Brined and Baked Chicken

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Have you been told your baked chicken is dry and tasteless inside? If you have then brining is your answer. I bake chicken and fish after marinating for hours and get good results. No doubt! But after brining and baking chicken, I am amazed how juicy even simple chicken bake can be. It’s a wonderful process for poultry and shrim. Works great when grilling them too.

Every time we eat a store bought rotisserie or baked chicken my husband and I would be amazed how the inside is juicy and tasty without any visible masala or obvious marinade flavors. Trying to find out how the hotels get prawns and chicken to taste good inside and outside was always a challenge until recently I tried brining chicken and am totally in love with the outcome.

I am totally sold on brining poultry and shrimp before cooking now. Read about it here and here. Especially since we all sort to refrigerated / frozen chicken the taste is never like in a restaurant. But after trying this method I am sure you will think differently.

I recommend reading the highlighted sites in the previous paragraph to know more about the proces and different combinations. The chemistry of how things work is explained well in these sites. Basically, through osmosis salt and water travels through muscles of the poultry or fish and lodges within making the cooked meat soft and juicy. For a gallon of water the recommended salt is ½ cup but depending on the amount of time you have you can decrease the amount of salt but follow the measurement of 1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon water. Sugar is added and caramalization while grilling gives a better color. I avoid sugar but it you like , go for it.

The recommended measurement for brining as per the blogs mentioned above are given below.

½ cup kosher salt

½ cup sugar

1 gallon water


What I did and it worked for me is as follows:

For Brining

Chicken – 3 breasts bone in

Water – 8 cups

Kosher Salt – ½ C

Dry Red Chillies – 8

Bay Leaf – 1

Garlic cloves with skin – 4

Metho:

1. In 1 cup of water, boil the red chilies, bay leaf and garlic cloves. While hot, add the salt and mix. Cool and add to the remaining water. You may add ice cubes and cool it down quickly. It is very important to cool the brine before you immerse the chicken.

2. If you have read the sites I have mentioned, it clearly states that warm water stimulates growth of bacteria so make sure you add the chicken only to cool water.

3. Add chicken to the spiced brine and refrigerate for 4 hours

5. Take them out of the water pat dry with tissue paper and rub it with any rub used for grilling or even the masala of your choice.

6. Drizzle oil over it and in a oiled baking pan place them with bone down and bake at 350 D F for 40 – 50 minutes. If you have a thermometer then the internal temperature of chicken should be 170 D

7. I add diced potato, carrots, and celery while baking and squeeze a wedge of lime over.

8. You will have some juices in the pan after the chicken is cooked.

9. To brown the chicken - after it cooks for 40 – 45 minutes change the oven setting to broil and broil on high flipping sides until you have the desired results. Do not overdo cooking time, as it may result in a dry chicken. Even though with brining there is some room for error since the brined chicken is flush with water.

Rubs I use:

Weber's Kickin chicken
Cajun spices

For sides:

You can bake vegetables and yesterday I made some roasted beets.

1. Wash, peel and dice the beets. Make sure the beet is dry of water before you start roasting.
2. Add salt, pepper, thyme and drizzle some olive oil and bake in a pan for 45 minutes or a fork goes through easily. It will cook with the chicken, this way you can stay hand free while everythign just cooks in the oven.

Great to cook over weekends while you can enjoy a movie with you loved ones on the couch.. bliss!

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cooikies

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Do your children like oreo cookies? Or are chocolate chip cookies their favorites? If you answered yes, to any of the above questions, what about both cookies in one? Yes? Yeah! I thought you would like it. Double bonanza, isn’t it?! Or at least that’s what I thought.

It was a brave decision to try this recipe considering - my daughter, though a chocolate fanatic, do not like Oreo cookies. But she loves chocolate chip cookies! I thought it will be fun to try this recipe even if it was only to see my daughter’s expression. Another of her mother’s conniving to get her to eat what she hates.

It is the way things work around this house. My children are extreme opposites in their likes of flavors. Sometimes it is good and otherwise a big challenge for me. Like, when I buy a packet of yogurt tubes with equal parts strawberry and blueberry flavor, the lil one picks the strawberry and my daughter blueberry - this is cool – we make for one big happy family! On the other hand, if it is a fruit where they are choosing one for the other then the mother steps in. I blend the two to make smoothies or crumb bars, where the taste is camouflaged enough, that both of them will feast on it happily.

Things did not go as well in the case of the cookies. My daughter treated the cookies like she would a fruit, where the outer flesh is consumed and seed discarded. She ate the chocolate chip cookie outside and left behind the oreo cookie! Huh! I know, kids!

But, what is great though is my son loves oreo cookies - he carefully went around and ate all the oreo cookies his sister had discarded.  My precious little boy!  You would agree then at the end the cookies are a success.  Because the majority at home liked it.  And what my daughter was ready to throw was not wasted by my son.  After all, "all’s well that ends well!”

I am sure every mother is challenged daily by their kids. But like they say "necessity is the mother of invention." Mothers out there keep on you thinking caps – and let’s keep inventing. I had great fun making these cookies.


Ingredients:

Butter- 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Light brown sugar- 1/3 cup,packed
Granulated white sugar- 1/3 cup
Egg- 1
Pure vanilla extract-1 1/2 tsp
All Purpose flour- 1 3/4 cup
Salt- 1/4 tsp
Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp
Chocolate chips- 5oz.
Oreo Cookies- 12


Method:

1.Preheat the oven at 350 degree F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2.In a mixing bowl,beat the butter and sugars until well combined.
3.Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.
4.In another mixing bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.
5.Gradually add this dry mixture into the wet mixture ,along with chocolate chips, until combined.
6.Take a scoop of the dough and place on top of the oreo cookie.Take another scoop and place on the bottom of the oreo cookie.
7.Press lightly between your palms and seal the edges together by pressing and cupping the cookie on your palm.The oreo cookie should be completely inside the dough with all the edges sealed.(Look in Picky palate for a beautiful picture demonstration)
8.Place the cookies on the prepared baking pan,an inch apart.
9.Cool in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes if you don't want the cookie to get spread a lot.But this step is quite optional.
10.Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the sides start turning brown.
11.Cool in the baking pan for at least 5 minutes, since the cookies will be really soft when you take out them from the oven.
12.Transfer them to a wire rack and cool completely before you store them in an air tight container.

Makes: 12 cookies
Adapted from : Picky Palate
Contributor: Namitha

Prawns and Mango in coconut gravy (Chemmenum Maangayum)

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After the sweltering heat over the first half of this week, we are enjoying some cool weather in Chicago land. Today it’s cloudy, and murky outside, but a great weather to have prawns in coconut gravy with piping hot rice. Yum! My heart warms over just talking about it. I made some of this curry yesterday, and you can find the recipe below.

My sister-in-law had her first baby, and we are enjoying this new born in the family. Also, a very dear friend had her baby recently which makes double the fun. I am enjoying listening to the gushing new mothers gush and thrill at the wonderment of new life. Joyful!

I am also getting ready for another move in the near future. Soon, packing and other travel nuisances shall take over my life. Until then I continue to enjoy all your news on facebook and pretty photographs as usual. I hope you will enjoy this curry I have for you today. Have a pleasant weekend my blogger friends.

Ingredients:

Prawns – 1 lb

Coconut – 1 cup

Raw Mango – 1 big

Green chili – 4

Chili Powder – 2 tspn

Coriander Powder – 2 tspn

Turmeric – ½ tspn

Shallots – 2

Garlic cloves – 4



Ingredients for Tempering:

Oil (Preferably coconut oil) – 2 tspn

Mustard Seeds – ½ tspn

Curry Leaves – 1 spring

Shallots – 1-2





Method:

1. Cut mango into big pieces and cook in 1 cup of water with the green chilis till half done

2. Add the prawns and cook for about 7 to 8 minutes depending on the size of each prawn.

3. Grind coconut, shallots, garlic cloves, chili powder, coriander powder and turmeric to a paste and pour over the cooked prawns and mango add water to your desired consistency and let the curry heat through

4. Once done, take off the heat and temper.

5. For tempering – heat oil in a pan let the mustard splutter, add shallots followed by curry leaves and pour over the curry

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen at Magpies Recipes