This is the first of a bunch of experiments with chicken for my dear friend Lauren. We eat a lot of chicken in this house, but it's the only meat she can get her "would rather be a vegetarian" daughter to eat. This one came out really well Lauren... give it a try! I was most impressed with the chicken breast that often comes out dry no matter how hard I try. It was tender and juicy without frying! This was quick and easy to make too. Bonus. The recipe as is makes 4 servings. Needless to say, I increased all the proportions. Don't be startled by how big the bag of chicken looks in the photos... remember I'm feeding that teenage boy here. I also normally pack the leftovers for husband and son for lunches the next day. I used 4 pots to make this meal, which kills me, because I hate clean up. I gave myself a hand by using the zipper bag for the chicken mixture.
Start your pilaf first, while it's taking 20 minutes to cook, you can make the main dish, yay!
Pilaf
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup pasta (broken bits)
3 green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced (or grab your garlic press)
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Melt the butter in a lidded pot over medium-low heat. In a small skillet, toast your almonds, when you can smell them they're done. LOW HEAT! If you burn them they're awful. Toast the pasta and rice in the butter until golden brown. Add broth, onions and garlic. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, put lid on pot and ignore for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Mix in the almonds.
I don't know why I had this leftover bit of pasta, but it's perfect for pilaf. I just took my rolling pin and smashed it until the pieces were just a little bigger than the grains of rice. You can also use Orzo which is pasta that's almost exactly the size of rice.
I'm sorry I didn't get more pictures of the process. Joe walked in the door unexpectedly and I was a little distracted. That mom job is just never predictable is it?
Main dish
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
2 tablespoons dry sherry
4 teaspoons cornstarch, divided
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons sesame oil, divided
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup chopped green onions (about 3 green onions)
1/4 cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted cashews
Combine 1 tablespoon soy sauce, sherry, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, and chicken in a plastic zipper bag; toss well to coat. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, remaining 2 teaspoons cornstarch, broth, oyster sauce, and honey in a small bowl and set aside.
Put chicken mixture into large pan; cover and cook over low heat for about 15 mins. Raw chicken needs to be cooked to an internal temp of 160. Grab another pan, drizzle with a bit of the sesame oil. Add onion, bell pepper, ginger and garlic. Sauté until veggies are as tender as you like, we like them a bit crunchy. Dump veggies into chicken pan, stir in broth mixture. Heat through, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with green onions and cashews.
The chicken is boneless and "skinless" but I always find that I still have to trim some fat.
I just put my fingers in there so you had a size comparison for the chicken chunks.
This is one of my go to favorites, especially with chicken. Super easy clean up. Toss in recycle bin. YES! They make zipper bags that can be recycled now.
That's it! Simple, quick, delicious. I hope Carly likes it. I hope other people like it too. We enjoyed it here. Who doesn't need more quick, easy chicken dinner meals?
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