Air-fried Ground Chicken with Portobello Mushrooms

 

I loved my air-fryers and yes I have two.  One for cooking the main dish and the other one for cooking the side dish so that my complete meal could be done around the same time.  I love to eat my food hot as you can tell.  Usually we steam this dish but I air-fry it instead.  It's quick and easy and it turned out delicious.  Please do enjoy this easy recipe using an air-fryer!  And of course you can substitute the meat with pork or beef or shrimp as well (pork mixed with shrimp sound excellent too), or any meat you desire or what you have in your refrigerator would do.  It would make such a great Chinese New Year dish or a dish to impress your friends at a potluck party!  Such a great finger food too!

Methods:

One chicken breast, ground and season with some oyster sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder and white pepper, set aside.

Around 12 or 13 organic Portobello mushrooms, take out the stems and wipe clean.

Scoop the seasoned ground chicken into the Portobello mushrooms and top each piece with a green pea for decoration.  You can use the frozen green pea or the frozen carrot for colors.

Then, place them in a layer into the air-fryer, spray with avocado oil and set the temperature to 400'F for 10 mins.

In the meantime, heat up a small saucepan with 1/2 cup of water, add 2 Tbsp. of oyster sauce and 1 Tbsp. of mirin and boil until dissolved.  Thicken the sauce with some cornstarch water (1 tsp. cornstarch plus 1 Tbsp. water).  Keep stirring until thicken, once thicken, set it aside.

Once the mushrooms are done, take it out and place on a plate and scoop the thicken sauce on top of each mushrooms.  Serve hot!

Air Fried Baby Portabella Mushroom

Air fryer is a great kitchen gadget to have if you haven't owned it already.  I used it plenty often to produce an easy lunch or dinner.  It save me time and the food turned out great every time.  I would advice you to invest in one if you haven't already, or you can wait until Black Friday for the great price deal!

I wish I have asparagus, then I could throw that in and make it a more colorful and balance meal.

Stir-fried Sweet Potato Noodle

Braised Chicken with Frozen Tofu and Shiitake Mushrooms

Have you tried the frozen tofu before?  If not, give it a try because I strongly recommended it!  It works best with extra firm or firm tofu.  Just wrap it in foil and in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for at least 2 days or up to a year.  When you want to use it in any of your dishes, just defroze it in the refrigerator overnight.  When defroze, squeeze out the water as much as you can before cooking.  I normally used it in braising meat or chicken and the sponge like texture with soak up all the braising flavor.

This dish is actually kind of spicy because of the dried chilies, but you can freely omit the dried chilies for a more child friendly dish.

Stir-fried Spaghetti with Mushroom, Eggs and Flower Chives

How this dish came about was I couldn't resist purchasing the organic brown mushroom that was on Manager Special at King Sooper.  I still have half a bunch of flower chives that was given by a friend and some organic brown eggs in the refrigerator, so this dish was set.  Eating too much carbohydrate has gotten me fat but sometimes I just craved for this easy one dish meal.  It was filling and it took less time to make.  However, I realized that I couldn't eat too much carb. few days in a roll, I really put on weight as a result.  So, right now I would stick to as little carb as possible and consume more vegetable and some protein.  And if I can control no snacking in the afternoon that would be great but I love my cookies!!  :(

Okay, enough ranting about my weight issue and scroll down for the recipe!

Spicy Szechuan Fish

A co-worker gave me a packet of Szechuan fish premixed to try and told me that it was very good. As I loved spicy food and I also liked Szechuan fish, I gladly tried it at home.  Since I had some Szechuan peppers at home, I added that for the numbing effect.  I also added non-GMO tofu, organic romaine lettuce, organic portobello mushroom and some cilantro.  I used Swai for this, but you can also use Tilapia or Cod fish.  The rest I just followed the instructions at the back of the premixed packet.  Definitely very spicy and numbing, very good serving it with white Jasmine rice.  Enjoy!

Divine Portobello Mushroom

I fell in love with the Portobello Mushroom years ago when I first tasted it.  Actually I am quite intrigue with the variety of mushrooms out there and would love to try as many different variety as I could.  I cooked this mushroom very easily.  First I made a sauce for the mushroom, this sauce consists of soy sauce, sugar, mirin, white pepper and chopped garlic.

Then, I sliced the mushroom into a long strips and put it on a preheated non-stick pan without any oil. You know the mushroom is cooked when it started to soften and released the flavorful earthy mushroom sense.  Turn it over to cook the other side.  Then, spread the prepared sauce on top.  Dish out and serve on a plate.  Enjoy this flavorful treat!

Golden Oak Shiitake Spaghetti

I bought a box of Golden Oak Shiitake Mushroom the other day and was wondering how to prepare it.  I wanted to taste the mushroom and wanted to make a clean and natural one dish meal to compliment the mushroom and I thought of this pasta dish.

I used the thin spaghetti for this, garlic, one box of the golden oak shiitake mushroom and green onion, very simple with minimalist ingredients.  I cooked it with extra virgin olive oil and seasoned it with sea salt and black pepper.  Very simple and yet very tasty, I was surprised at my own skill as well.  Hahaha.....

Mushroom Tuna Thin Spaghetti

I created this recipe just because I had to really use up the organic button mushroom that I bought few days ago.  I also saw 4 canned of tuna in waters that I would have to use before it expired in 2018.  I know tuna was good in spaghetti with a little lemon juice added, so this was the best way to use up my tuna and mushroom.  I stocked up some Non-GMO thin spaghetti, spaghetti and linguine when it were on sales the last time.  I bought 2 bottled of Non-GMO spaghetti sauces too for the really lazy moment or quick fix.  I figured my elder daughter should be able to boil a package of spaghetti and heat up a bottle of spaghetti sauce for herself and little sister if needed to.  Perhaps I need to make some meat balls and freeze it for their convenience.

Oh yeah, if you have noticed my recipes recently, I liked to use both the Himalayan pink salt and sea salt together.  I thought in this way I would get the best of the 2 different minerals that were found in these 2 different salts.

Korean Soy Sauce Pickled

After a while of hiatus from Korean Food, I finally back on with a new Korean soy sauce pickled dish to introduce to you all.  I was introduced to this at a Korean friend's house.  She took this out as a side dish/ banchan for a fish paste kelp soup that she made me.  I totally loved it especially I learned that it can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a year!  I bet it can be kept longer than that.  :-P  So, I came home and made my own.  I used the vegetable that I liked to eat, but you are free to add any vegetable that you like.  All these vegetable will fully absorb the flavor of soy sauce, sugar and vinegar, so it is like sweet, salty and tangy at the same thing when you bite into one.  Go well with rice!

Vegetarian Mapo Tofu

I loved mapo tofu!  The usual mapo tofu is cooked with ground pork and since I stop buying pork and too lazy to mince some chicken breast, I created a vegetarian version.  I substituted the ground pork with fresh shiitake mushroom, of course you can use the meaty portabello mushroom too (or crimini or button mushroom).  Since mushroom is good for us, I try to cook more mushroom dishes. 

Enoki Mushroom as a Side

We always add enoki mushroom in the end of cooking or in soup or hotpot.  We hardly eat it as a side dish.  One day, I just had a different idea and trying to play it as a side dish and the above was my experiment.  Since enoki mushroom cooked quickly, so I blanched it in boiling water and set it on a plate.  Then, I pour some Kikkoman teriyaki sauce on top and sprinkle it with toasted sesame seeds and some cilantro.  Mix it to serve. 

Luckily my family ate it without any complaint as I was worry that they might not use to this way of eating the enoki mushroom.  If you want to try a different way of serving the enoki mushroom, you can try this.

What is your creative way of serving up the enoki mushroom besides in soup?

Spinach Mushroom Soup

Spinach is so delicious in soup.  If you haven't tried cooking it this way, make sure you give it a try!  This soup is nutrients packed as I have spinach, beech mushroom, eggs and shrimps, all are healthy for us.  Just add another side dish and a little brown rice and you can call it a meal.  You are welcome to use vegetarian broth and omit the shrimps to make this soup vegetarian.  Happy trying!

Chai Hsin with Shiitake Mushrooms

Shiitake mushrooms, a symbol for longevity in Asia, and also for sizing opportunities in the new year.  Green vegetable symbolizes close family ties, so this is an auspicious dish to serve in the Chinese New Year.  Another easy way of serving delicious greens for your CNY menu.  Of course if you can't find the fresh Shiitake mushroom, you can also use the dried one (might have to adjust the cooking time).

* I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover*

Polenta with Chicken Mushroom Sauce

I have been wanting to try the organic polenta for sometimes but I needed time to think of how and what to serve it with.  The above was the result of much thought.  I loved how soft and nutty the polenta tasted and the slight crispness from the edges resulting from pan-frying it in olive oil.  It didn't look much but was actually quite filling and well served as an alternative to rice or bread.  It was delicious to pair it with the creamy mushroom sauce.  The pine nuts added a wonderful crunch to the mushroom sauce and juicy white chicken.  You can choose to grill the chicken breast or pan-frying it in extra virgin olive oil.  Overall, it was a satisfying and balance meal.

Pantry essentials are those go-to ingredients that you love to reach for when thinking up new ways to create holidays dishes that wow friends and family.  Polenta is a great meatless dish to add to your weekly cooking repertoire, their Crepes are an easy no-muss-no-fuss dessert and Pine Nuts make for a wonderful crunch to any dish whether savory or sweet.  Not only that, they have lots of unique, hard to find and specialty items such as exotic fruits and vegetables. Check out Friedas for any of your pantry essentials need and specialty items.

I love these ready-to-use French Style Crepes, it makes making a delicious dessert super quick and easy.  I just spread it with a thin layer of Jif Chocolate/ Nutella and roll it up and sprinkle some powder sugar on top.  Can I say YUMMY!!   You can also use this to make the famous Crepes Cake and cut down on hours of labor!

* I received free samples from Friedas.  Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mushrooms with Hijiki Seaweed

My first exposure to Hijiki sea vegetable was on ANA Japanese airplane.  It came in a small dish along with other small dishes in a set meal.  It think it was just a seasoned hikiji salad.  The shape and size was unlike any sea vegetables that I tasted and I actually liked it.  My girls said it looked like little black worms.  Hehe...  Then, I read some where that the ancient Chinese practitioners actually used Hikiji as one of the prescriptions for low iodine.  Interesting right?

Hijiki is a brown sea algae that cultivated in Japan, China and Korea.  Then, it was boiled and dried to be sold as dried hijiki, the color turned black when dried.  It is a rich source of iodine, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and soluble fiber.  Because it has 10 times the calcium of milk, Japanese eat it for the calcium intake and overall balanced diet.  All sea vegetables are low in calories and contains many minerals that our bodies need.  I read that seaweed can detoxify and convert the toxic metals in our bodies to harmless salts which then pass through the body's intestinal tract.

One drawback that I read about Hijiki seaweed is it contained inorganic arsenic and might cause cancer if consume in a large amount.  But there is no ban and no known illnesses associated with consuming hijiki seaweed to date and the Japanese have been eating this as part of a balanced diet for centuries.  You can read more about it here.  United Kingdom, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Canada have issued a warning on hijiki seaweed.  I think the health benefits out weight the negative as it's impossible to consume this in large amount anyway and I only cook it once in every two weeks and used it as an extra for mushrooms or noodle dish.  I put some in Japchae and it was delicious.

By the way, I think it looks like Chinese "Fai Chai", the one that looks like black hair that Chinese consume during Chinese New Year because of it's auspicious meaning.

 

Fresh oyster mushrooms and fresh Shiitake mushrooms

Chicken, Zucchini and Shiitake Mushroom

My new found love, fresh Shiitake mushrooms!!   We have been enjoying the dried Shiitake mushrooms for ages but recently I spotted some fresh Shiitake mushrooms and being one that never tasted a fresh Shiitake mushroom before, I was eager to give it a try.  I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrant of this fresh mushroom as it had the same earthy, smoky flavor as the dried ones and oh so delicious!  It also more meaty in texture than the white button mushroom and has more potent antioxidant, L-ergothioneine that helps the body to fight off free radicals.  It also has a compound called lentinan that keep the immune system strong and resistant to infection and disease.  Lentinan can also protects against cancer as the studies shown that it has the anti-tumor effect by slowing or reversing the tumor growth.  Not to say it also a good source of protein, iron, vitamin C, dietary fiber and contains vitamins and minerals such as selenium and potassium just to name a few.  I am totally in love with this fresh Shiitake mushroom and hence it will be my mushroom of choice when I go shopping in the Asian market.  But since I am also one that voted for variety of food in my family diet, I would buy other variety of mushrooms too like oyster mushroom, enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushroom, crimini, portobello, beech mushrooms and etc.

I will be sharing this easy recipe with you in the next page which turned out to be surprisingly delicious!

Tofu Knots with Mushrooms

This is another of my meatless vegetarian meal.  I loved these cute baby dried flower mushrooms that I bought in Malaysia.  Since it's so small, I could just serve it whole.  It is great for presentation too!  I have seen this baby mushrooms here too and it is not cheap.  Wish it is cheaper though!  Anyway, the tofu knots and mushrooms in this dish will soak up all the flavor of the stock and you can serve this with rice or porridge.

Stir-Fried King Oyster Mushroom

This recipe was adapted from Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen, a cookbook.  In this cookbook, it has a recipe called sauteed oyster mushroom with scallops.  I didn't have oyster mushroom nor scallops, but I have a packet of king oyster mushroom.  I was interested in trying out the sauce from that recipe.  It has a combination of soy sauce and lemon juice.  Interesting sauce, sourish because of the lemon juice.

King Oyster Mushroom with Tofu

King Oyster Mushroom (杏鮑菇) is antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, antioxidant and has positive effects on the immune system.  You can buy it at the Asian and Korean supermarkets here in the United States.  All kinds of mushroom are good for us so I would suggest you to add a variety of mushrooms into your diet.  Just read that Enoki mushroom has a very high anti-cancer property too. 

Tofu is high in protein, has selenium, omega-3 fats, iron, calcium, etc and low in calories.  A great substitution for meat in those meatless days.  I always strike for a balance meal and diet, so serve this with a plate of green vegetable and a little brown rice and there you have it.