Tag Archives: soy sauce

Recipes - Salads

Mama’s Curried Chicken Salad



 

Is there anything better than a good chicken salad sandwich on a summer day?  Okay, maybe a bowl of lightly salted chilled watermelon, but other than that, you can’t do better than a chicken salad sandwich on a soft dinner roll; add curry to your dressing and toasted pecans to the salad and you will feel strictly uptown and satisfied!  I intended to have a photo of this salad ready to serve on soft butter and egg rolls but the café was jumping on Wednesday and the chicken salad flew out the door before there was time for an additional photo op!

This old recipe of mama’s originally used a can of cooked chicken but I changed that years ago and began using either skinless boneless chicken breasts, or, as I did last week, 6-7 large chicken thighs with the skin on for cooking then skin discarded and meat cut from the bone and shredded.  That is the only change I would even consider for this delightful flavorful  salad.

Prep your vegetables while the chicken simmers in enough water to cover and prepare the dressing and you’ll be all set once the chicken cools enough to shred.  Add everything to a large mixing bowl and pour on the dressing, folding gently.  Chill at least 4 hours or overnight and you’ll be uptown in no time!  Serve on a large dinner roll or bun or lay the salad into a quartered ripe juicy tomato, add crackers, and ohhh-la-la!

Ingredients

4-5 chicken breasts or thighs (around 1-1/2 lbs.)
1/2 lb. seedless green grapes, ends trimmed and each cut lengthwise
1-(12 oz.) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 cup celery, sliced very thin
1-1/2 cups pecans, chopped and toasted

For the dressing

1-1/2 cups Hellman’s mayonnaise
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. shoyu (soy sauce)
1/2 T. curry powder, or less, to taste

Directions Gently boil the chicken until tender. Don’t overcook the chicken as it will turn hard and rubbery. Drain well, cool, then chop or shred into small pieces. It is fine for the chicken to shred small; it doesn’t need mincing as then it wouldn’t absorb the dressing as readily. In large bowl, combine chicken, grapes, water chestnuts, celery and pecans.

Prepare the dressing by combining the mayonnaise, lemon juice, shoyu (soy sauce), and curry powder. Use a whisk to thoroughly blend, tasting as you go and adjusting to your taste. Spoon the dressing over the salad ingredients, folding gently but thoroughly to coat well. Chill covered for several hours, or overnight, allowing the flavors to mingle.

Share
Recipes - Appetizers

Coca-Cola Chicken Wings (and fried rice)

Here I was all set to begin blogging a series of ice box pies but  the Lemon-Buttermilk Ice Box Pie I made today needs to freeze for 4-6 hours and we’re just now at the 4 hour mark, so I am going to wait and freeze that overnight, blog it tomorrow, then take it up to mama’s place tomorrow night.  Instead, here’s a great appetizer (or main dish) that I made for supper tonight!

I love the flavor of the brown sugar, garlic powder, chopped onion, and soy sauce that this recipe provides.  The wings turn out tender (best for eating with your fingers using a big napkin for after all the finger licking)!  I love these wings with rice and since I found some cold rice in the fridge, I set aside the pot of rice I cooked this afternoon for another purpose and used my cold rice to fry up a large bowl of fried rice using just soy sauce and edamame beans with scrambled eggs and green onion for garnish.  The chicken bakes up with plenty of rich gravy for adding juice to the fried rice and altogether it is nothing but ono (delicious!).

Stay tuned then for ice box pies, but do enjoy these great chicken wings and some fried rice for your table tonight!

Coca-Cola Chicken Wings

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup brown sugar
1-(12 oz.) can of Coke soda
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 T. soy sauce
3 lbs. chicken wings
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Dice onion and combine with brown sugar, cola, garlic powder, and shoyu (soy sauce). Mix until well combined. Layer chicken wings in a large foil-lined casserole dish or foil pan and cover with the marinade. Bake for two hours. Serve hot.

Note: If not serving with rice, cook for one hour without the marinade and then drain the fat from the chicken. Add marinade and continue. I always eat these over rice so I don’t drain as I love lots of the “gravy” this produces for my rice.

Share
Recipes - Entrees

Shoyu Chicken

One of our most popular daily specials at Kete-Yama’s Cafe, on Maui, and still a dish that I get cravings for, especially on rainy days such as this one in Missouri today. Ready in just 45 minutes, this filling and tasty dish, flavored with shoyu (soy sauce for mainland folks), is a popular dish in Hawai’i and one which mainland cooks can easily prepare at home.  If you are using less chicken thighs than the 12 pieces listed in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook, adjust the broth ingredients.  The broth is meant for adjusting to your own liking so don’t be afraid to taste it and tinker some until you are satisfied.

Hardly any prep: only chop an onion, a few garlic cloves, and peel a 1″ slice of fresh ginger root and you’re ready to cook! Start with the water and sugar and the seasonings then taste your broth. If it is too sour, add more sugar, if too sweet, add more shoyu. If it’s just right (and it probably will be), add the chicken thighs and allow the meat to simmer in the broth. That’s it; all pau!

Hawaiian style Shoyu Chicken is traditionally served with both rice and macaroni salad, but today I am making do with just a pot of my favorite short-grain rice. Short-grain rice is much “stickier” than the long-grain rice which is more common on the mainland and it is perfect with any dish that has sauce or gravy (or any dish at all for local Hawaiian folks and myself).  Layer the chicken and a good amount of broth over a bed of rice in your bowl and sprinkle with green onion pieces. You’ll feel like you’re visiting the islands.  Aloha!

Shoyu Chicken

Ingredients:

2 cups shoyu (soy sauce)
2 cups water
1- 1″ piece ginger root, peeled
1 clove crushed garlic
1 small chopped onion
1 cup sugar
12 bone-in chicken thighs; remove skin if desired

Directions: Place the shoyu, water, ginger root, garlic, onion, and sugar in a large sauce pot. Heat slowly until the sugar dissolves. If the broth tastes sour, then add more sugar, if too salty, add more sugar or water. If the sauce tastes good, then add the chicken and simmer 45 minutes. The liquid ingredients should thicken into a very tasty sauce for serving over rice.

Share