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Like many people who work, I have a long and hectic day most weekdays. By the time I get home in the evenings, I often have just a little time (and energy) to throw something together for dinner.

For those evenings when time is precious, it’s nice to have something ready in the fridge as a time saver, such as cooked chicken. I especially enjoy a simple, Chinese style poached chicken for its tender texture, fresh taste and versatility.  

Here are just a few ways to use poached chicken…the possibilities are numerous:

• Chilled, sliced and served with romaine leaves to make easy lettuce wraps
• Thrown into a salad
• Folded in rice paper with cellophane noodles and greens for a quick fresh spring roll
• Shredded and stirred into rice porridge/congee
• Enjoyed as is, with a little dipping sauce (see recipe below)
• Sandwich roll-up (try it in a whole wheat wrap with shredded carrots, cilantro, and a bit of peanut butter for a Southeast Asian flavor).

This Chinese style poached chicken recipe is easy to make ahead of time, with a minimum of ingredients and fuss. (Fittingly enough, it is based on a recipe used by my brother Dave…who just happens to write about productivity tools and tips.)

Chinese Style Poached Chicken:

Ingredients:

• 2 whole chicken breasts, skin on and bone in
• A few scallion stalks, chopped into medium sized pieces 
• 3-5 slices of ginger root
• 1/2 cup dry sherry

Equipment:

• A large pot with a tight fitting lid

Directions:

Fill the large pot with water and put over heat to boil. While the water is waiting to boil, wash the chicken breasts, chop up the scallions and ginger and set aside. When the water reaches the boiling point, carefully lower the chicken breasts into the pot. Wait 30 seconds, then TURN OFF THE HEAT. Add the scallions, sliced ginger, and sherry, cover the pot and let sit undisturbed for 35 minutes (no peeking!). Remove the chicken, which should now be cooked through and tender. Allow to cool. Remove the skin and carefully carve or pull the meat from the bones. Use immediately, or store in your fridge to keep handy for the next couple of days.

(Note: You can also use boneless, skinless chicken breast—just reduce the poaching time to about 25 minutes.)

Sauce Suggestion: (Increase recipe as needed, though a little goes a long way)

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 scallion stalk, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• Sea salt or kosher salt to taste

Briefly sauté the chopped scallion in the sesame oil, then remove from heat and mix in soy sauce, ginger and a sprinkling of salt to taste. Use as dipping sauce or drizzle on top of sliced chicken. (My favorite use: Arrange a few chicken pieces on a romaine leaf with a bit of the sauce to make a lettuce “boat”…delicious!)

Have fun coming up with other ways to use this in your own recipes. Enjoy! 

A favorite comfort food from my childhood is chawan mushi, an elegant, Japanese style steamed egg custard. (The name literally means something like “steamed in a teacup.”) I first encountered this dish at home at the breakfast table, when my mother would sometimes have a little fun and make chawan mushi instead of the usual fried or scrambled eggs. Silky and light, it melted in the mouth…I instantly loved it. Finding it at breakfast in the morning was always a happy, festive start to the day.

There are beautiful lidded cups that are designed specifically for cooking and serving chawan mushi. I own several and love them dearly, but you don’t necessarily have to use them…you can also use teacups or personal sized ramekins. My ever resourceful Taiwanese mom would simply add her egg mixture to a small rice bowl, cover it with a saucer, and then pop everything into a covered wok with a small amount of water on the bottom to steam. The resulting product always turned out beautifully.

As an adult, I still have a soft spot for chawan mushi, and find that it makes a stylish appetizer or light meal. I also think it would be just the thing to eat after a night of drinking or overindulging. Whenever you decide to eat it, whether it’s for a festive breakfast, a fun meal starter or something to pamper your post-party stomach…chawan mushi is easy to make and the perfect comfort food in a cup.

Chawan Mushi/Steamed Japanese Egg Custard

(Serves 2-3, depending on what cups you are using)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1.5 cups dashi stock
• 1 tablespoon light colored Japanese style soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon mirin

(Note: To make dashi stock—Take a 6-inch piece of kombu (dried sea kelp), wipe clean with a damp towel, and make a few cuts along the edges with scissors (This will extract more flavor from the kelp…more surface area exposed = more flavor). Add kombu to 5 cups of water in a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Just before it reaches a boil, remove the kombu and add 2.5 cups of dried bonito flakes. Turn off the heat and let sit for about 6 minutes or until the flakes sink to the bottom. Strain into a bowl through a piece of cheesecloth. The dashi stock is now ready to use or freeze (will keep in the freezer for about a month). You can also use instant dashi powder to make the stock.)

Filling:

• 1 sliced shiitake mushroom (fresh or rehydrated)
• 2-3 asparagus spears, sliced into pieces about 2 inches long.
• 2-3 shrimp, cleaned, deveined and with tail left on

(Note: Feel free to go ahead and change the filling ingredients according to your preference. Just be sure to limit it to no more than three, or it will overwhelm the delicate flavor of the custard. You could try water chestnuts, tofu, small cubes of chicken, crabmeat, baby corn…anything you think of or have on hand. Just go for it and have fun creating your own unique combination.)

Garnish:

• Mitsuba (Japanese parsley) or if not available, flat leaf parsley or cilantro

Equipment:

• A pot with steamer basket
• Cheesecloth or fine strainer
• 2-3 chawan mushi cups (or teacups/small ramekins and aluminum foil)

Directions:

Fill pot about halfway with water and bring to a boil.

Combine egg, dashi stock, soy sauce and mirin in a bowl and with smooth strokes, gently beat with chopsticks. Try not to create too much froth, because you don’t want a lot of air bubbles in your custard.

Strain egg mixture through cheesecloth or strainer.

Divide egg mixture among the chawan mushi cups.

Add a few slices of mushroom, one shrimp, and an asparagus piece (using an end piece that includes the pointy tip looks best) to each cup. Cover with lids if using chawan mushi cups, or cover with foil if using the ramekins or teacups.

When water in pot reaches a boil, place cups into steamer basket. Steam on high heat for 2 minutes, then reduce heat to low for another 10-12 minutes.

Test the surface with toothpick or skewer to check doneness…some clear liquid should form on top when prodded. Custard should be smooth and soft but not super firm. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look completely gelled, it is supposed to be a silken consistency. If it looks underdone, just keep on the steamer and re-cover, checking back at 1-2 minute intervals until it reaches the desired consistency. I have an old gas stove that is sometimes difficult to control accurately, so for me, there is a lot of “check and see” to this…sometimes that means an extra minute or two, sometimes it means an extra 10. Just make sure the flame isn’t too high or custard is not cooked for too long or it will get tough and unattractive.

When the custard looks done, remove from steamer, garnish surface with a leaf of parsley or mitsuba, and serve immediately. (Or for you Flickr addicts, that means immediately after you take all your photographs…you know what I’m talking about.)

Grab a spoon and enjoy!

I recently enjoyed an excellent, leisurely lunch with family and loved ones at a Turkish restaurant. When the coffee (hot, strong and Turkish, of course) arrived after our meal, we were pleased to find small cubes of Turkish Delight perched on each of our saucers. Also known as lokum, it is a traditional, jelly-like Middle Eastern confection that has been around for centuries.

We found that each morsel was small but satisfying…lightly sweet and delicately flavored with rosewater, just one piece was enough for each of us. Despite being fat-free and small in size, it still seemed indulgent. It was a pleasant ending to an already perfect meal.

While it is easy enough to buy Turkish Delight in the shops, it is also fairly easy to make at home. There are numerous recipes for Turkish Delight out there, with all kinds of variations on ingredients and flavors…some with orange peel, some with lemon peel, some with rosewater or mint or nuts. This recipe is pretty easy and close to what we enjoyed that lazy afternoon:

Turkish Delight (Lokum)

(Note: This needs to set overnight before cutting and serving, so please plan accordingly.)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 4 1/2 cups water (divided into 1 1/2 cup and 3 cup quantities)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 1/2 tablespoon rosewater (available from Middle Eastern markets)
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup cornstarch
• Red food coloring

Coating:

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

Equipment:

• 2 large, heavy saucepans
• Candy thermometer
• 9″x9″ square baking dish
• Wax paper or plastic wrap
• Vegetable oil

Optional Equipment:

A strong and patient friend to take turns stirring the pot because your arm will probably get tired!

Directions:

Combine sugar, 1 1/2 cups of water, and lemon juice and heat in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and mixture reaches a boil, then reduce heat and simmer without stirring until mixture reaches 240ºF (”soft ball” stage) on the candy thermometer. Remove from heat.

In the other saucepan over medium heat, stir 1 cup of cornstarch and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar together while gradually adding 3 cups of water. Stir mixture to remove lumps, until it has reached a boil and is the consistency of paste

Gradually add the sugar/water/lemon juice syrup to the cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer, frequently stirring to prevent sticking. Continue to stir for about an hour (this is where having a friend to take turns comes in handy), then stir in the rosewater and a tiny drop of red food coloring if you want to add a nice rose or red tint.

Oil the inside of the 9″x9″ baking dish with the vegetable oil and line with the wax paper or plastic wrap. Oil the wax paper/plastic wrap as well.

Pour the mixture into the oiled and lined baking dish and spread evenly. (Note: this probably goes without saying, but the mixture will be VERY hot, so be careful while pouring and try not to forget and casually wipe stray drips away with your finger…you WILL get burned!) Allow to cool overnight.

The next day, tip the hardened mixture out of the pan onto a cutting board. If your wax paper is fused to the mixture and is difficult to remove, gently dampen the surface of the paper with warm water and let it sit for a minute…it should peel away easily after that. Cut into one inch cubes with an oiled knife. I thought it would be fun and romantic to make heart shapes for Valentine’s Day, so I used a very small heart shaped cookie cutter instead.

Combine 1 cup confectioners sugar and 1/4 cup cornstarch and sift into a bowl. Roll the cut pieces in the mixture to coat. (Don’t be afraid to coat generously, because the candy will absorb some of it.) Store in an airtight container, separating each layer of Turkish Delight with wax paper.

This pairs wonderfully with a cup of mint or cardamom tea. Enjoy!

I started the New Year with an evil flu that drained me of energy, appetite and enthusiasm for pretty much everything, including food. Unable to stomach much of anything, I was uninspired until I remembered the ultimate Asian comfort food…rice congee.

Also known as rice gruel, jook, mueh, or xifan, it is all basically the same watery rice porridge, served plain with various meats and pickles on the side or with different flavors, condiments and ingredients mixed in. Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, and Russian cuisines all have their own versions. In my own Taiwanese American family, it was (and is) a common breakfast food or light meal.

Congee is so simple to make that it was one of the first foods my mom allowed me to cook on my own as a child. It is a dish almost impossible to mess up.

Method 1: Add cooked rice to a larger amount of water or broth, and simmer until the liquid is reduced and the rice is soft and the consistency of oatmeal. This is a great way to use up leftover rice, and was my mother’s usual method when I was growing up because in our household, we almost always had leftover rice.

Method 2: If you don’t have any cooked rice handy, start with uncooked rice and an even larger quantity of liquid such as 6-8 cups of water or broth to 1 cup of rice, You can vary this ratio according to your own preference and what works for you…when I consulted a friend who also comes from a Taiwanese family, she unhesitatingly recited her mother’s formula: “10 to 1!”

A third method is to simply use your electric rice cooker…a lot of rice cookers these days have a congee/porridge setting built right in!

Inspired by the “cháo” I like to order from a local Vietnamese restaurant, I decided to make a gingery chicken congee to battle my cold. It truly was the perfect food to heal both mind and body.

Easy Ginger Chicken Rice Porridge (6-8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1-2 tablespoons minced ginger root (adjust to taste)
• 1 cup shredded, cooked chicken (I poached mine)
• Chopped scallions or other herbs for garnish

Directions:

Add cooked rice to 4 cups of chicken broth, along with the minced ginger root. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the liquid is reduced and the rice is soft and about the consistency of oatmeal. (There should still be some liquid covering the rice, but just a little.) Mix in the cooked, shredded chicken and chopped scallions and serve hot.

Basic Rice Porridge (6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup uncooked short grain white rice
• 6-8 cups water or broth (though my friend insists on 10 cups)

Directions:

Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Drain water. Add the six cups of water to the rice, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot.

(Option: Add uncooked pieces of sweet potato during the cooking process to make sweet potato rice)

Enjoy, and stay healthy!