Honey Chicken

OH....MY..... GOODNESS!!!

That is what I have to say about this.

I love love love love love Asian food.

We get chinese takeout more than my wallet would like

The fact that I am cheap clashes with this issue.

I have never been able to make take-out worthy chinese food at home (with the exception of my stir fry).

This totally fixes that problem.

Needless to say I am very happy and so excited to share this with all of you!

I'm not gonna lie, this takes a little bit of time to make... but it's so worth it.

I hope you love it as much as we did!

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1” chunks
Oil,for deep frying
Batter:
4 Tbs cornstarch
¼ C flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ C water
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg white
Sauce:
1 ½ Tbs oil
2 tsp ginger (minced) or 1tsp dried
3 Tbs garlic,minced or crushed
1 tsp salt
3 Tbs honey
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
½ C water
1 tsp cornstarch (mixed with 1 teaspoon water)
Sesame seeds (for garnish)


Directions:

Batter:

 In a large bowl mix all batter ingredients together until smooth. Cover and allow the batter to sit for at least 30 minutes. 

Chicken:
Add the chicken to the batter tossing to coat.

Heat a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry chicken in small batches for 4 minutes or until batter becomes firm. 

Drain on paper towels.

Sauce:
To make the sauce. Heat 1 ½ Tbs of oil in your wok. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds.

  Add salt, honey, vinegar, and water. Mix well. Combine 1 teaspoon of water with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch in a seperate bowl or cup. Add to the sauce and Simmer for 2 minutes.

Place fried chicken pieces in wok and stir to coat chicken with the sauce and garnish with sesame seeds. 

Serve with white rice.

Sorry the photo quality isn't great.  I have been using my cell phone instead of my camera (because it's easier).... but it doesn't do the best job!

***Review:

Obviously you know that I love this!  The even better part?  ALL of my family loved it.  That's right.... all 5 kids.  That NEVER happens.  I have one child that literally eats nothing at dinner because he is SO picky (Unless I make pizza or mac and cheese).  My oldest says this is the best thing I have ever made... I may have to agree!

**Tips: 

First off, I think the batter recipe is slightly off.  I would add a tad less water next time to make it thicker.  When I was trying to fry, the batter was so thin that it kept dripping down into the deep fryer and not staying on the chicken.  Also, cook the chicken in very small batches... otherwise it sticks together.  I used a fork to kind of stir it for a few seconds when I first drop it into the deep fryer to keep it from sticking.  I'm sure there is a better way... but this is what I did to make it work.  My last pieces of chicken were much nice than the first few batches.  

As for time savers, definitely make the batter first.  THEN take that 30 minutes it has to sit to cut up your chicken and dice your ginger and garlic.  I didn't do it that way because I didn't realize (until I got to that step) that the recipe said to let the batter sit for 30 minutes... so I was all ready to go and had to wait.  

If you do not have a deep fryer, you could totally use a deep pan full of oil if you had to.   I might try that next time just to see how it works.

*Serving:  

This was great on plain white rice.  You could serve it on brown rice or with veggies.  I could have eaten it alone it was so good.  

Printer Friendly Recipe

Honey Chicken

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1” chunks
Oil,for deep frying
Batter:
4 Tbs cornstarch
¼ C flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ C water
½ tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg white
Sauce:1 ½ Tbs oil
2 tsp ginger (minced) or 1tsp dried
3 Tbs garlic,minced or crushed
1 tsp salt
3 Tbs honey
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
½ C water
1 tsp cornstarch (mixed with 1 teaspoon water)
Sesame seeds (for garnish)

Directions:

Batter:

 In a large bowl mix all batter ingredients together until smooth. Cover and allow the batter to sit for at least 30 minutes. 

Chicken:

 Add the chicken to the batter tossing to coat.

Heat a deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry chicken in small batches for 4 minutes or until batter becomes firm. Drain on paper towels.

Sauce:

To make the sauce. Heat 1 ½ Tbs of oil in your wok. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds.  Add salt, honey, vinegar, and water. Mix well. Combine 1 teaspoon of water with 1 teaspoon of cornstarch in a seperate bowl or cup. Add to the sauce and Simmer for 2 minutes.
 Place fried chicken pieces in wok and stir to coat chicken with the sauce and garnish with sesame seeds. 

Serve with white rice.

Grilled Garlic-Dill Salmon

I have been MIA for about 6 months. 

I have an excuse

Really!

BASEBALL!!

I did not realize how much time it sucks from your life.

I love that my kids play, but practices 4 nights a week and 2 games per weekend is A LOT!

I mean, yes, I was still cooking... but taking the time out of my day to write it all down and take pictures?

Well... lets just say it kind of fell off the priority list in favor of... oh you know, SANITY!

So, baseball ended the last week of June and then it was summer break... and then.....

FOOTBALL! 

No, I can't get a break. 

BUT...

it's highschool football.... so I am not required to be at the every single day practices.

I only drive to and fro. 

Also, I'm adjusting.

So, I'm not going to promise to be back to my regular blogging schedule as of yet....

But I am going to make more of an effort

I am hoping by the time school well into full swing I will be back to my bloggy self.

Well enough excuses... on to the recipe!

ps... as I am writing this... it is now wrestling season.  It never ends!!!


Grilled Garlic-Dill Salmon

Ingredients:
5 Medium salmon steaks  ( you can really use whatever size you want, this just happens to be what I used)
1 Stick of butter
6 Cloves of garlic, crushed (or as much or as little as you like)
2 tsp Garlic salt
4 tsp Dried dill
3 tsp Lemon juice
1/4 C Olive oil

Directions:
Thaw salmon in cold water (if frozen)

Crush garlic cloves into small bowl
Place 1 stick of butter into bowl with garlic
Microwave butter/garlic mix to melt together (aprox 1 minute)

Add lemon juice to butter/garlic mix
Pre- heat grill
Place salmon on a tray and drizzle with half the olive oil. 
Sprinkle with dill

Flip salmon over and drizzle with the rest of the olive oil
Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt
Place salmon on grill and brush on about half of the garlic-butter mixture

Cook about 5 minutes per side, depending on how thick your steaks are. 
They are done when fish flakes easily with a fork.

After they are done, brush on remaining garlic butter mixture

Enjoy!

***Reviews: 
 This is a HUGE hit in my house.  Everyone cheers when they hear we are having grilled salmon. I love that!  The taste is so light and fresh and not fishy at all.  If salmon wasn't so expensive, we'd probably have it twice a week here.

**Tips:
This is a super simple recipe so there is not much to it.  My only suggestion would be to watch the fish if you aren't a experienced griller because you don't want to burn the outside before the inside is cooked.  Although, some people do like their salmon rare... blech.. not me!   


*Serving:
I think salmon goes great with wild rice.  That is my first choice... but it goes great with veggies too if you're trying to stay low on the carbs. This time I served it with yellow squash and wild rice...mmmm!


Printer Friendly Recipe:

Grilled Garlic Dill Salmon

Ingredients:
5 Medium salmon steaks  ( you can really use whatever size you want, this just happens to be what I used)
1 Stick of butter
6 Cloves of garlic, crushed (or as much or as little as you like)
2 tsp Garlic salt
4 tsp Dried dill
3 tsp Lemon juice
1/4 C Olive oil

Directions:
Thaw salmon in cold water (if frozen)
Crush garlic cloves into small bowl
Place 1 stick of butter into bowl with garlic
Microwave butter/garlic mix to melt together (aprox 1 minute)
Add lemon juice to butter/garlic mix
Pre- heat grill
Place salmon on a tray and drizzle with half the olive oil. 
Sprinkle with dill
Flip salmon over and drizzle with the rest of the olive oil
Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt
Place salmon on grill and brush on about half of the garlic-butter mixture
Cook about 5 minutes per side, depending on how thick your steaks are. 
They are done when fish flakes easily with a fork.
After they are done, brush on remaining garlic butter mixture
Enjoy!