Drunken Noodles

So every time I go to a Thai restaurant, I invariably order this dish. It is delicious! I decided that I had to learn how to make this myself. I generally knew the ingredients that I wanted with the noodles, but I had absolutely no idea what the spices/sauce were, so with a bit of help from the internet this is what I came out with.

It was absolutely delicious! Highly recommend, if you like this sort of thing.

The Noodles
~1 lbs Rice Noodles (I used a 13oz package)

Soak the noodles for ~45 minutes in hot tap water, until they are soft, but still al dente to the taste.

The Sauce
6 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2-3 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp ground chili pepper
Juice from one Lime (About 3 tbsp)

Mix ingredients in a bowl, save for later.

Everything Else
1-2 eggs (if you like egg, add 2, if not so much, stick with 1)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 white onion
1 shallot (smallish is fine)
3 cloves garlic
3 thai chili or jalapeno peppers
Fresh Basil (Garnish)
1 lbs chicken (two breasts works adequately)
Alternatively, one could use pork or shrimp, or some combination of the three.

Cut both ends off the onion, and then cut it in half lengthwise. Then slice from the outside towards the middle, creating strips (they should be crescent shape if done correctly). Dice the garlic and shallot, add all three to a bowl and set aside.

Chop red/green peppers into long thin strips and set aside.

Chop the hot peppers, be careful! My nose still hurts from when I accidently touched it... 4 hours later. Set these aside as well.

Slice the chicken breasts into cutlets, then slice into thin slices (not long strips!). You want them to be able to cook quickly and be relatively bite size.

Scramble both eggs in a separate bowl, save for later, don't add milk!

Pour a few tablespoons of vegetable oil into a wok or very large frying pan and heat. Add the onion/shallot/garlic mixture and cook until the onion begins to turn translucent. Then add the green/red peppers slices and cook for a minute or two. Next add the chicken and cook thoroughly. At this point scrape all of the stuff in your wok to the side, and pour in the eggs that you scrambled. Let the eggs cook then mix everything in the wok together. At this point you should toss in the spicy peppers and continue cooking for a couple of minutes.

Finally when everything looks acceptably cooked and hot, add the noodles to the wok (obviously drain the water off first). Pour the sauce ontop of the noodles, and begin mixing everything together. Cook until the noodles become soft and the sauce is sticking to everything.

Chop some of the fresh basil and toss it in as a quick garnish when serving!

Marinated Flank Steak

Steak! So when Matt was up visiting I decided it would be a good time to have steak, considering we both can't really afford steak very often this summer.

Anyways, I found this recipe, it was pretty delicious. I think one could also use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar for a slightly different but still delicious taste!

The Marinade
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix ingredients together and pour into a large glass dish (not metal!). Take the flank steak (1.5lbs or so) and puncture it with a fork repeatedly on both sides, then place in the dish. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinate overnight in the fridge.

Grill or broil the flank steak, preferably grill, about 10 minutes. If you broil, about 5-7 minutes per side.

Feta Salad with Raspberry Balsamic Dressing

So the salad was a suggestion of Peggy's, and I sorta made up what to actually put in it. The dressing was originally Jill's, with modifications from Peggy, and then a further modification by me.

The Salad
1 Dry Pint Cherry/Grape Tomatos
1/2 Cucumber
1 Red Pepper (Orange or Yellow will also work)
2oz Crumbled Feta
Red Onion (optional, depends if you want some zing to it)

Dice the tomatos, I tend to chop them into eighths. Chop the cucumber into small bite size pieces, ditto with the red pepper. Mix all of these in a bowl. Crumble and mix the feta into the bowl. If you want to add onion, do so now!

The Dressing
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Raspberry Jam/Preserve
Dijon Mustard
Garlic

I really do not have amounts for the dressing. A small spoonful of mustard will do, and at most a clove of garlic. I would suggest a heaping spoonful of the raspberry jam however. Use enough oil and vinegar to actually have dressing enough to coat the salad.

Buffalo Chicken Tenders

So Matt was visiting this weekend, and we decided to try making buffalo chicken. We really had no idea what we were doing, but a first mediocre attempt was followed up by a very successful (and tasty!) dinner.

I should also note this is a very good way to make breaded chicken tenders in general, really you could come up with any dipping sauce you choose, I tried a little honey mustard with them and it was also delicious.

The Chicken
3 Chicken breasts, cut into strips.
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 egg whites
1 tablespoon water
1-2 tablespoon Frank's Red Hot (or other Chayenne based hot sauce)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

On a large plate, mix together flour, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. On a separate plate, mix the bread crumbs with the rest of the garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and salt.

On one final plate, mix egg whites with 1 tablespoon water and 1-2 tablespoons Frank's Red Hot.

Roll the chicken strips in the flour mixture, then in the egg mix, and finally in the bread crumbs. Place the strips on the baking tray and bake for 8 minutes. Turn the strips over and bake for another 8 minutes or until cooked.

The Sauce
1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot
1 tablespoon butter

Melt the butter in a saucepan, and then mix in Frank's Red Hot. Ready to serve once hot.

Balsamic Honey-Mustard Pasta

The last "group" meal I had at Wesleyan was with Arthur and Lauren. We made an absurd amount of food. But the best part of it was Lauren showing us this awesome pasta recipe.

The Sauce:
Honey
Mustard (dijon)
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

I don't have amounts to give you, but you need to add enough mustard to thicken the sauce. You also need enough oil so that if left unstirred, the oil will clearly separate out.

Mix ingredients to taste. If you are making a box of pasta, I would suggest having around a cup of sauce. I imagine subsituting other oils (vegetable) would be acceptable, olive oil is horribly expensive after all.

The Rest:
Pasta - I used a box of penne.
Cherry/Grape Tomatos (two pints per pound of pasta)
Fresh Mozzerella (half pound per pound of pasta)
Basil

Cook the pasta, I suggest eating this meal cold, so leaving the pasta al dente is not necessarily smart. Once the pasta is cooked, soak in cold water until it has cooled off.

Cut the tomatos in half, the mozzerella in small cubes, and dice the basil.

Mix together with the pasta in a large bowl. Once thoroughly mixed, pour the sauce over it and mix again.

I have no real suggestions on what to serve this with, it rather covers the veggies/dairy/starch. I hope you enjoy!

Cooking in DC

For the first time I am living on my own (truly on my own, college really does not count).

As I loathe the idea of ordering in and having microwave meals constantly, one of (if not the best) experience I am having is cooking!

Many of these recipe's I have found online, or stolen from friends and family, but I hope by the end of the summer to be making strides on starting my own creations.

I hope you see something that sounds tasty! Maybe even looks tasty if I try snapping some photos.