Tuesday, March 30, 2010

General Tso's Chicken



All recipes posted here are a composite of random recipes found online, in various cookbooks, taken from family, friends, neighbors and dishes/creations I have tried and/or made myself. Any similarity to people's personal or unique family recipes is purely coincidental, and no one actually owns the rights to any food combinations if you think about it. No matter how unique. Food for thought?!




INGREDIENTS:



Vegetable oil, for deep frying
4 boneless chicken breasts (you can use dark meat)
3 eggs
2 ts cayenne pepper
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 2 TB cornstarch
1 – 1 ½ cups of panko crumbs

Sauce:
1 large orange, zested
1 ¼ cups orange juice (with pulp is best)
½ cup dark brown sugar
3-4 TB plum sauce
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 ts hot pepper flakes
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
1 – 2 TB cornstarch

1 red bell pepper, cut into small strips
¼ - ½ cup of sweet & spicy pecans (I found at Trader Joe’s)

In a large pot/wok, pour a bottle of vegetable oil/sunflower/canola oil to fill about 1/3 of your pot full. Heat the pot over medium heat until oil reaches 350 degrees F ( use a thrmonato if you have one, but be careful not to bur yourself)
Cut chicken into smaller pieces as desired.
In a large bowl, whisk Eggs, Cayenne Pepper, Salt & Black Pepper, & then set aside for later. In another large bowl mix Flour, Cornstarch, Salt & Pepper, & also set aside for later.
In a medium bowl put the panko crumbs in ( These can be hard to find, so try an Asian store).
Dip the chicken into the mixture in batches, first in the egg mixture you set aside, & then into the flour mixture & shake to coat ( remember the ol' Shake & bake meals your mom use to make with the spices and teh plastic baggie?). Then coat in the panko crumbs, making sure to thoroughly coat them. Place on a try in preparation for frying ( not the funnest or most healthy part of the recipe).
Prepare sauce in a large sauté pan, melt 6 TB of butter, then add orange zest, orange juice, dark brown sugar, hot pepper flakes & Worcestershire. Stir everything, bring to a boil, reduce heat & add 3-4 TB of plum sauce, bring to a boil again & add the cornstarch. Stir thoroughly , and make sure the cornstarch dissolves. Simmer a few minutes or longer till it's thickened appropriately. Add the last 2 TB of butter, stir until it's all melted.

Place chicken in hot oil, enjoy being burned and fry everything until it's golden brown & crispy ( Depending on how you like it, as I amnot a huge fan of extra crispy). Transfer the now fried/battered chicken anotehr plate and cover with paper towels to absorb some of the excess greese ( this is not healthy at all so you want to get as much of it as possible).

Add the cooked chicken to the sauté pan with the sauce & mix until everything is evenly coated. Then add red pepper strips & pecans, mix everything again and serve with white sticky rice ( I am horrible at making rice so I always use instant, but I am sure youc an do better). Enjoy!





Friday, March 19, 2010

God Ambushed



I just got God Ambushed...again! Well, maybe not entirely, as I cut him off early this time. I was leaving Target and a man in a Sears Auto uniform asked me if I knew who so John Newton was. A (former) Slave owner who apparently wrote Amazing Grace. He then proceeded to tell me how this man took stock of his life as a slave trader and decided to repent for his actions, at which point I interrupted and asked if there was a point to this story and if it was about God or religion. It obviously was and so I cut him off. Telling him not to waste my time. He then started to say something about how this man freed the slaves or some such nonsense and I really laid it into him. Telling him that I do not bother him in his every day life, so why should he bother me. I am all for religious freedom and whatnot, but don't fucking bother me! Keep your shit to yourself and leave me out of it.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

I am currently waiting in line to attend the Paley Fest GLEE panel in Beverly Hills. It's the earliest I have ever shown up, and I am the farthest I have ever been. The line seems to be made up of mostly women, somewhat overweight (but who isn't nowadays in the US?), and quite a few Asians. I don't have the best seats for this, but I think I can bluff my way to better ones. We will see. Pictures will be up Sunday or Tuesday because of my class schedule.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I actually overheard this on the bus while coming back from a Paley Center Event. A very drunk Mexican was loudly telling his companion that his wife wants him to be psychologically evaluated. She apparently thinks he's crazy. From his drunken demeaner, I would guess that maybe he's Bi-Polar or at least manic. Either way he is going to spend 72 hours in a mental health facility. Though what he really needs seems to be a good drug & alcohol counselor.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

no one. This sort of thing sends the wrong message, and unfortunately because the Oscars are broadcast worldwide, the entire world sees this message. That only black people have an interest or shoule have an intin black movies or white people in white films and so on. It's simply not true and Hollywood would be wise to realize this. A good movie is simply a good movie, and people regardless or race or color will acknowledge this fact and act accordingly.
Watching the Academy Awards and the guy who won for the Best Adapted screenplay for Precious gave a horrible speech. It was unwatchable, even though it was barely a minute long. Plus after he won the kept show the faces of all the black actors around him, people who had nothing to do with the film at all. They only showed them because of the color of their skin, which I take personal offense to. Show everyone regardless of the color of their skin or show

Friday, March 5, 2010

Alice in Wonderland unfortunately wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. I didn't laugh once, nor did I find the story interesting at all. The only thing good about it was seeing all the various character from the book, live onscreen. So visually speaking it was amazing. Alas there isn't a hint of an interesting story, which really is a shame. There is so much they could have done with the story and all the rich characters. Such a shame really.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Jonses: Are they real?



There is a film coming out pretty soon called The Joneses, as in "Keeping up with the Joneses." The film stars David Ducovny, and Demi Moore. It is apparently about the perfect family called, you guessed it, The Joneses . Whose only job it seems is get the people around them interested in their lifestyle...or more aptly, the products of their lifestyle. Such as the very latest in high tech shoes, golf equipment, clothing, gourmet frozen food, stylish furniture, sports cars, hair care products and anything else they happen to be promoting. Which is pretty much anything under the sun. As this make believe "perfect" family is nothing more than a selling tool used by big business to sell products to an unsuspecting public. Everything about the Joneses is designed to do nothing more than sell whatever their bosses wish them to sell, by selling everyone on the notion that if you want to be a perfect family too, all you have to do is own everything they on.


Which any realistic or marginally self aware person knows is absolutely false, but the concept does beg the question. "Are there actual fake spokes families out there, created by big business in order to sell the pubic more stuff? I certainly wouldn't put it past a lot of corporations out there, especially the cigarette companies. For I have personally witnessed while living in Europe super hot young girls hired to sell cigarettes, as well as the idea that smoking is sexy and you can actually get a girl as hot as me if you smoke too. So it's not really that far of a stretch to believe that some company out there has indeed hired the perfect family, purely just to sell their various consumer wares.