Chicken in yogurt and citrus and eggplant dip

Growing up on Guam, I was not exposed to that much food from outside our local food culture, so when I was first exposed to Persian food, I was delighted. It was quite easy to find Persian food while I lived in L.A, and I often had it out because, well, I 've never made it at home. Here is my recipe  for chicken marinated in yogurt, saffron, and citrus, eggplant dip, as well as saffron rice to accompany the dish. 

So first let's get your chicken marinating. 

Chicken breast

1 orange

1 lime

1/4 Onion

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup Yogurt

Pinch of saffron. 

Get your chicken breast. Remove zest from the orange and lime. Add to chicken. Squeeze all the fresh juice onto chicken. Add onion, garlic, yogurt, and saffron. Let chicken marinate while preparing rice and eggplant dip. 

The rice.

1.5 cup Basmati rice

2 cups water 

1/4 ts Saffron

1/4 cup yogurt 

First you need saffron. Smash it. Put it in about 2 tablespoons of water. Put it aside.  

Rinse rice a few times, then cook the rice in a lot of water, about 1 inch of water on top of the rice. Cook for 10 minutes on Low boil. Get your colander.  Drain the water out (like you do for pasta). 

Take about 2 tablespoons of rice out and mix with that saffron water you created. 

Oil your pot, and cover the bottom with yogurt. Add the white rice back in the pot. The yogurt will add flavor and help create a crusty layer of rice. Add the saffron rice on top. Stick holes in your rice to help rice steam. 

Stick towel on the top, covered and let the rice steamed. Then finished it off at a higher temp for a few minutes, to let the crust form. It's done. To serve, flip upside down onto a plate. 

Eggplant dip

1 large eggplant

1 onion

1 Clovegarlic

1/4 cup yogurt

1 tbsp fresh mint

 

Eggplant. I like to partially peel mine. Because I like skin, but not too much. Cut into 1/4" slices. Oil a sheet pan. Sprinkle salt and drizzle oil on your eggplant. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cut onions into 1/4" cubes and add to a pot that had about 1 tbs olive oil heating up it. Cook on low heat. Allie onions to Carmelize slowly, for about 15 minutes. 

Now your eggplant should be done. It should be soft now, a little see through, and a little brown. 

So add minced garlic to your pot. Throw in your eggplant. Smash it like crazy in your pot. Add 1/4 cup yogurt. Finish up with the minced mint. 

So now let's grill the chicken. Pull your chicken out. I have a griddle pan so I use that to grill my chicken, stove top. Great, if you actually have a grill. Remove chicken from marinade and pay dry with a towel.  That's how you get good grill marks. :) Drizzle with oil. Season with salt, pepper,And grill! Do not forget to grill a fresh whole tomato too. That is it is usually served. 

Sinigang (Sinampalukang) Manuk

Sinigang, probably after lumpia, adobo, and pancit, sinigang is another classic Filipino dish. Sinigang is a tart filipino soup. The tart ingredients help with tenderizing meat so you end up with a really tender meat in your soup. Sinignang is great to make with pork, beef, chicken, or fish. When making sinigang with white meat such as chicken and finsh, you add ginger to mix. For beef and pork, omit ginger. The tartness of the soup, brings out the sweetness in rice,so the always serve this soup with rice.

Historically, sinigang used local sour fruits, such as kalamansi and sinkamas, to sour the soup, but some time in the last few decades, a popular restaurant chain in the Philippines used tamarind in their soup, and it caught on. Now tamarind in sinigang is pretty much the default souring agent and most people don't think twice about it.

So how is everyone messing it up? By using store-bought ready-made soup bases!! I don't enjoy it when people use store bought soup sinigang mix because for one, most brands have shrimp as an ingredient, and I am allergic. Secondly, they usually have MSG, so you end up with a fairly high in sodium dish. Lastly, making everything from scratch will always be better.  Getting tamarind from your local store, is just as easy, as throwing in the soup base in your soup, so just do it! Make your sinigang from scratch! It would be best to use fresh tamarinds, but that is hard to find here in California, so head your Asian aisle or Asian grocery store, and get some dried tamarind. See my photo to see what it looks like.

Here is my recipe for Sinigang Sinampalukang Manuk

Ingredients:
Chicken (with bones and cut up)
Onion
Ginger
Tomatoes

Vegetables:
Mushrooms
Eggplants
Zuchini
Long green beans
Fresh Jalepeno (optional)
Kale, Spinach, or Water Spinach

Herbs:
Basil
Cilantro

For flavoring your soup:
Tamarind block, seedless, wet (in your Asian aisle, see photo)
Miso paste (this will add flavor and saltiness without actually using salt)

Red palm oil

Heat pot, add oil. I used red palm, for health benefits and because of its beautiful color. Add onions. Sweat it (Cook until it starts to starts to soften). Add Ginger. Stir. Add tomato. Stir. Add Chicken. Brown the skin, slightly. Add water. Add about 1/5 of the tamarind block. Low boil for about 10 minutes to let the chicken cook. Add non-leafy vegetables (mushrooms, eggplant, zuchini, green beans, jalepeno). Cook for another 10 minutes. Finish up with leafy vegetables (kale or spinach) and herbs (basil and cilantro).