On tonight’s menu is an old favourite of mine from Bill Granger’s Open Kitchen ”“ caramel chicken. This dish is such a yummy gooey combination of brown sugar, dark soy and fish sauce that beautifully caramelises the red onion.

I always at least double the amount of red onion ”“ trust me, you will thank me for the advice. I’m also a little less heavy handed on the fish sauce than recommended. Never thought I’d hear myself (a self-respecting Vietnamese person) say those words, but it is actually a little too salty otherwise. Bill Granger must be some kind of hardcore fish sauce loving guy 😉

I had some left over mushrooms that Mikee bought over the weekend so I bought some green beans to go with them in a stir-fry. I found this recipe on my Epicurious app and basically followed the instructions for making the sauce mixture only. I thought the order they used for putting the ingredients in the pan was a little out of whack so I swapped it around a little. Mine went in the pan in this order:

Oil, garlic & ginger, beans, half the mixture, wait for a couple minutes, mushrooms, rest of the sauce mixture, spring onions about 1 minute before serving.

I served the dish with white rice and cucumbers to freshen the palette. Yum!

The caramel chicken recipe:

The stir-fry recipe:

Stir-Fried Tofu with Mushrooms, Sugar Snap Peas, and Green Onions

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon oriental sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 12-ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained, cut into 3/4-inch cubes, patted dry with paper towels

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps quartered

8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

4 green onions, sliced on diagonal

METHOD:

Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Add tofu and stir to coat; let marinate 30 minutes. Drain, reserving marinade in small bowl. Whisk 1/4 cup water and cornstarch into marinade.

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer tofu to plate. Add remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to skillet. Add mushrooms and stir-fry until tender, about 3 minutes. Add sugar snap peas; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; stir-fry 30 seconds. Return tofu to skillet; drizzle reserved marinade mixture over. Stir-fry until marinade thickens slightly, about 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

 

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