Tandoori Chicken Soup

With a request for Indian food for dinner, but no suitable meat to use, I decided to use the frozen chicken tenders to make a soup, using all the spices and flavours of tandoori chicken, and adding some canned tomatoes, chicken stock and coconut milk to make a broth.

When I make tandoori chicken I usually marinade the meat in yoghurt and spices, but as I only had a small amount of plain yoghurt I saved that for serving, and used up the last bit of buttermilk for the marinade. This allowed me to use both up at once, as well as the coconut milk that was in the fridge, leftover from a previous meal.

The result was delicious...served with naan bread and a dollop of plain Greek yoghurt; we ate it all! The recipe will serve four people...there were only two of us, but my husband had seconds and ate the last portion for lunch the next day. I guess I'll be making this again!

In a dish suitable for marinating, combine the spices:

1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon tandoori masala

Stir in:

3/4 cup buttermilk
Juice of half a lemon

Add:

8 chicken tenders

Mix gently, making sure that the chicken is well coated with the marinade.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat a large pot, suitable for making soup in, and add a drizzle of olive oil

Cook the chicken tenders, allowing any excess marinade to drip off before adding them to the pot.

Discard the remaining marinade.

When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and set aside until needed.

Turn the heat down to medium and add another drizzle of olive oil. Add:

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

Cook, stirring often,until the onions have softened.

Add the rest of the spices:

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Cook, stirring, for two minutes.

When the spices have cooked and are fragrant, add:

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Cook, stirring, for another two minutes.

Stir in:

1 14 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

Add:

3 cups of chicken stock

Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the onions are very soft.

Shred or dice the cooled, cooked chicken tenders.

Add the chicken to the soup, and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Add:

3/4 cup chick peas

Stir in:

1/2 cup coconut milk

Taste and adjust seasoning.






Serve the soup, garnished with a dollop of plain Greek yoghurt, and accompanied by warm naan bread.

• When making tandoori chicken, a tougher part of the chicken is usually used...thighs or drumsticks, so marinating is important for tenderizing as well as adding flavour. Chicken tenders, as the name says, are the most tender part of the chicken and do not need tenderizing. However, with thirty minutes in the marinade, a lot of flavour is added.
• If you choose to use chicken thighs or drumsticks, leave them in the marinade for at least 6 - 6 hours, or even overnight.
• Cooking the chicken with some of the  marinade increases that flavour, and also adds some of that spiciness to the pot. This is transferred to the vegetables and the broth when they are cooked in that same pot.
• If you wish to use yoghurt for the marinade, substitute it directly for the buttermilk.
• To make tandoori chicken, remove the chicken from the marinade and grill it. Serve it with rice or naan bread, or use it for sandwhiches, wraps or as a pizza topping.
• Coconut milk is optional; use whipping cream instead, or omit it completely. It does add creaminess to the soup, which helps to cut through the acidity of the tomatoes. The little amount of sugar that is added does the same thing. If you find that the broth is still to acidic, add a bit more sugar.
• This soup is a great way to use leftover cooked chicken; you will need to increase the spices in the broth. Add the spices from the marinade to the onions during cooking.
• I added chick peas to my soup; they can be omitted or another type of beans can be used instead. If you want to make the soup vegetarian, instead of chicken add more chick peas, as well as vegetables such as carrots, eggplant, peppers, squash or peas.
• Before garnishing the soup with the plain Greek yoghurt, consider adding another level of flavour by mixing it with lime juice, chopped fresh cilantro or ground cumin.

Turkey, Asparagus, Corn and Onion Quesadillas

When I took the package of turkey breast fillets out of the freezer, I didn't pay attention to how small they were; when it was time to make dinner I had to try and figure out how to make two small pieces of turkey (about 12 ounces) into a meal for four people.

Pasta was out of the question, as I had none in the house. I had some asparagus that I wanted to use, as well as a piece of white cheddar. The last few tortillas in the package made the decision for me...quesadillas it was! The perfectly ripe avocados could also be used, as well as the grape tomatoes. This was working out really well.

Marinating the turkey in some buttermilk and sriracha added flavour; I also added some sriracha to the onions once they were cooked. I added some corn, and we ended up with a tasty dinner...not bad for making it up as I went!

In a shallow dish, combine:

1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon sriracha
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of salt and pepper

Make 3 diagonal slashes across the skin side of the turkey breast fillets, about 1/4" deep.

Place the turkey into the buttermilk marinade, and leave for at least 30 minutes.







 Heat the oven to 350F.

Toss together:

1 cup frozen corn
18 asparagus spears, cut into 1" pieces
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon avocado oil

Roast until the corn and asparagus start to colour slightly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Thinly slice:

1 medium onion

Cook over medium low heat, with a drizzle of avocado oil, until the onion is softened and caramelized.

Remove the onion from the heat and stir in:

1 teaspoon sriracha

Set aside until needed.

Using a bit of avocado oil, cook the turkey breast over a medium high heat.

When the turkey is fully cooked, remove it from the heat and allow it to rest for 10 minutes, before thinly slicing.





Turn the oven on to 325F. Have a couple of baking sheets ready. Time to assemble the quesadillas:

Spread a layer of onions over the bottom of 3 tortillas.

Top with asparagus and corn.

Next divide the turkey between the 3 tortillas.

Finish the quesadillas off with a layer of grated white cheddar.






Place a second tortilla on top, and carefully lift the quesadillas onto the baking sheets. Place into the oven to bake. You want the filling to be hot, with melted cheese, and the tortillas to be soft with a slight crisp to the edges.

Remove the quesadillas from the oven and cut into six pieces. I served them with a grape tomato salsa, and some fresh guacamole.

• I used 10" flour tortillas, as I have these in the house to make wraps for lunches, and my daughters like to make breakfast burritos with them too. Any size or type of tortillas will work.
• Marinating the turkey in buttermilk helps to tenderize it, as well as add an extra layer of flavour. It is not an essential step. If you are short of time, rub some ground cumin and sriracha onto the turkey and cook it.
• Turkey breast fillets are about the same size as chicken breasts, and have a similar tenderness, so this gives an easy substitution.
• Cooked and shredded or diced turkey or chicken can be used as well. If you prefer, use pork, beef or fish.
• When fresh corn on the cob is in season, grill some and then cut the kernels off and use those in your quesadilla. The asparagus spears can also be grilled, and then cut into smaller lengths. The reason I cut them into smaller pieces is that it makes eating the quesadilla easier.
• Once the onions are caramelized they become soft and sweet, which contrasts nicely with the spicy sriracha. The amount of sriracha can be increased or decreased. Chipotle chilies in adobo sauce would make a nice addition to the quesadillas.
• The choice of cheese depends on what you have available, as well as what you like. I had a piece of white cheddar that was perfect for grating and using up in this recipe. Other cheeses that would work well are yellow cheddar or pepper Jack.
• Cream cheese can be mixed with all of the other ingredients to make a rich creamy filling, which you can spread over the tortillas, instead of adding each item as a separate layer.
• To make the guacamole cut an avocado in half, remove the pit and scoop out the flesh. Mash it with lime juice, salt, pepper and chopped cilantro. Purchased guacamole can also be used; you can also just dice the avocado and serve that on the side.

White Chicken Chili in a Bread Bowl

The day old buns, the frozen pinto beans, a slice of bacon, a lime and some chicken thighs turned into this delicious white chicken chili, that I served in bread bowls. It was a nice change from the usual tomato based chili, but still had the spiciness I associate with chili, as well as the sweetness of the corn.

Making the bread bowls is simple, and adds a fun touch to the meal, but my  buns were on the small side, so everyone had to go back for seconds, and in some cases thirds! The bonus of being able to eat your bowl, that has soaked up all the flavours of the chili makes up for this minor inconvenience!

I used the inside of the buns as a thickener for the chili, so nothing went to waste. 

To make the bread bowl, pre-heat the oven to 325F and have a baking sheet ready.

Use a small sharp knife and cut a lid in the top of your buns, removing it and then gently pulling out the soft bread from the inside of the bun.

Make sure to leave at least 1cm around the side so your bowl is able to hold your chili long enough for you to eat it.

Place the bowls and lids onto the baking sheet and place in the oven to dry out and crisp up.

Keep an eye on them; they should take about 20 minutes. You are looking for them to be dried out and crunchy.

Remove from the oven and allow them to cool while you make the chili.

In a shallow dish, combine:

Juice and zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons of avocado oil
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch of salt and black pepper

Add:

12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Make sure the chicken is well coated with the marinade, and leave it for 30 minutes.

Break the reserved bread into small pieces, and soak it in some chicken stock.

I had:

2 cups bread
1 cup chicken stock

This will be the thickener for the chili.

In a deep sided pan, sear the chicken on all sides. No oil is needed, because of the avocado oil in the marinade.

Remove the chicken and set aside.

Dice:

1 slice of bacon

Add this to the pan and cook until it starts to crisp.

With the heat on medium, add:

1 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, minced

Cook until the onion starts to soften, stirring often.

Add the seared chicken back to the pan.

Add enough chicken stock to the pan to almost cover the chicken. I used :

3 cups

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the chicken can easily be shredded, about 45 - 60 minutes.





Remove the chicken from the pot, and using two forks, shred it. Add the chicken back to the pot.

Add:

1 cup corn kernels
1 cup pinto beans

Stir the soaked bread into the chili, a little bit at a time, until the chili has reached the desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning.





To serve, place a bread bowl into a shallow bowl, and fill it with chili. Top with grated cheese, diced avocado and sour cream.

• This chili can be made using leftover cooked chicken...shred it and make the broth by adding the marinade spices to the onions and garlic instead of to the chicken.
• You could make this with ground chicken or turkey; turkey legs (they will take longer to cook) or pork.
• I used ancho chili powder, but I think that chipotle chilies in adobo sauce would add heat and smokiness to the dish. You could also use dried chipotle, or canned green chilies.
• Avocado oil is not essential, I like the flavour it adds, but olive oil or vegetable oil are good substitutions.
• If you do not want to use the bread to thicken your chili, add less chicken stock and allow the liquid to reduce if needed. 
• Freeze the bread for another use, or turn it into bead crumbs or bread pudding.
• To make the bread bowl you need to have crusty bread or buns, such as sourdough, French or Calabrese, in order to have a sturdy enough bowl. Other serving options (other than straight into a bowl) include in a tortilla shell bowl or taco shells.
• The bacon is optional; I used it because it was in the fridge for some strange reason. It added some smokiness and saltiness.
• I would like to add red peppers the next time I make this. It will add colour and another dimension of flavour.
• If you like cilantro, chop some up and add it just before serving.
• The type of bean ypou add is up to you...I had pinto beans in the freezer. Since this is a white chili, I would personally stay with white beans...navy, pinto, cannellini, white kidney or romano.
• The chili can be made a couple of days ahead, it can also be frozen.

Tapenade and Goat Cheese Turkey Scallopini Rolls

I have a family that loves anything breaded...and I don't always want plain old breaded anything. Which was the case with the turkey scallopini I was making for dinner. I admit to spending a lot of time thinking of other options, until I looked in the fridge and found some leftover basil tapenade.

Together with some goat cheese (which we had quite a lot of) this was my compromise. I spread the tapenade onto the turkey, added some goat cheese, rolled the turkey up and then breaded the whole thing. Admittedly, it was very good. The crunchy bread, salty tapenade and tangy creamy goat cheese worked very well together.

I served it with some spicy garlic oven fried potatoes, green beans and crunchy Parmesan cauliflower.

I made the tapenade a few days before this, using it for a pizza topping. It's quick and easy to make, and I added in some pinenuts, just because there was a tablespoon of them waiting to be used.

Place your ingredients into a food processor:

2/3 cup black olives
1/4 cup capers
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon pinenuts
2 - 3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
 Juice of half a lemon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Process until you have a puree that is as smooth or chunky as you prefer. Mine was almost smooth.

Taste and adjust seasoning.

I had used about half for my pizza, so I used the rest for the turkey rolls.





Heat the oven to 350F. I had mine at 400F to cook the potatoes, then turned it down for the turkey. This allowed the potatoes to crisp and form a nice crunchy outside layer first, before finishing their cooking alongside the turkey.

Lay the turkey scallopini flat on a tray or cutting board. I had 4 pieces.

Divide the tapenade between the 4 pieces and spread it evenly over the turkey. I used about 2 tablespoons of tapenade for each piece of turkey.

Place a layer of crumbled goat cheese on top of the tapenade.

Starting at the narrowest end of the turkey, roll each piece up to form a roll.

Bread each turkey roll in:

Flour with a pinch of cayenne pepper

Eggs whisked with a bit of milk

Breadcrumbs

In a hot pan, using a bit of olive oil, quickly brown all sides of the turkey rolls.

Place the turkey into the oven to finish cooking.








When the turkey is cooked completely, allow it to rest for 5 minutes before cutting each roll in half to serve.

• Tapenade usually consists of olives, capers, anchovies, parsley and olive oil. I like to include garlic, and to use whichever herbs I have available, which in this case was basil. The addition of lemon juice brightens the paste, and helps to cut through the richness of the oil from the olives, anchovies and olive oil.
• I omitted the anchovies as I had none.
• Be very careful when seasoning tapenade as the olives, capers and anchovies are salty. I only added black pepper to start off.
• Other additions that can be used to add some interest are sundried tomatoes, dried figs, rosemary, green olives instead of black.
• The tapenade will keep for up to a week in the fridge as long as it is covered. Storebought tapenade can be used instead.
• Any paste or thick sauce can be used instead of tapenade, and each will give your turkey a completely different flavour profile. Some suggestions include Thai red curry paste; any type of pesto; hummus.
• Other types of meat can be used...thinly sliced beef, pork or chicken, fish such as sole will all work well.
• The turkey rolls can be made and breaded ahead of time, up to a day ahead, before being cooked. They can also be frozen at this point. Do not defrost before cooking as the breading will become soggy as it defrosts. Cook from frozen, remembering to allow extra time to fully cook the turkey.

Tortilla Soup with Chicken

This was the perfect way to use the cooked chicken and tortillas in the fridge. Oh yes, and some of the many ripe avocados I seem to have accumulated. This is a light tomato broth, with corn, beans and chicken that is garnished with cheese, sour cream, avocado and tortilla chips.

Instead of using purchased tortilla chips, which are full of salt, I made some baked tortilla strips, which are easy to make, and allow you to control the amount of added salt and fat....but they still have lots of crunch to add to the soup.

Start off by baking the tortilla strips. Heat the oven to 350F and have a baking sheet or two ready.

Cut two 10" flour tortillas into 2" strips.

Place the tortilla strips in a large bowl, and add:

1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil

Toss well to coat all of the strips with the oil and seasonings, separating them with your finger tips as you do so.

Spread the tortilla strips in a single layer on the baking sheets.

Bake until the strips are golden and crispy, about 10 - 15 minutes, checking halfway through.

Allow them to cool completely.

To make the soup, cook in olive oil:

1 large sliced onion

Season with salt and pepper while cooking.

When the onions are starting to soften, add:

3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried chipotle chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

When the onions are soft add:

1 X 28 ounce can of chopped tomatoes, with the juice.

Bring to a boil.

Add:

4 cups chicken stock

Bring to a boil. Taste and add a bit of sugar if the tomatoes are too acidic for your taste. I added about 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Allow the soup to simmer for 30 minutes.

Stir in:

1 cup pinto beans, rinsed
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 cooked chicken breast, thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lime


Taste and adjust seasoning.






Serve the soup; allow people to add their choice of toppings: the baked tortilla strips, diced avocado, grated Cheddar and Pepper Jack cheese, sour cream and chopped green onions.

• If you don't want to make tortilla chips/strips, use purchased tortilla chips. They can be crushed into the soup at the table, or you can crush them before serving them.
• I like to offer a choice of grated cheese at the table...Cheddar and Pepper Jack give the option of adding a bit of extra heat. White cheddar, smoked white cheddar or queso fresco are other options.
• Stir some lime zest and juice into the sour cream to add some brightness; alternatively stir some chopped chipotle chilies in adobo sauce into it to add more heat; leave it plain to cool everything down a bit. Plain Greek yoghurt can be used instead of sour cream if you prefer.
• Chopped fresh chilies can be included in the toppings.
• I used frozen corn, but corn on the cob can be used instead. If you can, grill the corn and then cut the kernels off the cob and use them to add some smokiness to your soup.
• Black beans would be my first choice for this soup, but all I had were pinto beans. It doesn't really matter which type of bean you use. If you are using canned beans, make sure you rinse them before adding them to the soup.
• As you can see in the picture, I used some red onion and some yellow onion. I planned to use a red onion, only to find that I only had about 1/4 of one to use, so I used yellow onion for the rest. Red onions have a slightly milder flavour than yellow.
• If you want a spicier soup, add more chili powder, chipotle chilies or even a bit of cayenne pepper. Of course, you can also add less if you aren't partial to too much heat, and allow people to adjust the heat at the table by providing chopped chilies and Pepper Jack cheese.