chicken breast Archives ⋆ Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby

Creamy Garlic Pesto Chicken

Chris-budgetpantry — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 13:21:27 +0000

Still thankful for being able to work from home because this means I can cook more “fancy” dinners like this. Made this with the cooking cream that a kind neighbour blessed us (contactless blessing ok!) cos she doesn’t have the time to cook and doesn’t want to waste food.

I served this with chunky potatoes tonight. The best part? The roasted garlic and peppers! Soooooo good!! Crazy burst of flavours with every mouthful. Hope you’ve had a nice dinner too!

Creamy Garlic Pesto Chicken (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 2-3 servings

What you need:

2 pieces chicken breast, butterflied
15 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small red onion, minced
1 small red pepper, sliced lengthwise
1 small green pepper, sliced lengthwise
2-3 shitake mushrooms, sliced
200ml cooking cream (I use Bulla)
2 tablespoon green pesto
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
Pinch of salt
Flour for dredging

Steps:

Clean and pat dry chicken breast. Dredge in flour and shake off excess.

Heat up 1 tablespoon butter and oil in a skillet. Brown chicken breast for 4 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 4 minutes till done. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, add remaining butter and scrape the brown bits towards the center. On low heat, fry minced onion, smashed garlic, sliced peppers and mushrooms till wilted and soft.

Mix in the cooking cream and pesto. Stir everything together. Season with salt to taste.

Return the chicken breast to pan and simmer for a minute. Spoon cream over chicken repeatedly as you’re simmering. Serve with chunky potatoes.

ENJOY!!

Note: if you have an airfryer, you can save some time while prepping and extract more flavour out of the peppers and garlic this way: in the baking tray, toss garlic and peppers together with some olive oil. AF at 190C for 15 minutes. Add this mixture along with the oil to step 3.

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Chinese Stir-fry: Chicken and Bell Peppers with Cashew Nuts

Chris-budgetpantry — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 12:25:09 +0000

I get asked many times if I use a wok when cooking Chinese dishes. Truth be told, I don’t! And there are a few reasons for that:

1. “The sink is too small.”
What? That is a fact! Ah-mm’s huge-ass wok is too small to fit in the kitchen sink. I already hate washing up. Trying to manoeuvre the wok around the sink just to get it cleaned frustrates me even more.

2. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
This is again true. The best place to leave your wok is out in the open. Because the stove space is so small, the wok is always kept in the cabinet, underneath all the other smaller pots and pans. And what do most normal people do when they need a frying pan? Go for the easiest to reach ones!

3. “This thing weighs a ton!”
Ok, it doesn’t, but it is still much heavier and cumbersome than a frying pan.

That said, my Mom swears by her wok. Lazy as I am, I can’t deny the fact that when it comes to stir-frying, everything tastes better when it is tossed over high heat in a wok. A frying pan gets your food cooked. A wok gets your food amazing. I know because everything my Mom cooks is amazing, and she cooks everything in her wok.

Today’s recipe was prepared in a frying pan (see reasons 1-3 above). Still delicious but not the best, and it’s ok, we won’t know what we’re missing.

I used chicken inner fillet for this dish. Chicken inner fillet (鸡柳) is the underside of the chicken breast and is moist and tender. It is about 10cm long and has almost zero fat. I love it! My favourite brand is LEBON from Giant because each fillet is frozen individually before being packed. Other brands I’ve bought are frozen together in a large chunk and you just can’t pick a few pieces to defrost. With LEBON, I simply open up the packet, take whatever number of fillets I need and defrost them for an easy lunch or dinner. Here’s what inner fillets look like:

Whether you choose to cook this in a wok or pan, you’re sure to enjoy this comforting dish. Serve with rice. You won’t stop at one bowl!

Chicken and Bell Peppers with Cashew Nuts
Serves: 2-3 as part of a Chinese meal
Total cost: $4.95
Total cost per serving: $1.65

What I used:

8 strips chicken inner fillet, chopped into 3 pieces per fillet
Half a green pepper, chopped into bite-sized pieces
Half a red pepper, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 packet sweet roasted cashew nuts
1 teaspoon garlic
2 slices ginger
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese wine (hua diao jiu)
A dash of white pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil

For marinating chicken:
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese wine (hua diao jiu)
1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon sugar

Steps:
1. Marinate the chicken for at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat up the olive oil in your frying pan, then add in the ginger, garlic and bell peppers. Fry for a minute til fragrant.
3. Drain the chicken and discard marinate. Add to frying pan together with the oyster sauce and Chinese wine.
4. Give the bell peppers and chicken a good toss and cook til chicken is no longer pink. Add the dash of white pepper and the packet of cashew nuts.
5. Give it a quick stir then serve hot with rice.

How much I spent:
$2.40 for chicken (I get about 20 fillets for $5.90)
$0.45 for half green pepper
$0.70 for half red pepper
$1.40 for cashew nuts
Everything else from my pantry

The post Chinese Stir-fry: Chicken and Bell Peppers with Cashew Nuts appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Baked Stuffed Mozzarella Chicken

Chris-budgetpantry — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 13:12:35 +0000

I recreated this recipe from pinchofyum.com because the colours absolutely intrigued me. Look at the colour party right here! Golden crumbed chicken stuffed with spinach, mushrooms and shredded mozzarella, topped with a beautiful red marinara sauce and fresh mozzarella cheese.

I used spinach, just for the colour, in place of sweet basil as I didn’t have any. But I could see (and taste!) how even more delicious this dish would be with the basil. Preparing, cooking, and plating this dish made me imagine I was in a lovely cottage house in the summer, in England, wearing my checkered, rustic apron fixing a home-cooked meal for my family. Ahh..

And I snap back to reality in my 4-room HDB flat in lion-city Singapore. LOLOLOL.

I rolled up a piece of chicken breast stuffed with sauteed mushrooms in a little bit of garlic, spinach wilted with just a bit of olive oil, and some shredded white cheddar cheese. Coat it with a parsley and breadcrumb mixture, brush on a little oil and off into the oven it goes for 25 minutes til golden and crispy.

I then topped it with a marinara sauce (bottled, I cheated!) and fresh sliced mozzarella before putting it back in the oven to bake for another few minutes til the cheese has slightly melted.

I would do something differently the next time: 1) Cook the marinara sauce til they are less liquidy before spooning on top of the chicken. This dish should be drier than what my picture shows so that the crumb can stay crusty. These were a bit too soggy for me but my aunts loved them. 2) Top them with real sweet basil instead of spinach. Haha! and 3) Melt some butter and combined with the breadcrumb mixture before coating the chicken.

I served these with airfried potatoes. I hope you enjoy these baked stuffed chicken as much as my family did!

Tip: you could do a smaller portion, about 2 pieces, in your airfryer!

Baked Stuffed Mozzarella Chicken
Serves: 6
Total cost per serving: $2.90

What I used:
6 pieces chicken breast, cleaned and pat dry
1 package fresh round spinach
Half a packet shitake mushrooms (about 100g), cleaned and chopped
6 tablespoons shredded white cheddar cheese (you can use Parmesan or red cheddar)
A few sprigs of parsley
4 slices wholemeal or white bread, toasted
3 cloves garlic
1 cup marinara sauce (250ml)
Old bay seasoning
Garlic and onion seasoning
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 eggwhites

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees/ airfryer to 200 degrees
2. Combine the toasted bread, parsley and 3 cloves garlic in a food processor til they become a breadcrumb mixture. Set aside.
3. Heat up the olive oil. Sauteed the garlic, mushrooms and spinach til just cooked, about 2 minutes. Don’t overdo it. Set aside. Also remove a few strands of spinach and set aside for garnish later.
4. Pound the cleaned chicken breast to expand its surface area. Sprinkle with old bay and garlic & onion seasoning. Spoon the spinach and mushroom in the center and top with a tablespoon of shredded cheese. Roll up the chicken.
5. Dip the chicken in the egg white, followed by the breadcrumb mixture in 1., making sure it is evenly coated. Place in your baking dish. Repeat til all the chicken breasts are used up. Brush the surface with a little olive oil.
6. Bake for 25 minutes until the crust is golden and chicken is cooked through. If using airfryer, cook at 180C for 10 minutes, then 200C for abother 10 minutes. Test with a small knife.
7. Take the baking dish out from your oven and top with marinara sauce and sliced fresh mozzarella. Bake for another 3 minutes til cheese melts. Garnish with spinach or sweet basil if using.

How much I spent:
$8.85 for chicken breasts
$1 for mushrooms
$0.75 for spinach
$2.10 for marinara sauce
$4.75 for fresh mozzarella cheese
Everything else from my pantry

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