Chicken with Peanut Sauce

We have a couple of jars of peanut butter that I brought home for Mom. Not being to crazy with peanut butter, this was sitting in the pantry for the longest time that I thought try cooking with it in a regular dish. I know there are a few dessert recipes that I can use this with... maybe the next posting...

This dish is pretty interesting and very quick to do. I thought the sprouts brought an interesting texture and the ginger gave it zing. Instead of using noodles just as the original recipe called for,  we had this over rice and it tasted pretty good. Let me know what you think.

1 Tbsp. cooking oil (vegetable or canola)
1 medium red bell pepper, julienned
4 spring onions, sliced diagonally into 1/5 inch width
150 grams bean sprouts, cleaned (the original only required 60 grams)
500 grams (1 lb) chicken fillet, cubed
2 tsps. soy sauce (the original required 2 tbsps., I reduced it because I find it too salty)
140 grams smooth peanut butter (about 8-10 tablespoons)
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
110 ml (4 fl oz) chicken stock

In a hot wok, place 1/2 tbsp. saute chicken until the juices run clear and all sides are cooked. Do not over cook the chicken else it might become dry. Set this aside. In the same wok, add the rest of the oil and saute pepper, bean sprouts and spring onions until tender but still crunchy. Set this aside.
Mix soy sauce, peanut butter and ginger in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add the chicken stock and mix well and heat through. Add chicken and veggies and toss to coat. Pour over cooked (250 grams) Chinese noodles or hot steaming rice.

Aligue Fried Rice

Everyone at home loves seafood and crab is one of the most after crustacean, most specially the ones that are rich with eggs or roe or what we call aligue. Others call aligue as "mustard" or "crab fat" because of it's yellowish color and the terribly rich in cholesterol. There are local grocers and food markets that sells jars or cans of this succulent treat and is readily available all year round. There are a couple of recipes that call for aligue, such as aligue pasta or aligue sauce to be paired off with slices of meat. So incase, there is a craving for aligue, one can easily grab one from the stores.

Having a couple of left over crabs, it was not enough for crab cakes. So I removed the excess roe and crab meat and threw in day old rice and mixed vegetables. So everyone had a chance at home to have a share (specially in the cholesterol). :D

The Ingredients:

2/3 cup cooked aligue and crab meat

4 cups day-old rice

1 tbsp. oil

2 tbsps. minced garlic

3 tbsps. minced white onion plus 1 tbsp. minced white onion

1/2 cup mixed vegetables (corn, carrots and peas; may be replaced with just corn and carrots or with other available combinations)

2 tbsps. oyster sauce mixed with 1-2 tbsps. water

1 scrambled egg, sliced into strips

ground pepper to taste

Cooking Procedure:

In a bowl, flake aligue and crab meat. Set this aside.

In a separate bowl, loosen the day-old rice from clumps. This would allow even distribution of the oyster sauce and other ingredients.

In a wok, dry fry the 1 tbsp. onions until it becomes dark in color and toasted. Set this aside. Pour in the oil and saute garlic and onions. Do not over cook the garlic else ti may become bitter. Add in the crab and saute until heated through. Try not to over heat because the meat may become too dry and tough. Add the rice and mix well.

Pour in the oyster sauce evenly over the rice. Season with ground pepper. Mix well to distribute the sauce evenly. Add in the vegetables and continue to stir until the vegetables are heated through and oyster sauce is evenly distributed.

Once done, transfer in a container and top with the scrambled eggs and toasted onions.

My Notes:

When ever my mom used to make fried rice, she would mix the day old rice with soy sauce or left over adobo sauce.

Free Rice

I know that this blog is a collection of treasures in my kitchen but I couldn't miss this opportunity to share this with you.

I stumbled upon Free Rice, a site that not only donates free rice but also helps one's vocabulary by playing the online game. The player receives a word and s/he tries to choose the correct word that best describes the word in question. For each correct answer, 20 grains of rice is donated by the advertiser on the bottom of the page. If you get 10 correct answers, you have contributed 200 grains of rice. The UN World Food Program distributes this to deserving families all over the worlds.

The site does not earn anything from this generous gesture.

Why not give it a chance to not only donate rice but also be able improve your vocabulary.