Roast chicken gravy sandwich

I was feeling a little too lazy to work in the kitchen today because of the ridiculous summer heat we've been having and wanted to avoid the kitchen unless necessary, so when we had leftover roast chicken and gravy from lunch that had to be turned into something for an afternoon snack, at the suggestion of my sister decided to make a sandwich. Sure enough, it was quick and easy.

So wanting to have the least possible time spent in the kitchen mid-afternoon, I went and made an open-faced roast chicken gravy sandwich. Its pretty much assembling the leftovers on top of a bread. It sounds simple enough but the trick to a great-tasting sandwich is to keep the bread toasty, I hate dry and soggy breads. Its why I don't like to eat a sandwich that's been sitting on a plate for more than ten minutes. Anyway, here's how I made my sandwich.

Roast Chicken Gravy Sandwich

serves 2

1 cup shredded leftover roast chicken (white meat parts)

2 slices of white bread

1 cup gravy

2-4 tbsp melted butter

my roast chicken already came with a gravy but in case yours didn't here's a basic gravy

Gravy

1-2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1/2 c chicken stock

hot water for thinning

To make the gravy, melt the butter into a saucepan and whisk in the flour to form a roux (paste). Slowly pour in the chicken stock and continue whisking until the gravy becomes smooth. If the gravy comes out too thick, add a bit of hot water and continue whisking to thin it out and likewise if it's too thin add flour to thicken. Set aside.

*note: consistency of the gravy really depends on how you like it. 

Heat pan. Brush melted butter on both sides of the bread and place on the pan to toast until it becomes golden brown, about 30-40 seconds on each side. 

Lay the bread flat onto a plate and divide the chicken between the 2 slices of bread. Top with 3-4 tbsp of gravy and serve with chips or potato salad.

*note: If you want your bread to look like it was done in a restaurant, toast it on a grill or textured pan. I used a circle-textured non-stick pan.

Ginger beef and familiar flavors

Been trying to re-create mom's recipes by memory for about a year now and so far so good, but it's such a pain remembering some dishes from way back so when I was flipping through this old chinese cookbook that we had, I had to stop and stare at the page with the Ginger Beef recipe. The photo was very familiar, it reminded me of mom's chinese flank steak dish. Without hesitating, I decided to include it in our menu for the week, went grocery shopping and started cooking. When I had my first bite, I couldn't believe that it was the same familiar flavors i've grown up with so I got my brother to try it right away and we both found ourselves excited over this dish and reminiscing the countless times we had this before. Turns out it is the same dish. 

I thought I'd share this renewed discovery with you. 

Ginger Beef

Flank steak

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp rice wine

2 T oil

6-8 slices of ginger

Sauce

1/2 cup beef stock

1/2 tsp brown sugar

salt 

cornstarch

Slice steak into strips and mix with soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar and rice wine. Set aside.

Heat the pan with oil. When the pan start to lightly smoke add the ginger and fry for about 1/2 minute. 

Add the beef and stir-fry for about a minute or until almost done then push the beef to the side of the pan. Add in the stock and sugar then season with salt and thicken with corntarch mixture. Toss together the meat and the sauce and continue stir-frying until sauce thickens about 1-2 minutes.

countdown to the big 3-0: 

12 days

Back to day one

Monday marked my return to the gym and the diet regimen prescribed by my nutritionist (Yes, I have one). After a month and a half of cheating with food portions and avoiding exercise, I finally decided to get my mind and body on track. I thought starting it again would be hard but Day One went without a hitch, I actually wanted to pat myself on the back, haha! 

Hitting the gym has always been a lot easier to me than going on a diet. Prior to June 2011, I've never gone on a diet, I was so into sports growing up that dieting was not needed. And also, we're all such big and good eaters in my family that I've always been surrounded by people who love to eat, my dad actually made a promise to himself and my mom that we'll always have plenty of food in the house, no matter what time it was. So, you can see why dieting is such a big task. 

So, I thought hard as to what to cook for tuesday's lunch that can both pass my diet restrictions (I didn't wanna deprive myself of good food since according to my nutritionist it's really more about portion control) and be filling for my siblings Katherine & Raymond and I came up with Tempura Tuna Sashimi — our favorite dish to share from japanese restos. I have always wanted to replicate this at home ever since we first tasted it in Terriyaki Boy then in Sumo Sam then in...oh, you get the picture,  but never got around to doing it until yesterday. I was really excited to make this and so was Katherine & Raymond to eating it. After picturing the ingredients in my head it was really easy to make, so after, I needed wanted a no-fuss vegetable dish. We had a lot of fresh mushrooms left in the fridge and decided to stir-fry it in garlic — addicted to this and voila! Our lunch is done.

We haven't eaten in chopsticks at home for so long, so I brought them out and served our food — asian style. Who knew I'd miss eating using chopsticks at home. I think I now want a bento box...

Tempura Tuna Sashimi

1 Tuna fillet, sushi-grade

4 tbsp japanese mayo

1/2 tbsp wasabi

2 tbsp chopped scallions

tempura bits (see recipe below)

dash of chili powder

Tempura bits

1 egg

1 cup cake flour

1/3 cup cold water

bowl of ice

Dice the tuna fillet and chill in the fridge then prepare the tempura bits

In a bowl, mix together the egg and water. Add in the flour and whisk to make a batter. Don't over mix, the batter needs to be lumpy. Place the bowl of batter on top of the bowl of ice, as the batter needs to be cold. 

Heat the pan with oil for deep-frying. To test if the oil is hot enough, drop a tiny amount of the batter in the oil, if it immediately rises to the top then its ready for frying. Dip the wire whisk in the batter and shake it above the pan to make the batter splatter in the oil, (doing this will make the batter come out as bits when fried) once golden brown, remove from the pan and strain excess oil. Set aside.

Note: I actually prefer using my fingers instead of a wire whisk when doing this I like how the batter splatters better onto the oil.

Mix together the wasabi and mayo, fold into the chilled tuna. Coat evenly. Add in the tempura bits and mix. Transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle chili powder, top with scallions and serve. 

Note: This needs to be served and eaten immediately.

Stir-fry Mushrooms

1 pack golden mushrooms

1 1/2 cup oyster mushrooms

1 cup shitake mushrooms

5 cloves garlic, chooped

1 1/2 tbsp oil

salt

pepper

Slice the shitake mushrooms into strips. Rinse all the mushrooms and set aside.

Heat pan with oil, sauté the garlic. Toss in the mushrooms and stir-fry until soft about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, stri-fry for another minute. Serve.

Seafood Red Curry

I was showing my friend Tong, photos of the dishes I've cooked in the past and we both salivated over this Seafood Red Curry which was one of my early dishes, so I am reposting this from my old blog, but this time I'm including the recipe.

Seafood Red Curry

1/2 kilo shrimps (shelled & deveined)

2 pcs dory fillet (sliced)

1 pc squid (sliced)

1/4 kilo marble potatoes

1 red chili

2 tbsp red curry paste

1 cup coconut milk / cream

2 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 lemon 

3/4 cup water

coriander

2-3 tbsp oil

Deseed and chop the red chili. Set aside.

Place the potatoes in a pan with water and salt. Let it boil until soft, about 20 mins and set aside.

Heat the oil in pan. Add the curry paste and red chili, stir-fry until fragrant. 

Toss in the shrimp and fish, quickly coat with curry paste. Add in the coconut milk, water and fish sauce. Simmer for 3 minutes.

Add the squid and simmer for another minute. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and let it sit for a minute before stirring. Simmer for another 2 mins. 

Transfer to a bowl and garnish with coriander. 

*note: to make it spicier, add more red chili