Chopped Thai Salad

I hate shredding vegetables. I do an excellent job of shredding my knuckles when I do. I have purchased one of those Kevlar gloves, but in reality, I just use my mini chopper when shredding is required.

I love Thai food, but we never as a family seem to get to Thai restaurants; I think the last time I had Thai food was when I was in labor with my now 7.5 year old. I really need to get on that!  When this popped into my Pinterest feed, it was really a no-brainer. Healthy, fast (weeknights have been insane with my having gone back to school in January), and all the trappings of delicious.

I rushed home after work and threw this together while my husband picked up the kids from school. All told, it probably took me 20 minutes, maybe 30, but only because my cabbage would not cooperate with being cut in half. I was really wishing I had bought coleslaw mix, with the cabbage and carrots already shredded, but it wasn't bad to take care of and certainly less expensive to do it myself.

My husband and I enjoyed this, and he even enthusiastically packed it up for our lunches today. I was concerned (I ate before the rest of the family) that it wasn't enough food, so I took an uber small portion and was quite hungry about 2 hours later, but the others had plenty.

The boys gave it mixed reviews, but my 4 year old has really only been eating tried and true favorites lately, so there's been a lot of skipping for him.

I omitted peanuts simply because I didn't have any. I think they would have jazzed things up a bit, but my husband said they wouldn't have been good in the salad.

Chopped Thai Salad via Pinch of Yum

INGREDIENTS

Salad

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 small head green or white cabbage (2 cups chopped)
• 1 large carrot (1½ cups shredded)
• 1 small papaya, chopped
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• ½ cup green onions, chopped
• ½ cup chopped peanuts

Dressing

• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon fish sauce
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook and cube your chicken into bite sized pieces. I love this method.
2.  Toss the chicken and vegetables in a large bowl and keep chilled.
3. Mince the garlic in a small mixing bowl with the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, lime juice, oil, and fish sauce. Whisk until smooth. Add the peanut butter and water and whisk again until smooth and creamy.
4. Toss the salad with the dressing. Add the crushed peanuts. Serve chilled. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to one day. For best results, keep the leftover salad and dressing separate until ready to serve.

Sweet and sour chicken

I love making Asian inspired dishes at home.   Of course, nothing is as quick and easy as pulling up to your local Chinese restaurant, but I'm so hesitant after watching them pour spoonful after spoonful of sugar into a recent General Tso's chicken order.  But this is really fast, really delicious, and way better for you than pretty much anything at your local Chinese takeout!

So when I saw that Stephanie had an Asian inspired recipe on her blog, my ears (figuratively) perked!  And, Stephanie didn't disappoint.  This was delicious with just the right blend of sweet and tang.  It definitely takes some planning to make this a weeknight meal, though; I'm always hesitant when I see an hour's worth of baking time, but it can be done!  All your prep could be done the night before so all you have to do is pop into the oven when you get home from work.

Sweet and Sour Chicken  Source:  Stephanie Cooks

Ingredients:
Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325.
1- Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. 
2- Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. 
3- Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients together and pour over chicken.
4- Bake for one hour at 325 degrees, uncovered. Turn chicken every 15 minutes.

Stir Fried Pork and Snow Peas with Sweet and Sour Sauce

,A few months ago, several friends and I all made at home versions of Chinese take out standards, Take-Out at Home Challenge.  I had a great time and found some great recipes, but haven't really made anything Asian since.  But as I'm making as many of the recipes from Cook's Illustrated's The Best 30 Minute Recipe, I decided to go for Asian once again.

This was almost excellent.  The flavor was great, however, the book's recommendation to prepare the sauce while stir-frying the pork kind of goes against the philosophy of stir frying--it happens fast, so you have to be there and on it.  If you have two cooks in the kitchen, surely it would work great, but with only one, your odds of the meat becoming overcooked as mine did, are very high.  So, it's worth calling a helping hand if you have one around or waiting till the sauce comes together before dealing with the pork.

Otherwise, this is a near perfect dinner!

Stir Fried Pork and Snow Peas with Sweet and Sour Sauce Source:  The Best 30 Minute Recipe Cook's Illustrated, via Searchable Recipe Database

1 pound	Pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips
2 teaspoons	soy sauce
2 tablespoons	vegetable oil
1 recipe	Sweet-and Sour Sauce (see below)
1	red onion, sliced thin
6 ounces	snow peas, strings removed
1 20-ounce can	diced pineapple, drained
3 cloves	garlic, minced
1 tablespoon	fresh ginger, grated

Making the minutes Count:

Prepare the suce while the pork cooks. Mince the garlic and grate the ginger while the vegetables cook.

Stir-fry Pork and prepare sauce: Toss pork with soy sauce. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in 12 inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add pork and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up clumps, until lightly browned, about 3minutes. (While pork cooks, prrepare sauce.) Transfer pork to clean bowl

Stir-Fry Vegetables and Pineapple. Add 1 more tablespoon of oil to pan and return to high heat until shimmering. Add onion and snow peas and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add pineapple and cook until warmed through

Combine and Simmer: Clear center of pan and add remainineg 1 teaspoon oil, garlic, and gingner. Cook, mashing garlic mixture into pan with bakck of spatula, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in cooked pork. Whisk sauce to recombine, add it to pan, and bring to simmer. Cook until sauce thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Serve immediately.


Sweet and Sour Sauce 
6T red wine vinegar
6T orange juice
6T sugar
3T ketchup
1t cornstarch
1/2t salt

Using a medium bowl, mix all ingredients.
 

Thai Pork and Noodles

I've purchased cookbooks and magazine subscriptions from Food Network stars in the past, only to be disappointed that I could find all the recipes on the website.  Why was I wasting my money, I thought.  It turns out, though, that it's a valuable resource for me.  It highlights recipes that are seasonal, and things I might never have found on the website otherwise.  (Seriously, you can find what you're looking for pretty easily, but browsing can be daunting).

This was not a recipe I would have tried on my own.  I have to say, fish sauce is daunting to me.  I never saw the point in buying a bottle of it, but went ahead and went for it this time around.

EW.  Fish sauce is disgusting.  Gag worthy for sure.  As I was making this, I got a really bad feeling that it wasn't going to be good.  Getting ready to serve it, I said to M, "I hope this doesn't suck."

After taking a few bites, I said, "Well, it doesn't suck....  it's not good, but it doesn't suck."  M agreed, saying that it was weird that it was neither good nor bad.  There are two rave reviews on the recipe on Food Network's website, though  they both made some serious modifications.  Maybe I didn't modify it.  Maybe I messed up.  I don't know, but we won't be making this one again.

Oh yeah, and 1200+ mg of sodium in a serving?  Sooooo not worth it!!

Ingredients

• 1 pound thin boneless pork chops, fat trimmed
• 8 ounces wide Thai rice noodles
• 1 cup fresh cilantro (leaves and stems)
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lime
• 2 slices peeled ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 red jalapeno peppers, seeded and roughly chopped
• 2 shallots, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1/4 pound green beans, split lengthwise and cut into pieces

Directions

Place the pork in the freezer about 10 minutes to make it easier to slice. Soak the noodles in very hot water until just tender, about 10 minutes; drain. Snip the noodles with scissors into shorter lengths. Cut the frozen pork crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide strips.

Puree the cilantro, lime zest and juice, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, shallots, fish sauce, brown sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a food processor until smooth, scraping down the processor as needed.

Heat 3 tablespoons peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add half the cilantro mixture and stir-fry 1 minute. Add the pork and stir-fry until no longer pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the pork with a slotted spoon to a plate. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon peanut oil to the skillet; add the green beans and stir-fry until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the noodles, pork and 2 tablespoons of the remaining cilantro mixture. Cook, tossing with tongs, until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining cilantro mixture to taste.

Per serving: Calories 553; Fat 24 g (Saturated 6 g); Cholesterol 60 mg; Sodium 1,210 mg; Carbohydrate 61 g; Fiber 3 g; Protein 22 g

Malaysian Chicken Pizza

I'm continuing to participate in a recipe exchange.  This time around, the category was Asian.  I received Malaysian Chicken Pizza, which came from Cooking Light magazine originally.  Asian?  Yum.  Pizza?  Yum.  Put em together and what have you got?  Yummity yummity yum!

First thing to say is that the flavor is delicious. That said, I had a ton of problems making this one.  First, rice vinegar.  I had some, but didn't have quite enough.  I meant to go to the store, but it just didn't happen in time, so I used about 1/2c rice vinegar and about 1/4c white wine vinegar.  Next, I don't think I simmered the sauce long enough; it was probably way too liquidy, and as a result the dough sank over the edge of my pizza peel, making a big mess and losing some of the toppings.  The liquidy, um, ness, made the dough stick to the peel as well.  It made a huge mess trying to get it off the peel and then made a huge BURNED mess on the pizza stone and oven.  Ugh.  I highly recommend that if you choose to make this, use a prebaked pizza crust, like a Boboli.

We enjoyed this nonetheless, but M commented that, "although this one is very good, of all the fancy pizzas you make, my favorite is the BBQ pizza."

Malaysian Chicken Pizza

From Cooking Light MagazineIngredients

·         3/4  cup  rice vinegar

·         1/4  cup  firmly packed brown sugar

·         1/4  cup  low-sodium soy sauce

·         3  tablespoons  water

·         1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger

·         2  tablespoons  chunky peanut butter

·         1/2  to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

·         4  garlic cloves, minced

·         Cooking spray

·         1/2  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

·         1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)

·         1/4  cup  (1 ounce) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

·         1  (12-inch) Basic Pizza Crust

·         1/4  cup  chopped green onions

Preparation

Preheat oven to 500°.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Heat a nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add chicken, and sauté 2 minutes. Remove chicken from pan.

Pour rice vinegar mixture into pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook mixture 6 minutes or until slightly thickened. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until chicken is done. (Mixture will be consistency of thick syrup.)

Sprinkle cheeses over prepared crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border, and top with chicken mixture. Bake at 500° for 12 minutes on bottom rack in oven. Sprinkle with green onions. Place pizza on a cutting board; let stand 5 minutes.

Takeout at Home: Wonton Soup

 

I love wonton soup, so it was a no brainer as my first Takeout at Home recipe.   I took a look at the recipe suggested by the article, and have to admit I wasn't nuts about it, so I turned to the handy dandy allrecipes for one.  I found this one and decided to roll with it.

I was going to make it last night, but then I realized I didn't have any ground meat.  Oops.  So, tonight was a do-over.  I asked hubby to pick up some ground pork, chicken, or turkey, whatever was cheapest.  He came home with turkey.  It worked, but I'm pretty sure it would be much more tasty with ground pork as directed.

I couldn't figure out how to properly seal the wonton, so that it would come out like the delicious restaurant soup.  I found this tutorial, and while it's not the shape I remember, it worked just great!

Additionally, the recipe suggests a splash of sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce as optional.  Do it.  It absolutely MADE the broth into something special.  I do wish I could find a way to get those little pieces of pork the Chinese restaurants add, but in the meantime, this is an awesome at home version of wonton soup!  It really made me crave an eggroll.


 

Homemade Wonton Soup
From Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 bunch green onions, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, divided
• 6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (16 ounce) package wonton wrappers
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 16 uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)
• 1 medium head bok choy, torn into 2-inch pieces
• 16 snow peas
• 1 dash soy sauce, or to taste (optional)
• 1 dash sesame oil, to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Dice the green onions, and set aside all but 1 tablespoon. Slice the mushrooms, and set aside all but 1 tablespoon. Finely chop the 1 tablespoon of green onions and 1 tablespoon of sliced mushrooms, and place in a bowl with the ground pork, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, egg, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Stir to thoroughly mix the pork filling.
2. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the pork filling onto the center of each wonton wrapper. Use your finger or a pastry brush to lightly moisten the edges of the wonton wrappers with water. Fold one corner of the wrapper over the filling onto the opposite corner to form a triangle. Press the edges together to seal. Moisten the two long ends of the triangle, fold them together, and press them firmly to seal.
3. Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Drop the wontons, one by one, into the broth, and let them cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until they float to the surface. Reduce heat to a simmer, and gently stir in the shrimp, bok choy, and reserved sliced mushrooms. Let the soup simmer 2 more minutes, until the shrimp turn pink, and then drop in the snow pea pods. Garnish with the remaining green onions and a dash of soy sauce and sesame oil, and serve immediately.

Slow Cooked Asian Style Chicken

 

When I think of sweet and sour sauce, I think of that super sweet, gooey orange stuff you get at the Chinese restaurant.  When I saw that this recipe called for sweet and sour sauce, I went to the store and saw it was loaded with high fructose corn syrup, so passed on it, figuring I could certainly find a recipe on the internet for sweet and sour sauce for cheaper.  I found this highly rated recipe for sweet and sour sauce on allrecipes and used it in the place of the sweet and sour sauce; I'm not sure if it made the called for 10oz or not, and it definitely wasn't that tell tale orange.  It was, however, delicious.

I found this on Lauren's blog, and took her suggestion to use chicken thighs (the original calls for beef, which is a no no in the Mad Men Kitchen more often than not).  In the future, I might mix in some chicken breast for the white meat preferring palates in the house, and maybe 1/2-1 can of water chestnuts.

I really enjoyed this meal, and the sauce was great as well--and fairly easy to make too.

Sweet and Sour Sauce
from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Place the sugar, vinegar, water, soy sauce, ketchup and cornstarch in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Stir continuously until the mixture has thickened.

Slow Cooked Asian Style Chicken

slightly adapted from Cooking This and That via Lauren's Kitchen

• 2-3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 1 (10-ounce) jar sweet and sour sauce
• 1 (16-ounce) package frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetables (broccoli, carrots, onions, red peppers, celery, water chestnuts, and mushrooms)
• 3 cups hot cooked rice or rice noodles 

Place chicken into 3 1/2-4 quart slow cooker. Sprinkle with tapioca; pour sweet and sour sauce over chicken in cooker.

Cover and cook on low heat for 7 to 8 hours or high heat for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. At the end of 7 to 8 hours, turn to high heat setting and stir in frozen vegetables. Cover and cook for additional 30 to 60 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Serve over hot cooked rice.