Tokyo Fried Chicken

These were really good! I wish I had the shiso leaves to garnish, as suggested in Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother’s Tokyo Kitchen, where I got this recipe.

The chicken is briefly marinated , then drained, tossed with cornstarch (or potato starch), then fried. She calls for 4 chicken breasts to serve 4 but if you’re having soup and rice I think that’s a bit much. I used 1.5 last night and it made 2 servings easily.

• 2 – 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• one 2″ piece of ginger
• 1 Tbs soy sauce
• 2 tsp sake
• 1 tsp mirin
• cornstarch (about 1/4 – 1/2 cup)
• 1 -2 cups canola oil (enough to deep fry)
• 4 shiso leaves cut in ribbons if you can find some

Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and place in a bowl.

Grate the ginger and squeeze either with your fingers or with cheesecloth. You want about 1 1/2 tsp of ginger juice.  Mix that juice with the soy, sake and mirin and pour over the chicken, stirring to coat. Marinade 10 minutes or so. Drain the chicken, then place a few pieces at a time in the cornstarch and stir to coat. Remove the coated chicken to a plate so they’re ready for frying.

Heat the oil until it hits about 350 F. You can test by dropping a small piece of bread in. It should sizzle. Fry the chicken in batches until cooked through, about 2 minutes total. Stir the chicken pieces so all sides get cooked.  Drain on a layer of paper towels.

Transfer to a serving dish and garnsih with the shiso leaves if you have any. I did not, alas. ;(

You can see how I cooked this chicken as part of a meal that included eggplant in miso sauce, rice, and miso soup here.

Looking for ideas for your Thanksgiving menu? Here’s one Thanksgiving menu from 2004 and another from 2005 and another from 2008.

Thanksgiving recipes From past years:

Roast turkey -  Fantastic for smaller birds but impractical for larger ones as you turn the turkey a few times.

Roast Turkey with Wine Soaked Cheesecloth - Great for larger birds.

Olive Oil Dip and Marinated Olives - two fantastic appetizers that were a huge hit.

Cream of spinach – This is a nice side dish that is a bit rich but quite yummy.

Sweet potato streusel - This has become a must-have in my extended family. It was originally from Cooking Light magazine.

Collard greens - Cooked with a chunk of salt pork so not for vegetarians. These days with a vegetarian in the family I try to make all my side dishes vegetarian, but this was quite good!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples - This is good and lowfat.

Roasted Beets - You could also serve some cold beets in this yogurt dressing.

Onions Stuffed with Breadcrumbs and Spinach – I made this for a dinner party but I think I might be adding it to the Thanksgiving menu this year.

Braised Red Cabbage and Onions – Use vegetable broth to keep it vegetarian.

Pureed Parsnips - I never ate parsnips growing up but it’s a great winter vegetable.  I think you could easily make these a day ahead and refrigerate, then reheat.

Thanksgiving turkey leftovers recipes:

Rainbow Turkey Soup with carrots, celery, spinach, kale, olives and red peppers. Very colorful and good!

The Ultimate “Leftovers”  Soup – Another great turkey soup with leftover roasted root vegetables, leftover green bean casserole and leftover creamed onions.

A Simple Turkey Soup – much simpler with fresh green beans and a can of diced tomatoes.

Turkey Hash - Chopped turkey, fried potatoes and gravy. Mmmm.

Turkey Pot Pie - Pot pies are a great way to use up leftovers.

Creamed Turkey with Cheese – Serve this yummy comfort food over toast, English muffins, noodles, or rice.

Turkey Enchiladas - these are delicious and a family tradition. Make your own enchiladas sauce, too.

Turkey Flautas - A simple blend of chopped turkey and Mexican cheese, rolled in a corn tortilla and fried

Turkey Shepherd’s Pie – chopped turkey, carrots and celery cooked with some gravy and topped with mashed potatoes

Hope that gives you some ideas!  Share your favorite holiday recipes with us!

I need to sit down and plan out this year’s menu and decide how I’m going to cook the turkey. I think I’ve only got about a dozen to cook for this year, smaller than our norm. I usually try out a few new side dishes and appetizers but have to keep a few old favorites around too.

What are your must-have traditional dishes for your family?  Are you also going to experiment with some new recipes this year?  Please share!

I didn’t feel like going out and lighting the barbecue as I had just put the cover on it, expecting rain tonight or tomorrow.  I thought I’d try the George Foreman Grill for this and it worked great! (Note: I do not have the one with the removable plates but I would get that one were I to get a new one.)

• 2-4 Tbs Penzey’s Sate seasoning
• 2 Tbs water
• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 2 Tbs rice vinegar
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 3/4″ cubes

Mix together the water and sate seasoning and let sit a few minutes to blend.

If you’re using wooden skewers, throw those in the sink and cover with water and let soak. This is probably less important on the George Foreman grill but very important if you grill them with a live flame.

Add the rest of the ingredients except the chicken to the sate seasoning and water, mix well, then stir in the chicken. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour, preferably two. I only did an hour.

The chicken will only take a few minutes to cook, maybe 4-5, so estimate how long it will take you to skewer the chicken and start some rice going at some point. I made saffron rice in the rice cooker and it came out great.

Put the chicken chunks on the skewers while the grill is heating. Cook 4-5 minutes.

Serve with some dipping sauces if you’d like. I used a bottled Thai peanut sauce that I had around.  This one would probably work good:

• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 3 Tbs hot water
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 2-3 tsp plum sauce

These would work well as appetizers at a party but we served them for dinner, with saffron rice and a green salad.

First, I had some leftover Sort of Mexican Chicken Soup.  I added a large spoonful of this avocado pico del gallo and some crushed tortilla chips. Mmm!

I also used the last of the cooked chicken to make a chicken salad sandwich.  I am totally guessing at the measurements just to give any new cooks a starting place. You must taste and adjust!

• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1-2 Tbs sweet pickle relish
• 2-3 Tbs mayonnaise
• 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
• a dash of sweet curry powder
• a dash of salt

I toasted up some sliced sourdough for the sandwich part. Had I wanted a salad without the bread I might have added some diced apples and/or diced grapes.  I kept the curry powder very light. I just wanted a hint of it.  Really quite nice!\

Oh, and I don’t mean to imply this only made one sandwich!  There is more chicken salad for tomorrow!

Mexican Inspired Chicken Soup

I wanted some soup for lunches later in the week so cooked this up to go with the carne asada soft tacos I was making for dinner. I wanted something Mexican oriented and with some vegetables so played around a bit and came up with this soup. I used some corn I had frozen after we had leftover corn on the cob. I just sliced it off the cob and froze it. I liked it in the soup because it was larger chunks of corn rather than just individual kernels.

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 tsp taco seasoning (optional)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt (depending on your broth)
• 6 cups homemade chicken broth
• 1 cup cooked chicken, diced
• 1 cup corn (I used frozen)
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

This could have gone any number of directions depending on what I had found while rooting through the freezer and vegetable bin.  If I’d wanted a lighter soup, I’d have left out the chicken but I was thinking this would make a nice lunch for me later. If I’d wanted a heavier soup I would have added some cooked beans and maybe some potatoes or rice. Also, if I’d had extra salsa without the avocados I would have added that instead of or in addition to the fresh tomato from my garden.

Heat the oil and cook the onion and celery until softened. Sprinkle with the taco seasoning, cumin and salt and cook a minute. Add the rest of the ingredient except for the fresh cilantro and simmer 30 minutes, stirring now and then. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.

Mmm!  Could also add some diced avocado, grated cheese and crushed tortilla chips if you wanted a heartier soup.

• 1 whole chicken
• water to cover and then some
• a few bay leaves
• 2-3 stalks celery, cut up
• 1-2 carrots
• 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup water

Dumplings:

• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 cup milk

Rinse the chicken and put in a large stockpot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Skim off any scum that rises, then add the bay leaves, salt, pepper, garlic powder, carrots, celery and onion.  Simmer 45 minutes to an hour then remove the chicken and let cool a bit so you can remove the meat. Discard the bones and skin and fat. Shred the chicken into large pieces and return to the pot of broth.

Combine the flour and water, then stir into the broth to thicken.

Mix up the dumplings by sifting together the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. (And next time I’ll add some dried parsley and cayenne pepper.)  Cut in the butter then add the milk and mix. I did this all the food processor.

Bring the broth to a simmer and slowly drop in small spoonfuls of the dumpling mix. Simmer 15 minutes until cooked through. Try not to stir too much as you don’t want the dumplings to break up into small bits.

Today for dinner, I felt like experimenting with a Panini sandwich of some kind using one of the last cutlets, with a simple salad on the side.  This came out really good!  I had a small jar of roasted red peppers in the pantry and used a few of those. I also used up the last of a small jar of mango chutney.  (The raisins are the dark spots you see in the picture.)   I also added a slice of provolone cheese.  The bread wasn’t even very good, a bit stale, but somehow using it for a panini I didn’t even notice!  So for one sandwich:

• 1 French roll or two slices of ciabatta or other hearty bread
• 1 slice of provolone cheese
• 1 leftover  chicken cutlet
• a spread of mayonnaise and mustard
• a spoonful of mango chutney
• a few roasted red pepper slices

Spread the mayonnaise and mustard and chutney on the bread. Lay the chicken cutlet down, then top with the red pepper slices and then the cheese. Spread a bit of butter on the outside of the sandwich and grill until heated through and the cheese is melted.

This came out great! I think the key to good Panini is a) the bread and b) having some little treat tucked into your pantry or frig, like the roasted red peppers and chutney.  I think this would pack up well in a lunchbox and be good at room temperature.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

We had chicken cutlets last night for dinner, special request from college daughter that was home visiting a night.  I had leftovers, because I tend to make too much. Leftover cutlets are good reheated if you’re careful. Or you can turn them into any number of good chicken sandwiches, like these Sort of Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches . Here is my grandmother’s Chicken Divan recipe. But tonight I started with the leftover breaded and fried cutlets. I combined a few options.  It was okay. Not great. I had thought that the breading might let me just skip the typical breadcrumb topping but I think, in hindsight, it would have been better to just scrape the breading off the leftover cutlets. I liked it okay this way. Youngest thought it was blah.   But in case you are looking to experiment, here’s what I did.

• a few leftover chicken cutlets that had been breaded and fried
• enough broccoli to lightly cover the bottom of a 9×9 pan
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt (or you could use sour cream or mayonnaise)
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 Tbs Dijon mustard (or use some curry powder instead)
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs

Chop the leftover chicken cutlets (or another form of leftover cooked chicken) and layer it and the broccoli in a 9×9 pan.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together the soup, the yogurt, and half the cheese, then mix this together with the chicken and broccoli and spread out in a 9×9 pan.

Mix together the remaining cheese and the breadcrumbs (or crushed potato chips or corn chips or crushed croutons ….?) and sprinkle across the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.