An Asian Way with Polish Chanterelle Mushrooms

I’ve been loving the summer season of Chanterelle mushrooms here in Warsaw!

Of course, I buy my Polish kurki at Hala Mirowska.

However, sometimes I get in a rut of how to cook these delicious, golden mushrooms known as kurek, kurki or kurka in Polish. The traditional Polish recipes often feature a lot of heavy ingredients like cream and butter. I wanted a healthier option.

Amongst my vast cookbook collection, I stumbled upon a 2011 August edition of Saveur Magazine that featured several recipes for different types of mushrooms. I decided to adapt Saveur’s recipe for a special Chinese dish called Jiyou Jun Bao Ji (Clay-Pot Chicken Stew with Chanterelles). I love Asian flavors and this recipe was just the inspiration I needed!

Instead of a clay pot, I used my trusty Le Creuset Dutch oven, but I’m sure any large cooking pot would work as well for cooking this scrumptious stew.

This dish is full of the rich Asian flavors of ginger, soy sauce, chilies and sesame oil that we both enjoy at home. Luckily, hubby is not picky and pretty much enjoys whatever I cook for us.

If you enjoy Asian flavors like us and find a batch of Chanterelle mushrooms at your local market, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this recipe too!

Smacznego!

All the fresh ingredients ready to go.

My finished dish of Asian-Inspired Chicken Stew with Polish Chanterelle Mushrooms.

Asian-Inspired Chicken Stew with Polish Chanterelles

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500      g.                     Chanterelle mushrooms/mixed mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed in half if large

200      g.                     ham (I used Polish baleron), chopped small

1          Tablespoon      ginger, minced

1          Tablespoon      garlic, minced

1          Tablespoon      soy sauce

1          ea.                    jalapeno or Serrano chili, sliced in half

4          ea.                    green onions, cut in 1-inch pieces

4          tsp.                  granulated sugar

1          ea.                    large onion, chopped small

500      ml.                   chicken stock

1          kilo                  chicken legs and thighs

Optional:         4, small bok choy, sliced down the center, and chopped into 2-inch pieces

Cooked rice or brown rice vermicelli noodles for serving.

Dipping sauce:

4          Tablespoons    soy sauce

1          Tablespoon      cilantro, finely chopped

2          teaspoon          toasted sesame oil

2          teaspoon          ginger, finely minced

¼         teaspoon          ground black pepper

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the dipping sauce ingredients and set aside.

2. In a large Dutch oven  or pot, place all the stew ingredients. Bring to a boil. Cover, and reduce heat to medium-low so stew is just simmering. Cook for about 30 minutes.

3. Then, add the bok choy. Let the stew cook for another 10 minutes until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

4. Serve the stew over rice or noodles. Drizzle the dipping sauce over the top, at least that’s how we did it.

5. This stew works great as leftovers, but you might want to add a bit more chicken stock when reheating it.

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Hearty Homemade Noodles & Chicken Soup

Since it’s been cold and snowing here this week, I decided to dig back to my Midwestern roots for an old-fashioned recipe.

My Aunt Eva in Nebraska always makes these hearty noodles and serves them in a rich chicken broth-based soup. The result is similar to a chicken and dumpling recipe probably heralding back to our German roots on the farm.

My aunt shared this recipe with me years ago, and it’s followed me every time I’ve moved from NYC to Washington D.C. to Baltimore and now to Istanbul. I think everyone needs one of these family recipes that you can pull out whenever you want a taste of home.

While I was cooking the soup, I took a photo on my cell phone to tease my husband with his upcoming dinner at home. I’m not sure if it was the snow or the soup that made him come home early that night!

This recipe is definitely a crowd pleaser and one that will warm you up when it’s cold outside.

Afiyet olsun!

Perfect comfort food - homemade noodles and chicken soup!

Homemade Noodles

Serves 6-8 people.

5          Tablespoons    cold water

2          cups                 all-purpose flour

2          ea.                    Large eggs

2          tsp.                  sunflower or vegetable oil

1          Tablespoon      salt

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together. I used a hand blender for part of it. Then, knead the dough together by hand for a couple minutes, until you have a smooth ball of dough. If the dough seems dry, add a splash of water. If the dough seems too wet, add a little flour.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for one hour. (While the dough is resting, work on the soup ingredients.)

Divide the dough in half. Liberally dust your counter with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough fairly thin.

Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into thin strips to make your noodles. Mine were about ½-inch wide by 2-3-inches in length.

Make sure your soup is up to a rolling boil at this point and drop in the noodles a few at a time. If you drop in the noodles too fast, they can clump up together.

Continue rolling out the rest of the dough the same way and drop into the soup as well.

The noodles will need to cook for 15-20 minutes in the soup.

Note: If you have leftovers, you will need to add more chicken stock or water to the soup. The noodles really absorb any liquid once left to sit for awhile.

Chicken Soup Base

Ingredients:

2          T.                     sunflower or vegetable oil

3-4       ea.                    Carrots, peeled and diced small

2          ea.                    Medium onions, diced small

2          cups                 celery or leeks, diced small (I had a lot of celery to use up.)

1          ea.                    large potato, diced small

2          ea.                    Chicken breasts, chopped small

1-2       teaspoons        dried thyme

4-5       ea.                    bay leaves

To taste                       salt and pepper

2.5       quarts              chicken stock or water (If you use water, drop in 2-3 chicken flavored bouillon cubes.)

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, add the oil. When hot, add the carrots, onions and celery or leeks. Saute’ for a couple minutes until the vegetables are soft.

Then add the potatoes and chicken. While stirring, cook the ingredients for a few minutes.

Add the spices and cover everything with the chicken stock or water. Add lid. Bring soup up to a rolling boil before you drop in the noodles.

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Comforting Turkish Peasant Soup

Well, you don’t need to have a broken nose like me to enjoy this soup.

After spending the last couple days with a gigantic swollen nose, I just needed something soothing and comforting. This soup fits the bill.

Times like these are when I wish I lived closer to our families.

Mothers are supposed to care for their children whey they are ill, but since we live far away from our family members I made my own healing chicken soup. However, all the get-well email messages from them, friends and blog followers this week have cheered me up too. Çok teşekkürler!

I was looking through “The Sultan’s Kitchen” cookbook for inspiration and found a simple recipe that I had the ingredients for at home. Well, I didn’t have the turnips or leeks so I just omitted them and added the diced celeriac tops instead.

Cookbook author and Turkish chef Ozcan Ozan calls the soup köylü çorbası which I would translate to “village soup” since köy is the Turkish word for village. But in the cookbook, the title of the recipe is “Peasant Soup.”

No matter what you call it, this soup is simple and delicious. In fact, I often make versions of this kind of soup with whatever ingredients I have on hand in my kitchen.

Afiyet olsun!

Turkish Peasant Soup (Köylü çorbası)

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

1          T.         sunflower or vegetable oil

1          T.         butter

1          med.    Onion, small diced

4-6       ea.        Garlic cloves, finely chopped

2          ea.        Carrots, small diced

2          ea.        Medium potatoes, small diced

2          ea.        Small celeriac (kereviz), peeled and small diced

1          ea.        medium green zucchini, small diced

½         c.         celeriac stalks or regular celery, small diced

Small handful  fresh parsley, finely chopped

500      g.         (1 #)     chicken or turkey, cut into small chunks

¼         c.         all-purpose flour

6          c.         (1.5 L.) chicken stock

To taste           salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish:           lemon wedges

In a large stock pot, heat the oil and butter. Add the onion and garlic, cooking for a few minutes until they are softened.

Add the diced vegetables, chicken or turkey and parsley.

Stir in the flour and mix well until all the ingredients are lightly coated with the flour. 

Add the stock and bring to a boil. (I added a packet of tavuk suyu as well.) Then, lower the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and let cook for 30 minutes, or until are the vegetables are tender.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Like nearly all Turkish soups, serve a bowl of this soup with lemon wedges. The lemon adds a nice tartness to the soup.

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Comida Mexicana at Home in Istanbul

As soon as I saw this familiar pile of red and green peppers at the pazar, I asked if they were hot peppers in Turkish.

Somehow, I had stumbled upon a gigantic pile of REAL jalapeños at the Saturday pazar in Beşiktaş in Istanbul. This is the first time, in my two years of living here, I have found REAL jalapeños at the pazar!

About 6 tl per kilo!

Immediately, I asked the pazar stall next door, overflowing with fresh herbs and lettuces, if he had taze kışnış (fresh cilantro). My husband secured the cilantro while I picked up my jalapeños.

Soon, we would be making my fresh salsa recipe!

Moments like these rarely happen here. Usually, I have to go to several markets/stores to find all my ingredients. It's not easy finding Mexican, Indian or Asian ingredients in Istanbul. However, I have started seeing more and more foreign ingredients appear at the large grocery stores.

Hot sauces galore at the REAL Merkezi in Fulya, Istanbul.

Here are some substitutes I've made for Mexican ingredients while living in Turkey:

·         cilantro (kışnış) - Sometimes you are lucky to find it at a pazar. Check your large grocery stores such as MacroCenter, REAL or Carrefour.

·         acı biber (hot pepper) = jalapenos

·         suzme yoğurt = sour cream

·         Turkish lavaş = flour tortillas

·         pul biber = ground hot pepper flakes

·         kaşar peynir = cheddar cheese

And the best substitute yet is using nacho cheese-flavored Doritos for tortilla chips! Generally, MacroCenter carries bags of tortilla chips (for 12 tl), but it would've have taken me nearly an hour to go there and back again.

As an expat, you learn to adapt. Expats learn to improvise. And you learn you can still make delicious tasting food with different ingredients.

So I prepared my Turkish ingredients for a complete Mexican meal at our apartment in Istanbul. Hubby played the role of bartender, making us homemade nar-garitas, and as my dishwasher.

As you can see, we had lovely Turk-Mex meal of chicken soft tacos and all the fixings, salsa and spicy corn.

Afiyet olsun!

Grilled Chicken Marinade Ingredients:

Marinades are generally an oil mixed with some spices or a mixture of oil, an acid and some spices. I went with the latter option this time.

1 1/2    lb.        (750 g.) boneless chicken thighs or breasts

1/3       c.                     sunflower or vegetable oil      

1/4       c.                     fresh lime juice

4-6       ea.                    garlic cloves, finely chopped

1          T.                     fresh parsley, finely chopped (or substitute fresh cilantro)

1          tsp.                  cumin

1          tsp.                  dried oregano

1          tsp.                  pul biber (I used a bit of ground chili ancho pepper I have from the US.)

1/2       tsp.                  salt

1/4       tsp.                  ground black pepper

Combine the marinade ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Cover the chicken with the marinade and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Then, use an outdoor grill or indoor grill pan to cook the chicken. I used my indoor grill pan, turned the chicken once, and it took about 15 minutes. Slice the chicken into small strips.

Serve the chicken strips on a platter  with warmed tortillas and your favorite taco fixings.

Spicy Corn Side Dish

1          T.                     sunflower oil

1          ea.                    medium onion, diced small

1          ea.                    garlic clove, diced small

1          ea.                    jalapeño, diced small

1          ea.                    red pepper, diced small

1          ea.                    green pepper, diced small

1 pkg. (500 g.)             frozen corn

1/2       c.                     water

1          T.                     fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1          tsp.                  cumin

As needed                   salt, pul biber, black pepper

1          T.                     butter

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeño, red and green pepper. Sauté  until softened, about 6-8 minutes.

Add the corn and water. Cook for 10 minutes. 

Then add the spices and butter.

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Balinese-Style Kebabs in Istanbul

Coconut, lemongrass, peanuts and chilies are the main flavors you will taste in these Balinese-style kebabs; or should I say - chicken sate.

Today, I decided to finally dig into some of the exotic ingredients I brought back from our Bali trip in November. We had taken a delightful day-long cooking Balinese cooking class at the traditional home of Wayan and Puspa, owners of Paon Bali Cooking Classes. The food was fresh and full of the sassy Asian flavors that I enjoy so much! I highly recommend this couple's cooking class - they welcomed us into their home in Bali.

Taken in Bali: Wayan grilled our freshly-made chicken sate over the coconut husks.

Time to make my own Turklish version of the chicken sate in we made in Bali!

First, you will need one recipe of the Balinese Spice Paste I made awhile back for my Balinese-Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup. I did have some candlenuts on hand so I used them in place of the blanched almonds I used before.

Candlenuts look a bit like a large hazelnut or a macadamia nut.

Next, you need some ground chicken, so that required a trip to my friends at Kardeşler Kasabı in Beşiktaş. My kasap guy asked me if I was making adana kebab. I said, "Belki." (Maybe.) I didn't want to try and explain that I was making an Asian-style kebab.

Hopefully, you also can find some lemongrass, but the rest of the ingredients are usually found here in Istanbul. If you are back in the U.S. or elsewhere, you probably will have an easier time finding these ingredients. 

You'll need to set aside some time for prepping all the ingredients, molding the kebabs and cooking, but I think delicious food is always worth it! Guess who also made homemade vanilla ice cream this afternoon?

Afiyet Olsun! 

Balinese-Style Chicken Kebabs with Peanut Sauce made at my home in Istanbul.

For a good butcher and a specialty foods shop, check out these two places in Istanbul:

·                     Kolaylar Manav, Arnavutköy (You often can buy lemongrass here.)

·                     Kardeşler Kasabı, Gazi Refik Sok. No: 3 Türkali Mh., Beşiktaş

Balinese-Style Chicken "Kebabs" with Peanut Sauce

Yields: 15 kebabs/sate approx. 40 grams (1.4 oz.) each

Ingredients:

500      g.                                 minced chicken

40        g.         (1/2 c.)             dried coconut flakes

2          T.                                 Balinese Spice Paste

1          T.                                 palm sugar or sub brown sugar

1          T.                                 fried shallots or freshly diced if you don't have time

1          ea.                                juice and the zest of a lime

To taste                                   salt and pepper

15        ea.                                bamboo or kebab sticks (thicker than skewers)

In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, coconut, spice paste, sugar, shallots, lime juice and zest, salt and pepper with gloved hands. Mix thoroughly.

Take about 2 tablespoons (or weigh out 40 grams for each portion) of the mixture and form a ball. Mold the ball onto the end of the stick, flattening out as you go. Repeat the process to make about 15 sticks.

I actually made a double batch of these because we are having friends over for dinner tonight.

Grill the sticks over an outdoor grill until golden brown, turning once. Alternatively, use an indoor grill or grill pan, like I did, to cook the chicken kebabs/sate, until golden brown on both sides, about 7-8 minutes.

Serve with the peanut sauce below as an appetizer or with steamed rice for a main course.

Balinese-Style Peanut Sauce (Base Sate)

Ingredients:

250      g.         (1 1/2 c.)          unsalted peanuts, roasted until golden brown

5          ea.                                cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2          ea.                                Turkish aci peppers (hot peppers)

50        g.         (-1/2 c.)            ginger, roughly chopped

4-5       T.                                 kecap manis, Indonesian sweet soy sauce

2          T.                                 palm sugar or brown sugar

Pinch                                       salt

juice                                         of 1/2 a lime

240      ml.       (1 c.)                water, plus more if needed

To make the sauce, place all the ingredients (except the water) in a food processor. Blend until you form a fine paste. Alternatively, use a large stone mortar to grind the ingredients into a fine paste.

Then, thin out the paste with water until you reach the thickness you want of the peanut sauce. Slightly heat the sauce. Sate sauces are always served warm in Bali.

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