I absolutely love me some Thai food. However, it is a recent love discovered over the last couple of years. Growing up with Puerto Rican and Hungarian food influences didn’t exactly lend itself to making Pad Thai on Wednesday nights. That was black beans and rice night. 

Over the last few months, I have spent some time making dishes with Thai influences. I’ve stocked up on the tamarind paste, the fish sauce, the coconut milk, etc. So in honor of how delicious Thai food can be, and my freshly stocked Thai inspired pantry, this week is Thai food week. 

Pad Thai

I have cravings for Pad Thai on an almost weekly basis, but I never realized how capable I was of creating this dish successfully (without using any pre-packaged sauces, flavor mixes, etc.) 

The recipe I used was a mix of about 5 different recipes I found to be “authentic” (hah, not like I would actually know). I’ve only made this dish twice, so I’m going to play around with it some more before I post a recipe. 

Thai Chicken Salad

I found the recipe from the Food Network, so it doesn’t exactly scream authentic, nor was it tricky to make. I ignored the specifications of the recipe, just using the ingredients as a guide. The takeaway from the dish is definitely the peanut lime dressing. So good! See full recipe. 

Coconut Tapioca Pudding 

This was delicious! I tried to track down the recipe I used, but being incredibly organized, I have lost it. It was almost identical to this, if you want to give this dessert a try. 

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup 

This was surprisingly my favorite dish of the week’s cooking events. I expected it to be a nice way to use some leftover chicken, but this blew me away! True to it’s name it is the perfect comfort food, but the blend of flavors, the coriander and coconut standing out in my mind, makes this far superior to the noodles in chicken broth I eat when I’m sick. Here’s the recipe I roughly followed. 

Thai BBQ Chicken with a Sweet and Spicy Sauce, and a side of Pan Herb Noodles. 

Another successful meal! The noodles I just threw together for an interesting side. I like to use bean sprout noodles, because they soak up flavor nicely, cook almost instantly and are better for you than a bunch of white flour. 

The BBQ Chicken is all about the marinade. I can’t believe I’m just now realizing how amazing lemon grass is.

Well, that wraps this week’s long winded cooking challenge. What types of foods or specific recipes should I try next? I definitely need some inspiration! 

- Becca Bites.  

Chinese food is something that I could eat any time. Much like Mexican food, it is rarely a bad idea. However, for some reason it’s one of those foods that I always turn to a restaurant for. Chinese food is not necessarily the most complex food to tackle, but it’s a stretch for me since I rarely use the flavors in my own kitchen. Therefore, this weeks challenge was a week long event, a week of cooking (not ordering) Chinese food. 

Chicken Fried Rice

Orange Beef and Fried Rice 

I have to give credit to my boyfriend on the Orange Beef adventure. We made this together and he is definitely the reason why it turned out to be so delicious. 

Orange Beef and Ramen

Without question, I will be making my own Chinese food more often now.

Enjoy! 

- Becca Bites

Kitchen Challenge, Week 1: Grilled Skewers

What I cooked today: Grilled Sesame Chicken Skewers and Chilled Cilantro and Lime Brown Rice Salad. 

Tonight’s dinner was a dinner of firsts. The first time I tried my hand at grilled skewers and the first time I made brown rice not taste, well like brown rice. 

The recipe I used for the Grilled Sesame Skewers comes from Closet Cooking, and I can’t rave enough about the marinade. Unfortunately, the sesame, apple and soy flavors in this chicken do not show in the picture, but here is the recipe if you want to try it out. I absolutely recommend it, and I’ll be using this marinade on other chicken dishes in the future. 

Taking on skewers as a challenge, might not seem like much of a challenge, but I am no friend of the grill. I figure that needs to change. So my challenge was to get more comfortable with grilling foods, make a skewer that wasn’t dry, and of course that tasted delicious! Based on the family feed back: Rebecca 1, Grill 0.

The flavors in the brown rice salad were inspired by Pinch My Salt. Though I did not follow her recipe, due to lack of ingredients, I did use the dressing which incorporates cumin, lime and garlic. Brown rice has never tasted so refreshing! Here is the full recipe, if you’re interested. 

As requested by mimieats. Here is the recipe I use for Chicken Tortilla Soup. I have made this recipe my own with some trial and error, but it originally comes from a wonderful book The Best Soups and Stews. This book tests out different ways of making famous soups, and then comes up with it’s own, unique approach based off of the response they receive from taste tests. 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped (Doesn’t need to be too fine because it will cook thoroughly. I like bigger chunks)
1 large clove of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of chili powder
2 quarts of chicken stock – homemade or other (I use whatever I have on hand) 
1 tablespoons of lime juice
1 lime to serve sliced with finished soup
12 ounces of skinless chicken breast 1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup of frozen corn 6 flour or corn tortillas, cut in strips (I’ve tried both, and I think I like the corn best)
2 medium avocados, diced
2 cups grated white cheddar, cheddar or monterey jack cheese  (I like to use a mixture, but go with whatever I have on hand)
½ cup of cilantro leaves
2 medium jalapenos, seeded and sliced

• Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook for about 5 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and chili powder.
• Immediately add the chicken stock and raise the heat to the mixture comes to a boil. Then, reduce to low.
• Add 2 tablespoons of lime juice.
• Now add the raw chicken breast. Poaching it in this rich broth gives the chicken a delicious flavor. Cover the pot and let chicken cook until it is no longer pink.
• Remove the chicken from the stock and set aside to cool. (This is when I often go to bed. I put the chicken (separately) and the stock into the refrigerator and cook the rest the next day. Obviously that isn’t necessary, just easier if you want to get a jump-start on dinner the night before.)
• Raise the heat to about medium (If you are using refrigerated broth, make sure it is completely hot first.) Then, add the tomatoes and corn and let them cook into the broth for about 10 minutes.
•  Turn heat to low, and forget about the soup for a little while.
•  Heat enough canola oil in a pan to cover the tortilla strips. Once the oil is hot enough (definitely not smoking), add the strips of tortillas and allow them to crisp, turning them over once. Remove with a slatted spoon.
• Now it’s time to serve the soup. Check the soup and make sure the corn and flavors are to your liking. If they are: 
• Shred chicken with hands and place a portion at the bottom of each bowl.
•  Add the tortilla strips and avocado (I’ve made this before when avocados were close to impossible to find. So, mine were definitely not ripe. I cooked mine in the broth after the chicken was removed.) Ladle the soup on top, and of course add cheese. I also like to add more tortilla strips on top, so there is a variety of a texture. Sprinkle a generous helping of the fresh cilantro, and finish off with your comfort level of jalapenos and squeeze of fresh lime.

If I’m serving this for people, I stop at the cheese and tortilla strips and let everyone add as much or as little of everything else. However, I can’t stress enough not to skip out on the fresh lime at the end. This is what my boyfriend swears by in this recipe.

My Mom requested that I make her Pad Thai for her birthday dinner this evening (It was a hit for Mother’s Day). So, I have finally decided on a 3 course Thai inspired meal. 

Thai Chicken Salad, Pad Thai, and a Coconut Tapioca Pudding for dessert.

Pictures to follow, assuming all does not end in disaster.