Asian Cola Chicken Wings

During one of our food escapades outside of Thousand Oaks, we ventured into Monterey Park to meet up with friends over dim sum. While the wait for a table of 14 people was horrendous (even though I was assured the wait won't be bad.. we waited for over an 1 hour, only to be split up into 2 tables) the good food made up for it.

One of the dishes that we had was "Cola" Chicken. I've never heard of it and was told that the chicken was cooked in (Coca?) Cola. I couldn't taste the soda in the sauce and thought it was ok. One of my friend though, thought that it was delicious and ordered 2 plates of it. I was determined to see if I can enhance the cola flavor in the sauce. I got some wings from the grocer, and looked up some recipe for the chicken. As I cook down the cola sauce, I find that the soda taste is no longer there... What was left was a nice sweet and salty syrupy sauce that coats the very tender wings ( the soda must have helped in tenderizing the chicken) so nicely. The chicken was very addictive. I made 12 pieces of wings and wished I made a little more! Here's the recipe!

ASIAN (PEPSI) COLA WINGS RECIPE
Ingredients

• 12 Chicken Wing Segments
• 1 Tsp Oil
• 1 Tbsp Chopped Green Onions (Optional)

Marinade Ingredients

• 2 Tsp Rice Wine
• 2 Tsp Light Soy Sauce
• 2 Tsp Sweet Dark Soy Sauce
• 2 Tsp Sesame Oil

Sauce Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
• 1 Cup (Pepsi) Cola or Coca Cola

Method
Mix all the marinate ingredients and chicken wings in a bowl and set aside for 30 minutes. Then, heat 2 tsp oil in a non stick frying pan over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, place the marinated chicken (do not pour in the marinade juice yet) into the pan and fry each side for about 1-2 minutes until you get a nice caramelization on the skin. Then add all the marinade juice, light soy sauce and the cola into the pan. Reduce the heat to medium, and cover the chicken. Let the chicken cook until the sauce becomes thick and syrupy. This should take about 25-30 minutes. Remove cover, quickly turn to coat the chicken in the syrupy sauce and transfer to a plate. Garnish with optional chopped green onions and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Simply June 

Sausage and Mushroom Pinwheels

We were invited to celebrate A's surprise (belated) birthday at an art studio.  A's wife, C had planned and arranged for the few of us to gather at the art studio and do some painting. The owner of the studio allowed us to bring in some of our own food and drinks to enjoy while we painted. We had a lot of fun, the birthday boy was truly surprised and food was plentiful! I'll blog on that wonderful party in another post.

Anyway, as I hate going to parties empty handed and always try to make sure I have something in hand. I told C that I'll make some mushroom tartlets for the party even though she said we don't need to bring anything. On the day of the party (being a little disorganized),  I realized that I forgot a crucial ingredient for the tartlets; green onions. Not wanting to head out to the store again, I decided to go with making something else. Looking at what I had in the freezer and keeping in mind that I wanted to bring finger food... I decided to make some pinwheels. I'm glad I came out with this last minute idea as the birthday boy said it was delicious! Yay! The sprinkles of tomato in the pinwheel gave it a little pop of color. Here's the recipe.

SAUSAGE & MUSHROOM PINWHEELS RECIPE
*Makes 15 pieces

Ingredients

• 1 Sheet Puff Pastry
• 1 Fresh Sausage/Bratwurst, Casing Removed
• 10 Oz Mushroom, Sliced
• 1 Clove Garlic, Minced
• Dash (or two) Black Pepper
• 1/2 Tomato, Rib removed, Diced
• 1 Tsp Fresh Chopped Parsley
• 1/3 Cup Shredded Cheddar
• 1/2 Tbsp Butter
• 1-2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour

Method
Preheat oven to 400F. In a pan over medium high heat, add bratwurst and butter. Break bratwurst apart into tiny pieces, then add mushroom slices and garlic. Sitr fry mixture until mushroom and sausage turns slightly golden brown. Remove from heat and add chopped parsley.

On a slightly floured surface, slightly roll out puff pastry with the short side closest to you. Spread the sausage and mushroom filling evenly. Start about 1 inch from the edge closest to you and stop about 2 inches from the edge furthest away from you. On both sides, make sure you leave about 1/3 inch "filling free". Then sprinkle chopped tomato and cheese adhering to the same guidelines for the sausage & mushroom spread.

Carefully using both hands, lift and roll the edge closest to you; making sure the roll is tight. Once you finished rolling, pinch both edges to keep the filling in. Then, cut the roll into about 15 pieces and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or foil).  Bake the pinwheels for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy it warm or at room temperature!

Simply June 

20% Off at TGI Fridays

Hey guys! Here's a money saving coupon for your next meal at the nearest TGI Fridays! Click on the image or go to http://fridays.qrs1.net/pdp/cw.do?cc=HQ to be directed to the coupon to print. The coupon is just valid for US locations!

your friend their own coupon.

The coupon below is yours and can only be used one time.

I'm not affiliated with TGI Fridays in anyway, and merely just sharing a money saving coupon whenever I see them! I heart coupons! =)

Simply June 

Easy Dinner Rolls

Updated 3 Sept, 2012

Making bread is my nemesis. Well, perhaps patience is my problem in making bread or anything that involves yeast. Having to let the dough rise and rise and rise like there's no tomorrow so that you get soft and fluffy bread does test my patience. Therefore, the few times I tried to make bread and couldn't wait to let it rise more, I ended up with almost rock hard bread. Epic fail! Serve me right I guess. My main problem, is that I can't wait to get it baked and eat it right away. I "heart" bread. Just ask my husband, he knows how much bread I can eat in one seating, prior to dinner. Nice warm dinner rolls accompanied with rich creamy butter and I'm pretty much all set while waiting for the main course to arrive.

I had wanted to make dinner tolls again a couple months ago, and tried a recipe. It was a success.. as I let the dough rise and rise and rise. The result was nice and fluffy dinner rolls. The second time I used the recipe, I first forget to add sugar at the beginning of the process and I think that killed it. The dough did not rise properly. While it wasn't super hard... it wasn't great.

The third time, I tried the recipe, it was great.... I made myself busy so that I won't be tempted to bake the dinner rolls too soon. Result was soft and fluffy bread...... eat it warm with some butter! If it cools down, you'll need to reheat it again. Click here for the original recipe, mine is slightly tweaked with a longer resting time for the dough.

EASY DINNER ROLLS RECIPE
*Makes 12 dinner rolls

Ingredients

• 2-2-1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 Envelope Fleischmann's Rapid Rise Yeast
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1 Tsp Oil
• 1 Egg Yolk, Beaten
• 1/2 Tsp Sesame Seed (Optional)

Method

Combine 3/4 Cup Flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Heat milk, water and butter until very warm (About 120F - 130F). Add flour mixture. Using a electric mixer, beat mixtures at medium speed for 2 minutes, scarping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add 1/4 Cup of flour, and beat at high speed for 2 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Remove dough from bowl and knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic for about 8-10 minutes. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape them into balls. Grease a 8 inch round pan with oil, and place the dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm draft free place for about 1 hour. The dough should double in size. 

Brush the egg yolk onto the dough and sprinkle with optional sesame seeds. Bake the dough in a preheated oven at 375F for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

June's Notes: You can stuff the little dinner rolls with some cheese, mini franks or sweet red bean paste, etc. Stuff the dough after you divide them into 12 pieces and let them rest per the recipe! =)

Simply June 

Pulmuone Ja Jang Myun

Being in the land of Thousand Oaks, we are kind of deprived from Asian grocery stores and authentic Asian Food. The closest Asian grocery stores is about 50 minutes from us and a few weekends ago we finally ventured into the Northridge area where we were told there are some Asian grocery stores and restaurant there. We stumbled Galleria Market, a Korean grocery store which also has a food court in its premise. While the fresh vegetables/fish selection is not as impressive as H-Mart (at least in MA), it was  decent if you're desperate! 

Since we were also there, we decided to stock up on some Asian food, mainly Korean I guess. One of the items I got was a bag of Ja Jang Myun which is a kind of noodle dish, served with a thick black bean sauce. A bag serves 2 people and for less than $5 ( I think we paid less than $4) it's a pretty good deal. I like that it comes with fresh noodles ( 2 bags) and 2 bags of black bean sauce with some potato cubes I think. The preparation of the Ja Jang Myun is super easy; basically boiling the noodles until it's cooked and re-heating the bag of sauce.

I decided to fry up and egg and julienne some fresh cucumbers with my noodles. I wished there were a little more noodles in the bag as the sauce was plenty. The ja jang myun was overall ok. The sauce seem to be lacking some flavors. I'm not sure if this was because the one I had in the past has some pork in it or what but for $2 per bowl, I shouldn't complain much.  I do like that the noodles were fresh, and not the dehydrated ones! 

I might buy this again to have handy when I crave for some Ja Jang Myun. This company produces a few different kind of noodles that might be worth trying out. The noodles are usually found in the refrigerated section of the store and have a decent shelf life.

PS: This is my personal review, and I'm not affiliated with Pulmuone company for this product review.

Simply June