Sichuan-Style Stir-Fried Chicken With Peanuts

Not much to say other than yum!  This was a great stir fry, just spicy enough but not overboard.  You can add whatever veggies you like.  I ate every last bite!

Sichuan-Style Stir-Fried Chicken with Peanuts (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

Marinade:

• 2  tablespoons  low-sodium soy sauce
• 2  tablespoons  rice wine or sake
• 1  teaspoon  cornstarch
• 1  teaspoon  dark sesame oil
• 1 1/2  pounds  skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• Stir-Frying Oil:
• 2  tablespoons  vegetable oil, divided
• Sauce:
• 1/2  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 2  tablespoons  sugar
• 2 1/2  tablespoons  low-sodium soy sauce
• 2  tablespoons  rice wine or sake
• 1  tablespoon  Chinese black vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  cornstarch
• 1  teaspoon  dark sesame oil
• 2  tablespoons  minced green onions
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  minced garlic (about 7 cloves)
• 1  teaspoon  chile paste with garlic
• Remaining Ingredients:
• 1 1/2  cups  drained, sliced water chestnuts
• 1  cup  (1/2-inch) sliced green onion tops
• 3/4  cup  unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts
• 6  cups  hot cooked long-grain rice

Directions:

To prepare marinade, combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl; cover and chill 20 minutes.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken mixture; stir-fry 4 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove from pan; set aside.

To prepare sauce, combine broth and next 6 ingredients (broth through 1 teaspoon sesame oil); stir well with a whisk. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in pan. Add 2 tablespoons green onions, ginger, garlic, and chile paste, and stir-fry for 15 seconds. Add broth mixture, and cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly.

Stir in cooked chicken, water chestnuts, sliced onion tops, and peanuts; cook for 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Serve over rice.

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Hot and Sour Soup with Tofu

This recipe was Tyler’s pick, but I indulged it (with a big glass of milk to combat the spiciness and you betcha I pulled those hunks of tofu out of my bowl after I photographed it!)  I would put wontons in this soup rather than tofu, but that’s just me.  It really was a great, easy to make soup!

Hot and Sour Soup with Tofu (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

• 1  (14-ounce) package firm water-packed tofu, drained
• 1 3/4  cups  water, divided
• 1  (1/2-ounce) package dried sliced shiitake mushroom caps
• 4  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4  cup  white vinegar
• 2  tablespoons  less-sodium soy sauce
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
• 2  teaspoons  sugar
• 3/4  teaspoon  white pepper
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 2 1/2  tablespoons  cornstarch
• 1/2  cup  canned sliced bamboo shoots, drained and cut into julienne strips
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2  cup  thinly diagonally sliced green onion tops

Preparation

1. Place tofu on several layers of paper towels. Cover tofu with several more layers of paper towels; top with a cast-iron skillet or other heavy pan. Let stand 30 minutes. Discard paper towels. Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes.

2. Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a small saucepan; remove from heat. Stir in mushrooms; let stand 30 minutes. Stir in broth and next 6 ingredients (through garlic); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine remaining 1/4 cup water and cornstarch in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Stir cornstarch mixture, tofu, and bamboo shoots into broth mixture; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally; remove from heat. Slowly drizzle egg into broth mixture (do not stir). Place pan over low heat; cook 1 minute. Stir soup gently to combine. Sprinkle with green onions.

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sweet potato curry

This dish was a bit too spicy for my taste buds, but Tyler loved it!  It is from the most recent issue of Cooking Light and it’s an interesting use for sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Chicken Curry (from Cooking Light)

 

Ingredients

2  teaspoons  curry powder

1  teaspoon  ground coriander

1  teaspoon  ground turmeric

1/2  teaspoon  salt

1/2  teaspoon  black pepper

1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper

1  bay leaf

1 1/2  teaspoons  olive oil

1 1/2  pounds  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 1/2  cups  vertically sliced onion

1 1/2  teaspoons  minced peeled fresh ginger

2  garlic cloves, minced

1  (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1  (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

2  cups  (1/2-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato

3/4  cup  canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2  cup  frozen green peas

1  tablespoon  fresh lemon juice

Directions:

1. Combine curry powder, coriander, turmeric, salt, black pepper, red pepper, and bay leaf in a small bowl.

2. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken from pan. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium-high; return chicken to pan. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add curry powder mixture; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Stir in potato and chickpeas. Cook, uncovered, 30 minutes. Add peas; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice. Discard bay leaf.

 

 

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Spicy Thai

Tyler picked this recipe out of the latest Cooking Light.  If you haven’t checked out CL recently you should.  Last month they launched their new design, with a photo of EVERY recipe.  It is fantastic.  Many more recipes than before, and less of the travel/exercise/beauty filler they were using so much of before.  This noodle dish was delicious but SPICY.  I had to take a big drink of milk between every bite.  So next time we’ll probably cut back on the chili-garlic paste  This was our first time using rice noodles and they were yummy, however a little expensive, a cheaper substitute would be linguine or another flat pasta.

Thai Rice Noodles with Chicken (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

1/4  cup  fresh lime juice, divided
2  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
8  ounces  1/2-inch-thick rice noodles
1  tablespoon  brown sugar
1  tablespoon  water
1  tablespoon  fish sauce
1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2  teaspoons  fresh chile paste with garlic (such as sambal oelek)
1/4  teaspoon  salt, divided
4  teaspoons  canola oil, divided
3  tablespoons  thinly diagonally sliced green onions
1  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger
1  teaspoon  minced garlic
1/2  cup  torn fresh basil
1/4  cup  very thinly sliced lemongrass (tough outer stalks removed) our store didn’t carry this so we omitted it
1/4  cup  very thinly vertically sliced shallots

Directions:

1. Combine 2 tablespoons juice and chicken in a bowl. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Soak noodles in hot water 15 minutes or until somewhat soft but still slightly chewy. Drain well.

3. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons juice, sugar, and next 4 ingredients (through chile paste). Stir in 1/8 teaspoon salt.

4. Heat a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Remove chicken from juice; discard juice. Add chicken to pan; stir-fry 4 minutes or until done. Transfer to large bowl; sprinkle with remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Add green onions, ginger, and garlic; stir-fry 45 seconds or just until golden and fragrant. Add noodles; cook 30 seconds, tossing well. Stir in sugar mixture. Add chicken; cook 30 seconds. Place 1 1/4 cups noodle mixture on each of 4 plates. Top each with 2 tablespoons basil, 1 tablespoon lemongrass, and 1 tablespoon shallots.

• 1/4  cup  fresh lime juice, divided
  2  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
  8  ounces  1/2-inch-thick rice noodles
  1  tablespoon  brown sugar
  1  tablespoon  water
  1  tablespoon  fish sauce
  1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
  1 1/2  teaspoons  fresh chile paste with garlic (such as sambal oelek)
  1/4  teaspoon  salt, divided
  4  teaspoons  canola oil, divided
  3  tablespoons  thinly diagonally sliced green onions
  1  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger
  1  teaspoon  minced garlic
  1/2  cup  torn fresh basil
  1/4  cup  very thinly sliced lemongrass (tough outer stalks removed)
  1/4  cup  very thinly vertically sliced shallots

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Thai Chicken with Cashews

Last weekend I finally went through my google reader to get inspiration from my starred recipe.  I’ve had this one starred since last summer and Tyler cooked it up for dinner on Monday night.  It was good but a little too spicy for me (I blame that on Tyler who often dumps spices in without measuring!)  I enjoyed it, but with a big glass of milk to cool my tastebuds!  I love munching on the leftover cashews!

Thai Chicken with Cashews (from Annie’s Eats)

Ingredients:

1 bunch scallions

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

3 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 red bell pepper, chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 ½ tbsp. finely chopped peeled fresh ginger (or 1 ½ tsp. dried)

¼ tsp. roasted red pepper flakes

¾ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 ½ tbsp. soy sauce

1 ½ tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. sugar

½ cup salted roasted whole cashews

cooked white or brown rice for serving

Directions:

Chop scallions, separating white and green parts. Pat chicken dry, then cut into ¾ -inch pieces and toss with salt and pepper. Heat a wok or 12-inch heavy skillet (not nonstick) over moderately high heat until a drop of water evaporates immediately. Add oil, swirling to coat, then stir-fry chicken until golden in places and just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add bell pepper, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and scallion whites to wok and stir-fry until peppers are just tender, 5 to 6 minutes.

Stir together broth, soy sauce, cornstarch and sugar, then stir the mixture into the vegetables in the wok. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in cashews, scallion greens and chicken along with any juices accumulated on plate. Serve with rice.

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Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad

Tyler made this recipe last Saturday as a bit of a Valentine’s surprise.  I had to work that day and informed him that I did not want to have to do dishes at the end of the day, so while a nice elaborate romantic dinner would be great, I’d rather we just get pizza!  Instead he chose to make this pasta salad which was filling and required minimal cleanup.  He knows me well!  Tyler made this salad with canned chicken but you could use the “real” thing too of course.  It was delicious and I think it would be great for picnics and bbqs in the summer months.  You can add different veggies to it as well, we just used what we had on hand, which was sugar snap peas.

Sesame Chicken Pasta Salad (adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sesame seeds
16 oz pasta
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 t sesame oil
3 T white sugar
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground pepper
3 cups shredded chicken meat
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/3 cup chopped green onion

Directions:

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame seeds, and cook stirring frequently until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain pasta, and rinse under cold water until cool. Transfer to a large bowl.
3. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine vegetable oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, ginger, and pepper. Shake well.
4. Pour sesame dressing over pasta, and toss to coat evenly. Gently mix in chicken, cilantro, and green onions.

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Fabulous Stir-Fry

Oh my goodness friends I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks since I posted!  School has kept me insanely busy and we are doing easy easy meals for dinner these days, and often Tyler is the one doing the cooking.  I often resort to PBJ when I’m really busy with homework.  This recipe was Tyler’s idea to make, it’s based off the stir fry we made at the KC Culinary Center this summer.  Since I am mildly allergic to shrimp Tyler subbed chicken.  I think this stir-fry is fabulous.  If you live in the KC area, we were unable to find the black bean sauce at HyVee or SuperTarget, but Hen House came through for us.  You could add all kinds of great things to this stir fry, it’s a great base.  Tyler bought dried mushrooms and soaked them, also yummy!

Wok-Fried Chicken with Noodles (adapted from the KCCC recipe we were given)

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup canola or peanut oil
1 t sesame oil
1 T garlic, chopped
1 head baby bok choy, chopped in 1-inch pieces
5-6 pieces of shiitake mushrooms
1/2 red pepper, julienne
2 T black bean sauce
1 T soy sauce
14 oz fresh egg noodles, or cooked lo mein noodles
1 green onion, sliced
1 t chili garlic sauce

Directions:

Pre-heat pan over high heat and add oil.  Cook chicken, add sesame oil, and then garlic, cooking until chicken is no longer pink.  Add baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, red peppers, black bean sauce, and soy sauce, cooking 30 seconds longer.  Add the noodles to the pan and stir in the chili garlic sauce.

Plate and garnish with green onions.

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Sesame Noodles

I was flipping through my Best of Cooking Light cookbook over the weekend and ran across this recipe and decided to give it a try.  We had half a batch of potstickers in the freezer that I wanted to cook up with another asian inspired dish.  I altered the Cooking Light recipe a bit based on reviews I read on their website.  I omitted the chicken since the pork potstickers were enough meat for one meal, and I decided not to bake the noodles, since several reviews mentioned that the dish became too dry upon baking.  This was a filling meal, but lacked a zing I was hoping for, it was just a bit bland.  The reviews online had been mixed, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  Still, I think it’s a good base recipe that you could spice up.  It had a nice amount of veggies in it and complimented the potstickers well, plus it was a quick meal which I really appreciate right now since I’m buried under work for grad school!

Sesame Noodles (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

8 ounces uncooked spaghetti or linguine, broken in half (I used lo-mein noodles)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 cup red bell pepper strips
8 ounces shiitake mushroom caps, sliced (I used regular white mushrooms)
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons cream sherry
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cups thinly sliced bok choy
3/4 cup sliced green onions
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, divided

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add red bell pepper strips and mushrooms; sauté 2 minutes. Add chicken, ginger, and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in soy sauce; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Combine broth and cornstarch, stirring well with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan, and cook 2 minutes or until mixture is slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in sherry, vinegar, and crushed red pepper. Add pasta, bok choy, green onions, and 2 teaspoons sesame seeds to pan, tossing well to combine.

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A WW winner

Love this recipe! Hallelujah! I actually didn’t make it since Tyler is the “stir-fryer” in this household, but I chopped up some stuff and “supervised” and ate it and oh my it was delicious! This is from the “15-minute dishes” portion of the cookbook. Can’t wait to have it again

Stir-Fried Beef and Snow Peas

Ingredients:

3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T minced peeled fresh ginger
3/4 lb boneless sirloin steak, trimmed and cut into thin 2-inch-long slices
1/2 lb fresh snow peas, trimmed, or thawed frozen snow peas
1 cup canned sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 T reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 T orange juice
1 t cornstarch
1 T water

Directions:

1. Spray a large nonstick wok or deep skillet with nonstick spray and set over high heat until a drop of water sizzles in it. Add the scallions, garlic, and ginger; stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beef and stir-fry until browned, about 3 minutes. Add the snow peas and stir-fry about 1 minute. Add the water chestnuts and stir-fry 30 seconds. Stir in the soy sauce and orange juice; bring to a simmer and cook 20 seconds.

2. Stir together the cornstarch and water in a small bowl until smooth. Add to the wok and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce bubbles and thickens, about 30 seconds.

serving size = 1 cup (recipe serves 4)

WW points per serving = 2 (wow!!)

I had mine over brown rice and Tyler had his over some leftover whole wheat spaghetti we needed to use up.

Source: Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites, 2008. p.251

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Tilapia with a Thai Twist

Whew, dinner didn’t bomb!  That’s always a relief   Tonight’s dinner was a quick one to prepare, so I had plenty of time to get in a good workout and spend some time reading tonight.  I think if we make this again I’ll serve it with some kind of veggie stir fry or asian noodles.  I just whipped up some couscous and a salad tonight but more flavorful side dishes would have been nice.  Tyler rated this dish an 8 on a scale of 1-10, not bad!  Thanks for the recipe Cara!

Crunchy Coconut-Peanut Tilapia (from Cara’s Cravings)

Ingredients:

2 tilapia filets, 4-6oz each
1/4 cup light coconut milk
1/4 tsp curry powder
3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Or, just use a broiler pan.

Stir together coconut milk and curry powder, and pour over fish in a shallow baking dish. Turn fish to coat both sides and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Pulse peanuts and panko together in a food processor or blender; season with salt and pepper. Pour the crumbs onto a plate. Remove fish from coconut milk and press both sides into the crumbs, then gently place on the baking sheet or broiler pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until opaque in the center. If desired, turn on broiler for the last couple of minutes to get the top extra-crispy.

Serving=1 tilapia filet

WW points per serving: 5

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