Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Hello All,

Well it has been four years and this recipe was always planned to be next and now here it is!  Just four years late.... Oh well!  This recipe has been a big hit with friends and family, so hopefully it was worth the four year wait.

...

As promised I was working on a Jamaican jerk recipe to go with the Jamaican rice and peas recipe.  Life got a little busy but I am back!  Jerk chicken is a staple of Jamaican cuisine.  Jerk chicken is spicy, with most of the heat coming from allspice, black pepper, and Scotch bonnet peppers.  Jerk chicken is traditionally slow roasted in fire pits in the ground.  I cooked this batch of jerk chicken in the oven, because I was in between barbecues  I will include what I do when I use the Traeger, so that you all get an even smokier flavor for your jerk chicken!

Jerk cooking is influenced by many different cultures.  The style originated with the native Taino and Arawak people of Jamaica.  The work "jerk" comes from the Incan borrowed Spanish word charqui, which means dried strips of meat.  This is also where the English work jerky comes from.  In the 1700s escaped former slaves, called the Maroons.  Many of the Maroons lived and intermarried with the Native Jamaicans. They used this style of cooking to preserve wild boar on other meats, when living in the mountains and hiding from their captors.  Overtime the style of cooking incorporated other types of meat and became less drying meat to preserve it and more about getting nice, slow cooked, juicy meat!  In Jamaica green pimento wood is used to get the smoky flavor.

Josh's Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Ingredients (Serves around 4-6):

• About 3 lbs of bone in chicken meat.  I did 12 drumsticks.
• 1/2 onion, preferably white
• 3 green onion
• 2-3 scotch bonnet peppers (or habanero)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 lime
• 2 tablespoon of oil (your choice.  I use olive)
• 1 tablespoon of vinegar
• 3 tablespoon of soy sauce
• juice from half an orange
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of grated ginger
• 4 tablespoons of dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon of ground allspice
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Veggies that go into the marinade

Directions:

1. Roughly chop up vegetables and put into the blender.  There is nothing special about chopping the vegetables, just make sure that your blender can handle the size of the pieces.
2.  Blend ingredients until smooth.  The consistency should be relatively smooth but doesn't have to be liquid smooth, just no rough chunks. 
    
3. Poke the chicken with a fork.  This is known as "jerking" the chicken.
4. Marinate chicken for 2 to 24 hours.   Bag up the chicken. Put in fridge. When you go more than 24 hours when marinating chicken starts to break down and gets soft.
   
5. Take chicken out of fridge and set on the counter for an hour. 
   
6. Smoke for 15 to 30 min if using a wood pellet bbq or smoker.  Skip this if you are using the oven.  
7. Set oven or bbq at 300 to 350 degrees.  This is your choice.  I like 300 degrees.  Jerk chicken is traditionally cooked low and slow, but if you want to raise the temp to 350 degrees, that would work as well too. If its the weekend and you have all day, feel free to go even lower!. I usually do the chicken on the Traeger, but the day I took these pictures I did it in the oven.  A wood pellet or charcoal bbq will always have a better flavor than the oven when it comes to chicken, but I was in between barbeques, the time I took the pictures, so I had to use the oven. 
8. Cook chicken to 165 degrees.  This will take about 80 to 90 minutes at 300 degrees and around 60 minutes at 350 degrees. I turn the chicken over halfway through and brush on a little extra marinade.
   
9. Let chicken rest for 5-10 minutes and then eat!  Always let meat rest, it helps keep the juices in.

   

   Jerk Chicken with my Rice and Peas, and a Caribbean slaw

Sources:

https://kitchenproject.com/history/JerkChicken/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/jerk-chicken

http://www.jjcjerk.com/history-of-jerk

http://www.jerkhill.com/history.htm

Panang Curry พะแนง (Kaeng Phenaeng)

Hello Readers,

This is probably my favorite Thai curry.  It is richer and milder than most Thai curries but there is still some kick in there.  Like red curry, panang curry is most popular in the central plains region of Thailand, around Bangkok. The history of panang curry is one that is debatable and I have seen conflicting sources on the internet with some saying it came from Malaysia or Laos, while others saying that it originated in Thailand itself.  Overall, I would say that the origin of panang curry is acknowledged to be unknown.  As much as I love finding the exact origins of a dish, I love the mystery of not knowing also.  It makes a nation's cuisine unique and its own.

I decided to do this curry because I had ingredients from last week's recipe that needed to be used up.  I always seem to have left over ingredients after cooking a dish, and in an attempt to use up those ingredients, I end up with even more left over ones.  Any one else seem to run into that endless loop?  This recipe again comes from our friends at Temple of Thai.  I follow this recipe pretty closely, only making a few changes.  There are not very many steps to this curry, so I think it is something that all of you can easily enjoy at home!

Josh's Panang Curry

Ingredients (Serves about 4):

• 1 19 oz can of thick coconut milk
• 4 tablespoons of panang curry paste
• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in thin strips (roughly 1 to 1 1/2 lbs)
• 7 finely chopped kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tablespoons of palm sugar
• 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 1 1/2 cups of Thai basil
• 3 tablespoons of chopped peanuts

Directions:

1. Pour 1 cup (8 oz) of thick coconut milk into a large pan.  Stir on medium heat until some of the coconut oil begins to separate.  The coconut milk used in this recipe is much thicker and richer than what I used in red curry recipe.  The can's label might identify the coconut milk as think but if it doesn't, look at the nutrition guide on the back.  The milk should be around 150 calories for a 1/3 of a cup (80 grams).  I use 19 oz because that is the size of the can.  Really, with this recipe you can use anywhere from 15 to 20 oz.

   

   The thick coconut milk and curry paste that I use

2. Add 4 tablespoons of panang curry paste.  Stir for about 3 minutes.  The mixture that this creates should be a little bit more on the pasty side, kind of like gravy.

   

   Milk and curry paste mix should have a gravy-like consistency

3. Add strips of chicken breast and finely chopped lime leaves.  Stir until outside of chicken is cooked.  The original recipe calls for the lime leaves to be added later but I love the taste and fragrance that they give off, so I add them earlier.  The chicken doesn't need to be all the way cooked yet, but you should make sure most of the outside is cooked.  No one likes raw chicken.

   

   Chicken and curry mixture

   

   Lime leaves

   

   Chopped up lime leaves and Thai basil that will be use later

4. Add remaining coconut milk.  Bring to a boil on medium.  Once the milk come to a boil all the chicken will be fully cooked.
   
5. Add 2 tablespoons each of palm sugar and fish sauce.  The palm sugar adds a nice amount of sweetness and the fish sauce adds a savory and salty flavor.  If you don't have palm sugar, brown sugar is a good alternative.
   
6. Turn off stove and add 1 1/2 cups of Thai basil and 3 tablespoons of chopped peanuts.  The peanuts are option but I love that little crunch they give.  The original recipe called for only 1/2 a cup of Thai basil, but you guys all know how much I love basil!

   

   Add in the basil!

   

   Stir in the basil!

7. Plate on dish with a side of jasmine rice and eat!   This curry doesn't need to be plated in a bowl.  With a thicker consistency, a plate it the way to go!

Yum!

This dish is quite a bit easier to make than the red curry recipe I did last week.  I hope you all get a chance to try out this recipe this weekend.  Leave me a comment so I know how it went for you! Enjoy!

Josh

Sources:

http://www.templeofthai.com/recipes/panang-curry.php

http://highheelgourmet.com/2013/09/29/authentic-thai-panang-curry/

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/education/thai-curries-a-guide/c27601.aspx

http://www.templeofthai.com/cooking/types-thai-curry-regional.php

Restaurant Style Salsa Roja

Hello Readers,

A staple of mine to bring to parties and get-togethers is my restaurant style salsa.  I have been asked many times for the recipe, so I figured that this would be a great side dish to add to the blog!  Many people don't know that salsa is Spanish for sauce.  Technically I think this salsa would be classified as Salsa Roja (red sauce) but someone from Mexico would know better and probably disagree with me.  haha.  Traditional salsa is made with a molcajete (mortar and pestle) but I will be making mine with a food processor.

Modern vs Traditional

Salsa has a complex history that combines many cultures together.  The main ingredients (tomatoes and peppers) come from Mexico and were domesticated by the Mayans and Aztecs.  According to documents from Spanish conquistadors, the Aztecs were eating a salsa that was made of peppers, tomatoes, and squash seeds.  Its was eaten on meat as a condiment.    The onion, garlic, cilantro, and cumin, that are also used in salsa roja were domesticated in the eastern hemisphere.  Interestingly enough onion and garlic were domesticated by the Egyptians and were staples of their diet; making salsa somewhat a merger of the three most famous pyramid civilizations' cuisines.   Through the Colombian Exchange, the eastern hemisphere ingredients made their way over to the Americas, making salsa what we know it as today.  The popularity of salsa has exploded in the United States and since 1991 has been the number one selling condiment in the country.

Mesoamerican Civilizations

My salsa recipe is based off a recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  I made a few tweaks to it, mainly more spices and less tomato.  You can always modify the recipe to fit your palate.  Enjoy!

Josh's Restaurant Style Salsa Roja

Ingredients (Makes about 6 Cups)

• 1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes
• 2 10 oz cans of Rotel
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1/2 of a white onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 jalapeno
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of cumin

Directions:

1. Open canned tomatoes and Rotel.  Drain well.  I know it seems like cheating but Rotel adds a bit of spice and just a hint of a vinegary taste.  It works well with this recipe.  If you don't want to use Rotel, I would probably use canned tomatoes and jalapeno to replace it.  
2. Chop up onion, cilantro, garlic and jalapenos into small pieces.  You want to make sure that these are not too big.  If they are too big the food processor might not chop the salsa finely enough.  When it comes to the cilantro I just cut off the part that is pure stem.  The rest I keep.  If you want your salsa a little more spicy, keep the seeds and membrane with the jalapeno, if not then remove the insides.  The original recipe calls for less cilantro and only a 1/4 onion, but I am a cilantro and onion fiend and have only gotten back good feedback with the amount I put in.  White onion is preferable over yellow because of the way the it blends with the other flavors.  If you only have yellow onion it will work out fine though.
   
   

   

   What I remove from the cilantro bunch.

   
   

   

   Be sure to chop up small!

   
   

   

   Keep the seeds and membrane if you want it spicy!

3. Put canned and chopped up ingredients into food processor.  Can't fit it all in your food processor?  That is ok!  My food processor is 3 1/2 cups so I just blend the salsa in four rounds and mix all up in the end.  It will still taste the same.
4. Add the juice of lime, salt, sugar, and cumin to food processor.  Mix on "chop" setting for 15-30 seconds until finely chopped.   In this recipe you don't want any big chunks, but you don't want it all mushy either.  Just keep an eye on it and and stop when it is the consistency you want.  The original recipe that I am working off of calls for only a 1/4 tsp of each of the spices.  I really enjoy the flavors they bring to the salsa though and feel like at 1/2 tsp each they enhance the salsa without overwhelming it.
   
   

   

   Done!

5. Chill in refrigerator over night or eat right away with any dish of your choice!  The flavors of the salsa blend together much better if it sits over night.  If you don't have time for that it is ok though.  At home I love eating this salsa on tacos or in a breakfast burrito.  If I am going to a party, I always make sure to accompany the salsa with a bag of Juanita's tortilla chips.

I hope you get to try this recipe soon.  If you have any questions about the recipe, or feedback to give, please feel free to do so in the comments below.  Happy eating!

Josh

Sources:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/restaurant-style-salsa/

http://www.streetdirectory.com/food_editorials/snacks/dips_and_sauces/history_of_salsa_sauce_the_mexican_connection.html

http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/salsas/history-of-salsa.asp

http://www.onions-usa.org/all-about-onions/history-of-onions

http://www.gillsonions.com/history

http://www.allicinfacts.com/garlic-history/

Thai Red Curry แกงเผ็ด (Kaeng Phet)

Hello All,

So I have been on a ridiculous curry kick the past month or so.  It is a comfort food but with a fresh and healthy twist.  A win-win if you ask me.  Over the past few weeks I have tried out green, panang, and yellow curry recipes, and this week I thought I would take on red curry.  I hadn't cooked this kind of curry before but I thought that this blog would be a good example of what goes through my mind when I tackle a new dish.  If you are a fan of the other curries, don't worry, I will blog about them soon enough.  Red curry has a spicy herbal fragrance and taste, and has more of a soup like consistency than other curries.  It is most popular in central plains region of Thailand, around Bangkok. (Sorry, had to do the geography lesson.  haha)

Central Thai Plains Region

The recipe of red curry that I decided to work off of came from the website Temple of Thai.  I have used recipes from the website before and they turned out really well.  I figured it was a trusty source to begin my blog with.  The recipe called for these ingredients:

Temple of Thai Red Curry

• 3 Tablespoons of red curry paste
• 4 cups coconut milk
• 2 lbs (1 kg) small chicken drumsticks or chicken in small pieces (about 1.5" x 2")
• 3 cups (600 grams) pumpkin pieces (about 1" x 1.5")
• 2 cups lightly packed fresh sweet basil or 4 kaffir lime leaves

I decided to tweak the recipe a little and move away from the Asian pumpkin (known to many as kabocha) and go to vegetables that are popular in the central plains of Thailand.  While I have used Asian pumpkin quite a bit in Korean cooking, I was looking for something a little lighter and more fragrant, to fit in with the spring like weather we have been having in Oregon.  In replacement of the Asian pumpkin I decided to go with a mix of Thai eggplant, bamboo shoots, white onion, and carrot. Thai eggplant and bamboo and very popular central Thai ingredients, white onion adds great fragrance, and carrot makes up for some of the loss sweetness that the pumpkin had.  I also made a few tweaks to the chicken and lime leaves that I will explain in my recipe.  With out further ado, here is my first recipe from Cooking with Jawsua!

Josh's Thai Red Curry

Ingredients (Serves about 4):

• 4 cups of coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons of red curry paste
• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in thin strips (roughly 1 to 1 1/2 lbs)
• 5 Thai eggplants quartered
• 1 8 oz can of sliced bamboo shoots
• 1/2 cup of onion chunks
• 1/2 cup of sliced carrots
• 4 finely chopped kaffir lime leaves
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon of palm sugar
• 2 1/2 cups of Thai basil

Directions:

1. Pour 4 cups of coconut milk into a large pan.  On medium heat bring to a slight boil.  I encourage people to buy cans of coconut milk from your nearest Asian grocery store.  It is about two dollars cheaper a can.  I go to Fubonn on 82nd St. in Portland.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of red curry paste to pan and blend with milk.  I use canned curry paste but  I hope to eventually start making my own.  With the curry paste that I buy, 3 tablespoons is half the can.
   
   
   
   
3. Add strips of chicken breast.  Bring back to boil.  I thought that it would be much healthier and easier to eat the curry with chicken breast versus drumsticks.  Some flavor is lost by doing this though.  An alternative could be to cut up a whole chicken and keep the skin on.
   
4. Add quartered Thai eggplant, sliced bamboo shoots, onion chunks, and sliced carrot, and chopped kaffir lime leaves to curry.  Cook for around 10 minutes or until veggies just start to get a little soft.  I think that the veggies in curry are a best when they are a little al dente.  They still keep their flavor but it is not too overpowering and gives a chance for some of those flavors to meld into the coconut milk.  If you aren't a fan of one of these veggies.  Just cut it out and add a little more of the others, or go with less or more veggies overall.  Have fun with it!
   
   
   
   Some of you might be asking "What the heck are Thai eggplants???"  The best way to describe is to just show a picture. 
   

   You can also get these at Asian grocery stores.  Don't have one next to you?  I say it would be best to just skip it, but you could also use purple eggplant.  The original recipe called for kaffir lime leaves to be added at the end and only as an alternative to basil.  I love the slight flavor of lime leaves though, and they are edible when smaller, so I thought it would be smart to chop them up and add them earlier so that their flavor infuses more into the curry.
   
5. Add a tablespoon of fish sauce and 1/2 a tablespoon of palm sugar.  When taste testing my curry I thought that it was just a hair off and could use a little more sweetness from the palm sugar and savory flavor from the fish sauce.  In my opinion I was spot on.  I encourage to cater to your tastes though.  Cane sugar can be used in place of palm sugar but the taste is not as authentic.
   

   
6. Turn off stove and add 2 1/2 cups of Thai basil.  I love Thai basil.  It is a little on the sweet side and makes dishes taste and smell very fresh and light.  The original recipe called for 2 cups, but I felt like it needed just a bit more.
   
7. Plate up bowl with a side of Thai jasmine rice and enjoy!  Too cook jasmine rice I rinse the rice and then do 1 1/2 parts water to 1 part rice.  I bring to a boil on the stove and then cover and simmer for 30 min.
   
   
   
   

I hope you enjoyed reading my first recipe and found it easy to follow and educational.  I am receptive to any feedback, both positive and constructive.  If you have an opinion on the blog or the recipe, let me know in the comments.  This is definitely a spicy curry dish.  I will be doing more mild curry dishes in the near future.  That being said, I hope you all get a chance to try the dish soon!

Josh

Sources:

http://www.sawadee.com/thailand/food/regional.html

http://www.templeofthai.com/cooking/bangkok-cuisine.php

http://www.templeofthai.com/recipes/red_curry.php