My love for recreating restaurant-style recipes is REAL! I can control the ingredients and lighten them up as I like. The Nando’s Peri Peri chicken livers and Karachi’s famous Chicken Tikka Samosas are two such recipes I’ve adapted to be lighter and still delicious.

Difference between Indo-Chinese & Traditional Chinese Hot ‘n Sour Soup.

The traditional Chinese recipe features pork, tofu, dried Shiitake mushrooms, dried lilies, and other Asian ingredients, resulting in a rich, umami-flavored broth with a sour undertone. This is the soup you get when you order from any Chinese restaurant outside of South Asia.

The Indo-Chinese, aka Desi-style, hot and sour soup has a tomatoey and chili-based broth. It has a characteristic vibrant red color that sets it apart from all the other soups of the region. One of the popular street-style foods available in India and Pakistan. It is served with a special spiced vinegar that has green chilies cut in it! But don’t worry, you can totally control how much heat you want in your soup.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here are a couple of pointers and notes about the ingredients.

• Chicken broth – I’ve used my own broth recipe for this soup. But you can use pre-made vegetable stock or chicken stock, too.
• Shredded Chicken – The shredded chicken in this recipe comes from my broth, too. You can use any leftover chicken if you are using pre-made broth (or boil a chicken breast separately in salt and garlic powder).
• Chili oil – This is a Chinese condiment that adds a subtle layer of heat to the dish. I make my own chili oil at home, which I use. You can use any store-bought ones, too, or use regular oil instead.
• Chili garlic sauce – This is one of the main ingredients; it gives the soup its color, flavor, and heat. Chili garlic sauce is a type of ketchup that has tomato paste, garlic, and chili in it. The one I use is either homemade or from Knorr, easily available in South Asian stores. You can also make your own (see notes).
• Vegetables & Mushrooms – The standard veggies used in this dish are bell peppers, cabbage, and carrots. But this is your soup! Feel free to use any mushrooms and veggies you like to eat.
• Condiments – The soup uses all the basic condiments like vinegar, hot sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar.
• Thickener – Cornflour or Cornstarch is used to make this soup thick.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

How to make Desi Hot and Sour soup

Here’s a simple pictorial for you to make this soup easily.

Step 1: Sauté the mushrooms in chili oil in a deep pot.

Step 2: Add the vegetables and sweat them at high heat until all the moisture evaporates.

NOTE: Sweating and sauteing the vegetables gives you crunchier veggies and a longer shelf life.

Step 3: Add the shredded chicken, all the seasonings, and sauces to the pot.

Step 4: Add chicken broth and water to the soup and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.

Step 5: Add cornflour slurry to the soup and cook at medium-high heat.

Step 6: Allow the soup to thicken and add more cornflour if needed.

Serving

I like to garnish my soup with spring onions, but that is totally optional. This Desi version of the Hot n Sour soup is served with vinegar spiced with sliced green chilies, prawn crackers, and some soy sauce on the side.

You can serve it with some spicy Chicken Shashlik skewers to make a full meal!

Expert Tips

• Stir-frying the vegetables and mushrooms removes all the water they carry. It also kills microbes in the produce. It adds more flavor to the dish and helps increase the shelf life of the soup.
• If you are using store-bought chicken or vegetable stock, don’t add salt till you do a taste test, as store-bought stocks are generally high in sodium.
• I didn’t add any extra salt because all the sauces and the broth carry salt with them. Only season extra after tasting.

Modify Soup for Clean-Eating

Cooking at home already makes your food THAT much more nutritious because you’ll be using fresh, real ingredients to make it.

Here are some things to make your soup even more nutritious:

• Make the Chicken broth at home with organic or grass-fed chicken.
• Use low-sodium Soy sauce and Natural vinegar.
• Make your own chili garlic sauce with the measurements provided.
• Use fresh vegetables and mushrooms.
• You can use oats instead of cornflour as a thickener for your soup. Grind some oats to make powder and add 1 tsp to your soup. Let the oats cook for 10 mins, and you will have a nice, thick soup. Add more if needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Indo-Chinese recipes

Here are some top-notch recipes that I think you will love:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Chicken Hot and Sour soup

A restaurant style Indo-Chinese version of the traditional Chicken hot and sour soup,

Course Main Course, Snacks, Sides and Starters

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Diet Halal

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 121kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon chili oil see notes
• 1 Litre Chicken Broth see notes
• 2 cup water
• 1 cup Shredded chicken see notes
• 4-6 tablespoon corn starch Start with 4 and see if you need more.
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Vegetables

• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup julienned green bell pepper
• 1 cup thinly sliced cabbage
• 1/3 cup sliced mushrooms canned or fresh

Sauces

• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 4 tablespoon vinegar
• 2 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 cup chili garlic sauce see note 2

Instructions

• In a pot, add chili oil and all the vegetables and mushroom. Saute at high heat for 3 to 4 mins or until all the water from the vegetables evaporate.
• Reduce heat to low and add the shredded chicken and all the sauces. Mix everything together.
• Add chicken broth and water to the pot and turn the heat back to high. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until the soup starts bubbling.
• Mix cornstarch with about 1/2 cup of water to make a smooth slurry and add it to the soup.
• Simmer for another 2-3 mins and allow the cornstarch to cook through and the soup to thicken.
• Adjust seasoning and add salt if needed.
• Serve with prawn crackers, soy sauce and vinegar with sliced green chilies cut into it.
  

Notes

Note 1 – Chicken Broth

For the chicken, you can use:

• 3/4 cup of leftover chicken, shredded
• Grill 1 chicken breast with salt, pepper, and garlic, then shred it to use.

For the broth, you can use:

• 3 cups of premade broth
• Any homemade broth or stock (you can use my chicken broth recipe to do this)
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes with added garlic powder per Litre of Water. 

Note 2

Substitute for Chili garlic sauce (make your own sauce):

• 1/3 cup of tomato paste/ketchup
• + 2 tbsp of any red chili paste (like Sichuan sauce, sambal oelek)
• + 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic This is a spicy soup. If you’d like to make a milder version, use regular ketchup instead of chili garlic sauce. 

Other notes

• I didn’t add any extra salt to the soup, because the broth and sauces carry enough salt. Only season extra after you do a taste test. 
• You can use regular oil instead of chili oil.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 121kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 1633mg | Potassium: 178mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1393IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Chicken Hot and Sour soup appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

Have you heard of Egg drop soup? Its a soup that has egg ribbons as you add the egg to hot liquid. This recipe has those egg ribbons and an extra something in the form of corn and chicken. Let’s go!

The moment the temperature drops, I’m all about slurpy comfort food—think my lentil oats bowl piled high with crispy toppings. Chicken corn soup is a total warm hug in a bowl, perfect for cozy days, especially when I’m not in the mood for the bold, fiery punch of my Hot and Sour Soup (that one’s strictly for spice lovers). 💛

Ingredients and Substitutes

You need very few ingredients to put this soup together. Let me walk you through it a little:

• Chicken Broth/Stalk – Homemade chicken broth is always the best option, in terms of flavor, nutrition, and freshness. As alternatives, you can use store-bought chicken stock or dissolve chicken bouillon cubes in water.
• Shredded Chicken – I use shredded chicken that is left over from my batch of chicken broth. You can boil a chicken breast in some salted water to get instant shredded chicken. Or wash and use any chicken that’s left over from last night’s dinner.
• Corn – Half of the corn used here is going to be whole Kernels for bite and texture. The other half of the corn will be creamed to make a smooth paste and add flavor to the soup.
• Seasonings – Salt, black pepper, white pepper, and garlic powder.
• Thickening agent – Like most soups, I’ve used cornflour/cornstarch slurry to thicken this soup. As a substitute, you can use arrowroot flour or tapioca flour. You can’t tell the difference.
• Egg – Beaten eggs add those beautiful flowers or ribbons to the soup that it is iconically known for. You can use whole eggs or egg whites, based on your preference.
• Garnish – For desi-style restaurants, you will always find soy sauce, hot sauce, and green chilies cut up in vinegar, served as the three condiments for this soup. A little spring onion on top, too, to make it pretty.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Instructions

Here is a simple pictorial to show you how easy it is to pull together this soup in under 20 minutes!

Step 1: Heat up the chicken stock/broth in a stock pot until it starts to boil.

Step 2: Add all the seasonings and shredded chicken to the pot.

Step 3: Cream half of the corn to make a paste and add the creamed corn and corn kernels to the soup.

Step 4: Stir all the ingredients and allow the soup to simmer for 3 to 4 minutes.

Step 5: Make a slurry of cornstarch with water and add it to the soup while stirring.

Step 6: Cover the soup and let it thicken for 2 to 3 minutes.

Step 7: Reduce the heat to low. Beat eggs in a bowl. Drop it in the soup while stirring the soup.

Step 8: You will get egg ribbons in the soup. Adjust the seasoning and serve hot.

Note: To create beautiful egg ribbons, do these 3 things
– Keep the heat low
– Drop your beaten eggs slowly from some height.
– Stir the soup with a spoon from your other hand simultaneously.

Serving

The chicken corn soup is served hot, garnished with spring onions and 3 condiments on the side:

1. Soy sauce
2. Hot sauce
3. Vinegar with green chilies sliced and added to it.
4. Toasted sesame oil (optional)

In restaurants, they bring it out with lovely prawn crackers. I love pairing it with fried rice and dragon chicken to make it a meal. On my low-carb days, I go with my chicken shashlik sticks and this bowl of goodness.

Variations

This soup is the simplest, basic, and most delicious version of a chicken corn soup there is. Feel free to experiment and make it your own! Here are some great variations for you to try

• Vegetarian- Use tofu and vegetable broth instead of chicken and chicken stock to make it a vegetarian soup. You can also add more vegetables or mushrooms to this recipe to load up on the fibre.
• Toppings– Pakistani street-style soups are sometimes served with slims, which are basically local spicy potato chips, which go really well, might I add!
• Texture – You can cream all the corn if you don’t like corn kernels in your soup.
• Noodles – Add ramen or egg noodles to the soup while it’s simmering to make noodle soup.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Comfort Recipes on the blog

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Chicken Corn Soup

This Chinese chicken corn soup is a cozy, comforting egg drop soup made with tender chicken, sweet corn, and silky egg ribbons. A mild, warming and freezer friendly.

Course 30 min meals, Soup

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese, Indian, pakistani

Diet Halal

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 10 servings

Calories 59kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 1 Litre Chicken Broth see notes
• 1 cup shredded chicken see notes
• 1/2 cup canned corns whole
• 1/2 cup corns blended with water to make paste
• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1 teaspoon black pepper powder or crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon White pepper powder optional
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon White Vinegar
• 4 tablespoon Cornflour mixed with water to make a slurry
• 1 whole Egg Beaten

Toppings and Garnish

• Soy Sauce
• Vinegar with green chilies sliced in it.
• Hot Sauce
• sliced spring onion

Instructions

• Add your chicken broth and a litre of water into a large stock pot and heat at medium to high flame on the stove.
• Once your broth starts to boil, add all the seasonings, shredded chicken, corn kernels and corn paste. Allow to simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Reduce heat to low and add your cornflour slurry while stirring to avoid any lumping.
• Allow the soup to thicken. Add more cornflour if you want your soup to be thicker.
• Serve hot, garnished with green onions and condiments on the side.

Notes

• Chicken stock substitute
  To use chicken bouillon cubes instead of chicken stock, follow this ratio
  2 cubes for 1 Litre of Water. 
  Do NOT add salt of your own while using stock cubes. Taste the soup, then decide if you need more salt, as the stock cubes are always high in sodium. 
• Thickening Agent
  Use Arrowroot or tapioca flour if you don’t want to use cornflour
• You can freeze the leftover soup. To reheat it, simmer it on the stove with a splash of water. You may have to add more thickening agent again. 

Nutrition

Serving: 10serving | Calories: 59kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 713mg | Potassium: 94mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 0.4mg

The post Chicken Corn Soup appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

This one pot chicken and noodles is inspired by a Chinese dish called La.Zi.Ji, that one of my friends from China introduced me too. And holly molly! is that spicy! Its spicy enough for me to tear up honestly! so I used the same idea, just reduced the spices enough for me to handle it, (beware, this still has a spicy kick) and made a noodle dish out of it.

I love making Asian style food at home, these noodles and Chicken Shashlik skewers are my current obsession!

Steps to make these Spicy Asian Noodles

Tempering spices and frying garlic

I just wanted to show you a close up of all the whole spices you will need for this recipe, along with a truck load of garlic, because garlic is love ok?

This recipe only uses dried red chilies to spice up the dish. BUT, since it gets cooked in the sauce and in pasta for a good 20 to 30 mins, it basically adds a CONSIDERABLE amount of heat to the dish. So put a hold on the red chilies, if you aren’t a fan of spicy food!

Saute your whole spices and chopped garlic in oil until you get a nice golden color from the garlic. I’ve used sesame oil for this recipe, because it compliments all the ingredients perfectly!

And once you’ve fried your garlic, well that’s it my friend! Let the dumping of ingredients begin.

I start by adding chicken and veggies that take time to soften up. And then add all my seasoning. Just make sure your chicken changes color before you add the rest of the ingredients.

Dump in the rest of veggies, water, and noodles. I used spaghetti noodles, but really you can use any noodles that you like. The water quantity needs to be enough to drown your pasta in it. I added about 5 cups of water, this gives me enough water to cook the noodles and leave some water behind to make it saucy.

How much water you want depends on how you like your noodles. Add more to make soupy noodles, or dry up the whole thing if you want it to be dry. That’s really something that I will leave up to you.

Alternatively, you can also boil your noodles separately and add it in your chicken broth.

Check and adjust the seasoning. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and chopped green onions on top and dig right in!

How long does it stay fresh in the fridge?

It can survive pretty well in the fridge. For upto a week easy. I wouldn’t recommend freezing it though.

What can I serve with it on the side?

I love that these Asian chicken noodles are a meal on its own. But if you are in the mood to throw an elaborate menu together; here’s a few things I think would go really well together with these Spicy Noodles

• Dynamite prawns as a starter
• Crunchy cashew salad
• Fried rice
• Crispy Beijing beef for the rice.

Alternates, fixes and remixes

Substitutions

• You can use regular white vinegar instead of red grape vinegar
• You can use honey instead of brown sugar
• If you don’t have whole red chilies, you can also use red chili flakes instead.
• Use regular cooking oil if you don’t have sesame oil
• Use a cup of fresh chicken stock instead a chicken bouillon cube

Fixes

• If you find your noodles to be spicy, add a half cup of water with a little corn flour, sugar, vinegar and a few tablespoons of ketchup.

Remixes

• Make a full vegetarian version of the recipe, by using cauliflower bits instead of chicken.
• You can also add coconut milk to create a thai-style noodles.
• Go ahead and use any veggies that you like.
• I’ve used basic spaghetti to make this recipe, but feel free to try any noodles that you’ve got at home. Turns amazing with udon noodles btw.

More fun recipes to try

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Spicy one pot Asian Chicken noodles

An easy Asian syle spicy chicken and vegetable noodle recipe, ready within 30 mins and only needs one pot to cook!

Course Pasta Dishes

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 417kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 200 gm dry noodles. half a pack of any noodle you like
• 500 gm boneless chicken cut up in 1 inch cubes
• 9 to 10 cloves of garlic 25 gm
• 8 to 9 dried red chilies 3 gm
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anises
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp red grape vinegar
• 1 cup tomato paste

Vegetables

• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1 cup bell peppers cut up in squares
• 1 cup cabbage cut in 1 inch squares.
• Sesame seeds and chopped green onions for garnish

Instructions

• In a large pot, add oil, chopped garlic, bay leaves, dried red chilies, cinnamon stick and star anise. Saute at medium flame, until the garlic turns golden brown.
• Add chicken cubes to the pot, along with any veggies that take longer time to cook. (In my case, I added peas and carrots). Add salt, sugar, soy sauce and red grape vinegar. Saute till the chicken changes color.
• Add in a chicken bouillon cube and tomato paste. Throw in the remaining veggies and stir for a minute.
• Add 5 cups of water and your noodles. Stir around the noodles to make sure they are not clumped together. Cover the pot and let the noodles simmer at medium high flame for 10 mins.
• Remove the lid, and stir around and cover again. Cook for another 5 mins.
• Check to see if your noodles are done. You can adjust the seasonings now. You can decide to keep your noodles saucy, dry or soupy, by adding more water if need be.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions on top for garnish and serve hot.

Notes

The red chilies pack in a lot of heat in the dish. Reduce the chili quantity of you are can’t handle spices.

Feel free to use any veggies you like.

All substitute are given in the blogpost.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 417kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 680mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 16g

The post Spicy One Pot Chicken Noodles appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

If you’ve been following me for a while, than you know, I am a sucker for recreating restaurant style recipes at home, and Indo-Chinese is my favoriteeee genre! This recipe joins the list of my other classic restaurant remakes like the Dynamite Shrimps, Crispy Beijing Beef , Sichuan Chicken, and Nando’s Chicken livers.

What is Chicken Shashlik

The word ‘Shashlik’ means skewered grilled meat, synonymous with “Shish” kebab in Turkey. It was traditionally made with Mutton and the internet says it originated from Central Asia and Russia. The Chicken Shashlik, while delicious, is somehow not as well known as other more popular Desi Chinese dishes like the Hot and Sour soup, or the Chicken manchurian.

Like most fusion recipes, the Shashlik too, was made by restaurants either owned by Chinese immigrants in the lands of India/Pakistan or by locals serving the immigrants.

The modern day shashlik can now be made in skewers or sticks (like this recipe), or simply like usual Chinese stirfry or gravy. Both are delicious btw

What to pair it with

• This version of the recipe is great as a stand alone dish! Simply served with some spicy sichuan sauce on the side.
• You can also pair it with fried rice or simple pulav rice like matar pulao
• You can also serve it on a bed of garlic fried noodles
• On my low-carb phase, I like pairing it with a simple green salad
• Prawn crackers are a great side for these shashlik sticks.

Ingredients and Substitutions

The ingredients used to make this delicious dinner are super basic and easily swappable with substitutes in your pantry.

• Chicken – I used breast piece cut up 1 inch chunks. You can use thigh pieces too for a more tender and juicy chicken cut.
• Vegetables – Onions and Bellpeppers (aka capsicums) are the “crunch” of the skewer. You can swap it out for any other crunchy vegetable you’d like to thread in. The tomatoes are added for flavor that they give once they are charred on the grill pan, so I wouldn’t recommend swapping them out with anything.
• Spices – You need salt, white pepper powder, cumin powder and Kashmiri Red chili powder. This kind of red chili powder is mild but has a beautiful red color. If you’d like to cook more Indian/Pakistani food, I’d suggest you get a pack from your Asian grocery store. Or you can simply use paprika if you don’t have this in your pantry.
• Sauces – The marinade uses your typical Chinese sauces like the Soy Sauce, Red Vinegar, and tomato paste. But worry not, use regular vinegar if you don’t have the red one. And use tomato ketchup if you are out of paste! Told ya this was an easy recipe.
• Other – Then you need garlic paste for marination and vegetable oil for grilling. Use any neutral oil that you cook with at home.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Instructions

This chicken shashlik just needs a couple of easy steps to come together. Chop, marinate, thread and grill!

STEP 1 – Marinate Chicken in all the spices and sauces listed.

STEP 2 – Chop up the vegetables in 1 inch squares.

STEP 3 – Add the chopped vegetables to the chicken and marinate for 30 mins.

STEP 4 – Thread the chicken and the vegetables onto a wooden or metal skewer. (Don’t throw away the leftover marinade)

STEP 5 – Place the skewers onto a greased grill pan on the stove at medium heat.

STEP 6 – Flip the skewers over using a tong after 5 mins. And glaze with the remaining marinade left in the bowl.

Serve hot with your favorite pairing combo. I like to serve the sizzling grill pan directly onto the table with a mat underneath. Serve it with Chicken Corn soup and make it a complete meal.

TOP TIPS AND ADVICE

• IF you are using wooden skewers like me, than soak them in water for 30 minutes before using. This makes them more pliable and they don’t burn easily while on the grillpan.
• Because of the tomato sauce, there will be some spluttering in the pan. IF you are new to cooking and grilling, either cover the pan with a lid while they on the stove or wear oven mittens to avoid any splatter on your hands.
• Since its been a while since I’ve been cooking, I usually just flip the skewers using my hands. But you should use tongs to flip the skewers. If you are afraid of any splatter, then remove the pan from the heat temporarily. Flip all the skewers and glaze them. Then put it back on the heat.

Recipe FAQs

More Indo-Chinese recipes

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Chicken Shashlik Dry

An Indo-Chinese style, chicken and vegetable skewers marinated in fusion style sauces and spices, served with rice

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Diet Halal

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Resting time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8 long skewers

Calories 150kcal

Author Wajiha

Equipment

• bbq sticks wooden or metal
• A grill pan or an outdoor bbq

Ingredients

• 500 gm boneless chicken cut in cubes
• 2 medium bell peppers cut in 1 inch squares
• 2 large tomatoes cut in 1 inch squares
• 1 large onion cut in 1 inch squares
• extra oil for frying/baking

Marinade

• 2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1 teaspoon white pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 2 teaspoon kashmiri red chili powder see notes
• 4 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon red vinegar
• 1 tablespoon oil for marination

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients for marinade in a bowl and mix. Add your chicken and coat it in the marination.
• Add the chopped vegetables in the chicken and coat it with the marinade. Keep aside for 30 mins
• Use wooden or metal skewers to thread the vegetables and chicken. If using wooden skewers, always soak in water for 10 mins before using.

Nutrition

Serving: 1skewer | Calories: 150kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 901mg | Potassium: 301mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1436IU | Vitamin C: 48mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Chicken Shashlik Dry appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

Of Course Panda express was the first place that introduced us to the world of orange chicken. And it really is our go-to place when we want to quickly grab a take out. But lately I’ve been trying to make all meals at home to have more control over the ingredients that goes in to my food. Like the level of salt or the quality of orange juice or the type of soy sauce or oil. With this at-home fake-out, I also add cabbage which honestly goes so well with the dish! And that, folks, is my “why” for making this recipe at home. Now lets dig right into the deets.

How to make easy orange chicken

Step 1 – Coating and frying/baking the chicken.

The first step of this recipe is to coat the chicken and fry it. The ingredients for the coating are very basic. You simply dump all the ingredients for the coating in a bowl and whisk it together to form a batter! It’s that easy! Then you drop your chicken in the batter and let it sit in it for 15 to 20 mins. Not shown in the picture is a little bit of orange zest, that I like to add to the batter to give it a little orange-y kick.

After your chicken has rested, its time to fry it. Pick up your chicken, letting the excess batter fall back into the bowl and drop it in a deep fryer with hot oil. Fry until they get a nice golden brown color. And remember to fry at high heat.

Remove the fried chicken from the oil and set aside in a plate lined with kitchen towel.

Alternate cooking methods

For air frying or baking, I’d recommend to coat the chicken cubes into a light layer of all purpose flour and then cook them. Just take a box with a lid, add a cup of flour, toss your battered chicken, close the lid and shake the box. Your chicken will be coated!

• Air frying
• Oven baked – Lightly grease a tray and place your chicken on it. Spray the chicken with cooking spray. Bake at 425 F for 25 mins. Flip the chicken over after 10 to 12 mins.

Step 2 – Preparing the orange sauce and assembling

Moving on to orange sauce. Making the sauce is just as easy as making the batter. Put the honey, cornflour, spices, seasonings, sauces and orange juice in a bowl and mix together till you get a smooth liquid.

Now to assemble the dish. In a wok or a deep saucepan, throw in your chopped garlic with oil and saute till it gets to a golden brown color.

Then add in your chopped cabbage. I used cabbage because I think the flavor works really well, but you can use any veggie that you like, or skip the veggie altogether.

Saute the cabbage for a minute or so and then throw in your fried chicken and sauce. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes at medium flame or until it thickens. Top it off with sesame seeds and chopped green onions and viola! your orange chicken is ready!

Serve hot with fried rice or noodles.

TIP: You can freeze the remaining batter in a ziplock bag and use it later for another marination. You can also use it to marinate any number of things you like, fish, prawns or cauliflower.

Healthy Alternates

• You can always air fry or bake the chicken instead of frying.
• You can also skip the coating altogether and simply marinate the chicken in seasoning and grill it on a grill pan
• You can use low sodium soy sauce for the sauce.

Remixes

• You can try the same recipe with fish or prawns if you want sea-food
• Use cauliflower instead of chicken if you are in the mood to make something vegetarian.
• Try adding more paprika and hot sauce to create a spicy version.
• Skip the sauce altogether and use the fried chicken as an appetizer served with honey mustard.
• Throw in noodles and a chicken cube to create orange chicken noodles.

Other recipes that you may like:

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Orange Chicken

An Asian recipe, consisting of boneless chicken cut in bite size cubes, coated in a batter and deep fried or baked. They are then tossed in a sweet and tangy orange sauce.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 420kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade and Coating

• 500 gm boneless chicken cut up in 1 inch cubes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup starch
• 2 tbsp of cornflour
• 1/2 tsp orange zest

Orange sauce

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• orange food color optional
• 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 3 tbsp white vinegar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 2 cup of cabbage cut in 1/2 inch squares 180 gm
• 2 tbsp oil

Garnish

• Sesame seeds
• Chopped green part of the green onions.

Instructions

• Mix all the ingredients for the chicken marinade and dump the chicken pieces in. Coat the chicken well. Let the chicken sit in the marinade for at least 20 mins to a few hours
• Deep fry the chicken in oil until they are golden brown, take them out and set aside.
• For the sauce, mix cornflour and water to form a slurry, in a bowl. Then add all the spices and sauces needed to make the sauce in that bowl and set aside.
• In a wok, add oil and chopped garlic. Saute for 1 to 2 mins or until the garlic turns golden brown. Add chopped cabbage and stir around for about a minute.
• Add the prepared sauce in the bowl to the wok along with the fried chicken.
• Cook for about 2 to 3 mins or until the rawness of the corn starch disappears.
• Top it off with sesame seeds and chopped green onions

Notes

to bake – toss batter coated chicken in a tupperware with a cup of flour, close lid and shake to evenly coat chicken in flour. Bake at 425 F for 25 mins, flipping chicken halfway through. Grease the pan generously.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 420kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 42g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 158mg | Sodium: 698mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 26g

The post Homemade Orange Chicken Stir fry appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

Cooking fake-outs at home is literally the best thing I’ve done for my health, and my family’s, of course. This way, I can control my ingredients, use quality products, and eat delicious food without the guilt! Being able to whip up authentic P.F. Chang’s Dynamite Shrimp or Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken Livers at home has been a game-changer!

Saucy Sweet and Sour Chicken

Sweet ‘n Sour chicken is a classic restaurant-style Asian main. The chicken is lightly coated and tossed into a classic sweet and tangy sauce along with some veggies to balance the flavors.

This homemade version has the best of both worlds! We get the same great restaurant test minus all the unhealthy factors. We are skipping the MSG (Chinese Salt), artificial food coloring, and fresh chicken! Plus, you can always control the method of cooking, oil source, and sauce brands!

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make the perfect Saucy Sweet n Sour chicken:

• Veggies – Bell Peppers and onions are non-negotiable, guys! sorry! And yellow bell pepper is even better! You can ADD pineapples and delete carrots if you want, but the onions and bell peppers balance the flavors, so no way are you skipping that, ok?
• Boneless Chicken – This is a saucy recipe, so you can use breast pieces or thigh pieces, no preference.
• Sauces – Oyster sauce, Soy sauce, and Sriracha Sauce. Opt for your favorite brands.
• Dark Brown sugar – Brown sugar brings out a slight bitterness along with sweetness in the recipe. Don’t you dare use white sugar for this recipe! Use honey instead if you need to.
• Cornstarch – You will need this to coat the chicken and to thicken the sauce. I’ve experimented with all kinds of coatings for this recipe, and the cornstarch and egg coating works the best. It’s light and holds well whether baked or fried.
• Egg – You will need this for coating the chicken.
• Garlic and Ginger – Lifelong flavor enhancers, need I say more? You can also use galangal instead of ginger.
• Seasoning – Your usual salt and black pepper
• Garnish – I use the usual scallions (green onions) and sesame seeds to garnish this recipe. But I also use the bulb or the white portion of the green onion in the gravy.

Substitutions

• Eggs – Some of you have mentioned time and again on my IG, that you avoid eggs due to dietary restrictions. If you can’t add eggs, skip it altogether. Eggs add a slight binding element to the batter, but you can do without them if you need to.
• Tomato Paste – You can totally use regular ketchup instead of tomato paste in this recipe
• Sauces – You can use hot sauce (half quantity) instead of Sriracha and a dash of BBQ sauce instead of Oyster sauce.

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities

Instructions

Here’s a simple rundown of all the steps you’ll come across while cooking, so that there are no surprises!

Step 1: Marinate boneless chicken cubes in egg, spices, vinegar, and cornflour for 10 mins.

Step 2: Deep fry in oil until golden brown.

Step 3: Remove the fried chicken from the oil.

Step 4: Set the fried chicken chunks aside.

Step 5: Mix all the sauces in the recipe with cornflour and set aside.

Step 6: Sauté garlic, ginger, and the white bulb of green onions in oil.

Step 7: After it turns golden, add tomato paste with a splash of water and some sugar.

Step 8: Add water and vegetables to your tomato garlic base. Allow it to boil and then drop in the cornflour sauce mix.

NOTE: Tomato paste sputters when added to oil; Add about 1/4 cup of water before adding the paste to avoid excessive sputtering.

Step 9: Add the fried chicken to the gravy. Cook for 2 minutes.

Step 10: Give your corn flour time to thicken up (around 3 minutes). Adjust the sauce thickness by adding more water if needed.

Serve your sweet and sour chicken hot, garnished with sesame seeds and green onions. Pair it with fried rice or plain rice, or just plain garlic noodles!

Expert Tips

• Keep everything chopped and prepared before starting to work on the sauce. Things happen very quickly once you start prepping the sauce, so it’s best that you have everything ready by your side.
• You can use Chicken broth or Stock instead of water for more depth of flavor and nutrition.
• While frying, make sure your wok or pan is wide enough to allow the chicken pieces to fry separately.
• Use good-quality tomato paste!
• For dinners or parties, you can prepare the chicken a day in advance and prepare the sauce on the day of the event.

Tips to make this recipe lighter or healthier

• Use low-sodium Soy sauce instead of regular soy sauce.
• Use fresh organic tomato paste.
• Bake the chicken instead of frying.
• Use tapioca flour instead of cornflour.
• You can also use Pink salt instead of regular table salt.
• Use fresh organic chicken for the recipe.
• Use homemade Chicken Yakhni or Broth instead of water for nutrition.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Pan-Asian Recipes

I love recreating recipes. Here are some restaurant-style Asian remakes:

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

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Sweet And Sour Chicken

A saucy Indo-chinese chicken main, made with crispy coated chicken stirred into a thick sweet and sour gravy.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6 servings

Calories 176kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

Chicken Marinade

• 400 gm boneless chicken breast cut up in 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 pinch of baking soda see notes
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp black pepper powder
• 3 tbsp vinegar
• Oil as needed or frying or to grease for baking

Sweet ‘n Sour Gravy

• 3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 White end of green onion sliced
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger finely chopped
• 3 tbsp Soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp Sriracha Sauce
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 5 tbsp Vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp cornstarch see notes
• 1 cup bell peppers cut in 1/2 inch squares
• 1/2 cup shallots cut in 1/2 inch squares
• 1/2 a carrot thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• sesame seeds for garnish
• chopped green onion for garnish

Instructions

• In a bowl, add all the ingredients for the chicken marinade. Mix everything together and coat the chicken well. Set aside for 10 mins
• Cook the chicken by frying or baking. To fry, add the chicken in hot vegetable oil and fry until golden brown. Remove from oil and set aside. Make sure to have a large enough frying pan so that the chicken pieces don’t stick together. To bake, preheat the oven to 220°C (430 F). Grease a large baking tray and place your chicken pieces on to the tray, making sure the pieces don’t touch. Spray with an oil spray and bake for 20 mins, flipping the chicken pieces after 10 mins. Set the baked/fried chicken aside
• In a bowl, mix vinegar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sriracha sauce and cornstarch. Set aside.
• In a wok or a large deep pan, add oil, chopped garlic and ginger and sliced white end of the green onion. Saute at medium flame until the ginger garlic turns light golden brown.
• Add a splash of water, tomato paste, brown sugar and salt. Stir for 2 mins to allow tomato paste to cook for a bit. Add more water if the paste splatters a lot.
• Drop in all your vegetables and saute for another minute.
• Add 2 cups of water and allow the the water to come to a boil.
• After the water boil, add the cornstarch sauce mix and the fried/baked chicken.
• Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until gravy thickens.
• Turn off flame and sprinkle sesame seeds and green onions for garnish
• Serve with fried rice.

Notes

• You can use regular tomato ketchup instead of tomato paste
• You can also add more cornstarch if you feel you need a thicker gravy.
• You can prepare the chicken a day in advance and keep in the refrigerator and just bring it out on the day of assembly. Just give it 2 3 extra minutes to cook so that it heats up.
• You can use any veggies that you like. Fruits like pineapple or apples both go very well in this recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 176kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 0.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 1834mg | Potassium: 521mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 1035IU | Vitamin C: 41mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Easy Homemade Sweet n’ Sour Chicken appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

Chicken Chili Garlic Noodles

One of our favorite stir fry noodle recipes this year has been this! I always end up making chili garlic noodles when all I have are some chicken and bellpeppers in the fridge. Another version of this recipe uses chili oil and garlic. This version comes under the broad banner of “Indo Chinese” which is fusion style Chinese food originating from Chinese immigrants in South Asia. Indo-Chinese food is comparitively spicier and uses some combination of Indian and Chinese spices and cooking techniques.

The core flavor for Chili Garlic Noodles is just chili and Garlic. Simple right? and who has ever gone wrong with these two! Since it’s supposedly just chili and garlic, the veggie used is also JUST bellpeppers because they are technically a chili. You can ofcourse break the rules and add whatever vegetables you like. Noodles don’t judge. But I always end up making saucy one pot noodles when I have a ton of veggies to use up.

Ingredients and Substitutes

What noodles to use?

All stir fry noodle recipes, like Chow mein, require some rigorous wok-tossing action. So its best to use noodles that are thick and long so that they can withstand the pan-action. I personally end up using any spaghetti or standard Chinese noodle pack lying around in the house. This is a non-judgement recipe really, noodlewise. Here are a couple of options that you can use for this recipe.

1. Lo-mein Noodles – These are the yellow noodles usually labelled as Egg noodles on packets.
2. Italian noodles – All spaghetti or Linguinis are welcome! They work perfectly for all stir fries.
3. Udon Noodles – These Japanese noodles are thick and have a neutral taste.
4. Soba noodles – They are made with buckwheat flavor, so they do have a mild earthy flavor to them, but overall they hold well in stir fry recipes.

What Chillies To use?

Chilies are one of the core 3 ingredients in this gorgeous stir fry. I’ve used a combination of chilies for this recipe.

• Serrrano green chilies – These are small but super hot! Remove seeds if you can’t handle heat.
• Fresno red chilies – These are like Jalapenos but Red. So they have heat but less than their small thai red chili counterparts. You can use regular jalapenos if you can’t find Fresnos.
• Red, green, yellow bellpeppers – They serve as the “vegetable” for the stir fry.

You can easily skip any of these if you don’t have them at hand. If you want to try this recipe without turning it too spicy, remove the seeds from the serrano and Fresno red chilies before slicing them.

Chilli Garlic Noodle Sauce

The magic of these Noodles happens with the Chilli and Garlic. The sauce here provides balance and some slippery slick texture to the stirfry.

• Honey – You can also use brown sugar if you want.
• Ketchup – You can use tomato paste also.
• Dark Soy Sauce – Dark Soy sauce adds so much umami flavor in the noodles in just a small quantity. I’d highly recommend getting the dark kind, even if you opt for the Low-Sodium variety.
• Red Vinegar – Use regular vinegar if you don’t have red one at hand
• Hoisin Sauce – IF this is something you don’t have lying in your pantry, you can use barbecue sauce and hot sauce as a subsitute. Healthline has some amazing alternatives to Hoisin, click here to read about it.
• Noodle Water – Save some of the water when you boil your noodles. This adds to the nice slippery texture that makes the noodles irresistible!

Other Ingredients

• Garlic – Ofcourse the other star of the dish is garlic, and lots of it! Finely chopped garlic add the perfect acidity and flavor to the noodles. I would not recommend using paste or powder for this recipe
• Spring onion – I’ve used the white part of the spring onion aka scallions. But you can use any onions you have at hand
• Oil – Sesame oil brings out the perfect Indo-Chinese flavor in these noodles.
• Mushrooms – I’ve used Shitake Mushrooms. You can use any that you like or skip it altogether if you aren’t a fan
• Chicken – Regular boneless chicken would do, both thigh and breast pieces work just fine.

Do I need a WOK to make these?

No way! I’m still look for a decent wok! And till I find one, a large skillet works perfectly for all stir fry recipes for me. Just make sure you skillet is broad and allow enough room for you to toss your noodles effortlessly. You don’t want to crowd the noodles.

How to make Chili Garlic Noodles

This recipe literally comes together in 10 mins tops! Make sure you have everything ready before you heat up that Wok/Skillet!

Here’s a simple step by step pictorial to show you how easy it is to put this recipe together.

Some notes to make the perfect Chili Garlic noodles

A couple of things to note when stirfrying the recipe

• Keep everything ready before you begin cooking. Everything happens fast with a stir fry and you’d be running to stir and look for ingredients if you don’t have them by your side before you begin.
  
• Par-boil your noodles according to the instructions on your packet. If you are in doubt, its better to underboil, than overboil. You can always add more water while stir frying if you think you want to but there is no going back for overcooked noodles.
  
• Make sure you allow your garlic and chili to turn slightly golden before you add chicken. Uncooked chilies will be that much hotter and your oil won’t absorb enough garlic and chili flavor to transfer to the chicken and noodles.
  
• Always cook at high heat! The beauty of every good stir fry is that they are cooked at high and made very quick! So once you get started, make sure you are cooking at high heat, we don’t want soggy vegetables or overcooked noodles.
  
• Removes seeds from the chilies if you’d like to enjoy the chili flavor without too much heat.
  
• I didn’t use any toppings for the noodles, but you can garnish with sesame seeds.
  
• If you are feeling adventurous, go ahead and make this recipe using Chili oil rather than sesame oil to add another layer of heat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make it vegetarian?

Absolutely! Go ahead and swap the chicken for more mushrooms or maybe Tofu if you like or skip it altogether.

Can I make this recipe Low-carb?

If you have gone through my recipes, you know I’m not a big fan of low Carb. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do right? To make this recipe low carb, swap the noodles for zoodles or zuchini noodles using a spiralizer. And make the recipe as it is.

How to make these noodles guilt-free and more nutritious?

• Add low sodium soy sauce.
• Use whole wheat or durum wheat noodles
• Use organic chicken
• Add more vegetables

Craving more Chinese? Here are some other recipes on the blog

Crispy Beijing Beef
Dynamite Prawns
Saucy Schezuan Chicken
Other Chinese and Indo-Chinese recipes

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Chili garlic Noodles

An Indo-Chinese style stir fry noodle recipe, made with prominent flavors of Garlic and peppers, balanced out with sauces.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese, Continental

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 3 servings

Calories 520kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 250 gm noodles parboiled see notes
• 250 gm boneless chicken cut up in to small chunks see notes
• 1 cup sliced Mushrooms any of your choice – 75 gms
• 40 gm thinly sliced Chilies 3 serrano green chilies + 3 Fresno red chilies
• 1 whole garlic finely chopped 30 gm
• white root of 2 green onions sliced finely
• 1/4 cup sesame oil or vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cup sliced bellpeppers – 235 gms I used red, yellow and green

Sauce

• 2 tablespoon Honey
• 2 1/2 tablespoon ketchup or tomato paste
• 2 1/2 tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Vinegar
• 2 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
• 1/2 cup Reserved noodle water see notes

Instructions

• In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients mentioned under "sauce"and set aside.
• Use a large wok or a large pan to prepare this recipe. Heat your wok/pan at high flame for about 2 to 3 mins and begin cooking.
• Add oil, sliced chilies, garlic and onions to the heated wok. Stir constantly with a spoon.
• Once the garlic turns light golden, add chicken and mushrooms. Saute till the chicken becomes very slightly golden.
• Add in your sliced bellpeppers and sauce. Saute for 2 mins for the chicken to absorb flavor.
• Drop in the parboiled noodles and stir to mix.

Notes

• When you drain the liquid from boiling the pasta, save 1/4 cup of it.
• You can skip the chicken for a vegetarian version and use mushrooms or tofu instead.
• You can use Jalapenos if you can’t find Fresno chilies. Remove seeds of the chilies to reduce heat if you want to make it less spicy.
• Detailed recipe substitutions on the blogpost.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 520kcal | Carbohydrates: 64g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 19g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 877mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 22g

The post Spicy Chicken Chilli Garlic Noodles appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

But no matter how you spell it, its spicy and delicious, which is all that matters honestly! And also comes together in less than 30 mins! win win! I love making this saucy Chicken alongside with some dry Chinese sides like dragon chicken or good old Dynamite Shrimps and a hearty Asian salad, when I feel like cooking a feast for the family. This recipe is spicier than its more humble competition, the chicken shashlik dry.

How to make Saucy Schezwan Chicken

1. Start with the Curry base

First step is to create a nice aromatic curry base. I used minced garlic, shallots and whole red chilies in oil to create this base.

SUBSTITUTIONS

• You can also use chili oil to further enhance that chili flavor in the curry.
• For the dried red chili you can use the round ones or long ones.
• And if you have some Sichuan peppercorns at hand, throw a few in. (but let’s be honest, we usually don’t)

I like to take the garlic and onions to a nice golden color before adding chicken. It just adds so much more depth in flavor. Make sure to turn the heat to a slightly higher temperature when the chicken is added.

2. Then add the Schezwan sauce.

This recipe requires Schezwan sauce as the name itself suggests. You can make the Schezwan sauce at home, or buy it at your local grocery store. Just make sure, the one you buy is made of chilies, garlic and Sichuan peppercorns.

3. Season the curry with other sauces and spices.

I added all the sauces, sugar and salt, and kept sauteing the chicken in it. The last addition was of ketchup. Again, I like to use ketchup because of it underlying sweet flavor. But you can substitute with tomato paste as well.

4. Adding bell pepper and corn-flour

Next comes red bell peppers. I personally prefer using the red ones because of how they taste (slightly sweet than green). They compliment the dish perfectly, taste wise and color wise. But you can of course substitute with any bell pepper you have at hand or skip it altogether.

After stir frying the bell peppers for 2 mins, add water and cornflour and let it simmer till the corn flour cooks. And viola! Garnish with white or black sesame seeds. Serve it with fried rice or Chow mein.

Alternates, Fixes and Remixes

• You can make the same recipe with beef steak strips, and boneless fish as well.
• If you are somebody who likes to have vegetarian days in the week, you can use cauliflower to make a vegetarian Schezwan recreation.
• This recipe definitely is on the spicier side, if its turns out too spicy for you, just add a tbsp of brown sugar and ketchup to balance the spice out.
• Feel free to add more veggies like square cut onions, or carrots etc.

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Saucy Shezwan Chicken

A spicy Indo-Chinese chicken curry made using Schezwan Sauce

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian, Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Calories 497kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 500 gm boneless chicken cut in 1 inch cubes
• 1/3 cup of Shezwan sauce
• 1/4 cup chili oil or any oil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 5 to 6 whole red chilies round or long
• 3 shallots finely chopped or 1/2 cup onions
• 2 tbsp of Hoisin Sauce
• 1 tbsp of Oyster Sauce
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1 cup of square cut red bell peppers
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp of corn flour

Instructions

• In a wok, add oil, chopped garlic, shallots and whole red chilies. Saute at medium flame till they turn golden brown.
• Add in boneless chicken and toss it around for 2 mins.
• Add in the schezwan sauce, salt, sugar, oyster sauce, vinegar, ketchup and hoisin sauce. Saute for 3 to 4 mins or until the chicken loses its pink color.
• Add in the bell peppers and saute for another 2 mins.
• Pour in a cup of water mixed with corn flour.
• Let the chicken simmer for another 5 mins or until the the gravy thickens.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds and serve with fried rice or chow mein noodles.

Notes

Recipe for Schezwan Sauce

• 1 cup of whole dried red chilies
• 1 whole garlic pod, peeled and all the cloves finely chopped
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp ketchup

1. Soak whole red chilies in boiling hot water. Let it sit till the water comes down to room temperature.
2. Grind the red chilies in food process to make a paste.
3. In a pan, add oil and chopped garlic at medium flame.
4. When the garlic turns golden brown, add the chili paste and water.
5. Add all the other ingredients and let it cook for 2 to 3 mins.
6. Turn of the flame and fill it up in a jar.

Detailed Schezwan sauce recipe with pictures

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 497kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 112mg | Sodium: 1091mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 18g

The post Saucy Schezwan Chicken (Szechuan Chicken) appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

Where to use Schezwan Sauce?

• Sichuan sauce is usually used in Sichuan Cuisine and lots of Indo-Chinese recipes like Schezwan Chicken.
• You can mix it with regular ketchup to get chili garlic ketchup (which is very popular back in Pakistan)
• You can mix it with Mayo to give you a nice dip.
• Use it for chicken and fish marinations.
• Add a tablespoon of Schezwan sauce onto your pasta sauce to add a bold flavor.
• You can use it directly as a spicy condiment with dumplings or pakoras.

The characteristic feature of Sichuan sauce are the Sichuan peppercorns. They are small and red in color and I usually use about 8 to 10 of them in this sauce. But I didn’t have any at hand when I made this batch. So I skipped it. It has a nice tongue tickling sensation which sets is apart. So I would definitely recommend you to get some. But like you can see, you can still make a kickass Schezwan sauce without it

Making the Schezwan Sauce

Essentially Schezwan sauce is just garlic, oil and chilies. And I believe that’s how it should be. Adding too many extra sauces and spices balances out the sauce and its unique tangy spicy flavor. It is after all a condiment, and condiments aren’t balanced, they are supposed to be loud and bold so that when used in recipes they can add that effect to our dish.

Step 1: Chili Selection

You can use whole round chilies or the dried long ones. Both will give you similar result. The other concern while selecting chilies, are its seeds.

If you want a smooth sauce, you can remove the seeds from the chilies. I personally don’t mind the seeds, and in fact, I think it brings character to the sauce. But the seeds also add to the spiciness of the sauce. You CAN remove the seeds if you want to reduce the overall heat of the sauce.

Step 2: Making the chili paste

Soak the selected red chilies in hot boiling water and cover them. Let them soak until the water comes down to room temperature.

Discard the water and blend the chilies in a food processor with a little bit of water to give you a smooth paste with seed bits in it.

DISCLAIMER: Please! I beg you! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT touch your eyes or face during this process. 🙁 Don’t ask.

Step 3: Making the sauce.

To make the sauce, put oil in a pan or a wok. You can use Chili oil too if you want to boost the chili flavor.

So Schezwan sauce, in general, has a lot of garlic in it. I’ve added 1 whole garlic pod for this recipe. They are finely chopped.

Tip: When you finely chop the garlic, make sure they are as even as possible, so that they brown evenly.

Wait until all the garlic turns a nice golden brown color. Then add your chili paste in.

Cook it with a little bit of water to get the rawness out of the chilies. Add a little bit of salt for seasoning. I’ve also added a little bit of brown sugar and vinegar in the mix to act as preservatives.

Cook for 2 to 3 mins and turn off the flame. Cover the sauce and let it cool down. Once it cools down, you can fill it up in an airtight jar and refrigerate.

How long can it last?

The sauce has a couple of preservatives in it. So if kept at a stable temperature in the fridge, it can survive for 2 to 3 months. If you freeze the sauce, it can survive indefinitely.

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Shezwan Sauce

An Indo-Chinese spicy dried red chili condiment.

Course Dips & Condiments

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2 cups

Calories 397kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole dried red chilies
• 1 whole garlic pod peeled and all the cloves finely chopped
• 2 tbsp oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 3 tbsp tomato paste or ketchup

Instructions

• Soak whole red chilies in boiling hot water. Let it sit till the water comes down to room temperature.
• Grind the red chilies in food process to make a paste. (with roughly 3/4 cup of water)
• In a pan, add oil and chopped garlic at medium flame.
• When the garlic turns golden brown, add the chili paste and water.
• Add all the other ingredients and let it cook for 2 to 3 mins.
• Turn of the flame and fill it up in a jar.
• Use in recipes as a condiment or as marinades.

Notes

This condiment is too spicy to be used as a dip on its own. You can mix it with mayo or ketchup to create spicy dips.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 397kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 25g | Sodium: 2000mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 26g

The post Schezwan Sauce appeared first on Butter Over Bae.

This Apple Chicken stir fry is a combination of perfectly shallow fried chicken cubes, caramelized apples and onions, coated with a sweet and rich dark sauce made with apple juice and various spices, topped off with sesame seeds. I served it with steamed rice but man, fried rice would be sooooo perfect with it. If you’ve tried and liked pineapple chicken, or dragon chicken, or are a fan of Asian fusion flavors, this is the recipe for you.

I initially created this recipe a month ago for a challenge that I am hosting on Insta these days. But tbh, since then I’ve made it twice already, one for a dinner I was hosting and once because the husband requested it. It’s safe to say, that this meal has made a place on my monthly rotations and also Party menus

It is sooooooper easy but I still thought I’d throw in a couple of process pictures your way so there are no surprises. You can always click on the jump to recipe button above if you think you’ve got this.

Steps to make this yummm Apple chicken stir fry

Preparing the Chicken

This recipe measurements has 2 to 3 servings. I used 2 chicken breast pieces and cut them up in about 1 inch cubes. Then I marinated the chicken in soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper powder and garlic paste.

Keep the marinated chicken in the fridge for at least half an hour. Some of my friends skip this step because…well they be hungry!

Keep in mind that most dark sauces are high in sodium so I haven’t added any salt in the marinade.
But if you are using low sodium soy sauce, then add a lil bit of salt.

Add corn flour to your marinated chicken and coat them with it. It doesn’t need to be a perfect coat like we do while deep frying. So its ok if some bits and parts of chicken are not fully covered.

Your coated chicken cubes are gonna look something like in the picture above. They are now ready to be stir fried in some oil.

Go ahead and add the 1/4 cup of oil to a frying pan. Throw in your chicken and toss and turn them at medium to high flame until they are golden brown in color.

Once they get their beautiful color (and you nibble on a few pieces), take the chicken out from the frying pan and set aside. Now crank up the heat to full and toss in some square cut onions and apple cubes in the pan with the remaining oil in it.

Keep the heat at a high level and let your onions and apples caramelize. The sugar in both the ingredients will allow them to caramelize and its up to you to decide what level of caramelization you want. I personally only go for 2 3 mins of stir frying which gives me a light golden coat on all of the apples and onions. Once you are happy with the level of browness (thats a word right?) on your fruit and veggie, go ahead and take them out from the oil and set aside.

Preparing the sauce and assembling the apple chicken stir fry

Now we are gonna start preparing the sauce.

Prepare the sauce when you are ready to eat. If you are preparing this dish for a party, you can fry the apples, onions and chicken before hand and prepare the sauce when its time to serve.

In the remaining oil, chuck in some good old finely chopped garlic and take it to a golden brown level. When your kitchen starts smelling like the garlicky goodness that this dish is, you are ready for the next step.

This recipe uses apple juice as part of its sauce mix and I used the following one. But you can go ahead and use whichever apple juice you want, whether freshly squeezed or a bottled one like this.

I like to add all the ingredients for the sauce in mug and keep it ready so when its time to eat, I am not standing there measuring my ingredients.

Add all the sauce ingredients to the frying pan and let it simmer at medium to high heat for 3 to 4 minutes. After that, I used a little bit of corn flour as a thickening agent.

After adding corn flour, I stirred the sauce for about a minute or 2 and dumped in all my stir fried ingredients. Then I cooked for another 2 to 3 minutes at high flame to reheat all the chicken and apples. This is also a good time to check for seasoning. When I am happy with the consistency of the sauce, I turn off the flame and topped this gorgeous dish off with sesame seeds and some chopped spring onions.

We had it with some steamed rice but of course you can pair with chow mein or fried rice just as well.

ALTERNATES, FIXES AND REMIXES

Substitutions:

Healthier Substitutions

You can make this dish that much healthier by making the following substitutions:

1. Use 1 tbsp of apple puree instead of cornflour to thicken the sauce.
2. Skip the corn flour coat on the chicken cubes and stir fry directly.
3. Use 1 tbsp of oil to stir fry the chicken, 1 tbsp for onions and apples and 1 tbsp for garlic for a total of 3 tbsp of oil for this recipe.
4. Use low sodium soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce
5. Use freshly squeezed apple juice instead of the bottled version.

Hoisin sauce alternative

If you don’t have hoisin sauce on hand, don’t worry. Make your own hoisin sauce by mixing together the following ingredients.

• 1 tbsp of barbecue sauce
• 1 tsp of brown sugar
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• A pinch of cinnamon
• 2 pinches of red pepper powder or cayenne pepper.

There are also tons of other ways to make your own Hoisin sauce. Click here for other Hoisin sauce substitutes.

Fixes

If you feel your sauce is too sweet for your liking, add a little vinegar to balance it out.

If you feel your sauce is very tart, add a little worcestershire sauce.

If your final dish is over salty, there are 2 things you can do to compensate for this. The first thing you can do is to skip salt altogether while making the rice that will go with this dish. The second option would be to add 1/2 cup of water to the sauce and throw some of the sauce away after diluting it. But keep in mind, this way you might have to adjust the other seasonings as well.

Remixes

For extra crunch, you can also add peanuts to this, or increase the level of onions in this recipe.

You can try the same recipe with pineapples, replacing apples and apple juice with pineapple and its juice.

Swap the chicken for turkey or beef. If you are going to try this recipe with beef, remember to boil the beef for 20 mins in salt and garlic water to tenderize it before proceeding with the recipe as is.

More Pan Asian Recipes

Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help! And of course, If you try this recipe, I’d loveeeee to see it or simply hear about it! Hit me up in the comment section below and I’ll get back to asap! Happy Cooking!

Print

Easy Apple & Chicken Stir Fry

A tangy sweet amalgamation of apples, onions and chicken, stir fried together in a rich dark sauce. Can be eaten with rice or noodles.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese/Indo Chinese, Continental

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Marination time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings 3 Servings

Calories 975kcal

Author Wajiha

Ingredients

Chicken Marination

• 2 piece chicken breast pieces cut up in 1 inch cubes 200 gm
• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 2 tbsp corn flour

Sauce

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 full tbsp honey or brown sugar
• 1 cup of apple juice
• 1 tsp white pepper powder
• 2 tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 3 tbsp vinegar

Other

• 1 medium apple cut up in medium sized cubes
• 2 medium onions cut in ½ inch squares
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• sesame seeds for garnish
• chopped sprin onions for garnish

Instructions

• Prepare Chicken
• Marinate chicken cubes in all the spices and sauces, (except for the corn flour). Refrigerate for 30 mins at least.
• Add cornflour to chicken and coat evenly.
• Add oil in a frying pan or wok, and stir fry chicken until golden brown.
• Remove chicken from oil and set aside.
• Preparing sauce and assembling
• In the same oil, add onions and apples and stir fry at high flame. Allow the onions and apples to caramelize and get a nice brown edge.
• Remove the onions and apples from the oil and set aside.
• In the left over oil, add chopped garlic, and stir fry until they turn golden brown.
• Add all the ingredients for the sauce in the pan and allow it to simmer for 3 to 4 mins at medium flame.
• Mix corn flour with a little water to form a slurry and add it to the simmering sauce. Cook for 1 to 2 mins and dump in all the chicken, onions and apples.
• Cook for another 2 mins to reheat all the ingredients and get the consistency of sauce you want.
• Top with sesame seeds and spring onions. Serve immediately with steamed rice or stir fry noodles.

Notes

Substitutions for major ingredients are given right above the recipe card.

Most Dark sauces have a high level of Sodium, so preferably keep salt levels low for your dish and add salt later if needed.

If you are using low sodium options for your sauces, then add a bit of extra salt in the seasonings

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 975kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 171g | Fat: 154g | Saturated Fat: 40g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 34g | Monounsaturated Fat: 68g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 668mg | Sodium: 2827mg | Potassium: 2231mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 1310IU | Vitamin C: 27mg | Calcium: 179mg | Iron: 11mg

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