HALAL CART-STYLE CHICKEN AND RICE

Anyone who lives in NYC knows about this beautiful thing called the halal carts.  They are simply treasures, serving up delicious foods, but the chicken/lamb over rice with white sauce is what you'd wanna aim for.  $5 for a perfect meal.  When a friend and her boyfriend from Georgia were visiting a few months ago, I immediately asked if they had tried the halal carts yet.  They didn't believe me when I told them that it would be a crime if they left without having done so.  After my friend took my advice, she immediately let me know how delicious it was.  I nodded my head knowingly like Yoda.

Not all halal carts are created equally.  That's not to say they're not all good, but the best, and most famous, one that I've had is the one on 53rd and 6th Ave.  They even have their own website.  How awesome is that?  There are many things that make a halal cart great.  I've yet to come across a really gross one, although I did eat from one halal cart whose rice sucked.  At least the chicken tasted good.

If I had a halal cart near my apartment or on the way home from the subway station, I'd probably eat from there at least once a week.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I don't.  I never thought to try to make own because I imagined the recipe would be complicated and intimidating.  I was partially right.  Judging from this recipe at seriouseats, the marinade for the chicken and the rice don't seem too bad, but that white sauce would be the thing to do this recipe in. 

Based on the comments, there are so many variations to this damn sauce and a few of them provide their own suggestions.  One person said that the closest thing to the actual sauce was basically mayo with a big of vinegar/lemon juice in it and salt and pepper.  Since I didn't have any Greek yogurt, I decided to risk using only mayo.  I figured, while the dish wouldn't be complete without the white sauce, I could simply omit it this time around if it wasn't good.  I used chicken breasts instead of boneless, skinless thighs, as that's what I had on hand.

I made just a small sample of the sauce using about 1/4 cup of mayo, a tbsp of white vinegar, some dried parsley, a tiny bit of white sugar, and black pepper.  I can't say whether it tasted close to the sauces I've gotten from the carts, as I've never actually had the sauces on their own, but it tasted fine.   After marinating the chicken for about 3 hours, I busted out my trusty cast iron skillet and tried to replicate the way I've seen the men at the halal carts cook and chop up their chicken.

I always thought the chicken in the marinade was red.  Paprika, maybe?

I almost burned the shit out of my arms trying to cook this mess!  Fucking oil splatter everywhere!  I probably should have followed the directions and patted the chicken dry, but a commenter mentioned that he just threw the chicken and marinade directly into the skillet.  I lowered the heat a bit because that crap was unmanageable.  I couldn't even get near the stove.

Once I was able to get everything under control, I cut up the chicken pieces in the skillet and sauteed some chopped onions and carrots in a separate pan.  I don't keep iceberg lettuce around because it's just wasteful to me.  It serves absolutely no function nor does it have any nutritional value.  Plus, the onions and carrots would be easier to mix into the rice and chicken.

After risking my physical well-being, I finally had my finished meal.  I topped it off with the white sauce I made earlier and chili garlic sauce.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is it.  Mine had lost a bit of the bright red color but it still tasted delicious.  

The moment of truth came... and damn, this shit is good!  I probably should have stuck with using the skinless, boneless thighs, since they wouldn't have been as dry, but I wasn't choking on the white meat or anything.  All in all, a success.  Now to clean up my damn stove...

SLOW-COOKER CARIBBEAN BEEF STEW

I'm still attempting to get as much use as I can out of my slow cooker. Did you know you can cook bread in a slow cooker?  That's crazy.  It's also something I'm not quite sure that I want to try yet.  It kind of looks like a big ass muffin.

When I worked in Flatbush, Brooklyn, one of the things I loved was that I could readily get Caribbean food any time for lunch.  Curry goat, jerked chicken, stewed chicken, oxtails... so good.  I made a curry goat dish a while back that turned out fantastic, though a bit too fatty.   I also tried to make my own jerk marinade once and that was a huge fail.  Never again. 

I came across this recipe on foodnetwork.com a while back and thought it had a nice spin off the traditional beef stew.  Just add some ginger, ground allspice, and some spicy chili peppers with tomatoes, and bam!  It is now Caribbean beef stew.  Beef and potatoes... how can anyone say no?  

Ingredients:3 sprigs thyme
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 medium carrots, cut crosswise into thirds
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 10-ounce can Mexican-style diced tomatoes with green chiles
4 scallions, sliced (optional)
Hot sauce, for serving (optional)

Directions:
Strip the leaves from 1 sprig thyme and chop; combine with the flour, allspice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon white pepper in a large bowl. Add the beef and toss to coat. Put the potatoes, carrots, the remaining 2 thyme sprigs, the ginger and garlic in a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. Add the beef, reserving any excess seasoned flour in the bowl. Whisk 1/2 cup water and the Worcestershire sauce into the reserved seasoned flour, then add to the slow cooker. Pour the tomatoes on top. Cover and cook on low 7 hours or on high 4 hours.
Add the scallions to the stew and season with salt. Divide among bowls and serve with hot sauce.

I added half an onion because a beef stew just doesn't seem complete without one.  Since I like my stew, well, stewy, I also added half a can of beef broth.  I was a bit afraid that the potatoes would come out mushy, much like the rice in my attempt at slow cooker arroz con pollo, but hoped that I didn't cut them too small.

This was delicious, although the meat could have been more tender.  You can really taste the difference the allspice and ginger make.  I made some homemade ginger tea with the leftover ginger root earlier in the day, which was also tasty.  I slightly regretted not making rice to eat with the stew, but after two bowlfuls, I was surprisingly full.  I decided that if I got hungry later in the evening, I could always just have another bowl.  I should have added more potatoes.