Coconut Lemon Custard Chicken

Do you like coconut and lemon but don’t want to make a dessert dish? This recipe is inspired by Paleo Parents Organ Meat Pie recipe and Civilized Caveman Lemon Bars recipe.

Coconut Lemon Custard Chicken
Ingredients:
2 lbs ground chicken (or any meat of your choice)- I manually minced the chicken breast meat that I got
3 stalks of green onions
2 lemons
3-4 large eggs
1″ knob of ginger
2 shallots
1/2 garlic bulb
2 tsp curry powder
2-3 Tbsp Red Boat Fish Sauce
1 tsp cumin powder
2-3 tsp coriander powder
1-2 tsp black pepper powder
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup – 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions:
For the chicken:
1. Separate the green and white part of the green onions. Mince the white part-set aside. Slice the green part lengthwise (see picture above)
2. Puree garlic, shallots and ginger in your food processor (I used Magic Bullet)
3. Season the ground meat with coriander powder, black pepper, curry powder, coconut oil, fish sauce, minced green onion (white part), 1 egg white (set the yolk aside)

4. Grease an oven proof baking dish with 1 Tbsp coconut oil and spread the mince meat evenly

5. Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes at 350°F

For the custard:
1. While the chicken is cooking in the oven, beat the eggs (including the reserved egg yolk from earlier) in high speed with a hand mixer until the mixture looks pale yellow

2. Lower the mixer speed and add in the 1/4 cup coconut milk and 1/4 cup lemon juice little by little (reserve the rest of the lemon juice for other use). Mix until everything incorporates

3. Lastly, add in the shredded coconut and the green onions (the green part)

4. By this time, the chicken should be cooked already. Take it out from the oven then pour the egg mixture on top

5. Return it to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes in 350°F

6. Change the setting to broil for another 5-10 minutes

7. Remove from the oven and let it cool a bit before slicing it

Who said sour and savory can’t get along? Believe it or not, by the end of the meal, I only had 1/4 of this left!!

 

Roast Masala Lemon Date Chicken

I made this chicken dish yesterday and turned out very yummy so I thought I’d share the recipe to you all. As usual, when I’m going to bake bone-in chicken, I prefer to steam them first for about 15 minutes to make sure the inside will be at least half cooked before baking it in the oven. Besides it cut down the baking time, plus the meat will stay moist.

Ingredients:
About 2 lbs chicken/beef – I used a whole chicken, cut up in to 4 pieces -skins removed
Juice from a whole lemon
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tsp roast masala seasoning

(or you can make it your own: chili, garlic, ginger, cloves, black pepper, coriander & vinegar)

3 shallots
3 soaked pitted medjool dates
1 tsp anatto powder
1/2 tsp (or more if you like spicy) chili powder

Directions:
1. Puree shallots & soaked dates in your food processor (I used my Magic Bullet) and mix in with the rest of the ingredients

2. Place the meat in a gallon size zip lock bag, coat evenly with the marinate. Let it sit for about 2 hour or overnight for best taste.

3. Steam the meat for about 15 minutes (If you use boneless meat, you can skip this part and head on to the next one). If you want to skip steaming, make sure to put longer time when baking in the oven.

4. Broil the meat in 400°F for about 20 minutes (turn over once halfway through). If you didn’t steam the meat, bake it for 350°F then change the setting to broil. Time depends on the size of the meat that you use.

Remove from heat and enjoy with your favorite veggie dish.

 

Citrus and Spice Chicken

A couple days ago, I was experimenting with different spice mixtures to jazz up my marinate for the whole chicken that I had in the fridge. Pairing them with citrus juices resulting this yummy baked chicken. As usual, when I’m going to bake bone-in chicken, I prefer to steam them first for about 15 minutes to make sure the inside will be at least half cooked before baking it in the oven. Besides it cut down the baking time, plus the meat will stay moist.

Ingredients:
About 2 lbs chicken/beef – I used a whole chicken, cut up in to 4 pieces -skins & visible fat removed
2 lemons (zest & juice)
Fresh squeezed orange juice (1 orange)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp whole cloves
1 garlic bulb
2-3 shallots
1″ ginger knob
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp coriander powder

Directions:
1. Mash the garlic, shallots, ginger and whole cloves with mortar pestle or your mini food processor (I used my Magic Bullet)
2. Mix the puree garlic/shallot/cloves mixture with the lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest, and the rest of the spices and salt

3. Place the meat in a gallon size zip lock bag, coat evenly with the marinate. Let it sit for about 2 hour or overnight for best taste.

3. Line up your steamer with a piece of paper towel and steam the meat for about 15 minutes (If you use boneless meat, you can skip this part and head on to the next one). If you want to skip steaming, make sure to bake it longer.

4. Broil the meat in 400°F for about 20 minutes. If you didn’t steam the meat, bake it for 350°F then change the setting to broil. Time depends on the size of the meat that you use.

Remove from heat and enjoy with your favorite veggie dish.

I’d suggest to cut down the broiling time if you don’t want the chicken meat become too dry. I particularly enjoyed it since it tasted like chicken jerky

 

Cabbage “Noodles” Five Spice Stir Fry

I put together this recipe based on what I had in my pantry. As usual, there’s no hard rules how to make a vegetable stir fry dish. Almost anything goes So why cabbage “noodles”? Well it sounds a hella lot cooler than shredded cabbage, don’t you think?

Cabbage “Noodles’ Five Spice Stir Fry
What I used:
1/4 of cabbage head – discard the heart and thinly sliced to resemble “noodles”
6 oz cello mushrooms – sliced
1/2 garlic cloves – minced
2 shallots – minced (I used my Magic Bullet to speed things up)
1 big Italian eggplant – peeled and diced
3 zucchinis – sliced
1 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 Tbsp Red Boat Fish Sauce (optional but it gives that umami taste to the dish!)
3 Tbsp coconut aminos or wheat free soy sauce (tamari)
Salt to taste (use more if not using any fish sauce)
1 Tbsp avocado oil/butter/lard/ghee – never use olive oil for high heat cooking

Directions:
1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil of your choice (I used avocado oil) in high heat
2. Saute the minced garlic/shallots until fragrant
3. Mix in the chopped mushrooms, stir then put the rest of the ingredients – stirring constantly – no need to add water because mushrooms will yield lots of water
4. Season with pepper, fish sauce, coconut aminos and salt to taste
5. When all veggies are wilted and cooked, remove from the heat and serve with any of your favorite dishes

Enjoy!

 

Cheater’s Shish Kabob Chicken

I’ve never had the actual Shish Kabob before but that didn’t stop me to try this seasonings when I saw it at my local supermarket. It was super simple and yummy. I didn’t have a grill and I was too lazy to fire up my oven to bake it (it takes longer and I was too starving to wait another 30 minutes) so I opted pan frying this (or should I say pan grilled?)

Cheater’s Shish Kabob Chicken
Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (or any protein of your choice) – slice lengthwise to speed up the cooking time
1 oz of Shish Kabob seasonings (granulated onions, salt, garlic, sumac, citric acid, black pepper, saffron)

Directions:
1. Place the meat in a gallon size zip lock bag and coat evenly with the shish kabob marinate. Let it sit for about 1-2 hour at least.

2. Heat the skillet in medium heat with 1 Tbsp coconut oil. Pan fry the chicken until cooked

3. Squeeze some lemon on top, then enjoy with any veggie dish of your choice!

 

Easy Tandoori Chicken

When I’m going to bake bone-in chicken, I prefer to steam them first for about 15 minutes to make sure the inside will be at least half cooked before baking it in the oven. Besides it cut down the baking time, plus the meat will stay moist. This tandoori recipe is no exception and it turned out yummy!

Ingredients:
About 2 lbs chicken/beef – I used a whole chicken, cut up in to 4 pieces -skins removed
Juice from a whole lemon
1/3 cup yogurt (I used coconut milk)
Salt and pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp tandoori seasonings

Directions:
1. Mix all the marinate

2. Place the meat in a gallon size zip lock bag, coat evenly with the marinate. Let it sit for about 2 hour or overnight for best taste.

3. Steam the meat for about 15 minutes (If you use boneless meat, you can skip this part and head on to the next one). If you want to skip steaming, make sure to put longer time when baking in the oven.

4. Broil the meat in 400°F for about 20 minutes. If you didn’t steam the meat, bake it for 350°F then change the setting to broil. Time depends on the size of the meat that you use.

Remove from heat and enjoy with your favorite veggie dish. I ate mine with a side of Baked Cabbage.

I submitted this recipe to Primal Cave#3

 

Braised Coconut Shredded Chicken

This recipe was inspired by Indonesian “lemper ayam” recipe (sticky rice with shredded chicken filling wrapped in banana leaves). Since sticky rice is totally not Paleo (grain, high starch, sugar etc) I decided to only make the shredded chicken filling.

Braised Coconut Shredded Chicken
Ingredients:
2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts
2-3 shallots
1/2 garlic cloves
2 stalks of lemon grass
1″ of galangal root
Handful of lime leaves
Salt
1/2 Tbsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp coconut oil
3/4 cup of water

Directions:
1. Bring 3/4 cup water to boil.

2. Cook the chicken breasts for about 5 minutes (or until cooked). Reserve the water for future use (you just made your own chicken stock!) Let it cool.

3. After the meat has cooled down, shred the chicken with a fork. Set aside.

4. Chop the garlic and shallots (I used my Magic Bullet and pulsed them to get them minced). Cut and bruise the lemon grass. Slice the galangal root.

5. Heat 2 Tbsp coconut oil on medium heat. Saute the chopped garlic/shallot mixture with lemon grass, lime leaves and galangal until fragrant.

6. Mix in the shredded chicken breasts, pour in the coconut milk. Season with salt, pepper and coriander accordingly.

7. Turn up the heat to high and cook until all the water evaporated.

Discard the lemon grass, lime leaves and galangal. Serve with your favorite veggies side dish. This chicken will also be good in soup. Enjoy!

 

Lazy Omelet with Tomatoes

A super easy dish that you can always make when you are in a pinch. Feel free to experiment with different herbs/spices but eggs and tomatoes are mandatory (hence the title)

Braised Omelet with Tomatoes
Ingredients:
6 eggs
6 tomatoes
1/4 cabbage – shredded
Chopped onions
Handful of lemon basil or your favorite herbs
Salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Beat 6 eggs and fry it on the pan with 1 Tbsp of oil on medium heat to make an omelet. If you’re feeling lazy like me, don’t want to wash extra bowl and fork from beating the eggs, just crack all the eggs on the pan and break the yolks with your spatula

See, it still turned out as a perfect omelet

2. Cut the omelet into small pieces using your wooden spatula on the pan (so no need to wash your cutting board and knife) and set aside.

3. Heat another 1 Tbsp of oil in medium high heat, saute the chopped onions, shredded cabbage and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper accordingly.

4. When all the vegetables have wilted, mix in the chopped omelet and lemon basil herbs

5. Mix everything until combined and dinner is ready!

 

Lemon Date Chicken

I have LOTS of lemons from my sister in law’s parent’s backyard (organic no doubt!) and a container of Medjool dates that’s been sitting in my fridge for a while. So how about combining lemon juice with pitted dates as a marinate instead?

Lemon Date Chicken
Ingredients:
6-8 chicken drumsticks or leg quarters -skins removed
2 shallots – chopped
1/2 clove of garlic -chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
About 1 cup of fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
5-6 pitted medjool dates -soaked in hot water

The leg quarters I got were so small so after the picture taken, I had to add 6 drumsticks to use up all the marinate I made.

Optional: Handful of lemon basil
Substitution: you can use green onions, parsley or other fresh herbs of your choice.

Directions:
1. Soak the pitted medjool dates in hot water
2. Grate the lemon zest using your grater before juicing it.

A giant lemon - almost like an orange size!

3. Blend the soaked dates and lemon juice in your food processor (I love my Magic Bullet for this! Small and easy clean up afterward)

4. Place the chicken in a gallon size (big) zip lock bag, rub in salt and pepper and pour in the marinate. Make sure the chicken are all covered. Marinate for about 1 hour or overnight for better taste.

5. Place the chicken in the non reactive baking dish. Pre heat oven in 350°F.
6. Topped with chopped lemon basil leaves

7. Bake for about 1 hour in 350°F or until the chicken are cooked (juice should run clear when pierced with fork). Flip the chicken halfway through.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool for a bit.

As usual, enjoy!

 

Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo Kho)

I love cooking stew because it’s simple, easy and it tastes even better after the next day. When I saw Nom Nom Paleo posted her Paleo version, I was super intrigued to try it this weekend. And I also saw Wandering Chopsticks posted her own version of Bo Kho as well. One Two things I don’t have in my pantry as those ladies were the fish sauce and Vietnamese Madras Curry Powder (bummer!) But that didn’t stop me for not making it and it still turned out yummy!

Vietnamese Beef Stew (Bo Kho) (Adapted from Nom Nom Paleo and Wandering Chopsticks)
Ingredients:
3 lbs beef stew meat
4 tomatoes – seeded and peeled
1 white onion -chopped
1/2 jicama – cut into chunks
1 inch of ginger root – peeled
4 stalks of lemon grass – discard leafy part and cut into 3 parts and bruised
4 star anise
2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp five spice powder
salt
1 lb of small carrots – cut diagonally
3 bay leaves
1 tsp paprika powder
2 Tbsp coconut flour

Directions:
1. Peel, seeded and cut the tomatoes into chunks (I saved the seeds for other use but Hubby K decided to consume it instead)

2. Cut the rest of the ingredients. Please note I cut mine into big chunks because I am using a pressure cooker. If you use a regular pot, cut them a little smaller than mine

3. Wash and pat dry the beef stew meat. I had to cut mine into smaller pieces because they were big!

4. Drizzle 2 Tbsp coconut flour to the meat and mix until they are all coated evenly.

5. Heat 2 Tbsp avocado oil on the pot in medium heat – pan fry the coated meat until brownish. You might need to do this in batches. Set aside.

6. Heat another 2 Tbsp avocado oi, saute garlic, onion, tomatoes, lemon grass, bay leaves, star anise, ginger in medium high heat

7. Mix in the beef stew meat and jicama. Add all the seasonings. Pour in the water about 3/4 full.

8a. Pressure cooker: Cover and turn the heat up to high to bring up the pressure. Once you hear the hissing sound, turn down the heat to medium – cook for about 25 minutes then turn off the heat. Wait for about 15-20 minutes before opening the pot.

Open the pressure cooker, adjust the seasoning accordingly, then pour in the chopped carrots into the pot, cover the pressure cooker and cook for about 5 minutes then turn off the heat.

8b. Regular pot: Cook in medium low heat -let it simmer for about 1 hour. Adjust seasonings accordingly. Towards the end, mix in the chopped carrots.

9. Discard the lemon grass, star anise, jicama and bay leaves. Then you’re done!