Savoury Chocolate Chicken

      I'm back! Well, I never disappeared. I just haven't been cooking anything inspiring enough to write about. Yesterday, however, I tried a recipe for chocolate chicken. It is similar to chicken mole, which is a Mexican dish prepared with a few types of chillies, spices and chocolate.

      It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that I am pretty-much addicted to chocolate. Maybe it's the sugar, maybe it's the endorphins that it releases. Whatever it is, I thought I should finally try a savoury dish that includes chocolate. I based my version of the dish on this recipe and made some adjustments to the ingredients and method. It is, of course, low in fat (as are most of my main dish recipes).

      I must say that though the results were far from disappointing, this chicken dish might be an acquired taste. After all, the description by the author of the original recipe above is that it tastes like a cross between rendang and satay sauce. That's really not far from how I would personally describe it. It's like a curry, but not a curry. It is hard to describe in definite terms, but be forewarned that my husband wasn't a huge fan of this dish. He didn't feel that the flavours worked together harmoniously. I, on the other hand, rather enjoyed the texture and exotic flavour! I served this with mashed potatoes, though in hindsight, rice would have been a better option.

      If you are looking for something different to cook for a poultry main dish and bear in mind that some people will love this dish while others might not, have yourself a kitchen adventure by trying this recipe!

Savoury Chocolate Chicken

serves 4 (easily halved)

Cooking spray or vegetable oil
700g chicken breast

1 chicken stock cube

1 cup hot water

40g almonds (or almond meal)

20g white sesame seeds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp black pepper

2 small or 1 big onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

2 TBSP tomato puree

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

25g dark chocolate, finely chopped

2 tsp cornflour

1 tsp cocoa powder

1. Crumble the stock cube into the hot water, stir to dissolve then leave aside to cool.
2. Blend the almonds and sesame seeds together till crumbly and almost powdery. Stir in the cinnamon, ground coriander and pepper.
3. Blend the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and tomato puree together till it is a smooth mixture. Mix the chilli flakes into the tomato mixture.
4. Heat a sauté pan and brown the chicken using oil or cooking spray. You might have to do this in 2 batches.
5. While the chicken is browning, stir the cornflour and cocoa powder into the cooled chicken stock mixture.
6. Remove the browned chicken from the pan and pour the blended tomato mixture into the hot pan.
7. When the mixture has come to the boil, add the chicken stock mixture and bring to the boil again.
8. Now add the ground almond, sesame and spice mixture into the pan and stir, then add the chopped chocolate.
9. When the chocolate has melted, add the browned chicken to the pan and coat with the sauce.
10. Put a lid on the pan and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring periodically.
When chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened to your liking, turn off the heat and serve!

Served with boiled or steamed rice and a side of vegetables, this makes a very hearty meal!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Muffins

     So what do you do when a bad dream awakens you at 5:30am and you have a bar of dark chocolate that's not very nice for eating on its own? Me...I bake. I've recently returned from a vacation in Spain and bought a bar of sugar-free dark chocolate to take home with me. Something about that chocolate made me put it down when I started eating it, and that doesn't happen very often. However, it wasn't so bad that it had to go in the bin right away. I decided I could use it for baking. However, if you are making this recipe at home, regular dark chocolate would be perfect.
   
     The Spanish seem to have some sort of love-affair with sugar-free chocolate. The most prominent Spanish chocolatier Valor sells sugar-free versions of many of its chocolate. Even Nestle, which doesn't make very nice chocolate in my opinion, rolls out its own sugar-free milk chocolate in Spain. 

Furthermore, the sugar-free chocolate is always kept on the supermarket shelves right next to the regular chocolates, not in a separate aisle or shelf for special dietary needs like in most other countries.

     So anyway, having been awoken from my sleep, I did a quick search for recipes. I knew I wanted to bake something that would use that sugar-free chocolate up and I knew I wanted to add oats in it too. I found recipes for oatmeal cakes, oatmeal cookies and the like. I didn't have butter on hand, so cookies were out of the question. I ended up basing my muffins on a  recipe for chocolate chip muffins which I tried a month ago. I adapted it to suit myself and it worked out well.

     The oatmeal gives the muffins a nice 'bite' and a crispy top. The addition of cinnamon complements the oatmeal nicely. On hindsight, some desiccated coconut would have given the muffins a more irresistible allure. In future, I will add 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut to the batter. This is a simple recipe that is quick to make, especially if you use chocolate chips.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Muffins

makes 12 regular or 16 smaller muffins

175g plain flour

75g rolled oats

110g caster sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

85ml vegetable oil (1/3 cup plus 2 tsps)

180ml milk (approx 3/4 cup)

1 large egg

85g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

(or semisweet chocolate chips)

2 TBSP desiccated coconut (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease the bottoms of 12 muffin cases.

2. Put all dry ingredients except chocolate & coconut in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine.

3. In a smaller bowl, combine all the wet ingredients

4. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients

5. Whisk the batter till well-mixed

6. Finally, reserve a small handful of the chocolate then stir the remaining chocolate and coconut (if using) into the batter.

7. Fill each muffin case 2/3 full and scatter some chocolate chunks on the top.

8. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. 

Don't overbake or the muffins will become a little tough.

LEAVE TO COOL FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES THEN DEVOUR!

Chocolate Glaze

     As promised, here is a recipe for an easy chocolate glaze that you can use on cakes and brownies. It can hardly be called a recipe since it requires only two ingredients. But here you go anyway:

Chocolate Glaze

40g dark chocolate

1 TBSP butter/margarine

flavourings* (optional)

makes enough to cover a small 6-inch cake

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a microwave-safe bowl.

2. Microwave on medium power for 30 seconds.

3. Add the butter to the chocolate and microwave for another 30 seconds.

4. Stir the chocolate-butter mixture to check the consistency.

5. Continue microwaving in 15 second bursts until the mixture is a creamy consistency.

6. Add flavourings* of choice and stir well.

7. Using a spatula, spread onto cake/brownie.

8. Put the cake/brownie in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.

* ½ teaspoon of any extract (vanilla, peppermint, almond...) 

OR

1 tsp grated orange rind

OR

1 tsp liquer

My go-to Chocolate Cake

    I can't believe I've not posted the recipe for this chocolate cake. I have made it 3 times in the past 2 months and it has always turned out perfectly. It even evokes "Mmmmms" and "Ahhhhhs" from my normally quiet husband. He reserves some space in his tummy for this cake whenever I bake it. That is how good it is.

Pictured with chocolate glaze

(recipe)

     I have just finished assembling a birthday cake for someone. It's a chocolate cake with vanilla custard filling and with chocolate ganache on the top. For the cake, I used this recipe which I can now follow without having to look at any instructions. I took the opportunity to take shots of the process, but please do pardon the fact that the shots are not the greatest.
      Without further ado, I present my favourite chocolate cake recipe to you. If you want a cake that is moist, chocolatey, but not too sweet, this is for you. This recipe baked quite a lot of cake, but it is easily halved. I have halved the recipe on two occasions to bake a smaller cake for just my husband and I.

Go-to Chocolate Cake

makes 2 8-inch cakes or one thick 9-inch cake

225g plain flour

350g caster sugar

80g cocoa powder

1½ tsp baking powder 

1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

2 eggs

250ml milk
125ml vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

250ml boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and line 2 round 8-inch cake pans.

2. Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk gently to combine.

3. Using an electric mixer or whisk, mix in the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract till well combined.

4. Add the boiling water to the batter, a little at a time, and mix well after each addition.

5. The batter will be very runny at this point, but don't worry.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, then remove the partially baked cakes from the oven.

8. Cover the cake pans loosely with aluminum foil (to prevent the top from burning) and return to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes.

9. After 15 minutes, insert a skewer in the middle of the cakes to check if they are fully baked. The skewer should come out with a few crumbs on it. If the skewer comes out with batter on it, return the cakes to the oven then check the cakes with the skewer every 5 minutes.

10. When fully baked, remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool in the pans for 10 minutes.

11. Invert the cakes onto a cooling rack and leave till completely cooled.

You can now proceed to make whatever cake filling you like and use the filling to sandwich the two cakes together. If you baked a big, thick cake, slice it through the middle with a big serrated knife to split the cake into two layers. 

Or have the cake on its own without any filling. I like it better without any filling, but with a chocolate coated topping (Chocolate Glaze recipe).