Chicken Curry Jorj’s Way Featuring Kitchens of Africa

Chicken Curry Jorj’s Way Featuring Kitchens of Africa

Face Your Foodie Fears

Spice up your dinner tonight with this extraordinary chicken and cauliflower recipe, featuring North Carolina’s Kitchens of Africa. Treat yourself to a taste of adventure by indulging in fried chickpeas and light yet creamy lime-avocado yogurt!

Hubby and I are embarked on an African adventure!

Besides the shots, mosquito repellent, neutral-colored clothing, and hats, the one thing I’m happy to pre-plan is the food!

Although springing up in several cities, African fare is still a unique meal to find.

It just so happens that when reading several of the MUST-HAVE holiday gift guides, I came across Kitchens of Africa, a company with a mission to bring the diverse and exotic cuisine of Africa to the rest of the world. 

Originating in Raleigh, North Carolina, Kitchens of Africa offers a variety of sauces that we can use to bring the flavors of Africa to our home kitchens. 

Of course, I bought a box from Kitchens of Africa and received four different jars with recipes to go along with each. 

 

I decided to start with the Zanzibari Curry Simmer Sauce. I chopped some veggies and chicken and simmered them in the sauce. It was delish! 

If you have a craving for curry, and you haven’t placed your order from Kitchens of Africa, do not worry. 

I’ve included a recipe from Canvas and Cuisine that will hold you over until you do!

Chicken and Cauliflower Curry
With Lime-Avocado Yogurt and Fried Chickpeas

Servings

Serves 4 as a Main or 6 as a Side

 

Ready In:

60 Minutes

Good For:

Dinner

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 2-inch pieces
1 medium onion, peeled and diced, about 1 cup
4 garlic cloves, peeled and diced, about 2 tablespoons
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated, about 2 tablespoons
1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded, veins and stem removed, finely diced, about 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups homemade chicken stock or prepared low sodium broth
1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 (15-ounce) can of diced tomatoes
½ cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon coarse black pepper

For yogurt:
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 ripe avocado, peeled, seed removed
2 small green onions, thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lime, about 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

For chickpeas:
1 (15-ounce can) chickpeas
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Zest 1 lime, about 1 teaspoon

Heat olive oil in a skillet with deep sides over medium-high heat. Place the chicken pieces into the skillet and cook until golden brown on all sides. Season with some salt and pepper. Transfer the chicken to a platter.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, tomato paste, curry powder, garam masala, and cinnamon stick to the skillet. Stir and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

Your kitchen should begin to smell like curry! Stir in the chicken broth. Add the cauliflower to the skillet and cook until tender, about 6 minutes. Add the tomatoes, sautéed chicken, and coconut milk. Cook for 5 minutes more. Reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the cauliflower tender but not mushy, about 15 to 20 minutes more. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Use a hand mixer, blender, or immersion blender to blend the yogurt and avocado until smooth. Stir in the green onions, lime juice, and cilantro. Taste and season with salt.

Rinse, drain and pat dry chickpeas. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chickpeas into the oil and fry until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. If your pan is not very large you can do this in batches. Remove the chickpeas to a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with paprika, salt, and lime zest. Toss to coat.

Serve the cauliflower and chicken curry in a bowl garnished with a spoonful of lime–avocado yogurt and sprinkled with fried chickpeas.

Tried it? Tag it!

I would love to see what you did with this recipe.  Share your creation by tagging #inthekitchenwithjorj and with Scrumptious Possibilities With Jorj, my free private home cooking group.

This Chicken Liver Recipe Will Cure Your Foodie Fears

This Chicken Liver Recipe Will Cure Your Foodie Fears

Face Your Foodie Fears

Face your foodie fears with this Chicken Liver Mousse recipe, a timeless party appetizer that I’ve been enjoying since I was a kid! You’ll be surprised how easy (and tasty) chicken liver can be.

I grew up eating chopped chicken liver. Mom or Gram would sauté the livers with some onions and garlic, add diced hard-boiled egg and swirl in spoonful’s of Miracle Whip. Dad would mold the final product into football shapes for game watching, or into silver dishes for holidays.

We would slather up pieces of pumpernickel bread and chow down. I LOVE chopped liver.

I can see you right now.

You’re turning up your nose at the thought of eating chicken livers.

I’m here to tell you that it’s time to overcome those fears and love you some liver.

Chopped liver may not be your thing, but a fine liver mousse made with shallots and sherry and apples, is just the perfect appy for your next entertaining event.

Let me show you how easy it is to make.

Chicken Liver Mousse

Servings

A Crowd

 

Ready In:

30 Minutes Plus Chilling

Good For:

Party Appetizers
Entertaining
Fall/Winter

Ingredients:

4 slices thick-cut bacon (I like maple bacon)
1 pound chicken livers
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large shallots, peeled and diced
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
½ cup dry sherry
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon allspice
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature, ½ stick
½ cup half and half
¼ cup apricot jam
Baguette slices

Tried it? Tag it!

I would love to see what you did with this recipe.  Share your creation by tagging #inthekitchenwithjorj and with Scrumptious Possibilities With Jorj, my free private home cooking group.

Add the bacon to a skillet over medium heat and cook until crisp on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon to paper towels.

Add the chicken livers to the skillet and cook until browned all over. Season with salt and pepper. You
want the liver to still be a little pink in the center, about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in the same skillet. Add the shallots, apple, and sherry. Season with thyme,
allspice, salt, and pepper. Cook until the sherry reduces and the shallots an apple are soft, about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to the food processor. Add in the bacon and pulse to blend everything together. Add
in the butter. With the machine running slowly pour in the cream. You will have a smooth, spreadable mixture. You may add more cream if needed.

The mousse will firm up when refrigerated, so it can be a little loose at this point. Pour into ramekins or small bowls. Spread a small amount of jam over the top.

This will prevent discoloring of the liver. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for several hours, or
even better, overnight. Let the mousse come to room temperature before serving with slices of baguette or crackers.

Chicken Dinner Ideas, Three Ways!

Chicken Dinner Ideas, Three Ways!

Who says chicken has to be boring?

Chicken is a great go-to protein for home cooks, but the same ol’ routine can get a bit stale.

We’re all looking for new and easy recipes to add to our rotation, and I have not one but THREE for you to try!

Join me in the kitchen as I transform chicken into three fantastic recipes that you can easily recreate! 

Chicken Pepperoni

Chicken Francaise

Chicken Milanese

Join Jorj In The Kitchen!

Join Jorj for Meal Inspiration & Home Foodie Conversation!

The Art of The Fresh Market

Grab the book that contains my favorite travel adventures, with inspired original artwork by artist Susan Fazio.
New Year, Old Friends and the Birth of This Book

Southern Supper Book Club: “Big Lies in a Small Town”

Southern Supper Book Club: “Big Lies in a Small Town”

It’s National Book Lover’s Day and my book club party planner is here! Host a Southern-style book club supper with “Big Lies In A Small Town” by Diane Chamberlain and these recipes from my cookbooks.

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. 

I must admit, I was captivated by this book from the first sentence. After all the main character’s first name is Morgan.

Her surname is Christopher (name of my middle son) and her boyfriend’s name is Trey (name of oldest son). There’s a Jon in there somewhere, I’m sure!

The extra pull is that the novel is set in my adopted state of North Carolina jumping back and forth from the early forties and to the present. But it is the writing that really captures the reader. You feel like the characters are your peers. You find yourself dancing in a time warp while you are cheering for the heroine(s).

This is my next pick for our Super Supper Book Club. Gather your readers, give them the title and dole out the recipes for what will be a roller coaster discussion and meal.

Morgan Christopher’s life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit; she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women’s Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold―until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.

I already cooked up some questions for your Super Supper Book Club gathering…

  • After a year, you get your hands on a cell phone for the first time. Who do you call? 
  • Was it brave or crazy for Jesse’s family to aid Anna?
  • Does Morgan ever come to accept that alcohol is a problem for her, or does she simply comply with her parole requirements?

My Southern inspiration for this Super Supper Book Club menu is Jesse’s family’s Sunday dinner. I take the liberty of substituting Anna’s least favorite vegetable (collard greens) with my delicious recipe for Swiss chard. I exchange corn on with cob for creamed corn. In place of stewed tomatoes liberated from the family’s root cellar, I substitute slow roasted cherry tomatoes.

The author didn’t mention a dessert, but I bet the farm, there was strawberry shortcake somewhere, sometime on Sundays. My swaps are allowed, because all these recipes are rooted in my love of the South. Lest there be controversary during the discussion, keep those paintbrushes close to allow everyone to express themselves.

This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. 

Super Supper Book Club Menu: “Big Lies in a Small Town” by Diane Chamberlain

Fried Chicken Basket

Sunday Best Dishes, page 71

Creamy Smashed Parmesan Potatoes

Sunday Best Dishes, page 280

Braised Rainbow Chard

Canvas and Cuisine, page 124

Old-Fashioned Cream Corn

Fresh Traditions, page 208

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Fresh Traditions, page 205

Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@helloimnik?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Hello I'm Nik</a> on Unsplash

Southern-Style Strawberry Shortcake

Canvas and Cuisine, page 331

Explore Jorj's Cookbooks

7 Cookbooks and Counting!
Read On

Upsy Daisy! Another Perfect Dinner You Accidentally Made

Upsy Daisy! Another Perfect Dinner You Accidentally Made

Feel like you can’t get it right when you’re in the kitchen? I’m here to tell you that happy recipes happen when you approach fresh ingredients with curiosity. Embrace the imperfections in your meals and learn how to make each meal more magical!

Skip to Recipe

There’s a day to celebrate EVERYTHING. This one hit me in my kitchen! 

I think some of the intimidation surrounding cooking is the thought that:

“I’m not going to get it, right?” 
“It won’t turn out like the picture.”
“It won’t taste like it should.”

If you feel like this before you begin, how are you going to cook with confidence?

Let’s get rid of this stinkin’ thinkin’ and learn that no matter what you do, it will work out!


I’m working on a new book with just this idea in mind…

Create a dish that works for you with what you have on hand and the flavors you like. Then when you are comfortable with this, start experimenting with new flavors using your trusted basic recipe.

Let me give you an example…Let’s make mac and cheese from scratch. We start with the sauce.

Melt butter in a large pot or deep pan. Whisk in an equal amount of flour to form a paste (two tablespoons butter needs about two tablespoons flour).

Now we’re going to stir in a liquid. You can stir in milk, half and half, chicken stock, or a combination of lemon juice, white wine, and stock…any liquid you use will work. Stir the mixture over medium heat until it thickens into a sauce. 

Next, we add cheese. ANY cheese works. If you grate the cheese, it will melt quicker, but chunks of cheese are fine. You can add a combination of cheese and as much or as little as you want. Stir until the sauce is cheesy goodness.

Now you can flavor your sauce with any herbs or seasonings you like. Salt and pepper for sure, but try dried thyme or tarragon, onion and garlic powder, nutmeg, or chili powder. It’s yours to decide. Taste as you go and add a little at a time.

Finally, we boil the pasta, again any pasta you like. Once the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the sauce. You have mac and cheese ready to serve.

Or you can pour the sauced pasta into a dish and bake it for baked mac and cheese. You can top this casserole with more cheese or breadcrumbs or crumbled potato chips or anything you like.

 

Got it? There’s no right or wrong. There’s only you having FUN in the kitchen!

 

Let’s do the same thing with a chicken breast. Slice a boneless, skinless chicken breast in half horizontally. 

Then pound the chicken breast so that it is an even thickness. This will make sure it cooks evenly.

Season the breast with salt and pepper and anything else you like. At this point, you can grill it and slice it for sandwiches and salads.

Let’s coat the chicken with anything we like. Brush it with mustard and dredge in breadcrumbs. Brush with mayonnaise and crust in crumbled cracker crumbs. Dust in flour and season with oregano. Anything you want to do will work.

Melt olive oil and butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until golden on one side, turn, and cook on the other side.

This will only take you a couple of minutes depending on how hard you hammered your chicken! Now you have a seasoned chicken breast that you can use for everything.

But let’s make it better! In the same pan, make a pan sauce by adding more olive oil. Cook your favorite vegetables like onions, peppers, garlic, celery…anything.

Deglaze the pan with about a cup of wine or chicken stock. Now you can add in other flavors.

– For Chicken Piccata, add lemon juice and capers. 

– For puttanesca add olives and tomatoes.

– You can add sliced artichoke hearts, freshly sliced fennel, spinach leaves.

 

Anything THING will work.

It’s your sauce for your chicken breast. Add a bit of butter at the end of cooking for a buttery sauce, a bit of cream for a creamy sauce, a bit of tomato paste for a tomatoey sauce, mustard for a mustardy sauce.

Got it? Again, any THING will work!

Here’s a preview recipe from the new book. Use it as a guideline to create your own chicken dish and share it with me and everyone else!

Remember, an upsy daisey can turn into a creative opportunity!!! Especially in the kitchen.

Millionaire’s Chicken

Servings

4

Ready In:

30 minutes

Good For:

Dinner
Entertaining

Tried it? Tag it!

I would love to see what you did with this recipe.  Share your creation by tagging #inthekitchenwithjorj and with Scrumptious Possibilities With Jorj, my free private home cooking group.

Millionaire’s Chicken

Place the chicken breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet or rolling pin to pound the chicken to about ½-inch of thickness. Season both sides with some salt and pepper. Brush both sides with mustard. Dredge in breadcrumbs.

Place the chicken onto a platter, cover with plastic wrap, and place into the fridge. You can do this several hours in advance.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken breasts until golden on one side, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Carefully flip and cook on the other side until golden, another 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter, tent with aluminum foil.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion to the pan and cook until just soft, about 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the wine, removing all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. When most of the wine has disappeared, pour in the chicken stock and cream. Stir in the mustard.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the sauce until it begins to thicken. Add the chicken back into the sauce and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, another 4 to 5 minutes.

Serve the chicken with the sauce and garnish with a bit of caviar on the top. I recommend sustainable American-produced caviar from Marshallberg Farms.

 

Recipes You’ll Love On National Cheese Day

Recipes You’ll Love On National Cheese Day

When is National Cheese Day this year?

June 4th, 2022 is a day to celebrate in your kitchen with these easy, cheesy dishes!

What should I make for National Cheese Day?

I always find ways to let cheese creep into my recipes, slowly but surely.

Take a walk on the cheesy side with a few of my favorite dishes that answer the call of your Cheese Day cravings!

how to make easy grilled veggies for memorial day

Hearty, Cheesy Butternut Squash Soup

Soup happens! This easy, hearty soup is perfect for those impromptu dinners when you need something cozy and cheesy.

Happily, the base is easy to get started and the soup will accommodate your cheese on hand.

how to make easy grilled veggies for memorial day

Chicken Ravioli

Too much chicken? Leftovers for what feels this for days? Make these on a day when your chicken overrunneth.

You can store your extra ravioli in a single layer in a resealable plastic bag in the freezer, making this a recipe remix with a cheesy twist that is as efficient as it is delicious! 

Original Eggplant Parm

Eggplant Parm, The Old Fashioned Way

A cast-iron skillet. Thick slices of eggplant. A ladleful of marinara sauce and a double-topping of cheese. 

Take advantage of your favorite variety of eggplant using this simple frying technique to create a super Italian inspired dish and make eggplant parm magic tonight!

how to make easy grilled veggies for memorial day

Cheese and Crackers Chicken

Cheese and crackers are my go-to food when the tummy rumbles and that fasting headache emerges. Just a little bite of cheese takes the edge off. This works…for a while.

What happens next is that cheese begins to sneak its way into my dish. I love cheese on my scrambled eggs. Cheese in my salad. Cheese and crackers for my snack. Then inspiration hits.

So why not cheese and crackers in my chicken dinner? 

Want More Ideas?