Easy Curried Shrimp

This is a Stay family recipe 

1-2 lbs Shrimp, the more the better. Use big ones as the little salad shrimp get lost in the sauce. Precooked and frozen are fine. Thaw them out and dry them off before cooking.

½ cup White Flour 

1 large Onion, diced

1 large Green pepper, coarsely chopped up

2-3 cans condensed Tomato Soup

Curry Powder

1-2 T Sugar

4-6 T Butter (replace with oil for Dairy-free)

Hot cooked rice `

Start the rice cooking first.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan (or just pour in the oil).  Add onions and cook just until golden. Meanwhile, dredge the shrimp in flour and then LIGHTLY fry in the butter with the onions. Sprinkle the shrimp liberally with curry powder and lightly with sugar. Fry a bit more, turn over and sprinkle second side with the curry powder and sugar. Add the green peppers after you season the second time. Add two cans of tomato soup. If you want more sauce, add another can of soup. Add water as needed to keep the sauce saucy. Taste the sauce and add more curry and hot sauce if wanted. Cook only until the sauce is all hot and bubbling. Serve over the rice.
You can make this more of a curry by serving it with small dishes containing finely chopped fresh green pepper, raisins, coconut, chunk pineapple, etc. (These are my mother-in-law's suggestions, I never do them, but they would probably be good.)

Chicken, Broccoli Peanut Curry

 This is written for an Instant Pot, but it's just a slow cooker recipe. So if you don't have one, just put it in a slow cooker.

1 tbs olive oil

1/2 cup chopped green onions

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced 

2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into pieces

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons red curry paste

3 cups broccoli florets

1 cup sliced carrots

1 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs cold water

rice

cilantro

1/4 cup chopped green onions

chopped roasted peanuts

Directions

Select saute on the instant pot and adjust to normal. Add oil and sauté onion, ginger, and garlic. for one minute. Press cancel and add chicken, broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, and curry paste. Stir. Cover with lid and open the pressure release valve.

Select slow cook, adjust to MORE and cook for 2 hours or until chicken is done. Stir in the broccoli and carrots and cook, covered, for an additional 30 minutes. 

Press cancel. Combine the cornstarch and water and stir into pot. Select sauté and cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened. 

If cooking in a slower cooker, just slow cook the onions, garlic, ginger, chicken, peanut butter, soy sauce, and curry paste for 2 hours on high. Then add the broccoli and carrots and cook until crisp tender. thicken with the cornstarch.

Serve over rice and topped with green onion, cilantro, and peanuts. 

Greek Chicken and Rice Bowl

 

Ingredients

• 2 skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups brown basmati rice
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper (If you prefer a kick)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons hummus I used Trader Joe's
• 4 tablespoons tzatziki sauce
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives
• 4 tablespoons feta cheese

Instructions

• Season the chicken with the thyme, cumin, turmeric, paprika, red pepper, salt, and pepper to taste.
• Add the chicken to the pot with the chicken broth.
• Cook for 10 minutes on Manual > High-Pressure Cooking.
• When the Instant Pot beeps to indicate it is finished, allow the steam to release naturally for 10 minutes instead of quick release.
• Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot. Using a large knife and fork, shred the chicken.
• Rinse the brown rice with water in a large bowl. Drain the water from the rice.
• Add the rice to the Instant Pot with 2 1/2 cups of water.
• Cook for 22 minutes on Manual > High-Pressure Cooking.
• Allow the steam to release naturally for 10 minutes instead of quick release.
• Remove the rice from the pot.
• Create the rice bowls with equal amounts of rice, shredded chicken, olives, 1 tablespoon feta cheese, 1 tablespoon hummus, and 1 tablespoon tzatziki sauce.

Notes

I chose to cook the chicken first before the rice because once the rice is cooked, the Instant Pot will become sticky. This makes the process easier.

You can make your own hummus using the following:

1 15oz can chickpeas

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

salt to taste

Combine the ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend until creamy

One Pot Cheesy Mexican Lentils, Black Beans, and Rice

Rachel found this recipe at https://reciperunner.com/one-pot-cheesy-mexican-lentils-black-beans-and-rice/ It's delicious. I could eat the whole pot by myself, it goes down so smooth, but it's enough food to feed a family of eight if six of them are kids or teenagers.

ONE POT CHEESY MEXICAN LENTILS, BLACK BEANS AND RICE
yield: 5 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
cook time: 50 MINUTES
total time: 1 HOUR (if you overlap some of the prep time with the cook time)

INGREDIENTS
1/2 of a yellow onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, grated or minced
1/2 cup uncooked long grain brown rice
1/2 cup uncooked French green lentils, rinsed (red or brown lentils may also be used)
2-3 cups low sodium vegetable stock
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle powder (optional)
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
15 ounces black beans (canned), rinsed and drained
1/2 cup fire roasted tomatoes, drained
4 ounces diced green chiles (canned)
1 small zucchini, shredded
1/2 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 cup red enchilada sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheese, I used sharp cheddar and part skim mozzarella
Cilantro for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat a large pot or saucepan over medium high heat.
2. When the pot is heated spray with cooking oil and add in the onion and garlic.
3. Sauté for a couple minutes then add in the brown rice and lentils.
4. Add in the vegetable stock, stir and bring to a boil.
5. Once boiling, cover and reduce the heat to low.
6. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until lentils and rice are tender.
7. If there is any excess liquid drain it.
8. Season the rice and lentils with salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and chipotle powder.
9. Add in all of the remaining ingredients except 1/4 cup of the cheese and stir together.
10. Heat the mixture until the cheese is melted.
11. Top with the remaining cheese and cover with a lid.
12. Heat on low until the cheese is melted and the mixture is bubbly.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: YIELD: 5 SERVING SIZE: 1
Amount Per Serving: CALORIES: 498 TOTAL FAT: 14g SATURATED FAT: 8g TRANS FAT: 0g UNSATURATED FAT: 5g CHOLESTEROL: 39mg SODIUM: 1274mg CARBOHYDRATES: 65g FIBER: 18g SUGAR: 11g PROTEIN: 30g

Grilled Hawaiian Chicken Teriyaki Bowls

I found the recipe here.

Ingredients

1. 4 or 5 boneless, skinless chicken tenders (or about 2 chicken breasts)
2. 1 zucchini, sliced
3. 4 mini sweet bell peppers, any color, chopped
4. 1/2 of a pineapple, peeled and cut into spears
5. 1 small red onion, sliced thin
6. 1/2 cup toasted sweetened coconut flakes, optional

For the Coconut Rice

1. 2 cups water
2. 1 1/2 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk (about one 13.5 oz can)
3. 2 tsp packed light brown sugar
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 2 cups white or jasmine rice

For the Teriyaki Sauce

1. ½ cup soy sauce
2. 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
3. 1 Tbsp sesame oil
4. ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp brown sugar
5. 1 Tbsp honey
6. ¾ tsp ground ginger
7. 1 clove garlic, minced
8. 2 tsp cornstarch+ 2 tsp water, mixed together
9. 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

Instructions

1. Make the coconut rice by adding the water, coconut milk, sugar, and salt to a large
2. saucepan. Bring to a boil, then stir in rice. Return to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes, before fluffing with a fork.
3. Meanwhile, make the teriyaki sauce by adding all of the sauce ingredients to a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for about 1 minute. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
4. Pour 1/4 cup of the teriyaki sauce over the raw chicken and set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes (or longer if using chicken breasts).
5. Prepare your grill and heat it to medium.
6. If you have a vegetable grill basket to grill the vegetables in, then chop them and grill them in the basket. If not, cut the zucchini and onion into large chunks and leave the mini bell peppers whole. Drizzle some olive oil over the vegetables and over the pineapple spears. Grill the vegetables for just a few minutes on each side and then remove to a plate. Grill the pineapple next by placing the pineapple spears directly on the grill. Grill for about 2 minutes on each side, and remove to a plate. Lastly, place the chicken on the grill. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Remove to a plate to rest before slicing.
7. To serve, add coconut rice to each serving bowl. Top with grilled veggies, pineapple and chicken. Drizzle a little of the remaining teriyaki sauce on top. Sprinkle with toasted coconut, if desired.

Chinese Orange Chicken

This is amazing. It's time consuming, so I only make it occasionally. But it is the best orange chicken you'll ever have. I found the recipe here.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless, chicken breast halves, diced into 1 - 1 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 Tbsp finely grated orange zest (zest of 1 1/2 fairly large oranges)

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp dried ginger

2 Tbsp grated yellow onion (be sure to get some of the juices when measuring)

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce (optional)

Freshly ground black or white pepper, to taste

1 1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 Tbsp cold water

2 large eggs

vegetable or peanut oil, for frying

chopped green onions and sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

Directions

Place chicken pieces in a gallon size resealable bag, set aside. In a medium saucepan combine chicken broth, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, soy sauce, granulated sugar, ginger, yellow onion, garlic, Sriracha and pepper. Whisk mixture well, then measure out 2/3 cup of the mixture and pour it over the chicken in resealable bag. Seal bag while pressing excess air out, and press chicken into marinade. Place bag in a bowl or baking dish and refrigerate 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, return remaining sauce mixture over medium heat and bring mixture just to a boil, stirring frequently. In a small bowl whisk together 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp water then stir mixture into sauce. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook 1 - 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly, until thickened, remove from heat.

Pour vegetable oil into a large cast iron dutch oven, filling pot about 1 1/2 - 2-inches deep and heat oil to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a shallow dish until well blended. Pour remaining 1 1/4 cups cornstarch into a separate shallow dish. Remove chicken from refrigerator and drain and discard marinade from chicken. Dip chicken pieces into egg followed by cornstarch and toss pieces to evenly coat in cornstarch, then carefully place 1/3 of the chicken pieces into preheated oil and cook for 5 - 7 minutes until golden, turning once during cooking. 

Using skimmer, remove fried chicken from oil and transfer to a paper towel lined cookie sheet to drain excess oil. Repeat process with remaining chicken working in two more batches. Pour drained fried chicken into a bowl and toss with sauce. Serve warm over white or brown rice garnished with green onions and sesame seeds if desired.

I took all the about-to-go-bad ingredients from our fridge this week and put them in a pot with a few other ingredients. Lo and behold, it turned out tasting pretty great! (This is according to Rachel, not just me, so yes you can trust that assessment.)

Ingredients:

One bunch of fresh dill, chopped fine

One bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped rough
One medium brown onion, halved, then sliced the other direction to make a bunch of c-shaped onion pieces
6-8 oz of fresh button mushrooms, sliced
1 medium tomato, smashed
Two cups of white rice
1T butter
2 t vegetable oil
1 bouillon cube, vegetable or chicken (I actually used some leftover packets of flavoring from two kinds of ramen noodles, but I think the boullion cube would approximate it pretty well)
In a separate sauce pan, melt the tablespoon of butter on medium heat
Add the dill, cilantro, and bouillon, then sautee the onions and mushrooms for three minutes.
Add the cooked rice and vegetable oil, and mix well.

Directions:

-Cook the rice

-In a separate sauce pan, melt the tablespoon of butter on medium heat
-Add the dill, cilantro, tomato, and bouillon to the butter, then sautee the onions and mushrooms in it for three minutes.
-Add the cooked rice and vegetable oil to the sauce pan, and mix well.

Cafe Rio Recipes

I don't know if you've ever eaten at Cafe Rio, but these are supposed to be knock-off recipes of their stuff.

Rio Pork
6lbs pork shoulder roast
2 c brown sugar ( I usually half this)
1 can Coke
16 oz picante sauce (or non-chunky salsa)

Put roast in crockpot. Fill with water half way. Cook 5hrs. Take out all but 2 ladles of liquid. Add brown sugar, picante sauce and coke. Cook on high 3 hrs. (I usually keep it on low). Pull pork apart and serve with rice or in burritos or however you want.

Rio Rice
3c water
4 tsp chicken bouillon
4 tsp garlic
1/2 bunch chopped cilantro
1 can gr. chiles
3/4 tsp salt ( I leave this out b/c the bouillon is salty enough)
1 Tbs butter
1/2 c chopped onion
1 1/2 c uncooked rice

I just noticed that they said to blend everything (except rice, water and boullion) in a blender first. I never do this. I just throw everything in the rice pot and cook it like you would plain rice.

Rio Black Beans (I've never made these, but they came with the other two recipes)
1 c black beans (cooked, rinsed, and drained)
1 1/3 c tomato juice
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs chopped cilantro

Cook garlic and cumin in olive oil. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Stir until heated through. Add cilantro just before serving.

Shrimp Biryani

I got this recipe from an arabic food blog.  It is sooo good. What's in the parenthesis is from me. When I made it, I didn't cook the rice as long because it doesn't take long to cook the kind I bought.  After layering the shrimp and rice, you just want to cook it until it's done.  

Cuisine: Arabic

Category: Arabian Gulf

Serves: 8 persons

Difficulty: Medium

Cost: Medium

Preparation time :     20 minutes

Cooking time :     1 hour, 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice or 400 g

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 medium onion or 250 g, finely sliced (if you want crunchy fried onions, wring out the onions in a towel before frying)

2 medium onion or 250 g, finely chopped

500 g shrimp, peeled, raw, de-shelled & de-veined

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 cup fresh dill or 50 g, finely chopped

3 tablespoons curry powder

2 cinnamon sticks

5 whole cardamom pods

3 cubes MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon or 30 g (the bouillon cubes here are bigger so be generous)

½ cup water or 125 ml, hot

2 cups cilantro leaves or 100 g, roughly chopped

6 cups water or 1½ liters

2 tablespoons ghee (or oil)

1 tablespoon saffron, powder (didn't use this as I haven't found it yet and it's very expensive)

pinch of salt

pinch of ground pepper

Preparation

Wash and Soak rice in cold water and set aside for 30 min.

In a large pot, heat vegetable oil, fry sliced onions till golden brown, remove and set aside.

In the same pot on medium high heat fry chopped onions till golden, add shrimp and sauté till pink (about 4-5 minutes), add tomato paste, Garlic, Dill, Spices, Cinnamon sticks, Cardamom pods, MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon , and Water and bring to a simmer. Add chopped fresh coriander leaves and remove from pot and set aside.

In the same pot, bring to boil 1.5 liters of water, place rice and cook until rice is ¾ cooked (andante).

Drain rice in a colander and discard excess water.

Melt Ghee on the bottom of the same pot; add a layer of strained rice, followed by a layer of shrimp and onion mixture and a sprinkle of Saffron powder. Follow this step until all the rice and shrimp sauce is used.

Steam rice and shrimp on med-low heat until rice is fully cooked (about 20 minute).

Gently fluff cooked rice ensuring even distribution of rice and shrimp.

Serve on a large plate, and garnished with fried sliced onions.

Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients
1 cup black beans 
1 Tbsp olive oil 
2 garlic cloves, crushed 
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes 
1 tsp ground cumin 
Salt/Pepper

1 cup brown rice 

Directions
Cook beans either by soaking overnight (which I never remember to do) or by the hot soak method.  

Cook rice.  When rice is cooked add all other ingredients and heat through.  

This was originally a slow cooker recipe, so you can put the beans in the slow cooker after soaking and add the other ingredients except the rice.  Cook on high for about 4 hours.  You'll probably need to add some water, but don't add too much, because you'll just be stirring in the cooked rice and you don't want it too soupy.  When beans are cooked, add cooked rice.