Sauteed Sweet Potato Leaves and Sweet-Sour Salmon and Lychee-Chili Sauce

A bunch of gorgeous Sweet Potato Leaves seemed so fresh and inviting at the farmers market that I had to bring it home and sauté it right away.

A hunk of Silver Salmon caught in Alaska during our recent trip was thawed and ready. Sweet-and-sour salmon was one of the requests I received while wondering how to cook up the salmon this time.

Sweet-and-sour Salmon it is, then.

Tamarind paste and grape molasses is a perfect sweet-and-sour combination that I've come to love while cooking with these two staple ingredients in my kitchen.

Of course, vinegar and sugar is a default sweet-sour combination, which I am not very fond of... so, am glad I settled on tamarind paste and grape molasses for now, that bring in a deeper flavor and an interesting layering.

(Disclaimer:I don't have any affiliation with these brands, these just happen to be the ones easily available where I shop.)

I grew up loving lychees (aka litchi), enjoying this seasonal fruit whenever it hits the local market. Litchi chinensis has a shell like peanuts which are peeled and discarded to get to the translucent mildly sweet flesh that has a strong odor characteristic of many tropical fruits. There were at least half a dozen varieties cultivated in northern and eastern parts of India, where the warm and humid climate and soil seem ideally suited for these lovely trees.

These days, every once in a while, I find fresh and frozen lychees at the Asian market, and bring them home for some fun smoothies and chutneys and sauces. It has a rather large pit inside, so, getting the flesh is a bit of an effort, but well worth it if one loves these fruits as much as I do.

Lychees with home garden chilies became a hot-and-sweet sauce in the form of Lychee-Chili Sauce, much like the sauce made for Lychee-Chili Chicken. This time, I served the sauce on the side as I knew kids don't care for it.

Sometimes, the combination of ingredients might seem like a mish-mash meal, but those are the ones I've noticed turn out satisfying as it is rather unexpected and refreshing.

The salmon was slathered on with tamarind and grape molasses, and a sprinkling of salt, then, lightly dusted with flour. It is first pan-seared skin-side down. Then, flipped to cook the other side. I peel the skin off at this stage and slather more of the tamarind and grape molasses plus salt to the now skin-free side, then flip again and sear it till flaky and cooked through.

Lychee Chili Chicken

I noticed a bag of lychees at the Asian store nearby and couldn't resist bringing it home to meet the family. We got on better than expected. And by "we" I mean just my daughter and I, as the others in the family don't care for lychee's strong personality at all.

Much like the Lychee Fiesta a few years ago where we had a spread of Chicken in Lychee Sauce, Lychee Strawberry Frozen Yogurt, and Lychee Flaming Diaquiri, I wanted to have a week of celebrating lychee, mainly to make sure we consume the bag of lychees brought home on a whim before they rot and turn to compost.

This is a simplified recipe of chicken in spicy lychee sauce. As always, adjust flavors to taste.

Ingredients for the Lychee Chili Sauce:
12 fresh (or frozen or canned) lychees, skinned, seeded - pulp only
2 serrano chilis, coarsely chopped
4 dry red chilies
2 cloves of garlic, peeled, crushed
3 Tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon sesame oil

1 large chicken breast, cut into chunks, plus a tablespoon of canola oil

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet, add the chicken chunks and a dash of salt, cover and cook over medium heat, flipping to cook all round
2. Combine the sauce ingredients in a blender and grind to a fine paste
3. Add the sauce to the par-cooked chicken and continue cooking covered, adding a splash of water as needed, and salt to taste
4. When chicken is done and the sauce has reduced, and the raw flavor has been cooked away, remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and spring onions and serve with warm basmati rice

Lychee

My earliest memory of Lychee is when I was about 6 or 7 years old: It was summer holidays  in Calcutta when I got my first taste of this fruit.

Lychee was a strange fruit for me as the flavor was very strong, but the flesh was sort of like the fruit of the palm tree (nungu), and unlike nungu, it had a pit...

And over the last several years, I had not touched Lychee, not so much as thought about it and didn't really miss it much... Until, that is, I saw Sig's announcement that this edition of AFAM, A Fruit A Month, features the exotic Lychee!

We managed to find some fresh lychees as well as canned ones. While shelling/peeling the fresh ones is a pain, I found that pitting it was manageable with a cherry pitter. Of course the juice kind of flows out and the lychee-pits are more intimately bonded to the lychee-flesh compared to cherries, but, hey, it worked!

I decided to go all the way and satisfy my long-dormant Lychee craving thanks to this AFAM event:

1. Chicken Breast in Lychee Chilli Sauce: The sweetness of the lychee and the fire of the chillies made this sauce quite delicious, if I may say so :-)

2. Lychee Strawberry Frozen Yogurt: Now, having become a fan of the Cuisinart® Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Maker, I had to make a lychee dessert, naturally...

3. Flaming Lychee Daiquirí : This is entirely D's idea, he enjoys this drink more than me and is a fairly good mixer of drinks!

Chicken Breast in Lychee Chilli Sauce

D likes chicken and fish, especially when served with some interesting sauce. Nothing special about the chicken breast: I used a couple of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed, brined for 30 minutes and then rubbed with a spice rub made of ground pancha phoron; pan-seared it on both sides in a stainless steel pan^‡ and finished off cooking in a 375°F oven till the thickest part registered about 165°F, so that it is fully cooked, yet juicy (about 10-12 minutes).
^‡ Non-stick pan does not develop the fond that is great for making such a reduction pan sauce

The sauce, now that was the interesting part for me. After pan-searing the chicken, I made the sauce in the same pan so as not to lose any of the fond at the bottom.

Lychee Chilli Sauce:
2 shallots, diced finely (or red onion, if shallots are not handy)
8-10 canned lychee, drained and minced finely
2-3 fresh lychee, if available, or canned is fine, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp red miso paste
1 Tbsp sambal oelek
6-8 fresh green chilies^†, chopped
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
¼ cup chicken or vegetable stock
4 Tbsp lychee syrup from the canned lychee
1 Tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
^†I used some green and red kung pao chilies from my garden :-)

In a blender or food processor, combine the lychees (reserving some), miso, sambal oelek, white vinegar and green chilies and grind to a fine smooth paste

Add the oil to the pan in which the chicken breast was pan-seared, then the shallots, grated ginger and garlic, and let the shallots cook a bit; then add the chicken stock to deglaze and then the ground lychee paste from above and let it simmer gently

Add the reserved chopped lychee, brown sugar (if using), stir the butter in and simmer till the sauce is reduced

Adjust salt to taste - miso is salty enough that I didn't need to add any more...

Smother the chicken breast in the lychee chilli sauce and serve warm.

(Am sure this sauce would be good with fish as well...)

Lychee Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Lychee Strawberry Frozen Yogurt recipe is pretty much the same as my Mango-Strawberry Frozen Yogurt recipe, just substitute lychee and lychee syrup in place of mango ;-)

Flaming Lychee Daiquirí

1½ shots Bacardi 151 Rum
1 shot lychee syrup
¼ tsp superfine sugar (optional)

Mix in a shaker filled with ice, strain and pour into a martini glass. Then carefully set it on fire :-)

Blow out the fire after about 15-20 seconds, and enjoy!

(overproof rum is best to get it flaming...)