Creativity Pan
Nov. 2nd, 2022 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tigertoyI blew off cooking last night so I really needed to use the ~4 oz of chicken breast I'd thawed, but I didn't know what to make but I knew I didn't want the same old thing. So, I thought, I use rice the great majority of the time, and I just finished something with macaroni. Something different is needed. Quinoa! And corn and quinoa complement each other amino-acid wise, making them an excellent source of protein together, or so I've heard. My fridge is bare of veggies, so, hmm, how about a can of bamboo shoots? And how about an apple? I have those and that would be different. And I was thinking of cheddar cheese.
I got out my trusty round-bottom wok that I use for almost everything and started the onions frying so they'd be a little caramelized, diced the chicken finely, and tossed it in to brown. I knew I'd need some salt, and I asked myself, what spices should I use today? Ginger! Let's try ginger. I diced the apple while the chicken cooked. (Pink Lady, for the record. In addition to being the best eating apple (fight me) they are pretty good for cooking, although I buy Granny Smith if I have a plan to cook with apple when I'm at the store.) I let the apple cook a bit while I opened the cans of corn and bamboo shoots and then dumped those into the pan. I measured 3/4 of a cup of quinoa, totally spaced out on rinsing it, and added that to the pan. A quick taste and it seemed like it was mostly just sweet from the corn, so I added more salt and more ginger and a little water and let the quinoa start to cook. I went through several cycles of is the quinoa done yet? Nope, add some more water and give it a few more minutes. Finally, it seemed pretty much done, but still lacking in flavor, so yet more salt and ginger went in. Somewhere along the line, I'd realized that I was game to try cheddar cheese with the apple, but I didn't think it would work with the ginger so I left it out.
Once the quinoa was finally done, I put lunch in a bowl and the rest in single meal sized tupperware. I began to eat and pronounced it good. It was tasty enough that I might well try to duplicate it. I think it took an hour from start to finish and I don't understand how, but that's how cooking goes no matter what I'm making.
Ingredients (spice amounts are best guesses after the fact, I just throw stuff in the pan)
large skillet with enough oil to coat the bottom well
4 oz boneless chicken breast, diced finely
1 oz chopped onion
1 tsp ground ginger (half at the start, half later)
1 tsp salt (half at start, half later)
1 oz can bamboo shoots (including liquid)
1 14.5 oz can sweet corn (including liquid)
1 medium firm textured tart apple, cored, cut into 1/4-1/2" bits, not peeled
3/4 c quinoa (plain, dry grain, not any sort of mix)
I got out my trusty round-bottom wok that I use for almost everything and started the onions frying so they'd be a little caramelized, diced the chicken finely, and tossed it in to brown. I knew I'd need some salt, and I asked myself, what spices should I use today? Ginger! Let's try ginger. I diced the apple while the chicken cooked. (Pink Lady, for the record. In addition to being the best eating apple (fight me) they are pretty good for cooking, although I buy Granny Smith if I have a plan to cook with apple when I'm at the store.) I let the apple cook a bit while I opened the cans of corn and bamboo shoots and then dumped those into the pan. I measured 3/4 of a cup of quinoa, totally spaced out on rinsing it, and added that to the pan. A quick taste and it seemed like it was mostly just sweet from the corn, so I added more salt and more ginger and a little water and let the quinoa start to cook. I went through several cycles of is the quinoa done yet? Nope, add some more water and give it a few more minutes. Finally, it seemed pretty much done, but still lacking in flavor, so yet more salt and ginger went in. Somewhere along the line, I'd realized that I was game to try cheddar cheese with the apple, but I didn't think it would work with the ginger so I left it out.
Once the quinoa was finally done, I put lunch in a bowl and the rest in single meal sized tupperware. I began to eat and pronounced it good. It was tasty enough that I might well try to duplicate it. I think it took an hour from start to finish and I don't understand how, but that's how cooking goes no matter what I'm making.
Ingredients (spice amounts are best guesses after the fact, I just throw stuff in the pan)
large skillet with enough oil to coat the bottom well
4 oz boneless chicken breast, diced finely
1 oz chopped onion
1 tsp ground ginger (half at the start, half later)
1 tsp salt (half at start, half later)
1 oz can bamboo shoots (including liquid)
1 14.5 oz can sweet corn (including liquid)
1 medium firm textured tart apple, cored, cut into 1/4-1/2" bits, not peeled
3/4 c quinoa (plain, dry grain, not any sort of mix)