General Tso Good!

Ok, so I've had some trouble this week with Pinterest recipes I've made not panning out for me.  I've served up some rather bland fried chicken that was supposed to be amazing, I've made some "man pleasin' chicken" that didn't please any of us, and I tried out a blueberry bar recipe that was flat out weird.

So when I came across a baked General Tso chicken recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a shot regardless of my recent culinary failures.

Yeah, that's kind of what I had to do through this recipe, continue to tell myself that the many steps were nothing to worry about...and guess what???

They weren't anything to worry about!

This is not a 30-minute meal, and if you don't have the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, chili paste, ginger, garlic, or half a dozen other ingredients, it may run up your grocery bill.

However, if you're looking for a recipe that will allow you to involve your family members, or, if you are simply looking to eat a healthy version of an American-Asian classic, then this is worth trying.

I served this General Tso Chicken with jasmine rice and a cucumber salad.  It was a hit with the fam!

Baked General Tso Chicken


For the chicken:


3 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts; pounded and cut into strips or chunks
2 eggs, 1/4 cup water, whisked together
1 1/2 cups brown rice flour (rice flour or unbleached flour works)
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. red pepper
2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. ground ginger (don't skimp here!)

For the sauce:


4 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
4 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. toasted sesame seed oil
2 tbsp. hot chili paste (not Sriracha)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cornstarch
3 cloves minced garlic (FRESH!)
3 tbsp. freshly grated ginger
(you may need an additional 1 tsp. cornstarch in 1 tbsp. water, so keep handy)
and
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.  Line a large cookie sheet with non-stick foil, drizzling a little olive oil onto the foil.  Take chicken pieces and dredge through egg mixture, then flour mixture. Space pieces on foil.  Drizzle a little more oil on top, then bake for 30 minutes, turning halfway through.  

While chicken is cooking, prepare sauce.  Add soy sauce through ginger into a small bowl and whisk well.   

Add the sugar and 1/4 cup water into non-stick saucepan.  Heat on medium until sugar water turns into a caramel-colored sauce. STIR CONTINUOUSLY.

The recipe I followed said to keep stirring until it smells like a caramel sauce.  Yeah, I couldn't smell it, but the bubbles on the edge of the pan were sticky and caramel-like.  When this happens, turn off heat. Whisk your soy sauce/chili mixture one more time to make sure the cornstarch didn't separate, then very slowly, add it to the caramel sauce.  It can foam up and burn you, so please use caution.  Place back on heat, whisking all the while, until it thickens.  If this does not happen within the first two minutes or so, add the 1 tsp. to 1 tbsp. water mixture and it will thicken quickly.

When chicken is done cooking, ladle sauce over the chicken pieces while they are still on the sheet.  Serve over rice and with a side cucumber salad.  

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

1-2 English cucumbers, washed, and cut as desired

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce

1 packet Ideal sweetener or 1 tsp. sugar

Directions:

Slice cucumber as desired.  Whisk salt through sweetener in a serving bowl.  Add cucumbers, tossing them to coat, and then refrigerate until dinner is ready.  Enjoy!

Sushi Time...But Wait!!

We love sushi in this house.  Pete and the girls even made some for me one year on Mother's Day.  I, however, have no patience for making the stuff.  All that sushi rice. PASS!

But I do like sushi-grade ahi tuna.  I am going to pause the sushi talk here and speak to those who prefer not to eat raw fish.

If you don't like even partially cooked tuna, please do not buy the ahi tuna and then cook it all the way.  This fish is not cheap by any means.  It usually runs $10 a pound - YIKES - where I live.  To cook it entirely would be a travesty, in my opinion.  So I suggest grilling some shrimp with a little safflower oil (high smoking point), lime juice, salt, and pepper. This meal works just as well with the shrimp.

Now back to the sushi programming.

This recipe is a salad, studded with gems and topped with a crown that tastes like solid gold.  The crown being Newman's Own Light Asian dressing.  Alas, my store was completely OUT.  Nooooo!  However, Kraft makes a light Asian dressing, and I think - gasp - I might like it better!  And it was on sale...bonus!  Wait - you're wondering why I am not making my own dressing, right?  This meal is quick and easy.  For me, making my own dressing would add time to the process, and who wants that, right?  Right!

Seared Ahi Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 to 1.25 pounds of sushi-grade ahi tuna
1 tsp. olive, avocado, or safflower oil
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Container spring greens or baby romaine
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 English cucumber, chopped
1 avocado, sliced (each person gets 1/4 avocado)
Chopped cilantro
Lime wedges
Kraft Light Asian dressing (1 tbsp. per person)

Directions:

Prep all veggies and place in bowls for your family/friends/pet rocks to use as a salad bar selection.  

Rinse and pat the tuna steaks dry, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Heat grill pan or skillet on medium and add the teaspoon of oil when pan is hot.  Pan must be hot enough to cause the fish to sizzle. 

Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, then allow to rest on a cutting board for another 2 minutes.  Slice thinly.  Allow family/friends/pet rocks to build salads, then add 3-4 oz. of sliced ahi to the tops of salads.  Dress with lime juice and 1 tbsp. dressing.  

I serve French bread rolls with this for my carb-loving family, but if you're watching your waistline, just add more veggies.  And the great thing about this meal is that it's a salad - add whatever you like!

Thursday dinner - done!

Weight Watchers Points (w/o dinner roll): 6 points

Note: All WW Points are based on the recipe calculator on the WW site.  Eating more proteins, carbs, and fats will increase your point level.  

Year of the Dragon

How cool is that.  The Year of the Dragon.  Kind of sounds like a movie.

But it's really not a movie, because if it were, this would be an entirely different post.  You see, I am no Asian chef.  Asian cuisine is absolutely not my strong suit.  I can barely cook rice.  Risotto, sure, I make a mean risotto, but white rice - NO.

So what's a gal like me do for Chinese New Year?  Wing it, baby.

My husband and I went to the Asian supermarket today to look for Chinese New Year (CNY) decorations for our CNY dinner.  Wow, $15 for a cardboard lantern with a dragon on it.  Sure, I like to wing it but not crash and burn.

What we did find was that you can get carp - to eat - at Asian markets.  Do not misunderstand me with what I say next - I respect all cultures...but...poor carp!  If we ever build a koi pond, Pete and I know how we'll stock it.  Be free, poor carp, be free!  Moving on...

At home, I put together my mixed-matched version of a CNY.  A spicy shrimp stir-fry, jasmine rice, pineapple and tangerines, and yes - sparkling Sake.

Yes, I am aware that's Japanese, not Chinese.  No judging here.

Anyhow, time to decorate.  But with what?  When you wing it with a themed dinner, you do what you must. You take anything you have in your home and switch it around.  So with the chocolate Chinese dragon coins we bought at $.25 a piece (steal!), and some bamboo from our garden, I was good to go.  

I find that if you have candles, you can pretty much make anything look fab.  Those black votive holders?  Not votive holders - they're tea cups.  The buddah was from San Fran and the foo dogs were from an internet sale.  Red tea lights were a Target Valentine's Day deal from 2011.  Decorations, done!

The stir-fry was my biggest challenge.  We don't eat much in the way of stir-fry in my house and mostly because I don't care for rice or the bother of Asian noodles.  I am at a culinary loss with these things.  I think I lack patience.  I've boiled too rinse-and-eat kinds and rinsed the boil-only sorts of Asian noodles.  Jasmine rice to me is sticky and gelatinous, yet my family loves jasmine rice.  A mom's gotta do what she's gotta do.  I put on my big girl panties and got to work.

The scent of ginger is heavenly...

That oil wasn't hot - it was nuclear

In the end, it wasn't half bad.  Spicy, with a hint of fresh ginger.  Nice!  

So will I try again next year for an improved CNY dinner?  Sure, why not!  If you have a great, tried and true stir-fry recipe, please send it my way.  I love that with stir-fry meals, you can put in lean proteins and loads of fresh veggies and in minutes, you have a meal.  Winning!  

Enjoy your Chinese New Year, even if your stir-fry is more like scrambled eggs.  Just get cookin'!