Okie, so this one isn't as easy as the others, but it's still pretty simple! I had absolutely no groceries at home, so I dropped by the market today after work. I was actually planning to make 4 dishes, but after two I was pretty tired hehe =P You guys won't fault me for that right?? I'll make the other two later on this week. Okie on to the different dishes.
Baby Bok Choy with Shrimp
Ingredients:
Baby Bok Choy
Garlic
Chicken Bouillon (One of the many random seasonings I have that I use frequently)
Oyster Sauce
Shrimp
Ginger
Originally this dish was going to be just veggies, but my dad defrosted a box of shrimp today morning, so I figured I might as well use a couple. I hate peeling shrimp.. I enjoy the taste, but usually I'm too lazy to peel it to eat.
I heated a pan and added olive oil, I actually don't have regular corn/veg oil at home, so my cooking always uses olive. Once the oil is properly heated, add the sliced garlic and let it brown, allowing the flavors to come out. Before it burns add in the chopped Baby Bok Choy. Be careful of oil popping on you, it stings >_< cooked ="\" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin#Food">capsaicin. Removing it will give you a spicy, but not fiery, relish. By all means, if you like it hot leave the seeds and stem in. Another interesting note is that the smaller the chili, the larger the inner stem (in relation to overall size).. the higher the capsaicin concentration. That's why tiny tiny Thai chili peppers are so spicy.. and huge bell peppers are not.
To keep things simple I used a small hand chopper to chop the Cilantro and Jalapeños. Make sure that the Cilantro is already cut into manageable sizes of about 2-3 inches. You want a nice dice afterwards. Feel free to mix up the ratio of Cilantro and Jalapeño to give you a more fresh or a spicier taste. I threw in a bit of diced green onion as well. I probably used a ratio of 1:1 Sesame Oil and Soy Sauce. Salt to taste. That's pretty much it. Really easy to make and it's something different that you'll (hopefully) enjoy.
Tea Star Anise Chicken
No clue what the official name of this dish is. A friend said "Three Flavor Chicken", which it very well could be, but I'll just keep my name here for now ;)
Ingredients:
Chicken, I used drumsticks and legs
Ginger
Star Anise
Black Tea
Sugar
Soy Sauce
Sesame Oil
This would be a great dish to just throw into a slow cooker if you want. It really doesn't take that long to cook though. Mine was easily finished within an hour or so.
Place the Chicken inside a pot. Fill water until it covers the chicken. Pour in some soy sauce, make sure it's enough to turn the water black, doesn't have to be completely opaque, but you want to make sure you have enough in there to flavor the chicken and make a tasty soup/sauce.
Slice a good amount of ginger and place it in the pot; you want the chicken to be flavorful and you aren't marinating it beforehand. Go ahead and grind some pepper and salt in there to help the flavor along. I probably used around 5 or 6 Star Anise thingies. The flavor is quite potent, but again, you want something very flavorful. Don't worry, the end result isn't that salty, but is actually quite mild. About a teaspoon of Black Tea in a Tea Infuser made it easier to brew, and kept the sauce clear of little tea leaves floating everywhere.
After the mix comes to a boil once just turn it down to a simmer and let it cook. The two pieces of chicken on my plate was actually one leg. It fell apart in the middle when I picked it up! Tender.
Both pretty simple dishes, just regular Chinese cooking. I'll post up the other easy food I was going to make later on in the week.
O yah.. it was perfect with my Taiwan Beer =D
Done.Fin.Ciao
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