Rice Congee

My mother discovered this dish earlier this week. Congee is a rice porriage sort of dish. The wonderfulness of this recipe is that it stretches a cup of rice into many servings. It's easy to make and since the dish is rather plain it takes on a variety of flavors.
To make congee, add 1 cup rice to 6-9 cups water (we use 6 and it seemed like plenty of water). Throw it in the crockpot on low overnight.
My mother added 3 bananas and cinnamon to the pot and then served it with sugar and milk.
I think it would be better with ginger and garlic. I ended up adding a little sugar to my banana dish and then adding MSG to give it that salty savory sort of flavor.
I, personally, am not a huge fan of sweet rice even though this dish has plenty of opportunities to offer both sweet and savory.
I used brown rice and ended up with a mushy mass so it might be a good way to work brown rice into your diet. Overall, it was tasty and reminded me of wet oatmeal. I plan on playing with the flavors and seeing what goes best for us. I think using apples would still be good - perhaps with some walnuts and dried cranberries to make a breakfast dish.
This is not just for breakfast. I read that many use this as a "sick" dish and I can see the appeal. I would love to have a great dish for when we are all sick and no one wants to cook and this seems like it. Maybe cook it in chicken broth with garlic and ginger - think I'm craving garlic and ginger - maybe some lemongrass. I'd love to hear what you ate with congee.

Dinner for Mama

I ended up all alone at home on Saturday evening. With a free evening I thought about all the things I could do but the first thing I did was made myself a beautiful dinner. There's something about creating a meal that does more than provide calories to the body. I offered up something that nurtured my soul as well.

I started with two boneless skinless chicken breasts. I knew going into this meal that I would have more than enough food for me but I wanted to have extra. I sliced the chicken into medallions. In my cast iron skillet, I heated oil from lime pickles, extracting about five slices to chop up for the meal. I masticated most of the pulp of a lemon (I reserved 4 thin slices to garnish the dish).
I fried the chicken in two batches in the oil so that they were a lovely yellow-brown (the oil contained turmeric which turned the chicken yellow).
I added the lemon and the chopped lime pickles and let the whole thing cook until fragrant and done thoroughly.
For the side dishes, I peeled the bottoms stalks of a bunch of thick asparagus. Laid them out on a baking sheet and drizzles sesame oil over them. I then sprinkled on a little kosher salt (more than actually stuck to the asparagus). Roasted them at 350 until they were tender.
As the chicken and asparagus neared done, I realized I needed something to balance the dinner. The chicken had a bitter, sour sort of taste to it (there are 4 main tastes - sweet, sour, salty, bitter). The asparagus would offer a salty taste so I needed something sweet. I did plan on serving pineapple but that can be sweet and sour and at this point I wasn't sure what I was getting.
I decided to chop up 2 small apples. I poured a thin layer of water in my saucepan and added the remaining orange glaze from cookies I had made earlier (just orange juice and powdered sugar). To that sauce I added the apples and cooked them on the stove, covered, until tender.
I, then, cut up the pineapple.
The end result was a meal that was more than satisfying, it felt elegant. My mouth delighted in the variety of tastes and flavors. The smells were amazing - sweet orange and apple, the bitterness of the limes mixed with the charred smell of meat (smelled better than it sounds), the sour tang of lemon and pineapple, and the salty spicy smell of asparagus in sesame oil.
I was so full but not painfully so.
It was a nice reminder to take time to cook a meal that satisfies more than hunger. My plate was filled with such beauty and love. A reminder that I need to do more for myself, take time to create and nurture.
The boys were a little disappointed but they had gone out for pizza and much needed boy time so they weren't too sad.

Sweet and Sour Sauce (take 2)

I shared my recipe for sweet and sour sauce back in March. It's one that I have made my entire adult years and sure it's the same my mom made as I was growing up. It's a great recipe that has only two faults - it's a little complicated (mostly lots of chopping veggies) and it makes a ton. When I make this we eat it for days. So when my friend Carol put up a really simple Sweet and Sour sauce recipe on her blog I couldn't wait to try it. Of course, I can never follow a recipe so I did my best impersonation of hers. I substituted the water and the tomato paste for 1 quart of homemade canned diced tomatoes. I used about 1/2 of a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple since that was the only size at the store. The result was amazing. This version is slightly less tangy than my home version and it was so quick and easy. I highly recommend it (it tastes just like the sauce in a restaurant).

Fried Tofu

I love fried tofu and opted to make it for the first time at home. Frying tofu creates a chewy, crispy foundation for sauce. We made Almond Sauce and served it with rice.
As a note, this was the day I received my Lawry's Bzzkit from Bzzagent. We used the seasoning salt in the breading for the tofu and added it to the water for the rice just for fun. The flavor is nice.

Fried Tofu
1 block firm or extra firm tofu
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup flour (we used AP but you can use any)
1/2 teas seasoning salt
Black pepper, opt
oil

Slice the tofu into 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices. Pat dry with towel. Mix together cornstarch, flour, and seasoning salt. Add black pepper if desired. Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a deep skillet. Dip tofu in flour mix, shake off extra (this is very important because the mix will create a slurry at the bottom of your oil). Fry tofu until crisp and golden. Flip and fry other side. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.
Serve with sauce and rice.

Tilapia in Caramel Sauce

My dad had some Tilapia and wanted to make it for us for dinner. The problem was he didn't know how to prepare it. I offered some suggestions but my dad and I are different sort of cooks. I like to just throw things together and recipes are ideas and guidelines (inspiration). For my dad a recipe offers a certain comfort that a dish will be good. He doesn't really like to substitute or vary from the recipe. He has dishes he has cooked most of my life that he still needs the recipes for. It's not a bad thing, it's just different.
So when I began offering suggestions to my dad, he wanted a recipe. We did a quick search and found Braised Tilapia in Caramel Sauce.

My dad had me cook the fish so I didn't quite follow the recipe (does that shock you?). First thing I did was make the sauce in a saucepan. I dipped the raw fish in the sauce and fried it on an oiled griddle (can use a frying pan). I brought the sauce back to boiling so that all the raw fish stuff would be cooked. I served the fish with the sauce drizzled over it. The reason I did this was I was concerned that the sauce would not be good and would ruin the fish. The sauce is great. It's not what I thought it would be but it's still a good sauce. My first sample of the sauce got me laughing because it tastes a lot like teriyaki sauce. It's a little more complicated than my basic teriyaki but it's worth the trouble.
I will share that my family really likes fish sauce in cooking. We're not quite to the point we can use it as a condiment. Fish sauce is always gluten free so it's great for those avoiding gluten. It does have a strong smell but I found that it's flavor is more mild than it feels like it should be. It tastes like soy sauce with a hint of fish but when serving it on fish you don't notice it at all.
Tilapia is a nice, firm white fish. It's often inexpensive (compared to other fish). It has a mild flavor, making it perfect for sauces. It's great just fried in butter with seasoned salt and pepper. Because it's firm, it fries beautifully and could easily be breaded and deep fried.

Lemon Chicken

I believe this is a Kraft recipe that I found years ago. It's such a quick and easy meal that it's like a treat. I don't care for the vegetables in this dish so I leave them out and serve some sort of vegetable side dish (stir fry is a great side dish - mixed veggies fried in a little oil seasoned with soy sauce).

Lemon Chicken
1 tb oil
1 pd chicken
2 cups trimmed snow peas
1 small red pepper, cut into strips
1 4 serv pkg of lemon jello
1 tb cornstarch
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tb italian dressing
2 cloves garlic, minced
heat oil in skillet on med-high heat. add chicken and cook thoroughly. add snow peas and peppers and cook 2 minutes. mix jello with cornstarch in small bowl. add broth, dressing and garlic, stir until gelatin is dissolved. add to skillet. reduce heat to med. cook 3 minutes or until thick. serve over rice.

Chicken in Rose-flavored Sauce

This is a lovely elegant dish that goes well with jasmine rice. Any rice is fine but jasmine's floral taste accents this dish perfectly. Be careful when adding the rose water - too much will over power this dish and ruin it's lovely flavor. Rose water is inexpensive at International/Asian markets. A bottle lasts a rather long time. I use an entire small can of minced chilies instead of purchasing whole chilies. I make this on the stovetop but was just thinking that if you used a cast iron or other all metal skillet/pan, you could easily cook this in the oven after browning the chicken. Don't skip the browning step as it adds another level of flavor to the dish.

Chicken in Rose-flavored Sauce
3 TB oil
1 ¼ pd skinless chicken legs (or whatever cut, I usually use boneless skinless breasts)
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1 TB gd ginger
2 fresh green chilis minced
½ teas cardamom
3 TB gd almonds
2/3 cup heavy cream
½ teas rose water
Heat oil and lightly fry chicken. Add yogurt, chilies and cardamom. Cover and cook until chicken is tender. Stir in almonds. Simmer for a couple minutes. Add water as necessary. Add cream and rosewater just before serving.

Coconut milk pudding rolls

I found this recipe in a magazine years ago. I can't remember the magazine but I remember my family's surprise at the final result. Even though these are pudding rolls, they are not very sweet. The rolls, themselves, are a great dinner roll but add the pudding into the mix and what you get is a sweet touch to an already great bread. This is one recipe I haven't really tinkered with (except to make just the rolls). It's so easy and tasty just as it is.

Coconut milk pudding rolls
1 package yeast
3 1/4 cup + 1 tb flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
13 ½ oz can coconut milk
Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water. Stir in 1 ½ cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, melted butter and egg. Stir in 1 ½ cups flour and knead into soft dough adding flour as needed. Cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down and let double again. Whisk together coconut milk, remaining sugar and 1 tb flour until smooth, set aside. Divide dough into 24 balls. Put in 9x13 dish and let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 350. Pour coconut milk over rolls and bake about 25 minutes.

Asian Chicken Salad

This was a salad my husband created during his days at the deli. It was a great way to use up leftover rotisserie chicken. We now cook boneless skinless chicken breasts for this salad. Feel free to season your chicken anyway you want, this time we used citrus pepper and Mrs. Dash fiesta lime seasoning. The seasonings mentioned in the recipe are from the time we wrote down the recipe as he made the salad. There is a fair amount of oil in the dressing so you may want to experiment if you want a lower fat version. Also, my husband didn't realize we were out of rice vinegar and used rice wine by accident and the salad still turned out great. I like to eat the salad shortly after making it but my husband likes the noodles to get a little soggy. That is completely up to the person making the salad.

Rob’s Asian Chicken Salad
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs, chopped, cooked and seasoned with citrus pepper, jerk seasoning and garlic powder
½ head cabbage, sliced or shredded
3 packages oriental flavored top ramen
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
½ cup rice vinegar
Mix chicken, cabbage and almonds in large bowl. Break up dry ramen noodles and add to bowl. Mix ramen seasoning packets with remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over salad and refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Poached Pears

We ended up with some pears that were not very tasty for eating but wanted to consume them anyway. I had always heard about poached pears but never tried them. I looked at a recipe and it seems that poached pears contain alcohol that you light on fire. Being that we had special guests who did not drink alcohol and were eating in my father's apartment I thought it was best to create an alternate recipe. My recipe uses Watkins Mandarin Orange Seasoning and Dip Mix which is still available through Watkins but I think one can substitute orange jello powder. Personally, I love the Mandarin Orange Mix and use it to make a salad dressing I found on the Watkins website ages ago (I am not sure the recipe is still there). This turned out to be really easy and tasted great. Everyone loved them.

Poached Pears
6 ripe pears
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 TB mandarin orange mix (Watkins)
1 tsp Chinese five spice blend
Bring water to boil. Add sugar and let boil until the water has boiled to half or there about. Add mandarin orange mix and Chinese Five spice. Cut pears in half and remove core. Lay pears in 11x13 baking dish, cut side up. Pour syrup over pears. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Peanut Chicken

One of our staple sauces is peanut sauce on chicken. For me, this is a simple and tasty recipe. I don't put a lot of fuss into peanut sauce and it always turns out well.
Normally, I brown the chicken in a deep skillet. Add a can of coconut milk and a couple of dollops of peanut butter. I use a basic, cheap peanut butter. Sometimes I add a little sweet chili sauce for a bit of a kick.
Last night I put the chicken (usually boneless, skinless chicken breast but any chicken will do) in a 9x13 baking dish with any juices from the bag. I drizzled on sweet chili sauce and then dolloped the peanut butter here and there. About half way through I flipped over the chicken and stirred the peanut butter into the chicken juices. I had envisioned the peanut butter melting into everything making a sauce but it didn't until I stirred everything together. My father said it was the best peanut sauce he has ever had which just goes to show that simplicity is always better.
I serve this chicken over rice with a gluten free soy sauce.

For another twist you can add crushed pineapple to the coconut milk for the skillet chicken (and then make the peanut butter optional - for an island kick add a little rum).

Asian Inspired Chicken Legs

Tonight I threw together a rather tasty asian inspired marinade for chicken legs. In equal parts I mixed together dark brown sugar, fish sauce and sweet chili sauce in a gallon freezer bag. Add the chicken, seal the bag and roll the bag gently to marinate the chicken. If you have more time - let it sit and turn it over now and again. Bake at 425 until the chicken reaches 170 degrees (about 30-45 minutes).

With the chicken we served dill cornbread (not gf but from a mix) and candied carrots. To make the carrots - drain 2 cans of sliced carrots (can use fresh, just add to the sauce before heating). In saucepan, add about 2 cups apple juice, 1 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup or more of honey, 1/2 tea cinnamon, 1/2 teas ginger juice. Heat sauce to boil and let simmer until reduced about 1/3 (or until carrots are tender). Add canned carrots just before taking off the burner to heat the carrots.

Pork and Mushrooms

This was a neat little experiment that came out really good. My meat didn't brown the way I would have preferred but it didn't come out tough.

Melt 1/2 cube of nucoa in a deep skillet. Saute 1 chopped onion, 1-2 pounds cubed pork (I had purchased pork stew meat so I am not positive what cut it was), and sliced mushrooms (I buy mine pre-sliced since it's the same price as whole mushrooms - I think it's 8 oz). Cook until the onions are translucent and the pork is cooked thoroughly. Mix 2 TBs cornstarch into 2 cups milk (I used soy just fine). Pour over meat and veggies. Stir carefully until the sauce is thick. Season with gluten-free soy sauce and serve over rice. It wasn't overly saucey so if you want more sauce add 1 TB cornstarch to each cup of milk and mix together before adding to pan.

Teriyaki Sauce

Most commercial teriyaki products have gluten because soy sauce is often made with wheat. We use La Choy which does not use wheat. The only problem I have with La Choy is that it's not as natural as other soy sauces - it has corn syrup and caramel color to make up for the wheat but it is cheap where other gluten free varieties are not. We use a lot of soy sauce so I hate to pay $4 for a little bottle when La Choy is about $2 and is a decent sized bottle (we used to buy it by the half gallon but have yet to find a gluten free bottle that size).
I wanted teriyaki chicken and came up with a fairly simple recipe. I used this as a marinade for my chicken so it does not have a thickener. After marinating the chicken I boiled it down and it was a fine sauce. If you want it as a sauce exclusively you will need to add cornstarch to it before cooking.
*note - I made this up as I went along and did not measure so use your own judgment but this is pretty close.

Teriyaki Sauce
1 20oz can crushed pineapple
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 cup soy sauce
Puree pineapple in blender until it's the consistency of a smoothie. Pour into sauce pan and add remaining ingredients. Heat over med heat to melt sugar and to give all the flavors a chance to blend. I cooked it over low heat for about 30 minutes while prepared the chicken. Pour over raw chicken and marinate 2-4 hours. Bake chicken at 350 until cooked fully. Heat remaining marinade in saucepan until boiling, boil a few minutes or reduce to low and let cook while chicken is cooking.

Zucchini with Almond Sauce

It's late summer and my kitchen is filled with zucchini. I love zucchini - it's abundant in the garden and a great vegetable to cook with. I have been fortunate to have a variety of sizes that have allowed me to experiment.
My best tip is that zucchini makes a great pasta replacement. We sliced zucchini into strips and used them like lasagna noodles. I am going to experiment with dehydrating zucchini strips so we can really use them like noodles.
Another things we love is strips of zucchini fried in Nucoa so that it's buttery and crisp. Once finished you can glaze it with cinnamon and sugar or top it with a savory sauce.
I cut a large zucchini into disks and dipped them in egg and then corn meal and fried them in an inch of hot oil. We served them with Almond Sauce which is easy and gluten free so I didn't have to make any adjustments there. It cooked up easy with soy milk and tastes great. I suppose that can be this weeks recipe with the zucchini ideas.

Almond Sauce
2 Tbs. Nucoa or butter
1 cup milk or milk substitute
1 Tbs. Cornstarch
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tbs. soy sauce (look for a gluten free variety)
1 tsp. onion powder
Almonds, chopped (I put them in the blender and make them almost powdery)
Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add the cornstarch to cold milk. Add to sauce pan with other ingredients except almonds. Heat until thick over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Serve topped with almonds.