Korean Chicken Bites

Asian food has so much variety. Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Thai, Malaysian, and Korean…. all different from each other yet so alike. We have tried all of them but just with seafood. I know it gets difficult to be a Muslim and practice the basics of eating only halal food. I have friends who seem to be comfortable with consuming non-halal Chicken and meat as well, but not us. I feel that when there are ways and options for us to follow these basics then we should.

Well, that doesn’t stop us from trying things we would love to. I believe that’s the best part about having strong taste buds and enjoy cooking. So, here I am with another mouthwatering recipe of a similar dish that I tried with scallops and loved them. I modified the recipe slightly. The scallops that I tried were not marinated or batter-fried, which to me was a little bland and all the flavor only came in through the sauce. The sauce was nice, not too spicy, just with a little kick. So, when I decided to make something similar using Chicken, I decided to add a little crunch and flavor. I, therefore, marinated the chicken, since Chicken has no flavor by itself and absorbs the flavors you add so adding little spice to Chicken is always mandatory. Even if you are adding chicken to noodles, always cook it with a little salt if nothing else.

This Chicken marination is with Buttermilk, chili flakes, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper powder, white pepper powder, oregano, and salt. Leave it to marinate for at least an hour if not longer. Further roll the Chicken pieces in a mix of flour, salt, and corn starch powder and fry them. The sauce has crushed Garlic and Ginger, soya sauce, sesame oil, gochujang sauce [a sweet and spicy Korean sauce available easily in all Asian food markets], Honey, Brown sugar, vegetable oil, and Red chili flakes. I used scallions and sesame seeds for garnishing, but you can always add them to the sauce. I feel the scallions lose their crunch if mixed in the sauce.

Substitute for Buttermilk?

Take equal quantity of milk as of the Buttermilk required and add 1 tbsp of lemon juice to it. Mix well and add chicken to it.

The flavor of this Chicken is sweet and spicy which makes it an excellent choice for all taste buds of all ages unless someone cannot tolerate any spice at all. I find them a great choice for playdates and small get-together parties.

Cooking in advance

You can fry the chicken bites and keep them in the oven too. The oven needs to be preheated. Keep it on warm or at 200F. Anything above it would overcook the chicken making it chewy or burning it.

Asian Chicken Noodles

Chinese Chicken noodles are a delicious and a quick lunch/dinner that requires few ingredients that are easily available in your pantry. Also it gets from kitchen to dining table in a matter of few minutes. And its just a perfect meal for weekends. Egg noodles cooked with chicken and few veggies with a few sauces mixed in together with Garlic fried in a smokey flavor makes a perfect Asian style Noodles and they come out so amazingly delicious that you will never feel the need to order take out from a Chinese restaurant again. This dish is so mouthwatering that you will making it very often.

My kids can actually eat these Chicken noodles for every other meal. These Chicken noodles are pretty easy to make, I usually add Onions, scallions and green chilies. You can add broccoli and bell peppers as well if you feel like. Usually I also add in corn kernels at times and something that I feel adds a lot of flavor to this dish are Peanuts. The key to preparing perfect noodles is to cook everything separately and mix things together and then add in the mixed sauce. Also, one thing that I feel makes these noodles perfect are cooking them with tongs specially when you mix things together.

One of the reasons why Chinese food does not taste the same at home as in restaurants is that ingredients that are put in Chinese noodles, including the sauce, all are cooked on high heat. The food cooked on high heat and that kind of gives a smoke flavor to the ingredients and the smoked or charred flavor is absorbed pretty fast. A lot of people suggest using a Wok but honestly, I don’t use one and feel my Asian Takeaways tastes better than homemade ones is the smokey charred flavor in the dish. Ingredients are tossed on high heat, really quickly to give the flavor. It sometimes feels impossible to recreate the same flavor at home, of course without the flavor enhancers and God knows all what goes into your food to make it taste so good, but honestly, the food made at home tastes much more fresh and if made using the right recipe with all ingredients in proportion will make a mouthwatering dish.

Now its not possible for everyone to have a Chinese Wok at home. But its always better to cook in a pan that is shaped like a dome. It gives you more surface area to work. For making noodles stir fry or Rice stir fry, a large pan is always good. Tossing in high heat with sesame Oil adds the smokey flavor to the noodles. Enjoy!!!

Shredded Chicken Burger

My boys prefer home lunches and also love varieties for their lunch. When I use the word variety, I mean that they would not want a dish to be repeated in 2-3 weeks and believe it or not, its a lot of pressure to make something that tastes great and that they would love it as well.

These chicken buns are easy to make and can be easily made by beginners as well. The chicken does not have to marinated for too long and even the process of marination is with pretty simple ingredients. This is great dish if you have boneless chicken available and haven’t thought of anything in mind, and need to get things ready in a rush.

My boys prefer this in the hot dog bun Sandwich, but this chicken would taste great even with a tortilla and Roti wrap too. I have tried them with ciabatta, french long bread and croissants as well.

I usually make this and serve it with a different spicy sauce . The recipe for the spicy sauce is in the sauce section. A blend of mayo, ketchup, hot sauce and mustard sauce goes perfectly with this spicy shredded chicken to give that kick to this sandwich.

Korean Barbecue Chicken

We love chicken, Biryani, Kebabs, curries, soup. Its easy to cook and loved by all. I am always on a lookout for new recipes, specially recipes that can be eaten by kids from all cultural backgrounds. Indian foods offer large variety of kebabs, but sometimes kids just want a different flavor altogether, and I am always trying to experiment with different flavors.

We once went to this wonderful Korean BBQ Restaurant. We could only stick to the seafood since the chicken or meat wasn’t halal. The live BBQ was awesomely set up on our table and though they do serve with different salads and Rice bowls with sauces, but the there was nothing that we enjoyed more than the seafood. The amazing part was that the seafood they got was not marinated, and they carried marination sauce bowls that they would brush on the seafood and this was the first time I ever came across a marination that can be put directly while the food is being cooked. That’s when I felt I had to try this at home with Chicken or meat, and that trying turn finally came after almost a year.

I marinated the chicken slightly with salt and vinegar. The Indian me wanted to add a little ting to it before I started cooking it. It was lovely making the sauce, I tried to make it as close as I could to what I had tasted. the kids loved it and it can be made with ease and in when you have little time in hand. There are some modifications to make it look pretty, you may or may not. Enjoy!!!

Pull Apart Long Buns

My boys prefer home lunches and also love varieties for their lunch. When I use the word variety, I mean that they would not want a dish to be repeated in 2-3 weeks and believe it or not, its a lot of pressure to make something that tastes great and that they would love it as well.

These chicken buns are easy to make and can be easily made by beginners as well. The chicken does not have to marinated for too long and even the process of marination is with pretty simple ingredients. This is great dish if you have boneless chicken available and haven’t thought of anything in mind, and need to get things ready in a rush.

My boys prefer this in the hot dog bun Sandwich, but this chicken would taste great even with a tortilla and Roti wrap too. I have tried them with ciabatta, french long bread and croissants as well.

I usually make this and serve it with a different spicy sauce . The recipe for the spicy sauce is in the sauce section. A blend of mayo, ketchup, hot sauce and mustard sauce goes perfectly with this spicy shredded chicken to give that kick to this sandwich.

Gobhi Manchurian

We are a hard core Non vegetarian family. But, as much as people see our love for non vegetarian food, we equally love vegetarian as well, which kind of goes unnoticed. I don’t blame anyone, since with the huge variety of Biryanis and kebabs that we make, people believe that we can never go complete vegetarian.

Anyways, so I tried this recipe not just to test my veggie cooking skills but also because most of my close friends are vegetarians and that I think is the first reason why I tried a chicken dish with cauliflower.

This dish is as delicious as the chicken one. The good thing is that being vegetarian, it keeps your belly feeling lighter and less bloated. It can be served with plain boiled rice on the side or just by itself. Makes a great side dish or an appetizer.

Chicken Manchurian [Gravy]

This one is different from the regular Manchurian, which is partially dry. This one on the contrary has enough gravy to be served with boiled Rice. I substituted Bell pepper with Big green chili or Badi Mirch to change and experiment with flavor, or if I use the right term, I did that to to make the taste different from the regular dry Manchurian.

Isn’t it funny how playing with flavors id so exciting and yet so easy, even then most of the time people refrain themselves from trying out something new or do not make an attempt to alter the taste that they have inculcated with time. But, the fact is that basic flavor of all food is the same. The difference is only with the timing of when that flavor is introduced to the dish or which member of that family you pick. Like choosing bell pepper, Green chili or ghost pepper, same family, different members and each one holds the capability of changing the taste of your dish completely.

Now, at times, people use ingredients as a substitute and new flavors are invented. I, personally do not agree to substitute ingredients unless you willingly accept to experiment with the flavor. I am against using tamarind in place of lemon. Oh! yes I know people who would do that and even then disagree that they knowingly messed up a dish.

Cooking is an art and we all know that, and the one who masters this art becomes a  very respectable artist/ chef and we all wish to be in that group and that’s the reason I created this website and the same reason why you are here. So, my suggestion is stick to the rules of nature. Switch flavors that you can imagine with your taste buds. Introduce new flavors little at a time because then you always have time to improvise. Making mistakes is acceptable but try to not ruin a dish to an extent where it isn’t edible.

This dish is an awesome option for school/ office lunch box. My boys look forward to Manchurian in their lunch box and it goes well with boiled rice.

Chicken Manchurian dry

I always had a soft corner for Chinese cuisine. Despite of all the horror stories about how unhealthy it can be at times, due to high contents of sodium in soya sauce and restaurants using MSG and more. The only thing was that my love for Chinese food was restricted to seafood only since most Chinese restaurants in USA do not serve halal food and if you are a meat eater, you do understand that sometimes, you just want your meat and though, fish is wonderful in taste but, doesn’t give you that satisfaction of meat. So, we got down to trying our own chicken version and when its Chinese and chicken, what can be better than making chicken Manchurian.

Its funny but the first time I tried Chicken Manchurian, I measured the ingredients tsp by tsp, and now I am so pro at it that i can cook this dish with my eyes closed, I mean it.  Its a family favorite and the flavors are sweet and sour with a dash of spice and easily impresses anyone.

This version of Manchurian is dry, so its best served as a side dish or an appetizer. You cook serve it with strips of Butter naan [recipe in Bread] if you are looking to make it more fancier.

Saucy Chicken Lollipop

This is second kind of Chicken Lollipop that I invented and all because my older one came in asking that he needs sauce “dripping” on the lollipops. I have mentioned it numerous times in my other food stories of how well demanding my boys are. So, after thinking out in detail about how I can make them extra juicy, I came up with this recipe.

It requires a little marination and further its cooked in little oil, unlike other chicken lollipop recipes, where they are deep fried, so its kind of a guiltless pleasure that lets you over indulge. Further, more sauces are mixed in and you let it cook further in the sauces.

This recipe is super saucy and the chicken lollipops are not too crunchy but soft and juicy.