Tag Archives: quick cooking

Recipe: Creole Chicken

Once upon a time, I hated cooking. I used to start pouting and grumbling around 4:00 pm every day while at work, just because I knew I would have to go home and cook a full Indian meal – roti, vegetable, dal. After about a year of sobbing my way through it, I finally told the husband I’d had enough. We hired a cook.

Then, about two years ago, I found myself in the kitchen again. Not on a daily basis. Just on the occasional weekend. And I never cooked a typical Indian meal. It was always the “exotic” – pasta, Italian main courses, Chinese…And I enjoyed it….and found that I was actually really good at it!

Creole ChickenThen, a couple of weeks ago, while grocery shopping, I found a bottle of Discovery Creole Season and Sauce. As I read the ingredients on the label, a recipe started forming itself in my head. I grabbed the bottle, ran to the vegetable counter to pick up some red and green peppers, and then dashed to the meat counter to pick up some chicken. I came home with a fully formed recipe in my head. And when I was done, I took a taste. And I was in heaven!

It’s easy, fairly quick, and it’s sure to go on your meal planner again and again! So, without further ado, I present to you: Creole chicken with boiled rice.Continue reading→

Express Prawn Paella

The hubs is out for the week, which means I have some “me” time. This is also my favorite time to cook, strangely. For one, I can eat the food that I like and the hubs hates. I can also experiment with new recipes and dishes without the hubs turning up his nose at the result and saying it the look of a particular dish doesn’t match his “mental image” of what it would like! I mean, honestly, have you heard of a stranger excuse for not trying new dishes?

One of the dishes I made was a dish I love – and the hubs, of course, doesn’t – an express prawn paella.

This recipe uses a non-traditional method – the pressure cooker – to come up with a meal in a jiffy. It may not be as elaborate as other, more traditional paella recipes, but the result is yummy! So, without further ado, here’s how you make…

Express Prawn Paella
Serves: 2
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 large tomato, skinned and diced
1 cup rice
250 gm shrimp, peeled and devenined – I use the frozen variety
3 cups chicken broth
¼ tsp saffron
¼ tsp ground cumin
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Salt
1-2 lemons

Method:

1) Thaw prawns; squeeze some lime juice on them, mix, set aside

2) In a pressure cooker, sauté the onion and bell pepper until the onion is tender.

3) Add the tomato and cook for 5 mins.

4) Add the rice and sauté until translucent.

5) Pour in the broth, shrimp, saffron, cumin, pepper and salt. Squeeze juice of half a lemon. Stir.

6) Close the pressure cooker, bring to high pressure on medium heat, and cook for another 3 mins.

7) Transfer to a serving dish, garnish with lemon wedges and serve!

quick-prawn-paella

Tip: Make sure you actually squeeze some lemon over the rice – it really brings out the flavor and tastes.

Bon Appétit!

Also see:
Soul food: Prawn rice

Linking up with Foodie Wednesday at Daily Organized Chaos.