MANCHURIAN CHICKEN WITH RADIATORS

Wow ! it’s been some time gone by till posting a recipe, not that I have stopped cooking, just nothing new lately, have to change that and expand my recipe repertoire.

One breast just about 300 grams. Didn’t adjust the marination. 1 cup macaroni. Cut back about 1/2 with the sauce ingredients. Serves 2

Adapted from Sooper Chef YouTube Channel

makes a pleasant dish, by ingredient amounts somewhat spicy, adjust to taste .

Once prepped, it’s a fast cook.

Ingredients for Chicken Marination:
Chicken boneless (cube cut) 500 g
Egg 1
Corn flour 2 tbsp ( cornstarch)
Soy sauce 2 tbsp
Black pepper powder 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Oil (for frying) as required

Ingredients for boiling Macaroni:
Macaroni 2 cups (1 cup)
Oil 1 tbsp
Salt 1 tsp
Water as required

Ingredients for Manchurian Sauce:
Oil 2 tbsp
Garlic (chopped) 1 tbsp (substituted garlic powder)
Ketchup 1 cup
Red chili flakes 2 tbsp (you may want to adjust this less)
Soy sauce 2 tbsp
Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water 1 cup
Chili sauce 2 tbsp (I used hot sauce, again you may want to adjust this to taste)
White pepper powder 1 tsp
Sugar 1 tbsp
Capsicum (small cubes) 1 cup
Carrot (small cubes) 1 cup
Onion (small cubes) 1 cup

Ingredients for Assembling:
Cooked chicken as required
Boiled macaroni
Manchurian sauce
Green onion (Chopped) as required

Directions for Chicken Marination:
1. In a bowl add chicken, egg, corn flour, black pepper, soy sauce, salt, oil and mix well. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
2. In a wok ( or fry pan) heat oil and add marinated chicken, fry it fully cooked and golden brown in color. Set aside.
Directions for Macaroni Boiling:
3. In a pot heat water and bring it to boil, add oil, salt and macaroni. Boil until macaroni is 80% cooked. Strain and set aside.
Directions for Manchurian Sauce Preparation:
4. In a pan heat oil and add garlic, saute for 1 minute. Now add ketchup, red chili flakes, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, white pepper powder, chili sauce, sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes. Now add water ( here you can thin the sauce with the macaroni water ) and cook until sauce thickens.
5. Now add capsicum, carrot, onion and cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Now add cooked chicken, boiled macaroni and mix well. Cook until chicken is well coated in sauce. Adjust if necessary with the addition of more of the macaroni water.
7. Sprinkle green onion on top and serve.
Preparation time: 10-15 mins
Cooking time: 25-30 mins
Serving: 3-4

Prepared ingredients, I use shredded carrots ( usually shred a pound or 2 of carrots and store them in the fridge so carrot can easily be incorporated into many recipes)

macaroni heat sinks are boiled and ready

Heating up the skillet

Starting the frying process of the chicken, I use quad blend pepper freshly ground.

getting the crisp on !

remove from the pan

boil up the sauce

Add the prepared veggies, mix in and heat, don’t over cook , leave some crunch

Add the chicken and the macaroni to the pan, heat through

mix and heat thoroughly

MMMMMMMM………… plate up and garnish with some chopped green scallions

lo mein

inspired by you tube, Ready , Jet, Cook, Jet Tila, an adaption of recipe, Food Network

noodle time….semolina… Bob’s Red Mill recipe, fine noodle attachment on the pasta machine.

…….. or use store bough FRESH noodle

prep up ingredients….. from what I have on hand… here I have fresh harvested kale for greens , carrot matchsticks, sliced onions, ginger, garlic, hot pepper, sauce mixture with cornstarch , shrimp paste, boiled noodle

saute the onion…..

add in the carrot………….

cook till carrot tender… add the rest of ingredients…then the sauce, toss…

the sauce will start to thicken, keep tossing….

add the noodle…….

toss to coat and distribute sauce to the noodles

plate up……

add sesame seed (not shown)

 

lo mein

With the abundance of fresh veggies and with the addition of noodles, lo mein was an easy choice, though prep would be essential to the recipe.

A slicing of the veggies was done using the rotary slicer of the kitchen aid attachment.

One of those recipes, the more you look the more variations you find , you settle as with most “authentic” recipes to the ingredients you have available to the village or are grown locally.

I didn’t  get to list all the sauce ingredients and amounts, but loosely followed several recipes that I researched by listing all the ingredients that compose the sauce to get an idea of the basics. I modified it by adding a bit more cornstarch and a good amount of stock as I prefer s saucy-er thick coating to the dish.

The sauce was a build up from the basic soy sauce/rice wine/sugar combo. Some of the associated components are: soy sauce, rice wine, fish sauce, shrimp paste, chili paste, ginger root, galangal root, garlic, sugar, honey, salt and pepper with sesame oil.

The sauce, less the stock.

The veggies are the same deal, use what you have. Pea pods and the baby bok choy were included as they were fresh and attractive from the market. The carrot was also crunchy as they were fresh, large diameter and not very tapered as the packaged carrots were.

Stir fry the veggies in oil.

 

While stir frying the veggies, prep the noodles, I used rice noodles instead of the wheat noodles, so just a brief toss in hot water is all that’s needed, drain and add to wok.

 

Mix well , then add the sauce… serve….

 

 

 

The result is as good or better result than restaurant  because you have control of the ingredients. So if you like salad with noodles with a sauce here it is.

I made this dish twice and this post is a compilation of the pictures from both.

Grapenut Pudding

I can’t take credit for this simple nutritious recipe. My wife makes this periodically also known as a custard to some.

One of those handed down faded paper recipes folded and retained for easy access.

 

The recipe, doubled, just fills a rectangular glass ware baking dish, placed in a water bath in a large broiler pan.

The richness can vary, ranging from any combination from low-fat milk to heavy cream for the milk component. The  grapenuts are the type usually found along side breakfast cereals at the market. Fresh grated nutmeg a plus, an anytime snack  kept in the fridge that doesn’t last long !

 

Mushroom Bean Thread Lo mien with Onion

A variation of a recipe from purple carrot.com many meals there with recipes for a jumping off point. Substituted ingredients of course!

Purple carrot
Bean thread Lo mien with mushrooms and onions

Ginger garlic paste

Assorted dried oriental mushrooms

Chopped white onion, scallion more appropriate.

Cornstarch

Dark black soy sauce

Rice wine rice vinegar

Chilli paste

Gauge the ingredients by the size of serving, I tended to go with a good amount of mushrooms and less of the noodle, in this case I had some bean thread noodle from the shelve. Egg, rice or another type can be used.

Using your hot coffee machine for hot water, reconstitute the dried mushrooms in a cup.

In a small pot full of cool water, soak the bean thread noodles on the stove.

Prep an additive of cornstarch, water and soy sauce for a thickening agent. I use double black soy sauce so this is a strong dark recipe.
Course chop lettuce , fine chop onion for prep

Drain the mushrooms, course chop

Add the mushrooms to a broad pan or wok with oil and stir fry for several minutes.

Add the ginger garlic paste to taste , now go off heat and stir to distribute the fragrance. 
Depending on the noodle, bring the water to boil to soften , don’t overcook.
Add the lettuce and onion to the fryer/ wok and stir fry.

Follow with the rice wine and rice vinegar, stir till lettuce wilts and onion cooks to preference.

Add the soy cornstarch mixture bring to high heat very briefly to congeal.

Season at this point with salt, pepper , I add chili paste mix for some heat.

Drain the noodle with cold water rinse. 

As for plating I toss the bean thread noodle in the pan and plate.

Strong soy flavor , maybe not as light as your accustomed to.

Would be good with a peanut, cashew garnish.

cherry berry pie

Baking pies not  a typical mid summer recipe, maybe if your up late at night or have a cooler day in the forecast.

Adapted from Step by Step, Good Housekeeping, making a cooked fruit pie filling. (Not canned !)

Roll out your favorite double crust recipe, here we have these zippered circular bags (2 sizes, one for the bottom crust and a smaller one for the top), that you put the chilled dough in and then roll it, you could use plastic wrap as an alternative.

Let’s see… about 2 lbs. of cherries, (frozen) and 1 lb. of hand picked raspberries from the garden. I weighed out the cherries and let them thaw in the fridge overnight.

The frozen cherries were a blend of dark cherries and light sweet cherries, 3 lb bag , Wymans.

Drain the fruit and reserve 1 cup of the liquid, as it turned out, I only got about one cup from the drained fruit, the cherries were previously defrosted and the raspberries were recently hand picked.

 

Combine about 3/4 cup sugar, sweetened to your preference, and 1/3 cup cornstarch, with a dash of salt,  I would have upped the cornstarch as I like the pie sauce thick.

Stir and bring the mix slowly to a boil and simmer several minutes to incorporate the cornstarch. Remove from heat, Now your supposed to add additional sugar (skipped),and  butter to the sauce with the drained berry mixture.

Having the prepared pasty ready fill the pie, your supposed to cut the remaining dough and lattice it on top, no I didn’t do that.

As a traditional pie, I topped it with the remaining full crust, brushed with cream.

Vents were cut in the top…..

….and bake this bad boy at 375 degrees for 25 minutes with some type of and edge guard on the crust. We have one of those aluminum rings, remove and bake for an additional 25 minutes or till brown and bubbly. Not something you typically do on a hot summer day…

Cool it off… the filling was still a bit runny for my liking so the pie was refrigerated and it firmed it up when at fridge temperature.

Some like it a bit on the tart side , I’ll agree,  so a side of vanilla chocolate swirl ice cream goes on the side , or atop if you wish…

One of the few times I’ve had homemade ice cream to accompany a slice of pie… That’s another post…

Lemon Meringue Pie

I don’t often bake pies, somehow getting the crust just right seems to be something magical.

This one came out good, not overly sweet. Perhaps a practice run for Thanksgiving, maybe not……..

I have made this filling less the crust for lemon pudding.

Lemon Meringue pie
(or substitute Lime(add one or two drops of green food coloring))

This is a recipe that accompanied an Oster food processor.
This is a two piece bowl type that sits in top of an Oster motorized base that can also be used as
a blender.

Small capacity but it cuts down on the number of appliances instead  having a separate dedicated food processor.

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6, 1 inch pieces lemon peel
place the above in the food processor bowl
process till lemon is finely grated

empty mixture into a 2 quart saucepan
now add to the food processor again,
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice, preferable fresh squeezed
2 tablespoons butter, melted.
3 egg YOLKS
cover and process till smooth.

add to the 2 quart saucepan
add 2 cups water and heat constantly stirring
when mixture boils, cook and stir one minute.
The mix should be thick and glossy.

remove from heat an add to a baked pie shell

for the Meringue:
beat the three egg whites separated from above egg yolks used for lemon filling
add 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract and
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
continue beating gradually adding sugar
till soft peaks form.
place the meringue on top of the lemon  filling
bake 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned.

I made the crust also in the food procesor, evidently it worked out well.

We have this plastic circular pouch that you place the pie dough in and zipper it up, then roll it out.

it makes it easier than using plastic wrap.

fluted the edge with my fingers.

Use a fork to perforate the bottom of the crust to prevent the crust raising off the pie pan.

Bake it before adding filling.

your favorite single crust recipe will do.

sweet and sour sauce

What could be easier to make, with a simply recipe for a favorite dish.

(from a Kitchen Aid mixer cook book)

in a sauce pan, add,

1/3 cup juice, pineapple or other sweet juice

1/3 cup vinegar, plain white works good, or apple cider etc.

1/3 cup catsup (tomato)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (I use slivered garlic to taste)

bring to a boil and…

in a small bowl or mug, a 1/3 cup cold water and  mix into a paste 2 tablespoons corn starch

add the cornstarch paste to the pan cook until thick and translucent.

sweet & sour sauce

Aa you can see this is just a basic recipe, add what you like kick it up with some heat (hot pepper flakes etc.

that was just the sauce, we are not done yet !

the rice is easy 5-10-15 !

boil rice in double amount of water/rice with a bit of salt. (plain white rice, other varieties may require different timings)

BOIL : uncovered for 5 MINUTES

SIMMER : covered for 10 MINUTES

REST: covered for 15 MINUTES

sounds like a long time, but it’s a fool proof method, other using a stepped power level method in a microwave.

boiling rice 5 minutes

simmer covered 10 minutes

rest, off heat, covered 15 minutes

fluff up the rice

plate up the rice

add the beef and fresh fruit…

add the sweet and sour sauce

enjoy