Today, I want to welcome my sister Melissa, to Tummy Juice. Like me, my sister loves eating and cooking. This weekend, she came down to Calgary to visit me (...ok, ok, it was really to visit her baby nephew), but before she left, she made a delicious oven roasted chicken with soy sauce and onions. I finished it off with some baby bok choy with oyster sauce and drizzled the whole thing with crispy garlic oil. Without further adieu, heeeeeere's Melissa!......
So over the past little while, all my Facebook friends have been enjoying the documentation of my cooking experiments, subsequently leading to my sister’s own documentation, and ultimately, the birth of this blog. I guess it would make sense that I “guest-blog” every now and then, so here’s my first entry.
Well, back to what I was saying about cooking “experiments” – I’ve always been a bit intimidated with cooking Chinese food….not too sure why. Perhaps watching my mom and my grandma cooking their family recipes always seemed so complicated, I always ended up cooking “Western” cuisine, because the methods just seemed so much easier.
Well, my mindset has quickly been changing when I realized that Asian-style cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, a lot of it is really quite easy! I also daresay that with cooking a simple Chinese meal, you get the best bang for your buck – really tasty, and enough to pack your lunch for the next day.
Alright, now I believe my sister when she said that I wouldn’t have a hard time blogging….now to the food.
I found this great chicken recipe from The Chinese Chicken Cookbook by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. Like a lot of Chinese recipes, it covers several dimensions of flavour – savoury, sweet, acidic, and…some alcohol flavour (not sure how to describe that!). The only thing that is “missing” is some heat, but I would say you could definitely add some red chilies to this recipe if you like. Otherwise, all the ingredients are easy to find at any grocery store, or might even be in your pantry already.
I did make a slight adjustment – it originally calls for quartered chicken breasts, but I substituted it for boneless, skin-on chicken thighs instead. A couple of reasons why: chicken thighs tend to be juicier, and best of all, they cook faster! The original recipe takes a total of 1.5 hours roasting time, whereas the thighs will take probably a max of 45 minutes. This makes it more ideal for a weekday meal…especially after a long day of work. Prep time will be about ten minutes if you don’t have to de-bone your chicken, plus give it about 20-30 minutes to marinate. Yet another tasty meal that doesn’t take a whole lot of effort – the best kind!
CHICKEN ROASTED WITH SOY SAUCE AND ONIONS RECIPE
Ingredients:
10-12 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, cleaned thoroughly but with some of its fat retained (make sure it is dry before you add it to the marinade)
Marinade
2 tablespoons Chinese white rice wine or gin
3 tablespoons double dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Chinese white rice vinegar or distilled vinegar 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Extras:
3 tablespoons peanut/vegetable oil
4 cups thinly sliced onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions:
1. Place the chicken thighs in a large Ziploc bag. Whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade and add it to the chicken. Allow to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Heat a wok over high heat for 30 seconds, add 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil, and coat the wok with it, using a spatula. When a wisp of white smoke appears, add the onions. Stir and cook for a minute, lower the heat to medium, and cook for another 3 minutes until onions are soft. Turn off the heat.
3. Place the chicken and the marinade in a roasting pan in a single layer. Spoon the onions over, around, and under the chicken pieces. Place the roasting pan with the chicken and onions in the preheated oven and roast for 20 minutes.
4. Lower the heat to 350°F, baste the chicken with its fat and juices, and roast for another 15 minutes. Check for doneness.
5. In a pan, heat 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add minced garlic. Spread out the garlic so it is a thin layer in your pan. Saute until the garlic just starts to turn colour. As soon as it starts to turn colour, turn off the heat, and transfer the garlic and oil to a dish. Because the oil is still hot, it will still cook the garlic and turn it all crispy and brown. If you wait until the garlic is brown before transferring, you will end up with burnt garlic.
5. Transfer the chicken to a heated platter, drizzle over the garlic oil and serve with cooked rice.
Ingredients:
10-12 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, cleaned thoroughly but with some of its fat retained (make sure it is dry before you add it to the marinade)
Marinade
2 tablespoons Chinese white rice wine or gin
3 tablespoons double dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Chinese white rice vinegar or distilled vinegar 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Extras:
3 tablespoons peanut/vegetable oil
4 cups thinly sliced onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions:
1. Place the chicken thighs in a large Ziploc bag. Whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade and add it to the chicken. Allow to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Heat a wok over high heat for 30 seconds, add 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil, and coat the wok with it, using a spatula. When a wisp of white smoke appears, add the onions. Stir and cook for a minute, lower the heat to medium, and cook for another 3 minutes until onions are soft. Turn off the heat.
3. Place the chicken and the marinade in a roasting pan in a single layer. Spoon the onions over, around, and under the chicken pieces. Place the roasting pan with the chicken and onions in the preheated oven and roast for 20 minutes.
4. Lower the heat to 350°F, baste the chicken with its fat and juices, and roast for another 15 minutes. Check for doneness.
5. In a pan, heat 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add minced garlic. Spread out the garlic so it is a thin layer in your pan. Saute until the garlic just starts to turn colour. As soon as it starts to turn colour, turn off the heat, and transfer the garlic and oil to a dish. Because the oil is still hot, it will still cook the garlic and turn it all crispy and brown. If you wait until the garlic is brown before transferring, you will end up with burnt garlic.
5. Transfer the chicken to a heated platter, drizzle over the garlic oil and serve with cooked rice.
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