My version of Chicken Curry

I HAVE REVISED MY PREVIOUS RECIPE SO PLEASE CHECK ON THIS AGAIN

Due to requests from some people, I am finally posting my chicken curry recipe.  I apologize for the delay. There are different types of curry, Malay, Indian, Bangladesh, Thai, even Filipino and others, but this version is more Indian and Malay. However this is milder than the original version, and I am using the available materials here.

I was first introduced to curry when I was 20 in an Indian Restaurant in Manila, called New Bombay.  Believe me this is even better than the ones in Brick Lane London. Brick Lane is the area where you can find a lot Indian Restaurants. The New Bombay curry is just perfect!!! It has the right amount of everything. I really hate it if I go to a restaurant and the food is bland. This is really common in London.

I think curry is at the top of the list as my favorite food, the Filipino Lechon as my number one though. For me the flavor of curry is just amazing, all that mix of spices. I haven’t been to India but I think that they have one of the best cuisines ever!!!! So here is my recipe. You can adjust the spices as you want it of course, but this is how I do it. I also use a lot of spices by the way. This is not a matter of just putting in the spices; you must put in the right amount of everything!!!

SPICES!!! This dish is all about spices!!!

Ingredients:

1  1/4 kilo chicken breast cut into cubes

1 ½ medium onions, approximately 172 grams (diced)

1 can of whole peeled tomatoes (230 grams can)

• Chopped the tomatoes and set aside juice

4 cloves garlic crushed

1 ½ vegetable cube

2 teaspoon coriander (crushed finely)

2 teaspoons black peppercorn (crushed finely)

4 tablespoon regular curry powder

2 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon garam masala powder

½ teaspoon aji molido

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

• You may use just cayenne pepper or just aji. I prefer to use both though: )

½ teaspoon cinnamon powder

2 teaspoon grated ginger

2 tablespoon white granulated sugar

2 teaspoon iodized salt

6 tablespoon coconut milk (90ml)

2 tablespoons water (30ml)

2 teaspoons flour  (optional for thickening sauce)

Coriander is my favorite spice: )

Procedure:

1) Mix grated ginger, crushed garlic, curry powder, cumin, coriander, cinnamon powder, garam masala, aji molido, cayenne pepper, black and red peppercorns. Add a little of the tomato juice from the peeled tomatoes. Don’t put too much. Just add enough to make a paste.

2)      Sauté onions in oil. Use oil just enough for the onions not too burn.

3)      Add the chopped onions. Mix together with tomatoes. Add some juice, so it doesn’t stick on the pan. Let it cook.

4)      Add the spice paste. Mix well and cook for 1 minute or until you smell the aroma of the spice. Make sure that the spice paste doesn’t burn.

5)      Pour the rest of the tomato juice. Put in chicken and the vegetable cubes. Then add the water, coconut milk and sugar. Cover, and allow the chicken to cook. The longer you cook it allows the sauce to reduce and makes it stronger and tasty.

6)      When the sauce us reduced, add the salt. Mix well. Taste the curry sauce and adjust the taste if needed. You can add the flour here mix with water into mixture if the sauce sauce isn’t thick.

7)      Chicken is done!!! This is best served with good Basmati rice. Enjoy!!!!

Paella by NATS!!!

Learn to make PAELLA!!!!

Nats made this paella in London!

My good friend Nats finally sent the paella recipe that I have been asking for quite a while now: ) His version is the mixed paella. There are three kinds of paella, the valenciana, the seafood paella and the mixed one!!! So before trying the recipe, read on, I learned a lot about this tiny piece of history of the ever famous paella: )

For many of us we correlate Spain with paella a lot. WE THINK OF SPAIN, WE THNK OF PAELLA. It started on the eastern coast of Spain , the Valencian region. There are many adaptations to the original Paella Valenciana, which doesn’t even have seafood, In the other coastal regions, they replaced the beans and meat for seafood and that’s the mixed paella we have now. Although many restaurants claim the name paella Valenciana for their dish, for the people in Valencia, only the ones with the ingredients of the original recipe can bear such name. The ingredients are chicken ,rabbit, duck, snail,beans,rosemary, saffron, garlic, paprika and olive oil,

So here is Nats recipe  ( just do the math for the other ingredients because he didn’t write some of them). Olive oil is quite important. You use this oil to sauté.

Three Saturdays ago Pilar, the very nice neighbor of Ismael’s parents, invited us for paella lunch. It was not an ordinary paella lunch I may say. It was special because Pilar actually showed us how to cook paella and more! It was during Mae’s birthday party when Mae and I mentioned to Ismael’s mom that we wanted to learn to cook paella. Pilar happened to have heard our conversation. And so, we got our paella class. It was already 2 in the afternoon when we arrived at the house of Ismael’s parents. But Pilar didn’t seem to mind. Well, she only jested “Que verguenza!” (“What a shame!”) All the ingredients were already cut and sliced.

She had:

chicken ( sliced into big chunks )

1 onion

5 bulbs of garlic ( that’s a lot of garlic! The garlic is usually crushed)

green pepper ( sliced )

shrimps

squid

one tomato ( chopped)

clams

parsley

salt

lemon and of course, rice!!!!

Step by step, Pilar showed us what to do. First, fry the chicken. Then saute the onion, garlic and parsley. Then add green pepper and tomato. After which, the shrimps (without the shells) the small clams and the squids were added. Pour in the soup of the previously boiled shrimp with shells. Add rice. Add coloring.( This can be a food coloring or saffron) Put in salt and wait for 15 minutes. To add a little decoration, put red pepper and add a few shrimps (this time, with shells.) For the finishing touch, squeeze a lemon over the paella. And ya esta! Ready to be served.

For more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paella

http://www.xmission.com/~dderhak/recipe/paella.htm#PAELLA

ABOUT NATS:

having fun with snow!!!

Nats Villaluna lives in Barcelona, Spain now. We met in Madrid before and he is definitely the perfect tour guide!!!! He also teaches English on the side .However, I think the best thing about Nats, is that hes such a wonderful friend and certainly not boring!!!!He is just so great and heaps of fun: )  Now thats really super, two things in one: ) That is Nats, the Star: )

Fight those annoying pimples!!!

I had pimple problems before I went to London, but it wasn’t that bad, but because of all the crap food I ate in London, the annoying pimples appeared, and it worsened and worsened. During the last month I spent in London, I started my pimple fighting ritual!!! Bad pimples will not go away in a day, it takes hard work and lots of patience.

Here’s how I did it.

-    The first key is a clean face. If you often use make up, but do not clean it properly, then you are a big candidate.

-    To clean your face, use cleansing milk or lotion as the fist step. Massage onto face with your fingertips. Remove it with cotton wool or alternatively rinse with water. After this, apply toner gently across your face with cotton wool.  Do this in the morning and before going to bed.

-    The brand you choose for the cleanser and toner is very important. Do not choose brands that are harsh on the skin. Just remember to choose a product that suits your skin. I am currently using Olay and Neutrogena.

-    For minor pimples outbreaks: slice a lemon and squeeze a little bit of the juice into a cotton wool and dab it gently onto the affected area. Make sure not to put too much lemon juice on your skin because you will surely burn, and the scar wouldn’t look too pretty. Fresh lemon juice is always the best. I do not know if Calamansi juice would work. If anyone tries it, the let me know the result.

-    For a major outbreak: after dabbing the lemon juice, put a layer of mud pack masque over it. The brand I am using is called Queen Helene.

-    Thou shall not use moisturizers when you are trying to heal pimples. The goal is to dry the pimples, not moisturize it!! So put the moisturizers away during the healing period.

-    These are external remedies but you can also diet and avoid fatty foods. I can’t diet. I hate to diet!!!!! So the simplest way would be drinking lots of detox tea, avoid soft drinks or soda and chocolate. Unfortunately I only did this for the first few months. You should do both at the same time if those pimples are really bad.

Acknowledgement:

Thanks to Fernando for the lemon juice remedy, I’m sorry I refuse to believe you initially.

-    This is small but very important tip: lemon juice is good for heart burns!!!! Just squeeze half slice of a lemon in a glass with some water then drink. You only need a little amount of water for this.

Thanks to Imelda, my hair stylist and skin care adviser in London. Indeed I got all those bad pimples because I didn’t clean my face well and refuse to use cleansing milks and toners.