Three Cup Chicken

Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken (San Bei Ji) 

About 2 pounds chicken wings, separated at wing and tip joints
1 ginger root, sliced
1/3 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup cooking wine
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (or use 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup water)
3 to 4 chunks of rock sugar (or use 3 to 4 tablespoons of brown sugar)
About 1 1/2 cup basil leaves, rinsed

Directions:

1. Heat sesame oil in a large cooking pan. Once hot, saute sliced ginger until aromatic. Add in chicken pieces and cook until slightly browned on all sides. 
2. Add cooking wine, soy sauce, and rock sugar to pan, then cook on medium heat with pan covered for about 20 to 30 minutes. Gently turn chicken pieces over every 10 minutes. Taste sauce at this point, and add more soy sauce, sugar, or water based on taste. 
3. Add basil leaves to chicken, and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve. 

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

A easy and delicious main course for a big crowd or potluck! I'm sure you can also substitute Yoshida sauce for the homemade sauce if you're in a time crunch or don't have all the ingredients in your pantry.

Last time I made this, I doubled the sauce (you can't go wrong with extra sauce, right?). I froze the extra sauce in little containers; a week later I brushed some of the teriyaki sauce over salmon, baked it, and that made for a delicious and no-fuss dinner on a busy school night! I also didn't have cider vinegar (I broke the glass bottle in my garage while taking groceries out of my car- my garage smelled vinegar-y for weeks!). So, I did some research on vinegars- cider vinegar has a fruity smell/taste, so straight white diluted vinegar won't be a good substitute. Red wine vinegar diluted with equal amounts of water seemed to be the consensus on how to sub for cider vinegar, which is what I did and the sauce tasted fine. 

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

from Allrecipes.com

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. cold water

1/2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. soy sauce

1/4 c. cider vinegar

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. ginger, minced

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

6 skinless chicken thighs 

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine cornstarch, cold water, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and ground black pepper. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles. 
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. Place chicken thighs on a lightly greasted 9x13 baking dish. Pour sauce over chicken pieces. 
4. Cover pan lightly with aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Flip chicken pieces over and bake for another 30 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Chicken Fingers, Anyone?

Stumbled upon this recipe yesterday on Yahoo. It reminds me of the chicken katsu recipe that I use. A slight difference- this recipe adds another step with breading the chicken in flour first. Also, a Canadian shout-out, since the recipe originated from a Chinese (!) restaurant in Winnepeg. I can't wait to try making the dipping sauce! Honey mustard is definitely my favorite :). 

Mitzi's Chicken Fingers
SERVES 6

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE:

1½ cups mayonnaise

¼ cup honey

2 tbsp. roughly chopped dill

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp. dry mustard powder

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

FOR THE CHICKEN FINGERS:

2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3"-long-by-1"-wide strips

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. kosher salt

1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper

1½ tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. dry mustard powder

1 cup flour

4 eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups finely ground fresh breadcrumbs or panko

Canola oil, for frying

1. Make the dipping sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise with the honey, dill, mustard powder, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, and stir together until smooth; set honey-dill dipping sauce aside.

2. Make the chicken fingers: In a medium bowl, toss together chicken, sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and mustard; set aside. Place flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs in 3 separate shallow dishes; set aside. Pour oil to a depth of 2″ into a 6-qt. Dutch oven; heat over medium-high heat until deep-fry thermometer reads 325°. Working in batches, coat chicken in flour, shake off excess, and dip in eggs; coat in breadcrumbs. Fry chicken until golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining chicken. Serve with dipping sauce.

Comfort Food: Coconut Curry

Decided to add a foodie post to the emo one (See: Standing at the Edge). This is definitely one of my go-to recipes when I crave good home-cooked food, but am short on time. Plus, this makes lots of leftovers, so perfect for the school week!

Coconut Chicken Curry

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch chunks (I use two of the large, frozen ones from Costco)
Splash of cooking wine
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp curry
1 onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups peeled, cubed potatoes and/or carrots (1 inch chunks)
1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce (optional)
Sugar and salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Season chicken pieces with cooking wine, salt, and pepper. 
2. Heat oil and curry powder in large pot. Be careful to not burn the curry! Add more oil if necessary, to prevent burning. Add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent. 
3. Add chicken, stirring chicken to coat each piece with curry oil. Cook until chicken is white on the outside. 
4. Add potatoes and carrots, coconut milk, diced tomatoes with juice, and tomato sauce (if using) to pot. Stir to combine. Partially cover pot and simmer on medium heat, stir occasionally (especially if using stainless steel pot), for 45-60 minutes, or until curry thickens. Add sugar and salt, to taste

The first few times I majorly burned the curry oil (second step), because I was heating the oil and curry while cutting and prepping all the other ingredients. The curry turned black and I had to completely start over! To avoid this, prep everything (cut chicken and season, cut potatoes/carrots, open cans) before starting to cook. Watch the pot, and add more oil if necessary! Also, I have left the tomato sauce as optional. I use it when I have it on hand, but I feel the curry is delicious even without.

Legit Chicken Katsu

This is a delicious, simple katsu recipe! My friend Ann shared it with me, and it tastes just like the restaurant version! 

Chicken Katsu

Chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

Egg, beaten

1/3 amount flour and 2/3 amount panko

Frying oil

Bulldog katsu sauce for dipping

1. Pound the chicken breasts with a meat mallet. Generously salt and pepper both sides of each chicken breast. 

2. Dip each breast in the egg mixture, then dredge each breast in the flour/panko mixture. Coat thoroughly. 

3. Heat frying oil in nonstick pan. Once oil is hot, place chicken breasts in oil. Flip breasts over halfway through and cook until there is no pink in the middle of the chicken. Cooking time may vary depending on thickness of chicken breast. 

4. Enjoy with katsu sauce over rice.

When I made this at home, I used peanut oil, which supposedly is healthier when frying. I used enough oil to cover the chicken breast when placed in the pan. Tongs are handy when placing and turning the chicken in the hot oil! Also, I used a paper towel to soak up any excess oil after pulling the chicken out the oil. 

The katsu sauce (shown below) is amazing; it tastes very similar to the sauce at Ichi Bento's! I was able find it at a local Asian store.