Lemon Chicken

...my version.

Since I heard about the raves about the Orange Chicken being served at a local restaurant, I have also wanted to taste it, too. I found two different recipes from brother's old magazines, but both recipes seemed to be a little too complicated.

I was able to see a recipe note I copied for Lemon Chicken a few years back, and since I can't find a good orange in the nearby talipapa, I decided to merge all recipes to come up with this. Luckily, we had lemons in the fridge. :)




Lemon Chicken
{serves 5}

Ingredients (for the chicken):

• 3 chicken leg quarters, deboned and cut into strips
  
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
• a dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• oil for frying
  

Ingredients (for the sauce):

• 1 cup water
• juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 of chicken bouillon cube
• 1/4 tablespoons grated or minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in some water

Ingredients (for garnish):

• spring onions, cut up
• 1 thin slice of lemon,

How to Cook:

• Combine all dry ingredients for the chicken breading. Drop chicken pieces in egg, and coat with breading. Fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside.
• Prepare the sauce: Combine all, except the cornstarch slurry. Cook on low heat stirring every now and then. Adjust the taste according to your preference.
  
• Add cornstarch slurry and simmer until the sauce thickens.
• Arrange chicken pieces on the serving platter and pour over sauce. Garnish with spring onions and lemon slice.

Notes to Consider:

• You can also use your choice of powder or granule seasoning for the breading instead of salt. If you're using the granule form, please crush it first (until it becomes powder) before mixing into the cornstarch.
• To check if your breading was okay, get one chicken strip and use it as your "slave" piece. Cut the strip in half and coat it with the egg and breading and fry. Taste if it's okay, then adjust the breading according to your preference.
• Same with the sauce, test if it's seasoned okay by dipping one small piece of fried chicken into the sauce.
• You can also opt to use honey instead of sugar, or use both if you want.

The dish turned out really good. My sister said it was a bit too tangy, but it was okay for me and my brother's taste. Well, my sister wasn't a fan of sour foods, hence the little side comment. But she did say the chicken and the whole dish tasted great, but she would just like a little of the sauce. As for me, I loved the sweet, salty, tangy fusion of the sauce, and I really can't wait to try this with orange. I am interested how orange will do for this dish.

*** Jenn ***

Vigan in Week's Time

I will be taking a blog break starting tomorrow because I will be traveling to La Union to give my dad's grave an early visit. I will also be taking the time to church hop in La Union, watch the Surfing Break on Friday, and yes, travel to my most favorite place ever - Vigan City.

Our neighbor Ria will be with me, and although I feel a bit worried because this will be the first time I will travel with her, I am very excited to let her see part of the world I really love. I have traveled to these places for lots of times already, but this will be the first time I'd give foods an emphasis. I am hoping to do a food trip with Ria at:

• Halo Halo de Iloko - San Fernando City, La Union
• Midway Grill - San Fernando, La Union
• Sebay Resort - San Juan, La Union
• Hen Haw - Bauang, La Union
• Cafe Uno - Vigan, Ilocos Sur
• Cafe Leona - Vigan, Ilocos Sur

Of course, I still am not sure if we can dine in these places, but I am quite optimistic. I would gladly give up Hen Haw and Sebay Resort, but never the other ones mentioned. I really would like to eat there. I already dined twice in Cafe Leona with my dear K, but I cannot go way back in time just to share the food trip, so I will just go back and make a new experience.

One thing I miss doing in Vigan was eating the fishballs while sitting in my favorite seat along Calle Crisologo. The one in picture was taken during my trip to Vigan with K. I sure hope I could do it again. Positive vibes! :)

I will be back morning of 31 October. See you then!

*** Jenn ***

Bro's Chicken Inasal

On our last grocery day, brother texted to include some chicken breast for him. When he saw sister didn't finish all the Sprite in the can, he decided to marinade the chicken meat to make inasal. Yesterday lunch time - I was still very sleepy when I overheard he was going to the market to buy some pork to be grilled. Even if I was sleepy, I managed to shout out a favor of buying some eggplants, because I loved eating ensaladang talong during BBQ days. :)

I wasn't able to take a picture of my grilled pork chop and my ensaladang talong with lots of chopped tomatoes, thinly sliced radish, and bagoong balayan... but I was able to take a picture of brother's chicken inasal. I am not into chicken breast, but I gave this one a taste. It was surprisingly tender, but it was quite far from my own version of the dish. I wasn't able to taste much of the ginger and lemon grass, but the dish was okay enough.

Thanks for the great lunch yesterday, brother dear!

*** Jenn ***

Tortilla Wraps

I have always loved tacos; but when Dianne served the soft version of it using tortilla wraps, I loved it even more. I told Dianne I'd try to serve it in our house one time, and I made this just two weeks after I ate Dianne's version of the dish.

This dish was inspired from what Dianne served, but this recipe was my own adaptation.






Tortilla Wraps
{Makes 6 Wraps}

Ingredients:

• 6 pieces tortilla wraps
  
• 250 grams ground beef
• 1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 1 small tub yogurt
• 1 - 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• lemon juice or regular white vinegar, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
  
• 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
  
• 1 medium sized onion, minced
• 2 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
• grated cheddar cheese
• hot sauce

How to Cook:

• Saute a bit of minced onion in very little oil (about 1 tablespoon) and add the beef. Continue sauteeing it until it's cooked. Discard any rendered fat, and season with salt and pepper.
• Mix yogurt with mayonnaise and add lemon juice or vinegar according to your taste. Add the garlic powder and whisk. Season with minimal sugar, salt pepper.
  
• Prepare the mise en place - put each of the ingredients in individual bowls and let your guests or your family prepare their own wrap.
  
• To assemble, get one tortilla wrap, put in each ingredient one by one in the middle, and wrap the filling. Eat.

Notes to Consider:

• You can use any kind of tortilla wraps for this dish, I used the whole wheat ones.
• Heat up the wraps before you serve, but don't toast them.
  
• There is no wrong or right amount of filling to be used - just go with your own taste, just be sure you don't add to much or you won't be able to wrap it anymore. :)

This one was much easier to eat because it wasn't really messy, but of course, I'd still want to eat tacos because of its texture. Well, soft or not - taco shells or tortilla wraps, I think I have found a good way of eating it. The yogurt/mayo mix was really a good discovery. Thanks for the tip, Dianne!

*** Jenn ***

Slers Chicharon

Continuing with brother's pasalubong from Cagayan de Oro...

Pronounced as "Slurs" (like "slurry"), it was in 1969 when Fely Pelaez started cooking ham. From her hometown of Del Monte in Bukidnon, it is now one of the famous food places in Cagayan de Oro.

They have a store that sells different kinds of meat products - ham, bacon, tocino, beef pastrami. Brother has already tasted their Hamon de Cagayan, and texted me that it was delicious. I then asked him to take home some, but since it would be difficult to bring home some frozen meat products, he just brought home a diffent kind of Slers' product: the chicharon.


Special Chicharon, 180 grams. This has got to be the biggest chicharon I have ever seen! The bag actually looked as if it was a baby's bolster pillow, and the chunks were so big, we had to break some up so we could take a much nicer picture. :) It was delicious, but I guess one disadvantage of having big pieces in the bag was that it gets emptied fast, too!




Fiery Hot Chicharon, 60 grams. A much better tasting chicharon, if you ask me... I just love spicy foods! Well, this one I could either eat as is, or dip in regular vinegar and I'd be happy!

Brother also took home a small pack of their regular chicharon (the one with the red label), but I wasn't able to take a picture of it.

All these products - including the tuba vinegar, roasted peanuts, and banana chips can be purchased at Pica-Pica, a branch of Slers.

*** Jenn ***

Italian Eating at the Food Court

Greenwich
SM Fairview Food Court
Regalado cor. Quirino Highway, Quezon City
13 February 2010


There were times that mom and I would do grocery shopping without bro and/or sis, so times like that, we usually just go eat anywhere. On this day, mom wanted to taste Greenwich's new pasta line (they said they improved the recipe), and since we didn't want to carry the bags to the upper ground floor just to eat, we decided to push the cart to the food court and just eat there.




Mom wanted to eat the lasagna, and since they just released a TVC about this newly improved pasta, I ought to give it a taste, too. I went for the bigger plates, and also ordered a slice of their pepperoni overload pizza, since this would be a chance for me to taste it.

At first my mom was surprised that their lasagna was more or less 150 pesos, at one point she just hoped we ate at either TOSH (The Old Spaghetti House) or at Chef d'Angelo. However, when our number was called out and I brought in the food, she figured the price was just alright. I guess she was thinking it was as small as the old lasagna Greenwich used to serve.

The lasagna (large - p139) was really much, much better than the old one. I loved that they drown the pasta with bechamel sauce - I love the play of flavors between the white and red sauce. It was meatier, and tastier, too.

The pizza (slice of pepperoni overload) was okay, too, but the crust was already a bit tough. I guess the pizza has been sitting there for quite sometime and they just reheated it. Good thing I only ordered one (mom and I shared the slice), because it wasn't as good (and as fresh) as I hoped it would be.

Mom and I really enjoyed the pasta, but the serving was quite big, I guess if we are to eat there again, we will just go for the smaller version, which was around 80-90 pesos only. :)

*** Jenn ***

ps - this food trip was done in February, but the picture of the store was taken just last Tuesday. Please don't confuse the date with the new menu on the store - while checking my files, I saw the food pictures, and since I wasn't able to take a picture of the store back then, I took one when my sister went to the mall last Tuesday.

N - Noodles

Just like C for Coffee / Cake, N would often times mean Noodles and / or Nachos for me, and for Round 7, I am going back to noodles. Well, like C, too, this one's a new picture. Of course, as much as possible, I try not to use two same pictures here in my blog.




This bowl of noodles was something I had when us three girls (mom, sis, and I) craved for something hot and soupy while at the mall. Of all the noodles available in Chowking, this was my favorite - the wanton noodles. I just love my broth clear and my wantons tasty.

Of course, best partner for it would be the asado siopao (pork bun). In this cold weather, I am just craving for it now.

*** Jenn ***