Cinnamon Chicken

I started by cutting the chicken into small pieces. I had enough for two pans so I fried the first batch in olive oil, flipping once, with a little salt, pepper, basil, and tamari soy sauce until the chicken was brown on one side and the oil had gone away.

While the first batch was cooking, I doused the next batch, still on the cutting board, with salt, pepper, and lots of cinnamon. I added an uneven amount of ginger, oregano, and cinnamon and sugar.

Then for the next batch I put some vanilla rice milk and a small amount of chocolate (Dagoba, non-dairy) in with the oil, added sweet peppers, a few olives, and a few mushrooms. There was a lot of liquid in there at this point and I smothered the whole thing in cinnamon and shook some tamari soy sauce in there.

The whole thing cooked for about fifteen minutes, flipping once, and maintaining a boil for about eight or ten minutes. It came out smoky and not too sweet. Very nice.

Lemon Sole with Spicy Coconut/Rice Milk Sauce and Rice

Finally, my (Melissa) first blog entry.
Saturday night, Alex created a spicy coconut sauce for Lemon Sole, vegetables and rice. We both love Thai food but find it problematic and we’ve been craving it lately. There’s no way to ensure that a restaurant uses a sulfite-free coconut milk (that product is usually harder to find and a bit more expensive). And, many Thai sauces use shell-fish of some sort – not good for me. On top of that, I also have to worry about any possible alliums in the dish (scallions, garlic, etc) that I have to avoid.

Other than some very hot spices, we haven’t pin-pointed specific source(s) of some of the problems Alex has with Thai food. We know he should refrain from hot dishes – precipitates an IBS episode. As for me, I just never cared for heat overpowering taste and always ordered mild dishes.

If we wanted to take a chance on a new restaurant or dish, we’d have to eat it on a Friday. Then we’d have the weekend to recover if the food caused problems. But who wants to spend their weekend’s sick? So, we try to mimic as best as we can some of recipes on TV, books and in restaurants.
Anyways…

Alex created Lemon Sole with Spicy Coconut/Rice Milk Sauce and Rice. I think this was a fairly successful Thai influenced dish. Initially, it was a bit too spicy for me, even without garlic and onions. But in the attempt to temper the heat of the spices, I think we made it better.

Fish:
2 Lemon Sole fillets
5 Crimini Mushrooms - sliced
1 Tomato - slice
2T Black Sesame Seeds
Olive Oil
Salt (we used Himalayan Salt in a grinder)
Black Pepper
Fresh Ginger Root – about a ½” chunk, sliced

Sauté crimini mushrooms, sliced tomatoes and black sesame seeds in olive oil. After about 2 minutes, place filets on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle additional sesame seeds. Salt and pepper the fish. Add half of the ginger slices and a little water. Cook on low for about 7 minutes. Flip over and cook for another 7 minutes. Cover, turn off heat and let it sit and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Rice: Basmati Rice for two

Sauce:
8oz. Rice Dream Vanilla Milk (small container)
5oz. can of unsulfited coconut milk (we used Thai Kitchen)
1 twist of the Salt grinder
1 or 2 tsp Cinnamon
To start, 1 Tablespoon each of the following spices:
Black Pepper, Red Pepper, Sweet Paprika, Cumin, Cinnamon Sugar (bottled),
Lemon Grass (put in muslin or a fine mesh tea ball strainer so you won’t have to worry about choking on the lemon grass)
Dried Basil – a lot, enough to cover the surface of the sauce in the pot
Remaining half of Ginger Spices

(later additions: handful of dried peppermint; Tofutti Cream Cheese)

In a pot, combine the milks. Stir well. Add the spices, stir. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. While simmering, taste the sauce and add whatever spice(s) you like. Alex didn’t measure the amounts of spices he added while the sauce was simmering. Alex thinks he used at least 2 Tablespoons Black Pepper.

The Vanilla Rice Milk is naturally sweet and light. Using rice milk cut down on the heavier fatty coconut milk calories (higher cholesterol count). We think the flavors blend nicely.

Plating:
Rice was at the bottom of a bowl. The Lemon Sole and vegetables was laid on top. Spicy Sauce was poured over everything.

Taste Results and Modifications:
While Alex liked the heat of the spices, I found it a bit overwhelming, yet tasty. Since we had plenty of sauce leftover, we wanted to try using it slightly differently today.

Before storing the remaining sauce in the fridge, Alex added a handful of crushed dried peppermint. He felt that the mint cooled the spices. With the idea of toning down the sauce’s heat some more, I suggested adding a dollop of the Tofutti Cream Cheese on top of the sauce. If we had Tofutti Sour Cream, we would have used that instead. Alex decided to take it a step further by stirring in several tablespoons of the Tofutti Cream Cheese into the sauce.

These modifications resulted in a creamier, less hot, yet flavorful sauce.