A Recipe And So Forth

 To begin today, I will post the recipe for the Sticky Coconut Chicken and Rice that I made last night. I thought it was excellent and honestly, pretty simple to make. 

Sticky Coconut Chicken and Rice- New York Times cooking app

4 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each cut into two equal pieces

1/4 cup neutral oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 1/2 cups of short grain white rice

1 3/4 cups of chicken broth

1 (13.5 ounce) can full-fat coconut milk

1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup roasted cashews, coarsely chopped

3 scallions, thinly sliced, green and white parts

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro

Hot sauce for serving

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Rub chicken with 1 tablespoon of oil, and season with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Step 2

In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat. Working in two batches, brown chicken, turn halfway, until no longer pink, around 5 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.

Step 3

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the ginger and the garlic to the empty pot and stir until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add rice and stir until evenly coated in the oil. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the cilantro and hot sauce. Stir to lift up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Arrange chicken on top along with any accumulated juices from the plate and bring to a boil over high.

Step 4

Cover and bake until all of the liquid is absorbed, rice is tender, and chicken is cooked through, 25 minutes. Scatter cilantro over the chicken and rice, serve in bowls with hot sauce. 

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Now, let me say that I mostly followed the recipe although of course I didn't get out my measuring spoons for the salt and pepper or oil. Also, I did not cover the chicken in oil and salt and pepper before putting it into the pot to brown. I merely used some avocado spray in the pot before putting the chicken in and salted and peppered as I felt necessary. Feel free to do what they said or whatever you want . 

Next, I used jasmine rice which isn't exactly short-grained. Use what you have. I got my ginger, garlic, chopped peppers, and scallions all ready to go in the pot before I started cooking which made the whole process faster. I also had the chicken broth almost to the boiling point when I added that in and I used the Better than Bouillon chicken broth because it is great. I added paprika (regular, not smoked but whatever you want) and some cayenne pepper when I had all the ingredients heating before covering and baking. Also, I used the lower fat version of coconut milk and that was lovely. I used both red and yellow peppers, and I used more scallions than the recipe called for. No problems. 

The rice truly did cook entirely in the 25 minutes it was in the oven. So don't lose track of your time there. And I did serve it with the cilantro but don't use it if you don't like it. Hot sauce was on the table which it generally is anyway, and also, I squeezed a nice amount of lime juice over it all before I served it. And oh- I didn't use nearly a quarter cup of oil and the oil I did use (besides the avocado spray) was olive oil. 

And damn, it was good. 

I think you could do this with chickpeas or some other vegetable substitute for the chicken if you wanted. Better than Bouillon makes a great vegetable broth too. Frankly, I could see doing this with seafood, too. 

And that is my Sunday gift to you. I would have just taken screen shots but I have an unreasonable fear of being sued by the NYT's. Not sure that writing it out would prevent that situation though. 

Today has been very pleasant. It has rained on and off all day and the temperature is about ten degrees lower than it has been. Upper eighties instead of upper nineties and that makes a big difference. 

I was going to do more cleaning up and weeding in the garden but every time I thought about going out, it was raining again so I got distracted and did other things including doing a little rearranging of the pantry. I put my canning kettle and my pressure canner away in a closet which made a lot more room. It's still messy and messy-looking but it is better. Trust me. 

I ask you to trust me a lot, don't I? 

I also moved my jigsaw puzzle operation into the library, out of the dining room, mostly because I just want to spend more time in my library. It's a sin not to. The card table the puzzle is on is not exactly a library-worthy piece of furniture, but la-di-dah. I also culled a few more books and of course that feels good. 

Overall, it's just been a pleasant, sweet, loving day. For once, Mr. Moon has taken a day to mostly relax and he certainly deserves that. Needed it too. 

And on top of all of it, the Jessie/Vergil family is back! They got home safely last night and that makes me feel more settled somehow. I love knowing that all my chicks are close enough for me to get my arms around and I love and appreciate it so much. Maybe Jessie and August and Levon and I will go to Costco tomorrow! Hurray! 
I know. I'm ridiculous. But it is the simple things.

One thing that could be considered as sad is that I dumped all my sourdough starter today. It was taking up room in the refrigerator and looking nasty and I haven't made sourdough bread in quite a long time so...out it went. I created that starter out of thin, yeasty air, long before covid, and so I do feel a little saddened. However, I know that I can create new starter from that same air-yeast. All I have to do is make meals for it and it will tell all of its yeasty friends and they will eventually gather, eat, and start creating the miracle all over again. 

So no big loss. 

Unlike what happened to Jacqueline Kennedy's rose garden or what's about to happen to the East Wing of the White House. I swear to god, sometimes I just have to laugh. As bad as I think Trump has been and will be, he just keeps coming up with new shit that I never even imagined he'd dream up in that perverted, ignorant, narcissistic, sick, cruel, twisted, sad, demented, racist, sexist, completely uninterested in tradition or history brain of his. 

Here's some zinnias.

Love...Ms. Moon