Thai Chicken Saute

I tried so very hard to make the last "e" on "saute" have an accent, but failed.  That's really all I have to say about this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 package Chicken Tenders
1 tbsp Cornstarch
1 tbsp Fish Sauce
1 Onion, sliced
2 Green Bell Peppers, sliced
2 Garlic Cloves, diced
2 tbsp Ginger, grated
1 can Light Coconut Milk
2 tbsp Sriracha
1 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Lime Juice
2 tbsp Cilantro, chopped

1. Whisk cornstarch and fish sauce together, then toss with chicken.

2. Cook chicken in a pan over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, turning once.  Remove from pan.

3. Slice onion and the peppers, dice garlic, and peel and grate ginger.  Add all to the pan, and cook for 3 minutes.

4. Return chicken to the pan, and cook for 1 minute.

5. Stir in coconut milk, sriracha, sugar, and lime juice, and cook for 5 minutes or until coconut milk condenses a little.

6. Serve over rice, with cilantro as garnish.

Nice and simple.  I haven't mastered Thai or Indian food yet, probably because I don't have the right spices, but this is a pretty decent approximation.

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Original Recipe:

Cooking Light

Butternut Squash Soup with Black Beans, Red Peppers + Cilantro

There's nothing that says fall like some good butternut squash soup.  This was great - easy to make, unique in taste, and very hearty.  I dumped a whole small bottle of Tabasco sauce in there and it still wasn't spicy (though the jalapeno taste was there) - so go nuts on the hot sauce.

Ingredients:

1 large Butternut Squash (or 1 package cut squash), halved
1 Onion, chopped
5 Celery stalks, chopped
6 Garlic cloves
6 cups Vegetable Broth
2 tbsp Cumin
2 cans Black Beans, drained + rinsed
2 Red Bell Peppers, chopped small
1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
1 small bottle Green Tabasco Sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Halve squash and place face-up on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt + pepper and roast for 1 hour.  Let cool if whole, and scrape flesh away.

Pre-chopped squash is the greatest thing to have ever happened.  Worth it every time.

3. While squash is cooking, roughly chop onion and celery.  Put in crockpot along with garlic, cumin and broth, set slow cooker to high and start cooking.

4. Add in squash, and puree finely with a hand-held blender.

5. Drain and rise black beans, and chop peppers and cilantro.  Add to crockpot, and cook on high for 8 hours.

Deelish.

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Original Recipe:

Kalyn's Kitchen

Popia Malaysian Spring Rolls

Made these in the Penang cooking class as well.  A million things to chop, but so delicious and so fresh.

Ingredients:

Spring Roll Wrappers

30 Prawns, shelled and deveined 

1 handful Green Beans, diced

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

2 blocks Raw Tofu, julienned

1/2 cup Fried Tofu, chopped

Black Pepper

Plum Sauce

Hoisin Sauce mixed with Chile Sauce

1 bundle Cilantro, chopped

3 leaves of Lettuce, julienned

2 Eggs, cooked and julienned

1/2 Jicama, julienned

1/2 Cucumber, julienned

1 handful Peanuts, roasted and ground

1 handful Dried Shallots

1 handful Bean Sprouts

1 Chile Pepper, seeded and julienned

First - to market. Got the sauces, made fresh:

Got the spring roll wraps, made fresh.  This was so cool - the dough adhered to itself, so the man making them would touch his ball of dough down onto the pan for a split second and then pull it up quickly.  This would leave just a thin layer on the pan, which a woman would scrape off immediately, making each thin wrapper.

Our assembled ingredients (post-chopping):

1. Chop, dice, or julienne all vegetables. To julienne simply means to cut into long, thin strips, like the cucumber below.

The fried tofu:

The green beans:

2. Cook peanuts in wok for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Take off heat when blackened, and crush.

3. Scramble eggs and cook a thin omelet over high heat, flipping once.  Roll egg and slice.

4. Peel and devein prawns.  

5. Cook garlic in pan for 1 minute over high heat, and stir in prawns. Cook for 1 more minute.

6. Add in raw tofu, green beans and black pepper.  Stir for 2 minutes, then turn off heat.  Allow to sit in pan for a few minutes to let to flavors continue to blend.

7. Place a spring roll wrapper on a plate, and spread a spoonful of plum sauce and sweet and sour sauce on top.

8. Add a lettuce leaf, and a small spoonful of the prawn mixture on top.

9. Add all other ingredients, roll and consume.

Tomato, Roasted Corn + Crab Salad

This recipe used the leftover corn from the side I made to pair with the BBQ Chicken Skewers.  And I added in bell peppers for more crunch, which was a good call.

Ingredients:

12 oz Canned Crab Meat
1 Avocado, cubed
1 package Cherry or Grape Tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 cups Corn, roasted (or 2 corn cobs, sheared)
1/2 Red Onion, diced
2 Jalapenos, seeded + diced
1 package Cilantro, chopped
2 tbsp Lime Juice
1 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt + Pepper, to taste

Didn't have cherry tomatoes, so used 3 regular ones.  I think cherry would have been better for a different texture, though it was still good. Also didn't have jalapenos, which would have also been great.

1. Dice onion and put into a small bowl.  Cover with lime juice and olive oil, to mellow flavor. Set aside.

2. Chop tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos and avocados.  Place first three into a large salad bowl, and set aside avocados.

3. Roast corn in a large pan until browned.  Season with salt + pepper as you go.

I used leftover corn on the cob, so first I sheared the kernels off the cob with a serrated knife.  When you cook the corn, you can break it up with the spatula easily.

Apologies for the terrible pictures! Didn't realize until it was too late.

4. Combine all ingredients except avocado in salad bowl and mix well.  Add avocado and stir through.

Otherwise, the avocado mushes into everything.

I ate this with salad dressing, but you can also just add more olive oil and lime juice to taste.

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Original Recipe:

Skinny Taste

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This was great - filling, but super light and healthy.  The leftovers keep for days and days in the fridge, too, and are good cold.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Fish Sauce
3 tbsp Lime Juice
1 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Coconut Oil (or Grapeseed or Peanut)
1 Onion, diced
1 bundle Green Onions, chopped
2 inches Ginger, peeled + grated
4 Garlic Cloved, minced
1 package Lean Ground Chicken (or Turkey)
1 tbsp Chile Powder
1 Jalapeno, seeded + diced
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1/3 cup Cilantro (or Basil), diced
1 head Lettuce, washed

I added a red bell pepper for some crunch, which was a good call - this could use celery or something else crunchy too.  Also - use hearty lettuce or the wrap falls apart easily.. I made the mistake of not doing that.

1. In a small bowl, whisk brown sugar, fish sauce and lime juice.  Set aside.

2. Heat coconut oil in a large pan and add onion and white parts of the green onion (save the green parts for later).  Cook for 1 minute, then add garlic, ginger and jalapeno.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add ground chicken and use a spoon or spatula to break it up into little pieces.  It will start out mushy, but as it cooks, it becomes easy to separate. Cook meat until brown, for approximately 5 minutes.

4. Stir in the sauce thoroughly and cook down for 1 minute.  Take off the heat, and stir in the red bell pepper, the rest of the green onions and the cilantro.

5. Wash lettuce and spoon mixture in! Serve hot or cold.

Don't break up the lettuce like I did - the more to wrap around the filling, the better it will stay together. Mine totally fell all over the plate.

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Original Recipe:

Aida Mollenkamp