Sweet & Sour Chicken

Ordinarily, when Sweet & Sour Chicken is on the menu, it's a la jar, or a la can.  A long time ago I found a recipe for Sweet & Sour Chicken made from scratch, and got the can of pineapple ready to make it, since it's one of my favourites!  I went through a phase of wanting to try and make from scratch that which we normally make from a ready made sauce.

However, the can of pineapple sat in the pantry unused until now.  Due to lack of time and motivation to make it.  Jars and cans are just way faster and easier right??  Laziness.

Well actually, in spite of all the steps, this recipe is really easy!!  And do you want to know a bonus??  ALL the other ingredients are ones that are usually in the pantry!  Super convenient.  Apart from the pineapple... obviously not something we ordinarily have. ;)

INGREDIENTS
450g boneless skinless chicken breast
1 egg white
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cornflour

1 400g can crushed pineapple (save the juice!)
1/4 cup juice from crushed pineapple
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup tomato sauce (aka ketchup)
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp and 1 tsp cooking oil

2 small-medium onions (cut into chunks)
1 carrot (cut into small sticks)
1 tsp crushed ginger (or 1 tsp fresh grated)

METHOD

• Combine chicken with egg white, 1/4 tsp salt, and cornflour
• Stir to coat chicken evenly
• Let sit for 15 mins at room temp, or up to overnight in fridge
• Whisk together pineapple juice, vinegar, tomato sauce, 1/4 tsp salt, and brown sugar
• Heat large frying pan over high heat
• Pour 1 tbsp oil into pan and swirl to coat
• Make sure the pan is very hot, and then put the chicken in in one layer to fry untouched for 1 min
• Flip and fry other side the same for 1 min.  Chicken should still be pink-ish in the middle
• Put chicken to the side on a clean plate
• Turn heat to medium
• Add remaining oil, and add the ginger, onion and carrots
• Cook 5 mins or until soft
• Add pineapple chunks and the sauce mixture
• Turn the heat to high until the sauce simmers
• Add the chicken back in when it does
• Cook until the chicken is cooked through.
• Taste the sauce and add some more brown sugar if you like
• Don't forget to season with salt, and if you feel like something is missing, toss in some sweet chilli sauce!

Well.  I thought it smelled a bit weird.  But OH MY GOODNESS does it taste amazing!!!!!!!!!!! The excessive use of exclamation marks is definitely justified.  Seriously the BEST Sweet & Sour Chicken sauce I've ever had.  Even better than bought ones!!!  I'm not even kidding.  We will never buy ready made jar/can sauces for it again.  And SO easy!!

A few adjustments I made were adding some Sweet Chilli Sauce, and about 1/4 cup water to just water down the sauce a little bit.  Also, the original recipe called for 2 capsicums as the vegetables (not onions and carrot) but we didn't have any of them so I improvised and it was still amazing.  I think in future, if we have capsicum, I will definitely use only one small onion, carrot, and capsicum.  A good balance of veges!!  Oh, and I also chucked in some peas towards the end.  Gotta have some green hehe :)

Another thing is that the step with the egg and cornflour on the chicken... seems like a bit of a waste of time and a bit messy.  Not sure what it's supposed to achieve so will skip it next time, but still pre-cook the chicken.   :)

Recipe Inspiration: www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sweet_and_sour_chicken/

Macaroni Cheese

Tonight was a lazy night.  I wanted macaroni cheese for some reason (perhaps because I almost had it for lunch the other day but ended up having sushi...thus my craving was left unsatisfied haha).  

I had never made it before, and I googled a recipe.  Generally when I do this, I open 3 or 4 of the top recipes that come up, pick one, then see what different ingredients the others include, and then put that in the recipe I've chosen as well.  If that makes sense.  So, for example, in this one, the original recipe did not call for salt or paprika, but I added both, since they were in fact common in the other mac and cheese recipes I opened.

I also didn't follow the instructions exactly (to my own detriment... I will explain in my evaluation!), trying to do a Rachael Ray and add "starchy cooking water" from the pasta to the sauce to make the sauce and pasta "marry" as Rachael says.  I shall tell you what happened after the recipe.  :)

INGREDIENTS

500g macaroni

50g butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk

2 cups (250g) grated cheese

parsley

1/2 tsp salt

paprika

METHOD

• Put macaroni on to cook as per packet instructions
• Melt butter in a medium saucepan
• Cook, stirring, for 1 minute over medium-low heat
• Stir in flour, cooking until it has thickened a bit
• Gradually add milk, stirring until smooth
• Stir until mix comes to a boil
• Reduce heat
• Add salt, and a pinch of paprika and parsley (to taste!)
• Stir well
• Simmer for 2 min
• Add cheese slowly, stirring continuously over a low heat
• Turn off heat, and either mix drained pasta thru sauce, or sauce all over drained pasta (whichever dish is big enough!)

So yes, my minor indiscretion was the addition of "starchy cooking water".  Note to self, this makes the sauce go all granulated, gritty and curdled (as Mum said).  I will NOT be doing that in future haha!

Other than the funny texture, it was actually really delicious.  I can imagine it would be better with bacon (or ham) chopped up in it, and some fresh peas... but hey, I like my meals colourful, and I've never understood the whole mac and cheese thing - it seems too plain to me haha!  But I did like this, and will make it again!  So easy and quick! 

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/13955/classic+macaroni+cheese

Tuna Pasta Bake

Well hello lovely blog readers!  I'm ever so sorry it has been a while since I posted a new recipe!  What can I say, I've been incredibly busy with uni and work and trying to have a life :)  I've still been cooking and such, but not really any new recipes until tonight! 

I've had this little baby tucked away in the back of my recipe book, in the 'to try' pile, and finally tonight, I did!  It was very easy, and I felt like it was *almost* made from scratch so probably better for you?  But I think the cheese might ruin that theory haha!

INGREDIENTS

230g dry pasta shells (I used a mixture of different ones)

1 small red capsicum (not in season & too expensive right now, so I didn't put this in)

1 can (305g) condensed cream of mushroom soup

2 tsp dried parsley flakes (or fresh if you have it!)

1 cup milk

pinch of chilli powder (optional)

1 can (170g) tuna in springwater, drained and flaked

1 cup frozen corn, thawed and drained

1 cup grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1 onion, finely chopped

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 220 deg C (and butter an ovenproof casserole dish - I forgot to do this...  it didn't stick though, so it's ok)
• Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil over high heat
• Add pasta, stir and cook until it's about 2 minutes before being done
• Drain pasta and set aside
• In the same pan, whisk mushroom soup and milk together
• Bring to a simmer over a low heat
• Stir in tuna, corn, onion, capsicum, parsley, chilli powder, and half of the cheese
• Add the cooked pasta and stir
• Season with salt and pepper
• Spread the mixture in the casserole dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese
• Bake for about 30 mins, or until the top is golden brown

I have an admission to make.  I *may* have burnt the top.  Kind of.  Well cooked.  It was very brown.  BUT still delicious!!  I don't normally like mushrooms, either as a vege or a flavour, but it worked, and it wasn't over powering.  The cheese and milk helped water down the flavour, and of course, pasta was nom nom nom as always.

Definitely will make it again!!!

Recipe Inspiration: http://www.ivillage.com/tuna-and-pasta-bake/3-r-63970#ixzz1oCUrJvwy