Middle Eastern inspired Chicken and Rice!

            Many cultures seem to have inspired this dish in a typical American fashion.  The original recipe came from Frugalbites.com  and it is their own copy-cat recipe from this place in New York called the Halal Guys ("Halal" means permissible which further means food that follows Islamic food rules. For non-Islamic followers (like me) halal is important because it is the most humane way to slaughter an animal). Halal Guys is a New York landmark street food place and a must eat place if you are ever in New York...so I've been told! Hey, it's on my to-do list.  In the mean time, for a street food style flavor explosion of a dinner here is my slightly tweaked version of the meal!

You will need:

The whole meal is in three parts

For the Chicken:
1/2 a lemon juiced
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
Reduced sodium chicken broth
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (defrosted if frozen)

1.    In a bowl combine well the lemon, oregano, coriander, cumin and olive oil and set aside.  Spray down your slow cooker and place your chicken at the bottom, then poor over the seasoning dressing.  Lastly, poor in enough broth to cover the chicken.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours (Mine was done after 3, but my crock runs hot). Remove from juices, shred and set aside: keep warm.

Cook.

Shred.

For the Sauce:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1+ tsp of sugar
2 Tbs vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
Salt and Pepper to taste

2.   While the chicken is cooking, combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl; do a taste test, if it's too sour add more sugar, and if too sweet add more lemon. Set in the fridge to allow flavors to marry. The longer it sits, the better it gets!

White sauce: so good!

For the Rice:
2 Tbs butter, divided
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
1 1/2 cups white rice
2 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

3.    40 minutes prior to the chicken finishing in the crock pot, begin your rice.  Dice and saute the onion in 1 Tbs of butter over medium heat until translucent.  Add the other Tbs of butter, let melt and then add the rice, turmeric and cumin and saute until it starts to slightly brown, about 5-ish minutes.  The rice will be a nice dark golden color from the cooking and turmeric. Lastly, add in the chicken broth, bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed. Try not to stir the rice too much while cooking (once or twice), removing the lid allows moisture to escape. Fluff rice when done.

This rice tastes amazing on it's own!

4.    Throw it all on a plate!  Serve with shredded lettuce, diced tomato, chopped Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped green onion and a side of naan bread slices. You can use pita bread but I find it hard to get really good, non- "pocket style" pita bread. Naan is an Indian style flat bread and is a delicious pairing with this dish! As you eat make little sandwiches or mix it all together on your plate, it's all delicious when topped with the white sauce!

I know that I've posted a lot of recipes lately and a wide verity at that. 

I believe to truly experience different cultures you must try the food!  

You can understand a lot about people through their food.

Please post comments and thoughts below!

Enjoy guys and Happy Cooking!

Inspired Tacos de Bistec: Steak Street Tacos!

I am not Mexican.  

Few, got that out of the way!  

So I may not be Mexican but my taste buds wish I was and my loco cooking skills are trying really hard to be!  I promised something tasty to put those yummy pickled onions on top of and here it is!

Tacos de Bistec!

They're steak street tacos and inspired by my trip to the food truck park.  These little tacos embrace everything that Mexican food means to me: simple, fresh and flavorful: YUM!

Lets go!:

Tacos De Bistec: Steak Street Tacos:

Ingredients:

2-ish lbs sirloin or ribeye steak, cut into thin, small cubes

½ tsp Adolph’s meat tenderizer

½ One lime, juiced

½ cup diced yellow onion

½ tsp Cumin

Corn Tortillas, store bought (anything that says local, fresh, handmade) or home made (like I said, I'm not Mexican)

Toppings:

Cilantro

Pickled Red Onion

Avocado

Sour Cream or Mexican Crema

Lime wedges, if desired

Choice of salsa (I used salsa verde)

DIRECTIONS:

1.   Cut steak into thin strips, cube the steak and place in a bowl.  Combine with diced yellow onion, fresh lime juice, cumin and Adolphs.  Let marinate at room temp for 15 minutes.

2.       Cook steak in skillet on medium heat until all the juices that accumulate have evaporated, 12-15 minutes. Set to the side, keep warm.

3.       Warm tortillas on a skillet per package directions, usually 20-30 seconds per side.

4.       Layer sour cream, avocado, steak, salsa, pickled onion and cilantro. Makes 8 tacos

Serve with lime wedges and ENJOY!

Inspired: Pickled Onions!

     So my hubby and I actually got to go out on a date the other night and we decided to enjoy our time together at a food truck park.  They had a bar and a bunch of different trucks and no children: fantastic!  We sampled everything but one of our favorites were this Moroccan style truck and a taco truck.  They were AMAZING and inspired me to try making some new food!

First up: Pickled Onions!  

         I know this sounds odd and how in the world could I be inspired to make this?!  WELL.  The Moroccan style truck specialized in freakin' Moroccan inspired  TACOS!  These deliciously different tacos were topped with none other than pickled onions.  The whole taco-thing was great, but it was compiled of many different crafted components and I figured this one was easiest enough to try on my own.

Let me preface this with I'VE NEVER PICKLED ANYTHING IN MY LIFE.

Ok? Right, let's begin!

Ingredients:

- 1/2 tsp. Salt

- 1/2 tsp. pepper Pepper

- 1/4 tsp Oregano

- 1 Tbs. Minced Garlic (about 3 minced cloves)

-Distilled white vinegar

-  Medium sized Red Onion

-Bowl and mason jar

1. Slice the onion VERY thin.  If you have a cutting mandolin use it!

2. Combine all ingredients except vinegar. Make sure onions are covered well with spices. *NOTE: all spice amounts are approximate, I kind of just throw it in there!*

3. Stuff the onions in your mason jar and slowly cover with vinegar until all of the onions are submerged.

4.  Let sit in the back of your fridge for a week!  Boom: pickled onions! Easy right?!

Now, this recipe is a combination of a few different pickled onion recipes I research.  I took my favorite components to come up with it so if you decide to change something, go for it: that's what cooking is all about!  Some recipes called for whole spices so they wouldn't come out with the onions after pickling, but I actually like the spice bits floating around.  That, and the spices mostly (but not all) settle to the bottom after a week anyway. 

Please leave any comments or questions below, I'd love to hear them!

Happy Pickling!

Oh and stay tuned to see what we put them on!