Herbed Chicken Strips with Corn and Carrot Rice

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Cooking dinner the other night was a fast affair. I was thawing a tray of chicken thigh fillets without having decided how I’d cook the chicken. Meanwhile, I busied myself in the study learning Abode CS5, playing with color palettes, and tweaking my CSS. Then, my Seesmic notifier popped up and there was an update from one of the food bloggers that I follow on Twitter. Never mind wracking my brain for ideas. I found the perfect idea. Soak the chicken strips in milk, dredge in bread crumbs and dried herbs, lay on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and broil. Simple and delicious.

Holding your knife at a 45 angle, cut each chicken thigh fillet into four to five pieces so that you have thin strips. Place the chicken strips in a shallow bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the milk. Mix. Cover and let sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes. You can cook your rice meanwhile (recipe below).

Dredge each chicken strip in the crust mixture and arrange it in a single layer on the lined baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over the chicken strips. Roast, broil or bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until golden. you can easily do this in a rice cooker. Slice off the kernels from two yellow corn cobs (see illustration). Peel two carrots and cut into 1/4-inch cubes. Cook two cups of rice, carrots, and corn in four cups of seasoned chicken broth. Stir halfway through the cooking to prevent the corn and carrots from floating on top. Continue cooking until all the broth has been absorbed. The carrots and corn will be done by the time the rice is cooked.

Chili Soya Chicken

Another throw-in-what-you’ve-got dish that turned out magnificently. I’m still in party mode and not really in the mood for cooking today. I didn’t have to for lunch because we still had a few pieces of grilled pork and lumpiang ubod from yesterday’s party. But for dinner, well, leftovers don’t last forever.

Alex requested a dish with a thick sticky sauce that has her favorite combination of flavors sweet tangy and salty. I thought of teriyaki but Sam might complain because she thinks I cook teriyaki far too often as it is. So I invented something new that would put to good use the Thai chili that I bought from the supermarket recently.

The result is this spicy, sweet, and tangy chicken. Cooked in 30 minutes, including preparation time, without too much fuss. Just brown the chicken, add all the seasonings and spices and a little water, simmer until almost done then boil uncovered to thicken the sauce. Heat a non-stick frying pan. Place the chicken in a single layer, skin side down. Cook until the skins are lightly browned, flip over and cook the other side for a couple of minutes, or until the meat is no longer pink.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Pour in about 3/4 c. of water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken pieces over and simmer for another 10 minutes. Take off the cover, turn up the heat, and boil the chicken until the sauce is thick, about five minutes.