Just saying the words makes me happy … Butter Chicken Biriyani. Butter Chicken is beloved by everyone, I like to BBQ the Chicken before adding it to a delicate and creamy gravy. I had this idea a while ago to turn this into a Biriyani, but I wasn’t sure if it would work … I’m so glad that I did give it a shot as this is a marriage made in heaven.
My sons who love both Butter Chicken and Biriyani gave this fusion dish a big thumbs up!
This post is sponsored by the Ontario Apple Growers – the opinions and recipe idea is entirely my own.
Do you know where your apples come from? Contrary to popular belief, they don’t magically appear on grocery shelves.
This year I was invited to tour with the Ontario Apple Growers. We headed to Wilmot Fams to the Apple Orchards and onward Algoma Orchards to a packing plant. Last year we visited another farm in the west end. Although it was an amazing trip, we didn’t get to see any of the apples on the trees as it was November and picking was done for the season. You can watch that video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8J1BnQXSSI&t=239s
Ontario Apple farms are located in three different zones and they are all close to the lake regions – Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.
This trip was made mid October and although Apple picking is finished for the most part, the trees are still laden with Ambrosia that is picked in the mid to late fall.
We started off at Wilmot Farms in Bowmanville. This farm is owned by the Stevens Family Charles and Judi and their daughter Courtney. Courtney is the seventh generation farmer in the Stevens family!
Ian Parker, Orchard Manager is very knowledgeable and it blew my mind to learn how much strategy and science in involved in keeping the apples safe. Everything is calculated, the height that the tree is allowed to grow to, and the distance between each tree and the rows. The trees are also thinned so they produce the right amount of apples. If it tree is over producing there are many methods to trim back the apples to maintain quality; including thinning, pruning and applying certain products. Machines such as frost fans are used to suck in the cold air and push it upward, pushing the warm air back onto the orchard. The difference even if it’s a few degrees can save the crop. They also protect the crop from hail using a hail cannon.
Apple Fact: There are 15 different main varieties of apples are grown on nearly 16,000 acres in Ontario
This farm grows about 10 varieties of apples at this time of year the Ambrosia is ripe for the picking. The Ambrosia is a fairly new apple discovered in British Columbia in the early 1990’s. This was found growing in the orchard among another apple variety. This fruit is typically picked late fall.
Many of the trees in the Orchard that are done for the season have a lot of fruit on the ground. In commercial growing, if the apples touch the ground, they cannot be sold under Food Safety protocols. I asked the farmer why the fruit couldn’t be saved by installing a net and the answer he gave me made perfect sense – when the apple falls, even if it is caught in a net, when it collides with another apple it will bruise, which makes it unsellable. Also the cost of picking the apple on the ground for organic waste or cattle feed is labour-intensive & too expensive, so the best is to leave it on the ground to fertilize the soil for next year’s crop.
Our group of eager bloggers had plenty of photo ops to get up and personal with these beautiful fruit. Here you see my friend Puneeta from Maple and Marigold look for the perfect shot!
As I was busy admiring the flawless fruit that Eve lured Adam with, I spy a group of pickers! These pickers typically are seasonal agricultural workers that come from Mexico and Barbados to work in the orchard and pick fruit every year. They live on the farm for between 4-8 months and then either transfer to another farm, or go back home till the next season.
The farmers that run this farm are filled with passion and love for the apples. This farm also grows blueberries and you can pick your own in season.
After a busy morning trudging through the apple orchards, we were served a delicious apple themed lunch and these gorgeous apple centrepieces made by the owner Judi Stevens caught my eye.
After lunch we made our way to Algoma Orchards to meet Kirk Kemp a partner with Mike Gibson. In addition to running apple farms they run a top notch apple packing & storage facility and juice processing plant.
Apples arrive by the bins and start to move in massive streams of water to wash the apples and removed any stems and leaves. It is also a gentle way to move the apples through the grading process. This minimizes bruising and damage to the fruit.
Anything that hasn’t come off will be manually picked off.
The apples are then photographed 50 times and monitored by a machine. The fruit that are less than perfect are separated from the perfect fruit.
These move on belts like a highway of apples where they are cleaned. This plants can process 9000 cases of apples per day.
Kirk Kemp, guides us through the plant and we hang on every word.
The apples are kept in temp controlled storage rooms till they are ready to be packed.
Once the apples are ready to be sold to the grocery store, they move through the plant on the belts and are sorted and boxed by staff.
Apple Fact: The top five varieties in Ontario (based on acreage planted) are McIntosh, Gala, Empire, Red Delicious, and Northern Spy.
Many of the popular store brands you see are packed right here. Boxes of apples are rushed out of here onto trucks to make it into stores for you!
And what does one do when one has way too many apples? Make apple juice and cider of course. Algoma Orchards invested in a state of the art facility to make apple juice that supplies many big brands. Their tanks are insulated which gives them much longer shelf life.
There is a lab on site that monitors the quality of the apple juice.
Apple Fact: It takes four apples to make a glass of pure apple juice.
This chamber controls all (I can’t remember what the specific task of this chamber is) the tanks and everything is temp controlled and computerized.
To keep the facility germ free, the ground is filled with soap suds.
And on our way out we were were sent home with a nice big bag of apples! Yummmm
Now that you know so much about apples, you’re going to love how I developed this recipe for a sweet and savory treat. These Stuffed Spiced apples are brined, then stuffed with a savory filling with herbs and topped with Cheddar. The Apples are just about cooked till the cheese melts to maintain that nice crunchy and juicy exterior. If you’re having a sit down Fall or Christmas lunch or dinner, this is the perfect start to the meal and looks incredible.
I was gifted a large bag of Galas and I decided to use this in this recipe. You can find the right type of apple to use in your recipes by following this guide – http://onapples.com/apple-usage-guide
Although the Gala is not recommended for baking, I only let it go in the oven for a few minutes so the cheese melted to preserve that crispiness. Have apples been brined before? I have no idea, but I think it’s a great idea!
I start with a sweet savory spicy brine and soak my cored apples in so they absorb some more flavour.
While they soak, I prepare a quick filling using ground Chicken, spices an herbs. This is stuffed into the cavity, topped with cheese and baked for a few minutes. Super delicious!
Hakka Chinese food is very popular in India and all over the world. Chinese immigrants brought their delicious recipes from their homeland to their adopted country, India. From there it took on spices and flavors popular with the Indian people and morphed into a new delicious version.
I love love love Tandoori Chicken. If you make this by slathering chicken with a store bought spice and yogurt, you are not alone, but if you want to try something amazing this recipe is for you. Tandoori is derived from the work Tandoor which is basically a large clay pot that is used to cook food. Coal is lit at the bottom and creates a tunnel of heat to submerge skewers of chicken and meat. Tandoori is basically the kind of marinade used in Chicken, Fish or Shrimp although some people now apply this marinade to Paneer Crab and even Turkey.
As with every recipe, everyone has their own secret blend. Mine isn’t such a big secret since I have published the recipe a few times before. I also like to use this recipe to cook the Chicken that finally goes into a Butter Chicken. Recently I made this live on my FB page, here is a link if you missed it –
As I write this, it’s already fall, but we had a sudden turn of weather for the better. Instead of the colder fall temps, the sun was out and the day warm. We decided to just grab some food and drinks and get out there for one last hurrah before mother nature realized she screwed up. Top of mind of me was making a batch of Tandoori Chicken, from scratch and with a lot of love to share with my family and friends.
Although I have shared this recipe before both on my YouTube channel and my blog, this new and improved video and recipe is amazing – enjoy!
Pinch of Salt, Pepper, Paprika and Ancho Chilli powder
1/4 cup sliced Onion
1/4 cup sliced Red & Yellow Pepper
1/2 cup grated Cheese
1 cup Mushrooms
2 cups cooked Brown rice
1 Baguette sliced
Instructions
Prepare the marinade and add the potatoes followed by the broccoli and add to a sheet pan
In the space left over add the halved peppers and asparagus
Prepare the second batch of marinade and add the chicken drumsticks and transfer to another oven proof dish
Add the chicken and the veg to a 350 degree oven - the chicken will need 45 mins and the veg will need 25 mins
Make slits in the chicken hasselback style and stuff with onions, peppers and cheese
In an oven proof frying pan, heat up some oil and sear the bottom of the chicken breasts, fill in the spaces with the leftover, onion & peppers and add the mushrooms as well
Turn off the heat and transfer to the oven
Once everything is cooked portion out the rice bread and veg in smaller bags and add the drumsticks and chicken breasts to another bag
Pack the smaller bags inside the larger ones, seal and freeze!
Tangdi in it’s simplest translation means leg and refers to the leg of a Chicken. This BBQ Chicken preparation is either marinated in a cream base(Kalmi), Red spice blend(Tandoori) or a Green spice blend(Hara). Sometimes, just the drumstick is served and other times you will get the drumstick and the thigh together.
India & Pakistan and the surrounding countries are famous for these kekabs with their delicious smoked taste that is traditionally cooked in a tandoor. Most people don’t have tandoors in their homes, so I’m going to cook this on my BBQ. You can also use a frying pan or the oven.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Campbell’s® . All opinions are 100% mine.
Butter Chicken and all it’s versions are always received well. If you’ve been following my posts and my channel, you will know that I love making my Butter Chicken from scratch. I like to grill my chicken, blanche and puree fresh tomatoes, blend my spices and finish it off with some luxurious cream. A weeknight meal though is a whole other story. I burst into my home exhausted with the dark cloud of prepping dinner on my mind. Almost immediately the family asks ‘What’s for Dinner?” and if I haven’t had the time to meal prep, I’m in a lot of trouble.
Over time, I’ve learned how to use pantry staples creatively to create shortcuts to great meals. This recipe is a testament to that! I always have canned soup in my pantry, they’re not just great when you want to make a soup but you can also use this to prepare other meals. In this recipe, I’m going to use the CAMPBELL’S® Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato to substitute the pureed Tomatoes and the CAMPBELL’S® No Salt Added Cream of Chicken to substitute the cream. This delicious Butter Chicken is then going to be tossed together with Scoobi doo or Cavatappi noodles, smothered in cheese and baked.
This is a hearty recipe that is delicious for adults and kids alike. If you have kids that are afraid to try new things, this is a great way to introduce them to new flavors.
400 gms Pasta (Macaroni, Rotini, Scoobi Do or your choice)
1 can CAMPBELL'S® Condensed Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato
1/2 can CAMPBELL'S® Condensed No Salt Added Cream of Chicken
2 tbsp Butter
¼ cup Oil
Water as required
1 cup diced Onions
1 tsp minced Garlic
1 tsp minced green Chili (optional)
1 tbsp chopped Coriander
1 tsps each Chili & Cumin powder
½ tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste
2 cups Grated Cheese
Instructions
Marinate the Chicken in the crushed garlic, Tandoori spice, Yogurt, Salt & Pepper and Fenugreek and allow to marinate for 15 mins to overnight
Heat up the Oil in a sauté pan and cook the Chicken till about ½ done and remove and keep aside
In the same pot add the butter and sauté the Onion, Garlic, Chili
Add all the spices, followed by the Tomato soup and stir well to incorporate. Fill up the empty soup can with water and add it to the pot and bring to the boil
Add the partially cooked chicken, turn down the heat and allow it to simmer
Add a half can of the Chicken soup and a bit more water as required
Add the Coriander
Cook Pasta according to the package instructions and drain
Fold in Pasta and about a half cup of the Cheese
Taste for Salt and add to taste
Transfer to an oven proof dish and cover with the rest of the Cheese
Bake for 20 - 30 minutes till bubbly and golden brown
I’ve made several different green marinades on my channel, from Spinach to Coriander or Cilantro, by itself, mixed with Yogurt or Coconut it is a delicious and healthy way to flavour your protein. A little over a year ago, I decided to lose weight and eat healthy and while I cheat ever so often(life is too short), I like to eat clean during the week with a good side of protein and a tasty salad.
Every week I try to come up with new marinades so I’m not eating the same ol thing week after week! This week I had a ton of Spinach left over from another recipe, so I decided to pair it with Cilantro and other aromatics like Chilli, Ginger and Garlic to infuse some serious flavour into the Chicken. I’ve recommended a minimum of 30 minutes to marinate the Chicken but the longer you marinate it, the more stellar the flavour will be.
Every week I meal prep about 2 – 3 pounds and stick any extras in the freezer. This also comes in handy when I send food to my older son who is in University. Just bag in in a freezer safe bag and mark it and you will have something exciting to look forward to when you don’t have the time to cook.
