What do chicken thighs and eggplant conjure up for me? Spicy brown bean sauce! So that’s what I made…
Because this dish can look a bit brown and the texture of eggplant is soft, I added red bell pepper and shallots for some contrast. So, that’s my thought process when I’m deciding what to cook!
Starting with the same 4 seasonings to marinade chicken (TSPC: San-J tamari, sherry, white pepper, cornstarch) and to make sauce, I then added Koon Chun’s delish brown bean sauce, chili garlic sauce and chili oil to the sauce.
The same stir fry process: fry eggplant, pepper & shallots & scallion in hot oil with bashed whole garlic and shredded ginger. Then add sauce to cook down, plate. Clean out wok with sink brush & hot water, 5 second swish.
Next, stir fry chicken till just done (test by slicing through with spatula for pink), add little sauce to just cover, add to eggplant, DONE!
Enjoy!
cast iron wok
Salad Stir Fry
Clearing fridge to accommodate food for my cooking class came up with a surprise stir fry! I had mostly salad vegetables: snow peas, radish, Persian cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, onion & red bell peppers. So, I decided to fry them in duck fat & sprinkled black sesame seeds right at the end. Just goes to show, you can stir fry any vegetables!
The rosemary slow roast lamb shoulder
a la Jamie Oliver has been so handy. I warmed up in its own juice & added chopped cilantro. Went well with my salad stir fry, seaweed salad and quinoa lentil.
Mexican Fried Rice
Mexican Wok Fried Rice is the perfect dish to incorporate my Asian heritage for Asian Pacific Heritage month for a Let’s Lunch post, pay respect to my mom for Mother’s Day and celebrate Cinco de Mayo on a yacht.
For me, a Mexican dish has to include chorizo but I didn’t realize Mexican chorizo (firm texture) is different from the Spanish kind (soft crumbly), so I experimented with both. I discovered Quijote chorizos, one of the most well known brands is manufactured right here in Miami. It’s just like Chinese sausage, lots of fat which has to be rendered out, the trick is to fry on medium low heat in the wok and drain on paper towels.
I used the same process to cook this dish as Pineapple Stir Fried Rice except without eggs, different veggies, meat and added in saffron buds to get the reddish yellow color. You can watch my video that shows you how from scratch. Multi colored bell peppers, onions and tomatoes gave texture and color. The shrimp was seasoned and fried just like I do for an Asian stir fry, and everything was combined in two batches in the wok. It was 1am by the time I finished with all the photo taking but I really wanted to show you can successfully make dishes from all over the world in a wok! Mission accomplished.
Let’s Lunch is a virtual gathering of foodies from all over the world. Anyone can join, just use #letslunch on twitter and someone will reach out to you. I’ve so enjoyed interacting with this group even though I’ve not succeeded in contributing on a regular basis. Check out other Let’s Lunchers’ posts to celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage month!
Annemarie‘s Bulgogi Lettuce Wraps at Sandwich Surprise
Emma‘s Korean Barbecue at Dreaming of Pots and Pans
Grace‘s Mom’s Stir-Frying Tips at HapaMama
Karen‘s Non-Traditional Wonton Soup at GeoFooding
Linda‘s Savory Steamed Rice Cake at Spicebox Travels
Lisa‘s Sesame Eggplant & Noodle Salad at Monday Morning Cooking Club
Lucy‘s Chinese Chicken Salad at A Cook and Her Books