15-minute cauliflower fried rice

http://pinchofyum.com/15-minute-cauliflower-fried-rice

* I added pineapple and radish to ours - you can add and subtract as you please, lots of variations would be delicious!!

Photo & recipe credit: http://pinchofyum.com/

Sweet and sour veggie stir fry

https://www.hellofresh.com/recipe/detail/57acf78f518c88990d8b4568/jamie-s-sweet-and-sour-veggie-stir-fry-with-fluffy-rice-and-peanut-sprinkle/

Photo and recipe credit: Hello Fresh

Chinese orange chicken

We've been on a bit of a Chinese chicken kick lately.  There's just something about coating chicken in yumminess and giving it a light fry that calls our name.  This recipe from Cooking Classy is a keeper!

CHINESE ORANGE CHICKEN

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless, chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 Tbsp grated orange zest (zest of 1 1/2 large oranges)

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp dried ginger

2 Tbsp grated yellow onion (be sure to get some of the juices when measuring)

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce (optional)

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1 1/4 cups + 2 Tbsp cornstarch, divided

2 Tbsp cold water

2 large eggs

Vegetable or peanut oil, for frying

Cooked rice, for serving

Chopped green onions and sesame seeds, for garnish

Instructions:

Place chicken pieces in a gallon size resealable bag, and set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine chicken broth, orange zest, orange juice, vinegar, soy sauce, granulated sugar, ginger, yellow onion, garlic, Sriracha and black pepper. Whisk well, then measure out 2/3 cup of the mixture and pour it over the chicken in the resealable bag. Seal bag while pressing excess air out, and press chicken into marinade. Place bag in a bowl or baking dish and refrigerate 30 minutes, turning once.

Meanwhile, return remaining sauce mixture in saucepan over medium heat and bring just to a boil, stirring frequently. In a small bowl whisk together 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp water then stir cornstarch mixture into sauce. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook 1 - 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly, until thickened, remove from heat.

Pour vegetable oil into a large cast iron dutch oven, filling pot about 1 1/2-inches deep and heat oil to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a shallow dish until well blended. Pour remaining 1 1/4 cups cornstarch into a separate shallow dish. Remove chicken from refrigerator and drain and discard marinade from chicken. Dip chicken pieces into egg, followed by cornstarch (evenly coat), then carefully place 1/3 of the chicken pieces into preheated oil and cook for 5 - 7 minutes until golden, turning once during cooking. Using skimmer, remove fried chicken from oil and transfer to a paper towel lined cookie sheet to drain excess oil. Repeat process with remaining chicken working in two more batches.

Put drained fried chicken into a bowl and toss with sauce. Serve warm over white or brown rice, and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.

General Tso's chicken

We've tried several Chinese food recipes at this house (Robert loooooooooooves soy sauce), but this one from Tasty Kitchen is the most successful one so far.  I assume it's the cornstarchy mixture that the chicken gets covered in, because it creates a perfect coating and texture once it's fried.  And then there's that sauce... seriously, this is so, so good.  Try it!

GENERAL TSO'S CHICKEN

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

FOR THE CHICKEN:

1 ½ teaspoons Toasted Sesame Oil

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 egg white

¼ cups plus 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken (original calls for chicken thighs, I used chicken breast)

Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

FOR THE SAUCE:

1 Tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons fresh ginger root, minced

1 cup chicken broth or stock

¼ cups soy sauce

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic sauce

3 Tablespoons raw (turbinado) sugar

4 scallions, thinly sliced

White or brown rice, for serving

Instructions:

Prep your chicken:
In a mixing bowl, stir together the sesame oil, soy sauce, egg white, and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cornstarch until a thick slurry forms. It will look gummy but smooth.

Add the chicken pieces and stir until all are evenly coated. Set chicken aside, covered lightly with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Begin the sauce:
Add the tablespoon of oil to a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. Stir the garlic and ginger into the oil and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining sauce ingredients until smooth. Pour into the garlic and ginger, stirring, until the sauce becomes thick and shiny. Once the sauce thickens, lower heat and keep the saucepan over a low burner partially covered to stay warm.

To fry the chicken:
Heat 1/2-inches of oil in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided frying pan or skillet over high heat.  When the oil is shimmering, add one piece of chicken at a time, taking care not to crowd the pan. Cook chicken for 4 minutes on each side, or until deep golden brown and crisp on both sides.  Transfer the fried chicken to a paper towel lined plate and repeat the process until you’ve cooked all the chicken.

Then slide all of the fried chicken into the prepared sauce and toss to coat.  Increase the heat to medium, stir and cook just until hot all the way through.  Sprinkle with sliced scallions and serve immediately over rice.

Mongolian beef

This recipe from Six Sister's Stuff is billed as a copycat of the mongolian beef from P.F. Chang's.  I'm not sure I've ever ordered that dish so I can't vouch for the copycat part, but either way, it's delicious.

MONGOLIAN BEEF

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 teaspoons vegetable oil 
½ teaspoon ginger, minced 
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped 
½ cup soy sauce 
½ cup water 
¾ cup dark brown sugar 
vegetable oil , for frying (about 1 cup) 
1 lb flank steak 
¼ cup cornstarch 
2 large green onions, chopped

rice, for serving

Instructions

Sauce:
Heat 2 tsp. of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat.  Don't get the oil too hot.  Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.  Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then increase the heat to medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens (may require a sprinkle of corn starch to thicken). Remove it from the heat.

Beef:
Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.  Dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.  Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.  As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil). Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and sauté until brown. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.  After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels.  Dab excess oil off meat with a paper towel and add to saucepan with the sauce in it.  Put the pan back on the oven over medium/low heat.  Add chopped green onions and let sauce simmer until warm. Serve over rice.

Char Siu pork roast (crock pot)

I love cooking in the crock pot- I can do the prep work and get dinner started during my kids' afternoon naps, which frees me up at dinnertime when things get really chaotic around here.  Last week we made this Char Siu pork roast from Cooking Light.  This recipe had Robert's name all over it- a big piece of meat cooked in Asian spices and sauces.  It was a winner!

Chicken satay sliders

We had Rachael Ray's satay sliders for dinner this week. They have a spicy, Asian flavor- delicious! The original recipe had lots of options/substitutes, so I noted below where I made changes.

Satay Sliders
Yield: 8 sliders

Sauce:
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used creamy)
1/4 cup apple juice, apple cider or pineapple juice (I used pineapple)
3 tablespoons Tamari (I used regular soy sauce)
1 tablespoon Asian chili sauce, or 1/2 teaspoon sriracha (I used sriracha)

Sliders:
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or turkey (I used ground chicken)
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 piece (1 1/2 inches) fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped
salt and pepper
vegetable oil, for coating
8 slider sized soft rolls

Toppings:
shredded cabbage or iceberg lettuce
sliced chile peppers, such as fresnos
thinly sliced radishes (Yuck- skipped these)
mint or cilantro leaves (I used mint)

Preheat an outdoor grill or a grill pan to medium-high.

Mix the meat with the green onion, garlic and ginger. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the meat and portion into 8 patties. Coat each with a small amount of vegetable oil. Grill, turning once, until cooked through – 6 to 8 minutes.

In the meantime, heat the peanut butter in the microwave to soften, or in a small pot over medium heat. Stir in the juice, tamari/soy sauce and sriracha.

When the burgers are cooked through, serve them on the buns with a generous amount of satay sauce and your desired toppings.

Asian barbecue chicken stir-fry

We tried this Asian BBQ chicken stir-fry from Rachael Ray last week- it is simple to pull together, it just requires a bit of chopping. Also, I subbed brown rice for white, which takes longer to cook (we got impatient and ate it a little al dente). This has great flavor, and the peanuts add a nice crunch!

Photo credit: Rachaelray.com

Asian lettuce wraps

Dinner tonight was Asian lettuce wraps from Sunny Anderson on the Food Network. We love ordering these at PF Chang's, and it's so easy to make at home, too! We followed the recipe as is, with the addition of some chopped water chestnuts. These take no time to pull together - 10 minutes from start to finish - so they're great for a fast meal. Try them, you'll love them!!

Hoisin pork tenderloin

We made Cooking Light's hoisin pork tenderloin last week and it was a big hit! Our tenderloin was pretty thick, so our cook time was longer than what the recipe called for. It was delicious!

Spicy orange beef

Dinner last night was spicy orange beef from Cooking Light. This recipe is so simple (other than the first batch of rice we ruined, but enough about that). It is spicy and delicious!

(We were out of sesame oil so I used olive oil. And minced fresh garlic (2 cloves) instead of bottled. Other than, we followed the recipe.)

Asian chicken noodle soup

We made Asian chicken noodle soup last week, a recipe from Cooking Light. This was my first time cooking with lemongrass, which gives the soup it's unique Asian flavor (I found it in the produce section at Whole Foods). This was a simple yet flavorful soup.

09.21.09 Pork pot stickers

We made pork pot stickers for dinner this week, a recipe from Everyday Food magazine. This was my first time cooking with wonton wrappers (found in the refrigerated section by the specialty cheeses at my Kroger). These were fun to make and yummy to eat - little pockets of Asian flavor! (Robert had pot stickers later this week at a business dinner and said mine were far superior. Might have had something to do with sitting out all night on a buffet, but it shows that this recipe is a keeper!)

Pork pot stickers
Makes 20

1/4 lb ground pork
1 tbsp minced chives
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp dry sherry
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp cornstarch
20 wonton wrappers
1 tbsp vegetable oil
(Soy dipping sauce recipe follows)

In a bowl, combine pork, chives, soy sauce, sherry, ginger, sesame oil, cornstarch and 1 tbsp water. Place a heaping teaspoon of pork mixture in center of a wonton wrapper. Lightly wet edge of wrapper, fold over, and press to seal. Repeat to form remaining dumplings.

In two batches, cook dumplings in a large pot of boiling water until cooked through (4 minutes); transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. In a large nonstick pan, heat vegetable oil over medium-high. In two batches, cook until browned, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Serve with dipping sauce.

Soy-ginger dipping sauce:
In a bowl, stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp minced fresh ginger, 2 tsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp sesame oil.

09.13.09 Braised short ribs

We made braised short ribs from the Food Network on Sunday. This was a repeat recipe (first time was pre-blog), and one of our favorites. I didn't get a good photo, but the recipe is worth sharing so I'm posting anyway. These ribs get their great flavor from braising in beer, then being basted with hoisin sauce as they finish in the oven. (Our liquid cooked down to almost nothing in the recommended cooking time, so it took extra beer to maintain liquids in our pot). The hoisin sauce gives it a kicky Asian flavor, and the meat falls off the bone!

01.25.09 Bombay chicken

Dinner tonight was Bombay chicken, a recipe from my Pi Phi cookbook. It's a simple recipe with few ingredients, and didn't require a trip to the grocery store for us, which I love. We used chicken tenders, so we baked ours for 30 minutes instead of 45. I served it with chicken fried rice (nothing fancy, just one of those rice packets from Lipton). The recipe is below - there were some vague parts, so I've inserted my notes in parentheses. Enjoy!

Bombay Chicken - Serves 4

8 pieces chicken (I used 6 tenders for the two of us)
Flour
Salt and pepper
3-4 teaspoons oil
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
5 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 cup dry sherry

Preheat oven to 375. Dredge chicken pieces in mixture of flour, salt and pepper. In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken in oil (doesn't have to be cooked through because the dish also bakes in the oven). Remove chicken and place in a casserole dish. Add remaining ingredients to skillet and cook 1 minute. Pour sauce over chicken and bake for 45 minutes (adjust to the amount and size of your chicken pieces).