Special Fried Rice

Easy and yummy way to make your favorite take-away Chinese Special Fried Rice. You can also tweak the flavoring to your taste.

As I have mentioned before in previous posts, we are obsessed with rice in the Philippines. Why do I say so? Well, we just eat rice at least 3 times a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. I say at least 3 times because more often than not - it may be 5 times. Yes, seriously!

Slow Cooker Red-Cooked Chicken

I love cooking Chinese food. It really is, next to Filipino cuisine, my favorite. Whenever I crave something with Asian flavors that means family dinner will have rice and a Chinese viand. Also, it's much easier to find ingredients for Chinese recipes nowadays as chances are you are within walking or driving distance from a Chinese store. However that is not often the case with my Filipino ingredients although of late many Asian stores now carry some of the basic Filipino must-haves for cooking. For this reason, Asian night means mostly Chinese night.

Chicken with Mushrooms in Brown Sauce

I have made this Chinese-inspired chicken dish a few years ago and both hubby and I loved it. It such a flavorful dish that will satisfy anyone's palate especially those who love Chinese food. For some reason, I have forgotten about this recipe. I remembered it when I was browsing my online photo album and the photo of the dish suddenly appeared. I can now recall why I haven't shared this dish yet here. The first time I made it, though it was already great - we were missing a few ingredients that would make it even better.

Sausage and Egg Fried Rice

If there is one dish that I make a few times a week (yes, a week not a month) it has to be Sinangag or Fried Rice. It should not come as a surprise, after all, I have grown up eating rice 3x a day and my hubby, who prefers a more gluten-free diet, also loves it, too. My kids, naturally, are big rice eaters too so it makes a lot of sense for me to always cook a big batch of rice. Perhaps, I am just too lazy to make a small batch of rice each time (after all, I only need to push the cook button on my rice cooker and it does all the job!). However, the truth is, I make a huge batch of rice each time so I have left-overs which means, extra rice for making fried rice the next day. This time I don't mind the extra effort of cooking it - in fact, we don't have any microwave so everything has to be heated up on the stove top every time, anyway.

Wonton Soup

I am so glad that after several years, I made this truly tasty Wonton soup again today. It was just perfect for the arctic temperatures we have been having the past few days. I am equally delighted that even my kids enjoyed this and hubby especially loved it with rice. I tried it with rice the second time around and I fully understood now why he wanted to eat it this way. The rice soaks up the delicious broth and is so perfect to eat with the delicious wontons. Perhaps we will try it with some noodles next time. Hope this winter you will enjoy this comforting and flavorful soup. It will surely warm you up and make you feel so refreshingly good!

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp and Zucchini Stir-Fry

In Asian cooking, we like our food to have layers of flavors. It's not enough for it to be just plain salty or savory or even sweet. It's got to be more than that. It has to be a little sweet, a little spicy, quite tangy....a combination of flavors that will excite one's palate - delicious complexity in other words.

Five-Spice Braised Pork Belly

Oftentimes, the simplest and easiest recipes turn out best! That is the case with this Chinese Braised Pork Belly. There is  nothing complicated at all in this recipe and yet it comes out so flavorful and delightful. It reminds me a little bit of the Filipino adobo, very simple, too and yet so wonderfully tasty.  

Chicken and Cashew Nuts Stir-fry



Probably one of the earliest dish that I have ever made since I got married is this Chicken and Cashew Nuts Stir-fry. It's been a household staple since then. When we have guests over, I usually prepare an Asian meal and unless, a Nut allergy has been made known to us beforehand, this is usually a part of the meal.

It complements Pansit (Filipino Noodles) - they are like sisters! I always have them together and no one has ever complained so I have never changed the pairing!

The only thing difficult (if you can even justifiably call it "difficult" - it may be a stretch....) is the preparation - the actual cutting up of the ingredients. Thankfully, the ingredients are not that challenging to cut or chop. Ok, it's never fun to peel garlic but just be happy there's no onions to add to your agony.

The actual cooking itself takes about 5-7 minutes, depending on how fast your reflexes are - or if you have properly prepared the ingredients in advance. That is a must!

The result is an amazingly flavorful dish considering that it doesn't cook that long; well, it is a stir-fry after all. Anyway, before you make it and you should - your guests would surely be wowed! - just make sure that all the ingredients are ready, ok? That's it! Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Peanut oil (Vegetable oil is fine, if you can't have Peanut Oil)
4-6 whole garlic cloves, peeled and crushed (or minced, if you prefer)
1 lb skinless and boneless chicken breasts, cut into finger-size strips
1-2 Red Bell Peppers (2 if they're not too big), cut into strips
3 Tablespoons Rice wine or dry Sherry
5 Tablespoons Hoisin sauce (or to taste)*
1/2 cup Roasted Cashew Nuts (you can also dry roast them quickly on the stove-top)
5-6 scallions (Green Onions), cut into 1-inch lengths
A few drops of Sesame oil, to taste

*Use a gluten-free Hoisin sauce if you wish to make this fully gluten-free.

Procedure

Heat up the oil using medium-high heat in a wok or a large frying pan. Saute the garlic quickly. Just let it sizzle for a few seconds but without letting it burn. Add the chicken strips and cook just until they change their color about 2 minutes more or less. Add the bell peppers and continue to stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes.

Pour in the rice wine or dry sherry and the Hoisin sauce. Coat the chicken and peppers with the sauce as you stir-fry and cook until the chicken is tender.

Stir in the cashew nuts, scallions and the sesame oil. Serve immediately. Perfect with rice.

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Chicken, Cashew Nuts and Red Peppers in Sweet Chili Sauce

Usually, I like to plan ahead for what will be the menu for the week. I make a list of all the ingredients that I need and then buy them all in one go. This is to ensure that I don't have to do extra trips to the grocery during the week. But there are those days when things don't go as planned, either I suddenly don't fancy what I have originally thought I wanted to prepare or my family have other suggestions. We like to have a bit of flexibility! :-)

Anyway, I went to Meijer and saw some red peppers on sale. Red peppers are pretty expensive if they are not in season so I never buy them unless they are on sale or as in this case, a bargain! They were bunched in a plastic and were probably not in their best shape anymore hence they were on sale. I saw that they were still good though and if you cook them immediately you won't know the difference between the freshest ones available and the ones they're trying to get rid of.

But now, since I wasn't initially planning on using red peppers till I saw that they were dirt cheap, I had to think of a viand that I can use this with. I only had chicken available but they always pair well with peppers so that's good. But what else can I add to chicken and peppers? I was thinking Asian, something Chinese-inspired, that will go well with rice. 

I was considering using my South African Chutney for that sweet sour taste but I had second thoughts. Then I saw in the corner of my fridge, almost begging me to pick it up, was the sweet chili sauce. Perfect! It has peppers in it already, though the spicy kind of course, but it should complement the red peppers. To put some crunch and texture, I added roasted cashew nuts. Done! There goes dinner.

My husband loved it and that's all that matters! 

So here it is, hope you like it too.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp Peanut Oil
1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite-size chunks
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
Salt and pepper, to taste
6-8 Tbsp Sweet Chili sauce (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
A little water to dilute the sauce, if desired
1/2 cup roasted cashew nuts

 Procedure

Heat oil in a medium skillet. When hot, add the garlic cloves and let sizzle for a minute. Add the onion and sauté for a couple of minutes.

Stir in the chicken pieces and sauté just until they change their color, about 2 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper.

Add in the diced red pepper and cook for another 3-4 minutes. I like my red pepper crunchy so I don't overcook it.

Pour in the sweet chili sauce (diluted with a little water) and coat the chicken and the peppers. The sweet chili sauce I have is the one used as dipping sauce for spring rolls. 

Once the chicken and the peppers are fully glazed, add in the cashew nuts. Cook for another minute.

Serve immediately with steaming rice on the side. Yum!

Note: I dilute the chili sauce with a little water (1-2 Tbsp) and taste it to get to the spice level that I like or at least what my family can take!

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