Honey and Almond Baked Pears

Here's a super easy option for any time of day. It's a great healthy dessert or a warm hearty fall breakfast. And guess what? No sugar, no butter, no oil - so you can snack guilt-free.

Ingredients:
1 pear (Pick a ripe pear, but can be any one you prefer)
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup almonds (roughly chopped)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°.
De-core and de-seed the pear.
Drizzle a little honey, sprinkle some ground cinnamon, and add almonds to the center where you remove the core.
Bake for about 30-45 minutes til pear has fully softened.

Try it by itself or pair it with Greek yogurt. Half a pear with the yogurt was very filling, since pears are very full of fiber.

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence.  Jambalaya is traditionally made in three parts, with meat and vegetables, and is completed by adding stock and rice. Very simple, but such a  delicious dish. I've added a bit of Indian fusion to this recipe by adding some Indian spices.

PREP TIME
20 mins
COOK TIME
1 hour
TOTAL TIME
1 hour 20 mins

Serves: 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp butter
1 onions, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used red)
2 stalks celery, diced
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut in small pieces (chicken breast works as well)
2 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
½ tbsp dried oregano
2 large dried bay leaves
1 tbsp crushed red pepper
2 cups basil marinara sauce (I used Ragu)
2 cups chicken stock or water
1 cups long grain white rice 
1 lb peeled, deveined large shrimp 
2 tbsp karahi masala (Shan)

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a large skilled or pot, heat the olive oil and saute the onion for 3 minutes until transparent. Add bell pepper, celery and chicken and all the spices and cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes or until the chicken is no longer pink. You aren't cooking the chicken entirely at this stage.

Add the marinara sauce, chicken stock/or water and rice and stir. Cook until it comes to a boil and reduce the stove to a simmer. Cook until the rice is fully cooked and the water has evaporated. (Takes about 45 minutes or so)

In the meantime, clean the shrimp and cook the shrimp in the butter with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Cook it for about a minute on each side, until it's pink and a bit crisp. I cut the shrimp in half, but you can use whole shrimp if you'd like. 

Add the shrimp to the pot when the rice is fully cooked and stir. Serve warm. 

Pineapple Chicken Stir Fry

INGREDIENTS:

1. 1/4 cup reduced-salt soy sauce

2. 2 tbsp vinegar 

3. 1 tspn grated ginger root  

4. 2 crushed garlic cloves 

5. 1 tbsp cornstarch 

6. 1 tbsp ketchup

7. 2 tbsp Siracha sauce

8. 1 tbsp sugar

9. 2 tbsp oil

10. 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken, cut in thin slices 

11. 6 large green onions, cut in 1-inch pieces

12. 2 cups fresh or frozen pepper strips 

13. 1/2 cup mushrooms sliced

14. 1 pineapple cut into chunks (or a can of pineapple chunks)

DIRECTIONS:

Combine first eight ingredients; stir well.

Heat oil in a large skillet and stir-fry chicken until brown and done, about 5 minutes. Remove.

Add mushrooms and pineapple and cook this for about 15 minutes. Add the sauce you mixed earlier and the green onions, bell peppers, and cooked chicken to the skillet; heat through.

Blackened Salmon

INGREDIENTS:

1. 2 tbsp butter

2. 1 tsp garlic paste (or crushed garlic)

3. 4 tbsp Italian seasoning 

4. 2 tbsp crushed red pepper

5. 2 tsp oil

6. 6 oz. Salmon fillet

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven on broil. In the meantime, put 1 tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp garlic paste, 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper, 1 tsp oil in the microwave for 1 min, stir, and another 30 seconds. Put this marinade on the salmon on one side. And put the fish in oven to broil. Let it cook about 10-12 minutes depending on your oven.

Make this same mixture again. And flip over the fish and put it on the fish. Again let it cook on broil. Cook this side until it begins to blacken.

Serve over a bed of lettuce and baked potatoes went really well. Sweet baked potatoes were better, after the potato is done, add red chilli powder, salt, black pepper and eat with the salmon.

Khausa *updated*

Khausa is a well-known Memon dish that gets its origins from the region of Burma. The dish is made up of spaghetti topped with coconut curry and a beef or chicken curry. 

You can then add other toppings based on personal taste, such as cilantro, fried garlic, ginger, lemon, etc.

This recipe is for 4 people.

Below is the recipe for the spaghetti, coconut curry and the beef/chicken curry.

SPAGHETTI:
Boil the spaghetti to package instructions. Add salt to the boiled water, do not add oil. If the spaghettis are too slippery the dish won't come out as creamy and good. I use thin spaghetti for this dish. (Wheat spaghetti is pictured above)

COCONUT CURRY:

INGREDIENTS:
1. 13.5 oz can of coconut milk
2. 13.5 oz yogurt
3. 13.5 oz water
4. 2 garlic cloves (chop these as small as you can or use 1 tsp minced garlic)
5. 2 stems of curry leaves (about 10-15 leaves)
6. 3 green chillies (cut)
7. 1 tbsp besan flour (also called gram flour or chickpea flour)
8. 1 pinch turmeric
9. 1 tsp oil

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. In a blender, mix the coconut milk, yogurt, besan flour, green chillies, turmeric, and half of the water.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pot on medium high heat. Once the oil is warm, add the garlic. Once the garlic begins to brown, add in the curry leaves. Sautee the leaves for a few minutes til they splutter and then add the mixture from the blender. (Since some yogurt remains in the blender after you pour it, add the remaining water to it and swish it around to get all of hehe yogurt milk mixture from the blender).
3. Bring the curry to a boil. As soon as the curry comes to a boil, reduce the stove to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. (If it's too creamy for your liking, add 1/4 cup of hot water)

BEEF/CHICKEN CURRY:

INGREDIENTS:
1. Meat of your choice, beef or chicken. (1 pound beef or 4 boneless chicken breasts/6 boneless chicken thighs. For either meat, cut into little 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch squares)

2. 1 large onion (chopped in a chopper)

3. 4 tablespoons tomato paste

4. 1 tsp salt

5. 1.5 tbsp red chili powder

6. 1 tbsp coriander powder

7. 1/4 tsp turmeric

8. 1 tbsp ground garam masala

9. 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste

10. 1/4 cup oil

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the onions til they brown. Transfer 1 tbsp of that oil and the browned onions to the pot that you will be using to cook the meat.

On high heat, add ginger/garlic paste, tomato paste, and the spices (number 4 through 8). Also add 1/2 cup of water and cook this through til the onions begin to disappear. This will take about 15-30 minutes. 

Once the onions/tomato mixture has become a thicker gravy, add in the meat and reduce the heat to medium heat. (The chicken will cook about 15 minutes and the beef will cook about 45 minutes) 
*NOTE* Do not overcook the meat here, for it will harden and become chewy.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS:

Here are possible toppings for the khausa: green chilies sliced, fried garlic, fried spaghetti (1 inch uncooked pieces), lemon and red crushed pepper sauce (all pictured below). (For the red crushed pepper sauce, in a bowl put crushed pepper and to it, add heated oil, enough just to cover it. It will sizzle and you should stir it with a regular spoon to make sure it gets to the bottom of the crushed pepper equally. And that's it, this sauce also goes great with chinese.) Additional toppings not pictured include: ginger sliced, cilantro, or mint.

Put spaghetti, add the coconut curry and the beef curry and the extra toppings. Eating this with chips is the best. It adds a little crunch to it. You can either crumble the chips on top of your dish, or take a bite of it separately. Ruffles are the best for this!

Stuffed Peppers (Chicken Santa Fe)

The following makes 4 peppers. I did a variation, half were with rice (the right pepper in the picture), the other two were without rice (the left in the picture). These can be a beautiful appetizer to your meal or the Entree itself.

INGREDIENTS:

1. 4 chicken boneless thighs (I manually grinded these in my food processor, keep an eye on it) 
2. 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
3. 4 tbsp tomato paste 
4. 4 large green bellpeppers (you want to look for bellpeppers thst are wider, so you have something to stuff) 
5. 1 tbsp oil
Spices used:
6. 1 tsp salt
7. 1 tbsp ground cumin 
8. 1 tbsp red chili powder
9. 1 tbsp garam masala
10. 1/2 tbsp red chili flakes (crushed pepper)
Optional:
11. 1/2 can of black beans
12. 1/2 cup of whole kernel corn 
13. shredded cheese (I used colby jack)

DIRECTIONS:
Begin with 1 tbsp oil and warm that in a pot. When the oil is hot, add the ginger/garlic paste and sautee it a little. Add the ground chicken and the spices and mix it up. Cook this for approximately 15 minutes on medium high heat. This is to ensure the chicken doesn't let out too much water.
As the chicken cooks, boil water in a pot to prep the bellpeppers. (Cut the top 1 inch of the bellpepper and take out the middle core with seeds) As the water comes to a boil, you will put in the peppers for 5 minutes. When they're done, take them out and set them aside.
When the chicken is done, add the beans, corn, tomato paste and 1/2 cup of water. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce the temperature to medium heat. Let this cook until the water had dried and the beans and corn are tender. *NOTE: in order for the water to dry, leave the lid off of the pot during this process. (It takes about 15-30 minutes, depending on the corn, I used frozen corn that was thawed) Remember, you don't have to add in the black beans or corn. If you don't add them, just add the tomato paste and no water and cook on medium heat 5 minutes.
If you want to add rice, you can add it either to the pot entirely and mix it in, or in separate bowl.  Just make sure to mix the meat and rice well.
Stuff the peppers with your mixture, with or without rice. And sprinkle with cheese and a little crushed red pepper flakes. Broil the bellpeppers for approximately 5 minutes or until your cheese melts and begins to turn golden.

Enjoy this recipe of stuffed peppers and please include pictures and comments of your versions of this item.

Roasted Chicken (Orange Tandoori Fusion)

This recipe for roasted chicken is a little different than usual,  I've used orange instead of lemon.

INGREDIENTS:
1. 1 whole chicken with skin left on (clean the inside cavity and make deep cuts in the chicken)
2. 1 cup yogurt
3. 3-5 green chilies 
4. 1 tbsp garam masala
5. 1 tbsp red chili powder
6. 2 naval oranges juiced
7. 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
8. 1 tbsp Tikka boti masala
9. 1 tbsp Tandoori masala
10. 1 large onion finely chopped in a chopper

11. Potatoes, onions, or tomatoes (any vegetables you'd like to roast with the chicken)

INSTRUCTIONS:
Chop the green chilies and large onion finely in a chopper. Next,  mix all the ingredients in a pot and marinate the chicken. Rub the marinade on the chicken and within the cavity and push the marinate into the cuts that you made on the chicken. Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for about 3-4 hours.
Before cooking the chicken, take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come to a room temperature.
Toss the vegetables you'd like to roast in 1 tbsp of vegetable oil or olive oil and salt and fresh black pepper. Line these vegetables on the bottom of the pan and place the chicken on top with the breast facing upwards. Cover both of the chicken wings and the two ends of the legs (1 inch of the end) with foil and place one piece of foil (wide enough to cover the chicken, right on top of the chicken) right on top of the chicken breast. Bake the chicken for 1 hour at 450°. To bring a beautiful golden color, you will broil the chicken on each side for 10 minutes. Start with breast side up then flip over the chicken with breast side down. *note* Before you broil each side, spoon chicken juices over the chicken so it does dry out the chicken.