Shredded Chicken with Vegetable Stir-Fry Sauce - Let's Do Chinese!

Hullo!

 

This recipe, I have loved for quite a while now. It's easy to make and yummy to eat. Rich in protein and high in vitamins too. It's got Chinese origins.

 

 

This normally is a chicken recipe but for this particular one, I used turkey as I usually love to use those already shredded chicken pieces they sell in Park n Shop or Shoprite or the boneless chicken breasts but didn't have any. But since I wasn't able to go to any of those stores, I didn't want to have to struggle with deboning the regular chicken sold in neighbourhood frozen food stores, I bought turkey instead. Turkey works perfectly for this also. But! Make sure your knife is super sharp for this one. Shredding was such a pain as my knife was already blunting. This was the first time I used turkey for this recipe instead of chicken. I thought the turkey would be softer than frozen chicken. Actually, it was. But because the flesh of turkey is too succulent, a blunt knife will not get the shape you are aiming for.

 

The cabbage in this recipe is optional but I love me some cabbage. It also helps for quantity.

 

2 Chicken breast/ 1 Turkey wing, deboned, split and skinned (or not. I love my poultry skin)

4 tsp cornflour

2 tsp soy sauce

1 egg white, slightly beaten

Seasoning

5 tbsp olive oil

1 big carrot, thinly shredded

1 Green pepper, thinly shredded

2 Tatashe (red bell pepper)

1 cup of cabbage, thinly shredded

1 tsp fresh ginger, thinly shredded or grated

Spring Onion (Scallions) sliced into 1/2 inch length

1 onion

2 garlic cloves, thinly diced

3 tbsp water

 

Slice the chicken/turkey horizontally, paper thin. Believe me, your knife must be sharp. Mine wasn't so I ended up having shreds and dices. Place in a bowl.

 

 

 

Combine half of cornflour, seasoning and half of soy sauce and egg white. Pour over the chicken slivers and let stand for 30minutes.

 

 

 

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in skillet and sauté carrots for 1 minute. Add the green and red pepper and sauté for 1 minute.

 

 

Add cabbage and sauté for 30 seconds.

 

 

Remove vegetables from the pan/wok and set aside. In same pan, heat remaining olive oil and sauté onion, garlic ginger, seasoning and scallion for 30 seconds. With a slotted spoon, remove chicken from soy sauce and add to pan, cooking and stirring until shreds turn white or until it changes colour.

 

 

 

Add the reserved vegetables, and remaining soy sauce. Cook until heated through, then stir in remaining cornflour dissolved in the cold water. Cook briefly until all is covered with glaze or glistening.

 

 

Serve at once over rice.

 

Lol. This is not Ila Asepo o!

You go fear presentation

 

 

Things you should try to do for this recipe:

1. Better you buy the already sliced chicken sliver being sold in big chain supermarkets eg. Park n shop or Shoprite

2. An alternative to 1 is to buy boneless chicken breasts from same stores.

3. Sharpen your knife!!!

4. Basmati rice is best with this. Those our staple imported Thai rice here are just meh!

5. You can substitute the Soy sauce with a Light Soy sauce if you're bothered about sodium. You may need to use more though.

6. For those worried about MSG - I know, I am too most times - substitute the soy sauce with light soy sauce and for the seasoning, use Spice Supreme's Salt Free Seasoning.

7. The Nigerian reader here is wondering if I omitted the salt. No, I didn't. You don't need it. There's even too much soy sauce going on here for you to go adding more sodium.

8. The Chinese food enthusiast is wondering if I omitted the sugar. You can add the sugar if you want. I didn't want.

9. You can use gizzard or beef for this sauce as well.

10. You can use whatever veggies you want. Not leafy veggies though!

 

Ciao now!

 

PS. Notice the new blog look? You like?

Seafood stir-fry and Pasta

Since this blog is just about me posting my favourite activities and interests, here's a recipe I just discovered and absolutely love.

I found this recipe off the internet while I was having a bored period. I don't quite remember the link now but when I do, I'd be sure to update. Why I particularly got interested with this recipe is because 1. I love pasta. That's my go-to staple. As tiny as my kitchen is, if you see nothing else  in there, you can be sure to meet some pasta. My father is a pasta fanatic. He passed it on to me. 2. I love seafood too! But not as much of a staple as pasta is to me. I got the Breco Seafood Mix from Shoprite which has squid, calamari rings, shrimp, octopus, etc and it's quite cheap. Just under 800naira.

So, 2 loves and I was ready to try this recipe.

Here's what you need:

Pasta (I used Tagliatelle cos that was what I had on hand)
5 Carrots - skinned and chopped
2 Green pepper - chopped
4 Scotch Bonnet - chopped (You can use the number you desire. I love my food very spicy)
1 Onion - chopped
3 Tomatoes - chopped
Tomato Paste (Original recipe said to use Pasta sauce but I had none at home)
Black Pepper (I used whole. You can use powdered if you wish)
Seasoning (I used Maggi crayfish. Original recipe said Maggi chicken but hey! This is seafood!)
Crushed chilli (very optional)
Powdered Ginger
Powdered Garlic
Salt
Olive oil - 1 tbs
Seafood Mix (I used Breco seafood mix. )

Directions:

I had let the Seafood Mix melt down from the day before by bringing it out of the freezer and putting in the refrigerator. I rinsed it severally and then put in a colander to lose any leftover fluids.
Pour oil in frying pan wok (I don't own a wok. Yet). Let it heat up for a bit then you add some of the onions. Let the onions fry on low heat until it's about transparent. At this point, first add carrots and stir continuously. After about 1 minutes, add in tomatoes, green pepper and scotch bonnet. Continue to stir for about 5 minutes on low heat. Add the remaining onions.

Err... Couldn't quite get to rotate this

Take about a tablespoon of the tomato paste and mix in 1 tablespoon of water to reduce its thick consistency. Stir this to the wok and let cook for another 5 minutes.

At this point, put on a pot of boiling water for the pasta. Add a teaspoon of salt and a dash of olive oil. When boiled, put in the pasta and let cook till soft.

Back to the sauce. Add all dried ingredients (salt inclusive) at this point and stir into the mix. Let cook for 2 minutes then add the Seafood mix.

 

Ensure you are on low heat when this comes in. Seafood does not exactly like to be cooked on high heat lest it tastes and feels like glue.

I really cannot understand why these pictures are not in the right angle

Cover the point and let simmer for about 5 minutes or as long as you feel it's cooked enough for you to eat. Turn off the burner and let sit.

Drain the pasta into a colander to remove fluid. Serve the sauce on the pasta and it's ready to be devoured.

Bon appetit!  




PS: I have a confession to make. That last shot? Well, after I cooked the meal, it looked so good that I gobbled it in no time and forgot to take a picture. I took a second serving and still did not remember. By the time I remembered, it was all gone. Next day, I cooked the same recipe but with one slight difference. I was out of the Seafood mix. I had used up all I had. But I had a small packet of Calamari rings sitting in my freezer! Well, all na seafood. No scam there. I used the Calamari rings instead and made sure I took a picture right before I gobbled this one too all up! You'd fall prey too, I assure you.

Hope you like it!