Three Cup Chicken, which is also known as “Sanbeiji” is a Chinese chicken dish. This dish is very popular in Taiwan. You may wonder,” Why is it called Three Cup Chicken?” The name comes from the three cups of sauces that go into the dish, which are rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil. Of course this recipe has scaled the measurement down a little bit.  The idea is to have equal parts of sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine. It’s not a typo this recipe calls for 20 cloves of garlic! The garlic along with ginger, Serrano peppers and basil adds a great deal of flavor to the sauce. I made a few changes to the original recipe. The first change was lightly dusting the chicken with cornstarch. The second change was deep frying the chicken before putting it in the wok. Serve with white rice. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
Cornstarch (for dusting, optional)
1/3 cup sesame oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup rice wine (or sake)
20 garlic cloves (minced)
10 thin slices of fresh ginger
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoons water
2 cups fresh basil (chopped)
2 Serrano peppers (sliced, with seeds)
1 cup green onions (sliced)
Oil (if deep frying)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Cut the chicken breasts into 1” chunks. Lightly dust the chicken with cornstarch. Deep fry the chicken bits in batches at 375 degrees until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Step 2: Heat sesame oil in your wok on medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger and Serrano peppers. Stir fry for 1 minute.
Step 3: In a bowl stir together rice wine, soy sauce and sugar. Pour into the wok. Put chicken bits into the wok and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water in a measuring cup. Pour into the sauce and stir until the sauce becomes somewhat thick.

Step 4: Add green onions and basil. Cook for 2 minutes and serve.
(Makes 4 Servings)

One of the best Japanese chicken dishes is Teriyaki chicken. This is a recipe for a delicious teriyaki sauce and/or marinade. Why buy it from the store when you can make your own? This recipe uses a lot of soy sauce, garlic, and rice wine. I always like to add a little heat, so of course; red pepper flakes were a must. The chicken should be marinated for at least 12 hours (or 24 for more intense flavor).  The chicken can be cooked in many ways. I chose to grill the marinated chicken breasts but you could bake them, or cut them up into pieces for a delicious teriyaki chicken stir fry with your favorite vegetables. This recipe will make enough to marinate about 3-4 lbs of chicken. Even if you are only using 1 or 2 lbs of chicken, I would still stay true to the marinade recipe if you want to use it for sauce. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
3-4lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
2/3 cup rice wine (or sake)
1 cup soy sauce
4 ½ teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/3 cup white sugar
7 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (minced)
1 small pinch red pepper flakes
black pepper (to taste)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a sauce pan over high heat, add rice wine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the wine for 10 minutes. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar. Season with garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Allow sauce to cool completely.
Step 2: Place chicken in a bowl, pour in teriyaki sauce. Seal and marinade over night in the refrigerator.
Step 3: Remove chicken from the marinade (reserve the liquid if you want to use it for sauce). Cook chicken by grilling, baking or cut into pieces and stir fry.
Step 4: If using the marinade as a sauce- pour the reserved marinade into a sauce pan or wok and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

One of my favorite types of brownies is mocha brownies. If you are the type of person that likes to sit down and have a brownie along with a cup of coffee, these are perfect for you! The brownies use instant coffee and cocoa to give them that amazing and rich flavor. The highlight of this recipe is the coffee frosting. The coffee frosting is very delicious and you can adjust the amount of instant coffee in it to your taste. I would recommend about 2 teaspoons but if you want a stronger flavor, I would say go with 3. These mocha brownies are very easy to make and really moist. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
Brownies-
½ cup shortening
½ cup butter
1 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
4 teaspoons instant coffee
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
Frosting-
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 ½ tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons instant coffee

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13” baking dish with tin foil and lightly grease It lightly. Melt butter and shortening in the microwave or on the stove top.
Step 2: Pour melted butter and shortening into a large mixing bowl. Add cocoa and blend in well. Add sugar and mix well. Dissolve instant coffee in tablespoon of hot water and mix into the cocoa mixture. Add eggs one at a time and beat in well by hand. Stir in vanilla, flour and salt. Pour mixture into the baking dish and spread out evenly.
Step 3: Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool.

Step 4: While brownies are cooling. To make the frosting – In a bowl cream butter and vanilla. Add powdered sugar and beat on medium speed. Dissolve instant coffee in milk and add to the mixture. Beat until lightly and fluffy. Spread the frosting over the cooled brownies.

I have wanted to try an Asian fish recipe for quite some time. Salmon is one of my favorite types of fish so this went together perfectly. The recipe uses Asian flavors such as soy sauce, garlic, ginger and chili sauce. I had worried that the lime zest might be a little overpowering but it turns out it wasn’t at all. It is nearly the perfect combination for fish. You can either bake or grill the salmon.  The weather has been pretty nice so I went with the outdoor grill. I served this recipe with fries but white rice will go great as well. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 lbs salmon fillets (cleaned)
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili sauce
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (minced)
2 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
1 lime (juiced)
1 lime (zested)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 green onions (chopped)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Heat an outdoor grill to high heat. Place salmon on 3 slightly over lapping large sheets of aluminum foil.
Step 2: In a bowl mix together soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger, garlic, lime juice, lime zest and brown sugar. Pour the sauce over the salmon. Place salmon in aluminum foil on the grill.
Step 3: Grill salmon for 4-7 minutes on each side or until fully cooked. Remove and place on a platter. If there is any sauce left over on the aluminum foil, pour it over the fillets. Sprinkle with chopped green onions.
(Makes 4 Servings)

It’s getting to be that time of the year again, Easter is approaching and that means it’s time for carrot cake.  There are many recipes around for carrot cake but this one is the best I have come across. Not only does it have carrots but it also has shredded coconut, crushed pineapple and walnuts in it. Seriously, does that sound good or what?  It doesn’t even end there; the cream cheese frosting just tops it off nicely. This cake is moist, rich and highly flavorful. The recipe I have posted calls for a 9×13” baking pan but I made a double layer cake instead. If you want to make a double layer cake just pour the mixture out evenly into 2 round baking pans. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup walnuts (chopped)
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple (drained)
Frosting-
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (softened)
¼ cup butter (softened)
2 cups powdered sugar

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Mix with a spoon until smooth. Stir in carrots, walnuts, coconut and pineapple.
Step 2: Pour into a greased 9×13” baking pan and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Step 3: While cake is cooling, to the make cream cheese frosting- In a bowl beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time and beat until smooth. Spread frosting over the top of the cake.

Alfredo dishes have always been among my favorites in Italian cuisine. I love chicken alfredo and Shrimp alfredo is no different, this recipe is delicious. The alfredo sauce is very simple and probably a bit healthier than most. You can adjust this recipe to your taste. I always like to add a lot of garlic and parmesan. This is a very easy dish and should be on the table in less than 1 hour. As you can probably see from the pictures, I used cooked shrimp instead of raw. Either one will work fine. If the shrimp is already pre-cooked I would recommend putting it in the sauce to simmer for a few seconds just before it’s done. You don’t want to over cook the shrimp.  Serve with garlic bread. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb medium raw shrimp (peeled and deveined with tails removed)
6 garlic cloves (sliced in half)
1 medium onion (diced)
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
8 ounces fettuccini (or your favorite pasta)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon cornstarch
seasoning salt
ground black pepper
Minced fresh parsley (for garnish)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Bring to large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions.
Step 2: Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix cornstarch and milk. Set aside. In a large frying pan heat butter and oil. Add garlic and onions, cook for 5 minutes or until garlic is soft. Mash garlic with the bottom of a fork. Add shrimp and cook until it just turns pink (about 1 ½ minutes). Stir milk mixture into the pan. Cook while stirring constantly until the sauce has thickened (about 2 minutes).

Step 3: Pour mixture over cooked pasta. Mix in parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley.
(Makes 2 Servings)

Char Siu is also known as Barbequed pork in China. I had a few requests in the Chinese Buffet at Home article for the red chicken skewers from the Chinese buffet. Luckily someone pointed me in the right direction and this is very close, the color is spot on. It turns out the redness of the meat comes from red food coloring but this is totally optional. This dish I believe is typically roasted but I decided to put the pork on skewers and grill them instead. If you want you could just leave the pork lions whole, marinate and roast them in the oven. This recipe will also work with boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
3 lbs lean pork loin (cut into strips)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
¼ cup hoisin sauce
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon rice wine (or sherry)
1 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Cut pork loin into long strips. In a large bowl combine soy sauce, garlic powder, ginger, hoisin, ketchup, honey, rice wine and food coloring. Place pork into bowl, cover and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
Step 2: Soak skewers in cold water. Slide pork strips onto each skewer.
Step 3: Grill until pork is fully cooked.
(Makes 5 Servings)

If you are a fan of sweets you probably enjoy cinnamon rolls. I used to just buy them from the store but I decided to try making them at home. The results were fantastic. This is a bread machine recipe, so the bread machine does all the hard work for you. I have also included a recipe for the glaze, after all, what would cinnamon rolls be without the glaze? You can do the prep work and refrigerate them overnight if you want to bake them in the morning for breakfast. If you are new to making cinnamon rolls, don’t worry, these are very easy to make. With this article you are sure to impress your family and friends with this delicious treat. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
Dough-
¾ cup warm water (+plus 2 tablespoon of water)
2 tablespoons butter
2 ½ cups bread flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bread machine yeast
Filling-
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter (softened)
Glaze-
1 cup powdered  sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Put ¾ cup warm water, 2 tablespoon warm water, 2 tablespoons butter, bread flour, ¼ cup granulated sugar, salt and bread machine yeast in a bread machine and start on the dough cycle.
Step 2: When dough is complete roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured surface into a 9” square.

Step 3: In a measuring cup mix cinnamon and granulated sugar. Spread the 2 tablespoons of softened butter over the dough and top with the cinnamon mixture. Roll up the dough tightly. Cut into 1” slices and place into a lightly greased baking dish. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
Step 4: Remove plastic wrap and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Step 5: Meanwhile, in a bowl mix together powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Drizzle over cinnamon rolls and serve.
(Makes About 9 Rolls)