ASIAN CHICKEN

Don't miss out this dish! So easy to prepare, it has such an exotic flavour! I normally serve it with boiled rice, but you can use noodles aswell.

INGREDIENTS

- One Italian green pepper 

- One red pepper 

- Half chicken breast 

- One tray of clean laminated mushrooms 

- Soya sauce

- Sweet and Sour sauce (in this link you can see how to make your own sweet and sour sauce using Thermomix 3300)

- Flour 

- Salt, black Pepper and Olive Oil

STEPS 

Using a pair of kitchen scissors, remove  all the possible fat that can be found in the meat. 

Then dice the meat 

Put the dices of meat in a bowl and season them with a pinch of Salt

And ground black Pepper

Prepare the peppers and onion chopping both finely  

Pour some flour over the meat 

And get all the dices of meat covered with it. 

Prepare a pan with hot oil 

And fry the chicken

On both sides. They must turn slightly to a brown colour

Save them for later

Now its time to cook the vegetables, start with the peppers and onion first. Use medium - low heat. Employ the same pan where you previously fried the chicken

Fry them during Some minutes till they get soft 

Add the mushrooms

Cook during some minutes mixing all the vegetables

When the mushrooms are cooked (they must loose their liquids and you have to go on cooking till all of those liquids have evaporated) it is time to include the chicken in the pan. Mix everything.

Pour generous soya sauce

Cook during some minutes combining all ingredients 

Finally, add the sweet and sour sauce. Once more, blend all the content in the pan and simmer for some more minutes using low heat. Once finished, let the stew settle for 5 minutes before serving. This dish is also delicious from day to day.

Yummy!!! Here you have a serving suggestion using boiled rice

STUFFED COURGETTES

This recipe is very easy to make and the result is fabulous! It is a light dish that you can even have from day to day as flavours remain perfect!

INGREDIENTS (for two persons)

- Two big courgettes
- One onion
- Grated cheese
- 300 gr. ham (or you can use tinned tuna instead)
- Fried tomato sauce
- Salt, olive oil

STEPS

Wash the courgettes, as they are going to be cooked with the skin

Cut both ends and divide them into two parts

Then, divide each part into two halves

Scratch the skin with a fork. By doing this you avoid that the skin tastes bitter.

Now we are going to cook the courgettes in the microwave. Put all the portions of courgette inside a microwaveable container (in my case it is a salad bowl) add water until you cover some cm of the courgette's tips

Cover with transparent kitchen plastic

Set full power (100%)

4 minutes. Courgetttes will be cooked using 4 minutes full power rounds. Check the courgettes after each round. They must be cooked "to the tooth" (al dente). In my case it takes two rounds to get to this point

At the same time courgettes are being cooked in the microwave, chop the onion fine

And the ham into small cubes

Be careful when you take the courgettes out of the microwave as they are extremely hot! You have to empty them with a tea spoon or one of those special spoons that you use to empty melon

Chop the flesh you have removed from the courgette fine

And place the empty courgettes (courgette shells) in a baking tray

We are goig to prepare the stuffing mix. Heat some oil in a pan

First of all, fry the onion until it turns brown

Add the courgette and fry for some more minutes

 Now it is the ham's turn. 

Cook during some more minutes mixing everything well. Add a pinch of salt.

Finally, pour the tomato sauce

Mix everything and cook for some minutes

Once the filling is ready, spoon in it over the courgettes' shells

And top some grated cheese over the courgettes

Place the filled courgettes under a hot grill (cook "au gratin")

Until the cheese begins to brown

Ready! They are yummy!!!

FALAFEL

100% vegetarian chickpea croquettes! They are delicious and a nice starter. I normally make more quantity than necessary and freeze what I am not going to use, as the croquettes perfectly preserve flavors when frozen. Then it is not necessary to defrost, you can fry them directly in a deep fryer. There is a yogurt sauce that goes ideal with them and I am also going to show you how to prepare it

INGREDIENTS (for the croquettes)

- 200 gr chickpeas (they must be left soak for at least 12 hours)

- Fresh parsley

- Fresh coriander

- 1 onion 

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 3 teaspoons of cumin

- 1 sachet of baking powder (I forgot to put it on the photo, but it is necessary! It makes the falafel being fluffy)

- Salt, ground pepper

- Olive oil 

INGREDIENTS (for the yogurt sauce)

- Dry mint 

- 1 grinded clove of garlic

- Juice obtained from a lemon

- Virgin olive oil

- Salt, ground black pepper (it is not on the photo but it is needed!)

- 1 natural yogurt 

STEPS (to prepare the croquettes)

You have to leave the chickpeas soaking in a bowl with water for at least 12 hours

Then drain them as much as possible

I am going to prepare the dough for the croquettes in the Thermomix, putting all the ingredients together at the same time. If you don´t have a Thermomix you can use a mincer. First of all you should mince the chickpeas, and then the rest of the ingredients. Once you have everything minced, mix all till you obtain a    thick dough.
In my case, I put the drained chickpeas inside the Thermomix jar

The onion, peeled and cut into pieces

Parsley (I was no able to find fresh parsley at the supermarket, so I am using two big spoons of this concentrated one, if you have fresh parsley, use at least half bunch)

Coriander (I don't like this herb but it gives falafel a special flavour. In my case I don't use much quantity, but add it according to your taste)

Cumin (3 - 4 tea spoons) and salt

2 cloves of garlic

1 sachet of baking powder

Close the Thermomix jar and set the machine Speed 1 during some minutes. The dough must look like this:

You must leave the dough settle for at least 1 hour

Then prepare a pan with abundant olive oil and heat it

Take small portions of the dough and squeeze them as much as possible with your hands (they will expel liquid from the vegetables, remove as much as you can for easier cooking) You can mould falafel as balls or in my case they are like small burgers. It is more comfortable to fry them with this shape, but it is up to you, choose the way you prefer.

Oil must be very hot when you place the falafel on the pan.

When they are brown on one side, turn them carefully and fry the other one.

Yummy!! They are crunchy outside, soft inside... delicious!

SAUCE PREPARATION 

Pour one natural yogurt in a bowl

Add a mashed clove of garlic

Squeeze half lemon

And add the juice into the bowl

Mix everything and put some dry mint

a touch of virgin olive oil

salt and black pepper

Mix everything well. If you think the sauce tastes very strong or if it is too liquid, you can add one spoon of mayonnaise

Serving suggestion:

Falafel wrap 

Inside a "tortilla" with lettuce, tomato and onion, dressed with yogurt sauce and a pinch of ketchup