2 Easy Chicken Stir Fry Recipes

Stir Fry is a general term that covers such a broad range of dishes, but is most commonly associated with Chinese cuisine. With minimal preparation time and just a few flavorings, one can produce something very professional and impressive. It is perhaps one of the first meals that is taught in cookery classes, and particularly popular among university students because of the low-prep time and sheer ease of making it.

Today I'd like to introduce you to my two favorite chicken stir-fry recipes. Lads hint: These are great to cook on a first at-home date, and the ladies will be well impressed with your manly kitchen abilities.

Chicken With Black Bean Sauce:

This is to serve 2, perfect for a date! Accompany with a simple semi-dry white wine.

- 200g Broccoli

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

- 2 tbsp unsalted Cashew Nuts

- 2 chicken breast fillets

- 1/2" root ginger

- 1 clove garlic

- 2 spring onions

- 2 tbsp Chinese rice wine

- 3 tbsp black bean suace

- Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Get your ingredients ready - Slice the chicken into bite size strips. Peel and grate the ginger, as well as slicing the spring onions, and crushing the garlic. Remember to wash the broccoli too, and trimming off a little of each spear.

In a large wok, begin by fry the cashew nuts until golden - about a minute. Remove them and set aside.

Add the chicken, and stir fry for about 5 minutes and lightly golden on all sides. Add the broccoli with 3 tablespoons of water, cover and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Remove the lid, then add the ginger, garlic, and spring onions, and fry for another 1 minute. Finally, add the wine, black bean sauce and cashews. Serve immediately over a bed of plain rice, or noodles.

Classic Chow Mein:

Don't settle for Chinese take-out rubbish when you can make a more delicious and healthy one yourself! The Chow Mein is a favorite of many, myself included. Some people can't stand Broccoli, so try the Chow Mein if the Black Bean stir fry recipe above isn't to your liking. To serve 2, you will need:

- 140g egg noodles

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

- 1 chicken breast

- 1 tea spoon fresh ginger

- 2 cloves garlic

- 1 red peppers

- 100g bean sprouts

- 25g shiitake mushrooms

- 1 Spring oninon

- 1 sachet of chow mein sauce

- Dark Soy Sauce

Preparation:

Slice the peppers and spring onions quite finely, the mushrooms a little larger. Peel, and finely chop the ginger and crush the garlic. Again, cut the chicken into nice bite-size slices.

The noodles should be cooked according to the package. Pro tip: Don't overcook them, they need to retain some hardness. Drain then set them aside.

In a large wok, heat the oil. Start by frying the ginger and garlic until you have a lovely aroma released. Add the chicken, peppers, mushrooms and spring onion next, for about 2 minutes or until the chicken looks done.

Finally, throw in the chow mein sauce and cook thoroughly. Taste, and add soy sauce as appropriate. Serve immediately.

Beef Noodle Recipes

One of the most simple and tasty dishes you can prepare for your loved ones on a weekly basis is Beef Noodle Dishes. Beef noodles are extremely yummy, quick to create and can be cooked in a multitude of to keep every member of your family satisfied at dinner time. Here are some hints.

Beef noodle dishes most often consist of pasta noodles and a beef sauce. Beef sauces can come in a variety of styles. Some people create beef sauce using soups. A favorite of mine is to use canned Mushroom soup or if you prefer canned French onion soup mix. Feel free to also use dry beef soup mixes. While I do think the canned mixes generally deliver a better recipe, the difference in taste is generally not that noticeable.

For noodles, I generally use wide and flat pasta noodles. However, everybody has a noodle they prefer. Some prefer long thin noodles, others like them long and thick and then you have loved ones that enjoy wide noodles or pasta shapes. Generally speaking they all taste much the same, with a little difference due to texture. However, it is generally a great idea to change the style of the noodles around to keep the entire recipe fresh.

Adding beef to your beef noodle recipe is favored, but actually not a necessity. For those that prefer chunky beef noodle recipes use hamburger meat. Others might appreciate Swedish meatball type beef in their recipes and thirdly, feel free to use steak for tasty hot dishes and beef noodle stir fry's.

Beef Noodles with Mushrooms

-1.5 pounds of lean hamburger meat

-1 can of mushroom soup mix

-2 beefsteak tomatoes

-1 onion chopped finely

-4 to 6 ounces of sliced mushrooms

-16 ounces of noodles

-Salt and pepper- season to taste

Combine all ingredients in a casserole, heat for about 30 to 40 minutes
Boil noodles, butter to taste. Once cooked, place over hot, buttered noodles. This recipe yields about 6 servings.

French Onion Beef Noodle

-1.5 pounds of stewed beef

-1 can of French onion soup mix

-1 green onion chopped finely

-2 onions chopped finely

-16 ounces of noodles

-Salt and pepper- season to taste

Cook in a crock pot for about 8 to 10 hours on a low temperature. Boil noodles and place cooked contents over your noodles. This recipe yields about 6 servings.

Chinese Beef Noodle Stir Fry

-1.5 pounds of sliced steak (skirt steak tastes great, sometimes listed as diaphragm)

-1 red pepper

-1 green pepper

-1 can of Chinese vegetables

-16 ounces of noodles - Chinese style

-Soy sauce- season to taste

-Olive oil

Boil the noodles separately. In a large frying pan or wok, add some oil and start cooking the steak first. Once mostly cooked, add veggies, peppers and soy sauce to taste. This recipe yields about 6 servings. Besides soy sauce, you can use some of the numerous oriental sauces available, such as Hoisin sauce, plum sauce, Thai spicy sauce, etc.

Different Types of Noodles For Tasty Soup Recipes

There are lots of kinds of noodles and you could use any of them in a soup recipe, depending on what kind of soup are making and what other ingredients you are going to use. For a traditional chicken noodle soup recipe, for example, you might choose egg noodles but you could substitute another kind of noodles if you wanted to.

Noodles Made from Egg

Egg noodles are very popular and they feature in a lot of Asian recipes, as well as in soups like chicken noodle soup. Egg noodles can be dried or fresh, round or flat and thick, medium or thin. They have to be cooked in boiling water. If you are making a chicken noodle soup recipe or something similar, use fresh egg noodles rather than dried ones for the best results.

Hokkien noodles are made from wheat flour and egg and these are yellow and thick. You can find them vacuum-packed or fresh in Asian grocery stores. Ramen noodles are the Japanese equivalent to Chinese egg noodles. "Ramen" actually means Chinese noodle. Ramen noodles are thin and you need to keep them in the refrigerator until you use them.

Other Kinds

Rice stick noodles are flat and translucent. You can use them in salads or soup recipes and you have to soak them in warm water before using them. Fresh rice kinds can be thick or thin and they are steamed and oiled, then packaged. Do not refrigerate fresh rice or they will become hard. Dried rice vermicelli are thin and white. They are good at absorbing flavors from other foods.

Wheat flour noodles like udon noodles are Japanese in origin and these need to be boiled, and then added to soup recipes. Soba noodles can be made with buckwheat or wheat flour.

Mung bean thread vermicelli are also known as glass noodles or cellophane noodles and these are made from mung beans. They need to be soaked and drained before being added to recipes.

How to Make Easy Beef Noodle Soup

The following recipe makes enough beef soup to serve a family of four. For this soup, you can use beef-flavored ramen noodles, which come with a seasoning packet. If you prefer, you can use another type of noodles and add some extra soy sauce to the soup instead of the seasoning packet. For a chicken noodle soup, substitute three boneless chicken breasts for the beef and use chicken flavored pasta.

You will need:

1 lb ground beef
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 chopped onion
6 oz beef-flavored ramen noodles
1 head chopped Chinese cabbage
4 cups water
2 minced cloves garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

How to make it:

Brown the beef in a skillet, then drain off the fat. Put the browned beef in a big pan and add the garlic, ginger, and onion. Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil.

Stir in the Chinese cabbage, turn the heat down, and simmer the beef soup for three minutes. Stir in the ramen noodles and simmer until the vegetables are al dente and the noodles are soft. Stir in the oil, seasoning packets and soy sauce, and serve the soup hot.

Korean Recipes and Cuisine

Korean food is based on noodles, rices, meat, vegetables and tofu (known in Korea as "dubu"). Meals are usually served with many side dishes ("banchan"), as well as steamed rice, soup and kimchi (fermented vegetables, most often cabbage but sometimes cucumber or radish). Spices and seasonings are widely used, including doenjang (fermented soybean paste), garlic, ginger, gochujang (red chili paste), salt and soy sauce.

Some popular Korean dishes include:

- Gamjatang - A spicy soup made using pork spine, potatoes and other vegetables, and green onions, hot peppers and sesame seeds.

- Kimchi jjigae - A soup made using kimchi, pork and tofu.

- Kongnamul-guk - A soup made from soybean sprouts.

- Jeongol - A stew made using seafood and vegetables.

- Maeuntang - Hot and spicy fish soup.

- Bulgogi - Literally translated from Korean, Bulgogi means "fire meat". The dish consists of beef, shredded or thinly sliced, then cooked on a grill. Other meats may be substitued to create variations: chicken ("dak bulgogi"), pork ("dweji bulgogi"), or squid ("ojingeo bulgogi").

- Galbi (or Kalbi) - Beef or pork ribs cooked on charcoal.

- Dakgalbi - Similar to galbi, but using seasoned chicken.

- Jokbal - Pig's trotters cooked in soy sauce and spices, deboned, and served with a shrimp sauce.

- Samgyeopsal - Pork belly (similar to bacon), flavored and seasoned with garlic, sesame oil and salt, cooked on a grill. Slices of meat are placed inside lettuce or another leafy vegetable, along with cooked rice and ssamjang (a spicy paste). Green chillies, slices of raw garlic dipped in ssamjang and spring onion salad, are common accompaniments.

- Makchang - Grilled pork intestines, somewhat similar to chitterlings.

- Hoe - Thinly sliced raw fish, similar to Japanese cuisine's sashimi. The fish is usually dipped in a sauce, either chogochujang which is a sauce made from gochujang (red chili paste), or wasabi sauce, then wrapped in green leaves, and served on a bed of dangmyeon (cellophane noodles).

- Yukhoe - Raw beef, topped with a raw egg yolk, and seasoned with black pepper, garlic, gochujang (red chili paste), green onion, nashi pear, sesame seed and sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar.

- Sannakji - A small octopus, cut in pieces, lightly seasoned and served. The octopus pieces are usually still moving on the plate when the dish is served!

- Japchae - Boiled potato noodles with spinach, beef, onion and carrots.

- Kalguksu - Boiled flat noodles, usually in a broth containing anchovies and zucchini (courgettes).

- Kongnamul-bap - Soybean sprouts served over rice.

- Ramyeon - The Korean version of Japanese ramen noodles. Spicy and cooked with meat and vegetables.

- Gujeolpan - Literally translated from Korean, Guljoelpan means "dish of nine dishes". This is a very elaborate meal, traditionally eaten by Korean nobility, which is served on a special plate divided into eight octagonal side sections, each containing meats and vegetables of a different type and color, and a ninth center section containing small pancakes.

- Tteok - A sweet dessert made from glutinous rice flour - there are hundreds of different variations.

Use Great Kitchen Appliances for Great Cooking Recipes

I love purchasing kitchen appliances online or in store and think there is nothing better than cooking for your family for a lovely evening in with a nice bottle of wine and food. I would always recommend purchase state of the art, good quality equipment so that you can prepare your food in the best possible way. I've written one of my favourite recipes below which would be prepared well with good equipment and is easy to prepare. I hope you'll find this recipe helpful and enjoyable.

I love beetroot, new potato and goats cheese salads and this should take around 10 minutes to prepare and should be cooked for around 50 minutes. It should also serve around four people.

For this salad you'll need 1lb of small beetroots, olive oil, cumin seeds, salt and pepper along with 12 oz of new potatoes, 100g of goat's cheese, watercress rocket and spinach leaves, honey and balsamic vinegar.

Before preparing your salad I would preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. I would remove the skin from the beetroot and then cut them into ¼'s.

Get a tray for the oven and add the olive oil, cumin seeds, salt and pepper and 60 ml water and then place the beetroot in. Cover this with foil and roast of 40 minutes until tender.

Boil the potatoes in salted water over the hob for around 10 minutes until soft and then drain.
Mix a tsp honey, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 3 tbsp of olive oil together and add any extra seasoning if you wish.

Add all the ingredients together and serve to friends and family. This recipe is great in the summer or as a starter.

Japanese Hibachi Cooking - Free Recipes Inside

Are you a fan of yakitori? Japanese food is one of the healthiest foods worldwide, and so it is not surprising to know that the Japanese often grill their food. This grilling is called hibachi, and Japanese hibachi cooking is not only famous in Japan, but in other parts of the world as well. These meats on sticks are a favourite of many, as these taste good, and come fresh and hot; grilled over direct fire.

The best way to do Japanese hibachi cooking is to grill over fire-and not a hot plate. The fire gives your meat a smoky, authentic flavour, which lacks in those which are prepared using metal plates. One example of Japanese hibachi cooking is the sukiyaki. A favourite among many, sukiyaki involves grilling thin slices of beef and then adding vegetables and noodles or rice.

But whether it is beef or chicken you want to grill, the principle holds the same: use authentic over the fire grillers. Also, many agree that one of the secrets of great Japanese hibachi cooking is the sauce.

A great recipe for shrimp sauce is this: you will need two cups of soy sauce, a cup of whipped cream, one-third cup of ground, roasted sesame seeds, a pinch of garlic powder and a teaspoon of dry mustard (dissolve it in a teaspoon of water). Place all ingredients except the cream in a blender for fifteen seconds. In a saucepan, put the mixture and the whipped cream, stirring it over low heat.

Another example of great sauce is simply a mixture of the following: a cup of mayonnaise, a couple of teaspoons of sugar, one and a half teaspoons of chilli sauce, a half teaspoon of paprika, half teaspoon of garlic powder, half teaspoon of lemon pepper, a quarter teaspoon of black ground pepper, one and a half tablespoons of catsup, and a pinch of salt. Use these sauces and your grilled meats will have that extra zest and tanginess.

Japanese Food Recipes For Free

If you have found yourself liking traditional Japanese food and you are interested in making several dishes yourself, here are two of the most famous Japanese food recipes that you may enjoy.

Sushi - traditional dish which is usually composed of three basic ingredients: seafood, seaweed and rice. Famous varieties of this dish includes California Maki, Futo Maki and Ebi Maki. Their name indicates the type of seafood or ingredient used in the dish. "Futo" for example indicates that the main ingredient is egg.

To make Ebi (Shrimp) sushi you would need:

-­ Shrimp
-­ Sushi rice (Short - grained Japanese rice cooked with vinegar and sugar mixture)
-­ Wasabi
-­ Japanese Soy Sauce

Preparation:

1. Prepare the shrimp by skewering it from head to tail. This is done to prevent it from curling while cooking.
2. Boil water lightly seasoned with salt and drop the shrimp until it turns pink.
3. Once cooked de-vein shrimp and let it cool.
4. Form sushi rice into rectangular blocks which are approximately 1.5 to 2 inches long.
5. Spread a thin layer of wasabi on the underside of the cooked shrimp.
6. Put the shrimp on top of the shaped rice and serve with dipping sauce made of Japanese soy sauce.

Ramen - Japanese noodle soup dish.

For the Shiitake Japanese Ramen, you will need:

-­ One pack of noodles
-­ Cooked pork slices
-­ Scallions
-­ Shiitake Mushrooms
-­ Bamboo shoots
-­ Dried Kelp
-­ 1 egg
-­ 6 cups of water

Preparation:

1. Create the broth by combining the mushrooms and water in a cooking pot.
2. Heat the water and turn off the heat once it comes to a boil.
3. Let the mushroom soak within 30 minutes before taking them out with a strainer.
4. Cook the noodles per package directions and boil the egg until it gets well done.
5. Assemble the ramen by layering the ingredients. The noodles should go first, followed by the pork, sliced hard boiled egg and sliced mushrooms.
6. Finish the soup off by pouring in the broth.

Exciting International Grilled Vegetable Recipes

A lot of people fall into a cooking comfort zone and perhaps you are one of them. If you have four or five staple meals you like to rotate and you make the same side dishes to accompany them, perhaps your cooking style is a habit rather than an adventure.

There is nothing wrong with making the same set of recipes for your family if they enjoy them but sometimes it can be nice to try something different to surprise them. International grilled vegetable recipes are one way to try out an unusual flavor while giving your family the nutritious vegetables you love them to have.

If you usually boil or microwave your vegetables you will be really amazed when you taste grilled vegetables and discover how juicy and full of flavor they can be. Using international herbs, spices or sauces adds another dimension to the flavor when you grill vegetables.

How to Grill Vegetables for a Side Dish

There are different ways to make grilled vegetables. You can grill whole vegetables with or without a marinade or spice rub. You can enclose chopped vegetables in an aluminum foil packet with butter, garlic and herbs or you can make vegetable kabobs which are often very colorful.

Any of these cooking methods is great for making either side dishes or entrees and if you are feeding vegetarians you might like to make extra portions of grilled vegetables to serve them.

Recipe for Chilled Japanese Style Grilled Eggplant

Grilled vegetable recipes are usually served hot but in Japan they are often known as "yakinasu" and served chilled. Your vegetables take on all the great things about being grilled, such as the enhanced flavor and the attractive grill marks if they are sliced, but chilling the vegetables after cooking them makes them a refreshing side dish for a hot day.

You can serve this grilled eggplant recipe as a side dish with any kind of meal. You do not necessarily have to serve them with an Asian meal.

Since they are chilled, you can also make them in advance and keep them in the refrigerator to serve a few hours after grilling them. The following recipes makes two servings, so feel free to double it. It is a very simple recipe but really tasty.

You can get dried bonito flakes from an Asian grocery store. Japanese eggplants are actually from China originally. They are small and round, as opposed to the Indian eggplants which can weigh up to two pounds. Use the smaller ones in this recipe.

What you will need:

4 Japanese eggplants
2 tablespoons dried bonito flakes
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
Soy sauce, as needed

How to make it:

Preheat the grill to medium hot and grill the eggplants until they are soft and the skins are very charred. Let them cool in water and remove the skins. Dry them with paper towels and take off the stems. Chill them in the refrigerator and serve them with the grated ginger and bonito flakes on top. Add a few drops of soy sauce to taste and serve.

A Look at Different International Soup Recipes

French onion is one example of an international soup which is popular all over the world but there are more. India is famed for its lentil soups, Japan's miso is unique and delicious and most of us are familiar with the healing properties of Jewish chicken noodle is another example.

Scotch broth, which is barley and mutton, and cullen skink, a smoked haddock soup, are renowned in Scotland. In Eastern Europe you will find borscht, a meat and beetroot soup, and goulash, which is a paprika and beef stew which used to be a soup.

The American South gives us chicken, meat, seafood and okra gumbo soups and in the Middle East a chickpea, lamb and lentil combination is the perfect snack for breaking the Ramadan fast. In Italy you will find minestrone and many other varieties of pasta and bean types and Greece is home to delicious lemon and egg soup. Spanish gazpacho is a wonderful example of a famous chilled version and Lebanese cucumber soup is just as refreshing.

How It has Evolved Through History

Soups vary from chilled to piping hot, as well as from water thin to thick and creamy. The word "soup" can be traced back to the word "suppare" which in Latin means to soak, and this refers to the way vegetables or meat is soaked in cooking liquid to make a soup. Soup used to known as "pottage" which means cooked in a pot, or "broth" which means brewed.

"Bouillon" is French for boil and a bouillon is a stock. The word chowder comes from the Breton word "chaudree" which means cauldron and chowders are rich, thick soups from the American northeast and New England areas. A chowder might have a creamy base, a tomato base or a clear broth base.

A bisque is a thick soup which is thought to come from the Bay of Biscay near Spain. Bisques used to feature game birds and poultry but now most are made with seafood such as crab or lobster.

Soups used to be basic combinations of meat, vegetables and water but international soups developed in their own way and today there are many types of soup recipes and lots of different flavors and ingredients you can add to soup to recreate famous international soup recipes like French onion soup and more.

Recipe for Greek Egg and Lemon Soup

This delicious soup is called Avoglemeno in Greek and the tangy lemon, chicken, rice and egg combine to make a wonderfully aromatic soup. For a tangier soup you can add more lemon. For a more filling soup, add more rice. This recipe serves four people.

What you will need:

2 diced boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 egg
1 1/2 cups raw instant rice
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper, to taste

How to make it:

Bring the broth to a boil, then add the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the rice. Beat the lemon juice and egg and slowly stir this mixture into the soup. Cook for 5 more minutes and serve hot.