Archive for the ‘food’ Category

Cooking: Asian Popcorn Chicken

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Hubby and I have been making an effort to cook at home.  But, eating at home does not mean that we want to sacrifice the things we like to eat when we go out.  So, the other night, we made Asian popcorn chicken.  We used the recipe found here with some modifications.

Prepare the marinade.  Leave chicken in the marinade for about 30 minutes.

While the oil is heating to temperature, coat the chicken in the batter.

Cook in batches until chicken is browned and thoroughly cooked.

When ready, ladle chicken out.

Place chicken on a wire rack or paper towel to drain the excess oil.  Sprinkle with seasoning to desired spiciness.

Serve to eat by itself or with other items such as rice and corn.

The popcorn chicken was yummy, and we will probably make it again in the future.  Some tips:  Hubby put the batter into a zip lock bag, then dumped the chicken in and shook it around (kind of like shake and bake).  We also experimented with only corn starch, only all purpose flour, and each batter mixture with an egg, but the 1:1 ratio without egg was the best combination for us.

Ingredients
1.5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thigh; cut into bite size pieces
Vegetable Oil

Marinade for Chicken
1/2 cup of light soy sauce
1/8 cup of rice wine
1 whole garlic clove; minced
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil

Batter for Chicken
1 cup of corn starch
1 cup of all purpose flour
if you need more batter, then add corn starch and all purpose flour at a 1:1 ratio

Seasoning for Cooked Chicken
Chili Powder
Ground (Cayenne) Red Pepper

Ben Tre and Eggettes

Monday, March 8th, 2010

A couple of weekends ago, we met up with one of my college friends E in South San Francisco.  Did you know that South SF is actually a city?  The plan was dinner at Mom’s Tofu House, and then boba/dessert somewhere nearby till he had to pick up his gf from SFO.  Turns out they are not open on Sundays, so we opted to try Ben Tre Vietnamese Homestyle Cuisine next door.

We ordered Cha Gio (deep fried rolls stuffed with ground pork , carrot, taro, onion and mushrooms), which were just ok.  They were fried well; crispy not soggy.  But, they did not come with lettuce to wrap the egg rolls, and I did not enjoy the taro texture/taste.

So, I forgot to take pictures of our entrees because I was too busy eating.  But, I had the Pho Tai Chin (rare beef and well done brisket noodle soup), Hubby had Pho Ben Tre Dac Biet (medley of beef, tripe, tendons and beef balls with rice noodles) and E had Bun Cha Gio, Thit Nuong/Bo (egg rolls and BBQ pork Vermicelli).  All were tasty, and we were stuffed.

After dinner, we headed to Eggettes in Millbrae.  I was really excited because I love Hong Kong pancakes and not a lot of places make them.  Unfortunately, I was really disappointed.  It was not very sweet, and the texture was too tough (almost like rubber).  I do not recommend these; better does exist!

Before we called it a night, E and I took a picture outside.  Gosh, I am short in tennis shoes!  Good times!

Ben Tre Vietnamese Homestyle Cuisine
219 Grand Avenue
South San Francisco, CA 94080

Eggettes
979 Broadway
Millbrae, CA 94030

Rice to Ramen

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

I totally forgot about these pictures, but luckily I stumbled upon them over the weekend.

The night we got back from New York, I felt like some Chinese food with rice.  From the time we landed to the time we got back to the apartment, it had somehow evolved to ramen though.  So we headed to downtown Mountain View to try Ryowa.

Gyoza.  Perfectly pan-fried, oily and delicious.

Won Ton Ramen.  Tasty.

Ramen.  Yummy.

Ramen House Ryowa has mainly bar style seating with a few two-person tables as well.  They were busy, but the service was friendly and the food arrived quickly.  The three items that we ordered were all good.  Since this was our third ramen restaurant in the span of 10 days, I think it will be a while till we have ramen again.

Ramen House Ryowa
859 Villa Street
Mountain View, CA 94041

Filet-O-Fish

Friday, February 26th, 2010

During Lent, Fridays are days of abstinence from meat and poultry, which leaves only vegetarian or seafood dishes to enjoy.  Usually, I head to McDonald’s for a Filet-O-Fish and french fries.  (Their fries are the best!  I could eat them all day long.)

So, a few months back, Hubby found this article about one of the fish they use to make the sandwich.  The article says that hoki is an ugly fish, but tasty.

Hubby used to eat a couple Filet-O-Fish sandwiches each time we went.  But, after seeing a picture of the hoki, he thinks that the fish is too gross looking to eat.  For me, I still eat the fish sandwich once in a while.

What do you think of the hoki?  Does the picture affect what you eat?

Baking: Pizookie

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

BJ’s has a delicious dessert Pizookie.  If you have not tried it before, it is ok because you can make it at home.

Prepare and bake cookie dough according to the directions or recipe.  Use a baking pan with some depth and spread the dough as evenly as possible into the pan.  We used chocolate chip cookie dough and a heart shaped pan because it was Valentine’s Day.

When craving dessert, cut a piece and place it in a bowl to warm in the microwave.  We nuked the piece below for about 30 seconds.

Add a few scoops of your favorite flavor of ice cream.  Bon appetit!

We were able to enjoy our version of this yummy dessert for five nights. We also still have half a carton of ice cream leftover.

Cost Breakdown
1 Package of Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix:  $2.00
1 Egg:  $0.25
1/2 cup Butter:  $0.87
Vanilla Ice Cream (1.5 qts):  $3.99
Total: $7.11

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