Szechuan Stir Fried Chicken

While grocery shopping I bought this months' cooking light magazine. Their cover was 25 chicken recipes, but most of them were just pan roasted chicken, something you cant eat with rice. We are big on rice and want rice for dinner. So I finally found one recipe that can be served with rice. Its was a nice cold day with some stir fry, white rice and green tea.

Prep Time - 5mins    | Cooking Time  - 20mins   | Yield - 3 people

Ingredients
3 tblsp dark sesame oil
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 tblsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tblsp rice vinegar
2 tblspn chilli paste (I used sambal oelek)
2 tsp cornstarch
1lb skinless boneless chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1 yellow red pepper, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1/2 vertically sliced onions
1 tblsp freshly minced ginger
1 tblsp freshly minced garlic
1/4 cup roasted unsalted peanuts

Combine 2 tblsp sesame oil and the next 5 ingredients in a bowl. Heat wok over medium heat. Add remaining 1 tsp sesame oil swirl, add chicken stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Add yellow bell peppers and the next 5 ingredients through garlic. Stri fry for 1 minute. Add the broth mixture cook for 30 seconds or until thick. Return chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken is done. Serve this with a scoop of white rice garnish with peanuts.

Thai chicken soup

Both M and I have caught a bad cold, the weather has been fluctuating here for the past couple of days. Its warm and sunny and by evening its gets really cold, like numbness in your fingers cold. So I decided to make thai chicken soup. I mainly used lemon grass known for its ability to aid pain relief as well as antibacterial and antifungal properties to add flavor to the soup. We just slurped the soup through some very tense episodes of '24' and went to sleep.

Prep Time  - 10mins   | Cooking Time  - 1 Hour   

Ingredients

2 cans low sodium chicken stock

4 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 inch ginger finely chopped

1 large onion cubed

1 celery root diced

1 carrot diced optional

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

1/2 cup shittake mushrooms chopped

1 tblspn freshly ground pepper

2 tblspn finely chopped basil

1 block of egg noodles

2 stalks of lemon grass finely diced

1 tblson olive oil

In a dutch oven heat oil, add the ginger, garlic, onions, celery root,carrots and sweat it. Add the chopped basil, lemon grass, mushrooms and chicken and saute for 5mins. Now add the chicken stock mix throughly reduce flame. Add the pepper and add salt only if necessary. The chicken stock usually contains salt so check taste and then add salt. Add the noodles and mix. Cook this on low heat for 40mins. Garnish with peanuts and serve.

Chicken 2 ways

When I pick up chicken, its too much for 2 people. So I try and make two dishes to squeeze in some variety. Ive usually like dry chicken dishes and M likes gravy ones. So this time its methi chicken and pepper chicken.

 

(L) - Methi chicken, (R) - Pepper Chicken

 

Pepper Chicken
Prep Time - 10mins  | Cooking time - 15mins  | Marinate - 10mins

 

• 1 Chicken breast cubed
• 2 Jalapeno (You can use regular green chillies too) slit and deseeded
• 1 Large onion sliced
• 2 tblspn pepper powder
• 1 tblspn light soy sauce
• 1 tblspn ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tblspn cooking oil
• Salt to taste

 

Marinate the chicken with soy sauce and ginger garlic paste for 10mins.  Heat oil in a pan add onions and saute till brown. Now add the jalapeno, marinated chicken and mix throughly. Add the pepper powder, use salt only if necessary soy usually makes up for the saltiness. Cook throughly on medium heat.

 

Methi Chicken
Prep Time - 10mins  | Cooking Time - 15mins  | Marinate  - 5mins

 

• 1 Chicken breast cubed
• 1 Large onion sliced
• 2 roma tomatoes chopped
• 2 tblspn Kasoori methi
• 1 tblspn ginger-garlic paste
• 3-4 cloves
• 4 peppercorns
• 1 small piece cinnamon
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tblspn cooking oil
• salt to taste
• Cilantro for garnish

 

Marinate the chicken in ginger-garlic paste, chilli powder, garam masala. Heat oil in a pan, add the cloves, peppercorn and cinnamon. Once they splutter add the sliced onions and saute until golden brown. Add the tomatoes cook. Add the marinated chicken, kasoori methi, and the spices mix throughly. Add a little watre if needed, check for salt. Cover and cook.

Lemongrass Chicken

M wanted to eat rotisserie chicken, so picked one up from Costco. I had more than half the chicken for leftover. I separated the meat from bone and decided to use it for chicken sandwiches but decided on lemongrass chicken.

 

 

 

Prep Time - 10mins   | Cooking Time - 12mins   | Serves - 4   | Calories

 

Ingredients

• 2 tblsp fish sauce (soy sauce if you dont have one in your pantry)
• 3 garlic pods, crushed
• 1 tblsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tblsp plus 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 pound chicken - I used the cooked, shredded chicken. You can use chicken breast/thigh, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 tblsp water
• 3 tblsp cooking oil
• 2 fresh lemongrass stalks, tender inner white bulbs only, sliced
• 1 lrage shallot, thinly sliced
• 3 chillies, seeded and minced

 

Method
In a bowl, combine the fish sauce, garlic, curry powder, salt and 1 1/2 tablespoon of the sugar. Add the chicken to coat.

 

In a small skillet, mix the remaining 2 tablespoon of sugar with 1 tablespoon water and cook over high heat, stirring until the sugar had dissolved. Cook without stirring until a deep amber caramel forms. Remove from heat and stir the remaining 2 tablespoons of water. Transfer to a bowl.

 

Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and heat. Add the lemongrass, shallot, and chillies and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the chicken and caramel and stir-fry until the chicken  is cooked through and the sauce is slightly thickened. Transfer to a bowl and top with scallion. Im going to server this with steamed white rice.

Asian inspired chicken noodles

During our recent trip to India, M and I gorged on rice, all sorts of indian bread and some very rich food. That along with an extra serving of everything mom/aayi(M's mom) made has increased our waistline. A small part of our new year resolution is to be fit.

 

I usually plan dinner depending on lunch. Today was a very light lunch but M was in the mood for something different (no rice, bread etc). Hence noodles...

 

 

Prep Time - 5-7mins   | Cooking Time - 5mins   | Serves - 4   | Calories -

 

Ingredients

• 3 blocks Egg noodles
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 7  Button mushroom quatered
• 1  Red pepper diced
• 1 Yellow pepper diced
• 1 Cup shredded chicken
• 4 garlic pods finely chopped
• 1 inch ginger finely chopped
• 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tblsp Sambal Oelek (Huy Fong's)
• 1 tblsp Sriracha (Huy Fong's) Optional, we like our food spicy
• 1 tblsp green onion for garnish
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• Salt to taste

 

 

Noodle
Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt to the water (This step is optional). Add the noodles to the boiling water and a little oil (This keps the noodles from sticking) use a fork separate the noodles. Boil on high for 2minutes Drain them and set aside

 

Saute the shredded chicken, salt in a deep wok till cooked through. Remove and set aside.
In the same wok, heat oil and saute ginger, garlic till slightly browned. Add in the diced red pepper, yellow pepper, quatered mushroom and stir-fry for about a minute. Add the sambal oelek sauce, soy sauce and sriracha sauce(optional).
Stir in the cooked chicken season it with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and add the cooked noodles.
Garnish with green onion.