Showing posts with label salsa recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salsa recipes. Show all posts

Sunday, June 18, 2023

Cape Malay-ish Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

Food Lust People Love: Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

Back at the beginning of the first pandemic lockdown, I was already addicted to finding reading material through the Libby app and my own library cards. I borrowed lots of books, of course, but I also searched for magazine with recipes.

One day I came across one called Koe’sister from South Africa. It was brand new, created from a desire to share and preserve family recipes during the pandemic. Published in a mix of English and Afrikaans, it opened a window on a world I had only touched tangentially, through South African friends. 

Funnily enough, as I read one issue, I discovered that one of my expat friends was a contributor! How tiny is this world of ours? 

I also discovered that South African cuisine is as diverse as ours in the United States and includes a subset of culture and recipes from Malays who settled in the Cape area, bringing their love of spices and curries. I was introduced to cookbook authors like Fadella Williams who wrote The Cape Malay Illustrated Cookbook, Cariema Isaacs who has authored four cookbooks - all focused on her Cape Malay heritage and recipes - as well as blogger and author Salwaa Smith and her self-published Cape Malay Cooking & Other Delights.

Both The Cape Malay Illustrated Cookbook and Smith’s blog have many wonderful flavorful recipes but two in particular caught my eye because New York Times Cooking had shared something similar just before I found them. Williams calls hers “pineapple peri-peri chicken” and Smith titles her simply “pineapple chicken.” Both use canned pineapple but Smith’s was closer in flavor profile to the NYT Cooking version.

Of course, these three recipes for chicken with pineapple sent me down an internet rabbit hole, looking for more Cape Malay recipes. Hey, we were on lockdown. I had all the time in the world. 

Cape Malay-ish Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

As you can tell from my title, I did finally get around to making some pineapple chicken and I’m here to tell you, it is SO GOOD. I took some liberties by using fresh pineapple and adding the pineapple salsa recommended by NYT Cooking, hence the -ish. 

Ingredients
1 ½ pounds or 680g boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For the marinade:
3 packed tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for cooking
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 
3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
½ teaspoon ground cayenne
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh pineapple, including accumulated juices

For the pineapple salsa: 
¼ medium red onion, finely diced
1 cup or 170g fresh pineapple
Small handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 red chili pepper, thinly sliced

For serving:
Cooked white or brown rice (also nice with coconut rice)

Method
Cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. 


In a large Ziploc bag, stir together the brown sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt, minced garlic, ground cayenne and black pepper.


Transfer 1 generous tablespoon of the mixture to a medium bowl and add the chopped onion. Stir well. 


Cut the pineapple for the salsa into 1/2 in or 1 cm chunks. Add them to the onion bowl along with the cilantro and chili pepper. Toss until well-mixed and set aside.


Finely grate two tablespoons of the remaining pineapple. Add the pineapple and any juice to the marinade in the plastic bag.


Add the chicken chunks and toss to coat. Squeeze all the air you can out of the bag and seal. Set it aside to marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes (and no longer, otherwise the chicken turns mushy.)


Once the chicken is done marinating, pour the chicken into a sieve or strainer over a bowl to collect the leftover marinade. 


Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high and add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Cook the chicken pieces in batches so they don’t touch and are in a single layer. 


Cook until the bottoms are browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn them and continue cooking, until browned on all sides, a few minutes more. 


Remove to a plate and repeat with the next batches of chicken pieces (adding a little more olive oil to the pan if necessary) until all are browned and almost cooked through. 


Once the chicken is all on the plate, pour the leftover marinade into the pan and whisk while it cooks. Make sure to heat it to bubbling for several minutes to make sure it’s cooked through.


Tip the chicken pieces and any juice that has accumulated on the plate back into the pan.


Stir well to coat the chicken in the cooked marinade and heat until the chicken is piping hot and ready to serve. Serve with rice and the spicy pineapple salsa.

Food Lust People Love: Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes from African cuisines and cultures. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastimes. 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 Pineapple Chicken with Pineapple Salsa!

Food Lust People Love: Slightly sweet, savory and spicy, this pineapple chicken with pineapple salsa is easy to make and so flavorful! Serve it with coconut or plain rice.

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Sunday, June 6, 2021

Spicy Mango Salsa

This spicy mango salsa is a party in your mouth, with sweet, ripe mangoes, tart lime juice and hot peppers. It’s best friends with fish and chicken. 

Food Lust People Love: This spicy mango salsa is a party in your mouth, with sweet, ripe mangoes, tart lime juice and hot peppers. It’s best friends with fish and chicken.

Waaaaay back in 2005, I used to watch a cooking show on television called The Surreal Gourmet with a quirky host named Bob Blumer. Bob drove around the United States with a refurbished Airstream trailer that looked exactly like a great big toaster. It even had two enormous (pretend) pieces of toast sticking out the top. The Airstream was named the Toastermobile and it was kitted out with a full professional, albeit small, kitchen. 


On one of the shows Bob cooked a dish he called mambo chicken and made this mango salsa as an accompaniment. I didn’t write down the ingredients for the chicken but I sure did for the salsa!  

Spicy Mango Salsa

I make this as Bob did with one exception. We like things spicy, so I add a red chili pepper right at the end. This is optional but it does give the salsa what we consider a much-needed kick. In case you are interested in making the mambo chicken as well, I found this link on the Food Network

Ingredients
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice 
1 to 2 jalapeno chilies, stems, seeds and membranes removed
2 large green onions, finely sliced 
2 mangos, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes 
2/3 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, hard stems discarded, coarsely chopped
Optional: large hot red pepper, minced

Method
Add the minced jalapeƱos to the lime juice in a large bowl. This both softens their impact for the wimps in your family and makes sure that the spiciness is better distributed throughout the salsa. 


Add in the sliced onion tops, mango and cilantro. Stir to combine. 


Finally, stir in the minced red chili pepper, if using. 

Food Lust People Love: This spicy mango salsa is a party in your mouth, with sweet, ripe mangoes, tart lime juice and hot peppers. It’s best friends with fish and chicken.

This spicy mango salsa is a wonderful accompaniment to any fried or grilled fish. Or serve it with pan-fried chicken. I must confess I ate leftovers straight out of the serving bowl with a spoon. It's so good even a couple of days later. Do refrigerate any leftovers so you can do the same. 

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: This spicy mango salsa is a party in your mouth, with sweet, ripe mangoes, tart lime juice and hot peppers. It’s best friends with fish and chicken.


It's Sunday FunDay and my fellow bloggers are all sharing recipes made with mangoes. Check them out below. Many thanks to our host Mayuri of Mayuri's Jikoni!


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 Spicy Mango Salsa!

Food Lust People Love: This spicy mango salsa is a party in your mouth, with sweet, ripe mangoes, tart lime juice and hot peppers. It’s best friends with fish and chicken.
.

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Salsa Pebre Chileno

Salsa Pebre Chileno is a traditional accompaniment to an asado or barbecue in Chile. It’s made with ripe tomatoes, onion, lime juice and lots of cilantro. Add a little hot sauce for kick! 

Food Lust People Love: Salsa Pebre Chileno is a traditional accompaniment to an asado or barbecue in Chile. It’s made with ripe tomatoes, onion, lime juice and lots of cilantro. Add a little hot sauce for kick!

When our Sunday FunDay host announced the theme of today’s event – salsa! – I decided to search on Google for a recipe I’ve never heard of. This world is WIDE, people, I want to taste it all. 

Salsa simply means "sauce" in English but I wanted something that could stand alone and not, for example, a curry sauce that you would cook meat in. This meant I actually had to search for the word “salsa” rather than its English translation. A search in Spanish for recetas para salsa, turned up all sorts of great ones. 

When I found the first salsa pebre recipe, I began searching specifically for that recipe title to see if they varied much from cook to cook. There were minor variations among the Chilean bloggers, some adding garlic, others using vinegar instead of lime juice but most were very similar to what I am sharing here. 

Salsa Pebre Chileno

What you need to know is that Chilean pebre is not eaten on top of the grilled meat at a barbecue but on bread warmed on the grill or on salads. It’s also the condiment of choice for Chileans making choripĆ”ns – aka chorizo in a bun. This recipe was adapted from several on the interwebs but this one formed the basis: Que Rica Vida. It's in Spanish but for those of you who don't speak the lingo, use Google Translate. 

Ingredients
1/2 medium onion
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 generous bunch cilantro 
2 ripe, firm tomatoes
1 tablespoon canola or other light oil
1/2 teaspoon red hot sauce (or more if you like your pebre spicy)
Salt

Serve salsa pebre on
grilled bread
a toasted bun with chorizo (choripƔn) like hot dog relish
or alongside grilled meats

Method
Peel the half onion and chop it roughly. Put in a food processor and process until very finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl.


Pour the lime juice over the onion and leave to marinate. 


Wash the cilantro and dry very well. (I use a salad spinner.) Cut off any hard stems and discard them. 


Place the leaves and tender stems in the food processor and chop very finely. Put the cilantro in the bowl with the onion but don’t stir yet. 


Wash the tomatoes and remove the seeds. (You can leave the seeds in but then your salsa is going to be very wet.) Cut the tomatoes into chunks then chop them finely in the processor. 


Place the tomatoes and any juice in the bowl with the cilantro and onion. Add in the oil, hot sauce and salt to taste. Stir to combine well. 


Serve right away or cover the bowl and let it chill in the fridge until ready to serve. 

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: Salsa Pebre Chileno is a traditional accompaniment to an asado or barbecue in Chile. It’s made with ripe tomatoes, onion, lime juice and lots of cilantro. Add a little hot sauce for kick!


It’s Sunday FunDay and, who knew but May is National Salsa Month so we are sharing salsa recipes or recipes made with salsa as an ingredient for the celebration. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Check out all 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 Salsa Pebre Chileno!

Food Lust People Love: Salsa Pebre Chileno is a traditional accompaniment to an asado or barbecue in Chile. It’s made with ripe tomatoes, onion, lime juice and lots of cilantro. Add a little hot sauce for kick!
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