Daring Cooks' Challenge - Nut butters

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

This was my first Daring Cooks challenge and I'm quite happy with it. I would have liked to experiment more with different nut butters but illness has consumed many a weekend over the last month for me!

Feeling under the weather had me craving spicy food. With this in mind, I set out to make peanut butter and a spicy satay sauce.

Satay sauce

Peanut butter

200 gr unsalted peanuts

Satay sauce

5 shallots, roughly chopped

3 birds eye chillies, roughly chopped 

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 stalk lemongrass (dry outer layers removed, use pale part only)

3 tsp tamarind paste

5 tbsp plus 2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

100 ml vegetable oil

500 ml water

1 tbsp walter

200 gr peanut butter

50 gr roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed

Step 1: Make the peanut butter

Pour the nuts into the bowl of a food processor. Grind the nuts in the processor until they form a paste or butter. 

The nuts first turn into powdery or grainy bits, then start to clump and pull away from the side of the bowl, and finally form a paste or butter. The total time required depends on the fat and moisture content of the nuts; grinding time will vary from roughly 1 to 4 minutes. Set aside until needed.

Step 2: Make the spice paste

Roughly chop the lemongrass, chillies and garlic. Place in a mortar and pestle and pound for a few minutes to break down the fibres in the lemongrass.

Place the shallots and the lemongrass mixture into a food processor and blitz to form a fine paste.

Note: If the paste doesn't seem to be moving add half a tablespoon water but no more as this will water the sauce down too much and spit excessively when poured into the oil to cook. You do need a decent mini food processor for this (not a blender as this requires additional liquid to make the mixture move) job as a large one.

Step 3: Cook the spice paste

Heat oil in a heavy based saucepan or wok till medium heat and pour paste in. Stir fry, continuing to make sure bottom isn't catching till there is very little steam rising from the sauce and you can definitely see it
caramelising and smell it getting fragrant.

Step 4: Making the satay
Add peanut butter, crushed peanuts, tamarind, lime, sugar, only one teaspoon of salt (add to taste after adding saltedpeanuts). Stir to combine.

Add the water and bring to boil. Remove from heat and set aside till required. 

You can make this a couple days ahead of time and keep in a glass jar in the fridge and then reheat to serve.

Serving suggetions

This recipe is delicious but, be warned, it makes an absolute truckload of sauce! We have used it for chicken skewers and a satay and rice noodle stir fry.

For the skewers

Step 1: Marinate the meat
Marinate 500 gr of diced chicken thigh meat in some of the satay sauce overnight or for at least an hour. Unfortunately, I didn't measure how much I used. A good rule of thumb is add as much as it takes to coat all of the meat in the sauce.

Step 2: Thread and cook the skewers
If you are using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least half an hour. This will prevent them from burning. Thread the meat onto the skewers and cook on a low to medium heated BBQ for about 20 minutes, turning once.

Note: we have a Webber. When cooking the chicken skewers, we heat it to 150 degrees and cooked them with the lid closed.

Step 3: Serving
Reheat some of the extra satay sauce to serve over the skewers. When you skewers are cooked through, smother with satay sauce and enjoy!

For the rice noodle stirfry

Serves 6

Once again I didnt measure how much sauce I used! At a guess it would have been about 375 gr of sauce and about 100gr coconut cream.

Ingredients
1 packet of your favourite rice noodles (I used Bamboo Pot), softened according to packet directions
300 gr chicken, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1.5 cm ginger, grated
600 gr vegetables (I used brocolli, capsicum, carrot, zucchini, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots)
Satay sauce
Coconut cream

Place the noodles in a large heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water. Set aside for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Heat a small amount of oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until brown. Transfer to a bowl.

Heat another small amount of oil in the wok over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and stir-fry for 4 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. Add the satay sauce and coconut cream. Cook for a further minute. Transfer to a bowl.

Add the softened noodles to the wok. Cook for two minutes tossing to ensure they do not burn. Return the meat and vegetables to the wok. Toss until well combined and heated through. If your dish is a little dry or the flavour is not strong enough add more satay sauce or coconut milk.

Chicken pistachio korma

This picture really doesn't do this curry justice. Not only is this easy to make, it tastes great too.

The thought of making a curry from scratch has always been fairly daunting for me. I always thought they'd be really complicated and taste nothing like the curries I've come to love from some of the local digs in Canberra. For those of you in Canberra I highly recommend Blu Ginger (in Civic) and Taj Agra (in Dickson).

So one day during my lunch break I ventured out into the cold to buy a mortar and pestle. What better way to christen it than to make a curry... from scratch!?

Chicken pistachio korma

(Adapted from Poh's Kitchen)

Serves 5

4 onions, roughly chopped
¾ cup pistachio kernels
3 green chillies, roughly chopped
30ml oil
3 tsp ginger paste
3 tsp garlic paste
1 tbs coriander powder
1 tsp white pepper powder
700 gr diced chicken thigh fillets (skin and fat removed)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup cream
3/4 tsp garam masala powder (made from ground equal quantities (2 gr of each) of roasted cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks, cloves, green cardamom and black peppercorn)

Step 1: Prepare the sauce
Boil onions in a pot of water for 10 minutes, drain, cool and puree in a food processor.

Meanwhile put the cumin seeds in a fry pan and roast for a few minutes, be careful not to burn them. Using a mortar and pessel, grind all of the spices so that you have a fine powder. Set aside.

Puree pistachios and green chilli.

Step 2: Cook the sauce
Heat the oil and add the onions and saute for four minutes, do not brown. Add ginger and garlic pastes. Fry for one minute and stir in coriander and pepper powders. Add pistachio and green chilli paste and cook for about a minute.

Step 3: Cook the curry
Put in the chicken with the salt and sugar and mix well. Add a little water (1/4 cup) and simmer over a medium heat until the chicken is cooked. Stir in the yogurt and cook for a further two minutes.

Add cream and garam masala and stir through.

Serve with boiled basmati rice and green beans.

Smoked chicken risotto

Risotto is one of those great meals that is versatile and yummy. I have a few risottos that I make that actually call for a set list of ingredients. However, most of my risottos are developed out of what ever is left in the fridge. That's how this risotto was born.

Risotto is also great for those among us that are gluten intolerant. It can also be as healthy or as naughty as you like. I'm sure to post many more risotto recipes.

Bon appetit!

Smoked chicken risotto (Recipe by Stef @ Essential ingredients)

Serves 4 - 6

1 litre chicken stock

½ c water

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 onion, finely diced

1 ½ c aborio rice

½ c dry white wine

3 rashers of bacon

1/3 cup grated parmesan

250 gr smoked chicken, sliced

200 gr mushrooms, sliced

½ c peas

¼ broccoli floret buds

100 gr spinach

2 tbsp whole grain mustard

2 tbsp sour cream

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

salt to taste

Step 1: Prepare the stock

Place the stock and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer.

Step 2: Prepare the risotto base

Place the oil in a large heavy based saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic, chopped bacon and onions to the pan. Cook the onion until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the rice to the pot and stir to coat with the oil. Cook the, stirring, for a few minutes until the rice is opaque.

Step 3: Cook the rice

Pour the wine in the sides of the pan, stirring until absorbed. Add the stock to the rice, ½ cup at a time, stirring until absorbed. Continue to add the stock to the rice in ½ cup batches until the liquid is absorbed. Total cooking time should be about 35 minutes, or until the rice is just tender.

Once all the liquid has been absorbed, add the parmesan and mustard to the rice mixture, stir to combine.

Step 4: Finish the risotto

Add the sliced mushrooms, peas, broccoli, spinach and chicken to the risotto in separate batches, stirring after each addition. Take the risotto off the heat and stir in the sour cream and chopped parsley. Taste and season with salt and pepper as necessary.

Lemon chicken

This dish has been a favourite in our house for a while. I developed it as a way of using some of the lemons my boyfriend's mum would bring us in the summer. It's a taste sensation of sweet and sour. The chicken is crispy and juicy and oh-so-delicious.

There's a lot of sauce in this dish.. mainly because I increased my original quantities by half... we love the sauce that much!

Lemon Chicken (Recipe by Stef @ Essential ingredients)

Serves 4

Serve with boiled rice and steamed greens.

Ingredients

Vegetable oil

600 gr chicken thigh meat

3 egg whites

1 ½ tbsp cornflour

½ tsp salt

8 spring onions

Lemon sauce

1 ½ tbsp cornflour

150 ml chicken stock

¾ c lemon juice (3­–4 lemons)

3 tbsp honey

2 ½ tbsp white sugar

Step 1: Prepare the lemon sauce

Mix the cornflour and 3 tbsp of the chicken stock in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the remaining chicken stock, lemon juice, honey and white sugar. Stir to combine. Increase the heat to a medium-high heat and bring the sauce to the boil. When the sauce reaches boiling point, decrease the heat and simmer the sauce for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.

Step 2: Preparing the chicken

Pour the oil into a wok or saucepan until one-third full. Heat over medium-high heat until hot.

Slice the chicken into cubes. Whisk the cornflour, salt and egg whites together. Add the chicken to the egg white mixture and coat.

Step 3: Cook the chicken

Fry the chicken in the hot oil in small batches. Once the chicken is cooked, set aside on a paper towel to drain.

Step 4: Combine chicken and sauce

Drain the oil from the wok. Return all the chicken to the wok and heat through for 3 minutes. Add the lemon sauce and the sliced shallots to the chicken and toss to coat the chicken. Cook until the sauce becomes “sticky”, about 3 minutes.