Orange Chicken

For the longest time I've been meaning to drop by "THAT" restaurant that serves this particular dish but I keep fighting the urge to do so.

What? Am I dieting? Heavens no! (but I'm trying to eat smarter, though.) I'm trying my hardest to save up for a kitchen aid and upon checking the pantry and the fridge, I had all the ingredients to recreate the dish. (Yes stingy me is trying to save a buck or two.)

So off to the kitchen I went!

This is not exactly what you call "health food." I mean come on! It's fried chicken for crying out loud. Then it's drenched in a sweet, tangy, spicy sauce and served on a bed of white rice. No brown rice here. It's full carbs or nothing. So if you're looking for a healthy meal, I suggest you keep looking. I, on the other hand, will enjoy my dinner. If you want to give it a try, check out the recipe. (Please note that I do not measure the ingredients when I cook, so I kinda eyeballed the measurements in this dish.)

Orange Chicken

4 pcs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 tsp grated ginger

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp orange zest

1/2 tsp ground pepper

6 to 7 tbsp white vinegar

1/2 cup sugar (i used brown sugar)

1/4 cup soy sauce ( i used low sodium)

1 cup orange juice

1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp + 2 tsp cornstarch dispersed in

2 tbsp water

For the coating:

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 tbsp water

1 cup cornstarch

cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp baking soda

Canola oil for deep frying.

In a saucepan, combine ginger, garlic, orange zest, pepper and cayenne. Add chicken broth, orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Stir.

Measure out 3/4 cup of the marinade and put in a resealable bag and marinate chicken pieces 30 mins to 60 mins. (keep in fridge).

Heat remaining marinade until slightly thickened.

Add cornstarch mixture and continue to cook until sauce is translucent. Set aside.

Drain chicken pieces and pat dry.

In a bowl, combine cornstarch, cayenne, baking soda. In another bowl, beat the eggs and add water. Dip the chicken pieces in the egg mixture then dredge in cornstarch mixture.

Deep fry the chicken pieces and transfer onto plates lined with paper towel.

Reheat the sauce if necessary and toss with the cooked chicken pieces. Serve with rice.

2011

(photo via: thenotebookdoodles )

Yes, 2011. Please be good to me.

I've been so busy during the past six months that I totally stopped blogging.

I moved:

1. to a different time zone

2. to a different city.

3. far from my family.

*sigh*

The thing I like about the move apart from making new friends, is learning to be really independent and summing up the courage to learn new things and take on the adventure that is life.

However, I really, really miss my family. I miss their hugs and kisses and laughter. I miss being with them which was why I spent an ample amount of time in the kitchen, cooking. It's something we love to do as a family. We love gathering around the table, having a good time while partaking of the food we prepared. So yeah when I feel sad, or when a wave of homesickness hits me, I hie off to the kitchen and prepare food that we used to enjoy :)

And I will be posting some pictures of the food I've prepared pretty soon.

So yes, 2011, please be a good year not only for my family and I, but for everyone else as well!

Spaghetti with sundried tomatoes and sweet italian sausage

It's Monday once again and I'm home alone so I volunteered to cook pasta for dinner.



Sundried tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, mushrooms, cream. basil. garlic and spaghetti make up the cast of ingredients in this pasta dish.




Oh! I almost forgot the sweet italian sausages. Not in photo are the butter and EVOO.

Anyhow, begin by chopping the garlic. Then slice the mushrooms as well. Drain the stewed tomatoes and give them a rough chop too. Set these aside.

Remove the sausage casings and crumble the sausages. Set these aside too.

Salt and boil water for the pasta. Cook pasta until al dente as per package directions.

In a saucepan, heat the EVOO and butter. Add the garlic followed by the stewed tomatoes. When the tomatoes are tender, add the sausages. Cook sausages until they turn brown. Add the mushrooms. Saute and add freshly ground pepper. Add cream. Add some pasta water to the sauce and check for seasoning.

Let simmer for a few minutes until it thickens a bit. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce.
Adjust seasonings accordingly. Sprinkle with parmigiano reggiano and basil that has been julienned.

this is my super late brunch/early dinner.

birthday cupcakes for gelli

It was my sister's birthday last March 5. I wanted to surprise her with a birthday cake but seeing that I had no talent whatsoever when it comes to cake decorating, I decided on making some cupcakes instead.



I was suppose to bake the cupcakes before we left for Manila but my oven did not cooperate so I had to bake the cupcakes in Manila one day after her birthday.



I used my trusted chocolate cake recipe but tweaked the frosting a bit. I added cocoa and coffee to half of the frosting. The other half I left plain. I preferred the vanilla frosting but my sisters liked the mocha flavored frosting. Either way, I still have to thank my sister Tanya for taking these photos.

Comfort me with Carrot Cake

My love affair with carrot cake started when I was in college. My good friend Geedes makes scrumptious carrot cakes. I remember helping her bake dozens of carrot cakes in her La Vista kitchen when she was still living here in the Philippines. Her carrot cakes were moist and yummy and generously covered with cream cheese frosting
She's now based in Canada and I miss her and her cooking. On days when I feel sad and start missing friends who are now based halfway around the world, I comfort myself with a hefty chunk of carrot cake and think of the good times I had with them.

Carrot Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots
1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans instead of cupcake molds. Line bottom of pans with waxed paper. Butter and flour paper; tap out excess flour.

Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins, if using them.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans, and bake the layers for about 40 minutes each, or until a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks. Peel off waxed paper; cool cakes completely. Top cake with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1-2 tbps milk

In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy. Chill the frosting for 10 to 20 minutes, until it has set up enough to spread smoothly.

Finally! a quick stint in the kitchen

Last Sunday, I joined my family in Manila where our sister is currently based. Since I was already there, I went to Sweet Craft and The Cocoa Pantry to buy some stuffs for me to use this Christmas. After a couple of hours, I found myself in the kitchen with ingredients to make rhum cake.

(my loot)

Let me be the first to tell you that my baking skills are rusty!!! This is what happens when I'm away from the kitchen for a long time. I forgot to preheat the oven. I forgot how to substitute cake flour with all purpose flour (no internet access at that time, so I had to guess!). I couldn't decide between using a regular bundt pan and mini bundt pans. Eventually though, I used the latter but I filled them with way too much cake batter.

(note to self : do not fill pan with way too much cake batter)

(brushing cake with rhum syrup)

(more rhum syrup)

The kitchen gods must love me inspite of my faux pas because after forty minutes, the kitchen smelled so good. Sweet goodies and vanilla heaven! Speaking of vanilla, I used the madagascar bourbon vanilla that my friend Geedes sent me. Made a lot of difference!

( i have two of these from Geedes)

Our house in Bauang is still being renovated. My dad had some people replace the wooden floor with tiles. My room needs repainting but we'll be able to move back home in a couple of days. A few weeks earlier, I had manong Rannie of La Germania check if the oven still works since it was submerged in murky water. He was kind enough to clean the oven. Yay! Baking and cooking galore here I come!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

This post is for dog lovers only...

My blog was named after her. Well sort of. I wanted to use Cuppy Cakes for my blog title but unfortunately that title was already taken so I settled on Cuppy Creme instead.

Anyways, enough about my blog. We've been so busy that we forgot our cuppycupcakey's birthday last November 19. She turned 6. Converted to human years, she's now older than me!

Belated happy birthday Cupcake! We luv luv luv luv you!!!!