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Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Ethnic tastes

By Lindsey Nair

plateup.roanoke.com

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Fridge Magnet blog

Chicken mole
  • 1 tsp. olive oil
  • 1 cup thinly sliced onion
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 stemmed, dried, seeded ancho chilies, torn into 2-inch pieces (about 1/4 cup)
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped tomato
  • 1/4 cup golden raisins
  • 3 Tbsps. sliced almonds, toasted
  • 3 (12-inch-by-2-inch) orange rind strips
  • 3/4 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs or breasts
  • 1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes or until almost tender. Combine cumin, coriander and cinnamon in a small bowl; sprinkle over onion in pan. Cook 1 minute. Add chilies and garlic to pan; cook 2 minutes or until chilies soften. Add broth and next 4 ingredients (through rind) to pan; bring to a boil. Add chicken to pan; cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken from pan; shred with 2 forks. Set aside.

Add chocolate to chili mixture; let stand until melted. Using an immersion blender in pan, puree the chocolate mixture until smooth (lacking that tool, use your regular blender).

Cook over medium heat 20 minutes or until reduced to 3 12 cups. Add shredded chicken to sauce; stir in salt and pepper. Yields 6 servings. Serve over yellow rice and top with chopped raw onions.

Roberta Rodriguez wouldn’t give us her recipe for mole — a trade secret, she said — but I spotted this in Cooking Light and, mole freak that I am, clipped it immediately. Gotta love a dish that has both spicy chilies AND chocolate.

— Adapted from Cooking Light

Chorizo (Mexican Sausage)

  • 2 pounds ground pork
  • 3 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 6 Tbsp. pure ground red chili
  • 6-20 small hot dried red chilies (Thai dragon, pico de gallo or the like, crushed)
  • 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 Tbsp. dry leaf oregano
  • 2 tsp. whole cumin seed, crushed
  • 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • 4 Tbsp. cider or wine vinegar
  • 2 1/2 Tbsp. water

In a bowl, break up the meat, and sprinkle the rest of the ingredients on top, cutting in with two forks until evenly mixed, then knead a bit with your hands until well mixed. Wrap and let season for a few days in your refrigerator, then wrap into small packages and freeze, thawing as needed.

My sister, an Ohioan via Chula Vista, Calif., wowed me with this from-just-above-the-border dish during a recent visit. She uses it in fajitas and huevos rancheros.

— Terry Vigus

Thai Red Curry with Chicken and Yard-Long Beans

  • Thai basil, to taste
  • 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 5 to 6 yard long beans
  • 2 to 3 Kaffir lime leaves
  • 3 to 4 large chilies
  • 1 to 2 Tbsps. red curry paste
  • 2 Tbsps. peanut oil
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • Fish sauce, to taste
  • Sugar, to taste

Set basil leaves soaking in water. Cut chicken breast and beans into bite-sized pieces. Rull up lime leaves and slice into thin strips.

Thinly slice chilies. Saute curry paste in oil until full aroma is released. Add beans, lime leaves and chicken, and brown. Add stock and season with desired balance of fish sauce and sugar. Add chilies (to taste).

Before serving, drain basil leaves and mix into curry. A friend gave me this simple and plenty-hot recipe years ago, the original source of which is no longer legible on my curry-stained copy. All the Thai ingredients — even fresh basil in the off-season — can be purchased at the Oriental Market, 3637 Williamson Rd.

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