Fattet Djaj (Chicken and Chickpeas with Yoghurt)

So this is truly one of the yummiest chicken dishes I have ever made! This is from a recipe by Claudia Roden, who is a wonderful British chef whose specialty is Middle Eastern cuisine. She has written many great books, this recipe came from 'Arabesque'. I have made it twice now, and it has been really wonderful both times.

And it really is quite easy, really. And yes, I know I always say that! But, you boil a chicken, then layer it over some flatberad & chickpeas, then pop the whole thing in the oven. That is about it.

So I mentioned I've made this twice. The first time was exactly per the recipe below. Then I saved all the broth that I cooked the chicken in & froze it, as you would normally for stock. Stop laughing.

One night I made a roast chicken, and had half of it left over. So I defrosted the 'stock' and gently cooked the roast chicken meat in it for about 10 minutes. The end result was still fabulous.

This serves 6.

1kg natural (full-fat) yoghurt; look to see there is NO sugar
200g Greek style yoghurt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1.5 tablespoons crushed dried mint, or a bunch of fresh (the recipe says dried, but I prefer fresh)
salt
1 large chicken (do, do, DO try to get a free range one)
1 large onion, cut in half
1 large carrot, cut into pieces
2 fresh bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
6-8 whole cardamom pods
white pepper
3 very thin Lebanese or pitta breads (I found a fab Afghan bread: just use any flatbread you fancy)
3-4 tbs white wine vinegar
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained
100g pine nuts (but almonds also work!)
2 tbs olive oil

1) Mix the yoghurts in a bowl, beat in the garlic & the mint w/ a little salt. Let it come to room temperature.

2) Put the chicken in a large saucepan & cover with water. Bring to the boil & remove any scum (scum is that white stuff you can see in the picture. Don't stress too much about getting every last bit). Add the onion, the carrot, the bay leaves, cinnamon stick & cardamom pods, and salt & pepper. Simmer, covered, for 1-1.5 hours, until chicken is very tender & almost falls off the bone. Set chicken aside & reserve the stock.

3) Open out the flatbreads (if you're using the pitta kind that has a pocket) & toast them in the oven until they crisp & slightly browned. Then break them up into pieces in our hands and spread them at the bottom of a wide baking dish. Mix the white wine vinegar on about 300ml of the strained chicken stock, and pour over the flatbread, adding more if necessary so that the bread is thoroughly soaked & soggy. Sprinkle the chickpeas over it.


4) Pull the meat off the chicken & cut the meat into pieces, removing the skin & bones. Spread the chicken over the soaked bread & chickpeas & cover the dish with foil. Heat through in the oven (pre-heated to 170'c) for 20 minutes before you are ready to serve: it should be very hot.

5) Just before serving, pour the yoghurt evenly all over the dish, spreading the yogurt mix all over the top of the dish. Briefly fry the pine nuts in the olive oil until golden & sprinkle over the top.

Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Pancakes)

Banh Xeo



Hello!


These are a Vietnamese pancake, and a very quick to make, if you don’t include the resting time for the batter.
You could make the batter the night before & keep it in the fridge, covered, or even at lunchtime if you’re making these on the weekend . . . . or if you’re lucky enough not to be stuck in an office all day!
This recipe is derived from one on the fabulous Gourmet Traveller website.
www.gourmettraveller.com.au
160ml Vegetable Oil
1 onino, thinly sliced
450gm pork, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce (or to taste)
Pinch of caster sugar
6 spring onions, thinly sliced
60gm bean sprouts
To serve: lettuce, basil, mint & corainader
NB: you can also add prawns (18 cooked Tiger prawns) as well as the pork. I didn’t, just b/c I had all the other ingredients at home already.


Batter:
170gm rice flour
2 tsp ground tumeric
280ml coconut milk


Nuoc Cham:
80ml fish sauce (or to taste)
80ml lime juice (or to taste)
1 red birdseye chilli, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tsbp caster sugar

1) For the batter, combine the rice flour & tumeric in a bowl, then whisk in the coconut milk.

2) Meanwhile, take the dog for a walk (well, that is what I did at any rate), and then, wash your hands, and combine all the ingredients for the Nuoc Cham w/ 40ml of water, whisking to combine. It should taste sweet, salty, sour & hot.

3) Heat 40ml oil in a wok over high heat, add onion & stir-fry until tender, then add pork & garlic & stir fry until golden. Add the hoisin, fish sauce & sugar, season to taste, toss to combine, and set aside.

4) Heat 20ml of oil in a 22cm diameter fry pan over high heat, and add a ladleful of batter, swirl to cover the pan thinly, and cook until golden (3-4 mins).






5) Scatter the pork mixture (add prawns if using), spring onions & bean sprouts over half of the pancake, fold over the other half to cover the filling, then slide onto serving plate & keep warm. Repeat with remaning oil, batter & filling, wiping pan w/ paper towel in between each batch.  Serve with lettuce, herbs & Nuoc Cham.