Homestyle Sweet and Sour Chicken

Adapted from Grace Young’s Sweet and Sour Chicken recipe found in her The Breath of a Wok.

1 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into cubes

2-3 garlic cloves, sliced

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp Chinese cooking wine

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

8 shakes of ground white pepper

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp canola oil

1 or 2 green onions, cut into 2″ pieces

5 or 6 pineapple slices, cut into small sections

sauce

2/3 C chicken broth

2 tsp dark soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp ketchup

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tsp corn starch

1/4 tsp salt

I prefer the more traditional sweet and sour pork dish found in restaurants or the one found in my Aunt#3′s cookbook but this one requires much less work, is something you can do quickly for dinner and is still pretty tasty.

In small bowl, combine sauce ingredients and set aside. Cut chicken into cubes and place in bowl.

Add marinade items to cubed chicken and mix. Set aside.

Heat wok over high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil.

Spread chicken out in wok and let cook for a minute. Stir-fry until almost cooked through. Set aside.

Swirl in 2 tsp oil  and add green onion. Stir- fry briefly.

Stir sauce and swirl into the wok.

Add Chicken to wok.

Stir-fry another minute or two and ensure chicken coated nicely.

Add pinapple to wok and incorporate.

Scoop to plate and serve immediately!

Chicken Chow Fun with Bean Sprouts

Chicken chow fun with bean spouts was pretty easy and quick to make. Longest time was spent cutting up the chicken. Adapted rice noodles with stir-fried beef and vegetables recipe taken from Regional Cooking of China cookbook.

1 lb skinless, boneless chicken (I used thighs but you could use breast meat. Or substitute beef)

marinade

2 or 3 pieces of garlic, minced

2 or 3 pieces ginger, minced

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 lbs fresh rice noodle

1/4 C canola oil plus additional 3 tbsp

package of bean sprouts (I forgot the bag size – will update when I get a chance)

1/4 C water

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp soy sauce

garish with green onion slices

I found that these boneless skinless thighs at Whole Foods were a bit cheaper than at my local butcher.

Trim fat from meat and slice evenly into bite size pieces.

Place sliced meat in bowl and combine with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and oyster sauce.  Let marinade while making pan-fried noodles.

Heat wok over high heat. Swirl in a good 1/4 c oil. Seems like a lot but you will need it. And it’s healthy for you!

Add noodles and  stir-fry for about a minute or two. Be careful not to over stir or overcook to prevent them from turning mushy and sticking to the wok. I got lazy and didn’t bother to separate the noodles before cooking. Next time I will do that. I kind of did it on the fly while the noodles were in the wok.

Set aside cooked noodles (I wanted the noodles to brown lightly but because I didn’t separate it made it slightly more difficult).

Swirl in 2 tbsp oil and heat wok over high heat. Add the marinated chicken to the wok and stir-fry until just cooked.

Set aside chicken.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in wok over high heat. Add bean sprouts and stir-fry for about 30 seconds.

Add water, cover wok for about 30  to 45 seconds.

Uncover wok and return chicken and noodles to wok.

Toss to blend well while adding salt and soy sauce to taste.

Remove to plate and serve immediately!

Kung Pao Chicken

My aunt has this awesome recipe for Kung Pao Chicken which is found in her Yan Kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook. It’s fairly easy and quick to put together and most (if not all) of the ingredients are readily available from your local market. The key is to not overcook the chicken. Moist is what we are after.

My aunt adds a small handful of roasted peanuts at the end but I left them out.

12oz-16oz chicken breast

2 tbsp canola oil

3 to 5 fresh chilies, split in half or 2 or 3 dried red chilies.

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

4 to 6 thin slices fresh ginger

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

2-3 green onions, cut into small rounds

Marinade

1/3 tsp salt

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp Chinese cooking wine

1 tsp cornstarch

Sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 or 2 tbsp chili sauce

2 tsp rice (or white wine) vinegar

2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

6 tbsp chicken stock

Prepare the chicken breast. Cut into decent sized strips.

Then cut into cubes and put in a bowl.

Add salt to the chicken.

Add the Chinese cooking wine.

Add the soy sauce.

Finally add the cornstarch.

Mix well and let marinade 15-20 minutes.  If you leave it longer that’s ok. I had to wait a good hour because I had prepared everything but had to wait until we got the kids down before I could cook.

Prepare the sauce by mixing together the soy sauce, chili sauce (I used a little over 1 tbsp), rice vinegar, sugar, cornstarch and stock (I used some turkey stock I had in the fridge).

Mix all sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Cut off stem and then slice chilies lengthwise. I kept seeds and all. You might notice from the image below that I have gloves on. I learned my lesson where, one time,  I didn’t use gloves when handling chilies. A good two or three hours later I had to rub my eyes and let’s just say I’ve never been in so much pain.

Slice garlic cloves.

I forgot to take a picture of it but slice a fresh piece of ginger into 4-6 thin pieces.

Cut green onion into small rounds.

Now that everything is prepped, let’s get cooking!

Heat a wok over high heat and add a swirl or two of oil.

Add the chilies, stir and then add the garlic and ginger slices. Stir-fry a few seconds to release their aroma.

Quickly add the chicken and stir-fry for a good minute.

Splash in some extra Chinese cooking wine while stirring and tossing continuously.

Add the green onion and continue to stir-fry for a minute or so. The chicken should be almost done.

Add the well mixed sauce to the chicken and continue to stir while it thickens. Turn down the heat a bit if bubbles too fast. If you’ve added too much cornstarch it may become too thick very quickly.

The sauce should coat the chicken nicely.

Transfer chicken to a serving plate and serve immediately.

The chicken was  moist and had a real kick to it from the chilies and chili sauce. Just the way I wanted it. Next time I may play around with the level of spiciness but otherwise wouldn’t change a thing.

Chicken Piccata

I saw a couple of recipes for Chicken Piccata over the past couple of weeks and thought that might be a good, easy and tasty dinner one night.  I also had most of the ingredients on hand so that didn’t hurt. In the end I adapted a recipe from Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis.

3 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, butterflied

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

All-purpose flour, for dredging

1 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2  lemon

1 Cup chicken stock

1/4 Cup brined capers, rinsed

1/4 Cup fresh parsley, chopped

Season both sides of chicken breasts with salt and pepper.

Melt butter, pour in olive oil and and heat up over medium high heat.

Swirl the butter/olive oil mixture to coat frying pan.

While waiting for oil to heat up, dredge chicken through flour, shaking off excess.

When pan is hot, lay chicken in pan.

Pan Fry each side for 3 minutes.

When done, move from pan to plate.

Taking the same pan used to cook the chicken with, add in chicken stock (I actually had made some turkey stock the day before so added that)  and juice from half a lemon.

Add capers and stir in. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Reduce heat to medium and return chicken to pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

Place chicken breasts onto serving dish, pour sauce on top, and sprinkle on some parsley. Enjoy!

Stir-fried Chicken with Leeks

I bought some leeks at the Stonestown Farmers Market about a week ago and thawed out two frozen chicken breasts. I wanted to make something simple so took my Aunt#3′s “Stir-fried Pork with Leeks” recipe and adapted it for my dish.

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into small strips

canola oil

1 lb leeks, trimmed of the green tops of leeks and cut off root. cut into think rounds, separated and washed thoroughly

salt

3 garlic cloves. smashed once

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

marinade

1/3 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1 tbsp light soy sauce

white pepper

2 tsp Chinese cooking wine

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

touch of sesame oil

sauce

2 tsp cornstarch

10 tbsp  homemade chicken broth (or water)

3 tbsp oyster sauce

 

Prep leeks and chicken breasts. Make the sauce and set aside.

Wash leeks thoroughly.

Marinade chicken for 15-20 minutes.

Heat wok over medium high heat and swirl a bit of oil around. Add the leeks and stir fry for a minute or two. Careful not to burn the leeks.

Add a pinch of salt, turn down to low and cover for 2-3 minutes.

 

Uncover wok and set aside leeks on a plate. Heat the wok up over high, swirl in a bit of oil, and add garlic. Quickly stir fry garlic for a few seconds.

 

Add the marinaded chicken and quickly stir fry for a  couple of minutes.

Add Chinese cooking wine, hear it sizzle (!), and continue stir frying until chicken just cooked.

Once chicken is cooked, lower the heat to medium (or medium-low), create a well in the middle, and add the well mixed sauce.

Fold in the chicken, and return the leeks to the wok.

 

Stir chicken, leeks, and sauce together. Remove to a serving plate.