Chicken Mushroom Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce

I tried out this yummy recipe for our weekly pasta night and it turned out great, even my little one loved it. It's a tomato based sauce with added cream and parmigiano reggiano ;).

It's an easy meal to make and perfect for weeknight dinners. Do give it a try.

You need :

Olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 chicken breast, boneless, skinless (cut into small pieces)
10 button mushrooms , sliced
1 big onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, grated (I love to grate garlic as it gives more flavour)
1 small can tomato basil pasta sauce
dried italian herbs, salt, black pepper powder, dried chilli flakes (use according to your flavour needs as I did not measure)
1/2 cup thickened / cooking cream
parmigiano reggiano ( about 1/4 cup)

spaghetti / pasta of choice (cooked al dente) - I used angel hair pasta - for 3 persons

Method :

Heat some olive oil in a pan and add butter. Once it melts, add in onion and grated garlic, saute.
When onion turns brown, add in chicken pieces and mushrooms.

Mix well. and let it cook. Once chicken is nearly cooked, add in the pasta sauce and let it come to a simmer. Add in herbs, chilli flakes, salt, black pepper powder, Mix well and close with a lid, cook for about 10 minutes on low heat. You may add in a little hot water if too thick. Turn off heat. Add in the cream and parmigiano reggiano and mix.

You can now add in the pasta, mix it all together and serve it hot,

Quick Sambar Rice

At last we have settled down in our new nest and the best part is the huge kitchen. My very own kitchen after 2 yrs of moving about. Yup it's big, more than 20 feet long and I just love it..haha...so you can see me doing more cooking n more yummy posts ;)

Now, to the dish of the day... a quick Sambar Rice cooked using the rice cooker. It tasted great and a great option for a quick dinner fix on weeknights. Since I've been doing more weeknight dinners lately, I thought of compiling it all in a category for easy referral in the future. So you can check out the tab 'Weeknight Dinners' for other yummy recipes.

 I used :

1 cup ponni rice
1/2 cup toor dhal (soaked)
1 large onion, sliced thinly
1 small carrot, sliced
a handful of french beans, sliced
2 tsp sambar powder
1/4 tsp asoefatida
2 stalks curry leaves
oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
some tamarind, dissolved in some water

Method :

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add mustard seeds and cumin. Saute and add onion and curry leaves. Once onion is soft and fragrant, add beans, carrot and cook.
When vegetables are half cooked, add in sambar powder, asoefatida, and season with salt. Mix well and let it cook. You may add a little water here if needed. Once vege is 3/4 cooked, turn off heat.
In a rice cooker pot, add in washed rice with enough water according to the rice you choose.
Now add in the soaked dhall, cooked vegetable, tamarind extract and some salt.
Mix it and press or choose setting to cook. ( I used a digital rice cooker and chose White Rice setting).

Garnish cooked sambar rice with fresh coriander leaves and serve it with your favourite side dishes and raita.

One Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta

I never thought cooking a one pot pasta meal will be much easier than easy pasta cooking...no draining, no messiness and tasted even better. This is gonna be my go-to method for weeknight pasta meals. My 2yo is a pasta lover and she really liked this dish, so did the husband. Why don't you give this a try and let me know how it turned out for you ;).

Method:

- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces, add a tbsp of dried italian herbs, salt, ground   black pepper (to taste) and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Mix well. Set aside.

- In a medium sized non-stick pot, add 1 1/4 cup water and bring to a simmer. Add in the contents of a medium sized bottle of  traditional pasta sauce to the water and bring to a boil.
 Once it starts to boil, add in spaghetti enough for 3 people (broken into half). Let it cook.

- Meanwhile heat a pan with some olive oil, and cook the chicken pieces till cook through, about 5 mins.

- When pasta is tender, add in 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese and the cooked chicken pieces. Mix well and serve hot.

Easy one pot pasta meal is ready!

Ayam Paprik

This is a recipe which combines chicken, prawns and vegetables all in one dish, kind of like a one pot meal.
Best served white white rice or fried rice.

Ingredients :

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast - cut into pieces
10 prawns - cleaned
1 big onion, sliced
3 garlic gloves, minced
2 red chillies, sliced
10 button mushrooms, sliced
1 carrot, cut thinly
a handful of beans, sliced thinly

3 kaffir lime leaves
1-2 tsp chilli paste
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
salt to taste

Method :

Heat oil in a wok and saute onion, garlic and red chillies. Add chilli paste and saute. Add in chicken pieces and carrot. Once partially cooked, add beans, mushrooms and mix well. Let it cook. Add a little water if needed.
Then add prawns and all the sauces and seasonings. Add kaffir lime leaves. Mix well till cooked.
If not thick enough can add a tbsp of cornflour mixed in water. This will thicken the dish but I did not add this.
Adjust salt according to taste.

Aglio Olio with Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Salmon

I've been a fan of angel hair pasta since the first time I tried it and it's also super quick to cook with unlike spaghetti or fettuccine. I choose to cook with it for quick weeknight dinners. This is one recipe I tried yesterday for dinner, as I had this pack of Italian spices from a dear friend of mine who visited Italy recently and I was eager to try it out.

Verdict : The spice was fragrant, smelled spicy ;) and went well to give a great flavour to the pasta. I was careful on the amount I added as I don't want it to be too spicy and inedible.
Overall a lovely meal which even my 2yo enjoyed despite it being spicy. She's a fan of anything noodles / pasta. Only change I would make in the future will be doubling the amount of mushrooms and tomatoes.
I have edited the recipe with more mushrooms and tomatoes so you can follow as it is.

The dish

Spices from Italy

A:
Angel hair pasta (cooked al dente in a pot of boiling water with a dash of olive oil) - enough for 3 persons
This pasta cooks in less than 5 minutes so you need to watch it while it cooks to get the perfect texture.

Drain and set aside.

B:
1 big salmon fillet, cut into bite size pieces
4 garlic cloves, minced
olive oil
ground black pepper
salt
dried oregano / italian herbs

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, saute the garlic, then add the salmon and seasonings, mix and once salmon is cooked, take and keep aside.

C:
5 garlic cloves, minced
10 button mushrooms, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
5-6 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp Dried mixed Italian herbs
Dry chilli flakes (according to level of spiciness you prefer)
salt

In a big pan, heat olive oil and saute the garlic, add in the mushrooms and tomatoes.
Add herbs, chilli flakes, salt.
Combine well till mushrooms cooked. Adjust seasonings to taste if needed.
Now, add in the cooked pasta to the pan and mix it all together till pasta coated well.

Serve hot topped with the cooked salmon.

Rice Cooker Chicken Rice

I've been looking for easy to do dinner recipes for weekdays and ways to avoid take-out dinner. This one pot chicken rice cooked in a rice cooker surely fits into the category and was a comfort food on a rainy day.
It is best eaten hot and can be paired with some stir-fry vege or soup.

Serves 4

You need :

2 cups basmathi rice, soaked for 30 mins
1 skinless boneless chicken breast, chopped
8 fresh shittake mushrooms, sliced
3 cm ginger, sliced thickly
spring onion, chopped

Marinade :
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp thick soy sauce
2 cm ginger, grated
salt and pepper, according to taste
few dash of sesame oil

Method :

Combine together chicken pieces and sliced shittake mushrooms with the marinade mixture and set aside.

In a rice cooker pot, place rinsed rice with enough water, ginger slices and some salt and switch on the cooker.
When rice is 3/4 cooked, add in the marinated chicken mixture on top with spring onions, close lid and let rice cook fully. Once cooked, mix all together and serve hot.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

Hi there. I was craving for some creamy pasta and since I'm not a fan of canned carbonara sauce, I came up with this dish for yesterday's dinner after reading up on options for creamy sauce. It was relatively easy to make though I wish I had more ingredients on hand. The end result was a delicious light yet creamy pasta, packed with flavours. Even my 2 yo enjoyed it.
Do give it a try and you can improvise it with more ingredients which I plan to do next.

I used :

Angel hair pasta, enough for 2 people, cooked al dente. Drain and keep aside.

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, rubbed with salt, ground pepper and italian herbs.
Leave chicken aside while you prepare other ingredients.

Sauce :
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, sliced thinly
3/4 cup low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup thickend cream (I use Paul's)
Italian herbs
Chiili flakes (to taste)
Olive oil for cooking
Salt (if needed. I did not add any salt as the stock had salt in it)

In a non stick pan, heat some olive oil and cook chicken breast till the middle is not pink (do not overcook). Turn off fire, cover the pan and keep aside.

In another pan, heat olive oil, saute onion and garlic till aromatic. Add chilli flakes and dried Italian herbs. Mix well.
Add in chicken stock and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile slice the chicken breast. Add it to the sauce.
Pour in the cream on low fire, mix well. Taste for flavour and add salt if needed.

Now add in the pasta and coat well. Turn off fire. Serve warm with grated parmesan.

* You may add sliced button mushrooms after the onion and garlic.

Easy pasta ready to serve. Enjoy!!!