Soy-Free Chicken Fried Rice (MSPI)

As I've mentioned here and here, when I was eating dairy/soy-free (MSPI diet), I had to completely revamp our meals. Several of the dairy/soy-free dinners were so good that they have stuck around as staples in our rotation. This Chicken Fried Rice is one of them. You can serve it with soy sauce on the side if you don't have a sensitivity to soy, or if there are members of the family that can tolerate it.  Bob usually puts soy sauce and sriracha sauce on it.

Authentic fried rice is made from day-old rice. Since I usually serve the Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs with rice, I make a double batch so I have leftover rice for this recipe the next night.

I prefer chicken thighs for this recipe but have used chicken breasts before and they work too; it's just a matter of personal preference.

Soy-Free Chicken Fried Rice (MSPI Friendly)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Canola oil, plus extra for cooking chicken
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt and pepper to taste
coarse salt
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons water
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
4 cups cooked rice (day-old leftover rice is best)

Directions:

1. Drizzle Canola oil in a large nonstick skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and place in pan "pretty" side down.  Cook until starting to brown and then flip to finish cooking completely. Remove chicken to a plate until cool enough to handle, shred, and set aside in a warm place.  Set pan aside for use in step 3.

2. In a smaller (medium-sized) nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-low heat; swirl to coat pan. In a small bowl, lightly beat together eggs, 2 teaspoons water, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour into pan; cook, pulling in egg from edge of pan, until set, about 2 minutes. If desired, carefully flip over for a few seconds. Transfer to a plate; when cool enough to handle, cut into strips.

3. In large skillet, heat remaining tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add scallions and garlic; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add rice; season with salt to taste. Cook, stirring often, until very hot, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar, peas, eggs, and shredded chicken; cook until very hot, about 2 minutes.

Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart

Chicken Lettuce Wraps - Revisited

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Just over a year ago I posted a P.F. Chang's copycat recipe for Chicken Lettuce Wraps, but I already feel it's time to revisit this recipe. First of all, this has become one of Bob and my favorite dinners, and we've adapted the recipe to suit our tastes and rewritten it in a more logical way. Second of all, I was never happy with the picture I took. I was using a new light box I had made and the coloring was off. Since getting my new camera, I decided to re-photograph these wraps, and I'm much happier with the outcome. These wraps are seriously delicious, and I highly recommend the recipe!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
For the wraps:
2 tablespoons Canola oil, divided
1 package (1 pound) ground chicken breast
1 can sliced water chestnuts, minced into the size of peas
2/3 cup mushrooms (I usually use 1 package fresh mushrooms), minced into the size of peas
3 tablespoons chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4-6 iceberg or butter lettuce leaves

For the special sauce:
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoons soy sauce (we use reduced sodium)
1 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
dash of sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon hot mustard
1 teaspoon hot water
1/2 - 1 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste

For the stir fry sauce:
4 tablespoons soy sauce (we use reduced sodium)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions:
*Before beginning recipe, have mushrooms and water chestnuts chopped, have stir fry sauce prepared.

1. Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in the water in a small bowl. Add the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, and sesame oil. Mix well and set aside until ready to serve. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.

2. Bring 1 tablespoon oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute ground chicken until cooked through.

3. With the pan still on high heat, add the other tablespoon of oil. Add the garlic, onions, water chestnuts, and mushrooms to the pan. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes.

4. To complete the "special sauce," add your desired measurement of the mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to reach preferred spiciness.

5. Serve the chicken mixture in the lettuce cups and top with "special sauce" as desired.

"P.F. Chang's" Lettuce Wraps

Years ago, I started hearing about the lettuce wraps at P.F. Changs. I believe the first time was when I was at a salon chatting with the girl who was washing my hair. She got really excited when she spoke of the P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps. I thought this was really odd because a "lettuce wrap" sounded so unappealing to me. I figured it was a fallout from the Atkins/South Beach craze.

When we moved in May, we received a coupon for free lettuce wraps at a nearby restaurant Pei Wei, which we soon discovered is a sister company of P.F. Chang's. Importantly, Pei Wei's lettuce wraps are the same as the popular ones from P.F. Chang's!

We quickly made a stop there for for dinner, and I was blown away by the lettuce wraps! They are SO good - very flavorful with a nice balance of crunch. We then went back again...and again...and each time I ordered the lettuce wraps as my meal. Now that we've moved and are no longer close to Pei Wei, I knew I had to devise a way to get in my lettuce wrap fix. Also, as delicious as they were, it was obvious that they use a heavy hand with the oil, as is true for most restaurants.

This copycat of P.F. Chang's/Pei Wei's lettuce wraps is really delicious, and nearly spot on. The restaurant uses ground chicken; whereas, this recipe simply has you cut chicken breast into small pieces, which I prefer anyway. The flavors are very similar but being able to control the amount of oil (and salt!) is the great benefit of making it at home. I just love the combination of ingredients - chicken with chopped mushrooms and water chestnuts. I usually hate mushrooms, but I think because they are chopped so small and sauteed in a sauce they impart more texture than flavor. The water chestnuts add some crunch, which I love. We will definitely be making these again, especially now that I've purchased several of these condiments!

"P.F. Chang's" Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

For the wraps:

2 tablespoons oil of choice, divided (we used Canola)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup water chestnuts

2/3 cup mushrooms

3 tablespoons chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

4-6 iceberg lettuce leaves

For the special sauce:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce (we use reduced sodium)

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon sesame oil*

1 tablespoon hot mustard*

2 teaspoons hot water

1 - 2 teaspoons garlic and red chile paste*

For the stir fry sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce (we use reduced sodium)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

*I found all of these in the Asian section of my grocery store

Directions:

1. Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in the water in a small bowl. Add the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate sauce until ready to serve.

2. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.

3. Bring 1 tablespoon oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side until done; remove from pan to cool. Keep oil in pan and keep hot.

4. While the chicken cools, mince the mushrooms and water chestnuts to the size of small peas.

5. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.

6. Mince the cooled chicken to the sized of small peas.

7. With the pan still on high heat, add the other tablespoon of oil. Add the chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts, and mushrooms to the pan. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes.

8. To complete the "special sauce," add your desired measurement of the mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to reach preferred spiciness.

9. Serve the chicken mixture in the lettuce cups and top with "special sauce" as desired.

Source: Adapted from Food.com

Slow-Cooker Orange Chicken

Keeping in the spirit of my "Blog Vision," I wanted to share this recipe. In the past, I have made things I that I simply don't like, not because of an error on my part and not something that can be fixed by tweaking ingredients. Those recipes I don't bother posting, thinking that you will wonder, "Why is she posting this recipe if it's not good?" However, I do feel like I should post recipes that have real potential but didn't quite measure up due to my mistakes or personal preference. This dinner was good, but has a very prominent orange flavor, perhaps a little too much orange for my taste. I think my problem was I was expecting it to taste a little more like Panda Express Orange Chicken, which doesn't really taste orange at all in fact! I think it's a great idea, and if you like orange you will love it. I will have to figure out a way to lessen the orange flavor, and I think it will be great. I do feel that chicken cooked in a slow-cooker can tend to be dry (especially if you only have a humongo slow-cooker like mine!) , so try to make sure you don't cook too long.

Slow-Cooker Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken, cut into 2-inch chunks

1/2 cup flour

Olive oil, for browning chicken

1 Tablespoon kosher salt (reduce the amount if using table salt!)

6 ounces (1/2 can) frozen no-pulp orange juice concentration, thawed

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

3 Tablespoons ketchup

Directions:

Use a 4 quart slow-cooker for best results.

1. Dredge the chicken pieces in the flour, and shake off the excess.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet and brown the chicken on all sides. Don't fully cook.

3. Place chicken in slow cooker.

4. In a small bowl, combine the orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt, and ketchup. You may want to taste the sauce at this point and add more brown sugar to your liking.

5. Pour sauce over chicken and toss gently to coat.

6. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Serve over rice.

Source: A Year of CrockPotting

Bourbon Chicken

I won these adorable bowls, place mats, and chop sticks from a giveaway on Jenny's blog Picky Palate! This is my first time winning a giveaway so I was so excited. These are so adorable, that I just had to make a dinner to go with them. I've made this recipe for Bourbon Chicken before a few times, and we really like it! It has a wonderful flavor, and it's not even fried like a lot of similar recipes. There's no bourbon in it - I think it's named after a dish the "Bourbon chicken" at food court Chinese restaurants, which I'm quite certain does not contain bourbon either! I served this over brown rice, but it would be fantastic with jasmine rice or any other kind you prefer. The original recipe serves 4. I cut down the amount to serve 2 but keep the amount of sauce the same - we really like sauce! If you don't require much sauce, you may want to scale back (or scale up the chicken). I add a slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken the sauce up a bit, since we prefer it that way.

A little fun fact - I actually included one of these pictures in my new blog header that I put up a while back, figuring no one would notice that I hadn't actually posted the recipe yet! Very sneaky of me, huh? :)

Bourbon Chicken

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (I cut down this amount and used 1 large chicken breast)
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons ketchup
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)

1 Tablespooon cornstarch/1 Tablespoon water slurry, optional

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned.

2. Remove chicken from skillet. Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium heat until well mixed and dissolved.

3. Add chicken and bring to a hard boil.

4. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. If you prefer a thicker sauce, add a slurry of cornstarch and water (premixed in a separate bowl) to reach desired consistency.

5. Serve over hot rice, if desired.

Source: Adapted from RecipeZaar.com

Garlic Chicken Take 2

Happy Friday! I'm excited for the weekend because I will feel like I'm entitled to a break from writing :)

I recently made my mom's Garlic Chicken, but I tossed it with some thick stick rice noodles instead of serving with rice. We loved this!!! Bob even said it was as good as anything he could order in a restaurant - that's a big compliment coming from him! This is really just a repeat of a previous recipe (with a slightly better picture!), so I'm just linking the original Garlic Chicken recipe and the method for softening the rice noodles below. Have a great weekend!!!

Garlic Chicken Recipe

Method to soften rice noodles

Simply stir drained rice noodles into pan of stir fry and continue cooking for a few minutes until noodles reach desired doneness. Enjoy!

Chilli Coconut Chicken Soup

One of Bob's favorite type of food is soup. I always tease him that he likes "ladies lunch" food, because he's perfectly happy with a bowl of soup and a side salad. Sometimes I'll ask him if he'd like me to make watercress sandwiches with the crust cut off :) Of course I'm only kidding, and I'm glad that he likes soup so much because he doesn't mind if we have it for dinner quite often! This is another soup from my "Quick Short Chicken Recipes" cookbook. I've been making it for a few years now. We used to just eat it as a soup, then I started adding a little bit of Jasmine rice to the bowl before putting in the soup. It gives the dish a little more substance and a nice flavor. Adding rice noodles might be good too.

Chilli Coconut Chicken Soup

Original recipe ingredients:

1/4 cup oil
3/4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
6 spring onions, sliced into 1 1/4-inch lengths
6 chicken breast fillets, thinly sliced
1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
2 cups coconut milk
2 Tablespoons lime juice
a little fish sauce at the end for extra flavor, optional

My version ingredients:

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3/4-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 bunch (5-6) spring onions, sliced into 1 1/4-inch lengths
1 chicken breast, thinly sliced
1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
1 15-ounce can lite coconut milk, brought up to 2 cups with skim milk and a few drops of imitation coconut extract (just 'cause I have it around)
2 Tablespoons lime juice

brown (or white) Jasmine rice

Directions:
1. If desired, start cooking the Jasmine rice according to package directions.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan over high heat, add the ginger and spring onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until golden. Add the sweet chilli sauce and cook for a further 1 minute.

2. Add 1 1/3 cups water and the coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add the lime juice, season with salt and add a little more sweet chilli sauce, if desired. If using Jasmine rice, spoon into soup bowls, then top with the soup. Serve with lime wedges.

Source: Adapted from the Quick Short Chicken Recipes cookbook

Garlic Chicken

When I was growing up, my mom made this recipe often, and we called it Chinese Chicken, although the 'official' name is Garlic Chicken. I've made it many times on my own, and Bob and I both love it. It has a wonderful, slightly sweet sauce, and it's so healthy. We serve it over white or brown rice. Rice noodles would probably be good too. It's not the most photogenic meal, but if you're looking for a quick, simple weeknight recipe, this is a great one!

Garlic Chicken

Ingredients:

boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

broccoli flowerettes

carrots, cut into match-sticks

mushrooms, fresh or canned (I omit)

green onions with some tops, sliced

1 can water chestnut slices

2 Tablespoons chicken bouillon

2 teaspoons chopped or grated garlic

*Notes: Any vegetables can be added to this, such as snow pea pods or bamboo shoots. Amounts of chicken and each vegetable are up to your discretion - for the two of us, I'll use 1-2 chicken breasts, 1-2 carrots, a handful of broccoli flowerettes, and 1 bunch of green onion.

For the marinade:

1 heaping teaspoon cornstarch

2 Tablespoons soy sauce (reduced sodium is fine)

For the sauce:

3 heaping teaspoons honey

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

1. Mix together cornstarch and soy sauce in a medium-sized bowl. Add chicken, stir, and set aside to marinate for ~30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cut vegetables and dissolve chicken bouillon into 1 cup hot water.

3. Saute chicken in 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Stir-fry until chicken is white. Add the chicken bouillon water, the carrots, and 2 teaspoons chopped garlic. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes.

4. Uncover and add the rest of the vegetables and a sauce made of 3 heaping teaspoons honey and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Stir-fry until done. Serve over cooked rice.

Source: My mom!

Simplified Pad Thai

My undergrad research adviser sent me "The Best 30 Minute Recipe" cookbook as a wedding gift. All of the recipes are designed to take 30 minutes from start to finish, and each has been optimized in their test kitchen. All of the dinners I've made from it have been really good. Because of my allergy to peanuts/tree nuts, I try to avoid Thai restaurants, which is extremely unfortunate because I love Thai food - actually all types of Asian cooking. So, I must resort to making these dishes at home. Bob and I love this Simplified Pad Thai. I'm not sure how authentic it is, but it's quick and tasty.

Simplified Pad Thai

Ingredients:

8 ounces thick rice stick noodles

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/3 cup water

3 Tablespoons fish sauce*

1 Tablespoon rice vinegar

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

4 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I always use olive oil, and not this much)

3/4 pound medium (40/50) shrimp, peeled and deveined**

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

Salt

6 Tablespoons chopped unsalted roasted peanuts

3 cups bean sprouts, well rinsed (I use an 8 ounce bag)

5 scallions, sliced thin

1 lime, cut into wedges (for serving)

Sweet chilli sauce (optional for a little heat, found in Asian cooking section)

*I don't use fish sauce. Just reading the label that explains what it actually is makes me cringe. I substitute 3 T water with a little salt.

**I usually use chicken in place of the shrimp, or leave the dish vegetarian, but I thought I'd type out the shrimp directions because a lot of people like shrimp. If I use chicken, it's usually boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I've cut into small pieces, seasoned with salt & pepper, and sauteed in some olive oil. Our favorite way was when I generously sprinkled salt & pepper on boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cooked them in olive oil, then shredded them using 2 forks - adding the meat to the dish at the end.

Directions:

1. Cover noodles with hot tap water in a large bowl and soak until softened, pliable, and limp but not fully tender, about 20 minutes. Drain noodles and set aside.

2. While noodles soak, stir lime juice, water, fish sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of oil together and set aside.

3. Pat shrimp dry with paper towels. Heat 1 more tablespoon of oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add shrimp, spread into single layer, and cook without stirring for 1 minute. Stir shrimp and continue to cook until spotty brown and just pink around the edges, about 30 seconds. Transfer shrimp to clean bowl, cover, and set aside.

4. Add remaining tablespoon oil and garlic to skillet and return to medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add eggs and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring vigorously until eggs are scrambled, about 20 seconds.

5. Stir soaked noodles into eggs. Add fish sauce mixture, increase heat to high, and cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are evenly coated. Add 1/4 cup of peanuts***, bean sprouts, all but 1/4 cup of scallions, and cooked shrimp (or chicken). Continue to cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are tender, about 2 minutes (if not yet tender add 2 tablespoons water to skillet and continue to cook until tender).

6. Transfer noodles to serving bowls and sprinkle with remaining scallions and peanuts. Serve, passing lime wedges separately.

***I leave the peanuts out of this step and let Bob put his own on at the end. If you have someone in your house who has a nut allergy and still feel comfortable having them in the house, you can do the same.

Source: Adapted from The Best 30 Minute Recipe cookbook