For dinner tonight we had General Tso’s Chicken, Coconut Ginger Jasmine Rice and Caprese Salad. I know . . an Italian salad with Chinese food isn’t politically correct but I was wanting Caprese Salad for the past couple of days.
It was all delicious . . really good!
Changes I made:
General Tso’s Chicken – I did use thighs and normally I would starve before eating dark meat. I bought boneless, skinless thighs and it was really good. I’d definitely use the thighs again. I added broccoli. For the sauce, it calls for 1 cup chicken broth. You can read the directions to see where I deviated but I held back about 1/2 cup of broth and added everything else to a saucepan and put the broccoli in there and simmered it til the broccoli was just barely getting tender but was still crisp. I removed the broccoli, stirred the cornstarch into the 1/2 reserved broth, added that to the sauce and simmered til thick enough. Then I added the cooked chicken and broccoli back to the sauce.
Coconut Ginger Jasmine Rice – I found that it needed more like 2 teaspoons salt and normally, I use less salt than most folks. used 1/2 cup coconut (instead of 1/4 cup) and I used a whole lot of cilantro — maybe 1/2 cup chopped, but we love cilantro. This rice was fantastic — but we both love coconut and cilantro and rice so . . it stands to reason that we would have loved it.
One of my complaints while living in Missouri (and they seem so insignificant after having been in Texas for two weeks!) was that we often had a very poor selection of produce – especially anything that was out of the ordinary. It was a very small town and I understood that there wasn’t a great demand for some of the things I used. Brownwood is a bit larger and I’ve been pretty pleased so far with the produce section at both Kroger and Wal-Mart . . though I’d bet we have the smallest Kroger in all the land.
This basil came from Wal-Mart and was way fresher than any I usually got back in MO and look at the size! I had a dime in my pocket (probably my last dime too!) and tossed it up there for comparison. See . . there is something good about living here. It only took 2 weeks to find it! 🙂
Judy D in WA says
I’ll have to try this chicken recipe soon. It’s sure different from the other one I did. Looks yummy.
JudyL says
Be careful with the chinese chili garlic sauce. If you don’t like real hot food — it’s HOT!
Glen in louisiana says
I just took a class from my favorite chef who said he liked to use skinless boneless chicken thighs because they have just enough fat to enhance flavor without that gamey taste. We did skewered strips baked after marinating in lemon, olive oil garlic and basil.
Now I’m all hungry again…….
glen
Linda in NE says
Eventually I’m sure you’ll find other good things about Texas besides the basil. LOL You just got off to a really bad start with all the house craziness and the terrible heat and drought this year. I mean it HAS to get better doesn’t it?
Happy Room Diana says
Large Basil.. don’t they say everything is bigger and better in Texas !
Diana in TX says
Looks good. Will try those for dinner soon. I buy the skinless boneless thighs most of the time. I have found that this time of the year the veggie selection is usually at an all time low because of the weather. And I have a problem going to the farmers market at 4 in the afternoon when it’s in a parking lot and 100 + degrees outside. On your travels you will have to look for a Central market or HEB grocery store.
Judy Laquidara says
When we lived in TX before, we had an HEB in our town so I’m always on the lookout for one of those.
Darlene S says
Judy, Maybe that basil was grown in MO (with our nice rains) and shipped to TX because of their draught conditions. My basil in my garden were always lush and big (when I had a garden instead of too busy quilting). 🙂