicken or vegetable bouillon
• 1 tablespoon cooking margarine (golden ray) optional
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper, optional   

Season chicken with green seasoning salt and black pepper for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight. Add onions, tomatoes, carrot, bell peppers, pimento peppers, celery and thyme to marinated chicken, set aside.

Caramelizing or Browning the Sugar and making the Pelau
Heat a large pot on high heat, add oil and heat for about 2 minutes .Add the sugar, DO NOT STIR! At least not yet. Allow the sugar to melt until it starts to get brown around some of the edges. It should start getting light brown in color, and going from liquid too almost frothy and bubbly in less than a minute . The entire browning process, should take at least 2 - 3 minutes or so. Start adding the seasoned chicken a few pieces at a time, stir constantly to ensure all the pieces get coated evenly with the caramelized/burnt sugar.

DO NOT ADD THE SEASONINGS FROM THE BOWL, AT LEAST NOT YET. Save the seasonings, YOU WILL BE USING IT SHORTLY. After adding all the chicken pieces cover the pot and allow to cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes

Open pot lid, turn up the heat for about 3 – 5 minutes so as to allow the chicken to get A NICE AND FINAL brown color, STIR!

Add any seasonings that was left over from the marinated chicken bowl, Stir.
Add the drained cooked pigeon peas, Stir. Cover Pot with lid for 5 more minutes
While chicken is cooking, rinse rice in warm water about 3 - 4 times and drain.
Add rice to pot and stir. Add golden ray butter if using, bouillon seasoning, ketchup, coconut milk, STIR!
Add water and mix together. Cook on high uncovered for 2-3 minutes.
Add the whole scotch bonnet pepper, ONLY IF YOU LIKE AND IS USING HOT PEPPER
Turn heat to very low, cover pot and simmer for about 30 – 35 minutes, checking periodically to ensure it's not sticking to the bottom of the pot, Taste and adjust seasoning if you need too.
After you turn the heat off, add the parsley and mix in with your pelau.

Just keep in mind your liquid should be about an inch or so above your rice, the trick here is to allow your pelau to simmer on very low! You can also use canned pigeon peas, if you use the can, there is no need to boil before use. If you can get the fresh peas, even better, just follow the same directions as for the frozen.

Enjoy eating pelau with a cucumber salad, coleslaw, avocado and/or pepper sauce. 

• Coconut Rice

Ingredients

3 cups of coconut milk

1 Bay Leaf

1 Tsp of Garlic

1 1/2 cups of rice

1/2 cup of raisins 

1 onion

salt  (as per taste)

black pepper (optional/as per taste)

1/2 teaspoon thyme 

1 tablespoon parsley

1/2 cup cashews

Coconut Flakes (optional)

Chop the scallion, parsley,garlic, and thyme, Put everything (minus half of the coconut flakes) into a pot with the rice, pour in the coconut milk and cook.