Coconut Mango Salsa Verde Chicken ~ Instant Pot

We have a favorite Salsa Verde Chicken recipe which we've enjoyed many, many times, but it was time to change it up a bit and add a twist, so enter Coconut Mango Salsa Verde Chicken.  The heat of the peppers and the creaminess of the coconut milk along with the sweetness of the mango are perfection. Add in that it cooks in the Instant Pot in just mere minutes, makes this a winning dish all around.  The dish has a good heat kick to it, but it mellows after the first day.  This reheats beautifully and don't be suprised if everyone is licking their plate to get the last bits of the sauce...it's that crazy good!

Coconut Mango Salsa Verde Chicken ~  Instant Pot

• 10-12 bone-in chicken thighs with skin (or chicken pieces of your choice)
• 8 oz. coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tsp. cumin seed
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• juice of 1 lime
• 3/4 tsp. dark chili powder
• 3/4 tsp. sweet paprika
• 3/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 med. onion, quartered
• 8 oz. poblanos, roughly chopped, seeds and stems discarded 
• 8 oz. Cubanelle peppers, roughly chopped, seeds and stems discarded 
• 2 large jalapenos, roughly chopped, seeds and stems discarded 
• 8 oz. tomatillos, quartered

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• 2 med. red bell peppers, cut in long strips about 1/4-inch thick, seeds and stem discarded 
• 2 med. poblanos, peppers, cut in long strips about 1/4-inch thick, seeds and stem discarded 
• 8 oz. tomatillos, medium dice
• 2 mangoes, peeled and large dice
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

Place the coconut milk in the liner of the Instant Pot and add the cumin seed, ground cumin, lime juice, chili powder, paprika & salt.  Stir to combine.  Add the chicken thighs, layering in, skin side up. Top the chicken with the quartered onion, roughly chopped poblanos, roughly chopped Cubanelle peppers, jalapenos and the quartered tomatillos.  Secure the lid and close the steam vent.  Use either the "Poultry" button or set manually for 15 minutes.  Once the 15 end, quick releast the steam.  

Gently remove the chicken pieces and place them skin side up on a foil lined baking sheet.  Broil the chicken 5-10 minutes to toast and crisp the skin. 

While the chicken is in the broiler, using an immersion blender, carefully blend the sauce left in the Instant Pot.  Once smooth, add the sliced red bell peppers, sliced poblanos & diced tomatillos. Secure the lid and close the steam valve.  Set manual timer for 2 minutes, high pressure.  When the 2 minutes end, quick release the steam.  Open lid and add the diced mango & cilantro and stir to combine. Check seasonings and add salt if needed.  Ladle the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Enjoy!

Mango Salsa

This summer the mangoes have been huge, sweet, juicy and delicious!  We’ve enjoyed them in so many ways, cut–up fresh plain or mixed into a fruit salad, in Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothies, as a refreshing Mango Gazpacho, as part of our main meal in Mango Thai Chicken and Eammon’s favorite, in a Mango Lassi.  So, when we received this month’s assignment for Secret Recipe Club (check out the new SRC blog) and started scrolling through recipes on Heather’s blog, The Tasty Gardener, we stopped dead in our tracks at her Mango Salsa and knew what we’d be making.  Trust me, there were plenty of other wonderful looking recipes like her Sesame Green Beans, Guacamole, and Green Bean Salad, but Mango Salsa just had to be made.

We stayed pretty true to Heather’s recipe, only making two small changes.  One because of a mistake as I thought we had red onions in the house but only had Vidalia and the other was, we chose to use cilantro in place of her parsley.  We really enjoy the flavor of cilantro but I’ll bet that this salsa would be just as delicious with the parsley.  The sweet of the mango, the heat of the pepper, the sweet-sharpness of the onion and the tang of the lime juice all blended in perfect harmony to make one delicious salsa.  Oh and don’t leave out the salt and pepper as they really make the flavors pop!  We enjoyed the salsa with some chips, over some fish and just as a little side on our plate so it’s one very versatile dish.  If you don’t know how to cube up a fresh mango, Heather provides a nice visual tutorial on her blog so check it and the recipe out.  Also gardening tips and instruction as that’s her field of expertise so spend some time reading Heather’s blog, it’s an enjoyable way find some new recipes and learn some new things about plants and the garden. 

Mango Salsa (adapted from here)

• 2 mangoes, cubed
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 TBS. minced Vidalia onion
• 1 Thai red chili, seeded and minced
• 3 TBS. chopped cilantro
• 2 limes, juiced
• Himalayan Salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and chill before serving.

Enjoy!!

My previous Secret Recipe Club Recipe Posts: 

Pomegranate Molasses Salad Dressing 
Beef Keema  
Roasted Grape Tomato, Garlic & Poblano Ragu
Mexican Feast: Cream of Ancho Chile Soup, Roasted Poblano Burger with Chile de Arbol Guacamole & Pork Crusted Baked Poblano Fries 
Zesty Zucchini Skillet 
Garlic Seafood in Coconut Milk 
Lamb & Eggplant with Chiles
Fijian Ceviche
Carrot & Sweet Potato Pancakes   
Chicken Burgers with Spinach & Mushrooms 
Paradise Mango Curried Shrimp 
Laura Goodenough’s Apple Coffee Cake 
Loaded Potato Soup
Lemon Almond Biscotti 
Creamy Mints 
Thai Peanut Noodles with Chicken 
Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings 
Fried Green Tomatoes 
Chicken Satay Noodle Salad 
Double Chocolate Mousse Cake 
Candied Popcorn
Fruit, Nut & Poppy Seed Chicken Salad 
Broiled Sushi 
Health(ier) Peanut Brittle 
Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites 
Texas Chicken with Lime Butter 
Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens 
Thin Mint Irish Coffee 
Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies 
Welsh Cakes 
Nutella Crêpes 
Cilantro Lime Chicken 
Holy Guacamole 
and
Home Style Chicken Curry

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie

For this month’s Crazy Cooking Challenge the participating bloggers were challenged by our hostess Tina, of Moms Crazy Cooking to find the ultimate smoothie recipe.  The way that the Crazy Cooking Challenge works is that each month there is a dish that our hostess Tina challenges the participating bloggers to make.  We all go out searching non-celebrity blogs looking for what we think is the ultimate recipe for that dish and once we find it, we make it and then all on the same day we do our post featuring the recipe and the blog where it was found.  As I said, this month the challenge was to find the ultimate smoothie recipe and in our home Eammon is the big smoothie lover.  One of his favorite flavors is mango so when I came across Chaya’s Mango Melon Smoothie on her blog My Sweet and Savory I knew that I had found my recipe.  I only made two little additions to Chaya’s recipe in that I added 1/2 of a frozen banana which thickened up the smoothie a bit more and added another flavor and I also put in a tablespoon of chia seed gel just because I love adding it to our diet anyway that I can.  Eammon really loved his smoothie and I loved that I got some fruit into him.

Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie 

• 1/4 mango, cut into chunks
• 1 slice of melon, cut into chunks
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 TBS. chia seed gel
• 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

Place all ingredients into a blender and process until it’s the consistency you desire.

Enjoy!

My previous Crazy Cooking Challenge entries:

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Challenge: Totally Outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich 
Blueberry Muffins Challenge:  Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins 
Spaghetti with Red Sauce Challenge:  Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter 
Chocolate Cake Challenge:  Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake 
Chicken Noodle Soup Challenge: Thai Chicken Noodle Soup 
Fudge Challenge: Biscoff Fudge 
Mashed Potato Challenge: Aloo Tikki 
Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge: Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps 
Mac & Cheese Challenge: Velvety Mac & Cheese

Aloo Tikki

Here we are already at the third month of the Crazy Cooking Challenge hosted by Tina of Moms Crazy Cooking.  Each month she challenges participating bloggers to search non-celebrity blogs looking for the ultimate recipe of the month and then to make and feature that recipe and the blog.  The first month we were challenged to find the ultimate mac & cheese recipe and I made a delicious Velvety Mac & Cheese.  Last month the challenge was chocolate chip cookies and for me, my ultimate was Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, truly delicious. 

This month we were challenged to find the ultimate mashed potato recipe.  Sounded simple enough as everyone seems to have what they consider a wonderful mashed potato recipe but as I was reading through all the various recipes, nothing struck me.  Don’t get me wrong, they all sounded delicious, some with simple additions some with a myriad of ingredients, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, bacon, garlic, herbs and spices but just nothing called to me.  So I looked in a different direction and there were cakes and brownies which had mashed potatoes as one of the ingredients but still, I was uninspired.   Then it happened, I was having lunch with a friend and was happily enjoying some Aloo Tikki,  It struck me, Aloo Tikki are essentially wonderfully seasoned mashed potatoes fried up into little patties, Brilliant!  I was finally inspired so off I went looking for the my ultimate mashed potato recipe in the form of Aloo Tikki and I found it at Arundhuti’s My Saffron Kitchen.  The recipe was simple and the pictures captivating so I was ready to cook…well once I picked up some potatoes. 

I changed the spices in the recipe somewhat to utilize what I had available at home and also to adjust it to my tastes and in the end I have to say, I made some ultimate Aloo Tikki and and I think they qualify as the ultimate mashed potato recipe of the month.  If you think so too, I’d appreciate your vote on the links below.  I hope too that you’ll give Aloo Tikki a try and remember if you have some regular mashed potatoes, they could easily be used as the base for these.

My beautiful Maisie Miao Miao helped by mashing the boiled potatoes.

We mixed all the ingredients together in one big bowl and then using a large cookie scoop I portioned out the potato mixture.

I patted down the scoops to make patties, each about 1/4-inch thick.

I coated the outside of the patties with a cornmeal & cornstarch mixture.

 In about 1/8-inch of oil, I fried the Aloo Tikki.

 Once browned on the first side I carefully turned and browned the other side.

  Crispy on the outside, creamy spicy potatoes on the inside and the peas have a nice little pop when you bite into them, perfection!

Aloo Tikki  (Adapted  from here)

2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and boiled until easily pierced by a knife
1 cup frozen sweet peas
1 medium onion, finely minced (I used Vidalia)
2 green Thai chilies, seeded and minced finely
1 red Thai chili, seeded and minced finely
2 1/2 tsp. amchur powder (dried mango powder)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 TBS. finely grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
salt to taste
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup cornstarch
Oil to shallow fry (I used peanut oil)

Drain and mash the potatoes in a large bowl.  Add the peas, minced onion, minced green & red Thai chilies, amchur powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, grated ginger, fresh cilantro and ground pepper.  Mix well and add salt to taste.  Using a large cookie scoop portion out the potato mixture.  Flatten each ball to approximately 1/4 –inch thick.  In a bowl mix together the cornmeal and cornstarch and then coat each patty lightly with the mixture.  In a large fry pan heat approximately 1/8-inch of oil.  Fry the tikkis on both sides until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack lined with paper towels to drain the excess oil.  Salt if desired and serve hot with ketchup or a chutney of your choice.

Enjoy!

Mango Upside Down Cake

I love mangoes and dishes which use mangoes so when I saw this cake recipe on Priyanka’s Buon Appetito blog I knew that I needed to make it.  I loved making this in my big old cast iron skillet and it worked out so well.

Caramel and mango slices ready for the cake batter.

Carefully spooning the batter over the caramel and mango slices.

Delicious sticky caramelized mango cake straight from the oven.  The cake was moist and had a nice flavor but I really enjoyed the edges of the cake which were nice and chewy with the caramel.

Mango Upside Down Cake (Adapted from here)

For caramel:
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 TBS. butter
1 medium mango, skin & seed removed and sliced

For Cake:
1 medium mango, skin & seed removed and chunked
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 TBS butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup flour
1 TBS baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 

Preheat oven to 400F.

To make the caramel, heat the water, lemon juice and sugar in a cast iron skillet.  Cook until the mixture caramelizes. Cut the mangoes into strips. After the caramel cools down slightly place the mango strips on top of the caramel in a single layer.

In a food processor blend together the mango and sugar till it forms a smooth mango pulp. Using a stand mixer, whisk the eggs until fluffy. To the egg add the smooth mango pulp and blend.  Add the softened butter, oil and almond extract and blend to mix.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the flour, baking powder and grated nutmeg and  thoroughly mix using a spatula until it forms a smooth mixture.

Carefully spoon the mango batter over the caramel and mango.  Place in a preheated oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then turn it out onto a serving dish.

Enjoy!

Grilled Prawns

Eammon asked for grilled prawns so I happily obliged as we all adore shrimp and we really enjoyed these little beauties.  I marinated the prawns for a few hours in a mango chipotle sauce and quickly grilled them using my grill basket.  The only down side of grilling the shrimp this way is…well there are really two* down sides but the first is that you really have to work for your dinner peeling the shrimp.  That though isn’t a total downside as peeling and eating these with friends and family makes dinner last a lot longer so more fun times together and also, I at least get to the point where I’m just done peeling so no over-eating there.  Cook the shrimp quickly on a super hot grill taking care to remove them as soon as they turn pink so not to overcook.

Grilled Prawns

2 lbs. whole prawns
1 bottle Mango Chipotle Sauce

Wash and dry the prawns.  In a large bowl gently toss together the prawns and 2/3 to 3/4 of the Mango Chipotle Sauce and save the remainder to be used as extra dipping sauce.  Marinate in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours.  Preheat grill and grill basket to high.  Spray the grill basket with cooking spray and working in batches quickly grill the prawns turning as necessary.  Cook just until the prawns turn pink being careful not to over cook.  Using cooking tongs remove the cooked shrimp from the basket to a serving platter.  Serve immediately with the leftover Mango Chipotle Sauce.

Enjoy!!

*  The second down side to making these prawns is the state of the grill basket which will be one baked on hot mess.  I didn’t think to take a picture of how bad the grill basket looked with baked on black antennas, pleopods & uropods crusted and stuck.  But I have an easy no-mess way to remove all that baked on mess and that’s to run the basket though the self cleaning cycle of my oven.  This is also the way that I clean my grill grates and since both my grill basket and grates are stainless steel, it works like a charm. 

Here’s the grill basket after it’s been run through the oven’s self-cleaning cycle.

And after a quick rinse and dry, clean of all debris.  I love my no scrub/no work method and to me it’s totally worth the three-hour cleaning cycle.  I do actually have another method for when my oven doesn’t need to be cleaned and it works almost as well.  Spray the grill basket with oven cleaner and place it in to a rubbish bag, seal it up tightly and leave it for about two days.  Remove the grill basket from the bag and run it through a cycle in the dishwasher.  Happy cleaning!

Enjoy!

Super Simple Summer Shrimp Salsa Salad

This is one of my favorite salads and all summer long it can be found in my refrigerator as we never seem to tire of it.

I’d have to say that this salad is the first one I think to make when we start harvesting veggies from our garden.  I always make the large batch as listed below and we enjoy it for days but the recipe is easily scaled up or down to fit any ones needs.  Truthfully some days I eat this salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner as it’s healthy, not too high in calories or sugar and has a good amount of protein from the shrimp.  I think that the salad gets better a few days in because the avocado sort of melts and adds a nice extra richness.  What I generally do, is after a day or two when I notice that there’s no longer any avocado chunks, I’ll dice up another one and add it to the salad as the creamy avocado chunks are one of my favorite parts.  I hope that you’ll make and enjoy this salad and that it becomes a favorite in your home too.   

Super Simple Summer Shrimp Salsa Salad

2 lbs small, medium or large (not the tiny salad shrimp) cooked shrimp, peeled, de-veined and tail removed
3 lbs Mango Salsa with Peach (or fruit salsa of your choice)
3 – 4 large plum tomatoes, diced
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
3 avocados, diced (more to be added later if desired)
1 medium Vidalia onion, diced

Sometimes I also add:
The kernels from 4 ears of grilled corn

Place all the ingredients in to a large bowl and gently toss to mix and coat. Cover tightly and chill for a couple of hours before serving.

Enjoy!!

Mango Gazpacho

Though I’ve tried many variations throughout the years, I have found that I don’t particularly care for traditional vegetable Gazpacho.  Then again I don’t care for V8 Juice, tomato juice or even bloody Mary’s so I can see why traditional Gazpacho just isn’t my thing.  What I have found though is that when fruit added, like in my Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho, I go absolutely Gaga for it and can’t get enough.  Recently I was perusing some cooking blogs and saw this recipe for Mango Gazpacho and I knew that I had to make it... and immediately as it’s been hot as Hades here in Georgia and I’ve been craving some fruity healthy goodness.  In addition, mangos are in season, on sale and I absolute adore them.  As luck would have it, I saw that mangos were on a super-duper sale this week so I stocked up and I’m glad that I did because I’m going to be making a couple of batches of this Gazpacho as I can’t stop eating it.

This Mango Gazpacho is delicious and the sweetness of the mango contrasts nicely with the acidity of the tomatoes and heat of the jalapeno and added hot sauce while the olive oil adds a velvety mouth feel.  This is a great soup for our hot Georgia summer days and I hope that you’ll give it a try and let me know what you think.

 

Mango Gazpacho (adapted from here)

2 large ripe mangos (about 4 cups), peeled and roughly chopped
6 large very ripe plum tomatoes (about 4 cups), roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 medium shallots
1 cup roughly chopped peeled & seeded cucumber, plus additional diced for garnish
1/2 cup roughly chopped celery
1 jalapeno, seeded & deveined
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup vegetable stock or more to reach desired consistency
1/4 cup olive oil, plus additional for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Favorite hot sauce, for garnish
fresh basil for garnish

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients except the oil, salt, pepper and the garnishes, process until smooth. Then slowly add the olive oil so it blends into the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.  You can store the soup in the refrigerator up to 2 days, if the soup is too thick after being stored, add additional vegetable stock to thin it out.

When ready to serve, pour the soup into chilled bowls and garnish each one with some diced cucumber, a few drops of hot sauce, olive oil and some fresh basil. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

If you love mangos, check out my other mango inspired recipes, Mango Thai Chicken and Mango Lassi.

Mango Lassi

Now that the temperature outside is heating up my thoughts turn to cold, refreshing fruity blended drinks like my Melon Agua Fresca…can’t wait for our melons to come in so I can enjoy those again.  I also love creamy fruity drinks and whenever we go out for Indian food I always enjoy a mango lassi.  Lassi is so simple to make at home, I don’t know why I don’t make them more often as all three of us really enjoy them and they can actually be quite healthy.  On Wednesday Maisie and I went to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market and they were giving out taste samples of canned mango pulp.  Maisie absolutely loved it and since they had it at an awesome price I picked up a case so we’ll be enjoying mango lassi and other mango flavored treats this summer.

Mango Lassi

30 oz. frozen or canned mango pulp or fresh mango
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt (I use either store bought or homemade fat-free Greek yogurt)
2 cups milk (I use skimmed fat-free)
1/8 – 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
sugar to taste (I generally find it sweet enough so I don't add extra)
ice cubes

In a blender combine the mango pulp, yogurt, milk and cardamom and blend until smooth.  Taste and if needed add sugar a little at a time.  I prefer to then pour the mixture over ice but alternately you can add a few cubes of ice to the blender and blend into a thick frosty drink.

Enjoy!!