Thai Chicken and Cashew Nuts

This is one of my ultimate favourite Thai dishes. The chicken recipe is adapted from Six Sister's Stuff. The chicken is cooked in a slow cooker but you could very easily adapt the recipe to be straight stir-fry. You can also omit the chicken to make a delicious Thai vegan stir fry.

Serves 2-4

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce or Bragg's Aminos
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons tomato paste or ketchup
1 tablespoon sucanat
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or Thai chili paste
1/2 cup water
1/2 small onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup whole cashews
2 green onions, chopped
handful of cilantro, rough chopped

1. Trim fat off chicken and place in slow cooker.

2. In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, vinegar, tomato paste, sucanat, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes and water. Pour sauce over chicken.

3. Cook on low for 3 hours for breasts and 3 1/2 to 4 hours for thighs.

4. Once chicken is cooked, remove from slow cooker and set on a plate to cool slightly. Once cooled, roughly chop chicken into cubes. Reserve sauce.

5. In a walk over medium heart, stir-fry onions and peppers for 2-3 minutes. Pour in sauce from the slow cooker and bring to a boil to reduce slightly. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.

6. Add chicken and cashews to wok and mix together. Remove from heat and mix in green onion and cilantro. Serve immediately with rice or quinoa. If you aren't serving immediately, do not add the cilantro until just before serving.

If you plan to modify the recipe so it is not a slow cooker recipe, I would cut the chicken into small pieces and stir fry it in a small amount of sesame oil. Once chicken is browned, remove from wok and set aside, then begin with step five.

To make this recipe vegan, omit the chicken and use extra veggies or tofu in the stir fry (step five).

Chicken Hekka

Another tropical recipe from Sam Choy. Mr. Choy says while growing up, his family always made Chicken Hekka for mainland guests. He describes this dish as being "comfort food" and a "cornerstone recipe" in his cookbook.

But what the heck is Chicken Hekka? There isn't much about it online. Hekka is apparently a Hawaiian word but when I played around with Hawaiian/English translators, I found no entries. Other blogs claim Hekka is based on Japanese cooking and is pretty much the same as Japanese sukiyaki - a one pot meal made with thin sliced vegetables and meat.

Regardless of what it is, Chicken Hekka is easy to make and it's pretty good.

Marinade:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into cubes
1/4 cup soy sauce*
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp sucanat

1. Combine marinade ingredients in a shallow dish. Add chicken and toss well to coat. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Sake Sauce:
2 tbsp agave syrup
1/2 cup soy sauce*
1/4 cup chicken broth*
1/4 cup sake or Chinese cooking wine

1. Mix everything together in a small bowl and set aside.

Hawaiian cooking does not involve spice. You may wish to add a dash or two or Sriracha to spice things up, or leave as is for a mild flavour.

Stir Fry:
marinated chicken (as above)
1 tbsp sesame or peanut oil
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
1 can sliced bamboo shoots
1 carrot, julienned
1 stalk celery, julienned
3 stalks green onion, cut in 1 inch lengths
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1 cups watercress leaves
1 bundle (2 oz) thin rice noodles, cooked, drained and cut into 1 inch lengths
prepared Sake Sauce (as above)
1/2 block firm tofu, drained and cut into 1" cubes (optional)

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add ginger and chicken. Brown chicken.

2. Add bamboo shoots, carrot and celery. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes. Add onion and green onion and stir fry for another minute or two.



3. Add 1/2 cup Sake Sauce and rice noodles. Let simmer for 5-8 minutes. Sauce will absorb into noodles.

4. Gently stir in tofu and watercress. Mix everything together well. Remove from heat. Serve with rice, more rice noodles or as is.



*Use Gluten Free, if needed.

Curried Lemongrass Chicken

The chicken marinade comes from Food & Wine Magazine. Their recipe calls for stir frying the chicken with a calorie rich caramel sauce. I can do without the excess sugar so I just went with the marinade portion of the recipe then stir fried the chicken with aromatics and vegetables. I served it over plain vermicelli noodles and topped it with left over Spicy Almond Dressing. The finished dish was very spicy. If you aren't into spice, omit the chili peppers where you see fit.

Marinade:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into small cubes
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Thai chili pepper, cut in half & seeded
1 stalk of fresh or jarred lemongrass, cut in half and smashed (If using fresh, see here on how to prepare it. Follow directions on preparing for soup.)
1 tbsp mild curry powder
2 tbsp sucanat
1 tsp salt

1. Add everything, except chicken, to a shallow bowl and mix together well. Add chicken and toss to coat.

2. Marinate in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours.

Stir Fry:

splash of cooking oil
1 piece lemongrass, minced
1 green onion, sliced thin
1 Thai chili, seeded and sliced thin
1/2 red onion, minced
marinated chicken, marinade discarded
1/2 medium zucchini, sliced thin then cut into quarters
1/2 large red pepper, diced



1. Add oil to a wok and heat over medium-high heat.

2. Add lemongrass, green onion, chili and onion and stir fry for a couple minutes.



3. Add chicken and stir fry until all sides of chicken are no longer pink. Place lid over wok and let chicken cook for about 5 minutes.

4. Add zucchini and red peppers. Stir everything together. Place lid back on the wok and cook for another 5-8 minutes until chicken is cooked through. (Internal temperature should be at least 165 degrees.)



5. Pour contents of wok over cooked rice or noodles. Top with fresh cilantro.







This recipe was featured on the front page of Tasty Kitchen on July 16, 2010!

Spicy Mongolian Beef (Sweet & Spicy Beef)

Mongolian Beef. A delicious dish of succulent beef, bathed in a sweet, spicy and savoury sauce. A delicious dish that has nothing to do with Mongolia. Odd, eh? This dish is actually an Americanized "Chinese" dish. Mongolian Beef uses Asian inspired ingredients, but you won't find this in China and you definitely won't find it in Mongolia. I vote we change the name to Sweet & Spicy Beef. But that's just me.

P.S. I LOVED this dish.

Marinade:

1 lb flank steak, cut into very thin slices against the grain
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (rice wine)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sucanat (or dark brown sugar)
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp garlic chili sauce
2 green onion, cut into 1 inch lengths

1. Place steak into a shallow dish.

2. Mix all ingredients together and pour over steak. Toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. The longer you marinate the better. Drain remaining marinade before using beef in the stir fry.

Sauce:

1/3 cup orange juice
zest of half 1 large orange
1/4 cup Chinese cooking wine (rice wine)
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp garlic chili sauce
1 tbsp corn starch mixed with a splash of warm water

1. Mix everything together in a bowl and set aside.


Stir Fry:

Marinated beef
Prepared sauce
4 green onions, cut diagonally into 1 inch pieces
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 Thai chili peppers, seeded and sliced thin
2 tbsp peanut oil

1. Heat a wok over high heat. Add 1 tbsp peanut oil and roll wok to coat. Add beef pieces. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes until beef is mostly browned. A little pink here and there is okay. Remove beef from the wok and set aside.

2. Add another tbsp of peanut oil to the wok. Add onion, green onions and chili peppers and stir gently for a minute.

3. Pour the sauce into the wok. Stir for a couple minutes until sauce starts to thicken. Add beef back to wok. Toss together so beef is well coated in sauce.

4. Remove beef from wok immediately. Serve with rice or rice stick noodles. Sprinkle sliced green onion and grated orange zest on top to finish.

Chinese Chicken and Snow Peas over Ginger Rice

This is another recipe inspired by my dad. He will often make this using shrimp instead of chicken or with bell peppers instead of snow peas. I can't eat bell peppers and I don't have shrimp so this will have to do!

Serves 3-4

Chinese Chicken and Snow Peas

Chicken Prep:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tsp baking soda

Sauce:
2 tbsp gluten free oyster sauce
2 tsp gluten free soy sauce
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
1/3 cup fresh chicken broth
1 tsp sucanat
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp corn starch

Stir Fry:
1/4 cup cashews
1 1/2 cup snow peas, washed and trimmed
1/2 small onion, diced medium
1/2 can sliced water chestnuts

1. Place chicken in a shallow bowl and coat well with baking soda. Let rest for 15 minutes.

2. While chicken is resting, combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well and set aside.

3. Rinse chicken well and pat dry. Cut into small cubes. Place chicken in a bowl and coat with 1/4 of the sauce mixture. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.

4. While chicken is marinating, blanch snow peas. Heat 1-2 cups water in wok over medium high heat. Fill a bowl with water and ice and set aside. When wok water is boiling, toss snow peas in and leave for 30-60 seconds. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon and place them in the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Remove from ice bath and set snow peas aside until ready to use.

5. After 30 minutes of marinating the chicken, heat a small amount of peanut or sesame oil in a wok over medium high heat.

6. Add marinated chicken and stir fry until meat is nearly cooked. Remove from wok and set aside.

7. Add onion to wok and stir fry for 2-3 minutes until onions are slightly translucent. Reduce heat to medium.

8. Add chicken back to the wok along with the snow peas, cashews and water chestnuts. Stir together.

9. Pour remainder of sauce over stir fry and mix well to coat. Stir and simmer until sauce is thickened, chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender crisp.

10. Serve over Ginger Rice.

If you are in a time crunch, skip the baking soda step. The baking soda helps make the chicken tender by breaking down the tissues, sort of like brining. It isn't absolutely necessary though.

No Fuss Clean Out Your Fridge Stir Fry

A few nights ago, my first day off and coming off a night shift, I didn't feel like making dinner. It was one of those days where you feel like eating but can't find anything to eat even though your fridge and freezer are full. I kept opening the fridge door, rummaging around and closing the door again. By 730pm I still hadn't made dinner. I had not eaten since lunch and was on the verge of having 2 scoops of frozen yogurt and calling it a night. Somehow, somewhere I found the motivation to cook. I pulled out all my near wilted vegetables, improvised a sauce and made a pretty decent vegetable stir fry.

Make your own No Fuss Clean Out Your Fridge Stir Fry very easily. Use whatever you have.

Mine looked like this:

2 cups broccolini
1 cup snap peas, trimmed
1 cup green beans, trimmed & cut in half
1/4 red onion, sliced
2 white mushrooms, quartered (more would have been nice, but it's all I had!)

For the sauce I mixed the following:

1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp agave syrup
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce (like sriracha)
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
pinch salt (because I used low sodium soy sauce and felt the sauce needed salt)

I blanched the green beans and broccolini for a couple mins then added them with the snap peas to a hot wok with a drizzle of peanut sauce. After stir frying for a few mins, I added the onions and mushrooms. After another couple minutes I added the sauce and stirred to coat the veggies, then lowered the heat and simmered for about 8 minutes while the accompanying buckwheat noodles cooked on the burner next door.

Total prep and cook time, about 25 minutes.

For a sauce, if you don't have those ingredients, just add a bit of vegetable broth, garlic and soy sauce to the pan. Or use a bottled stir fry sauce. If you have chicken or beef or tofu, throw that in too. Use whatever veggies you have on hand. Serve it on rice, noodles or all alone.

Stir fry is an anything goes meal. So take whatever you have and go with it! Much more satisfying than 2 scoops, pizza delivery or drive through fast food.

Five Spice Beef & Broccoli

This is a two part recipe, as with most stir fry recipes, because you deal with the meat and the veggies separately. It's still pretty quick and easy and tastes delicious.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

3/4 lb sirloin beef, cut into strips (i used prepared stir fry beef to save time)
2 tbsp macadamia nut oil, divided
2 tsp Chinese five spice
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup water
1 lb broccoli florets, sliced carrots, pea pods, sliced celery
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup vegetable broth (or beef)

Directions:

1. Mix beef with 1 tbsp oil and Chinese five spice. Use your hands to get the rub into the beef. Marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature (room temp meat cooks more evenly & faster).

2. Heat large fry pan or wok on medium high heat. Add remaining oil and beef. Stir fry for 2-3 mins until beef is mostly no longer pink. Add garlic and stir fry another couple minutes until beef is no longer pink. Remove from fry pan and set aside.

3. In same fry pan or wok, add vegetables and 1/4 cup of water and stir fry/steam over medium heat. Until veggies are fork tender (fork inserted easily but still has some crisp), approx 5-7 minutes. If any water remaining in pan, drain off before proceeding.

4. In a small bowl, Whisk cornstarch, vegetable broth and oyster sauce.

5. Add beef and sauce mix to the fry pan. Stir on medium low for 5 mins until everything is coated, heated through and sauce thickens a bit.

6. Serve over rice or noodles.

7. Try to use chopsticks and laugh at your ineptitude. :)