Coffee Smoked Chicken Breast Recipe

Coffee Smoked Chicken Breast

This is a short cut method. Instead of smoking the chicken until it is cooked, I smoked for a short while and baked in the oven. Not only did this save time (and avoided smoking the whole house) but the smoke flavor was subtle. Chicken is a delicate meat so I think a subtle flavor works best, unlike other meats such as duck.

The smoking process was quite easy, and uses utensils readily available in most kitchen. If you don’t have a wok, you can use a pan that has a lid. You will need to make a rack in this case.

I stuffed the chicken breast with sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and garlic. It wasn't good. Sun dried tomatoes was overpowering, I used too much. I have not mentioned the stuffing in the recipe below. Its probably best to eat the chicken breast on its own, to fully appreciate the gentle smokiness.

Adopted from Ricardo Cuisine

Coffee Smoked Chicken Breast

Ingredients

5 chicken breasts, about 1 kg

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ cup coffee beans, coarsely ground

1 tablespoon juniper berries, coarsely ground

3 star anise, coarsely ground

2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

Method

1.      Line the bottom of a wok with aluminum foil.

2.      Spread coffee, spices and sugar on the aluminum foil. Place a rack in the wok. It should be 1½ to 2 inches from the bottom of the wok.

3.      Brush the breasts with soy sauce. Place chicken breast, skin down, onto the rack.

4.      Heat wok, uncovered, over high heat, until you see smoke, about 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cover the wok.

5.      Smoke chicken breast for 5 -8 minutes. The time depends on how strong you want the smoky flavor to be.

6.      Remove breast from the wok. Place skin side down on a lined baking tray and baked at 400°F/205°C for 10 minutes. Flip the breast and bake for further 5-8 minutes, until done. Internal temperate should be 165°F/75°C. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Hot, Sweet and Sour Black Pudding Recipe

Hot, Sweet and Sour Black Pudding

At university one of my favourite Chinese dishes was sweet and sour pork. I’ve never made a sweet and sour dish so I thought why not start with hot sweet and sour black pudding. The black pudding I used was made from pigs blood, so it is sort of sweet and sour pork!

The hot, sweet and sour sauce worked really well with black pudding. If you want a quicker alternative, try black pudding with thai sweet chilli sauce. If you don’t like black pudding, this recipe will work well with pork or chicken.

Hot, Sweet and Sour Black Pudding

Adopted from Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen

Ingredients

½ kilogram of black pudding, cubed

1 (20 oz., 566 grams) can pineapple chunks in heavy syrup or juice, undrained

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/3 cup regular distilled or rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Chili powder to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 oz. sugar snap pea pods

8 oz. can sliced water chestnuts, drained

16-20 sweet whole spears baby corn on the cob packed in water, rinsed and drained well

Method

1.      Heat oil in large deep frying pan and sauté black pudding until done. Set aside in a bowl. Drain and wipe the frying pan

2.      Mix cornstarch, chili powder and brown sugar. Stir in pineapple with syrup or juice, and vinegar and soy sauce.  Heat frying pan to medium heat and add cornstarch mixture

3.      Bring to boil and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Reduce heat.

4.      Add the vegetables, cover and simmer over low heat until cooked, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

5.      Add black pudding and serve.

Spicy Coca Cola Pulled Pork Recipe

Spicy Coca Cola Pulled Pork

If you have flat coke and don’t want to throw it away, this recipe is a good way to use it up, assuming that you are not a vegetarian. 

I looked at a number of coca cola pulled pork recipes. The amount of coke varied, ranging from 1 cup for 6 pounds of pork to as high as 1.2 litre of coke for 4-5 pounds of pork.  I decided to use ¾ cup for a pound of pork, which is little more than a litre for 5 pounds of pork. My thinking was that if I am making coca cola pulled pork I might as well use a lot of coke, to make sure the coke flavor is there. Plus I had lot of coke to use up.

The pulled pork turned out great. It was sweet, but I couldn’t taste the distinct coke flavor. I rarely drink coke so perhaps my taste buds could not detect it.

While the pulled pork was really nice, I would not make this recipe again unless I had some flat coke to use up. Coke added sweetness, however I could get almost the same result by adding sugar, hence avoid all the preservatives and other stuff that goes in coke. I prefer my other two pulled pork recipes:

- Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

- Asian Inspired Pulled Pork.

Ingredients

1 pound pork chops or pork shoulder

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch salt and pepper

¾ cup Coca Cola

1/3 cup chili sauce (or BBQ sauce)

½ teaspoon minced chipotle chili in adobo

Tablespoon oil

Method

1.      Heat oven to 160°C/325°F

2.      Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

3.      Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes

4.      Add the garlic, salt and pepper and cook for another minute.

5.      Remove from the heat and stir in the chipotle chilies.

6.      Place pork on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, add sauce and coke and cover with aluminum foil

7.      Bake until a fork inserted in thickest part of pork can be twisted easily and meat shreds off with little resistance, about 3½-4 hours.

8.      Alternatively, instead of baking, you can cook the pork in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours

9.      Once the pork is done, transfer it to a cutting board and shred using two forks. Add the sauce and mix.

Coca Cola Brownies Recipe

Coca Cola Brownie

This is an interesting, unusual and simple recipe. Coca Cola is the only liquid used in the recipe, no eggs and butter is used.

The flavor and texture is nice. I’ve read comments left by others who tried this recipe and it gets mixed reviews. So it seems the recipe might be temperamental, depending on the type of Coca Cola used. I used Coke Zero.  It is also important to not over mix the dough otherwise it will become doughy.

Source: Serious Eats

Coca Cola Brownie

Ingredients

1¼ cups flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 can (12 ounces) Coca Cola

Method

1.      Heat oven to 180°C/360°F. Line with baking paper or grease a 9- by 13-inch baking sheet baking dish.

2.      Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.

3.      Add cola, a little at a time, and mix until incorporated. Do not over mix

4.      Bake until tooth pick comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Caramelised Carrot Coconut Cake Recipe

Caramelised Carrot Coconut Cake

Caramel flavor with soft carrots and coconut is divine.

This cake takes a bit more time and effort since a caramel is first prepared, carrots cooked in it and the mixture cooled. But it is well worth the extra time and effort.

Ingredients

1 cup flour

½ cup sugar

1 cup grated carrots

½ cup desiccated coconut

½ cup butter (I used a mixture of butter and oil)

2 eggs

50 ml milk

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1½  teaspoons baking powder

Ingredients

1.      Grease or line with baking paper a 20cm square baking tin or a loaf tin

2.      Add ¼ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon water to a saucepan. Bring to the boil and cook on high heat until the sugar turns dark red. Don't let it burn!

3.      Add carrots and butter and cook over low heat until the carrots becomes soft. This will take about 15-20 minutes. Puree the mixture (optional). Let the mixture cool completely

4.      In a bowl beat ¼ cup sugar and eggs until the sugar dissolves and the mixture turns pale. Add to the carrot mixture together with milk and coconut and beat well.

5.      Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Fold the flour mixture into the carrot mixture.

6.      Pour the batter into the tin and bake at 180°C/360°F until done, about 35-45 minutes. A skewer inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean

Caramelised Carrot Coconut Cake

Butterscotch (Caramelised) Banana Coconut Cake Recipe

Butterscotch Banana Coconut Cake

I like the banana coconut combination. Bananas and coconuts grow in the same climate, therefore they must go well together. This theory is questionable but it works, at least in this case.

The cake has a strong banana flavor, with a subtle coconut caramel flavour. What is different with this cake is that the sugar is first caramelised, and bananas cooked in the caramel. Its a slightly time consuming process but well worth it.

The cake is surprisingly light, airy and moist, just like a sponge cake. My recollection of banana cake is that it is generally dense, but not this one.

The cake is sweet but not overly sweet. You can reduce the amount of sugar by ½ cup and it would be slightly sweet. I liked it this way.

Adopted from my earlier recipe for Butterscotch Banana Cake

Ingredients

1¼ cups sugar

1¼ cups flour

½ cup desiccated coconut, preferably toasted

1 large banana, chopped into small pieces (should be about 1-1½ cups)

1 tablespoon butter

½ cup neutral oil

½ cup milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ingredients

1.      Grease a 20cm square baking tin. Line base with baking paper.

2.      Add ¾ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon water to a saucepan. Bring to the boil and cook on high heat until the sugar turns dark red. Don't let it burn!

3.      Add the banana pieces, butter and vanilla and cook over low heat until the bananas break down into the caramel. Let the mixture cool completely

4.      Beat ½ cup sugar with eggs and oil until the sugar dissolves and the mixture turns pale. Add the banana mixture, coconut and milk and beat well.

5.      Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda. Fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture.

6.      Pour the mixture into the tin. Bake at 180°C / 355°F for about 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Pork Chops in Sour Cream (Wieprzowina W Smietanie) Recipe

Pork Chops with Sour Cream 

There is some mystery surrounding the origin of this dish. The name sounds Polish and English websites all state that it comes from Poland. However, Sissi from With a Glass  told me that Polish sites state that this is a Belorussian dish. I didn't check to see what the Belorussian sites claim. 

I was a bit hesitant to try this. Pork with sour cream does not sound to appealing. But strangely it works really well. The sugar balances the acidity quite well and the braising liquid, albeit very little, adds lot of flavour to sour cream 

Pork Chops with Sour Cream 

Adopted from BigOven

Ingredients

4 Pork chops (3/4" thick)

½ cup sour cream

½ cup water (or substitute with milk, stock or white wine)

2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar 

Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients

1.      Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Fry in butter until brown. 

2.      Mix together vinegar, sugar and water and pour the mixture over the chops. 

3.      Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer gently about 1¼ hours or until chops are tender.  

4.      Add sour cream and heat to just under boil.

5.      Alternatively instead of cooking on a stove top you can bake in a casserole dish at 175°C/350°F for 1¼ hours. Add all the ingredients, including sour cream and bake. Sour cream will separate

Pork Chops with Sour Cream