May Spice Rack Challenge - Broiled Coriander Chicken Thighs

Seriously? It's already May 19th? Where the hell did that come from,and yet, still three months until my BC vacation...sigh.

As I have only until tomorrow to get this recipe up and I'm going to a local brewery after work tomorrow I needed to get cooking today. The first recipe I googled for was the one I used (though I did read a few more before deciding that the first one was best. I didn't have green onions or a lime, but lemon juice worked just fine.

Broiled Coriander Chicken Thighs (By Pam Anderson at FineCooking.com)

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
Vegetable oil for coating
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs. ground coriander
2 Tbs. fish sauce
2 tsp. light brown sugar
1/4 lime
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion greens

Adjust the oven rack to the position closest to the broiler and set the broiler on high. Coat both sides of each thigh with just enough oil to get the seasonings to stick. Sprinkle each side with salt, pepper, and a portion of the coriander, rubbing the seasonings into the meat. Mix the fish sauce and sugar in a small bowl; set aside.

Lay the thighs flat on a broiler pan and broil until they’re opaque on top, 3-to 4 minutes. Remove the thighs from the oven. Without turning them, brush them with the fish sauce mixture and return them to the oven. Continue to broil until the thighs are spotty brown and cooked through, another 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate; pour the pan juices over the chicken. Squeeze lime juice over the chicken and sprinkle with the scallions.

I served them with roasted new potatoes and lemon garlic broccolini...mmm!

March Spice Rack Challenge - Spicy Indian Chicken Curry

The March Spice Rack Challenge was cardamom.

For a household that has 34 different containers of spices plus several blends or seasoning mixes you wouldn't think that I would need to buy stuff for the spice rack challenge. But my cardamom was both powder and OLD so I hit Superstore for a new stock of pods. (By the way, if you're in Canada and use a lot of spices that are also commonly used in Asian cuisine, it's all about superstore...huge savings!!!!)

Ty and I love Indian food so it seemed a logical idea to make a curry of some sort and it was off to allrecipes where I found a recipe to use as a base.




6 chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, finely diced
1 can coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste (I mixed up what I assume this is in my mini food chopper)
2 tbsp curry powder
2" piece cinnamon stick, broken up
8 whole cardamom pods
6 whole cloves
4 bay leaves
15 (I grabbed some) whole black peppercorns
2 tsp coriander seed
red pepper flakes to taste

Toss the chicken, onion, oil, and garlic ginger paste into a pot and let cook on medium heat for 5ish minutes.

Meanwhile dump all lumpy spices into some cheesecloth and make a little bundle so you aren't chomping down on a seed every bite you eat. Add the bundle, the bay leaves, the curry powder, and the pepper flakes to the pot along with the coconut milk and some chicken broth.

Cook uncovered for 30 minutes. Check seasoning (Here I actually added about a half tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 a chicken stock cube to amp up my flavour.)

(You've now added everything except the bell pepper)

After the 30 minutes has passed, toss in the bell pepper and cook 10 minutes more. The broth and milk should have thickened up into a nice sauce.

Serve with basmati race and/or naan bread.