Sunday, October 13, 2024

Pollo en Jocón - Tomatillo Chicken Stew

Pollo en Jocón is a traditional chicken dish from Guatemala, with a flavorful bright green sauce made from tomatillos, cilantro, green pepper and jalapeños. It is properly served over white rice topped with fresh avocado slices.

Food Lust People Love: Pollo en Jocón is a traditional chicken dish from Guatemala, with a flavorful bright green sauce made from tomatillos, cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeños. It is properly served over white rice topped with fresh avocado slices.

I know what you are thinking, or at least I know what I was thinking when I first saw the name of this delicious stew from the Mayan culture. Pollo means chicken so jocón must be their word for tomatillo. Nope. 

According to New York Times Cooking, the name jocón comes from jok’, meaning to grind or mash in Mayan K’iche’.  Although the dish’s origins are indeed Mayan, some of its ingredients today, like sesame seeds and chicken, were likely introduced by Spanish colonizers.


Pollo en Jocón - Tomatillo Chicken Stew

Depending on how spicy you like your food, the jalapeños can be eliminated altogether or you can remove the seeds and membranes before mincing. If you can't find fresh tomatillos, canned are fine. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs or 672g boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 lb or 450g fresh tomatillos, husked
5 cups or 1.2L chicken stock
1⁄4 cup or 35g pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
2 tablespoons or 14g white sesame seeds
2 corn tortillas
1/2 bunch cilantro, washed and roughly chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves
1 large green pepper
1 medium white onion
1-2 fresh jalapeños
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method
Place the chicken and tomatillos in a large pot with the chicken stock. 


Bring to a gentle boil then cover the pot and simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through. 

In a dry non-stick pan over medium toast the pumpkin seeds, moving them constantly for three to five minutes. Add the sesame seeds and continue tossing for 2 more minutes until they are very lightly browned. 


Remove from heat immediately so they don’t continue browning.

Put the toasted pumpkin seeds and toasted sesame seeds into a blender (or clean coffee grinder) and pulse for 5 or 10 seconds, until they are ground. (You may need to stir a bit between pulses) Scrape into a small bowl or cup, and set aside. 

Peel and chop your garlic and onion. Remove the seeds and ribs from the green pepper and chop it roughly. Chop the jalapeños, if using. (See note above the ingredient list.)


Add the olive oil to a large pan. Sauté the garlic, green pepper, onion and jalapeños, stirring frequently, until the onion and peppers are soft. Remove from heat.


With a slotted spoon remove the chicken from the pot and set aside. Once cool enough to handle, use forks to shred the chicken. 


Remove tomatillos from the broth and put them in the blender. 

Rip the tortillas into pieces and put them in a small heatproof bowl. Pour about 1 cup or 240ml of the chicken broth from the pot over the tortillas and set them aside to soak till softened. 


Pinch any hard stems off of the cilantro and discard them along with any brown leaves. 


Add the cilantro, 1 1/2 cups or 360ml of the chicken broth, all of the bell pepper and onion mixture and the soaked tortillas (with their broth) to the tomatillos in the blender. 


Purée until smooth. Pour that gorgeous green sauce back into a pan. Use a little more of the stock to rinse the blender to make sure you get all of the sauce into the pan. (You can use the remaining broth to make the rice or save it for another recipe.) 


Add the ground toasted seeds to the pan. 


Bring the contents of the pan to a boil. Lower to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered for 10 minutes to thicken the sauce. 

Add the shredded chicken to the thickened sauce.


Simmer gently for an additional 10 minutes or until the chicken is warmed through again. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

Food Lust People Love: Pollo en Jocón is a traditional chicken dish from Guatemala, with a flavorful bright green sauce made from tomatillos, cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeños. It is properly served over white rice topped with fresh avocado slices.

Serve the tomatillo chicken stew over white rice with some cilantro for garnish and a few slices of avocado. This dish is so flavorful and the avocado is the perfect topping to complement its spicy freshness. No wonder it's traditional. 

Food Lust People Love: Pollo en Jocón is a traditional chicken dish from Guatemala, with a flavorful bright green sauce made from tomatillos, cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeños. It is properly served over white rice topped with fresh avocado slices.

Enjoy!  

If you are a fan of tomatillos, you might also enjoy my Chicken Chili Verde made in an Instant Pot with white beans and the special little tomatillos from Melissa’s Produce called tomatillos milperos


 

It's Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with avocados. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha's Recipe

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.



Pin this Pollo en Jocón –
Tomatillo Chicken Stew!

Food Lust People Love: Pollo en Jocón is a traditional chicken dish from Guatemala, with a flavorful bright green sauce made from tomatillos, cilantro, bell pepper and jalapeños. It is properly served over white rice topped with fresh avocado slices.

.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Spicy Urad Dal

This spicy urad dal is made with split and skinned black lentils, seasoned with many spices including cumin, ginger, coriander, onion and dried chili peppers. 

Food Lust People Love: This spicy urad dal is made with split and skinned black lentils, seasoned with many spices including cumin, ginger, coriander, onion and dried chili peppers.

I was racking my brain to come up with a recipe ingredient that starts with the letter U for this edition of the Alphabet Challenge when all that thinking sparked a memory. Once upon a time I had eaten at an Indian restaurant in Dubai and was served dal makhani. It was a beautiful dark color, rich and flavorful and unlike any dal I had enjoyed before. 

My only experience prior had been with dals that were yellow! I offer this recipe as evidence: My Tarka Dal or Curried Lentils.


Of course, when I got home, I did a little google search to discover that dal makhani is made with whole black lentils or urad dal. Further investigation revealed that urad dal can be purchased whole - with the black skins still intact, split – with skins intact but with the inside exposed, and "white" – with skins removed. 

Now I had my ingredient name for U, but where to buy some? Had I been back in Houston where Indian supermarkets abound, no problem. But in Jersey, we aren’t so fortunate. Amazon to the rescue again.

I ordered white urad dal as well as some asafoetida which is recommended when cooking legumes of any sort, including lentils, as it is meant to meant to help with digestion and, ahem, gas. 

Spicy Urad Dal

Despite the urad dal I bought being skinned and split, every recipe I found assured me that I could not skip the soaking step. So I did not and you shouldn’t either! Soaking the dal not only reduces the cooking time but also makes the dal more easily digestible. Even with soaking, this did not break down to a mush like other lentils. We really liked the texture.

Ingredients 
To cook the dal:
1 cup or 220g white urad dal (split and skinned black lentils)
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Small knob ginger, peeled and grated

For the tempering aka tarka: 
3 tablespoons ghee
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon asafoetida (also known as hing)
¼ teaspoon kalongi
2-3 dry red chili peppers
½ medium onion, chopped
5-6 curry leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne

To serve:
1 tablespoon lime juice
chopped cilantro 


Method
Rinse the dal well with water until it runs almost clear. This takes a few times. 


Soak it in 4 cups or 960ml water for 30 minutes.


Drain the water and add the dal to a large pot. Pour in 26 oz or 750ml water. Bring to the boil, and use a slotted spoon to remove the scum that rises to the surface. 


Add in the turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt and grated ginger. 


Stir to combine and turn the stove to simmer. 


Put on the lid, but leave it partially ajar, to prevent the pot from boiling over. Simmer for about 30 minutes, checking it every so often to give it a stir. Add a little more water if necessary so the lentils don’t dry out.

When the lentils are cooked, we make the tarka. Heat the ghee in a small pan over medium-high heat. Once the ghee is hot, add the asafoetida, cumin seeds and kalongi and let them crackle for 4-5 seconds.


Add the dry red chili peppers and chopped onions and cook until the onions turn golden brown, stirring frequently.


Quickly stir in the curry leaves and cayenne.


Immediately add the tarka to the cooked dal.


Stir then add the lime juice.


Garnish the dal with chopped cilantro and serve hot with rice, naan or chapati. 

Food Lust People Love: This spicy urad dal is made with split and skinned black lentils, seasoned with many spices including cumin, ginger, coriander, onion and dried chili peppers.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 21th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter U. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the U recipes below:



Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Classic Brioche à Tête #BreadBakers

This classic brioche à tête recipe is simple to make, with very little hands on time, no stand mixer required, for a loaf that is rich and buttery. Start one day ahead. 

Food Lust People Love: This classic brioche à tête recipe is simple to make, with very little hands on time, no stand mixer required, for a loaf that is rich and buttery. Start one day ahead.

I own two proper brioche pans, one from my years living in Paris and yet another, believe it or not, that was purchased in Cairo, Egypt, It was made by the French manufacturer Tefal though so I guess that makes it authentic. 

If you search the internet for brioche recipes, you will find literally millions and millions. Google says an estimated 25.000,000 in fact. All the top hits seem to be baked in regular rectangular loaf pans though.

I was determined to create a classic loaf using one of my pans. Took me a bit but I finally figured out where I was going wrong! I needed to search for brioche à tête or brioche à Parisienne. Who knew? In Paris the bakeries just said brioche or possibly grosse brioche and petite brioche (sometimes with flavor options) on the boards.

Here's a little fun fact for you: While brioche in proper French translates to sweet bun, colloquially, it also means beer gut. In case you have a friend who needs ribbing in French. 

Back to my quest: I was delighted to find a video by baker extraordinaire Anna Olson making little brioche buns where she showed the proper way to make the tête or head that is supposed to poke out on top. Is my tête too small? Absolutely. Live and learn. Next time I will make it bigger! 

Classic Brioche à Tête

You can warm the whole amount of milk (3 oz or 90ml) needed, use a portion to activate the yeast then pour the rest in when making the dough. Please note that you do need to start a day ahead of when you want to bake the brioche. This gives the dough the time it needs to chill, making it easier to handle. 

Ingredients
To activate the yeast:
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup or 60ml milk, warmed to body temperature

For the brioche dough:
2 1/2 cups or 312g flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
3 eggs
1 fl oz or 30ml milk, warmed to body temperature
3 oz or 85g butter, softened at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan

For the egg wash:
1 egg
2 tablespoons water

Method
Step one is to activate the yeast. Put the yeast in a small bowl with the flour and warm milk. Stir to combine, set aside while you get the dry ingredients together.


In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. 


Add the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients, along with the rest of the milk and the eggs. 


Stir with a stiff spoon or Danish whisk until well combined. 

Add in butter and mix again until it is completely incorporated.


The dough will be super sticky so tidy it up as best you can into a ball using a spatula. 


Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rest at room temperature for one hour.

Put the bowl in the refrigerator for 12 - 24 hours to chill the dough. 

When you are ready to bake, generously butter your brioche pan with softened butter and a pastry brush. 

Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press it out. 


Fold it over a couple of times then shape it into a firm ball. 


Use the side of your hand to make an indentation near one end of the ball, like you are trying to form a neck and head of dough on a dough body. Make your small ball bigger than mine for a more authentic look to the finished brioche!


Use your fingers to create a hole through the dough.


Tuck the "head" under and up through the hole. This will give the brioche its classic shape with the knob on top. 


Place the formed dough into your prepared brioche pan. 


Cover with cling film (buttered or greased so that it doesn't stick to the dough as it rises) and leave to rise for about 2 hours. As it nears the end of rising time, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C in a fan oven or 425°F or 218°C in a conventional oven.

Whisk the egg and water together to create the egg wash. 


Working from the outside inward, brush the brioche very lightly with the egg wash.


Transfer the pan to the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350°F or 180°C in a convection oven or 375°F or 190°C in a conventional oven.

Continue baking until the brioche is deep golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 205°F on an instant-read thermometer, 25 to 30 minutes more.

Remove from the oven and let the brioche cool in the pan for just 5 minutes. Any longer and condensation starts to form and your crust won't be lovely and crisp. 


Unmold onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Food Lust People Love: This classic brioche à tête recipe is simple to make, with very little hands on time, no stand mixer required, for a loaf that is rich and buttery. Start one day ahead.

Let the brioche cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Food Lust People Love: This classic brioche à tête recipe is simple to make, with very little hands on time, no stand mixer required, for a loaf that is rich and buttery. Start one day ahead.

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: This classic brioche à tête recipe is simple to make, with very little hands on time, no stand mixer required, for a loaf that is rich and buttery. Start one day ahead.

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my fellow Bread Bakers to share their recipes. Our theme today, you might have guessed, is brioche-style bread. Many thanks to our host Kelly of A Messy Kitchen. Check out the links below. 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.



Pin this Classic Brioche à Tête!

Food Lust People Love: This classic brioche à tête recipe is simple to make, with very little hands on time, no stand mixer required, for a loaf that is rich and buttery. Start one day ahead.

.

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Roasted Pumpkin Gratin

The perfect post-Halloween use of the little pie pumpkins I use as indoor decorations, this roasted pumpkin gratin is flavorful, super rich and cheesy. 

Food Lust People Love: The perfect post-Halloween use of the little pie pumpkins I use as indoor decorations, this roasted pumpkin gratin is flavorful, super rich and cheesy.

Every year I buy the little mini pumpkins at the supermarket, mostly for a pop of Autumn color in the house but also because we love to eat them. When left whole, the little pumpkins last for ages in a cool house but once Halloween is past, I start thinking about cooking them. 

One of our favorite recipes is luscious creamy coconut curry baked right inside scooped-out pumpkins.  Another is a Thai-inspired pumpkin stir-fry with shrimp.  

And, of course, a third is this roasted pumpkin gratin featuring a French seasonal cheese called Mont D’Or, which is made with unpasteurized cow’s milk. It is produced in the cooler months only and is shaped by circling it with spruce bark. As it ages, it becomes runny and full of flavor. We adore it. 

Roasted Pumpkin Gratin

‘Tis the season but if you can’t find a Mont d’Or cheese, substitute your favorite soft rind cheese like Brie or Camembert, preferably made with unpasteurized milk, if possible. The stronger the flavor, the better is my attitude.

Ingredients 
2 mini pumpkins, about 1 lb or 450g each, seeded and cut in wedges
Olive oil
Fine sea salt
Red pepper flakes
1 Mont d’Or, chilled – weight 8.8 oz or 250g (See note above for substitutes)
Fresh ground black pepper
Cayenne
2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for garnish

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and lightly oil a large iron skillet or another baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil. 

Arrange the pumpkin wedges in your prepared baking vessel. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with salt and red pepper flakes.


Roast the pumpkin wedges for 35-40 minutes or until they are fork tender. The skin on the smaller pumpkins is absolutely edible. In fact, it’s my favorite part. 


Slice the chilled cheese and cover the pumpkin with the slices. Add a few generous grinds of black pepper and a sprinkle of cayenne.


Return the pan to the oven and roast for a further 10-15 minutes. 

Take it out briefly to sprinkle on the pepitas and put it back in the oven. 


Roast for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is golden on top. If you’d like it a bit darker, you can put the oven on broil/grill for a few minutes but watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least five minutes before serving or that molten cheese might burn your mouth. 

Food Lust People Love: The perfect post-Halloween use of the little pie pumpkins I use as indoor decorations, this roasted pumpkin gratin is flavorful, super rich and cheesy.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today our group is sharing recipes to trick or treat you for Halloween. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below.

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.


Pin this Roasted Pumpkin Gratin!

Food Lust People Love: The perfect post-Halloween use of the little pie pumpkins I use as indoor decorations, this roasted pumpkin gratin is flavorful, super rich and cheesy.

.
  

Monday, September 30, 2024

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins #MuffinMonday

Bursting with fresh lemon flavor and juicy blueberries, these golden blueberry cornbread muffins are perfect for breakfast or snack time. 

Food Lust People Love: Bursting with fresh lemon flavor and juicy blueberries, these golden blueberry cornbread muffins are perfect for breakfast or snack time

I’ve undoubtedly mentioned this before but every day my husband gets an email from NYT Cooking with descriptions of dishes and links to the recipes online. And every day, he forwards those emails to me. Once in a blue moon, he actually mentions a recipe he thinks one of us should make. 

A couple of weeks ago, it was a version of these blueberry cornbread muffins. As Muffin Monday was coming up (end of the month sneaks up on me regularly) I was happy to oblige. I scoffed at the one commenter who said that just lemon zest was too much lemon and upped the ante by adding lemon juice as well. 

It was a good decision. In my opinion, lemons are life. You can never add too much lemon! 

Blueberry Cornbread Muffins

As mentioned above, this recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. Sadly, it's behind a firewall but I included the link so at least subscribers can access it. (Or people who have turned off Javascript for the site.)

Ingredients
Zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 1/2 lemon
< 1 cup or 240ml milk, poured into the measuring cup after the lemon juice up to the 1 cup mark (See method.)
1 cup or 155g grams fine-grain yellow cornmeal
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour
½ cup, packed, or 100g brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus more for greasing pan
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 cups or 280g fresh blueberries, plus extra for garnish

Method
In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.


Zest the lemon into the dry ingredient bowl and stir. 


Use a reamer to juice the lemon into a measuring vessel. Remove any seeds and discard. Add milk up to the 1 cup or 240ml mark. Set aside.


In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk and egg until well combined. 


Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold until just combined. 


Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. This gives the cornmeal time to hydrate.

While the batter rests, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan by greasing it generously with butter.

Gently fold the blueberries into the batter.


Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. 


Top with a few more blueberries, if desired.


Bake until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. 

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool further. Serve warm or at room temperature. 


Enjoy! 

It’s the last Monday of the month aka Muffin Monday and the literal last day of the month. Those two days don’t often coincide! Can you believe it’s already October tomorrow? Check out the great muffin recipes my Muffin Monday friends are sharing below. 

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.



Pin these Blueberry Cornbread Muffins! 

Food Lust People Love: Bursting with fresh lemon flavor and juicy blueberries, these golden blueberry cornbread muffins are perfect for breakfast or snack time

.