Homemade Chinese for Dinner

 
 
 
 
 
My kids love Chinese food… Yes, they crave for it… I am O.K. with it but Panduka loves it. My son was gone for summer camping. I wanted to cook something special for his homecoming after 1 week of summer camp. They do real camping and he was meeting his requirements for boy’s scout camping.
I was able to go to the farm stand after school I have been visiting this place mainly to cool off with an ice cream since it was super hot past couple of days. I meant to take the kids but I didn’t have much luck this summer. Last visit I got some patty pan squash, zucchini from my neighbor, and had some store bought snow peas. So I decided to make my own Chinese with the vegetables I had I wanted to keep it simple, healthy, major factor did not want to go to the grocery store at all.

So here is my version of Chinese chicken with vegetables.

2 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs dark soy sauce
3 tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp Chinese soy base chili paste
1 tbs Hoisin sauce
1 tsp corn starch mixed in with all the above sauces together and set a side
3 tbs Chinese rice wine
I white onion
3 garlic cloves minced
1 thin slice of ginger minced
2 lbs chicken deboned thigh or breast cut into stripes
1 medium sized zucchini, thinly sliced
2 small patty pan squash, quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup snow peas
½ tsp of baking soda
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbs cooking oil
1 tsp sesame oil

Add baking soda, salt, and pepper to the chicken and leave it aside for about 20 minutes. Add I tbs spoon of cooking oil to your pan and bring it to medium high heat. Add the garlic and ginger if you don’t like them use a slotted spoon to discard them. Now add chicken and cook it for about 13 – 13 minutes until golden brown take it and leave it a side. Now add the snow peas and cook them for a while 2-3 minutes until they turn bright green take them out of the pan leave it a side. Bring the heat up to high and add squash and zucchini toss them vigorously continue to fry for about 1-2 minutes.
Take them off the pan and leave it a side with the others. Now add the cubed white onion and sauté it until golden brown at this point if you don’t have any oil in the pan its ok. Now pour the rice wine along the side of the pan while scarping the residue from frying to make a sauce.
Now add your chicken, vegetables and the sauce and mix in well until the sauce is incorporated fully. Finally drizzle some of the sesame oil over your cooked dish. Serve it with white rice or steam rice and enjoy while it is hot.

One thing I like about this recipe is you get to control your oils more or less. My kids eat the vegetables this is an awesome way to introduce them into new vegetables.

Quote of the day “serve dinner with artistry”

Enjoy!