Chinese Take-Out Craving?

I've been craving Chinese food so I decided to make my version of some common dishes!

Some common ingredients that I always have on hand for simple chinese cooking are
ginger, garlic, corn starch, flour, salt, pepper, onions (or green onions), rice wine, soy sauce

... with these ingredients you can spice up any dish as well as lay a foundation for many dishes

Chicken and Egg Stir Fry

Ingredients
2 large boneless chicken breasts, cubed
3 T rice wine
1 T corn starch
1/8 tsp flour
1 T soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
4 eggs
2 scallions

1) Coat chicken breasts in rice wine and soy sauce
2) Mix flour and corn starch then sprinkle evenly over cubed chicken
3) Heat a wok on high heat and add 1-2 T vegetable oil (coat evenly)
4) Stir fry chicken 3-4 minutes until done. Remove from heat and set on plate.
5) Reheat wok and evenly coat with vegetable oil
6) Beat the 4 eggs and cook in wok over high heat.
7) Put chicken back into wok and space evenly. Add salt and pepper to taste
8) Scramble with egg. Garnish with sliced scallions

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Pineapple and Red Pepper

Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts, cubed
1 T corn starch
1 tsp flour

1/2 cup sliced pineapple
1 sweet red pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 cup sliced mushrooms

Sauce:
2 T soy sauce
2 T rice wine
4 T rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T corn starch

1) Cut chicken into equal pieces and sprinkle with cornstarch, flour mixture
2) Heat a wok on high heat. Coat evenly with vegetable oil
3) Cook off chicken on high heat for 4-5 minutes
4) Add in pineapples, mushrooms and red peppers
5) In a glass measuring cup, mix sauce ingredients evenly
6) Pour sauce over hot contents and allow to simmer until sauce thickens
7) Add salt and pepper to taste accordingly

Halloween Madness!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Diana and I carved some pumpkins a week ago for Halloween! I hope our next carving is more successful! Mine is a "cat" and hers was a spider web. I hope you guys can tell.



Here are some cute ideas to add something extra when people come for dinner!

I bought some little black spider rings ($1 for a huge bag) and some orange napkins. I folded the napkins (fan-style) and slipped a ring over it to hold them together. The rings are very small so I cut the spider ring so that it became a clasp to hold the napkin. Make your incision directly on the opposite side of the spider so the slit is right in the middle.



With the remainder spiders, I cut off the ring all together (leaving the spider) and put them in ice cube trays with water to give my sisters a "spooky" surprise in their drinks.

Homemade Caramel Popcorn

Ingredients
3 bags butterless popcorn, pop in microwave according to directions
2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of ground cinnamon or nutmeg

1) Preheat oven to 250 oF. Put popped corn in a large mixing bowl or two mixing bowls
2) Melt butter in a medium saucepan
3) Stir in brown sugar, cornsyrup and salt until it boils. Stir the entire time to prevent burning
4) When it's boiling, leave alone to boil for 3 minutes
5) Remove from heat and stir in baking soda, and spices
6) Pour slowly over popped popcorn a little at a time until the caramel is well encoporated into the popcorn
7) Place parchment paper over two baking sheets. Spread popcorn mixture evenly over the two sheets
8) Bake for 1 hr, stirring (gently) with a spatula every 15 minutes

Orange Chicken

Ingredients
4 boneless chicken breasts, cubed 1-2" pieces
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 T black pepper
1/2 cup corn starch
1/4 cup flour
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T rice wine

Orange Sauce
3 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp water
1/4 tsp chilli powder
5 tsp rice wine vinegar
5 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp corn starch
1 orange

1) Mix egg, salt and pepper. Mix into chicken pieces evenly.
2) Sift flour and corn starch into a bowl and pour onto chicken pieces until evenly distributed
3) Heat up oil on high in a wok until 300oF. Fry chicken pieces 5-8 pieces at a time for 3 minutes.
4) Leave chicken on paper towels to dry
5) When all pieces are fried, empty out oil safely and heat wok for 15 seconds on high
6) Pour in one tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add in garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and onions
7) Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes before adding the orange sauce mixture
8) Allow sauce to boil before readding chicken pieces again
9) Juice the orange and stir in 2 tsp of cornstarch with orange juice (Add orange zest for more orangey flavor). Add orange juice into sauce and allow to thicken

Teriyaki Steak w/ Grilled Pineapple

Ingredients
1 lb sirloin steak
1/2 cup teriyaki marinade
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup rice wine
2 tsp honey

8 slices of pineapple

1) Marinade steak in teriyaki, soy sauce, rice wine and honey mixture for 3-4 hours. (Don't overmarinade or the steak turns tough)
2) Heat up the grill on medium high heat
3) Grill up the steak until desired done-ness
4) Grill the pineapple on the hot grill and lay the slices ontop of the steak

Asian Tail-Gate Food

Chinese Pork Spare Ribs


Ingredients
1 lb spare ribs
1/4 cup hoisin
2 T honey
2 T light soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground chilli

1) Mix marinate and rub over spare ribs. Refrigerate for 4-6 hrs
2) Preheat oven to 350oF
3) Spray non-stick spay over a foiled baking sheet. Place ribs on the baking sheet. Reserve marinade
4) Roast for 30 minutes and brush on marinade over the meat
5) Roast for an additional 30 minutes or until meat cooks and shrinks up
6) Let ribs sit for 15-20 minutes before slicing into individual portions
7) Serve over steamed spinach or other vegetables

Lazy Sunday

I didn't want to exert too much time to cooking today because I think I'm coming down with a cold. 2-3 ppl around me have colds.

I had some chicken breast in the kitchen so I was inspired to make some quick sesame chicken reminiscent of chinese take-out except I know exactly what I'm puting into the chicken.



Sesame Chicken with Cashews
Ingredients
2 skin-less chicken breasts, cubed into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup of sesame seeds
2 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of ground black pepper
1/2 tsp coriander
4 tablespoons of honey
4 tablespoons of teriyaki marinade
2 tablespoons of roasted cashews
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
light soy sauce or salt to taste

(1) Mix flour, half the sesame seeds, coriander, red pepper flakes and black pepper together in a medium bowl. Coat chicken pieces evenly with flour mixture.
(2) Heat a wok on high heat. Pour in vegetable oil and make sure oil is hot. Move the wok around so oil is evenly coated.
(3) Cook chicken pieces about 3-4 minutes on each side. Brown each side.
(4) In a medium bowl, wisk together honey and teriyaki marinade. Taste mixture and add salt as needed (keep in mind cashews if salted contribute salt also)
(5) Pour sauce over chicken and stir evenly. Cook for another 1-2 minutes or until sauce thins out. Stir in cashews and remaining sesame seeds.
(6) Serve.