Out of all the international cuisines, Chinese is something that is really close to both Dineshs’ heart and mine. Whether it is due to the proximity of China to our place, the familiarity of Chinese cuisine or the fact that I’ve found it really very readily available; mention Chinese food, and we are usually ready for it. When I run out of ides for a meal, Dinesh always happens to mention ‘Chinese noodles’, a bit too predictably:)
Growing up, there were quite a few good Chinese restaurants around, run by some of those Chinese who had settled in our parts. Some of their dishes are the best I’ve ever tasted.
Dinesh is not a very great fan of eating out. And if on the rare occasions he does, it happens to be Chinese food. Every time he took me out on a date, we had Chinese food at one of the Chinese restaurants in Guwahati. The first time we ate out after marriage, we had Chinese food. Wherever we have lived, we’ve always checked out the local Chinese outlet. There was never any excuse about having the kids in tow. So, whether it is home cooked or has been rustled up by chefs, Chinese food does make us happy indeed. And needless to say, the kids too have grown to love it. Talk about induced magnetism
So, how can I mention so much about something which we really like, without a recipe… well, last weekend, we had a lunch of vegetable fried rice with some garlic chicken. The recipe for the garlic chicken is as follows-
What’s needed-
5-6 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 egg- white
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tblsp cornflour
2 tblsp of cooking oil
1 tsp sesame oil
For the sauce-
1 and 1/2 tblsp of sugar
1 and 1/2 tblsp of cornflour
2 tbspĀ vinegar
1 glass of water
4-5 tblsp soy sauce
a pinch of chilli powder
How to-
- In a bowl, lightly beat the egg white.
- Mix in the tblsp of cornflour.
- Coat the chicken with the cornflour mixture and marinate for 30 minutes.
- Combine the sauce ingredients , mix well and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the chicken and fry till the flesh is not pink anymore. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and keep aside.
- In the same oil, add the onions, ginger and garlic and stir fry for 1/2 a minute, or till the ginger-garlic leaves it’s fragrance but is not brown.
- Return the chicken to the pan.
- Re stir the sauce ingredients and add to the pan.
- Cook, stirring constantly, till the mixture is hot and bubbly and the sauce thickens slightly.
- Turn of heat and add the sesame oil.
Now what? Serve hot with rice or noodles. We had our’s with some fried rice.
And needless to say, we really enjoyed it… licked our plates clean:) Have a great weekend!
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Delicious dish.
I love to make chinese dishes. Your i’ve added in a list of the dishes i want to prepare.
I love Chinese food as well. This sounds delicious!
Sunita chicken looks nice and saucy…and your fried rice also has a nice authentic colour
Shn
The chicken looks just right Sunita. Like you this would be my fav dish too
happy cook…thanks…i think you’ll be one happy cook after you’ve made it:)
deborah, we are real fans of Chinese food…glad you dropped by.
shn, it was saucy indeed…I wanted to post the rice recipe as well, but fell too lazy to do so
sandeepa, glad to know you too share the same taste…In Kolkatta too, I’ve seen that people really love this cuisine. I can remember some nice ones there.
Looks yum! Chinese food if authentic taste so good. I will make your’s ,thanks Sunita:)
Hi! Chinese food is my favorite. Just love your both recipes. I will try your versions. Thanks for sharing.
asha, welcome back…hope you’re recovery is going on well…take it easy.As for the recipe, do give it a try.
jyothi, thanks and you’re most welcome…do give it a try.
Looks delicious and very tempting.Nice pictures.
Great idea, Sunita. Will try this recipe with my favorite: mushrooms
.
Have a great weekend,
musical.
This is yummy Sunita!
I will surely try this…I can have chinese food 5 times a day
this looks just like they serve in the restaurants
awesome pics too!
NB: thanks for the tip on improving my soup. Will add noodles next time
viji, glad to have been able to tempt you;)…hope you’re having a nice weekend.
musical, garlicky mushrooms…I’m starting to like it already:)
anh,thanks…it was nice indeed.
pragyan, do try it…so you’re a fan as well
nags, thanks…
As for your soup, well I too tend to make something similar and adding the noodles just makes it a bit more wholesome and filling
Oh wow… looks delicious Sunita… that garlic sauce oozing out of the chicken… makes me want to lick the monitor…. Been looking for a nice garlic chicken recipe… so thanks for this.
sig, thanks…do try it…hope you’ll like it as much as we did:)
I’m a big fan of Chinese food too and I don’t just mean the fast food or Westernized version of Chinese food but the real thing. The cuisine has a huge influence on the food cooked in Guyana and there are too many good Chinese restaurants there to mention.
I think the same can be said for Trinidad and perhaps Jamaica too.
We have Chinese restaurants in Barbados but sadly the food has been completely localised
so get non of the flavours one has come to expect from Chinese food, coming through. It is one of the things I miss most about Guyana – Chinese food.
cynthia, authentic Chinese food is indeed a bit scarce to come by… in Guwahati, the food in some of the local Chinese restaurants is to die for…most of them are better than we find in the UK…some of them here even serve potato chips,and even samosas… and I do find it’s bit interesting to see customers loading their plates with them…now, why come to a Chinese restaurant for chips…that can be bought in any local chip shop; same with samosas…but that again, is catering to the locals, I suppose.
btw, I didn’t know that your food was also influenced by this cuisine.
Looks like a great dinner…and you can keep the vampires away!
peabody,thanks…we did enjoy the meal indeed:)
Fabulous looking chicken…U had sucha great dinner! WOW
padma, thanks…glad you dropped by
loved the garlic chicken.. We wiped(licked) our plates clean!!
Sunita, The pictures look absolutely delicious. I have a question. For sauce, you said “2 tbsp tsp vinegar”. Is it 2tbsp vinegar or 2 tsp vinegar? I would like to try it this weekend. Thank you for the recipe
Oops! Sorry about that, I have updated the recipe, thanks for pointing it out