Chicken Ramen with Crispy Chicken Skin

Lately we've developed a pretty healthy craving on a regular basis for a good homemade ramen. Yes, both of us individually as college students consumed our fair share of totally unhealthy packaged ramen dishes. It kind of makes me swell just thinking of it but what can we say those college days were lean.

We've tried a few different recipes with some mild satisfaction but really we learned making a good broth isn't a quick or super easy endeavor. 

We adapted a few different recipes we found to make the best ramen and broth we've made to date. We started with bone in, skin on chicken thighs. Both the bones and skin really add to the flavor of the broth so we feel this is what made all the difference with this ramen. 

Somewhat mistakenly the skin really stuck to the bottom of the pot and tore away from the chicken. The skin started getting all crispy and we both immediately thought that crispy skin will make a great topping and it did.

Once the chicken was cooked we removed the chicken from the pot and started our broth. Adding onion, ginger and garlic and chicken broth with some dashi seasoning. We also added a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil as well.

While the broth simmered for about 45 minutes we sauteed the broccolini and mushrooms, shredded the chicken and cooked the ramen. And soft boiled the eggs.

Now it was time to assemble the ramen. We started first plating the noodles.

Followed by the broccolini.

And then the mushrooms and chicken.

Finally the broth, eggs and toasted sesame seeds and crispy chicken skin. It was our first time actually making soft boiled eggs. I think they went a minute or two too long, next time we'll cook them a bit less. 

We can't emphasize enough how essential the crispy chicken skin became, we highly recommend using it. We also believe it was the remaining stuck skin at the bottom of the pot that really added the rich essence to the broth. 

Recipe:

Chicken Ramen with Crispy Chicken Skin

Broth:

2 Tblspns olive oil

1 lb. Bone in, skin on chicken thighs

1 white onion, chopped

Salt & pepper

3 Tblspns ginger, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced 

4 cups chicken broth

2 Tblspns dashi powder

2 Tblspns soy sauce

2 Tblspns sesame oil

Toppings:

1/4 lb oyster mushrooms

1/4 lb shitake mushrooms

1/4 lb broccolini

4 green onions, diagonally chopped

2 eggs

2 packages ramen noodles

2 Tblspns toasted sesame seeds

Crispy chicken skin

Cook the seasoned chicken thighs in 2 tablespoons olive oil in a dutch oven. As the skin starts to cook pull the chicken away from the skin and let the skin crisp up. When chicken is cooked through remove from pot and finish crisping chicken skin. Pull out as much chicken skin as you can and drain on paper towel and season with salt. 

To pot add onion, ginger, garlic, broth, dashi, soy sauce and sesame oil. Bring to boil then lower temperature and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

While broth cooks saute' mushrooms and broccolini until down but not over cooked. Cook ramen and soft boil eggs.

To large bowls divide noodles. Top with veggies and chopped chicken. Divide broth. Top with eggs, crispy chicken skin and toasted sesame seeds. 

Spicy Shrimp Tempura with Peach Avocado Salad

It was one of those Saturday mornings where I was dragging my feet a bit getting dressed, a bit bummed I had to go into work on the weekend. So while I was getting dressed I was distracted both by my bully and the Food Network.

The show The Best Thing I Ever Ate/Made was on. And while trying to stop Sally from chasing my sock I noticed Beau Macmillan was talking about this amazing shrimp tempura dish he had made that was sweet, spicy and spectacular.

I immediately went downstairs to download the recipe so on the way home from school I could pick up the ingredients to make it. 

He explained it was easy to make. Yes, easy to make but lots of steps and prep too. I decided to skip a step and instead of making the jalapeño jelly I would instead use some of the habanero peach jelly we had canned last summer to replace it. It was actually a perfect switch.

I tried to find mangoes but couldn't, not even frozen, so instead I had to go with frozen peaches. Winter is tough to find sweet fruit. 

The flavor profiles of the dish were pretty amazing. I'd never made tempura before and it turned out perfect using the rice flour and carbonated water (I used soda water.)

And the coconut sticky rice was delish.

G & I both agreed this may be the best dish we've ever made. And that's saying a lot we cook a ton of food. But this really was EXCELLENT!

RECIPE:

Spicy Shrimp Tempura with Peach Avocado Salad - adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

Coconut Sticky Rice:

1 cup white medium-grain rice, such as Calrose

One 13.5-ounce can coconut milk

Red Pepper Jalapeno Jelly: (We skipped this entire step and used our homemade canned Habenero Peach Salsa.)

1 1/2 red bell peppers, diced

1 jalapeno, sliced with seeds

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 to 2 pinches red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon liquid pectin

Mango and Avocado Salad:

1 avocado, sliced

1 cucumber, seeded and sliced

1 fresh mango, chopped ( We had to use frozen peaches, no mangoes to be found)

1/4 of a fresh jalapeno, sliced

6 sprigs fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish

3 green onions, chopped, plus more for garnish

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon chili paste

Pinch black pepper

Tempura Shrimp:

8 large shrimp or tiger prawns

1 1/2 cups rice flour

1 1/2 to 2 cups carbonated water ( we used soda water)

Canola oil, for frying

Directions

For the sticky rice: Wash the rice until the water is clear and all the starch is washed off. Put the rice in a shallow cooking pan and add the coconut milk and 3/4 cup water. (Trick - place your hand flat in the pan and pour in the water. When the liquid reaches your middle finger knuckle, you have the right amount.)

Bring the rice and coconut milk to a boil. Then turn down the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes.

For the jelly: Put the bell peppers, jalapeno, sugar, cider vinegar and red pepper flakes into a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the liquid is reduced by two-thirds. Add the liquid pectin to give it a jelly-like consistency. Then set aside.

For the salad: Combine the avocado, cucumber, mango, jalapeno, cilantro, green onions, sugar, oil, vinegar, chili paste and black pepper in a bowl and mix together.

For the shrimp: Peel and clean the shrimp. I like to use tiger prawns - big daddy shrimp!! Frozen shrimp is fine - just let them thaw out and rinse them in water.

Whisk together the rice flour and carbonated water until it reaches a batter consistency (alternatively, you can get premade tempura batter at Asian markets). It's key to not whisk too much, you want a nice fine batter without much air in it.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Next, take a heavy-bottomed pot and fill it with canola oil. Don't fill the pot too much! If using a 1-gallon saucepot, use 1/4 gallon oil. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until it's about 350 degrees F. You can test if the oil is ready by dropping some of the tempura batter into the oil. If it floats to the top, it's ready to go!

Dredge the shrimp in the batter and drop into the oil. The shrimp will cook all the way in 2 to 3 minutes. It's key to not add too many shrimp at once, just add 3 or 4 at a time.

When the shrimp floats to the top, they should be done. You can test them by taking one out and cutting into it to make sure it's opaque, and then taking a bite. Place the shrimp in the oven until you are ready to plate.

Combine all the components: Put the fried shrimp in a bowl with some pepper jelly and toss to coat them. Next, take a little bit of the jelly and place on the bottom of each plate. Put some sticky rice down on the plate on top of the jelly. Place 2 shrimp on top of the rice. Add some mango and avocado salad. Garnish with a little extra cilantro or sliced green onions.

Chinese Style Egg Rolls

Last summer I was determined to make some delicious  springrolls/eggrolls. I searched and found several recipes. Planned and plotted ideas for days until I finally decided to go with Marc's recipe found on his blog "No Recipes." Yeah, evidently he's an ironic kind of fellow.

Summer 2013 recipe making

But what I liked about his recipe is that he did a great job with a detailed step by step plan that made me feel confident in being able to successfully make them. 

Summer 2013 recipe making

I followed his steps pretty strictly.

I planned and then started rolling, his idea to lay out several at a time was helpful.

Finally, I was ready to fry them up.

Summer recipe 2013

They looked pretty great and I was excited with my success.

Summer 2013 recipe

We had them on the patio to celebrate a nice August weekend meal.

But here's the thing. They weren't great. The filling was fantastic but sadly I bought the spring roll wrappers at our typical grocery store. Bad choice. They were crisp on the outside of the wrapper but the inside of the wrapper was like chewy. Not at all like a crisp spring roll.

See even back in August I had come across Jaden's recipe on Steamy Kitchen and she specifically said, "don't buy the wrappers at your Western grocery." You need to buy the frozen kind you find at the Asian market. But I was attracted to Marc's recipe because he used the noodles inside the roll which I like. As typical you live and learn. Buy only the wrappers you find at the Asian grocery.

So last weekend I decided to give them try #2. But this time I went with Jayden's advice and made her recipe too.

Making the filling - Winter recipe 2014

It all started out good.

Winter recipe 2014

I even tilted the filling after it was cooked to drain the juices on Jayden's advice.

Winter recipe 2014

I rolled them carefully, making sure to not leave space inside.

Winter recipe 2014

This time I used my little fry baby gadget too which was a good option for frying in the winter as I typically only deep fry outside on the grill burner to avoid that deep fried house smell. They turned out beautiful, light crisp and not greasy at all.

So here's the deal the wrapper on Jaden's recipe was perfect. But I have to say I like the filling fixing from Marc's recipe better. I think it was the noodles that I love. 

But they both taught me a lot about making eggrolls or spring rolls.

RECIPE:

Links to both of their recipes below.

No Recipes

Steamy Kitchen