$6 Gravity Powered Auto Chicken Feeder

Seeing how much the self refilling feeders cost at the feed store put me in financial shock. The cheapest one was $30 bucks !! I decided to scour the Internet and see if anybody had any DIY ideas on how to build one at home. There's thousands of ideas! Unfortunately most were not as durable or were too complicated for me to do quickly and easily. Until I found this pin on Pinterest http://www.juxtapost.com/site/permlink/938a61c0-c274-11e1-bef7-b526981001c8/post/build_a_chicken_feeder_on_the_cheep/ . I remembered seeing a dish like that at the dollar store and so my build began.....1) chip and relish dish from the Dollar Tree $1. 2) 2.5 gallon bucket from hardware store $3 (you can get this size bucket for free from the grocery store in the bakery department. They are used to transport icing. You just have to be diligent and persistent as they disappear quickly). 3) 2.5 gallon bucket lid $.99 (if you don't find a free bucket). 4) Various nuts and bolts , drill, small and large drill bits. Hopefully you have these or can borrow them from someone who does :)

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Yummy Chicken Biryani

I was soooo happy to see the Indian food contest, finally I was inspired to cook my favorite dish , chicken biryani with egg bhuna. There is a number of chicken biryani recipes but I've chosen my favorite one and hope you like! So, don't wait, gather all the ingredients and start cooking :)To make this chicken biryani dish, you'll need (For a dish of 4-5):
1) Rice (basmati rice or pilau rice), - 1.5 cup,
2) Chicken - 500 grams,
3) Onion - 2, large size,
4) Tomato - 2, medium size,
5) Ginger paste and garlic paste - (1 tsp, each),
6) Spice powder (turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder) - 1 tsp each,
7) Garam masala- half tsp,
8) Yogurt - half cup,
9) Milk or coconut milk- half cup,
10) Cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf - (2 pieces each),
11) Salt (to taste),
12) Soybean oil - 4 tbsp.

Egg bhuna, (dish for 4-5):
You'll need:
1) Eggs - 4-5,
2) Onions - 2, medium size,
3) Spices (red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder) -1 tsp each,
4) Ginger paste - half tsp,
5) Cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf (2 pieces each),
6) Salt (to taste),
6) Soybean oil - 2 tbsp,
8) Tomato ketchup - 4 tsp.

(The dish I cooked was for 10, but the ible (recipe) I wrote is to serve 4-5 persons)

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Smoked Chicken Thighs

Creating amazing chicken thighs on the smoker that don't dry out.When you go through all the work smoking food, buy good meat, I get mine from a local butcher.

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Beggar's Chicken, a Chinese Delicacy

Long back I read about a Chinese delicacy known as "Beggar's Chicken" and was waiting for an opportunity to try my hands on it. It is the Chinese version of the roasted chicken dating back to the Qing dynasty. The process involves wrapping a whole spiced chicken in lotus leaves, then encasing it in mud and roasted in open fire. When fully cooked, the mud forms a hard shell around the chicken and cracked open before revealing the deliciously roasted chicken inside.

As per the legend, a beggar in Zhejiang province stole a chicken from a village, and buried it in mud. He retrieved the mud covered chicken latter, and instead of cleaning the mud he just threw it in an open fire. This resulted in hardening the muddy shell around the chicken with a deliciously roasted bird inside. He then started selling chickens cooked this way and made a fortune for himself, also creating a Chinese culinary tradition known as "Beggar's Chicken".

Five-Spice is one of the main ingredients in making Beggar's Chicken. It is a roasted, powdered blend of spices like Cinnamon, Fennel seeds, Clove, Star Anise and Sichuan Pepper. It is mainly used in Chinese cooking as well in most of the Asian countries. All these spices are growing in our area too. Though I got all raw spices, I could get Sichuan pepper in powdered form only.

Thanks to lmnopeas for her instructable on "Chinese Five Spice Powder" at: http://www.instructables.com/id/Chinese-Five-Spice-Powder/

I followed her instructable in making the Five-spice powder for the Beggar's Chicken recipe.

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Chicken Karaage a la Nakatsu

I am going to share my recipe of Chicken Karaage (Japanese style fried chicken). Karaage is commonly cooked and eaten everywhere in Japan. Meanwhile, I was born in the city called, Nakatsu, Oita, in Japan. Our city, which is known for its original recipe of Karaage. I am going to share the recipe that I grew up with. :)
http://www.visit-oita.jp/sightseeing/oita_history/nakatsu.e.html

You want to marinate chicken the day before you cook. To prepare marinated chicken, it will only take 20 minutes or so. You keep it in your fridge, and cook it on the next day. If you cannot prepare the day before, I would recommend to marinate at least 2 to 3 hours.

Please prepare the following ingredients the day before if possible because you would like to marinate your chicken for a night. 

If you roughly keep the following ratio, it would be fine. This is not a science. :)

To marinate 1 lb of chicken:

1 lb of chicken thigh with skin, without bone (not included in the photo) 3 Table spoon of Soy sauce 1 1/2 Table spoon of Sake 1 Table spoon of Sesame Oil 1.5 to 2 inches of Ginger 1 clove of garlic 3 or 4 little shake of Ichimi Togarashi - Japanese chili (A little red bottle in the photo) Container or a ziplock to keep marinated chicken in a refrigerator (not included in the photo) If you like ginger and/or garlic, you may add more. 
Please try to get Katakuriko from Asian grocery stores, but if you cannot get one, regular flour would be fine.
You can also get Ichimi Togarashi from Asian grocery stores. 
As for Sake, cheap sake is perfectly fine for cooking. You can get a cheap large bottle at a Japanese grocery store. 1.6L only costs about $10.

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Chicken Karaage

Fried chicken is one of my favorite foods! This is my recipe for homemade chicken karaage.  There is some prep work involved, but it will be worth all the hard work once you taste it. 
Here are the ingredients you'll need:
1 tsp. sesame oil  (1)
1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce (you can substitute regular soy sauce)  (2)
2 Tbsp. regular soy sauce  (3)
1.5 lbs. chicken thighs (I like them with the skin on, but you can use skinless ones if you'd prefer)  (4)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch  (5)
8-10 Tbsp. all-purpose flour  (6)
1/4 tsp. white pepper (or black pepper)  (7)
1 inch piece of ginger  (8)
3 medium cloves of garlic, minced  (9)

Garnish (optional):
Shredded cabbage  (10)
Sesame seeds  (11)

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