“Life without espresso is similar to something without something. Please pardon my nonsense, I haven’t had my shot yet.”
~ Secret Gourmet
We have all heard about coffee in sweet baked items or desserts. The famous Tiramisu, Cappuccino cookies, Affogato, Mocha Cheesecake, coffee caramel custard to name a few. But have you ever imagined coffee as a savory item? Ever thought, hmmm, today lets pair coffee with chicken or some meat. Well, this is where the human mind needs to push the boundaries of cooking and explore the different possibilities of cooking with coffee. I recently paired up with my biker friend, entrepreneur and coffee aficionado who runs a beautiful coffee podcast under the name of ‘Coffee Tropics‘ and we have been pushing, exploring and testing the boundaries of cooking with coffee. I also had the chance to be a guest speaker on his podcast session where we discuss all these cooking with coffee possibilities. Do check out the podcast in the link below for an interesting conversation and discussion over Coffee.
For this dish, we are using Coffee as a rub. It is quite interesting as the usual thought process is that coffee is a hard and crunchy nut which has a bitter taste. That assumption is actually quite wrong as coffee beans are not bitter and are actually light and crunchy to chew on. The bitterness comes from processing and cooking coffee which releases caffeine. Hence, cooking time is very important when it comes to coffee. Cook it more than the appropriate time and you might have a strong caffeine bitter taste. That is the case even while brewing coffee. Ideal cooking time for any coffee based dish is 5-6 mins. This ensures that coffee releases its fresh aroma and flavors while leaving behind the bitterness. Also being nutty, it adds a great crunch to the overall dish and imparts subtle nutty flavors.
We have used a fine grind Arabica beans for this dish. I would recommend you use Arabica beans as well as they are less strong / potent as compared to Robusta variety of coffee. Plus Arabica beans are more aromatic and hence add more flavor. For those who are not fond of strong coffee’s in general, I would recommend using a mix of fresh grind coffee beans and pre-used / leftover coffee grinds. This leftover grinds can be obtained by removing all the water from your last brew and letting the coffee grinds dry overnight. The grinds must be dry and not have any moisture at all.
Also just using coffee as a rub can be a bit overpowering, hence it is best paired with some other rub ingredients like panko breadcrumbs / cornflakes / paprika / pepper etc so as to balance out the flavors. The size of the chicken pieces also needs to be small so that the chicken cooks in under 5 mins of cooking (each side). Else the caffeine might kick in from overcooking and the coffee rub will get bitter.
Enough talk, now go ahead and push yourself to try out these new ingredients and do not forget to check out the podcast session with Coffee Tropics in the links below.
Home Brewing: Tips and Tricks for Making Great Coffee at Home – Coffee Tropics
The Building Blocks:
The Marinade
- 300 gms Boneless chicken
- 3/4 tsp black pepper powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika powder
- 1/2 tsp kashmiri red chilly powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp Garlic paste
- 1 tsp fresh Rosemary herb (finely chopped/minced)
- Salt as per taste
The Rub
- 1/4 cup Cornflakes (medium-fine grind size)
- 2 tsp Fresh Arabica beans (fine grind size)
- 2 tsp leftover coffee grind (fine grind size) (obtained from leftover coffee brew)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Putting it all Together:
- Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Make sure the chicken is well coated. Keep aside.
- Put all the Rub ingredients on a plate. Mix it well.
- Now gently place the chicken pieces one at a time in this rub and coat it well.
- Pat the chicken to remove the extra rub. Keep aside.
- Take a non-stick pan and heat it. Add 1 tsp butter to it.
- Once butter melts and becomes hot add the coffee coated chicken pieces gently onto this pan.
- Make sure the heat is on medium flame. Cook it on each side for 3-4 mins each.
- Take off the Pan and place it on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- Serve hot and crunchy.
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My Secret Gourmet 