Roast Garlic Lemon Chicken with Trumpet Mushrooms

Woosh woosh woosh... typhoon is incoming Taiwan. I doubt it'll hit Taipei, but one of my flatmates said the typhoon is going to be ultra strong like hitting a HADOUKEN on Taiwan. The winds are quite strong, and I heard the South is pretty bad. Hopefully, the winds don't cause buildings to vibrate at its resonance frequency!

I hope everyone is safe! Also on the other side of the world, hopefully things are alright with Irene!

Anyways, what did I make on this ultra not so windy day?
With myself limited to salt, pepper, lemon juice, garlic, chicken, and mushrooms (bought at Carrefour for 150 NT = around 5 USD that can last me three meals).

Well, you'll find out below...

Roast Garlic Lemon Chicken with Trumpet Mushrooms

Ingredients of woosh woosh.
1 whole Bulb of Garlic
2 Chicken breasts
10 Trumpet mushrooms (you can replace with whatever mushrooms you like)
2 tbs Lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Prep work of lightning fast wind
1. Slice mushrooms in however you like fashion.

Roasting Garlic (Preheat oven 175 C or 350 F)
1. Take apart garlic and leave the skin of garlic on.
2. Chop tips of garlic off
3. Put garlic in aluminum foil.
4. Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper over garlic
5. Wrap the garlic into a ball with the aluminum foil
6. Place in oven (middle rack) for 20-25 minutes. (Note: Your smoke alarm might go off)

Cooking and putting everything in place on this windy day. (Do this while the garlic has 5-10 minutes left in the oven)
1. Heat pan in oil.
2. Sear chicken breasts on both sides (nice and golden on each side about 30-45 seconds each side).
3. Season with salt and pepper
4. Place chicken on parchment paper and in the middle rack with the garlic.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

While everything is cooking in the oven... and the garlic is done.
1. Carefully (it's HOT) peel the garlic cloves and place garlic in a bowl
2.Use a spoon, fork, grinding tool, and mash the garlic into a paste.
3. Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and generous amount of olive oil.
4. Mix well until the ingredients are incorporated.

Cooking the Mushrooms.
1. Cook the mushrooms until nice and brown (be about 5 minutes)
2. O look your chicken is done just in time!

Putting it all together
1. Plate by placing mushrooms first and add some garlic paste.
2. Add chicken on top of the mushrooms.
3. Spread garlic paste on top of the chicken.

Well... time to enjoy most of my day indoors.

Gneral Tso's Chicken (左宗棠雞)

Summer is still in progress ... Looks like I haven't been posting on this in awhile. I've been quite busy now that Starcraft 2 is released. Time to get my Asianfied gaming face on. Meanwhile, I still got to eat.

What does a typical gamer eat? I dunno ... cup noodle? Yea... I have been eating some Shin ramen on some days. On the other hand, I been making a lot of Chinese/Taiwanese foods. Right now I'm experimenting how to make the perfect meat bun (肉包). I find it quite difficult to make the dough properly unless there is the perfect temperature, but it has been too cold recently that the dough won't rise properly.

Anyways that is for another blog post.

On to the main topic.... I made some general tso's chicken because it is a popular dish in America. The origin of this dish is disputed. Some chef in Taiwan claimed he invented it, while other chefs in America claim so too.

General Tso's Chicken (左宗棠雞)

Ingredients
2 Chicken breasts
2 eggs
Corn Starch
1 tbs Brown sugar
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs Rice wine
3 tbs Soy sauce
1 tsp Ginger
2 Garlic cloves
1 Dry chili
1 Green onion

Prep work of Chinese American hybrid dish
1. Take about 1/2 inch ginger and slice
2. Smash garlic and peel
3. Slice green onion
3. Beat eggs
4. Mix wine, soy sauce, sugar, and 1 tsp corn starch together for the sauce
5. Dry chicken with paper towel
6. Cut chicken into bite size pieces
7. Dump enough corn starch to coat each chicken piece

Cooking
1. Heat up pan and about 3 tbs of oil
2. Add chicken and fry until crispy (about 3 minutes)
3. Add garlic, chili pepper, and ginger and cook for 2 minutes
4. Add Sauce mix and let it reduce and coat the chicken pieces (2 minutes)
5. Add green onions for garnish

Hong Kong Style Swiss Wings (瑞士雞翼)

At work, I was looking at different styles of Chinese cuisine and stumbled upon Swiss chicken wings. That has to be one of the weirdest names for a Chinese dish. Apparently, as rumors say, the name came from a Westerner interpreting "sweet chicken" as "Swiss chicken" from waiter/waitress at a restaurant in Hong Kong; thus the name stuck.

This style of chicken is one thing that I miss from Hong Kong. It is so delicious with a sweet aroma and hint of spiciness that dances on your tongue.

Hong Kong Style Swiss Wings (瑞士雞翼)

Ingredients
2-3 lbs Wings
1/2 cup Soy sauce
1 cup Water
5 Star anise
2 Red chili peppers
1 tbs Rice wine
2 tbs Rock sugar (about 1 1/2 inch diameter spherical chunk of rock)
3 Green onions
1 inch Ginger piece
Sesame oil
White pepper

Prepwork
1. Wash and pat dry wings
2. Remove wings from drumlets
3. Season with a little white pepper
4. Mix chicken with rice wine
5. Let the chicken marinate for 10 minutes
6. Slice ginger into 4 parts
7. Mix soy sauce and water

Cooking
1. Heat up canola oil in a pot
2. Toss in chicken and lightly brown the skin of the chicken (about 5 minutes)
3. Add in ginger, break red chili peppers, and star anise into the pan and stir around for a minute or until slight aroma comes out
4. Add soy sauce mixture and rock sugar
5. Wait until the liquid boils and the rock sugar dissolves
6. Turn down heat to simmer, add in green onions and a dash of sesame oil on the wings.
7. Cover and cook for 30-45 minutes on low heat. (if the liquid does not fully cover the wings, remember to turn the wings over every 10 minutes)

You can store this overnight and reheat it on the stove again for even greater flavor.

Fried Chicken - Quick and easy

Finally summer is here xD!!! Now then ... my apartment is quite filthy. I guess it is time for another kitchen cleanup --> throw away moldy onions and garlic : /.

I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. To start off break. I was in the mood for fried chicken and biscuits after watching an episode of Diner's Drive-ins and whatever that long show name is called. Guy went to a fried chicken joint in Oklahoma that has been serving fried chicken for quite some time. After watching a demonstration, I decided to give this mehod try.

To my surprise, this fried chicken recipe did not take long to create because it requires no marinade.

Fried Chicken - Quick Method

Ingredients
5 Drum sticks with skin on
1 cup Wheat flour
1/2 cup Corn meal
3 tbs Paprika
2 tbs Salt
1 tbs Sugar
1 tbs Garlic powder
1 tsp Red chili pepper powder
1 tsp Green peppercorn powder
1 tsp White pepper
1 tsp Baking powder

Directions of pre-grease
1. Mix all the dry ingredients well
2. Pat the chicken dry
3. Throw in the chicken into the dry mix and coat the chicken well

Frying directions
1. Make sure the oil is hot like 350F. I used canola oil.
2. Throw pieces of chicken into the deep fryer and cook for 10-15 minutes.
3. Remove from deep fryer and put on a tray lined with paper towels to soak up the oil.

I found this recipe to be just alright . The chicken was not the type of crispy I would find in fried chicken. I prefer the type of crispiness I find at Popeyes or KFC. It was quite flavorful though.

Balsamic Braised Chicken

My spring break is coming to a close. I have decided that my blog looks too plain and needs some cool new background. I guess I'll be working on that this weekend with my artsy friends at school. Meanwhile, I watched Alice and Wonderland and found it to be quite exciting because I have always wondered how Disney would portray the future Alice. On a side note ... this movie was far better to watch than the animated one because there weren't so many colors to make your head spin.

For yesterday's lunch, I made balsamic braised chicken after reading my new Italian cookbook, Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Italian Cooking. Quite a simple and delicious dish to be served with asparagus and rice. The sauce itself is sweet and tangy due to the balsamic vinegar and red wine mixture. I would recommend this dish if you are serving a crowd for a party because of its simplicity.

Balsamic Braised Chicken



Ingredients
1 chicken breast
2 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
2/3 cup red wine
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Rosemary
Salt and white pepper

Prep work
1. Pat chicken dry
2. Salt and pepper the chicken

Cooking
1. Heat up moderate amount of olive oil in a pan
2. Throw in garlic and chicken and cook on medium-low, flipping occasionally for 10 minutes to slowly brown the chicken
3. Add in rosemary, vinegar, and red wine and stir chicken around and cover for 5 minutes on low heat to allow liquid to simmer slowly and cover
4. Turn chicken over and simmer for 5 minutes until liquid is reduced to a sauce (do this uncovered)
5. Serve with rice and asparagus

Note: If sauce is too acidic, add water and cornstarch mix.

Tonight, I am debating whether I shall make lasagna or make something with my wasabi powder.

"Thai Tacos"

I saw that soft taco shells were on sale at Ralphs and thought it was a good buy. Unfortunately, when I got back home, I realized that I do not know what to make with the ingredients in my fridge with the tacos.

Then it hit me. Tacos are the Western version of fried rice. You can put anything in them and it tastes good.

I had some leftover chicken marinating from yesterday's dinner and decided to chop it up and use that for my protein. I had some bell peppers going to expire and a lovely half onion.

Let us start the combination of leftovers!
"Thai Tacos" (In quotes because I'm not too sure where they are from because I pulled this idea out of my head ... maybe I should call it Jon's weird imagination tacos)



Ingredients
6 Soft shell tacos
3 Coconut fried chicken breasts see note first before starting
1 cup Coconut rice
1/3 cup Peanut sauce
1 Green bell pepper
1 Red bell pepper
1/2 Brown onion


Prep the leftovers (yum!)
1. Thinly slice both the red and green bell peppers
2. Slice the onion
3. Create the ingredients above that have links (see note before starting)
Note: Cube the chicken into 1/2 inch - 1 inch cubes and marinate, then bread the chicken so when you fry it, the chicken turns into little nuggets (aw how cute!)

Cooking
1. Saute or roast the bell peppers and onions
(Wow! only one cooking instruction)

Assembling the taco (somewhat cooking instructions)
1. Heat a small pan and lightly cook the soft shell tacos
2. Spread the peanut sauce on the taco
3. Spoon some coconut rice in the center
4. Put the chicken and garnish with the bell pepper and onions
5. Enjoy with more peanut dipping sauce or Saracha hot sauce

Coconut Fried Chicken

Another marathon of coconut madness! I shall share with you coconut fried chicken. I've had this idea in my head for awhile and had a dream about making it for a cooking competition that I never found the result to because my alarm went off.

Coconut Fried Chicken


Sorry picture is a bit bad because I was sooo hungry

Ingredients for Marinade
3 chicken breasts
2/3 cup Coconut milk
1 tbs Coriander
1/4 cup Soy sauce
1 tbs Cayenne chili powder
Salt

Directions
1. Throw all the ingredients together and marinate for a day

Ingredients for Final Product
1 cup Flour
2 Eggs (beaten)
1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Instructionals
1. Take the chicken out of the marinade
2. Place chicken in flour --> egg --> panko bread crumbs
3. Heat enough oil for frying
4. Throw in the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes each side or until done

My head might have gotten hit with a coconut, thus I have gone coconut crazy today ^_^

Kiwi Coconut Chicken Experiment

I am very tired this whole week! Man I don't even have time to do anything, and I think I am failing my classes pretty badly because I can't keep up with my assignments. : (. Hopefully I can get my act together during the weekend.

Anywho, I am going to share with my readers my experiment I had today. No pictures today ... Unfortuneatly I misplaced my camera somewhere and someone stole my TI-83 today .. (not that, that has to do with anything)

Kiwi Coconut Chicken

Ingredients
1 Chicken Breast (chopped)
1/4 Coconut Milk
1 Kiwi (Diced)
1 Tbs Honey
1 Tbs Lime juice
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tsp Rice Wine
1 Tsp Coriander powder
1 Tsp Cayenne pepper powder
Salt and Pepper

Directions
1. Throw all the ingredients together
2. Marinate chicken for a day
3. Pan cook the chicken with marinade
4. Plate onto taco shells

Anyways more homework to do

Kung Pao Chicken

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year. I finished UCLA Dance Marathon, which raised money for fighting pediatric AIDS. Man I am really tired from that. When I finished dance marathon, I went to my roomate's house to eat Chinese New Year Dinner.

On request... I made Kung Pao Chicken.

Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients
2 Chicken breasts
1 Green onion
1/2 Brown onion
1 Green bell pepper
1 Red bell pepper
1/2 Cup Soy sauce
1/4 Cup Peanuts
1/4 Cup Rice wine (Split in half)
2 Tbs Corn starch
1 Tbs Sesame oil
1 Tbs Chili oil
1 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tsp Rice vinegar
1 Tsp Peanut butter
5 Chinese red peppers (varies on hotness level)

Preparations
1. Cut chicken breast into cubes
2. Mix the chicken with corn starch
3. Add in soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli oil, brown sugar, 1/8 cup rice wine, peanut butter, and vinegar
4. Marinate for 30 minutes
5. Cut the onion, bell peppers into squares.
6. Slice green onion

Cooking Time!
1. In a pan put in oil and a dash of chili oil and sesame oil
2. Throw in the onions, chili pepper, and bell peppers
3. Cook until onions are clear
4. Add in chicken with marinade and peanuts
5. Cook until chicken is half done
6. Add in green onion and 1/8 cup rice wine
7. Cook until done and serve with rice

Chicken with Almond Sage Mushroom Sauce

Hello few people that read my blog.. I failed my midterm today on water resources : (, but that's alright because I think everyone else failed since there was not enough time to finish all the problems and check over my work.

After I took my test, I thought of why I have not heard of anyone putting together almonds, sage, and mushrooms.

So... to the test kitchen!

Chicken with Almond Sage Mushroom Sauce (quite a mouthful)



Ingredients
1 Chicken quarter (leg and thigh)
5 Crimini mushrooms or white mushrooms
1/2 Shallot
1/3 cup Chicken stock
1/4 cup Cream
1/4 cup White wine
1/8 Almond slivers (or less depends on how much crunch texture you want)
1 tbs sage
1 tbs Maple syrup
salt and pepper

Preparations
1. Slice the mushrooms really thinly
2. Slice shallots
3. Salt and pepper chicken
4. Preheat oven for 425F

Directions for cooking and not fail
1. Put oil in an ovenproof skillet.
2. Throw in chicken skin side down
3. Let chicken cook until skin gets crispy
4. Turn over the chicken and slightly brown the other side
5. After slightly browning the chicken put in shallots and white wine
6. Throw the chicken into the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Directions for the sauce
1. Throw in a tiny amount of butter enough to cover the bottom (about 1 tbs)
2. Toss in the mushrooms and cook until soft
3. Put chicken stock, cream, salt and pepper, almonds, maple syrup, and sage
4. Reduce the sauce until sauce-like viscosity
5. Taste to see if need more sweetness or savory taste (add more syrup if you want more sweet tasting sauce)
6. Serve with the chicken and Bon Appetite as Julia Child would state.

The dish turned out exceptionally well, better than I expected. I use to hate the taste of sage, but now I have found some good use for it.

Buffalo Hot Wings ... Superbowl!!!

It's the Superbowl, and I decided to waste my studying time to make buffalo wings. Yea... I need a break from studying about channel flow etc. In order to prep for the Superbowl, I made my own buffalo wings.

Buffalo Wings



Ingredients of football winners.

Part 1: Chicken
3 lbs Chicken wings
1 cup Flour
1 tbs Cayenne pepper
1 tbs Garlic powder
1 tbs Paprika
Salt and pepper

Prep work for tackling chicken wings

1. Prep the chicken by cutting the wing from the joint
2. Add flour, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to a bowl and mix
3. Toss the chicken in the bowl until it is all covered with flour mix

Directions for an interception
1. In a pot put oil enough to cover wings
2. Add the chicken until both sides are brown (approx. 5 minuets)
3. Preheat oven for 425F
4. Place chicken inside the oven for 5-7 minutes
5. Set aside on a plate

Part 2: Sauce
1/2 cup Butter (-_- rawr so fattening)
1/3 cup Tabasco sauce (I like hot spiciness)
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1/3 cup Ketchup
2 tbs Tomato paste
1 tbs Paprika
2 tsp Cayenne pepper (varies depending on spice level)
2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt and Pepper

Directions for touchdown
1. Throw butter into a sauce pan and melt
2. Place brown sugar, ketchup, tomato paste and mix well until a simmer
3. Add rest of the ingredients and adjust your spice tolerance
4. Add the chicken and let it coat on both sides
5. Serve to football watchers ^_^

Well back to studying, I hope I can get some time to watch the Superbowl.

Japanese Chicken Curry

Ah... what an uneventful weekend filled with fun studying. My water resource engineering midterm is on Monday, and I have no clue what is going on in the class aside from knowing that there are different types of flows and water can jump and how to read a Moody chart, which does not tell me how my mood is.

Anyways, for lunch I decided to make a giant batch of chicken curry to supply me for my lunches next week.

The curry I made today was quite an experiment that turned out quite well. I heard all sorts of rumors such as adding coco powder, heavy cream, and garam masala can enhance my Japanese curry's flavoring. As a result, I decided to test if those rumors are true.

Japanese Chicken Curry



Ingredients of oddness
4 Chicken thighs and drumsticks (best if already deboned)
4 Carrots
2 Potatoes (Medium sized Yukon potatoes)
1 Brown onion
3.5 oz (100g) Package of curry roux (I prefer super hot)
2 cups Chicken stock (a little more for reserve)
2 Tbs Tomato paste
2 Tbs Heavy cream
2 Tbs Garam masala (see Indian basics section)
1 Tbs Cayenne pepper (adjustable to tolerance)
1 Tsp Coco powder (wtf??? yea...)
1 Tsp Honey
1 Tsp Soy sauce

Prep work of samurai chopping
1. Chop onions into 1 sq in sizes
2. Slice carrots to desired thickness (baby carrots work if you don't want to cut anythign)
3. Peel and chop potatoes into desired cube sizes ( I make them 1 cubic in big)

Cooking
1. Add chicken skin size down in a pot until browned
2. Add in onions and cook until translucent
3. Add carrots, potatoes, and chicken stock
4. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are almost done
5. Add roux, tomato paste, heavy cream, garam masala, cayenne pepper, coco powder, honey, and soy sauce
6. Mix all the ingredients well and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Reduce until sauce-like viscosity. If it is too thick, add more chicken stock.
8. Serve with rice or noodles.

Hmm... The result of this experiment made the curry richer probably because of the cream and gave a better aroma than just adding water to the roux type curry.

Well... back to studying ... 300 more pages to read yay! ^_^

The Salad Diet

On the first note.
Please support my Dance Marathon Fund!!
http://dm.kintera.org/chefjlin
It is for a really really good cause for pediatric AIDS and making kids feel happy about their lives!

Due to the nature of lab reports, midterms, and lots of homework ... I could not go snowboarding today : (, but oh well.. I got parts of every homework assignment finished!

Because I had Korean BBQ yesterday. The only thing I ate today was a large chicken spinach salad made with a balsamic dressing. Something slightly healthier than lots of fat and protein.

Chicken Spinach Salad with Peanuts

Ingredients

1 Chicken breast
2 cup Baby spinach
1/4 cup Peanuts
1/2 Onion
1 Orange

Prepwork
1. Salt and pepper chicken
2. Slice onion into thin thin slices and soak in water
3. Peel the orange and cut away veins leaving only pulpy part (or use can of mandarin oranges)
4. Wash baby spinach

Cooking
1. Preheat oven 425 degrees F
2. Cook the chicken by pan and brown both sides
3. Once the oven is ready put the chicken in the oven for 10-12 minutes

Combination!
1. Cut the chicken into cubes
2. Put everything in a bowl and toss
3. Add favorite dressing or vinaigrette

Balsamic Dressing is below

Ingredients
3/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup Balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs Honey or maple syrup (I used maple syrup and it turned out great!)
2 Tbs Djon mustard
3 cloves of Garlic
1 Tbs Rosemary
salt and pepper

Directions
1. Throw everything but oil into the blender
2. Blend!
3. Add in oil slowly as it is blending to emulsify the oil into everything
4. Taste! Might need some adjustment of sweetness or salt.

Enjoy with the salad ^_^

sorry no pictures today ....

Korean BBQ So fulll rawr

Hello people reading my blog... It's a Saturday, and I woke up feeling much better than yesterday. I didn't get much homework done today because structural analysis class is a pain in the ass. Well, after spending 5 or more hours on 4 problems, I went to eat all you can eat Korean BBQ with ASCE people in K-town.

Every time I go eat Korean BBQ, I go happy and leave gluttoned and feel really terrible : (. I feel like I can never enjoy eating at buffets because I would just eat too much. I think for 20 people we got like 40 some plates of meat.

I'll post my recipe for Korean BBQ marinade. I usually marinade chicken or beef with it. Never tried marinating pork before though.

Korean BBQ marinade



(rawr so much meat ><...)

Ingredients for serving 3lbs of meat
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbs sesame oil
5 cloves of garlic (mashed)
2 green onions
1 carrot
2 tbs sesame seeds


Directions
1. Julienne carrots
2. Slice the green onions
3. Combine everything together and mix well
4. Throw in the meat and marinate for an hour
5. Take out the meat and grill or pan cook

Chicken and Tomato Corn Sauce

I doubt anyone will read whatever I write on this tiny part of the internet, but I'll do it anyways because it is a good way to share my thoughts with you netizens (is that how you spell it?) whatever.



For the first dish.

As a poor college student ...
I bought some chicken, tomatoes, canned corn, that was on sale at Ralphs. Yay sales!
This dish should only take about 30 minutes with prep work.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 of a shallots
1/2 of a brown onions
2 Roma Tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup chicken or beef stock (depends on which one you make or have ready)
1 green onion
1 can of corn - drained
2 tablespoons of miju (chinese rice wine)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
dash of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper (moderate to your own judgment ...)
a little flour or cornstarch (thickener)

Prep work (keep your station clean!):
Non-meat - I like to prep meat and vegetables separate
1. mince shallots and onions
2. Mash garlic with blade of the knife (basically peels it automatically when you do that)
3. Dice tomatoes
4. Slice green onion into thin pieces

Meats
1. Quarter chicken - easy I don't get why people don't do it and it's cheaper too to buy the whole chicken
If you don't know here's a link
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-quarter-a-chicken
2. Salt and pepper chicken

Cooking process:

Chicken
1. Preheat oven for 450 F°
2. In an ovenproof skillet, heat on high and put in butter
3. Throw in quartered parts of the chicken (breasts, and legs/thighs) skin side down
4. Brown the skin and turn over and put it into the oven
5. Cook for about 10-15 minutes in the oven. Check the meat with meat thermometer if you have to.

Sauce

1. Heat skillet and put butter
2. Throw in shallots, onion, and garlic until translucent
3. Throw in corn and cook until no liquid left or aroma of the corn comes out
4. Add tomatoes, stock, cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, rice wine, and sugar
5. Reduce liquid until thickened
6. Add flour or cornstarch a little bit at a time if sauce is not thickened.
7. Salt and pepper to taste



Voila there you have it!

I really need to get a better camera or stop using my cell phone camera to take pictures xD.

Enjoy! Eat with long grain rice, bok choy or cauliflower. Drink with chicken soup listed below.

What to do with the leftover bones from the quartered chicken?
With the discarded chicken bones after you have quartered it...
Make chicken soup by throwing it in a big pot of boiling water and add in onions, garlic and ginger and simmer for a couple hours.

Salt and pepper
This is good for when you are sick.