Chicken Vietnamese Bowls

Chicken Vietnamese Bowls

Ingredients

4 Cloves Garlic 

2 Persian cucumber, diced

Cilantro, chopped

2 Limes, halved

1-2 Chili pepper, diced

8 oz Shredded carrots 

1 cup Jasmine rice 

1-1/2 lb Chicken Breast or thighs 

4 Tbsp Soy Sauce 

2 tsp Sriracha 

4 Tbsp Mayonnaise 

Directions

1. Wash and dry all produce. Mince garlic. Trim and halve cucumber lengthwise. Roughly chop cilantro. Zest and halve limes. Thinly slice chili pepper, removing seeds for less heat.
2. In a medium bowl, combine cucumber, carrots, lime juice, cilantro, and juice from one lime half. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. Set aside. In a small pot, combine rice, water, and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce heat to a low simmer. Cook until rice is tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Keep covered off heat until ready to serve.
3. While rice cooks, pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium to high heat. Add chicken and cook until browned and cooked through 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board to rest. 
4. Make sauce. Heat a drizzle of oil in the same pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Reduce heat to low and stir in the soy sauce, half the Sriracha, 1-1/2 tablespoon of sugar, and juice from remaining lime. Simmer, stirring, until thickened in syrupy, about one minute. Turn off heat.
5. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and remaining Sriracha. Add water 1 teaspoon at a time until mixture reaches a drizzle and consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Finished and serve. Fluff rice with fork, stir in lime zest, butter and season with salt and pepper. Divide between bowls. Thinly slice chicken. Topper rice with chicken and carrot salad. Drizzle chicken with sauce. Garnish with Sriracha mayo, remaining cilantro and chili to taste.

Lemongrass Chicken Coconut Curry

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped (seeded if you want less heat)
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 stalks of lemon grass, cut into large chunks and bruised
• 3 tsp Thai red curry paste
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and either sliced thin or grated
• 1 Tb sugar
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into large chunks
• 2 stalks green onion, sliced
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 2-3 cups of water or stock
• 1 cup sugar snap peas or broccoli
• 1 cup carrots
• 1 Tb sriracha
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1-2 Tb coconut oil
• Lime wedges, for garnish
• 1 green onion, sliced for garnish

Directions

1. Saute onion, jalapeno in coconut oil until onion begins to soften. Then add garlic and lemongrass. Toss around in the oil for another minute or so until garlic begins to caramelize.
2. Then add spices (curry powder, garam masala and turmeric), fresh ginger and sugar. Toss to coat.
3. Add cubed chicken and season with salt and pepper. Toss chicken in the other flavors and allow to lightly brown on the outside.
4. Add your veggies. Mushrooms, peppers, peas and green onion. (Note* I added my broccoli until the very end to avoid over cooking). Toss to coat with everything.
5. Add your liquid, coconut milk and 2 cups of stock or water. There should be enough liquid to lightly cover everything, so you may need to adjust accordingly. Also add a few dashes of sriracha.
6. Cover and cook on medium-low until chicken is cooked through. About 20 minutes. When done, add lime juice. 
7. Garnish with green onion and lime wedges.

Asian Fried Quinoa with Kale

http://crandlecakes.com/2014/01/09/asian-style-fried-quinoa-with-vegetables-gf/

Serves 1

2 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
¼ cup onion, diced
1 garlic clove, sliced
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon pepper flakes (optional)
2 cups thinly sliced kale
¼ cup chopped carrots (about 1-cm cubes works well)
¼ cup frozen green peas
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 egg
1 Tablespoon soy sauce (use the gluten-free kind if desired)
1 teaspoon sesame oil for garnish (optional)
Sriracha or sambal oelek

1. In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Sweat onion for 1-2 minutes, then add garlic, pepper flakes, and ginger. When translucent but not browned, add carrots and peas. When peas are bright green and no longer icy and carrots are beginning to soften (about 4-5 minutes), add kale and wilt slightly, about 3 minutes (for softer kale, cook up to 6 minutes). At this stage, I added about 2 Tablespoons of water because the vegetables were beginning to stick. If you need to add water at this stage, make sure it fully evaporates before moving on.

2. When vegetables are softened, add quinoa, stir, and let sit 1 minute to brown a bit. Stir and let sit again, 1 more minute.

3. When quinoa is warmed through and crisped on some spots, make a well in the middle of the pan and crack the egg into it. Scramble the egg in the well and then mix into the quinoa (about 30 seconds.)

4. Just as egg finishes cooking, stir in soy sauce and remove from heat.

5. Serve immediately with a drizzle of sesame oil and sriracha or sambal oelek.

Orange Chicken with Sriracha

Instead of serving this dish over rice, we used steamed broccoli and it was perfect. Clean and crunchy. We reduced the sugar from 1/2 cup to a few tablespoons. I'd like to try cooking it in coconut oil or possibly broiling it to reduce the fat more. I'm not sure if the coating on the chicken would taste the same. I'll edit this recipe when I cook it the next time. 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• For the Marinade:
• 1 cup regular chicken broth
• ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• zest of one orange
• 2 Tbsp white sugar
• ⅓ cup Asian seasoned rice vinegar
• ¼ cup regular (not light) soy sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2-3 TB Sriracha, depending on desired heat level
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 2 TB cornstarch, dissolved with 2 TB water
• For the Chicken:
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into bite-size chunks
• 1 cup cornstarch, in a pie pan
• 2 large eggs, beaten, in a pie pan
• 1 cup peanut oil for frying
• Optional: We used sesame seeds, cilantro and green onions for garnish

Directions

1. Make the marinade: Combine all marinade ingredients together in a bowl, and whisk to incorporate well. Combine chicken with ½ cup of the marinade, making sure that all pieces are thoroughly covered with the marinade. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes or longer.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring remaining marinade to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Sauce will thicken as it gets to a boil. Once sauce is thickened, turn heat off. Keep sauce warm while you fry the chicken.
3. Drain chicken and discard used marinade.
4. Dip chicken pieces a few at a time into the pan of beaten eggs. Let excess eggs drip off, and dredge chicken pieces in the pan of cornstarch. Press to coat well. Repeat until all pieces are coated.
5. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high to high heat, until oil is very hot. Add chicken pieces, taking care not to overcrowd, and fry until cooked through, about 1-2 min. Place fried chicken on paper towels, and work in batches until all chicken is fried.
6. Toss chicken with warm sauce and serve immediately. Serve over rice and garnish as desired.

Ma Po Tofu

The picture does not do this dish justice.  It was delicious!  Like most things I concoct it started as a recipe from Cooking Light April 2010 but took on a life of its own when I got to it.  If you are cooking for someone who is unsure of tofu be sure to press and drain it and sear it on all sides so its not mushy.
Makes 4 normal size portions

1 7 ounce block of firm water packed tofu
2 Tbsp Sriracha
1.5 Tbsp mirin
1 tsp sugar
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp chili oil (I was not buying a whole bottle for 1 tsp, researched a great sub, let red pepper flakes soak in a bit of olive oil for as long as you want)
1 Tbsp oil of choice(I used olive)
8 ounces ground sirloin
1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
2 cups of diced vegetables ( I had a big bowl of trader Joe's fresh mixed vegetables that needed to be used up and just stir fried them but carrots, snow peas, sprouts, any Asian type veggie will work)
2 cups hot cooked Barley or rice of choice

Slice block of tofu into 3 even pieces and wrap in paper towel.  Set heavy pan or cutting board on top for 30 minutes to drain.
Combine Sriracha, mirin, and sugar in small bowl.
Combine broth, cornstarch, soy sauce, and chili oil in another bowl.
Cut tofu into 1 inch squares. 
Add oil to pan over med high heat and stir fry tofu until golden on all sides.
In separate pan brown ground sirloin, about half way through browning add garlic and ginger.  When almost done add stir fry veggies and quickly cook.
Add Sriracha mixture, cook 1 minute.  Add broth mixture, bring to a boil and cook 1 minute.
Add in tofu, stir to combine and serve over starch of your choice.