“Thai” Chicken Burgers with Coconut Rice Pilaf

October 19, 2015October 20, 2015 ~ lisaandfrancescook ~ Leave a comment

Today was one of those perfect fall days. The air was crisp, the sky was a clear, true blue and there was only a whisper of a breeze. My husband and I took a long walk, meandering through streets and neighborhoods that we normally never go through. It is a favorite past-time of ours and we love to walk until just before the point of exhaustion. We arrived home and I still was happy to make dinner. Tonight I made slightly spicy “Thai” chicken burgers, a green salad and then I had to decide what to do for a side. As Frances said in an earlier post, the sides are what can take something that you make all of the time and send it to a new level. I decided to concoct some coconut rice pilaf. I always have coconut milk on hand because if you are cooking a meal for people who keep Kosher or are vegan, it’s a wonderful substitute for dairy. And I buy Basmati rice in 10 pound bags because we love it that much. Everyone has their own pantry staples and mine always include a nice variety of nuts and dried fruits, so I knew that I had the makings for a delicious pilaf without having to go to the store. I also keep some kind of chutney on hand and this time I had Major Grey Mango Chutney which was a nice accent to the burgers.

“Thai” Chicken Burgers adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow

Yield 3-4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound ground chicken, white or dark meat

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic

1 bunch finely chopped cilantro

2 shallots, finely minced

1 teaspoon red pepper paste (I used Harissa, but you could use red bean paste with chili or Korean red pepper paste)

2 teaspoons Asian fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons of a neutral oil (I used Grapeseed, but canola or safflower oil would be fine)

Directions

Using your hands (I know, I know, but you just have to!) thoroughly mix everything except for the oil together. Wetting your hands in cold water, form either 3 patties or 4 patties about 1 inch thick. I made 3, but if you are a very small eater or being good about your diet, by all means make 4.
Heat a grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium heat and then add the oil.When the oil sizzles if you drop a tiny amount of water in the pan, add the burgers. This will spatter so understand ahead of time that you will have to wipe your stove top when you are finished. Get over it.
This part is going to depend a bit on the size of your burger. I made 3 burgers out of 1 pound of chicken and cooked them for 6 minutes on the first side and 8 minutes, covered on the second side. My burgers were pretty thick so they were wonderfully juicy, but fully cooked when I finished. Do allow your burgers to sit in the pan with the heat turned off for 5 minutes before serving them. This will allow the burgers to absorb back all of the juices that otherwise would run right out the second you cut into them. You do not want to undercook chicken. If the burger looks nicely browned and seems firm to the touch, it’s probably done.

Coconut Rice Pilaf

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 cup Basmati Rice (Texmati rice will do if you can’t easily find Basmati rice. I buy mine from Amazon…)

1 shallot, finely chopped

1/2 cup dried currants or Sultana raisins

1/4 cup of blanched slivered almonds

1 stick of cinnamon bark

1 15.3 ounce can of full-fat coconut milk

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 cup clover honey or other light colored honey

zest of one orange

Vanilla Soy milk, almond milk or regular milk

Directions

In a small skillet melt the butter and saute the chopped shallot and currants or raisins until the shallots are softened.
Add the turmeric, cardamom, orange zest and honey and mix through. Set aside.
In a medium pot with a tight-fitting lid, add the coconut milk and enough of the other milk to make 2 generous cups. Add the cinnamon bark.
Bring the milk to a boil and add in the rice and give it a stir. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low so that the liquid simmers. Cook for 14 minutes. Turn off the heat.
Warm the currant mixture just until the honey is liquified and then pour it into the cooked rice and gently mix it through. Let the rice sit for a few mionutes to finish absorbing the liquid.

Vegan Pad Thai

October 7, 2015March 19, 2017 ~ lisaandfrancescook ~ 1 Comment

I have always loved veggies and legumes and after I have had a few meat-heavy meals, it feels good to make something that is vegetarian or vegan. This recipe would be vegan if you were to leave out the fish sauce.

Whenever I am making something for the first time, I try to look at several versions of the recipe by different authors and then I take aspects that I like from several of them. The original recipe that caught my eye appeared at Food 52, a website that I go to several times a day. But like Frances, I also enjoy reading Mark Bittman, so some of this recipe comes from him, with the rest from me. I did read a few other recipes for Pad Thai but these were the two that made me want to try it on my own. See what you think.

PS: Leftovers made for a GREAT lunch!

Almost Vegan Pad Thai adapted from Gena Hamshaw and Mark Bittman

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces pad thai rice noodles

For the sauce

6 Tablespoons unsweetened peanut butter (chunky or smooth)

1 Tablespoons tamarind paste (You will use this up in Indian food so don’t worry about what you will do with the rest)

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

3 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce or tamari

2 Tablespoons maple syrup

1.5 Tablespoons sriracha or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more, to taste)

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/3 cup tap water

1 Tablespoon peanut oil

For the stir-fry

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 14-16 ounce block of extra firm tofu that has been pressed for at least 30 minutes (see note below)

1 Tablespoon grated ginger

2 medium carrots, cut into thin sticks

4-6 scallions, halved lengthwise and cut into one-inch pieces

1 small head Napa cabbage, shredded (about 4-5 cups) OR equal amount of snow pea pods

8 ounce package mung bean sprouts

For garnish

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup unsalted dry roasted peanuts, chopped

Lime wedges

Directions

In order for the tofu to have some “bite” I like to press it under bricks (books or heavy cans will work too) for at least 30 minutes and as much as an hour. This gets all of the excess liquid out and compacts the tofu. I often do this and then marinate and bake the tofu, but that is for another day. You can even do this a day or two ahead and refrigerate it until ready to use.
Prepare the sauce by whisking all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
Prepare the rice noodles according to the package. If made ahead, drain them and stir in a healthy teaspoon of toasted sesame oil to keep them from sticking too much. Do not over cook these or they will be like eating mush.
In a large pan or wok, heat the peanut oil and stir in the garlic and ginger. After about 1 minute, add the carrots and scallions. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Now add the Napa cabbage or snow pea pods and the tofu and about 1 cup of the sauce.
Stir-fry for 2 minutes and then add the rice noodles. Add more sauce until you have it the way you like it. Some people – like my husband – like LOTS of sauce. After about 2 minutes, add the mung bean sprouts. Stir-fry, moving everything constantly and gently so as not to break up the tofu or noodles, until warmed through.
When warmed through, garnish with the peanuts and cilantro.

Take-IN Chinese food

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015 ~ lisaandfrancescook ~ Leave a comment

I guess my cooking goes in phases – all Mediterranean, lots of Asian or South Asian or just plain, delicious comfort food. I have recently been looking through old recipes and came across one that I always loved and which somehow fell off of my food rotation. It’s called Chicken Soong and is Chinese lettuce-wrapped ground chicken. The recipe is hand-written and is probably at least 35 years old based on the note paper I found it on. I have no recollection of where I got the recipe, but I have no trouble recalling that I really liked this dish. I will serve it alongside a comforting beef, mushroom and broccoli dish over rice. It’s possible that 35 years ago, I might have made several other dishes alongside it, but I’m a little more realistic in my expectations now.

The prep could all be done the night before so when you get home from work or school or soccer practice, all you have to do is cook up your rice and throw the ingredients in the wok. The prep for two dishes takes about an hour. Perhaps if I were a faster chopper or more used to making Asian food, it could be done more quickly. The result is delicious and satisfying in under an hour – sort of. And the bonus is that if you have any of the lettuce wraps left-over, they make a wonderful lunch the next day.

Chicken Soong

Yield: This will not be satisfying as a dinner on its own. Combined with another dish like the one below, this will easily serve 6 people. If you make two more dishes, it could easily satsify 8 people unless you are feeding teenage boys – then all bets are off!

Ingredients:

10-12 lettuce leaves from either iceberg or leaf lettuce

1 pound ground chicken (I like the chicken to be a mix of white and dark meat so it isn’t so dry)

1 egg white (save the yolk for an omelette or baking pastry)

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1-2 jalapeno chilis, cored and shredded/sliced (Know how much heat you like in your food; you can always substitute 1/2 cup thinly sliced sweet peppers)

10-12 water chestnuts, thinly sliced, then diced

1/2 cup finely diced celery

1/4 cup finely diced carrots (about 1 medium carrot)

1 rounded teaspoon finely chopped ginger (you can buy it in jars in the produce section to save time)

3-4 scallions, finely chopped

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic (you can buy this in the produce section also to save time)

3/4 cup oil (Canola or Peanut are good here)

For sauce:

2 Tablespoons dry Sherry

1/2 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1/2 Tablespoon chili paste with garlic (harissa or Gochujang can be substituted)

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (You must use the toasted Asian sesame oil)

1 Tablespoon cornstarch combined with 1 Tablespoon water

Directions:

Add egg white, salt and 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch to ground chicken and refrigerate for 30 minutes
Combine the celery, carrots, water chestnuts and peppers with ginger. Set aside
In a separate bowl, combine the scallion and garlic and set to the side.
Combine the ingredients for the sauce except for the cornstarch and water
In a separate dish combine the cornstarch and water and whisk with a fork or chopstick to make sure that it is well combined and there are no clumps
Heat 3/4 cup of oil in a wok or deep skillet. Make sure that the oil is very hot before putting in the chicken so it doesn’t absorb the oil. Add the chicken, breaking up the pieces and stirring constantly for about 1.5 minutes. Drain over a strainer and set aside.
Return 2 Tablespoons of the oil to the wok and add the celery mixture. After 30 seconds, add the scallion and garlic. After 10 seconds, add the chicken and cook for 30 more seconds.
Add sauce mixture with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil (if you like it HOT, you can use the sesame oil with hot peppers). Cook for 30 seconds and then add the cornstarch mixture. Mix through and immediately turn off the heat.
Arrange lettuce leaves on a platter and the filling in a bowl on the side. Everyone can take a tablespoon of the filling and roll it into a lettuce wrap.

Beef with Broccoli and Mushrooms

Yield: 4 – 6 servings with anothe rdish like the one above

Ingredients

10 ounces flat-iron steak thinly sliced against the grain (You can use flank steak but it will cost you about 2-3 times more and it really isn’t worth it)

3 cups broccoli florets, separated, with any stems, trimmed and sliced thinly on an angle

1 small yellow onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

About 4 ounces of mushrooms sliced (any kind will do so it is based on preference and budget)

About 2 Tablespoons of oil, preferably peanut oil divided

2 Tablespoons of water

For the meat

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

2 Tablespoons dry sherry

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

For the sauce

2 Tablespoons dry sherry

2 Tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 Tablespoon oyster sauce

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil for garnish

Directions

Comine the ingredients for the meat in a bowl or heavy-duty plastic ziploc bag and refrigerate until ready to use. This can even be done the night before.
When ready to cook, add 1 Tablespoons of the peanut oil to a hot wok. Pour the oil down the side of the wok, not into the center where it could easily splash you and burn. Add the meat, separating the pieces and moving them around until mostly cooked through. This only takes a couple of minutes.
Carefully remove the cooked meat to a clean bowl and set nearby.
Add 1 more Tablespoon of the remaining peanut oil to the hot wok and then add the onions. Stir for about 2 minutes.
Add the broccoli and mushrooms together and stir for 3 minutes.
Then add back the meat and stir through. Add 2 Tablespoons of water. Cover the wok and cook for 3 minutes.
Mix the sauce together so that all of the cornstarch is distributed and absorbed into the liquid. Uncover the wok, push the meat and veggies to the side a bit and carefully pour the sauce into the center of the pan. Immediately stir everything well to distribute the sauce and turn off the heat. The sauce will continue to thicken so do not leave the heat on.
Serve over the rice of your choice. I’m usung brown rice tonight. Just be sure that your rice is cooked BEFORE beginning everything else.