Easy Chicken Chop Suey Using a Crock-Pot®

When I am busy, this recipe comes to rescue me.  There is no need to buy chop suey at a takeout Chinese restaurant.  The recipe can be served with cooked Ramen noodles also.

Ingredients:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into cubes

Vegetables:

1/2 cup slice celery

2 cups total of sliced mushrooms, broccoli florets, and Napa cabbage

1 cup bean sprouts

Spices:

1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

Black pepper

1/4 tsp Cayenne

2 green onions cut into 1-inch long pieces

Liquids:

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 tbs soy sauce

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp honey

1 tsp sesame oil

Thickening ingredients:

2 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs water

Directions:

Place chicken on the bottom of a Crock-Pot@ along with celery and green onions.

Add spices. Combine the liquids and pour into the Crock-Pot@.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 ½ hours.

In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the 2 cups of vegetables. 

Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add the bean sprouts.

Mix the thickening ingredients and stir into the chicken mixture (now chop suey) in a 
Crock-Pot@.  Cook uncovered for 7 more minutes. 

Vietnamese Grilled Pork and Rice Noodles

A Vietnamese dish that I like is a lemongrass grilled pork and noodle dish.  This recipe is served in a bowl with fresh lettuce, cucumber, and carrot-daikon pickle and served with the famous sweet Vietnamese dipping sauce.  Pork is usually used to make this dish, but other meats, such as chicken makes for a good, healthier choice.  The aroma of the combination of lemongrass, shallots, and garlic when grilled on a charcoal stove brings back memories of tourists watching vendors preparing this dish on the sides of the street in Vietnam. Although living in the US now, the meat can be prepared on a grill during the summer or on a kitchen stovetop or baked in an oven to create the same fantastic dish.

Ingredients;

1 lb. pork shoulder

Marinade ingredients:

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 small shallots, chopped

1 tbs minced lemongrass

1 tbs honey or sugar

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp blackstrap molasses

1 tbs sweet chilli sauce

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp five spice

2 tbs peanut oil

Serve with salad plate that includes the following:

Roughly chopped lettuce, cucumber strips, bean sprouts, and carrot-daikon pickle

Fresh herbs that include: cilantro, basil, and mints

Scallion oil

Chopped roasted peanuts and sesame seeds

Vietnamese dipping sauce

Cooked rice noodles

Directions:

Slice pork into 1/8 inch thick chunks.

Combine all the marinade ingredients and add pork.

  Coat well the pork with the marinade; cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

For stovetop cooking:

Heat grill pan and coat with a little oil and grill the meat for 2 minutes on each side.

For baking:

Line a baking sheet with foil and place the pork on a prepared baking sheet (avoid overlapping the meat). Bake in a preheated oven set to 350° for 20 to 30 minutes.

To make scallion oil:

Slice 2 green onions and place in a bowl with about 3 tbs of peanut oil and a pinch of salt and sugar. Microwave for 20 seconds.

To make Vietnamese dipping sauce:

Equal parts water and fish sauce (1/4 cup)

1 tbs lemon juice and 1 tsp white vinegar

2 fresh hot chilies, sliced

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tbs sugar

Combine all of these ingredients and adjust the seasoning with more or less sugar to your liking.

To serve:

Place the salad on the bottom of the bowl and then the cooked rice noodles. 
Top with grilled pork and scallion oil.  Sprinkle with chopped roasted peanuts and sesame seeds.  Serve the dipping sauce on the side.

Salmon Noodle Ramen Bowl Soup

Having healthy dinner meals is my goal for creating this blog. Sometimes it is hard for busy people to plan a healthy meal.  My suggestion is to use a Crock-Pot®, semi-homemade sauce, and frozen vegetables.  Asian people love the instant Ramen bowl.  Millions of dollars of advertising make this product look so inviting and very tasty.  However, for a healthier choice of a Ramen bowl noodles at home, I will share my recipe. The only hard part for this recipe is making Dashi broth.  If a Ramen bowl is the choice for a quick healthy meal, then making Dashi broth available in each kitchen is the only choice.  The Difference between my bowl of Ramen soup and the commercial one is mine has no at MSG, and you can make adjustments after trying this recipe.

 Ingredients:

Dashi broth ingredients:

1 piece postcard- sized of kombu (kelp seaweed)

5 cups water

1/2 cup dried bonito flakes

Ramen bowl ingredients:

2 oz. salmon, cut into cubes

1 cup total vegetables – sliced Napa cabbage, sliced carrots, and mushrooms

2 tbs frozen corn

1 package Ramen noodles

Season with 1 tsp mirin, soy sauce, and sake

Directions:

To make the Dashi broth:

In a small pot, soak kombu for 1 hour. Cook over low heat to allow more time for the kombu flavor to infuse the water. Take out the kombu when it begins to float to the surface and a few small bubbles appear at the edge around the pot.

Pour in 1/2 cup of cold water and bonito flakes. Turn up the heat until gentle boil; do not bring to full boil. Turn the heat off. Let the bonito flakes sink to the bottom; then drain the broth through a fine sieve lined with a piece of paper towel.

For Ramen bowl:

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the outside of the package and place in the bottom of a serving bowl. Discard the seasoning package that comes with the Ramen noodles.

In a small pot, bring to cups of Dashi broth to boil; add carrots and cook for 1 minute, then follow with the rest of the vegetables and salmon. Cook for another 2 minutes. Season with mirin, soy sauce, and sake or to your liking.

Pour over the cooked Ramen noodles and enjoy!! Add some hard-boiled eggs and sprinkle with chopped cilantro or green onions.

Chicken Drumstick Stew with Pineapple and Coconut Water

Chicken stew with coconut and pineapple is a specialty dish of the south of Vietnam. The sweetness and aroma of fresh coconut juice adds to the unique flavor of this dish. The South Vietnamese people are inhabitants around numerous coconut trees, and golden pineapples loaded on pole boats are sold on the river in the early morning. Those were my childhood memories that are still fresh in my mind as if it were yesterday when my family resided in the small village, Vi Thuy, by the river carrying the same name.  My family is originally from the north, but this dish became quickly well accepted in our family because it is delicious.  It was also very economical at that time for my mom to feed us.  My mom had so many part-time jobs, and one of them was helping to sell pineapples from the boat every morning and at the end of the work day so that she can get paid some money and, of course, some fresh pineapples.  This is a reason my mom learned how to prepare this dish and made it often too.  If cooked according to the taste of the people of the South, it is slightly sweet to us, so my mom changed it to a slightly saltier taste for us, and I grew up with loving the sweet taste of this dish.  Today, I will share this chicken recipe with all its aroma that I remember.  Although living in the United States, it is hard to find fresh pineapple or fresh coconut juice just picked from the tree.  However, this chicken dish always reminds me of my younger years when I was sitting next to my mother so I could taste the chicken when it was done cooking.

Ingredients:

10 chicken drumsticks

1/2 pineapple

2 tbs oil

Stew sauce ingredients:

2 cups coconut water

1 tbs fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tbs honey

1 tsp salt

Black pepper

Other ingredients:

2 hot chilies

2 shallots, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium white onion, sliced

Serve with hot cooked rice or noodles

Directions:

Wash and drain chicken drumsticks (I always soak in salted and vinegar water for 2 hours).

Peel the pineapple and remove the eyes from the pineapple. Discard the core and slice into 1 inch-thick chunks.

In a medium pot, heat oil and add chicken drumsticks. When drumsticks start to brown, add sliced shallots and minced garlic. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add chopped pineapple, sliced white onion, some chilies, and stew sauce ingredients. Bring to boil.

Cover and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes on medium low heat or until drumsticks are tender to your liking. Uncover the lid in the last 5 minutes of cooking time so the sauce can be absorbed more.

If served with noodles, then leave the sauce in longer and add more coconut water with the stew sauce ingredients.  Enjoy either way!!

Chicken-Corn Chowder Using a Crock-Pot®

I have to say, Crock-Pot® recipes are for every busy person who wants to enjoy eating healthy meals.  Best of all, every Crock-Pot® recipes take less time to prepare and to clean up.  I will share my new recipe today using corn and chicken breast.  I also use some of the "pea milk" that my best friend gave me yesterday.  This is a new kind of milk to replace the creamy taste of heavy cream.  This recipe is very healthy, easy, and faster than take-out because it will be steamy-hot at dinner time.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, cubed

1 ½ cups frozen corn

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup chopped white onion

1 cup pea milk

Salt, sugar, black pepper

1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 tbs oil or butter

Directions:

In the Crock-Pot®, heat oil (I use the one that has the sate function).  Season chicken cubes with salt and pepper and then saute the chicken for 3 minutes. Remove.

Add the rest of the ingredients into the Crock-Pot® except the pea milk.  Close the lid and turn to low for 5 hours or 3 hours for a faster cooking time.

Use a handheld blender to blend the corn mixture to puree.  Add pea milk and adjust the seasoning with more salt.

Add chicken and cook for 30 more minutes.

If using shrimp, add shrimp in the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Enjoy!!

Smelt Fish Stew with Sate

I love all kinds of fish. Although for small fish like smelt, anchovies are my favorite for making stew because I enjoy eating small fish bones, which are very healthy for older people. These fish bones add more good calcium to people’s bones, which is an easy and healthy way to do this. Most Asian fish stews use garlic, ginger, shallot, and, in some cases, lemongrass, depending on the kind of fish. I will share this easy fish stew recipe to cook quickly. Some fish have to be marinated overnight. With this stew sauce, fish can stew right away over medium-low heat. I use my homemade sate sauce for its extra flavors and spices. A good sate sauce in Asian supermarkets will work. With the sate sauce, this recipe has a wonderful taste after all.

Ingredients:

1 package smelt fish of about 1 ½ lbs.

1 garlic clove minced

1 shallot, sliced

2 green onions, cut into 1 inch lengths

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 tbs peanut oil

Stew sauce ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut water

1/4 cup total fish sauce and soy sauce

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp blackstrap molasses

1 tbs honey

1 tbs sugar

1 tbs sate sauce*

Directions:

To remove the fish odor:

I soak the fish in a combination of salt and vinegar for 2 hours.  Wash and drain.

Combine the stew sauce ingredients and mix well.

In a cast-iron pot, heat oil. Add garlic and shallot. Stir and cook until fragrant ( about 1 minute).

Add fish, stir, and cook for 2 minutes. 

Add stew sauce. Turn the heat to medium low and simmer, uncovered for 30 to 45 minutes.

 Add black pepper and adjust the seasonings to your liking with more sugar or fish sauce.

  The sauce should be reduced to almost completely absorbed by the fish. Add green onions.

Serve with hot cooked rice

* Follow the instructions for homemade sate sauce posted in my blog on July, 18, 2015