Cooking with Alison

Archive for April, 2012|Monthly archive page

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Delicious Bang Bang Chicken Recipe (bang bang ji)

In Meat and Eggs on April 24, 2012 at am

Bang bang chicken is a Chinese dish that originated in Szechuan.  I really hope that you’ll try this recipe because I love it for many reasons:

1.  The dipping sauce is delicious and addictive.  It’s very flavourful and the perfect compliment to the otherwise bland chicken and cucumbers.  My family and I can’t get enough of it.

2. This meal is cost effective to make, because you use chicken that has the skin on and bone in.

3.  It’s healthy.

4.  It’s easy to make.

5.  This recipe makes a lot, so you can feed a lot of people or use the leftovers for tortilla wraps or rice paper rolls (see my rice paper rolls recipe here).

6.  This can be served warm or cold, so it can be made in advance.

Traditionally, this is served alongside other dishes with white rice.  But if you wanted to turn this dish into a complete meal on its own, you could try this variation:  Toss together the shredded chicken, sauce, and thinly julienned cucumbers, along with added cilantro, thinly julienned carrots, and thinly sliced green onions, and serve on top of boiled and drained, thin vermicelli rice noodles.

Update:  I made this for my dad’s company pot luck and people from all different backgrounds loved it, even the two pickiest eaters there.

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How to Boil or Poach Chicken

In How-To, Meat and Eggs, Poultry on April 19, 2012 at pm

Cooking chicken by boiling or poaching is easy and great for making healthy, oil-free, meals.  It may sound bland, but this results in deliciously moist meat and a pot of chicken stock.  When boiling or poaching chicken, you want to use meat that still has the skin on and the bone in, so you can purchase cheaper cuts of meat and save money while eating healthy.  You can boil a whole chicken or pieces of chicken.  Shred the cooked meat and use it in salads, sandwiches, wraps, soup or, my favourite, bang bang chicken (recipe here).  Another healthy and simple way to cook chicken is by steaming (see recipe here).

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Homemade Beef Jerky

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks on April 5, 2012 at am

I am in love with beef jerky, but I rarely buy it because store-bought beef jerky is often too salty, contains unnatural ingredients, and is very expensive.  So I purchased a Ronco food dehydrator to make my own.   Everyone that’s tried my homemade beef jerky has liked it.  I’ve even had people say that they like it more than store bought beef jerky.  You can control the salt and sugar content, the spiciness, and even the texture when you make it yourself.  This makes a great snack for hiking, camping, and days on the beach.  For those of you with pets, use the food dehydrator to make healthy treats using unseasoned liver, gizzards, thinly sliced chicken, etc.  (See other healthy dog treat recipes here.)

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