stir fry

Homemade General Tso’s Chicken- SRC

January 26, 2015

Oh, back to life. Back to reality.

We’re back from our Caribbean cruise vacation. It was such a wonderful time. A wonderful break from life. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my 30th birthday!

But we’re back home now and back to the normal grind. Back to work today…

But it seems like Tuesday will be a day at home, and maybe even Wednesday, because of this blizzard heading our way. Yay? I mean it’s great for another day ‘off’ but I’ll need to make up the time in the end and snow. But, damn, I love a good Nor’easter. I heart you already Winter Storm Juno!!

I am a Weather Channel junkie. JUNKIE. Whenever there is a big storm I watch the Weather Channel, or our local news channel, 24/7. I love tracking storms. I love watching the updates throughout the day(s) as they get more and more information from different areas to get more specific quantities of snow/rain with tides or wind gusts. Oh, it’s so damn exciting.

Plus, it’s a good break from reality so we get to veg out and I get to cook!! I have some fun recipes to get to work on too! I’ve had my eye on a brownie recipe for awhile that I gotta make. And I’m working on perfecting my chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s getting there!!

And I know I am going to be making this General Tso’s Chicken again.

Hot damn, this General Tso’s Chicken is so freaking good. It will make you toss your take out menus in the trash. Okay, maybe you still need take out for your egg rolls and such, but I doubt we’ll ever order General Tso’s again. It is gonna be homemade for us all the way now.

This is another one of those instances when I love Secret Recipe Club as it helped me discover another great blog and recipe. I thoroughly enjoying checking out the recipes on Asiya’s blog Chocolate and Chillies. She posts delicious recipes while sharing about her life in Toronto as a stay at home mom to 2 little boys. Her recipes often pack some heat (from chillies!) since she is Indian and her husband is Pakistani. There were quite a few recipes that caught my eye, including her Chocolate Truffle Energy Bites, Black Bean Burger, Pasta with Spinach Pesto, Roasted Red Peppers and Sundried Tomatoes, but I picked out her General Tso’s Chicken recipe.

I stuck with the recipe with the exception that we love broccoli with our General Tao’s so I added that. Because of that addition I doubled up the sauce. If you don’t want broccoli then cut back the sauce to follow the recipe exactly as it was on Asiya’s blog.

So while the Northeast is getting slammed with snow, we’ll be cozy at home making chocolate chip cookies and another batch of General Tso’s Chicken, since we know take out is not getting through 24+ inches of snow!

General Tso’s Chicken

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes (about 1 lb)
1 teaspoon orange juice
pinch of salt
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 1/2 tbsp canola oil, divided
2 Cups pieces of broccoli
1 inch ginger, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
5-7 dried red chillies
2 green onions, white part only, cut into 1 inch length

Sauce

5 Tablespoons rice vinegar
6 Tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
2 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/2 Cup water
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Tablespoon orange juice
2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Process

Marinate the chicken in orange juice and salt for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
Coat the chicken with the 1/3 cup cornstarch.
Over high heat, heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a wok/large non-stick skillet.
Add the chicken and fry until cooked through. Remove and put on a paper towel lined plate.
Add the broccoli and stir every 20 seconds or so. After 2 minutes add 1/4 Cup of water and cover for 1 minute. Remove the broccoli, set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in the wok and add the garlic, ginger, and dried red chilies. Fry until you can smell the spices.
Add the sauce and mix. When the sauce boils and thickens add the chicken, broccoli, and green onions. Stir to coat everything with the sauce. Serve immediately with some hot steamed rice or quinoa.

Adapted from Chocolate and Chillies

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Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

And be sure to check out my 3 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry

December 26, 2011

This month has just flown by! I can’t believe it is already the end of December, and reveal day for Secret Recipe Club!!! For this month I was given Sarah’s blog, A Taste of Home Cooking. Price is always active in enjoying what I make but more often than not I just cook and he goes with the flow. This time, I decided that he should be able to pick the recipe off of Sarah’s blog. So he scrolled through the several years of posting to find something that we could make together. In the end the Chicken Sriracha Stir Fry recipe won out.

We are both big fans of stir fry’s so this was a great pick for us from Sarah’s blog. Plus it’s very affordable since the majority of the recipe is vegetables. We could have gone with chicken or even tofu, which is so super inexpensive, but we treated ourselves with the shrimp since it was on sale. The marinade and sauce were so flavorful from the Sriracha. I love the spice it provides to a dish, so it being used heavily in this recipe was great for me. In fact, I increased the original amount used since we like it so much, but you can scale it back for what ever you prefer. Just like the fact that I love fish sauce so I used that instead of the oyster sauce in the original recipe- just use what is prefect for you and make this your special stir fry.

The key with any cooking endeavor is to be prepared, but it’s so much more important with something like a stir fry. The longest part of any stir fry meal is the prep. The cooking time is so fast that you can’t try to juggle cutting things as you go. Take your time in the beginning and set up you mise en place for a successful, and fun, cooking experience.

Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry

*Serves 4-6*

Ingredients

1/2 pound of raw, peeled, deveined shrimp 31-35
1 large onion, sliced
1 green pepper, cut into thin strips
10 oz of sliced mushrooms
1/2 pound of green beans, trim ends off
4 tablespoons cooking oil, I prefer House of Tsang’s Wok Oil
2 tablespoons ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
rice or noodles, angel hair pasta works just fine

Marinade for shrimp:

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons Sriracha

Sauce for Stir Fry

1 tablespoon cornstarch
2tablespoons water
1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce

Process

Prepare the marinade for the shrimp in a medium sized bowl. Coat the shrimp for at least 30 minutes prior to cooking.
In a separate bowl, prepare the sauce for the stir fry by mixing together the cornstarch, water, Sriracha, soy sauce, fish sauce, and ginger.
In a large wok heat 1 tablespoon of wok oil over high heat, add the onions and green pepper strips. Stir-fry for 5 minutes or until the onuions are translucent and the pepper is tender. Remove to a large bowl.
Let the wok get back up to temperature, then add another 1 tablespoon of wok oil. Add the green beans. After 3 minutes, add 1/4 cup of water and cover for another 3-5 minutes. Once the green beans are tender add them to the bowl of vegetables.
Again, heat the wok back up and add 1 tablespoon of wok oil, then add the mushrooms. Stir fry until they are cooked and soft.
Wipe wok out with wet paper towels. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon wok oil over high heat. Once hot, add the ginger and garlic; after a few seconds, add marinated shrimp. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until shrimp is fully cooked.
Add the rice or noodles to the wok and then pour the sauce in. Mix to prevent sticking and to fully incorporate the sauce into the rice or noodles. Add the vegetables back to the wok just to mix together.

Shrimp Sriracha Stir Fry PDF

Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts:

November: Vegetable Enchiladas

October: Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Check out the rest of the reveal day posts!

Mexicasian Tacos

January 31, 2011

A few weeks ago I came across a call for entries for an Alaskan Fish Taco contest using fish native to Alaskan waters to create new taco recipes. I love fish tacos so this was a no brainer. I just had to give it a try and enter.

I love fish tacos for their lightness and balance of flavor. I never feel too stuffed after having one. It probably has to do with the lack of heavy salsa and cheese. Either way, a fish taco is a perfect combination of fried or grilled fish and fresh vegetables that provide it with some bite. For example, most fish tacos I come across have some radish slices or some picked cabbage.

I decided to head in teh direction of an Asian themed taco. I felt that the light crisp flavors of summer rolls, or veggies stir fries would be similar to the picked vegetables that are often found in California based fish tacos. We always seem to have bok choy in the house ebcause it is a favorite for our rabbits. We cook it often in stir fries so I was familiar with the texture and flavor it would bring to the fish taco. Adding ginger to the bok choy would help it bring out more flavor and enhance the Asian flavor experience.

I used cod fish, a fish that was approved for the contest. This is light flavored fish that holds up well to light frying. It would work well with the taco because the texture would a nice contrast to the tortilla and softened bok choy.

Overall I think this is a successful Asian inspired taco because the flavors are distinctly Asian, the taco has texture, and the taco is flavorful from the sriracha, ginger, and cilantro. I knew it was a good taco recipe since Pricer, who is uneasy about fish, ate it and enjoyed it. Victory!

Mexicasian Tacos

Makes 8 fish tacos

Spicy Mayo Sauce

1/4 cup of mayonnaise

1 tablespoon of sriracha sauce

Juice of half a lime

Stir fried Bok Choy

4 bulbs of baby bok choy

1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger

2 tablespoons wok oil or canola oil

Fried fish

1/2 pound of cod

1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

Flour

1 egg

Panko bread crumbs

Oil for frying

8 corn tortillas

1/4 cup Cilantro

2 limes

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Preheat oven to 200 and place tortillas on baking sheet to warm. Warm until desired temperature, flipping at least once to evenly warm.

To make the spicy mayo, combine the mayo, sriracha, and lime juice. Let chill until ready to serve.

Cut your 1/2 pound cod fillet into 8 even taco sized pieces. Combine the rice wine vinegar with the soy sauce to marinate the fish. Marinate for approx 15 minutes, much longer will result in a bitter tasting fish.

Prepare a breading station with individual bowls for flour, beaten egg, and panko bread crumbs.

While fish is marinating, slice the bok choy parallel to the bulb base, creating thin ribbons, and grate ginger. Over medium heat, heat wok oil in a skillet. Add both the bok choy and ginger to the hot oil. Stir fry for a few minutes until the boy chow is tender, remove from heat.

Over medium, heat oil in a large deep skillet. Coat each piece of fish with flour, then egg, then panko bread crumbs. Immediately place breaded fish into hot oil. Gently fry fish for 2-3 minutes on each side, careful not to burn the panko breadcrumbs. DO NOT overload the skillet, this will make flipping harder and reduce temperature of oil, effecting proper browning. Place cooked pieces of fish on paper towels to remove excess oil.

Assemble tacos with fish, boy chow, spicy mayo, a few cilantro leaves, and serve with a lime wedge.