Monday, May 31, 2010

General Tsao’s Chicken Wings & Spaghetti-Pistachio Salad

Its now official. Chinese and Italian can be mixed! And it takes an Indian to figure that out. How cool is that!

Today, the world shall see how I use the famous General Tsao’s Chicken recipe and make Chicken Wings sans the drawbacks of frying!IMG_8562 Ingredients for General Tsao’s Chicken Wings are:

500 grams chicken wings (skin on)
One and half tablespoon of corn starch
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons vinegar
2-3 tablespoons sambal or any chili-based sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Half cup finely chopped green onions
1 tablespoon red chili/paprika powder
2-3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt

IMG_8541 Cut chicken wings into halves and discard the thin end. Wash thoroughly and drain the excess water. IMG_8543 Add two tablespoons canola oil, spread the chicken wings on a baking sheet and bake at 375 °C for approximately 20 minutes on each side.
IMG_8546IMG_8548 In a glass bowl, mix corn starch, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sambal, water, minced ginger and garlic, paprika and little salt. (Be careful since the soy sauce already has sodium content.) Whisk well to mix all the ingredients.
IMG_8545Now for glazing the chicken wings. In a thick pan, caramelize sugar. When the sugar starts turning brown, add the sauce mixture and mix well.
IMG_8553Add the baked chicken wings and coat them well with the sauce. Garnish with green onions. Serve hot!
IMG_8560 
That’s a classic Chinese recipe turned into an oasis of chicken serenity for you! Don’t you wish you had Wings to fly too…

My main to go along with the wings is a simple and very easy Spaghettini Salad with the goodness of crunchy Pistachios and the most trusted Italian herb, Basil.
IMG_8549

Ingredients for the Pistachio Spaghettini Salad are:

Spaghetti (enough for 2-3 people)
Quarter cup green peas
Quarter cup pistachios, minced
Few sprigs of fresh basil
3-4 tablespoons EVOO
Half teaspoon black pepper powder
Juice of half lemon
Salt

Boil the spaghetti according to package instructions. Do not forget to salt the boiling water and add a few drops of oil. Yes, in this case mixing oil and water is necessary, unlike what BP is doing to the ecology.

IMG_8550Drain the spaghetti and cool.
IMG_8551IMG_8547 In a bowl, add the green peas, minced pistachios, and EVOO. Season with lemon juice and salt and pepper. (If you are worried about the raw green peas, don’t fret. The heat from the spaghetti will soften and almost cook the peas without dehydrating them.)

IMG_8554 Tear the basil leaves and add to the spaghetti and other ingredients. IMG_8556 Toss everything together and serve warm. IMG_8558 Now that’s a very healthy and colorful spaghetti salad. I expect you to show some respect and call it Miss Spaghetti, Ma’am, before you chow down on it!

I came up with this recipe with an Italian attitude of Que Sera Sera.

Hoping I can transfer this same zest in my everyday life too…

7 comments:

Shilpa said...

I guess you should publish a cookery book with all your yummy recipes :)

The Ketchup Girl said...

lovvvvvvvvvvvvvvved the chicken wings recipe. hv to mk it tday!

Jaya M said...

delicious recipe with chicken wings Pree.Let me try it one day :-)..
hugs and smiles

Sanghamitra Bhattacherjee(Mukherjee) said...

Yummy as always Pree :-)
Nice recipies!!

Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) said...

what a bful color,yum and delcious dish...looks mouthwatering...a visual treat chicken dish

Kalyan Karmakar said...

Actually spaghetti is chinese in origin... took a Bong to remind people of that. Good show

PreeOccupied said...

@The Knife, I always knew spaghetti (a variant of pasta) has Italian roots. In fact its just flattened dough. I think I once saw on a Food Network show that in ancient times they used to roast it, like pizza and not boil like they do it now.