How to Cook with Kaffir Limes - Kaffir Lime & Coconut Poached Chicken with Noodles

There is definitely a story behind this recipe!

We have a kaffir lime tree, and have done for a few years. We use the leaves now and then in cooking, but for quite a few years I never saw limes growing on the tree. In 2015 some friends and I went to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Live. Jamie demonstrated a few recipes, one of which he used the zest and juice of a kaffir lime. I was amazed. How do we have a kaffir lime tree and I’ve never seen a kaffir lime before? And more importantly, why aren’t we cooking with them?

When I got home I was telling Mum about the day and Jamie’s use of kaffir limes. She was shocked, she had thought kaffir limes weren’t edible. If that were true, I was sure that Jamie Oliver of all people would know that and not demonstrate the use of one in a live show. It transpired that Mum had been removing the flowers from the kaffir lime tree each year so if never went to fruit. But since we have now been educated on kaffir limes (thanks Jamie), we have had a complete glut of them! This year in particular, we’ve had at least 20 particularly large limes from our humble tree. 

While I was very excited about this, and the other citrus we have that were showing good signs of a bountiful season, I didn’t have many ideas for actually using the kaffir limes. Since we had so very many, I gave some away (along with some of the leaves). One recipient was so freaked out by them - ‘Are they meant to look like that?! They look like brains!’. I guess if you’ve never seen them before they do look pretty weird! Luckily their flavour makes up for their weird appearance.

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I knew kaffir limes worked well in South East Asian cooking, but as my mind immediately goes to ideas for baking, I tried to make kaffir lime shortbread. That was a definite no go. The sweetness of the shortbread combined with the intense citrus notes of the kaffir lime conflicted with each other so much, I wasn’t sure if I was eating something sweet or savoury. 

Once it became clear that sweet was out of the question (there goes my idea of a kaffir lime pie), I steered my thoughts back to the world of savoury cooking. Having eaten a few chicken dishes (mostly Thai) that used kaffir lime leaves, I decided to combine what I liked best about them, but also use the actual kaffir limes. And this is the result. This dish will feed 4-6 people, depending on the size of chicken breasts you use (the pieces of chicken I used ended up being particularly big, so there were lots of leftovers which I have now frozen for another day!). If you can’t get any kaffir limes, use the kaffir leaves and regular limes for the juice and zest. 

Kaffir Lime & Coconut Poached Chicken with Noodles

Ingredients for the Poached Chicken: 

x3 chicken breasts 

x2 270ml cans of light coconut milk

juice of 1/2 kaffir lime

zest of 1/2 kaffir lime 

x6 kaffir lime leaves

1 cm slice fresh ginger 

1 stalk lemongrass, outer leaves removed and cut in half

x3 stems of coriander with roots, well washed

Ingredients for the Sauce & Rice Noodles

1 tbsp vegetable oil

x3 small gloves garlic, crushed

x1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

x4 spring onions finely sliced, white part only

juice of 1/2 kaffir lime

zest of 1/2 kaffir lime

150ml chicken stock

500ml coconut poaching liquid 

1 tsp soy sauce

x1 zucchini, peeled into strips

285 g mixed beans & peas

200g packet pad thai rice noodles

x2 (or x3 small) bunches coriander, leaves & stems roughly chopped

Method: 

In a medium pot, add the chicken, coconut milk, kaffir lime zest & juice, kaffir leaves, ginger, lemongrass and coriander stems. Mix to combine then place over low heat, and loosely cover with lid. Poach the chicken for 20-30 minutes, turning over half way through. To check the chicken is cooked, cut open with a knife and check the middle of the chicken breast has cooked through. Once cooked remove from heat. 

When the chicken has cooled a little, remove from the pot and cut into chunks or slices. Reserve 500ml of the poaching liquid, then put the cut up chicken back in the pot with the remainder of the poaching liquid to keep warm. 

In a large pan on medium heat, add the vegetable oil, spring onions, garlic and chilli. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly so everything cooks evenly and doesn’t burn. Add the kaffir lime juice and zest, stock, poaching liquid, soy sauce and a couple of the kaffir lime leaves from the poaching liquid. Stir to combine, then allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. Add in most the chopped coriander and the cooked chicken. Meanwhile cook the rice noodles according to packet instructions, then add to the pan. Stir to combine, then add the zucchini, beans and peas. Mix through (using tongs is easiest), then serve with the remaining coriander. 

References: ‘Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals’ by Jamie Oliver (Penguin Group, 2010) p.88; ‘The Heart of the Home’ by Julie Goodwin (Ebury Press, 2011) p.82; Donna Hay's Coconut Poached Chicken Salad.

Donna Hay’s Harissa Chicken with Gremolata

Now that the weather seems to have truly turned to Winter, warming and comforting dishes are in high demand. This recipe for Harissa Chicken by Donna Hay, fits the bill perfectly. The spiciness of the harissa warms you to your bones, while the gremolata subtly cools the kick and adds a wonderful depth of flavour to the dish. 

This dish is also quite easy to make, which is always a winner when you want warmth with minimal effort. 

The original recipe stipulates the use of mixed olives, but since my obsession with dried black olives remains unwavering, I used those. Either work well, just use whatever you like or can easily come by. 

Ingredients: 

8 x 220g chicken thigh fillets, bone in and trimmed

8 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1 cup mixed or dried olives

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 tbsp harissa paste 

1 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 cup chicken stock 

sea salt and black pepper

400g truss Roma tomatoes (still on vine if possible) 

Ingredients for Gremolata 

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped

1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp shredded lemon zest 

2 garlic cloves, crushed 

Method: 

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the chicken, garlic, olives, tomato paste, harissa paste, sugar and chicken stock in a large baking dish, trying to evenly distribute the tomato and harissa pastes amongst the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with aluminium foil and roast for 1 hour. 

Whilst the chicken is in the oven, make the gremolata by combining the all the gremolata ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside. 

After the chicken has been roasting in the oven for 1 hour, increase the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and remove the foil. Add the tomatoes to the baking dish and cook for a further half an hour, or until the chicken is completely cooked through.

Serve with the gremolata. 

Original recipe from ‘The New Classics’ by Donna Hay (Fourth Estate an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2013), p. 145.

Nigella Lawson's Italian Roast Chicken

I’ve never been much of a roast chicken fan. Really, I’m not a fan of meat in general. Which is why over this cookbook challenge, when it comes to savoury options, there will be few red meat dishes (possibly none), and lots of chicken dishes. Now that I’ve said that, most of you will probably stop reading, because I’ve just told you I don’t eat almost a whole food group! 

Never fear, baking will remain the focus of this blog, so there will always be a satisfying sweet recipe around the corner. I am however, trying to add a few more savoury recipes to the blog whilst I am doing my cookbook challenge. Not only does it help out with deciding what to make for dinner on the weekend, but some cookbooks in our collection don’t have sweet or baking sections and some just don’t appeal to me. So with using ALL the cookbooks in mind, sometimes a savoury dish here and there will have to be tolerated. 

Having said that, if anyone could brighten up dinner and change my mind about roast chicken it’s Nigella. I know I’ve said this before (probably more than once), but I really love Nigella, her recipes and her love of food. I know in the past I have heard Nigella talking about how roast chicken is such a comforting dish, and up until I tried this recipe, I found it hard to agree. But now, I definitely do! 

This dish is one of those that you just know is going to be good. And once you’ve made it a couple of times, it suddenly becomes a family favourite, requested over and over again. My Mum made this recipe originally, in an attempt to actually have all members of the family eat the same thing for dinner I suspect. I was suspicious at first, but I was soon eating my words, and the chicken with gusto. 

For a while when this dish was first made, we couldn’t find the dried olives specified in the recipe. It was still a great dish, and if you haven’t tried it with the olives you won’t know what you’re missing out on. But, if you can find them, use them! They absolutely make this dish! We eventually found them at a local deli, so they are out there, and not too hard to find. 

As this recipe has been made a few times at home, we have inevitably altered it slightly. We use two small chickens, and divide the stuffing between each. One chicken of the same total weight will also be perfect. Orange capsicums can sometimes be hard to find, so substitute another yellow one to make up the difference. We often serve this chicken with garlic roast potatoes, which should be prepared and put in the oven about 30 minutes or so after the chicken goes in, so they are ready together. 

Ingredients: 

x 2 small chickens (approx. 1.5-2kg total weight), or one larger 1.5-2kg (approx.) chicken 

1 lemon, halved

4 sprigs of rosemary

3 leeks, washed and trimmed 

2 red capsicums 

1 orange capsicum 

1 yellow capsicum 

100-200g dried black olives*, (pitted if possible)

60 ml olive oil 

sea salt and pepper 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. 

Cut each leek into three (length ways), and add to a large baking/roasting pan. De-seed the capsicums, and cut into thick strips, and add to the pan.

Sit the chickens on top of the vegetables in the pan, and place half a lemon in each chicken cavity, and two sprigs of rosemary. If using one whole chicken, place both halves of the lemon, and all the rosemary in the cavity of the chicken. 

Drizzle the chickens and vegetables with the olive oil (ensuring the vegetables are fairly evenly coated), and scatter in the dried olives amongst the vegetables. Sprinkle the tops of the chickens with a little salt and pepper. 

Place in the oven for 1 - 1 1/4 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and the juices of the chicken run clear when the flesh is cut at the thickest part of the thigh joint. 

Transfer the chickens to a carving board or plates, cover with foil and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Place the vegetables back in the oven (reducing the oven temperature if they are well cooked), to keep warm. 

Remove the vegetables from the oven, and cut the chicken up into pieces. Toss the chicken with the vegetables in the pan and serve. 

*Nigella’s original recipe specifies 100g of olives. We often buy up to 200g as a few of us are obsessed with them! If you aren’t so keen on black olives, keep it to 100g.

Original Recipe from ‘Nigellissima’ by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus, 2012), p.96 or via Nigella's website.

All cooking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath. 

Chicken Sliders

I have made these once before, a couple of years ago and they were great. At the time I couldn’t find mini brioche buns, so I used small bread rolls instead. This time as luck would have it, I walked into Woolworths to get some of the ingredients I needed for this recipe, and a whole rack of mini Brioche buns were right in the entry to the shop. Though I doubt that they are the best quality (particularly as on the front of the packet it said ‘Baked by us Today’, then on the back of the packed, in much smaller writing, ‘this product has been frozen from fresh and thawed for your convenience’ - hmmm …. *insert confused emoji face*), I was excited to finally make sliders actually using mini brioche buns for once. 

If you find normal brioche buns (the ones from Brasserie Bread are particularly good), make the patties bigger to suit. 

This recipe is full of flavour, and would make a great weekend dinner. The recipe is from the book ‘Home Cooking’ by Valli Little, a book which I can actually say I have used a few times since I got it! There are some great recipes in here, notably this one. There is also a Sticky Date Tart (p.168) which is a great alternative to a sticky date pudding in the colder months. 

Valli calls these sliders ‘Bombay Sliders’, probably because of the use of spices and mango chutney in them. They are a fiery alternative to a traditional burger (or slider), and are well worth a try. 

Ingredients for the Patties:

500g chicken mince

1/4 cup coriander leaves, chopped, plus extra to serve

1/3 spring onion, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin 

1 small red chilli, seeds removed and chopped

2 cm piece of ginger, grated

1/4 cup whole egg mayonnaise

1 1/2 tbsp mild curry powder

Ingredients for the Curry Mayonnaise: 

1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise

2 tsp mild curry powder 

1 tbsp tomato sauce/ketchup

1 tbsp Greek-style yoghurt

1 garlic clove, crushed 

olive oil, for cooking

12 mini brioche buns, cut in half and toasted (optional)

Mango chutney, to serve

Micro Salad leaves or Mixed salad leaves (chopped), to serve

Method: 

In a bowl, mix together the chicken mince and the remaining patty ingredients. Mix well, then shape into 12 small patties. Line a baking tray with baking paper, cling wrap or foil, and place patties on to the tray. Loosely cover, and chill in the fridge for half an hour. 

While the patties are in the fridge, prepare the curry mayonnaise by adding all the mayonnaise ingredients in a small bowl and mixing together. Set aside in the fridge until needed. 

Heat olive oil in a frypan over medium-high heat. Cook the patties 2 or 3 at a time (depending on the size of your pan) for 2-3 minutes per side or until cooked through. 

To serve, spread some mango chutney over the base of each bun and top with a chicken patty. Drizzle some of the curry mayonnaise over the patty and top with extra coriander, salad leaves then the remaining half of the bun. 

Use a skewer or toothpick to secure the bun together if needed. 

Recipe originally from ‘ABC Delicious Home Cooking’ by Valli Little (HarperCollins, 2012) p.14.

All baking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.