Category: Chinese
Sure Thing Wings

Sure Thing Wings

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Our original novice women’s group got together the other night. Four of us are still rowing but the others have since moved on to other sports or endeavors. I can’t imagine why, doesn’t everyone love getting up at the crack of dawn four days a week?  We met at Moultrup’s house, Gidge, 2-seat, Snookies, Way-way, and Aimster to catch up, eat, drink and be merry.  We talked about lots of things, our kids, husbands, politics, books, fears, and of course rowing. We laughed, argued, reminisced, and teased each other just like families do when they get together..

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Since I had to work that day I needed a quick and easy dish I could prep early and grab and go after work.  One of my absolute favorite blogs is Smitten Kitchen, great recipes, wonderful writing, very entertaining. Her recipe for Sticky Sesame Chicken Wings fit the bill and is a favorite with my kids, hubby, friends, well, just about anyone who has tried them.  I threw the wings into the marinade before heading to work, came home and popped them into the oven.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

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Sticky Sesame Chicken Wings

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds chicken wingettes or chicken wings see note up top
  • 1 large garlic clove minced
  • 1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt plus more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 2 tablespoons mild honey
  • 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
  • Pinch of cayenne or dash of Sriracha (I use the chili garlic paste ~1 heaping tsp
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds lightly toasted
  • 1 scallion finely chopped

Instructions

  • Make the marinade. Stir together garlic, salt, soy, hoisin, honey, sesame oil and cayenne or Siracha
  • Add wings to marinade and mix well. Marinade at least 30 minutes to overnight.
  • Heat oven to 425°F. Line a large shallow baking pan with foil and lightly oil it.Spread wings and any sauce that fell to the bottom of the bowl out on the prepared baking pan in one layer.
  • Roast, turning over once, until cooked through, about 35 minutes. Transfer wings to a large serving bowl* and toss with sesame seeds and scallion.
  • If wings need more color, broil for a couple minutes on high heat or finish the wings on the grill, decrease baking time by 5-10 minutes
Simple Poached Chicken

Simple Poached Chicken

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An easy meal is “white poached chicken”, a classic Chinese dish.  The chicken is poached in water or broth and served with a sauce of soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and scallions.  This is similar to Singapore’s famous Hainanese Chicken Rice dish that made its way there with Chinese immigrants from Hainan Island.  It’s my kind of recipe simple and delicious!  Leftover chicken can be used in salads, sammies, any recipe that calls for cooked chicken.

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Poached Chicken with Soy Ginger Scallion Sauce

Classic Asian Homestyle Dish, Simple poached chicken with soy ginger scallion sauce. A favorite in our house!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Keyword poached chicken
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Poaching Liquid for Chicken

  • 1 4-5 lb. chicken or you can use chicken pieces*
  • 3 scallions (green onions) smashed
  • 1 inch knob of ginger, smashed
  • 1/4 cup rice wine can substitute dry sherry or sake (not Mirin)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 T Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base optional

Ginger Scallion Sauce

  • 6 T vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup finely shredded fresh ginger
  • 3 scallions trimmed and cut into fine strips or diced
  • 3 T soy sauce
  • 3 T chicken stock use poaching liquid
  • 1.5 T Rice wine or sake'
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 11/2 tsp sesame oil

Instructions

  • Fill an 8 qt pot approximately 2/3 full with water. Bring water to a boil and add 1 1-inch knob of ginger crushed, ¼ cup rice wine, 1 t salt, & 3 scallions that have been crushed. Add chicken to boiling water (poaching liquid). Bring poaching liquid back to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer, cover the pot, and simmer for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let the chicken sit covered for 45 minutes. Save the stock for soup or sauces.
  • Pieces of chicken can also be poached this way. Reduce time of simmer to 5 minutes and let chicken pieces sit covered in pot for 20-25 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, prep sauce. Shred ginger, dice the green onions, if you like it spicy, add ½ -1 jalapeno pepper, sliced. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, stock, sugar, dry sherry and sesame oil. Set aside.
  • When chicken is done, remove from liquid and let sit until cool enough to handle. Cut chicken into serving pieces and place on platter.
  • Heat oil in a small saucepan until you can see wisps of smoke. Add ginger, scallions and peppers to the oil. Be careful, as mixture will sizzle. Remove from heat immediately and add soy sauce mixture. If the sauce clouds, return to heat for a minute. Add a dash of white pepper.
  • Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately with plenty of rice!
  • The sauce can also be used for steamed fish or as a dipping sauce for seafood.
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Garlic-Ginger Rice Pilaf

Garlic Ginger Rice Pilaf perfect with poached chicken
Course Rice
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American
Keyword Garlic Ginger Rice
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 39 minutes

Equipment

  • Rice Cooker

Ingredients

  • 2 cups long-grain rice washed and drained well (use the measuring cup that comes with the rice cooker)
  • 1 cup actual cup small pasta such as letters, stars, orzo, or broken vermicelli (found in Indian stores)
  • 2 T vegetable oil or peanut oil
  • 1 T salted butter
  • 1/2-3/4 inch piece of ginger minced
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic minced
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  • Heat oil and butter in a saucepan, add ginger and garlic and saute until garlic just starts to brown. 
  • Add rice and cook until the grains are evenly coated with the oil/butter.   
  • Add stock to saucepan and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cook until stock is fully absorbed and rice is cooked through approximately 15 - 20 minutes.  
  • Or do what I do and transfer the sauteed rice to a rice cooker, add stock to the 3 cup line and let the rice cooker do its thing!

 

 
Is this Heaven? (Rice soup, Jook)

Is this Heaven? (Rice soup, Jook)

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No, It’s AT&T Park. Huh, coulda swore it was heaven.

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to write about my other obsession.

Sports

I love watching sports, playing sports, sports movies, talking sports…you get it.  My first love is baseball, I live and die by the San Francisco Giants.  When I think about my childhood a couple of things come to mind, going to games at the Stick with my Dad, watching Willie Mays patrol centerfield, and watching the fog roll in off the bay right onto the field.  Field of Fog, not Dreams.

My Dad and I would take Muni and get to the park and watch bp.  Back in the day, the outfield at the Stick was bordered by a chain-linked fence, not the stands that came when they enclosed it for football. As the sun set and night settled in, you could hear the wind whistle as it came into the park and swirled around the stadium.

In the fall we watched the Niners on TV while eating big bowls of steaming hot jook (rice soup) dotted with tiny pork meatballs and green onions. The perfect combo for those brisk autumn days.  My passion for sports & watching the hometown boys is inextricably linked to memories of hanging with my Dad.  Favorite movie?  Field of Dreams of course, well gotta wrap it up, going to have a catch with Jamie.

Getting to the Game

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If you have not been to a game at At&T Park, even if you aren’t a baseball fan, go, it’s always a good time, and the view is amazing!

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Jook, also known as congee or rice soup.  Perfect football season food, jook is comfort food. I make it when it’s cold outside, when anyone is sick and when they had had their wisdom teeth pulled!

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Rice soup (Jook)

Ultimate comfort food, also known as jook or congee, rice soup is soul food. This is my Dad's Cantonese version. Made with rice, chicken stock, potatoes and garnished with lettuce, shredded chicken and, scallions.
Course Breakfast, dinner, lunch, Soup
Cuisine Asian
Keyword chicken stock, congee, Jook, rice
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup uncooked long grain rice medium or short grain will work too
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 T vegetable oil
  • 2-3 slices fresh ginger
  • 1 quart chicken stock 1 quart water
  • 1 quart wqter
  • 1/8 cup rice wine
  • 2 chicken legs (whole leg) skinned if desired
  • 1 russet potato cut in large chunks

Meatballs

  • 1/3 pound ground pork or mixture of pork and chicken 1:1 or ground chicken
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp rice wine
  • 1 tbsp salted preserved turnip finely chopped (chung choy)
  • 1 tbsp minced cilanto and green onions
  • dash of salt and pepper

Garnishes:

  • green onions, sliced
  • cilantro
  • lettuce, shredded preferably iceberg

Instructions

Da Soup

  • Heat oil in a stockpot, saute ginger slices for about 30 seconds, add rice and salt and saute for a couple of minutes. Add stock, water, wine, and chicken legs. Bring to a boil then lower to a strong simmer. Do not stir. Let cook for approximately an hour and a half until the rice breaks down and the soup looks a little thick.
  • At the 60 minute mark, remove chicken and set aside to cool. Add potatoes to jook. Give it a good stir, bring it back to a simmer to finish.

Da Meatballs: My favorite addition to jook is little meatballs made with pork that my father added just before serving.

  • Add seasonings to the ground pork add 1 T chopped salted preserved turnip (chung choy).
  • Drop rounded teaspoons of the pork mixture into the rice soup, and continue to cook until meatballs are cooked through, approximately 5-10 minutes.
  • Shred chicken and serve alongside other garnishes.
  • Garnish with chopped cilantro, green onions and shredded lettuce. Serve immediately.