Recipe: Stir-Fried Chicken with Tomatoes and Green Peppers
...well, not exactly.
Before I get to the "not exactly" part, let me share an conversation I had with my mother at the grocery store yesterday.
Me: Mom, if I want to make a simple chicken dish by just browning some chicken and having a veggie on the side, how would I prepare the chicken so it will taste good?
Mom: (points to stewed tomatoes in her cart) Well, you can add a couple of cans to the chicken and (starts to name some other things)
Me: But how do you do that?
Mom: Nevermind. You are hopeless.
Me: Thanks.
Ingredients:
2tbsp veggie oil (I added a bit more because it was a bit dry)
1.5c sliced onions
1c green peppers, thinly sliced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tspn ginger, minced
2 tbsp curry powder
3/4lb boneless skinless chicken breast
3 plum tomatoes coarsely chopped or 1 15oz can of ready-cut tomatoes, including juice (Are diced tomatoes the same? That's what I used.)
1/2 tspn salt
3 tbsp fresh, finely chopped cilantro
I had most of the ingredients on hand except the ginger and fresh cilantro which I went to the grocery store to pick up. After I arrive home, I put all of the utensils and ingredients out on the counter top so I can begin prepping.
This is a video if my can opener. I just love it!
It was then that I noticed that the red pepper I had onhand was moldy. I was not about to go back to the grocery store for that so I decided to plug along with the recipe MINUS the pepper.
In a pan over medium heat, heat up oil and bit of garlic, then later add onion til it softens. Next add green peppers, garlic, ginger, curry powder and cook. (At this point it smells so good that I can't wait to have some!) Add the chicken, cook, coat about 3mins (I did it longer.) Stir in tomatoes, salt, and cover if using fresh tomatoes (uncover if using canned). Cook until chicken if cooked through.
I also made some jasmine rice.
Where is the jasmine rice? Down the disposal. There were black bugs floating in the water and live bugs in the uncooked bags.
Bottom line: I would make this again. I overcooked the chicken but not too badly but I didn't feel like it had enough flavor. It was also really soupy and... yes, I poured some of the juices down the drain. Next time I try this dish I would use fresh tomatoes and not canned. I would use more ginger and cilantro too. Anyway, I doubled the recipe so I could have it for a few days... yeah, me?? It's tasty, but it needs something or needs to be made again correctly.
I called my mother to tell her how the dish came out:
Mom: This is why you should look at a recipe and know how to alter it to make it taste good. First, I would never have used (and goes on about what she would not have done...)
Me: Yeah, well, that's fine if you know how to cook and know what to look for! I get yelled at for not following a recipe precisely and you are telling me to not follow them all of the time. Sigh.
This is my crew that follows me around everywhere and watch me go back 'n forth to the garbage can, twist their heads curiously as I say "Oh crap!" or laugh at myself.
.
I am glad your mother agrees with me on hopeless you are. :) Although I disagree with the changing recipe thing, until you have some experience I wouldn't change anything, thats how you learn what you like or don't like.
ReplyDeleteYou notice how it said if using fresh tomatoes use the lid and if using canned to not use a lid. That's because canned tomatoes are very watery so it's telling you cook off some of the juice. It should have a decent simmer (bubbling, but not boiling) with the lid off and you will cook off that liquid. Pouring the liquid down the sink is pouring down flavors/spices too, so you are losing taste. I don't know why you keep insisting on doing that.
The chicken it's self isn't going to have a lot of flavor unless you marinate it.
I always add more spices than called for in a recipe, and you can never add too much cilantro.
I have that same can opening. Have gotten it to work all of one time.
Yes, I noticed that about the canned vs fresh tomatoes and cooking with lid or no lid. However, I used two cans of diced tomatoes and it was really soupy. I cooked it as long as I could hoping to cook off some of the juices but it didn't work. So down the drain some juices went.
ReplyDeleteI've used the can opener a few times and it works great!
Well then why did you use twice the tomatoes of what the recipe called for? If you doubled the recipe, that means you need to adjust your cooking times to fit it since you added a lot more water than what it called for.
ReplyDeleteYou have no patience, and that's coming from me. :P
I like your pictures and I always try to do a recipe exactly the first time. I stick to doing it the same way with the Glucose Index Cookbook/or GI diet Cookbook - their recipes have so much flavor....I just can't stop attempting them all.
ReplyDeleteCome on over to Fit to Blog we need your experiments and humor.
I never did anything right for my mother...so I stopped trying (she died at 94 and I was free! You might want to be set free before that age?)
I love flavor and fat enhances flavor...have to train the palate too to recognize the flavors.
I used to hate to cook/ now I really like it and cooking just for me - cloth napkin, beautiful glass for my water...it is nice to be my own best friend!
Thanks Dave for the referral...Lisa it was nice visiting with you.
Jeez, one day I am going to reread my posts before hitting the post button so that they will actually make some sense.
ReplyDelete