RECIPE: Delicious and nutritious Chicken and Veggie Nuggets

I make these chicken nuggets for my daughter. She's entering into full-time toddlerhood and has welcomed a really erratic eating habit into our lives. These nuggets ensure that she gets her veggies along with the protein that she loves.

Ingredients:
2 raw chicken breasts
1/2 cup broccoli (you can use the stems too in this case, along with the florets)
1 medium carrot
1/2 medium onion (use less if your kid doesn't particularly like strong flavours)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Panko breadcrumbs.
Canola or light olive oil, for frying or spraying.

Method:

1. Using a food processor, or by hand if you're brave, chop up the veggies till fine. Set aside in a bowl.
2. Cut up chicken breast into 3 cm (1 inch) cubes, and throw into food processor or whatever meat chopper you have, and process until very fine.
   
3. Add in the veggies, salt and pepper. Pulse to combine thoroughly.
4. Pour ground chicken mixture into a bowl.
5. In a separate, clean plate, pour about a cup of breadcrumbs.
   
6. Using a spoon, scoop out roughly a nugget size of chicken, toss into the breadcrumbs and coat well.
7. Fry in oil, or spray with some oil and bake in oven.
   

Chef's Note: These nuggets are also good without breadcrumbs, and can be made into chicken burgers.

RECIPE: Spicy Crab Recipe

Here is one of the many Malaysian dishes that I learned to replicate since nothing like this is available anywhere in Texas. It's spectacular with Alaskan Dungeness crab which has lots of succulent meat. It would be just as delicious with any other kind of crab, prawns (shrimp), clams or other seafood.

Ingredients: (A)
Grind until very fine into a paste (rempah) these 5 ingredients:

12 shallots/ 2 medium red onions, peeled
8 cloves garlic, peeled
6-8 dried chillies (the ones here in US are small, so double the no.)
8-10 fresh red chillies/red jalapenos
2 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled

(B)
1/2 cup of dried prawns, soaked in water and chopped roughly
2 big bunches of curry leaves (I get mine from Indian grocery stores)
3 tbsp oil
3- 4 lbs of crabs, preferably steamed and cut up into pieces.
(this is so the rempah doesn't burn while your crab slowly cooks)
salt to taste
sugar to taste

Method:
1. Saute rempah/ground paste in oil on medium heat for about 10 minutes, until very fragrant
2. Add curry leaves and dried prawns. Stir well for about 5 minutes.
3. Add salt and sugar to taste. I usually go for about 1 tbsp salt and 1 tbsp sugar.
4. Turn up the heat to medium-high, and throw in the crabs. Stir to coat every piece and mix well.
Keep on cooking crabs for about 10 minutes, all the while stirring every minute or so. Add a lid to your pot/wok if possible to facilitate faster cooking. Don't let the rempah burn!
5. Taste the rempah. Add more salt or sugar if needed.