Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Hoisin Sauce

Cooking Asian food can be a daunting task. We all know this. Then you find a recipe you think might be good, you start to read it and there are strange ingredients that you don't normally have on hand. No worries! I have a solution for hoisin!  You may have many of the ingredients readily on hand, and if you don't then you need to stock your kitchen.

3/4 kidney beans (color doesn't matter), rinsed
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp molasses
2 teaspoons Chinese 5 spice
2 fresh dates (you don't have to add these, but I did for a little extra sweet)

Add everything to a good blender and blend til smooth.

Yup. That's all!

Chinese Chicken and Broccoli ....Again!

Don't you just crave Chinese food sometimes? I do often and while there are numerous buffets to choose from at a cheap price, it is like asking for punishment! I've been following a Diet Free Life on and off for years and when I follow well, I lose lots of weight. One of my favorite things is you can basically eat what you want so here is something that I wanted to eat tonight! I got this recipe from Food Network, but I tweaked it a bit.

I also didn't have hoisin sauce on hand so I made my own. After tasting it, I will never buy hoisin again, it was so good I could drink it.

Lastly, I am not eating fast carbs for meals at the moment, so instead of rice, I used leftover, mashed kidney beans and they were perfect! They soaked up that flavorful sauce.

Chinese Chicken with Broccoli!

2 chicken breasts sliced thin
3 scallions thinly sliced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 inch peeled fresh grated ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar ( I use unprocessed)
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon arrow root
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
 
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup hoisin sauce (see my home made recipe)
5 to 6 cups broccoli or a bag of frozen
 
1. Make the marinade. Mix the garlic, ginger, soy sauce sugar, vinegar, 1 tsp arrow root and sesame oil. Add chicken and marinate at least 15 minutes or more.
 
2. Get a skillet very hot. Add 1 tbsp of the oil. Add the broccoli and cook out any excess moisture. Once the broccoli is cooked and still green remove it from the pan.
 
3. Heat the pan again with the remaining oil. Add the chicken (I had to do this in parts). Let the chicken slightly brown before flipping around. Once fully cooked, add 1 tbsp corn starch 1/3 cup water and the broccoli.
 
4. Pour over the hoisin. Shut the heat and enjoy!