The Food Site

Chicken Recipes Series: Chicken breast recipes

Firstly, sorry for the silence…I don’t know why but time seems to move so fast and before I know it, it has been almost a week since I last updated this blog! Time sure do flies, it is already my birthday and I felt as if I just celebrated my last birthday.

Sigh…one year older, a tonne more wrinkles, an even more sluggish metabolic rate, more food turning into padding on my hips and waist…I will have to say, I don’t feel any wiser than last year except more tired, more fat, more sleepy, more grumpy, more work to do…still, I did have more fun with this blog and my personal blog, I did make some money through my blogging efforts, I still have very dark hair with no white ones in sight, I am still fit enough to go for a jog, to waltz around the house with Mr Picky like a three-year-old while carrying him (and let me tell you, he is close to 15kg!), I am still healthy as an ox (how fitting since it is the ox-year and all…), I am still taking most things in my stride and thankfully, I am still NOT nagging anyone despite the ‘training’ sessions by Mr Picky.

Though I am still inclined to ramble on and on…darn…heheheh…okay, okay, let’s get to the main thing of this post before I bore all of you to tears.

*Salmon and Chicken Burgers*

I bought one whole salmon again and had a lot of salmon to cook so, one of the ways I could think of cooking it is to turn it into a burger. Yep. The best part about this burger is that it is not purely a salmon burger but a mix of chicken breast meat and salmon burger with oats. So, it is pretty healthy considering it has salmon and oats, both of which are fat burning food, not to mention heart-friendly too.

So, here’s the recipe for

Healthy Salmon and Chicken Burger

Ingredients

4 tbsp instant oats

2 pcs grilled salmon fillet (about 200g), flaked

100g minced chicken breast

1 egg, whisked lightly

Seasoning:

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Season the chicken with the light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Then, place the flaked grilled salmon, minced chicken and instant oats in a plate and mix it all together. Add the rest of the seasoning and mix well.

2. Lightly whisk the egg in a bowl.

3. Pour the egg into the salmon and chicken mixture. Then, mix well.

*Pour the egg into the salmon and chicken mixture and then stir to combine it well*

4. Heat up some cooking oil in a frying pan / wok. Then, slide a ladle-ful of the salmon and chicken mixture into the oil.

5. The patty will start to bubble and when the bottom part starts to turn brown, it is time to flip it over and fry the uncooked side.

When it turns this brown, it is time to remove and drain the oil

6. It is cooked when both sides are a nice brown colour so remove from the oil and drain. It is ready to be served!

These salmon and chicken burgers or patties can be eaten as it is, serve up as main dish, between wholemeal bread for a wholesome, filling sandwich…however you want it! The best part about it is that it does not have the fishy salmon smell at all so to those who don’t like salmon, you won’t even know it is a salmon and chicken burger. It is also slightly spicy but if you prefer it to be extra spicy, just add more chili powder.

*Salmon and Chicken Burgers*

The first time I heard of Quinoa is when I read about it over at Gera’s SweetsFoods blog and then when I did my fat burning food series, I found out how versatile it is and best of all, it is one of the super healthy foods you simply must have in your diet! Quinoa (pronounced as keenwah) is gluten-free and it is high in protein and best of all, it is also a fat burning food and a heart healthy food.

I have never cooked quinoa before so I searched around for ways to cook quinoa and stumbled upon this site. I got the Cranberry Almond Quinoa Recipe there and thought, I’d give it a try with slight changes. This is what I managed to cook:

Cranberry and almonds with Red Quinoa

Trust me, it is as delicious as it looks. Move over boring plain ole rice, here comes quinoa! It has a slightly crunchy texture like crunching on tiny semi-soft bubbles that pop in your mouth easily and the flavour…oh, I simply love the flavour! It has a nutty scent to it so it is like eating some exotic tiny nuts. Which I think it is in a way since it is a grain and it is from Peru. The addition of toasted almond flakes gives it even extra crunchy texture and rich almond flavours while the dried cranberries cuts the richness with its slight sourish flavour. Magnifique!

Here’s the recipe for

Cranberry Almonds Red Quinoa

Ingredients

1/2 cup red Quinoa (I reduced the amount from the original recipe because quinoa is known to double up in size after cooking)

*I used the organic red quinoa*

Half cube of chicken stock

a dash of sea salt

a dash of cinnamon powder

1/4 cup almonds, sliced into flakes and toasted

1/4 cup dried cranberries

*Toasted almond flakes and dried cranberries*

1 cup of boiling water

Instructions

1. Soak the quinoa in water for about 30 mins to 1 hour.

2. Then you rinse it out several times. This is because it has a bitter taste if it is not soaked and rinsed properly.

*Use a fine mesh sieve to drain the quinoa*

3. Heat up a non-stick pan and pour your drained quinoa in. Stir fry it till it has dried out. Then you add in the almonds and cranberries.

*Add the cranberries and almonds and continue to stir fry*

4. Then, pour in the boiling water, add the chicken stock, salt and cinnamon powder.

5. Now, cover it and let it simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Then you stir it, turn off the heat and let it stand covered for another five minutes.

6. Serve while still hot. It can be eaten as it is or you can serve it up with some nice fish curry.

*You can serve it with some curry too*

It is a great healthy replacement for rice and if you find it too complicated just cook it without the added flavours and eat it with other dishes like curry, just like how you’d eat rice. Now that I know how to cook quinoa, I will be cooking quinoa recipes even more!