Asian Inspired Spicy Pickles & Grilled Curry Chicken Fillets Recipe

The Sun does not come out to play as often now, this signifies that Fall/Winter is near. Gloomy days really make me crave for something spicy for lunch. With chilies, onion, curry powder stored in the kitchen, I know exactly what dishes I shall prepare which could spice out my dull palette - pan-fried curry chicken fillets and  spicy pickles.

Spicy Pickles

I love vegetable pickles especially the spicy and tangy ones as shown above. This is one of the popular dish back home, either in Chinese 'mixed rice' stalls, Indian mamak stalls or Malay nasi campur stalls, you can get it easily. With the right ingredients, you could prepare a jug of homemade pickles which tastes as good as the one sold.

Ingredients: cucumber and carrot (cut into chunky fries strips), pineapple slices (cut into cubes),sliced onion and chili, sugar, rice vinegar, salt, water.
Instructions: Rub the cucumber with some salt, put aside and let them 'sweat'. So that the cucumber strips will turn crunchy. In a bowl, dissolve the sugar in hot water and pour in the rice vinegar. The sugar, water and rice vinegar ratio is 3/4: 1/4: 1. Drain the cucumber and mix the rests of the ingredients (carrot, pineapple cubes, sliced onion and chili) into the vinegar solution. Store it in refrigerator for 2 hours before serving.

I ended up using the canned pineapple since I couldn't get fresh pineapple from the supermarkets. You may remove the chili seeds if you dislike spicy food, but I prefer not to de-seed the chili for some extra 'kick'. Red shallots may add-up the extra kick too, unfortunately I can't get it here, so I substituted with Bombay onion. The pickles does not disappoint me at all, it turned up to be a great side dish full with flavours - spicy, tangy and sweet. Very appetizing in fact, a must try dish!

Curry Chicken Fillets

I am very proud with these curry chicken fillets. They are well seasoned, moist and tender,  a recipe worth sharing indeed! They are not hard to prepare either. Check out how to prepare these ...

Ingredients: Chicken fillet (preferably chicken breast), curry powder, salt, pepper, sesame oil, soy-sauce, cooking oil.
Instructions: Mix the curry powder, salt, pepper, sesame oil, soy-sauce in a bowl. Pour over the mixture onto the chicken fillets. Some rubbing will help to ensure the chicken fillets are well 'coated'. Marinate the fillets for 2 hours. Heat up the cooking oil in a pan and pan-fry the chicken fillets under medium-high heat for 5-6min. You may oven bake the chicken but they may turn a bit dry. Pan-fry could be a better option as you may control the heat to keep the fillet moist and juicy.

Happy trying!