I’ve been on a risotto kick lately and for a good reason… I find I often have seemingly random ingredients on hand these days. Dried mushrooms? Toss ’em in! Some cooked chicken thighs? Great, add it! Leftover bacon from breakfast? Perfect! Shrimp in freezer? Why not!
I’ve actually pulled elements from each of these recipes and made my own combinations. It (almost) always works!
Taking inspiration from my last post about Korean food in movies and my love for our local Korean place, N to Tail, I decided to try my hand at making some Korean dishes. I was pretty pleased with the results (though I didn’t get a good photo).
Up until recently, I’d never had congee – I’m an instant fan. I’ve mentioned Crispy Gai here in Portland, Maine before and theirs was so amazing that I had to try and make a version (or three). These all use the same congee as 1 cup of rice yielded a lot of leftovers. If you haven’t had it before, congee is basically Chinese rice porridge and can be dressed with any number of items.
What I made…
Congee with roast pork belly and egg
Congee with shrimp and nam jim sauce
Congee with bacon and egg
Basic Congee
I watched a number of videos and looked over a few of recipes before trying this one, but overall it’s very easy.
8 parts chicken broth to 1 part rice (I used jasmati)
This can range from 6:1 up to 10:1, depending on the recipe used – 8:1 worked for me
Rinse rice until the water runs clear
Cook in Ninja Foodi on pressure cooker setting on high for 30 minutes and natural release
That’s it!
Next time I want to try something more like this recipe and use bone-in chicken during the cooking process. I attempted fried garlic, but it was a little bitter.
Note: I subbed mirin for sherry and used regular soy sauce instead of light soy sauce
The pork belly cooking time could be adjusted here, but the marinade is really very good. The fat layer didn’t render exactly to my liking, but this was also my first time trying it!
Prepare a poached egg
Place congee in bowl and top with sliced scallion, cilantro, roasted peanuts, egg, pork belly, and cooked reserved marinade
This was not my first time making pad Thai, but was my first time working with tamarind, palm sugar, dried shrimp, and zha cai (I maybe didn’t even buy actual zha cai?). I also had to pick up a few different kinds of soy sauce (sweet and black). My first attempt was fine, so I want to give this a try again to see if I can improve. I’m fairly certain I know where I went wrong, too.
This is the first video I’ve watched by Joshua Weissman and his delivery is… interesting.
Over the weekend I decided I wanted to cook something a little different from the usual. The answer was obvious… a bunch of copycat Chipotle recipes! This looks like a lot of work, but it was totally worth it. There’s a bunch of downtime while making some parts… the carnitas takes a little time and the broiling step can wait. The corn salsa is better with some time to sit as is the guacamole. Lastly, I covered the rice to keep it warm while I finished other pieces.
I watched the video mentioned in the post (see below). Chef chad says keep the stems in the cilantro. I removed the thickest parts, but kept the rest. The video differs from the written recipe, so I followed what was written and just grabbed some tips from the video.
At some point during the quarantine, I came to the realization that I wanted a steak night once a week. With that, I’ve been trying different cuts and experimenting with what works. Marinating flank steak was one that just didn’t work (maybe it does for you, but it didn’t for me). I found this recipe randomly and, as I often do, I made a couple of quick substitutions, noted below. The original recipe suggests some side options, including a horseradish sauce or tomato and arugula.
Other than using dairy free cheese for these and occasionally using jarred sauce, I have no alterations for this recipe. I’ve been making it for years and highly recommend it!
We tried to order Chinese food the other night and failed. A friend mentioned that deliveries to area Chinese restaurants from their suppliers have stopped. That made me want Chinese food even more than usual. I made a version of this tonight, though I didn’t quite get the color/crisp in the picture on the recipe and it’s not the battered and fried version. I made my own dark soy sauce and cooked fresh green beans instead of doing the cabbage listed. While it wasn’t quite what I was expecting, it was still delicious! For sure more akin to chicken and green beans than any version of General Tso’s I’ve had in a restaurant. I blame Saoirse Ronan!
I used chili paste to get a little of the chili flavor where I didn’t have the correct chilis.
I cooked green beans in water in a separate pan and tossed them in after everything else was cooked.
I used corn starch instead of potato starch.
I didn’t have green onions, so I used white and caramelized them after the chicken was cooked, then tossed in grated garlic and ginger.
Now I know golden caster sugar is the same / similar to brown sugar!
To make the dark soy sauce, I found a recipe that was 1 cup soy sauce, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and corn starch dissolved in water. Stir over low heat in a pan until thickened. It probably would have been better a little thicker, so keep an eye out for a better recipe or, you know, buy dark soy sauce!
I served this with basmati rice cooked in a Ninja Foodi following the recipe in the Ninja cookbook.
Had I followed the directions in the recipe I could have maybe achieved the correct doneness, but I agree I couldn’t get the wok hot enough to do it with one pan.
Videos
This video helps fill in why it’s called Soirse Ronan’s General Tso’s chicken and also includes the video on how to make the dish. Having eaten Chinese food in the UK and Ireland, I agree it’s not the same!
Did you know there’s a documentary about General Tso’s?
Stephen Quirk 