Chicken Chow Mein

We have soooo many Chinese noodles in our house right now! I have been looking for recipes to start to use them up. This one jumped out at me because we had a lot of the ingredients already in the house. I only needed to get cabbage and bean sprouts!

Don't be overwhelmed by the steps, just prep all your ingredients before starting to cook. Things move quick when you stir fry!

I used my large dutch oven pot because when you add the cabbage it gets quite tall and it is easier to mix everything with the higher sides. Often I crowd my pan because I'm making a lot... someday I'll do it correctly. When the pan gets crowded things steam more and won't get as crispy/browned. Things will still cook but it changes the texture a little bit. The recipe below is updated to what I used to feed 2 adults and 2 big kids (pre-teen age kids).

There are a lot of different types of Chinese noodles that you can use. I used regular thin wheat noodles that are similar to a linguine. Dried rice noodles and fresh noodles can also be used too.

I was intrigued by coating the chicken in the baking soda. Cooks Illustrated validated this technique so I continued to follow the directions. It really made a big difference in the chicken breast!! According to other websites make sure you rinse it off and don't let it sit for longer then 15 minutes. 

The cabbage seemed like a lot but wilted down to next to nothing!

Recipe Tin Eats: Charlie Sauce - This is the link to make the larger quantity of sauce to keep in your fridge. This has quite a bit of kick to it. I followed the recipe and only used 1 tsp of the white pepper. I would use 1/2 - 3/4 of a tsp next time. It did seem very salty but I used all low-sodium soy sauce. I am going to investigate the all purpose soy sauce for next time. 

Chicken Chow Mein

adapted from Recipe Tin Eats

Serves: 4-5 adult size portions

4 cups chicken thigh breast, cut into bite size pieces
½ tsp baking soda
1½ tbsp olive oil
16 oz noodles
6-8 cups green cabbage (savoy/green/napa), finely shredded

2 carrot, matchsticks
2 cup bean sprouts
6 scallions, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Chow Mein Sauce

Chow Mein Sauce: mix all ingredients
4 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 White pepper

• Combine chicken and baking soda in a small bowl and toss to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes to marinate, then rinse chicken well and pat dry.
• Pour 2 tbsp of Chow Mein Sauce over the chicken and set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.
• Prepare the noodles according to the package instructions.
• Heat oil in wok or large fry pan over high heat.
• Add garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds until the garlic is golden brown and you can smell the garlic in the oil. 
• Add chicken and stir fry until the skin is white but the inside is still raw - about 45 seconds to 1 minute.
• Add the cabbage, carrot, and the white pieces of scallions. Stir fry for 1 - 1½ minutes until the cabbage is just starting to wilt and the chicken is cooked through.
• Add the cooked & drained noodles, Chow Mein sauce and water. Toss to coat everything in the sauce.
• Add bean sprouts and remaining shallots/scallions. Stir and remove from heat. Serve immediately

Scallion Pancakes

I love scallion pancakes. It is an unhealthy relationship and NONE of the Chinese restaurants by me make them!! It is quite the tragedy. So, I decided that for New Years I wanted to make Wonton Soup and Scallion Pies! 

These are very few and simple ingredients, but I won't lie, these are a labor of love here and did take about an hour and a half to make, rest, and cook. But it was worth it!! 

Light, not greasy, scallion-y, and probably $2 to make eight good sized pancakes! One of these babies would run you at least $4.95 in the restaurant!! 

I was making breakfast pancakes in the oven and doing dishes while the dough was resting, so it was very productive!

A similar recipe are my Mexican tortillas!

Happy New Year!!!!!

Scallion Pancakes
Adapted from The Kitchn (check out the site for pictures for each step!)

makes 8 pancakes, serves 12 once you cut into wedges?

2 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup boiling water)
Oil such as vegetable, sesame, or shortening
Coarse kosher salt
1/2 cup, about 1 bunch scallions, finely chopped (scallions = green onions)
High smoke point oil for the pan, such as vegetable, canola, or peanut oil

Mix and knead the flour and water until it forms a smooth dough. This will take about 5 minutes by hand (or less by mixer). Coat this ball of dough lightly in sesame oil and put it back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.

Split the dough into 4 equal parts. **Don't skip this step** Lightly oil your rolling surface (I used olive oil) and roll out one part of the dough. Roll until it is a thin rectangle at least 12 x 9 inches. (think thin enough to see the grain of your counter tops)

Lightly brush the top of the dough with more sesame oil (if you think its needed), then sprinkle it evenly with chopped scallions and kosher salt (about 1/2 to 1 tsp per rectangle).

Starting from the long end, roll the dough up tightly - jelly roll style, creating one long snake of rolled-up dough. Cut in half.

Take one of these halves and coil into a round dough bundle (like kindergarten arts and crafts pottery). Let it rest while you repeat this process with the rest of the dough.

Roll a coiled dough bundle into a flat, smooth, round pancake. Stack between layers of saran wrap.

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat, and oil it with a drizzle of canola, vegetable, or peanut oil (I used olive oil since that is what I have in my house). When the pan is hot, add one pancake. It should sizzle, but not burn. Cook for 2 minutes on one side or until golden brown. Flip and cook another 2 minutes. Repeat for remaining dough coils.

Cut the pancake into wedges with a pair of kitchen scissors, and serve immediately with soy sauce or another dipping sauce.

Make-Ahead Tip: If you would like to make a few pancakes but save the rest for later, you can save the dough in the fridge for up to 5 days. Just make sure the dough is oiled and well-covered. You can also roll out individual pancakes and stack them between well-oiled layers of wax paper.

Peanut Noodles

I have never tried any of Melissa d'Arabian's recipes because I wasn't a fan of her show (Ten Dollar Dinners or her cooking on Food Network Star). But this recipe is great and I think I'll try some more of her recipes later on. This is her Peanut Noodle recipe which was delish! I will be making this again. It was very easy and came together in about 25 minutes.

I added chicken to the meal for protein and I increased the peanut dressing to make sure it would cover the additions. Tofu would also work nicely. This could be a great base to add any veggies wilting in your fridge. I think the sauce would also be good with rice too... but then again I just love peanut butter.

Enjoy!

Peanut Noodles

Serves 2 very hungry people

3 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)

12 ounces linguine
2 chicken breast

Salad:
1/2 cup loosely-packed chopped fresh cilantro
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/3 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup roughly chopped skinless roasted peanuts, for garnish

Peanut Dressing:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp ground ginger)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Sirracha
1 ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime

Directions:
Chop and combine salad ingredients, put into a large strainer. 

Heat medium size frying pan. Add a little oil, soy sauce, and sirracha. Stir occasionally and cook until chicken is done (about 8 minutes). Set aside.

Put the peanut butter in a medium size glass bowl. Microwave about 15 seconds to soften. Whisk in with the soy sauce, vinegar, canola oil, ginger, honey, Sirracha, sesame oil and lime zest and juice in a small bowl.Thin with the starchy pasta water if needed, 1 tablespoon at a time. (Dressing should be thick, but pourable.) 

Toast sesame seeds in a frying pan until light golden in color, 4 to 6 minutes, and set aside. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente. Pour the pasta over the salad in the strainer. The hot water will soften the veggies. Put back into the pasta pot. Pour the peanut dressing over the pasta and veggies, combine.

Top with the chopped peanuts and toasted sesame seeds and serve.

Tangy Asian Meatballs (Baked not Fried)

This is a great no stove top recipe. I was looking for slow cooker recipes, however many recipes need less then 6 hours, but more then 4 which is not ideal for a work day. So I took the meatball recipe from  here and baked it instead of 3-5 hours on low in the slow cooker.

After combining all the ingredients I thought the meat mixture was a little wet (i.e. not like cookie dough)... so I called my Dad! He said that meatballs are supposed to look like that and it would be fine once they are cooked. He was right! So if your meatballs don't quite look right, they might cook up just fine! He also recommends lining the baking dish with tin foil. This makes for a fast clean up and prevents all the sauces from baking into the dish and never coming off the pan.

I made a few changes, I used ground turkey instead of ground pork and I omitted the plum sauce since I didn't have any in the house. I was worried the ground turkey would be dry, but I didn't miss using pork (or a mix of meats) at all! These were very moist and flavorful.

If you use fresh ginger, you can peel the rest of the piece of ginger and freeze it in a zip lock bag. When you are ready to use it you can grate what you need and then store it back in the freezer.

Panko breadcrumbs are bigger flakes of breadcrumbs. You can use whatever plain breadcrumbs you have on hand.

I would make these again and freeze a few to see how they and I can pre-make them.  

PS It is easy to grow fresh scallions too. When you buy scallions from the grocery store, cut them down to just above the white part with the roots. Plunk it in about a half inch to an inch of water and keep place it in a semi sunny to sunny location. They should start growing in days!

 

Lil meatballs waiting to be cooked

YUM!

Tangy Asian Meatballs (Baked not Fried)

Makes approx 18 golf ball sized meatballs

 

1 pound ground turkey

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs

3 scallions, white and light-green parts, chopped

1 large egg

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3/4 cup barbecue sauce

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 9x13 glass baking dish with tin foil.

Combine turkey, breadcrumbs, scallions, egg, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a large bowl; mix until just combined – don’t over mix! The meat will look wet and not meatball like yet. Scoop into 1-inch balls and place onto the lined baking dish.

In a small bowl, whisk together barbecue sauce and hoisin sauce; put a spoonful over each meatball using up all the sauce.

Bake for 20-35 minutes, depending on the size of the meatball. They are done when the inside is no longer pink!

Served with rice and some roasted garlic carrots.

Citrus Bow Tie Pasta

Warm weather is upon us! This is a light and fresh meal that takes only as long as the pasta takes to cook!

While the pasta is cooking you can slice and chop up the rest of the ingredients. When the pasta is done toss it all together, and dinner is ready!

What did I change? Overall I kept with the main recipe, I just made changes to my preferences. I sliced a couple cherry tomatoes since I'm not a huge fan of raw tomatoes. Since we had cilantro from other recipes, I used some more of that. Parsley is also an option however. You can swap the lemon juice for lime juice as well. I didn't mix the feta into the entire bowl since I'm not a fan, but it was pretty sprinkled on top of the food.

This is great served warm or cold. This will be ok for leftovers the next day, but won't last much longer than that. Once the avocado is turning brown - toss it!

Next time I might try using sundried tomatoes instead of fresh or even try some basil and fresh mozzarella!

Citrus Bow Tie Pasta

recipe adapted from Whole Foods
Serves 2

1/2 pound bow tie pasta
1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed  

4 green onions, both green and white parts, chopped
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
a couple diced cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup packed chopped cilantro
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon
1/3 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse the pasta. Place hot pasta in a large mixing bowl. Add avocado, green onions, feta, tomatoes and cilantro. Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil and drizzle over the warm pasta. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper and serve warm or cold.

Wonton Soup

Are you ready for my Wonton Soup recipe? I know you have been waiting to see when it would be posted.

While the assembly might take a while (maybe about 1 1/2 hours), this will provide you with lots of meals if you eat alone like me *tear* or a big family meal and a couple small meals. If I am making this for dinner for someone or with my family, I convince my brother or whoever is around to help with the folding.

You can buy all the ingredients at the Chinese grocery store, but also at your regular market. These are in the refrigerated section. Stop and Shop has them near the fresh produce area I think. I normally get the white ones. This time I did a taste test and they have a different texture when cooked but both are fine and I don't really have a preference.

Twin Marquis, Wonton Wrapper (Shanghai style)

Twin Marquis, Wonton Wrapper (Hong Kong style)

The recipe is easy to adjust based on your tastes. Add in more or less of things. Add more meat to the dumplings or make them smaller. Since this is a easy to make/time consuming to assemble recipe I make a double batch to freeze a bunch. That becomes my I'm-starving-after-work-and-need-to-eat-right-now dinner.

I will use ground turkey or pork depending what is on hand at the time. If I had a choice I think the pork is a better texture and has more flavor. For the shrimp, cut them into about 4 pieces and close to the same size. The shrimp cooks fast and you don't want it to over cook. Until you know what seasonings you want for ground pepper/soy sauce/ginger/etc, make and cook a test dumpling then add in more of whatever seasoning you are looking for.

I have never have the correct amount of wrappers to filling so I sometimes toss in some of the wrappers in the water with the wontons and eat them as noodles.

Freeze them on a flat cookie sheet for a couple hours. Then feel free to put into a freezer Ziploc baggie or in a container of your choice!

I made a video of how to fold them but it didn't save properly... I'll make another one next time. In the meantime here is a YouTube video (sorry, music is really loud): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ33n10ht88. There are many different ways to fold them, as simple as a triangle or really fancy folding techniques. The only problem with the triangle is when you freeze them, the corners may break off.

Put it all in the bowl!

Between a tsp and a tbs of filling, wet two connecting edges
with water, fold into a triangle

Be sure to press out all the air and seal the edges well

Hold triangle flat, middle tip facing you. Wet the top of the right
corner. Fold straight outwards and place the left
corner over the right corner, press to seal.

If you layer them separate with plastic wrap, parchment paper,
or wax paper to prevent sticking

Enjoy!!

Wonton Soup
Makes 1 package of wonton wrappers

1 lb ground turkey or pork

3 - 6 stems of scallion (green onion), chopped

5 - 10 shrimp, not cooked, chopped into fourths (optional)

1 can water chestnuts, chopped

Square Wonton wrappers

1 egg

Ground black pepper
1 - 3 tbsp Soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice wine
1 big can Chicken Broth
Optional: Green Veggies

Mix everything but the chicken broth and green veg until just combined.
Use a spoon and put the tsp of filling into the middle of each wonton wrapper.
Wet 2 sides of the wrapper with water and fold into a triangle. You can leave them like that or hold the triangle flat, with the point facing you. Place one edge of the right corner over the left edge and pinch together.
Boil water in one pot and heat up chicken broth in another. Cook the vegetables in the chicken broth.
It takes about 4 minutes to cook the wontons if they are fresh. About 6-8 minutes if they are frozen. Cut one open and see if the meat (no pink) and shrimp (pink) are cooked through, if so, serve up! (Bigger ones take a bit longer and smaller ones will cook faster!)

Chicken and Rice with Ginger Soup

I was looking for a light soup for dinner tonight, I was inspired by the chicken and rice soup with ginger from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. This makes a very light broth, but the ginger and cooking the chicken in it gives it flavor. I can't find the recipe online to link so I posted it below.

4 cups chicken broth
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced,
1 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup long grain white rice
3 oz baby spinach (3 cups)
salt & pepper

In medium pot bring broth, 2 cups water, garlic, and ginger to a simmer over medium heat. Add chicken and rice and simmer until chicken is cooked, about 10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate, Cover pot and simmer until rice is tender, 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Shred chicken and transfer to pot. Stir in spinach and season with salt & pepper.

Good looking recipe, however I didn't have chicken broth, real ginger, real garlic, or spinach...So here is my interpretation:

Chicken and Rice with Ginger Soup
Makes approx 2-3 servings

1) I made the rice separate.

2) Meanwhile, I heated 4 cups of water, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, salt, pepper, and 2 frozen chicken breasts over about med high heat in a large pot. Since it was frozen it took closer to 20 minutes. Once chicken was pretty much done I added in large cut carrots (1 carrot) and celery (1 stalk). 10 minutes in the pot is plenty of time for them to soften. Shred the chicken when it is all cooked. Add it all back in and some peas if you'd like. Serve over rice!