Sukiyaki Style Mixed Grill with Chicken Char Siu

From Wikipedia:

Sukiyaki: It consists of meat (usually thinly sliced beef) slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Generally sukiyaki is a single dish for the colder days of the year and it is commonly found at bōnenkai, Japanese year-end parties.

Chicken Char Siu: Chinese Barbecued Chicken.



I made 2 different dishes last night, simply because I was trying to use up the produce I had in the house, and because they both sounded delicious. I didn't realize that one was a Japanese dish, and one was Chinese, but hey, I'm a tolerant type of girl, so I can dig it. Anyway, These are both fairly quick to make, despite the peeling, slicing, and dicing that was involved. The sukiyaki was a vegetarian dish, and was full of veggies, potatoes, and pasta. It was so delicious - super high in flavor, with a perfect amount of salty sweetness. We all loved it. Even Jonah gobbled it down. The ramen/Chinese noodles were an excellent addition. I had never seen non-friend ramen before, so this was a really exciting ingredient for me.

The chicken was also really tasty. It is a recipe that is meant to be made on skewers, but since I didn't have any, I just cut up the chicken and cooked it in 1-inch pieces. It came out really tasty and moist, and was a very nice addition to the sukiyaki. I will definitely make both of these again, and I would be interested to make the Char Siu on skewers, and serve it to company, as an appetizer. It was a seriously successful dinner, according to the family. I love when everyone loves dinner!




Try this one. We all gave it 5 Bowls!

Sukiyaki-Style Mixed Grill


Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup vegetable mixture and 1 cup noodles)


1 medium zucchini (about 6 ounces)
1 medium carrot (about 3 ounces)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
1 (6-ounce) package presliced portobello mushrooms
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (about 1/2 pound)
1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch strips (about 6 ounces)
1 medium peeled sweet potato, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 6 ounces)
5 (1/8-inch-thick) slices peeled fresh ginger
1 cup sake (rice wine)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
2 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
4 cups hot cooked Chinese-style noodles (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)

Cut zucchini and carrot lengthwise into quarters; cut each quarter crosswise in half. Set aside.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil to skillet; swirl to coat bottom of pan. Add zucchini; saut� over medium-high heat 3 minutes or until browned. Place zucchini in a bowl; set aside. Add 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil to skillet; swirl to coat. Add mushrooms; saut� 2 minutes or until browned. Add mushrooms to zucchini; set aside. Add 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil to skillet; swirl to coat. Add red onion and bell pepper; saut� 5 minutes or until browned. Place red onion mixture in a bowl; set aside. Add 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil to skillet; swirl to coat. Add carrot and sweet potato; saut� 2 minutes or until browned. Add to red onion mixture.

Add ginger to skillet; saut� 30 seconds. Stir in sake, 1/4 cup water, soy sauce, and sugar; scrape skillet to loosen browned bits. Add red onion mixture; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until tender. Combine cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water in a bowl; stir well. Add cornstarch mixture and zucchini mixture to skillet. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in green onions and sesame oil. Serve over noodles.


CALORIES 376 (11% from fat); FAT 4.5g (sat 0.7g,mono 1.1g,poly 2g); IRON 4.2mg; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 55mg; CARBOHYDRATE 73.2g; SODIUM 418mg; PROTEIN 10.7g; FIBER 5.9g

Cooking Light, MARCH 1997
Try this. It's a 5 Bowler!

Chicken Char Siu


Brought by Chinese immigrants to Hawaii, this dish is typically made with baby back ribs. Skinless, boneless chicken thighs are a tender and tasty substitute with less fat.


Yield: 9 servings (serving size: 2 skewers)


1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 18 strips
Cooking spray

Combine all ingredients except the cooking spray; marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat broiler.

Thread 1 chicken strip onto each of 18 (6-inch) skewers, reserving marinade. Place skewers on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; broil 6 minutes. Turn skewers over; baste with reserved marinade. Broil 6 minutes or until done.


CALORIES 108 (26% from fat); FAT 3.1g (sat 0.8g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.8g); IRON 0.9mg; CHOLESTEROL 63mg; CALCIUM 10mg; CARBOHYDRATE 4.1g; SODIUM 241mg; PROTEIN 15.2g; FIBER 0.1g

Cooking Light, MARCH 2005

Sesame Chicken Lo Mein

Who doesn't love sesame chicken? When we go to a Chinese restaurant, Kevin often orders it, but specifies "white meat," and "sauteed, not fried." Otherwise, it's just a really greasy, fatty meal, which doesn't sit so well. Anyway, I found this recipe, and was really excited about it. Plus, it was in Cooking Light, and that's my lucky magazine, so I had to try it. This is a really easy, pretty, quick, and tasty meal. It is supposed to be made with pork, but I used cut up chicken breasts, and would even try it with tofu next time. The flavor is quite good, but it is not really comparable with sesame chicken. First of all, the recipe called for only a teaspoon of sesame seeds. Now, I recognize that this was a "light" recipe, but I'm not sure if the sesame seeds were a great place to skimp. In addition, and this was my fault, my lo mein noodles didn't cook all that well, and ended up clumping together like crazy. In my last Chinese noodle dish, I used udon noodles, and I think those were much easier. Plus, they were whole wheat, which always bodes well, in my book. Anyway, this is a tasty recipe, and definitely a keeper, but I think it needs a tad bit of tweaking, to live up to the real sesame chicken!





Try it!

Sesame Pork (or Chicken) Lo Mein


For variety, use shrimp or chicken in place of the pork and chopped red bell pepper instead of mushrooms.


Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups)


8 ounces uncooked lo mein noodles or vermicelli
6 tablespoons dry sherry
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1 tablespoon bottled minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 teaspoons dark sesame oil, divided
12 ounces pork tenderloin, trimmed and sliced into thin strips
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Cooking spray
3/4 cup snow peas, halved crosswise
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
1 cup diagonally cut green onions

Prepare the noodles according to package directions; drain.

Combine sherry and the next 6 ingredients (through red pepper) in a medium bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil and pork; toss to coat.

Combine broth and cornstarch, stirring with a whisk.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork mixture to pan, and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove pork using a slotted spoon. Add peas, carrot, and mushrooms to pan; cook 2 minutes. Stir in broth mixture; cook 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly.

Stir in noodles, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, pork, and sesame seeds. Sprinkle with green onions. Serve immediately.


CALORIES 300 (17% from fat); FAT 5.5g (sat 1.2g,mono 2.2g,poly 1.7g); IRON 3.5mg; CHOLESTEROL 37mg; CALCIUM 18mg; CARBOHYDRATE 39.9g; SODIUM 469mg; PROTEIN 18.2g; FIBER 2.6g

Cooking Light, AUGUST 2004

Chinese Glazed Chicken with Broccoli Stir Fried Rice

Okay, so this has been a week with several repeats, because Kevin has been on call a lot, but I decided to try a new chicken recipe with this Fried Rice, because the last chicken recipe was difficult and required a lot of ingredients. We both really liked this chicken, and so did Maya. It had a nice sweet and spicy flavor, and the glaze was a really nice addition to the rice. I made mine with roasted broccoli, because I'd had rice for lunch, and it was delicious. I think the rice was better this time, though, because I was able to use fresh broc, rather than frozen. These are both easy, solid recipes, though they will destroy your kitchen, and require a good deal of put-back-together-time after dinner!



The critique
Loved it. Better than the first time.
4 bowls.

Broccoli and Hoisin-Lime Marinated Grilled Chicken Stir Fry

This was a good, solid recipe, that Kevin and I liked very much. We didn't fall in love with it, but it was definitely a keeper. The chicken, which was marinated for 2 hours in a lovely Hoisin sauce (my first time with hoisin!) with a lot of chopped garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and lime, tasted juicy and flavorful, though a little salty. I loved it. I threw a ton of extra veggies into the rice, and even doubled the amount of rice I was supposed to use, so it made quite a lot. I didn't double the stir fry sauce though, for fear that it would become way too salty. I think this was the right move, because the flavor was mellow, but definitely had a nice light glaze to it. Unfortunately, this dish was quite a kitchen disaster. The following events put a major damper on dindin last night:

1. I opened my bag of 2 broccoli bunches, to find the heads like mush. I bought them only 2 days ago. They were bad. Ugh. See my substitutions below!

2.My grill pan refuses to get clean. It's like a major act of defiance. Kevin has been begging me to stick the thing straight into the garbage.

3. Due to our rebellious grill pan, every time I use it, my house fills with smoke. Ugh.

4. This dinner took me 40 minutes to clean up. Not a fan.

I adapted this dish from a Cooking Light recipe, but I'll post it below, because I made a lot of substitutions, due to personal tastes, lack of ingredients, and just because I felt like it.






Broccoli and Chicken Stir Fried Rice


Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 cups)
Ingredients

* 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
* 8 cups broccoli florets (I used a bag of frozen, because of my spoiled broc)
* 2 cups vertically sliced onion (about 1)
* 1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided (I used veggie)
* 2 cups cooked long-grain rice (I used 4 cups of brown rice - I refuse to use white rice, have I mentioned that?)
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger (I used 1/2 tsp of ground ginger)
* 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 2 Hoisin and Lime-Marinated Grilled Chicken breast halves, thinly sliced
* 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
* 2 tablespoons oyster sauce (didn't use at all!)
* 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
* 1 teaspoon cornstarch
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* I also threw in 2 yellow bell peppers and some matchstick sliced carrots,just to supplement the veggies!

Hoisin and Lime Marinated Grilled Chicken Breasts

Ingredients

* 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
* 1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger (I used a tsp of ground)
* 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
* 1 teaspoon grated lime rind (I used a tbl of bottled lime juice instead)
* 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 8 garlic cloves, minced
* 6 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I only used 4, and I butterflied them, so they'd be thinner and easier to cook on the grill)
* Cooking spray

Preparation

Combine hoisin sauce, ginger, and next 5 ingredients (through garlic) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill.

Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill for 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.

Preparation

Heat canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add broccoli and onion; sauté for 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup broth; cover and cook for 3 minutes. Remove broccoli mixture from pan.

Place pan over medium-high heat. Add rice; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broccoli mixture, garlic, ginger, pepper, and chicken; toss well.

Combine remaining 1/4 cup broth, soy sauce, oyster sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch; add to pan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute. Stir in salt.


**Both of these recipes made 4-6 servings, but I didn't post the nutritional information, since I felt it would be very skewed from all my substitutions. If you click on the links to the real recipes, you'll find an idea of the nutritional info!

Chinese Chicken Salad with Wonton Chips

I made lunch for my mom and dad today. Actually, my college friend was supposed to join me, but she had to cancel last minute, so I invited my parents instead. Anyway, I decided to make baked wonton chips, and a Chinese Chicken Salad. The chips were easy to make, but took a while I thought they came out delicious, and they are really versatile, in that you can season them however you want. The salad was a Food Network, Ellie Kreiger recipe, and we all really liked it. It's very light and summery, and I doubled the dressing so we'll have more for the weekend, since I have extra salad. It was also relatively easy to put together, though there were a lot of little things to prepare (toasting almonds, draining and rinsing mandarins, baking chicken, etc.). I rarely make elaborate salads, but this one was well worth the work. My mom called it, "The perfect ladies lunch." I agree, though Kevin liked it a lot too. I will definitely make this again if I have friends for lunch. We'll work on the leftovers this weekend.
Plain old wontons.
Seasoned wontons.
Baked!

This made tons!


Square vs. triangle.

Ready to serve.

A Chinese food array.


I served the chicken separately, so I made sure everyone got as much as they wanted.

Pretty, huh?

Lunch is served!

We're full.

Well, the chips were a hit.

This is what Maya thought of it.

The CRITIQUE

Wonton chips - These chips were delicious and very unique. I'm a fan of burned things and they had a very well done, light chip flavor to them. The texture was great - extra crunchy. I really enjoyed the flavor of garlic and salt. Not too salty - just the way I like it. Mmm. Gerry thought they were the best chips he's ever had in his life. Not too shabby, Chef Marji. 4 bowls.



Chinese Chicken Salad - It had a wonderful sesame, Asian dressing mixed into it that tasted great. I loved it. Very light, healthy, and not drenched with too much dressing like you find in so many places. There's no need to feel embarrassed to ask for the dressing "on the side" with this salad because just the right amount of dressing is on it (if you like light dressing like I do). The chicken pieces were too big, so when I suggested that smaller pieces would make it even better, Marji said, "there's your knife". Also, this is one of those foods that I get sick of in the middle of eating it. So because of that, plus the acromegalic chicken, I give it 3 bowls.