Chicken with Sweet Potato & Plantain Cakes and Pineapple Mango Chutney

I have had this recipe hinding out in the back of my recipe file for some time now and finally to give it a try.  It looked easy enough for a weeknight meal and after a full day of cleaning and organizing for the up and coming move I needed easy.

The original recipe called for a sweet potato and a russet potato but I thought it would be more interesting to sub the russet for a plantain, it was a good call.   Also because I live with a carnivore that will not consider any meal a true meal unless there is meat on the plate, I added some chicken to the dish.

First let’s make chutney!  In a saucepan combine all the chutney ingredients mix together.

Simmer over medium heat 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat oven to 300°F. Peel potato and plantain and using the grate blade on your food processor coarsely grate potato and plantain.

Place grated plantain, potato and onion in clean cloth and squeeze out excess liquid.

Place potatoes and onion in large bowl. Add eggs, chopped cilantro, flour, curry powder, and sea salt; mix to incorporate evenly.

Line baking sheet with paper towel. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Measure scant 1/4 cupful of mixture, shape into ball, and add to skillet.

Using spatula, gently flatten ball to 1/3-inch-thick, 3-inch-diameter pancake. Repeat, forming 3 more pancakes.

Fry until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer pancakes to prepared baking sheet; keep warm in oven. Repeat with remaining mixture adding more oil if necessary, for a total of 8 pancakes.

To make chicken combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.  Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken to skillet and saute until cooked through, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place pancakes on plates. Spoon yogurt, top with chicken and then chutney. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper; garnish with cilantro sprigs.

Grunt…grunt…yum…yum…I am going to eat me some.

This dish delivered more then I expected, it is packed full of sweetness and warm spices that make you want to curl up with it like it’s an old friend.  The potato cakes can easily stand on their own and the chutney would be perfect over chicken, pork or fish but put it all together and its heavenly.

The cakes would also be a great brunch options topped with a poached egg….Mmmmm!

Print Recipe

Chicken with Sweet Potato & Plantain Cakes and Pineapple Mango Chutney (adapted from Bon Appetit – March 2010)

Chutney:

• 1 1/3 cups 1/3-inch cubes peeled cored fresh pineapple
• 1/2 large mango, peeled, cut into 1/3-inch cubes (2/3 cup)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Potato cakes:

• 1 8-ounce red-skinned sweet potato (yam)
• 1 green plantain
• 3 tablespoons grated onion
• 2 large eggs, beaten to blend
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro plus sprigs for garnish
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup Greek-style yogurt*

Chicken

• 1 chicken breast, boneless and skinless, diced into 1-inch cubes
• 1 tsp gram masala
• 1 Tbs greek yogurt
• 1 tsp tarragon
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil

CHUTNEY

Combine all ingredients in heavy medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.

POTATO CAKES

Heat oven to 300°F. Peel potato and plantain and using the grate blade on your food processor coarsely grate potato and plantain. Place grated plantain, potato and onion in clean cloth and squeeze out excess liquid. Place potatoes and onion in large bowl. Add eggs, chopped cilantro, flour, curry powder, and sea salt; mix to incorporate evenly.

Line baking sheet with paper towel. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Measure scant 1/4 cupful of mixture, shape into ball, and add to skillet. Using spatula, gently flatten ball to 1/3-inch-thick, 3-inch-diameter pancake. Repeat, forming 3 more pancakes. Fry until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer pancakes to prepared baking sheet; keep warm in oven. Repeat with remaining mixture adding more oil if necessary, for a total of 8 pancakes.

CHICKEN

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.  Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken to skillet and saute until cooked through, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place pancakes on plates. Spoon yogurt, top with chicken and then chutney.  Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper; garnish with cilantro sprigs.

Marinated Pork Chops with Mango Pineapple Salsa

Yesterday was a solid 79 degrees and I thought it was time to do something bright, light and full of flavor.  It may still be April but it is feeling like Summer here. Although I am not quite ready to leave the house in shorts yet, for fear of causing an accident by blinding drivers with my pasty white legs, I was ready for a bright Summer dish.

Check it out, grilled marinated pork chops, mango, pineapple and lime…how can you go wrong?!

Squeeze the juice from 2 limes and add 1/4 tsp zest.

Add 1 Tbs of honey.

Dice and seed one jalapeno.  Don’t touch your face or worse your eye, it will burn….not that I have any experience with that.

Mince 3 cloves of garlic.

Dice 1/4 of a red onion, which comes out to about 1/4 cup. Give or take, it’s not an exact science.

Combine everything into a small bowl and whisk in 1/2 cup of olive oil.

Pour marinade over pork chops in a resealable plastic bag and refrigerate for up to 3 hours.

When it is almost time to grill your chops, combine all the salsa ingredients together in a bowl and set aside, letting all the flavors meld together.

Remove the chops from the marinade and let sit out for a few minutes to get the chill off.

Since Obed was still at work I decided to use my grill skillet for fear of singeing arm or eyebrow hairs, because it would happen.

Grill for 5 minutes per side for a medium rare and 8 minutes for medium. Remove chops from grill and let rest 10 minutes before slicing.

Spoon salsa over the pork chops and enjoy!

I served the pork chops with a side of jasmine rice scented with lime and cilantro.  Just cook the rice according to the package directions and toss in some lime zest and cilantro when it is done.  I got a lot of Mmmm’ing and grunting from Obed.

I was very please with this dish.  I did have a fear that it maybe too limey but that was not the case.  This is a super easy dish for a weeknight meal or an effortless weekend grill.  The pork chops where full of flavor and tender.   The salsa was light, sweet, tangy and crisp with just a little crunch from the onions and peppers.

The salsa would also be perfect over grilled chicken or fish.

Marinated Pork Chops with Pineapple Mango Salsa (adapted from Food Network: The Neelys)

Marinade:

• 1/4 teaspoon lime zest
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped and seeds removed
• 3 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt

Pineapple Salsa:

• 1 cup canned pineapple chunks, drained
• 1 mango, cubed
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• 1 small jalapeno, diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 lime, juiced
• Salt and pepper
• 4 bone-in, center-cut pork chops

For the marinade:

Whisk all the ingredients in a large bowl. Place in a resealable plastic bag and add the pork chops. Marinate in the refrigerator for up to 3 hours.

For the salsa:

Mix all the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste for seasoning. Set aside for 10 minutes for flavors to meld.

Preheat grill to medium heat.

Remove chops from marinade. Grill for 5 minutes per side for a medium rare and 8 minutes for medium. Remove chops from grill and let rest 10 minutes before slicing. Spoon the salsa on top.

Coconut and Pineapple Chicken Curry over Rice Noodles

There was a time that I hated curry.  In fact I would not touch it with a 10 foot pole.  The first time that I tried chicken curry I was 22 or 23 years old living in Washington, DC.  I worked close to Le’fant Plaza which has a sort of underground food court.  It was on the “specials board” at one of the sandwich shops, so I thought I would give it a try.  It wasn’t cool….in fact I thought it was disgusting.  I don’t remember what it was about this chicken curry that was such a turn off but I remember being seriously perplexed that my co-worker was scarfing it down like it was a fillet Mignon covered in butter.

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The Best Carrot Cake EVER!

Looks good doesn’t it? 

Go ahead smell it.

It smell delicious….Oh wait, I forgot we do not have smell-a-vision yet.  You would think with the advances in technology we would have smell-a-vision by now.  It would come in handy in the food blogging community. 
Examine this cake closely, look at all the goodies and hidden treasures in this slice of carrot cake.  Do you see the raisins, pineapple and pecans….Mmmmmm and carrot of course.  Anyways this is the most fabulous carrot cake ever….well I think so.   
This cake is a special occasion cake, it is Hubby’s birthday today.  YEAH!  Carrot cake is Hubby’s favorite, he loves the cream cheese frosting.   I surprised Hubby at the office with cake, milk, balloons and Go Diego plates and cups, just because I thought it would be funny.
This cake rocked and I got many Oooooohs and Aaaaaaahs from his co-workers and the birthday boy loved it too.   Trust me this cake is so good and moist you will be making it all the time.  Your eye sight will improve, you skin will develop a healthy orange glow, your mid section with get all squishy and make you all that much more huggable.  Ok so the Pillsbury Dough Boy part isn’t great, but the cake is stinking delicious.
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Pineapple Curry Glazed Chicken Skewers

I am so proud of this dish, I made it all by my lonesome, no recipe or cookbook used. If you like the flavors of coconut, pineapple and curry this is definitely a dish for you.   These delicious little morsels turned out even better than I thought they would.  I swear they were like meaty candied morsels….LOL.  They are savory and sweet with just a bit of heat, soooo yummy.  I will admit though I was inspired to use pineapple from Kayotic Kitchen’s twitter feed, she mentioned a pineapple version of her Peachy Chicken.   

Of course the best part about this dish was that it was easy to make.  Hubby said that this had to be one of the top five, although I am not really sure which ones the other four would be.   I would definitely use this glaze again, Hubby said to be sure to write it down so we can use it on the grill this summer.

I served these skewers over a bed of jasmine rice that I cooked with equal parts water and coconut milk.  Yum!

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