Korean Spicy Chicken/ Dak-Galbi

I didn't know what gotten into me, I just felt like having a Korean meal.  When I got that planned, I didn't know what I gotten myself into.  I made three out of four banchan (side dish) before and everything seem simple on the surface.  Only when I started working on it, only did I realize that it was actually quite a lot of work when making it all in a day, like slicing the Korean radish and scallions.  Then, the different methods of cooking the anchovies and bean sprouts.  Anyway, to cut it short, I spent the whole afternoon preparing and washing and ended with a sore back, that's mean I stood for too long.  Hahaha....  I have to admit, I like to take my time in the kitchen, that's why I cannot work in a restaurant setting, I would be so slow that all the customers would walk away and I would be left stressful. 

For the banchan recipes, I provided the links below:

Korean Scallion Salad (Pa-Muchim)

Mu- Saengchae (Spicy Korean Radish)

Myulchi Bokkeum (Stirfried Anchovies)

Mungbean Sprout MuChim/ SukJu MuChim (link coming up once I posted)

Recipe inspired from a Korean Cookbook that I borrowed from the library.

Ingredients:

1 skinless and boneless chicken breast, sliced thinly

1 small carrot, julienned

1/2 yellow onion, julienned

2 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces

4 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water until soften, drained, stems discarded and thinly sliced

1 cup chicken stock or 1 cup water + 1 tsp. chicken powder

1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Marinade:

2 tsp. red pepper/chili powder

2 Tbsp. red pepper paste (gochujang)

1 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic

1- inch fresh ginger root, peeled and finely grated

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. mirin

2 Tbsp. pure sesame oil

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Method:

1.  In a glass bowl, add in chicken and the marinade.  Mix well, cover with cling wrap and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

2.  Heat up your wok.  When heated, add in a little cooking with a dash of sesame oil.  When hot, add in the marinated chicken.  Stir well and try to cook the chicken.  Add in water and chicken powder, stir well.  Add in onion, carrot, mushrooms and scallions.  Mix and stir-well until everything is fully cooked and most liquid has been evaporated.

3.  Transfer to a plate and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Chinese Scallion Ginger Chicken (葱姜油鸡)

This recipe was inspired by a Chinese cooking show that I watched, called 美女私房菜.  Her recipe called for cooking the chicken in a spice soy sauce broth and then deep-fry the chicken until crispy before adding the scallion ginger fragrant sauce on top.  I bookmarked it because it seem so interesting.  My chance came when I had some leftover oven roasted chicken wings and drumettes.   While I was thinking of what to make of this leftover wings, her recipe came to mind.  So, I pan-fried my wings and drumettes and then cooked this scallion ginger fragrant and put it on top of the chicken to serve.  I truly loved this scallion ginger fragrant sauce and it can easily be used to top with fried fish, deep-fried pork ribs, shrimps, or anything you can think of.  My attempt at recreating a leftover to another new dish. 

Ingredients:

Leftover bbq/oven roasted chicken wings (about 8-10 wings and drumettes)

3 Tbsp. chopped scallion

3 Tbsp. minced ginger

1 tsp. chicken powder

1/4 tsp. white pepper

Method:

1.  In a hot wok, add in some cooking oil.  When heated, gently drop in the wings and drumettes in batches.  Pan-fry until heated through and crispy.  Dish out and place on a serving plate.

2.  In the same wok, scoop out some of the oil, just left about 1 Tbsp. of oil in the wok.  Add in ginger and scallion and stir-fry until fragrant.  Season with chicken powder and white pepper.  Pour this fragrant on top of the wings and drumettes to serve.

Braised Black Vinegar Chicken

I created this dish because I saw a Chinese food show that talked about the many benefits of consuming black vinegar. Black vinegar originated in China and then spread across Asia.  It is made from fermenting grains such as rice, barley, millet, wheat and sorghum.  My Chinese friend introduced me to Chinkiang black vinegar (鎮江香醋) which is made from fermented glutinous rice.  Black vinegar made from rice has a slightly sweet and more complicated flavor.  Chinese has been using it as a marinade, in braising, as dipping sauce and as a stir-frying sauce.  In Japan, a lighter version of black vinegar called "Kurozu" is bring sold as a health tonic.  One in eight Japanese drinks a small amount of black vinegar daily because of its health benefits.

So, what are the benefits and what's so great about black vinegar?  Black vinegar contains acetic acid which can prevent cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension (lower blood pressure), coronary heart disease and stroke.  It also contains citric acid which helps to increase body energy and metabolism.  It is high in antioxidants and contains many essential amino acids that help to repair muscle tissue, balance the body's pH level and to heal everyday ailments.

Since I am not sure I can drink this like the Japanese, but I can certainly use more of it in my cooking.  Now I am thinking is that why in Chinese confinement, we have a black vinegar pork knuckle soup for woman who just gave birth.  I drank bowl and bowl of this sweeten black vinegar soup during my confinement.  Anyway, how did you use your black vinegar?   I used it in my Bean Threads Noodle too.

Ingredients:

8 chicken drumsticks, cut into pieces

3 shallots, slice

1 small piece of ginger, slice

2 red bird eye chili, whole (use more if you want it spicier)

3 green onion, cut into 1.5 inch

10 Chinese dried mushrooms, soften in hot water and drain

Seasonings:

2 Tbsp. Chinkiang black vinegar

3 Tbsp. ABC sweet soy sauce

1 Tbsp. light soy sauce

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

10 oz. water

1 tsp. sesame oil

Oil for cooking

Method:

In a stock pot, add in cooking oil and sesame oil.  When hot, add in ginger, scallion, shallot, chili and fry until fragrant.  Add in drumsticks, stir a little.  Add in mushroom and mix well.  Add the water and seasonings.  Let it boil.  When boiling, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for about an hour or until the drumsticks are soft.

Farmers' Market Picked

We went to a Farmers' Market at Old Colorado City recently and I enjoyed the experience.  I picked up these round summer squash which was called "Geode", it was light green and tasted like zucchini.  The round shape makes it suitable to sandwich with your burger.  I also picked up some sweet yellow onions and yellow carrots.  The easiest and tasty way to enjoy these vegetable is by grilling them or roasting it in the oven.  I took out some chicken tenders and seasoned it with some extra virgin olive oil, salt, rosemary, peppers, and sage.  I also added some yellow and red bell peppers.  Thus far, I have only seen "Geode" selling in the farmers' market here.  From my experience, don't pick the big one as it will have bigger seeds.

Cut all the produce and season it with extra virgin olive oil, salt, peppers and spices of your choice.  (you can use Italian seasonings, dried thyme, paprika, garlic powder, etc)  Then, roast in preheated 450'F oven for 15-20 minutes or until soft and slightly brown.

I lined my baking pan with aluminum foil for easy clean up.  This certainly was an quick and easy dinner with little washing.

Spicy Beancurd with Chicken

Sometimes I just needed my spicy food!  I could hardly go more than a day without any spicy food.  That's why I always have a bottle of my homemade chili in oil in the refrigerator on days that I cooked non-spicy food so that I could have that as a condiment.  If you are new to my blog and want my chili in oil recipe, you can do a search within my blog on the right panel.

I could proudly say that both of my girls are well trained in handling spicy food now.  They can eat this with no problem.  They can even eat the spicy Korean instant noodle and one day even brave enough to want to sample my chili in oil.  For your information, my chili in oil is extremely spicy and I was shocked that they wanted to try it.  I gave them a dot to try because they asked for it.  They quickly searched for water after they had it, yeah even my 4 years old dare to eat my chili in oil. :D

This dish was easy to make as well, just required an extra step in pan-frying the tofu first.  If you want it healthier, you don't have to pan-fry the tofu.  I did it for the texture and crunch.

Ingredients:

1 skinless and boneless chicken breast, thinly sliced and marinated it with salt, white pepper, cooking wine, sesame oil and cornstarch.

1/2 firm tofu, sliced and pat dry with paper towel

2 scallions, only the white bottom part, thinly sliced

1 small piece of ginger, minced

2 tsp. LKK hoisin sauce (you can use other brand)

2 tsp. LKK chili bean sauce (you can use other brand)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

Method:

1.  In a medium heat wok with oil, pan-fry the tofu until golden brown on both sides, dish out and set aside.

2.  In a heated wok, add in some oil.  When heated, add in the ginger and scallion and stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in chicken and stir-fry until cooked.  Add in the fried tofu slices.  Mix well.

3.  Add in the sauces and seasonings.  Stir to mix well.  Do a taste test and adjust accordingly.  Serve hot.

Mixed Veggie and Chicken Thai Style

This could easily be a one dish meal because it had all the goodness in one plate.  Lean protein from the skinless and boneless chicken breast, celery (lower blood pressure, anti-cancer compounds), zucchini (vitamin C), carrot (beta-carotene, good for eyes sight and anti-oxidant) and wood ear fungus (high in iron, good in blood circulation, low in calories and prevention of tumors).  You know, it might be hard to keep track of the nutritional benefits of each fruit/veggie.  But once you know that what fruit/veggie is good for you, just make sure that it's on your lunch or dinner menu often.  Making sure your plate is colorful is important too as different color provides a different nutritional benefit for your body.

Ingredients:

1/2 boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into small cubes and season with salt, rice wine, pepper and cornstarch

1/2 bowl of dried wood ear fungus, soften in warm water, drain and set aside

3 stalks of celery, wash and cut like pic. above

1 carrot, peeled and thinly cut

1 zucchini, wash and cut into cubes

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. Pantai's chili paste with soy bean oil (Available in the Asian market selling Thai's product)

Fish sauce to taste

1 tsp.dark soy sauce

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, add in your choice of cooking oil.  When hot, add in marinated chicken and garlic and stir-fry until cooked.  Add in zucchini and celery and carrot and stir-fry well.

2.  Add in wood ear and stir-fry well.  Add in chili paste in soy bean oil.  Add a little water if needed.  Season to taste with fish sauce and add in the dark soy sauce.  Fry to blend well and serve.

Dried Mussels with Chicken and Mushrooms

Another dried mussels recipe from me!  The one packet of dried mussels can actually make with few dishes, I still have half a packet left.  I had tried it with Lotus Root Soup and Chap Chai and now tried it with chicken and mushrooms.  But I would probably say it would taste better with pork belly or drumsticks.  But if you are health conscious, then just use skinless chicken breasts like me.   Perhaps I will use the dried mussels in a vegetable soup next.

Ingredients:

2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, sliced and marinated with soy sauce, white pepper, rice wine, garlic powder and cornstarch (or you can use pork belly)

8-10 dried mussels, soften in warm water, drain

8 dried flower mushrooms, soften in warm water, drain

Few pieces of sliced gingers

1 star anise

1 cinnamon sticks

8 cloves

6-8 small white rock sugar

1/4 cup Chinese rice wine

Soy sauce to taste

1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce

Method:

1.  In a medium saucepan, add in a little oil.  When hot, add in ginger slices and stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in the spices and stir-fry well.  Add in chicken and dried mussels, stir-fry until chicken is almost cooked.

2.  Add in water to cover.  Add in mushrooms, stir well.  Add in the seasonings and let it simmer for an hour.

3.  Season to taste if needed.  Serve with rice.

Ginger Chicken with Homemade Wine

This is a Ginger Chicken with homemade rice wine that mostly consumed by a lady in confinement.  Chinese lady would be in a month of confinement when she gave birth to a baby.  During this month of confinement, she would be giving heaty food to eat.  Lots of ginger, sesame oil, homemade rice wine, red date tea, etc to help heal her body and to make her body strong.  I didn't get to eat the homemade rice wine while in both of my confinements but I did make sure I followed most of the traditional rules and ate lots of ginger and sesame oil.  You can say I am superstitious but I believed in natural Chinese medicine or tradition that passed down through generations.

After a bowl of this, you eat the ginger, wine stock and everything with the rice and you would be sweating afterward.  Wood-ear fungus is high in iron, protein, calcium, vitamins and said to prevent blood clotting and lower cholesterol.  The homemade glutinous rice wine has lots of benefits too.

Ingredients:

2 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced

1 rice bowl of shredded dried wood-ear fungus, soften it in warm water

1 big piece of ginger, thinly sliced

Homemade rice wine, about 1 or 1 1/2 rice bowl

Chinese brown sugar to taste (omit this if your rice wine is sweet)

Soy sauce or salt to taste (soy sauce will give you dark stock, salt will give you a natural color)

Method:

1.  In a heated wok, add in some oil and a drop or two of sesame oil.  Add in ginger and stir fry until ginger is slightly brown and fragrant.  Add in chicken and stir-fry until chicken is almost cooked.

2.  Add in wood-ear fungus and stir fry until chicken is cooked.  Add in rice wine and let it boil.  When boiling, turn the heat to low and let it simmer for 10 minutes.  Season to taste with soy sauce and brown sugar (if used).  Serve!

My First Roasted BrineTurkey!

This is an old post way back on New Year day. I have been here for so many years but I never did my own turkey.  I guess the pure size of it turned me off.  With a small family, the idea of roasting a turkey never cross my mind, until I tasted a brine turkey at Lily's house.  Ever since then, I always wanted to brine a turkey.  My chance came when the turkey was on sales on Thanksgiving week.  I managed to find the smallest turkey there, about 10lb.  I guess holding the smallest young turkey wasn't that intimidating.  Furthermore, this small turkey fit into my large stock pot used for the brine.

My plate of turkey breasts.  I guess instead of carving the turkey, I sliced it the Chinese way instead.  I had no idea how to carve a turkey, hahaha...  I thought the turkey smell was a bit strong. :-P   But the drumstick, wing and bone made the best soup.  I made a big pot of soup with it and served it with noodle but I forgot to take any picture.

This was an old post but I wanted to show you my first brine turkey.  :-)   I will share the brine recipe that I used in the next page.  Is there a way to get rid of the turkey smell?

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes Turkey Brine with some modification.

Ingredients:

(A)

1 gallon water

3/4 cup salt

1 Tbsp. chicken powder

1 Tbsp. crushed dried rosemary

1 Tbsp. dried sage

1 Tbsp. dried thyme

2 bay leaves

2 Tbsp. whole black peppers

1 piece of ginger (about 1.5 inches), smashed

Additional water to cover the turkey

One 10-12lb. turkey

Method:

1.  In a large stock pot, combine (A) and bring to a boil.  Stir to dissolve the salt.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

2.  Wash your turkey, remove the innards and place breast side down into the brine.  Cover the turkey with cold water until the whole turkey is submerge into the water.  Cover the stock pot with its' cover.  Place the stock pot into the refrigerator overnight.

3.  Remove the turkey carefully, drain off the excess brine and pat dry.  Discard the brine.

4.  Preheat oven to 325'F.  Place turkey into a roasting pan and spray the skin of turkey with cooking spray, or you can brush it with melted butter.  Bake for 3 to 3.5 hours.  You can broil it at 500'F (5 minutes) to brown and crisp up the skin in the end.  Check to see if the internal temperature of turkey thigh reaches 180'F.  Reserve the drippings to make gravy.

5.  Rest for 30 minutes before carving. 

Beer Chicken with Taro

This was an interesting dish and I got the inspiration from a TV cooking show.  The taro was soft and the sauce was really fragrant.  I didn't add water in this so all the sauce came from the beer.  You won't be able to taste any alcohol in this and surprisingly the sauce was sweet with a tint of spiciness from the dried red pepper.  I would probably omit the dried red pepper so that I could taste the sauce as naturally as possible.  This is a dish that I would make again because all of us liked it.

Ingredients:

Boneless and skinless chicken, cut into big pieces

Taro, cut into pieces

1 can of beer

4 whole shallots

2 scallion, cut into 2 inches

Few ginger slices

6-8 dried red pepper, soften in water (optional)

Maggi seasoning sauce or soy sauce

Salt and sugar to taste

White pepper to taste

Method:

1.  In a heated wok with oil, pan-fry the taro until soften.  Dish out and set aside.

2.  In a saucepan, add in some oil.  Add ginger, dried red pepper and chicken, stir-fry until chicken is almost cooked.  Add in beer and all the other seasonings.  Add in shallots and let it simmer for 40 minutes.

3.  Lastly, add in taro and scallion and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.  Serve!

Oyster Mushroom Chicken

 

I couldn't resist myself when I see fresh oyster mushroom in the Asian market.  I loved to serve variety of mushrooms for my family.  Oyster mushroom is said to be able to lower the cholesterol levels as it naturally contains lovastatin.  All I know is mushroom is good for us so I am trying to cook it often.  However, my Evy is not a mushroom lover which makes it hard for me.  Because I am trying to give her food that is good for her but she just won't touch it.  The only mushroom that she would eat is Enoki mushroom which I will also get whenever I am in the Asian market.

This is one easy stir-frying dish with oyster sauce.  If you have a bottle of oyster sauce, you can make lots of Chinese dishes with it.  There is even a vegetarian version of oyster sauce which is made from this oyster mushroom. 

Ingredients:

Fresh oyster mushroom, washed and cut off the bottom of the mushroom stem

One skinless and boneless chicken thigh, slice and season with a little dark soy sauce, sugar and cornstarch

3 cloves of garlic, minced

Oyster sauce

a touch of sugar

Method:

1.  Heat up a wok.  When heated, add in oil.  Stir-fry the oyster mushroom until soften.  Dish out and set aside.

2.  With the same heated wok, add in oil.  Then, garlic and chicken.  Stir-fry until chicken is cooked through.  Add in oyster mushroom, oyster sauce and sugar.  Add a little water for sauce.  Stir-fry well and serve.

Baked Chicken Fries

 

Evy's school cafeteria was offering chicken fries as a menu one day.  So I let her had her lunch at school.  She came back and told me it was baked and the chicken was cut to resemble fries.  She requested me to make it for her at home because she liked it.  I liked the idea that it was baked and not fried.  So, I told her I was going to make it for her but mommy version.  She said she liked mine better than the school.  Haha... I was not sure she said that to make me happy or what, but she certainly confirmed that mommy version was better.  Perhaps she liked the crunch that the panko gave.  If you don't have panko at home, you can use crushed cornflakes for the coating as I did here.

Do enjoy this healthy chicken fries!!

Ingredients:

Skinless boneless chicken breast, slice into long thin strips

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil or any cooking oil)

Salt and pepper

Poultry seasonings

Large eggs

Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

Method:

1.  In a bowl, add in sliced chicken strips.  Mix in EVOO, poultry seasonings and salt and pepper.  Mix well.

2.  Break eggs in a bowl (one or two eggs depending on how many chicken strips you have), beat well.

3.  Spread panko in a plate.

4.  Preheat oven to 400'F.  Lined a baking sheet/pan with foil for easy clean up.

5.  Take one piece of chicken strip, dip in egg and then coat with panko.  Then place it on the foil baking sheet.  Finish the rest.

6.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked.  You can broil it for 3 minutes to brown it a little.

3-2-1 Chicken Chop

Oh man, the way I crisscrossed it, it looked more like liver wasn't it?  Luckily the main star in this dish was not the chicken chop but the sauce that I invented.  I saw a Kikkoman commercial on my Chinese cable and it was introducing it's 3-2-1 chicken chop sauce using it's Kikkoman special sauce (I didn't really know what kind of sauce, might be some sort of special soy sauce), sweet rice wine and sugar.  Oh well, I didn't have the Kikkoman sauce neither did I have the sweet rice wine but I do have other sauces at home that I could experiment with.

I thought of Worcestershire sauce and Shao Xing rice wine instead.  Worcestershire sauce had a bit of sour taste to it like vinegar so I thought it would pair well with some rice wine and sugar.  I also added a touch of sesame oil in the end.  This sauce got our stamp of approval, we all loved it.  If you tried it, credit me for my creation and feedback to me ya.  It would go well with pork and steak too.

 

Ingredients:

1 piece of chicken chop (boneless & skinless chicken thigh and drumstick), cut crisscross line on chicken for even cooking.  Season with a little kosher salt.

3 Tbsp. reduced sodium Worcestershire sauce ( I used Lea & Perrins reduced sodium)

2 Tbsp. Shao Xing cooking wine (Chinese cooking wine)

1 Tbsp. sugar

A drop of sesame oil

EVOO for pan-frying

Method:

1.  In a bowl, prepare the Worcestershire sauce, Shao Xing wine, sugar and sesame oil, set aside.

2.  Heat up a saute pan or wok, add in EVOO and when hot, add in chicken chop, turn the heat to low and pan-fry until brown on both sides and almost cook inside.  Cover if needed (for faster cooking time).

3.  Add in the prepared sauce and let the chicken simmer in the sauce until the sauce thicken and the chicken is cooked completely.  You can turn the chicken to soak in the sauce.  Slice and serve with hot rice.

Spicy Chicken with Zucchini

I went to my Asian supermarket 2nd anniversary event recently and they were having food demonstration and tasting on that day.  Even the Lee Kum Kee representatives were there to do a food demonstration and sampling of their product.  They were promoting their oyster sauce, hoisin sauce and premium soy sauce and cooked a chicken dish like above and a fried rice.  Their fried rice were tasteless to me but I fell in love with their chicken dish so of course I had to ask them for the recipe.  I tried to memorize it as best as I can and I think this is the best copy I can come out with.  

I added zucchini and carrot for extra veggie intake.  You can also add onion, bell pepper, pineapple or mango if you like.  This sauce is pretty delicious, you can try it out.

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, cut into cubes

1/2 carrot, cut into cubes

1 chicken breast, thinly sliced and marinated with soy sauce, white pepper, rice wine, garlic powder and cornstarch

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 scallions (only the white part), chopped

1 small piece of ginger, chopped

Seasoning:

2 Tbsp. oyster sauce (LKK)

2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce (LKK)

1 Tbsp. soy sauce (Kikkoman)

1 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce (Sambal Oelek)

1 tsp. sesame oil (Kadoya)

Method:

1.  In a bowl, add in oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and chili garlic sauce, stir well and set aside.

2.  In a heated wok, add in cooking oil.  When heated, add in garlic, scallion and ginger.  Stir-fry until fragrant.  Add in chicken, stir-fry until chicken is no longer pink.

3.  Add in zucchini and carrot, stir-fry until the veggie is soften.  Add in the prepared sauce and stir fry well.  Turn off the heat and lastly add in the sesame oil.  Stir and serve hot.

Braised Chicken with Mui Choy

This was actually a remake of a leftover mui choy (preserved veggie).  My hubby ordered a "mui choy gau yook" from a friend and we finished all the "gau yook" (5 layers pork/ fatty pork) and left with lots of mui choy.  It was too salty and the spices were a bit too strong for my taste.  Our friends suggested me to make soup with the mui choy but I thought I would make a chicken dish with it instead.

All I did is chopped some drumsticks, added in a little oil in a pot and gave the mui choy some quick stirs.  Then, added in the chicken, stir a little.  Added in water to cover half of the chicken and a tablespoon of dark soy sauce and let it simmered in low heat for an hour.  Lastly added in a little sugar.  It turned out to be a delicious chicken dish.  What a great use of the leftover mui choy!

2-2-3-4-5 Braised Chicken

This dish was inspired by 1-2-3-4-5 Sticky Spareribs (Tang Chu Pai Gu).  Since I don't have spareribs and only chicken, I cooked it differently but with almost the same sauce except I increased the Shaoxing rice wine to 2 Tbsp.  Got to say, delicious!  Now I have one more chicken dish to serve my family.  :-)

I added tofu knots in mine.  If you don't have tofu knots in your area, you can omit it.  Or you can substitute it with Chinese dried mushrooms or dried beancurd sticks.  This sauce is so good with rice, you have to try this dish!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. Shaoxing rice wine

2 Tbsp. Chinkiang vinegar

3 Tbsp. white sugar

4 Tbsp. Kikkoman soy sauce

5 Tbsp. water

Few pieces of smashed gingers

3 or 4 chicken thighs or 8-10 chicken drumsticks, chopped into pieces

1 bowl of tofu knots, soften in water, drained (optional)

EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) or any oil

Method:

1.  In a heated pot, add in some EVOO and gingers.  Stir until fragrant.  Add in cut chicken pieces and brown it.

2.  Add in the 2-2-3-4-5 sauces and stir well.  Add in the tofu knots and let it simmer for an hour.

3.  Serve with the gravy.  Or take out all the chicken and tofu knots and reduce the gravy to half and pour on top of the chicken and tofu knots.  Serve with rice.  Delicious!!!

Satay Dinner

I found a lazy way to eat and grill my satay!  No troublesome and messy way of pricking the marinated meat through a satay stick anymore.  I cut the chicken breast thinly and grill it on my in-door grill.  Our out-door grill, used only couple of times, sadly had been abused by the Colorado weather through strong wind, heat and snow and now was a piece of junk.  I bought this in-door grill 10+ years ago via a home shopping network on T.V.  Yeah, I used to love those channels and loved to see what they were selling.  It was a great buy even though  I only used it occasionally.

The finished product!  Of course you can use boneless thigh meat if you prefer more fat.

Eaten with Malaysian satay sauce.  I used a premix for this, if you want to see which premix I used, click here. If you are using this premix, add 2 heap tablespoons of creamy peanut butter and some toasted ground peanuts when stirring.  Lastly, add more toasted ground peanuts to garnish and for extra kick. If not, you can make a delicious peanut satay sauce here using my short-cut and delicious recipe.

Chi Ku Teh (Chicken Dark Herbal Soup)

Bak Ku Teh, a popular herbal soup that is dark in color that uses pork ribs, meat, etc.  But there is another version that uses chicken.  This is my first time uses chicken drumsticks for this soup because I believed the pork ribs made the soup sweeter.  After trying this, I can say it was good with chicken too, the drumsticks tasted good with the herbal flavor in it.  I loved to add boiled eggs and taufu pok (fried beancurd puff) in mine.  I was planning to create a marble eggs in this but decided against it at the last minute because I was afraid a piece of the egg shell might fall off and my daughter might accidentally drank it.  Thus no beautiful marbling effect with my boiled eggs here.

For this chicken dark herbal soup, I just used the A1 Bak Kut Teh premix that easily available at any supermarket in Malaysia.  I always bought some of these to bring back here whenever I am back in Malaysia. Got to stock up on food that I can't get it here right?  I noticed there were two types, one was without the Chinese herbs, just the premix and was selling at a cheaper rate.  The other one was in bigger packaging and included some Chinese herbs in it. I bought the one with herbs and just followed the packet direction in cooking this.  My hubby bought some fried yu tiao from Denver and we had this soup with some yu tiao just liked how I used to eat back in Malaysia.

Stir Fried Chicken with Broccoli Stems

You can separate the broccoli from the broccoli steams and make different dishes out of it.  I used the broccoli for my microwave broccoli with butter and thyme and the stems I used in chicken stir-fry.  Nothing is wasted right, I even saved the green leaves on the stem to stir-fry.  I julienne it and if you are not an expert in taste, you might not even know what you are eating, unless the leaf gives you the hint.

I couldn't remember how I cooked this dish already, it had been left in the draft for too long and I couldn't refresh.  Looking at the picture, I don't think it is just oyster sauce, I seriously couldn't recall.  I know I lost a few good ones because of that.  Even I have to refer back to my old recipes to cook a certain dish again.  It was just too many over the years and I realized some of my old favorites I hardly cook it again.  Do you have the same problem?

Spicy Eggplant Top with White Chicken Bits (炒辣茄子鸡)

I had a spicy eggplant version with ground pork and this is my another version with chicken bits.  This is of course healthier than ground pork as ground pork that we get in the store usually have lots of fat in it, unless you make your own ground pork with lean pork.  Since I always have skinless and boneless chicken breasts at home, why not I just cut it into tiny bits (instead of ground chicken) like a 鸡球 to substitute the ground pork.  I also used a different sauce for this, this is the sauce I used to stir-fry my kangkong belacan or any spicy Malaysian style vegetable.  My short-cut sauce that I can easily buy it in any Asian store here.

Ingredients:

1 Japanese eggplant, cut

1/4 cup of dried shrimps, soften

Half boneless and skinless chicken breast, flatten and cut into tiny pieces/diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Shrimp paste in oil (from Thailand), about 2-3 tsp.

Chili paste (sambal oelek), 1 tsp. (more if you like it HOT)

Fish sauce, 1 tsp.

Sugar, 1 tsp.

Method:

1.  Mix the cut eggplant with a little salt and olive oil.  Bake in preheated 400'F oven for 10 minutes on lined aluminum foil.   Set aside.

2.  Heat up your wok with some canola oil.  When heated, add in garlic and dried shrimps, fry until fragrant without burning the garlic, add in tiny chicken bits, stir-fry until chicken is cooked.

3.  Add in eggplant, shrimps paste in oil, and fry until fragrant.  Add in chili paste, fish sauce and sugar.  Stir well and dish out to serve.