Best Sweet and Sour Chicken

Posted on by aurorameyer

The Best Sweet and Sour Chicken by Dispatches from the Castle
We’ve been eating a home a lot more lately. Which means, when we’re craving specialty food, we have to make it ourselves, while trying to use up the left overs.We had left over onions and green peppers from grilling and decided to try our hand at sweet and sour chicken adapted from this recipe. It was amazing. Right up there with the Kung Pao. Flavorful and even better easy.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sherry wine
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (you can use fresh too)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups vegetable oil
1 (15 ounce) can pineapple chunks (we used a bigger can and be sure to save the juice!)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 medium green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

Directions:
Mix together first 6 ingredients. Add chicken; coat well. Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Fry chicken until lightly browned (we skipped this since we velveted the chicken).  Removed chicken; drain. Drain pineapple, reserving liquid. Add enough water to juice to make 1 cup (if you used a larger can of pineapple, you should have one cup of juice from the can and won’t need the water). Add the cornstarch, mixing well. Combine pineapple juice mixture and next 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir green pepper, onion and chicken into sauce; cook until thoroughly heated. Serve over rice.

My opinion:
I know what you’re thinking, will this sauce really taste good? It has ketchup for goodness sake! I promise, you it will not only taste good, but be delicious. I like this dish so much better than the one at our favorite local Chinese place. Especially without the breading. One of the secrets is not to cook the green peppers too long. You want them to still be bright green, not dull green. Next time, we might add a dash or two of chili peppers to make it a bit spicy. Yum!

Super Simple Fried Chicken

Posted on by aurorameyer

Super Simple Fried Chicken by Dispatches from the Castle

#cookchat regulars will remember this from the chat earlier this summer. Since then, though, we’ve made a few tweaks and the recipe is as delicious as ever. (Full disclosure: this is one of J’s specialties. I just help.)

Super Simple Fried Chicken by Dispatches from the Castle

Super Simple Fried Chicken

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Ingredients
  

  • ingredients:
  • Vegetable oil
  • boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • eggs scrambled
  • 1/3 cup matzoh meal
  • 1/3 cup corn starch
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • spices we use Alton Brown’s spice mix of 2 tablespoons kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, 2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions
 

  • Combine the spices, flour, matzoh meal and corn starch in a zip top gallon bag. Heat a bottle of vegetable oil (or the oil of your choice) in a wok (what we use) or a 12-inch cast iron skillet or heavy fry pan. When water droplets “dance” when sprinkled on the oil it is hot enough. Coat the chicken in the egg mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Add the chicken to the bag of dr mixture and coat. Then place in hot oil.
  • If you are adding more than one piece at a time, be sure not to crowd the pieces together. Fry for about 6 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oil and place in a colander or on paper bags.
    cooling super simple fired chicken by Aurora Meyer on aurorameyer.com
  • Once cool, plate and enjoy!

Notes

My opinion:
If you like spicy chicken the easiest way to make the chicken spicier is to add more spices or spice amounts to the mix. However, you can always add hot sauce to the egg mixture or brush the chicken with hot sauce before adding to the dry mixture. We love this dish! It is better in flavor and texture than store-bought or fast food chicken.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Spicy Grilled Tuna

Posted on by aurorameyer

Spicy Grilled Tuna by Aurora Meyer on aurorameyer.com

Spicy Grilled Tuna

This dish is easy and fast. Great for that late summer weeknight dinner.
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Ingredients
  

  • Tuna Steaks
  • sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • garlic powder or smashed and chopped fine
  • ginger powder or smashed and chopped fine or you can skip everything from the sesame oil through the garlic powder and just use gyoza sauce, that’s what we do
  • sriracha sauce

Instructions
 

  • Mix together marinade ingredients. In a separate Tupperware, add tuna steaks and pour marinade over steaks. Seal with Tupperware lid and GENTLY shake to coat. Marinate for at least a half-hour up to one day in the refrigerator. Be sure to save the marinade to use while grilling. Get grill going (we’ve used both a charcoal grill and the George Foreman). Add tuna steaks. Cook until light pink halfway up the steak, about three to four minutes depending on the size of the tuna steak, then flip. (Ignore this step if using a George Foreman). Pour the remaining marinade over the tuna on the grill. Cook another three to four minutes.

Notes

My Opinion:
If you want this to be spicier, add more sriracha sauce to the marinade. The marinade is poured over the tuna steaks after the flip to keep them from drying out. The George Foreman cooks the tuna more thoroughly, but since I like mine a little more rare on the inside, I prefer the grill. Serve with a salad, rice or couscous. Easy and quick!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Homemade Sushi

Posted on by aurorameyer


homemade sushi by Aurora Meyer on aurorameyer.com

Homemade Sushi

I crave this dish at least weekly.
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Ingredients
  

  • Rice Ingredients:
  • sushi rice
  • 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar or to taste
  • 2 Tbsps sugar or to taste
  • Spicy Tuna Ingredients:
  • sashimi grade tuna
  • sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • garlic powder or smashed and chopped fine
  • ginger powder or smashed and chopped fine or you can skip everything from the sesame oil through the garlic powder and just use gyoza sauce, that’s what we do
  • sriracha sauce
  • These are all to taste.
  • Additional Ingredients:
  • Nori

Instructions
 

  • Rice Directions:
  • Cook rice according to package directions. Most stores now carry sushi rice in the rice section. We’ve actually never had trouble finding it, but if you do have trouble just look for short-grained white rice. As soon as all the water has absorbed, put the rice in a glass or plastic bowl (no metal! It will give a reaction and the rice will taste funny!). While the rice is still hot, stir in the rice vinegar and the sugar. Mix well. refrigerate until cooled through but not cold. In our refrigerator, that’s about 20 minutes.
  • Spicy Tuna Directions:
  • Cut the tuna into squares small enough to fit in your food. Add sriracha sauce (remember the more you add the spicier it will be), gyoza sauce and tuna into your food processor. (I do not recommend a blender for this!) Blend until you get the consistency you want. I like ours to be a little chunky.
  • This next part is where you get to decide what and how you want to roll this. There are tons of great resources by just Googling “how to make sushi” that will give you instructions.
  • We obviously like our rolls a little bigger than traditionally served with a good deal of rice. The basics are: put the nori rough side up on either a bamboo mat or on a few pieces of folded tin foil, spread the rice on the nori, add the tuna mixtures and roll. Don’t be sad if it falls apart, it still tastes good!

Notes

My Opinion:
Obviously, I forgot to take pictures until we’d eaten a few off the plate. This recipe makes about three full sheets of tuna and rice-filled nori for us. More than enough for dinner for the two of us. What I like best about making sushi this way is that I control the spice level (we like it spicier than most restaurants make it) and can add whatever I want to it. Mostly meaning, no mayonnaise (yuck!). If we have leftover smoked salmon, that goes in. If we have leftover cucumbers, that goes in too. Even with the cooling time, this dish doesn’t take all that long to make. Yum!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!