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

Chicken livers in mushroom port sauce

Chicken, beef , lamb and pork the main choices for meat when shopping with sometimes other choices, like duck etc. Organ meat usually is not the main choice but this recipe and that fact that the market had chicken livers available made it happen. The livers can be prepared in a variety of ways here sautéed.

Prepped up and ready to go , this meal only takes about 10 minutes to prepare.

you’ll need

• 1 lb chicken livers
• 1 tbl olive oil
• 2 tbl unsalted butter
• 3/4 each salt and freshly ground pepper

The livers featured in the recipe From Jacque Pepin are mostly large like they came from a butcher, those I have are not as large, smaller pieces and are purchased in a container from the market.

With the olive oil and the butter saute the livers with the salt and pepper about 1 minute per side….( The prep of cutting the livers in half and removing the sinews really didn’t apply for the livers I had.)…. Remove from pan and set aside.

now to the pan add….

• 2 cups diced mushrooms (I used reconstituted dried mushrooms; porcini)
• 1/3 cup chopped shllots
• 1/3 cup coursley cut scallions
• 1 tbl chopped garlic

cook over high heat (this can vary with the power of you burner on your stove and the pan you are using, if i follow most recipes times on high heat the contents will be burned) for about 3 minutes.

now add…..

• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup port wine (I used melomel mead which is usually the only type of wine product I have)
• 1/3 cup stock, chicken or what ever

bring to a boil for about 1 and 1/2 minutes add:

• 2 tbl ketchup

mix it in well

return the liver to the skillet and bring back to the boil then serve.

serve

Serve with some prepared rice, noodle would also be a good accompaniment.

If you like a gravy type meaty dish, this is very savory considering the amount of liver is only one lb the mushrooms add a considerable amount of flavor. Another container of livers in the fridge for a re PETE  since they were marked down in price for a quick sale (not a big seller in the market ! I guess). But sometimes you would also pay qute a bit if you want the high quality type mushrooms.

Serves 4 for lunch type dinner.

 

The big salad….

supposedly spring is on the way… In the doldrums of winter it doesn’t seem possible to have a fresh green salad . 

Most likely it would have to be hot house or imported ingredients from some tropical land . I guess in the coldness of winter , fresh spring produce seems out of place till the earth warms.

But now the promise of lettuce, greens and the like of juicy red tomatoes, leads me to the fact that a salad is in the works.

Does a salad for a meal rank right up there with quiche  ?  Ya know , a manly meal that doesn’t  have at least 3/4 lbs of blood red meat that dwarfs the plate?  Well… For now yeah….

A container of mixed greens from the supercenter and a couple of vine tomatoes. I wavered between these or the grape tomatoes, knowing by fact the the pictured perfect vine tomatos are raised for their aesthetic   appeal, rather than their flavour, as one who has tasted fresh garden tomatoes can attest to. 

None the less the basic ingredients are in place , a hard boiled egg would be added and of course , salad dressing, here no (sexist remark redacted) vinegarette. Sort of a creamy Russian, Thousand Island variety would suffice. Being a mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise , horseradish, and green relish, yes , with a hot pepper addition.

Hmmmmm, something missing, the crouton , a major building block of the big salad , important as the electron , proton and the neutron. 

Diced fresh bread sautéed in butter with minced garlic and then browned in a fry pan would add to the topping with the addition and a “bird seed” mixture. THAT’LL DO IT ! Onions are a required staple of most recipes!

   

            

 

 Remember the big salad from Seinfeld ? 

Modified take out

there’s always seems to be containers of take out food in the fridge, some unwanted to pass to other family members. 

Here the traditional chicken and broccoli containerized take out dressed up for a meal. 

Start with a additional of a sweet and sour sauce, ketchup, vinegar and,  some pineapple rescued from the fridge that I previously stored from a fresh pineapple, white sugar and brown sugar, a splash of soy sauce and of course a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes. Measuring,  by taste. 

 

The briccoli and chicken placed on a shallow pan with the addition of sliced porta bello mushroom, to reheat, placed under the broiler till the mushrooms were tender and the other contents reheated. 

  

The rice now at stage three, 15 minutes rest covered, as in the recipe for 5-10-15 rice. 5 minutes boil, 10 minutes covered simmer and 15 minutes rest, a foolproof recipe.  A standard white rice , double the amount of water to rice. Now done ! (Sometimes one would pass along a container of takeout white rice )

  

Final assembly.

   

     

Done !

Spicy meatballs with noodles

From 12/13/14….

In a recipe like this the measurements are not exact but…..

to ground meat, add about 1/8 teaspoon of:
Ground cloves
Ground allspice
Ground cinnamon
Dried ginger
Salt
Pepper
Red pepper flakes
Minced yellow onion
Ground cumin
Granulated garlic
Bread crumbs
Ground spent grain
Ketchup
One egg

form into meatballs, fry, broil, bake whatever.

Into the drippings, add onion…. 

 

 

shredded carrot….

 

 

 

add broth etc,  __________,____________,_________

 

reduce , stir , thicken……..

make noodles…..

finish sauce……cream, sour cream, milk , yogurt etc.

boil noodles…..

 

Plate ……

Add sauce,( I suppose you could add the meatballs to the sauce in the pan and heat through…….)

Yep, a bit of a change up from the traditional tomato based sauce.  Do you have a tolerance for spicy foods ?