Tofu/Chicken Lettuce Wraps

'Lettuce Wraps' is one of my favorite things to order at PF Changs. Now that I have recreated this dish at home, I don't see a point in going to that restaurant any more. I guess it a good and a bad thing to recreate an iconic restaurant dish?

I have made the same recipe with both Chicken and Tofu and both versions are delicious. 

The secret ingredient are the Water Chestnuts. These add a lovely flavor and crunch to the dish and the Peanut Sauce is a must to amp-up the flavor profile.

Butter Lettuce is preferred here, since it is naturally shaped like a cup and makes for a pretty presentation. However, any kind of a lettuce can be used here. Romain, Butter Leaf or the Iceberg Lettuce. Iceberg is a little tricky to separate into cups, but it's doable. 

I have even made these with Cabbage leaves on days when I ran out of Lettuce at home. Since cabbage is a little fibrous and hard to eat when it's raw, it's a good idea to lightly steam or blanche it to make it soft and pliable.

Ingredients:
Lettuce (Butter leaf/Iceberg/Romaine)  - 1 head

Ground Chicken or Crumbled Firm Tofu - 1 lb
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Water Chestnuts - 1/2 Cup
Roasted chopped Peanuts - A small handful
Onion - 1 Small
Garlic cloves - 3 to 4
Soy Sauce - 1 tbsp
Hoisin Sauce - 1/4 Cup
Garic Chili Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Rice Vinegar - 1 Tbsp
Sugar - 1 Tsp
Black Pepper - 1 Tsp
Salt (only if needed after checking for seasoning)
Green Onions - 1 Stalk

Peanut Sauce:
Peanut Butter - 2 Tbsp
Black Pepper - 2 Tsp
Red Chili Flakes - 1 pinch
Soy Sauce - 2 Tsp
Rice Vinegar - 2 Tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1 Tsp
Hot Water - a little to dilute the Peanut Butter
Honey - 1 Tsp
Whisk all the ingredients for the Peanut Sauce and pour into a serving bowl. Set Aside.

Finely chop the onion and garlic and water chestnuts.
In a wide bottom pan, heat the oil, add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add the ground chicken or the Tofu and Sautee till cooked through.
Add the Water Chestnuts and the Peanuts. Mix in all the sauces and the dry powders from Soy Sauce to the Black Pepper. Mix well and cook till it starts to get crispy at the bottom.
Top with Chopped Green Onions.



Split the lettuce into the shape of cups and serve with the hot Chicken/Tofu mixture with the Peanut Sauce.

It's best to make the wraps as and when you eat. Take 2 Tbsp of the mix onto the lettuce, drizzle with the Peanut Sauce and enjoy!

Asian Baked Spicy Wings and Potatoes

I am drooling here, just thinking about the flavor of these wings. They were delicious and this is a great Asian sauce for the coating. Its Sticky, Sweet and Spicy and Finger Licking Gooooood.

I always have a standard set of Asian Condiments in my kitchen and you can made a million dishes with variations of these ingredients. Ok not a million, but a lot of them.

Ingredients:
Marinade:
Dark Soy Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Rice Vinegar - 1 Tbsp
Hoisin Sauce - 2 Tbsp
Chili Garlic Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Honey - 1 Tbsp
Salt and Pepper - a pinch each
Sriracha Sauce - 1 Tbsp
Sesame Seeds - 1 Tsp

Salt and Pepper to Season the Chicken
Corn Starch -  2 Tbsp
Chicken Wings - 1lb
Potatoes - 2

Wash and clean the chicken Wings and Cut the Potatoes into Wedges.

Season the Chicken with the Corn Starch, very little Salt and Pepper.

Season the Potatoes with very little Salt and Red Chili powder.

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade. 

Pre-heat over to 425F. In a baking pan, line with foil and place the potatoes on the foil.
If you have a grilling rack, place this on the pan and place the chicken wings and place in the oven. If you don't have the rack, you can place these in the pan next to the potatoes.

The rack is the best for chicken, since the juices from the chicken would drip on the potatoes and make them really yummy.

Bake for 10 min, remove the chicken and brush with the marinade. Move the potatoes around.
Place back into the oven and bake for 5 more min.. Brush again, turn and bake on the other side for 5 more min. Remove and top with some sesame seeds and green onions.

Serve with Ranch Sauce and some Carrots and Celery.

Schezwan hakka noodles

I make my Chinese noodles with whole wheat pasta. Agreed that its healthier, and I feel good about making this, as I use a ton of veggies and the whole wheat pasta has lots of good stuff in it. I got these schezwan egg noodles from the Asian store, and the difference is the taste and texture is unbelievable. I guess mixing Chinese and Italian cuisines is not the smartest thing to do :) Sometimes authentic works a lot better.

Noodles - 200 gms
Onion - 1
Carrots - 2
Cabbage - 1/2 head
Capsicum - 1 small
Tomatoes- 2
Green chilis - 3
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Garlic cloves - 3
Eggs - 2 to 3
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Soy sauce - 1 1/2 tbsp
Rice wine vinegar - 1 1/2 tbsp
Peanut butter - 1 tbsp
Red chili sauce - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Spring onion - 2

Cook the noodles in boiling water for 8 to 12 min, depending on the instructions on the pack. Drain and wash with cold water and set aside. (It's an absolute no to wash cooked pasta, but noodles can be washed to prevent them from clumping up)
Slice all the veggies into thin strips.
In a wok or a pan, add the oil, ginger, garlic green chilis and fry this aromatic. Add the onions and fry till a bit wilted. Add the capsicum, carrots, cabbage and fry till soft, yet crisp.
In a bowl, mix salt, black pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, chili sauce and mix well.
Add the noodles to the pan, mix well and add the sauce.
Mix until combined. In the center of the pan, move the noodles to the side, making a well. Break the eggs in the middle, add salt and pepper. Scramble and mix with the noodles.
Garnish with spring onion and serve.
I am adding a picture of noodles made another time, to show how to add the eggs to the pan.

Chili Chicken/ Chicken 65

This dish has so many different names - Chili chicken, ginger chicken...and so on. Essentially they are similar, and taste really good. I did not use any food coloring here. Looked just as good without it.

For the coating:

Chicken leg meat - 2 lbs (Cubed)

Corn flour - 2 tbsp

Egg - 1

Salt and pepper - to taste

Oil  - to fry

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

For the Sauce:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Cumin - 1 tsp

Chopped Ginger - 1 tbsp

Chopped Garlic - 1 tbsp

Chopped green chili - 2 

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Chili garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Red chili powder - 1 tsp

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Soy sauce - 1 tsp

Mix the chicken with the coating and deep fry. I discard the oil, so fry in as little oil as possible. Remove and set aside.

In a pan, add the oil. Cumin seeds, chopped ginger and garlic, green chili, curry leaves and fry till fragrant.

Add the chili garlic sauce, salt, cumin powder, red chili powder, soy sauce and 1/4 cup water.

Mix well and cook for a minute.

Add the chicken and mix well. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

Peanut soy noodles with vegetables

I really like to incorporate whole grains in almost all our meals, and whole wheat pasta is one of my favorites. But somehow none of us care for pasta with marinara in our home. So I always make it chinese style. I guess most of us do it that way. This recipe is one of the easiest ones to make, because there's not cooking. That's right. It's just raw and cooked veggies, tossed in this incredible peanut soy sauce, topped with toasted sesame seeds. Here's the recipe:

Dried whole wheat pasta  - a bunch

Broccoli florets - 2 cups

Sugar snap peas - 1/4 pound

Red bell pepper - 1

For the sauce:

Peanut butter - 1 1/2 tbsp
Sou sauce - 1 tbsp
Toasted sesame oil - 1 tsp
Red chili flakes - 1 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
salt - to taste
Hot pasta water - 2 tbsp

toasted sesame seeds - 2 tbsp

In a big pot, bring water to a boil.
Salt the water with a generous pinch and add the pasta.
When the pasta is half cooked, add the broccoli and snap peas.
Drain when pasta is cooked, but not mushy - Al dente.

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and thin with pasta water.
Toast the sesame seeds and keep aside.
Add julienned red pepper to the pasta and veggies and toss with the sauce.
Top with the sesame seeds.

This dish tastes good hot or cold.

Gobi Manchurian - Dry

Continuing with the Chinese tradition, this is probably one of the most popular Indo-Chinese dishes. Yes, I did try baking this too, but somehow it never really comes close to the deep-fried version. It looks like a long process, but really is very easy to make once you start.

So here's the recipe: 

1 medium sized cauliflower, cut into florets

All-purpose flour - 4 tbsp 

Cornflour - 4 tbsp 

Rice flour (optional) - 1 tbsp 

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp

Black pepper - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

For the sauce:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Ginger - 1 inch

Garlic  - 4 cloves

Green chillis - 3 

Chili powder - 1 tbsp

salt - to taste

Soy sauce - 1 tbsp

Chili garlic sauce - 1 tbsp

water - 3 tbsp

Black pepper - 1/2 tsp

Tomato ketchup - 3 tbsp

Spring onions - 2

Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed vessel.

In a bowl, combine all-purpose flour, cornflour, rice flour, salt, black pepper, ginger-garlic paste and water to make a thick paste. Dip the washed and drained florets into the batter one at a time and drop into the hot oil. Do not crowd the vessel. Reduce flame and deep fry till the gobi is almost cooked. Remove onto absorbent paper and keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok or pan and once the oil is hot, add the chopped garlic, green chillis and ginger and stir fry on high for a few seconds.

Reduce to medium heat and add the other ingredients except water. Combine well and cook for a minute. Add 3-4 tbsp of water and cook till the sauce looks done.

Add the deep fried Gobi and combine. Toss on high flame for 1-2 mts. Turn off heat. 

Garnish with the chopped spring onions.

Serve immediately.The more it sits, it loses it's crispy texture and becomes really mushy.

Baked vegetable spring rolls

I loveeeeeeeeeeee chinese food. I mean, is there anybody out there who doesn't? But if you are a vegetarian, the choices are really limited. Spring rolls are one of those options and they can be really versatile in the kind of filling you can use. I try to bake almost anything that is usually fried. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Well, this is one dish that tastes just as good as it's fried version. 

Here's the recipe for my guilt-free version:

Spring roll or Egg roll wrappers: 12

For the filling:

Chopped cabbage- 2 cups
Carrot - 1
Red pepper - 1/2
Green onions - 2
Ginger - 1 inch
Garlic cloves: 2
Salt - to taste
Black pepper - a pinch
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Hot sauce - 1 tsp
Egg white - optional

Thaw the wrappers.
In a pan, bring a cup of water to boil.
Add the veggies and close the lid.
Let them cook till the raw smell disappears, but still remain crunchy.
Grate the ginger and add the other spices.

Now, take a wrapper and add a spoon of filling in one corner of the spring rolls and roll halfway.Now brush the edges with the egg wash and fold the edges inward and continue rolling the spring roll to enclose completely. Brush with egg wash.

Preheat oven to 350F and bake for 15 to 20 min till crisp outside.
Serve with any chinese dipping sauce.