SEATTLE — Breaking into the Seattle food industry is difficult to do, but this brand new food truck offers an ever-changing menu to keep Seattleites on their toes. Kukree, a food truck that offers a diverse menu with dishes typically found in Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, India and the US was co-founded by the first female Indian Chef to win Chopped, Aarthi Sampath.
Chef Aarthi joins New Day NW to tell us more and show us how to make her spring chicken made from coriander marinated chicken, Washington asparagus, sunchokes, pickled strawberries and green harissa.
For more information and to find out the location of Kukree visit their Facebook
Recipe for Aarthi's Spring Chicken:
Spring chicken
Serves 4
For chicken
cleaned chicken thighs 1 #
coriander seeds 2 T
cumin 2 T
black pepper 1 t
kosher salt 1 T
chopped garlic 1 t
arbor chilli 2 pc
Method :
Roast spices at 350 F for 5 min. Coarse grind in a spice grinder.
Mix everything together in a bowl.
Use a non stick pan or a grill to sear both sides . Finish in a 400 f oven for 4 min.
Green Harissa
cleaned cilantro 2 cup
parsley 1 cup
mint 1 cup
basil 1 cup
chopped garlic 1/2 tsp
roasted cumin 1 tsp
kosher salt 1 t
lemon juice 1 T
crushed chili 1/4 tsp
olive oil 1 cup
Chop all herbs and spices in a food processor. Season and stream oil in gradually .
Add lemon juice.
Pan roasted Sun chokes & asparagus
sun chokes 5 -6 pc
asparagus 1/2 bunch cleaned
kosher salt 1 T
thyme 4-5 sprigs
olive oil 1/4 cup
Clean and cut sun chokes into 1/2 inch rough dice . Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil , add sun chokes and thyme and season. Flip the sun chokes and allow to sear evenly . This should take a few minutes. Season well. Same procedure with asparagus but this will take only a couple of minutes .
Seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 T sesame seeds
Roast all seeds separately at 300 F . Pumpkin for 8 min , sesame for 5 min , sunflower for 6 min.
Pickled strawberries
clean & diced strawberries 1 cup
salt 1 tsp
crushed chili 1/2 tsp
Method :
Mix in a bowl . Allow to macerate at room temp for a couple of hours before use .
Lentils
carrot 1 pc
celery 1/2 stalk
red onion 1/2 pc
black pepper whole 5 pc
bay leaf 2 pc
lentils 1 cup
vegetable stalk 4 cups
thyme 3 sprigs
kosher salt 1 tsp
sunflower oil 4 T
chopped garlic 1 tsp
Heat oil in a medium sized heavy bottom rondeau, saute vegetables and spices . once the onion is translucent , add garlic and thyme and lentils. Saute for a minute, then add stock. Cover, Allow to cook on avery low simmer until the lentils are cooked all the way through.
season.
Kukree Grain Blend (KGB)
quinoa 1 cup
millet 2 T
amaranth 2 T
veg stock 3.5 cups
salt 1 tsp
veg oil 1 T
Mix it all , put in a 6 inch long baking tray and pop in a preheated oven at 400 f for 25 minutes . Fluff with fork once done .
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