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.

Stir Fried Crunchy Cabbage

I loved crunchy and sweet cabbage.  I finally found the way after all these years.  I saw it at the Chinese cooking show where the host said never to cut the cabbage but tear it with your fingers.  It will give you a different texture.  But I guess I always took the easier way out, that is to slice it with a knife and thinking that shredded cabbage will cook faster and soften easily.  Not sure why but my shredded cabbage never really gives me the sweetness of the cabbage and the crunch that I looked for.

But now with my new way of handling my cabbage, that is to tear it with my fingers, I found the crunch and the sweetness of the cabbage when stir-frying.  This dish is delicious, you can taste the sweetness of cabbage and the crunchiness.  If you read my recipes, you must have noticed that I have been using quite a lot of fish sauce recently.  I think I found the secret of fish sauce in stir-frying, it really give certain dishes a kick in taste.

Ingredients:

1/4 head of cabbage. washed and tear with hands

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/8 cup of dried shrimps, soften

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

6 extra large shrimps, shelled and cut into half

Fish sauce to taste

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. chicken powder (optional)

Extra virgin olive oil/ olive oil/ any cooking oil

Method:

1.  Heat the wok.  Add oil, when hot, add dried shrimps and garlic, stir-fry for a while.  Add shrimps and stir-fry until cooked.  Move the shrimps to the side of the wok, add in the crushed red pepper flakes and cabbage.

2.  Stir-fry well.  Add salt and stir-fry for a while.  Lastly add 1 tsp. chicken powder and fish salt to taste.  Add a little water (1/8 cup if needed). Serve hot.

Pureed Brown Rice Pumpkin Soup

I am not sure of whether to call this brown rice pumpkin soup or brown rice pumpkin porridge.  I made this for my little girl when she was having diarrhea and vomit since everything went into her mouth, it came right out.  I thought if I pureed the porridge, it would go down easier on her.  But guess what?  She refused to eat it, not even a taste test.  The only thing she would eat was Popsicle and of course she could have as many as she wanted since that was the only thing she would eat and won't throw up.

So, I was the one that finished this soup.  I loved it actually, it was sweet and tasted like brown rice.  Now I know what was the difference between white rice porridge and brown rice porridge.  Brown rice taste really stood out. This is suitable for baby, toddler or older people as it's very nutritious and easy to swallow.

Ingredients:

Serving for one:

One handful of brown rice, washed

Few pieces of cut pumpkin, cut into tiny pieces

1/4 cup of ground pork

Water

Salt to taste

Method:

1.  In a saucepan, add in water and brown rice.  Water for cooking porridge, about double or triple the water needed to cook rice.

2.  When boiling, add in ground pork, and scoop out whatever foam that float to the top.  Add in pumpkin and stir.  Simmer in low heat for about an hour, stirring occasionally.  

3.  When cooked, season to taste with salt.  Add a little chicken powder if you want.  Pour into a glass blender and puree until smooth.  Serve.

Baked Cheese Shrimps Rice

Baked cheesy rice or cheesy baked rice has been quite popular among the bloggers few months back.  I liked the idea and wanted to try it whenever I have leftover cheese or rice.  My opportunity came when I have some leftover Mozzarella cheese from making the Alfredo Chicken.  I needed to finish the leftover cheese within 5 days and just so happen that I had some leftover brown rice.  So, this dish was created.  I did mine in a healthier way as it was less creamy.  No heavy cream, cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, etc.

I found the rice a bit dry, so you can add some fat free or 1 % fat milk into the rice when you add the cheese and stir together.  Perhaps put a layer of rice, cheese, rice and top with more cheese before baking.  Just bake until the top is slightly brown, do not brown it too much as the cheese will turn hard.  Mine was too brown so I know.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked Brown Rice

8 extra large shrimps, cleaned and shelled

3/4 cup frozen mixed vegetable

2 Tbsp. butter

2 tsp. chicken powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 cup of water/ low fat milk

1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

Toppings:

2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 400'F.

2.  Heat up a wok/ saute pan, add in butter.  When slightly melted, add in shrimps, saute until cooked, add in mixed vegetables and fry well.

3.  Add in brown rice and mix well.  Add in chicken powder and water, stir well.  Add in salt and cheese (add some low fat milk here if you want).  Stir quickly or until the cheese is melted.

4.  Scoop the rice into a Pyrex container or any oven safe bowl.  Spread the top with Mozzarella cheese.  You can add more cheese if you like.

5.  Baked in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese brown and melted.

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.