Chinese Take-Out's Mongolian Beef

I am a red meat kind of girl, so when I get to have beef rather than chicken for Chinese food, I am all in :).  Aaron prefers chicken most of the time, but I love me some steak/beef/what ever.  This Mongolian beef has such great flavor, and we all gave it a 9, except Aaron who gave it an 8.  Like all the recipes in Chinese Take-Out cookbook, this is relatively low in calories, but we always wish we had more sauce.  Each of the five servings was 256 calories, not including the rice, but it would be more if we made more sauce, which I plan on doing next time.  In fact, I will just post the doubled sauce recipe here, so I won't even try to make it the other way :).  Here's what to do:

Marinade:
1 T soy sauce
1 T mirin
2 t cornstarch

1 lb flank steak, sliced thinly against the grain

Sauce:
1/4 c soy sauce
4 t hoisin sauce
4 t chili paste
4 t mirin
2 t oyster sauce
2 t sesame oil
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes

1 T oil
2 leeks, white part only sliced thinly
1 t minced fresh ginger
1 scallion, chopped

Marinate the beef in the marinade for about 10 minutes.
Mix the sauce ingredients together, then set aside.
Heat the oil in your pan, then add in the beef to stir fry for a few minutes.  Add the leeks, and ginger and stir fry for another few minutes.  Add the sauce, and stir, cooking until the beef is cooked to desired doneness.  Garnish with scallions and serve.

Chinese Take-Out's Cashew Chicken

This was such a tasty dinner, and like all the recipes in Chinese Take Out, super easy, taking only about 30 minutes to complete.  The boys and I gave this a perfect 10, and Aaron gave this a 9 because although he loved the flavor and the cashews, he said he wanted more flavor.  I used chicken thighs in this, and I love how great the flavor is with thighs.  Without rice, each serving is 225 calories, when you divide it into six.

1 T soy sauce
1 T mirin
1 t cornstarch
1 lb chicken thighs, chopped into bite size pieces

2 T soy sauce
1 T mirin
1 T oyster sauce
2 t sesame chili oil

2 T vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, chopped
1/2 c salted, roasted cashews

Marinate the chicken in the first three ingredients.  Set the chicken aside for 10-15 minutes.
Whisk together the soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce and sesame chili oil, and set aside.
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat, then add the oil and swirl.  Add the garlic and stir fry about 20 seconds.  Add in the chicken, cook about 2 minutes, then add in the onions and jalapeno.  Cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Pour in the sauce and stir to coat the chicken.  Allow the sauce to warm and thicken, then add in the cashews and serve.

Chinese Take-Out's Orange Chicken

This was a great recipe!  While I don't love frying, this was really good, and worth the deep fryer time :).  Even with the marinating and the deep frying, this didn't take more than about 30 minutes, so a quick dinner that is also delicious.  Each serving, and we split it into 6, was 542, so high in calories, but since that is including a cup of oil, I don't know how accurate my calculations are.  We all gave this a 9, so winner!  Here's what I did

1 T soy sauce
1 T mirin
2 egg whites

1 lb chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/3 c orange juice
1/4 c chicken stock
1 T cider vinegar
1 1/2 T soy sauce
1 t sesame chili oil
2 T light brown sugar
1 t grated fresh orange peel

Frying oil

1 t oil
1 garlic clove
1 t cornstarch dissolved in 1 T water

1 c cornstarch

Marinate the chicken:  Combine the soy sauce, mirin, and egg whites.  Add the chicken, and stir gently to coat.  Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Prepare the sauce:  Combine the orange juice, chicken stock, cider vinegar, soy sauce, sesame chili oil, brown sugar, and orange zest.  Set aside.

Heat the 1 t oil in a pan and saute the garlic until fragrant, about 1 minutes.  Add the reserved sauce and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and allow the sauce to simmer until it is reduced by 3/4, about 15 minutes.  Stir in the slurry and let the sauce thicken.  Season with salt to taste.

Spread the 1 c of cornstarch on a plate, and cover each chicken chunk with the corn starch, shaking off the excess.  Fry until lightly golden brown, then remove the chicken to a paper towel lined plate.  Add the chicken to the orange sauce and mix until well coated.

We served ours with rice, and we loved it :)

Chinese Take Out's Stir Fried Sesame Chicken

This was a good, simple dish, but I made it a little spicier than I needed to, and Jonah wasn't happy about it :).  Owen gave this a perfect 10, Noah gave it a 9, and Aaron and I gave it an 8. We made this into six servings, and each serving was 225 calories, relatively painless, right? :)

Here's the simple recipe:

1 T sesame chili oil

1 1/2 t soy sauce

1 1/2 t mirin

1 t grated fresh ginger

1 t cornstarch

1 lb chicken breasts, chopped into chunks

1 t toasted white sesame seeds

1/4 c chicken stock

1 T soy sauce

1 T sesame chili oil

1 T honey

1 t white rice vinegar

2 t cornstarch

1 T vegetable oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 c frozen peas

Marinate the chicken:  Stir together the sesame chili oil, soy sauce, mirin, ginger, and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved.  Add the chicken and stir gently to coat.  Let stand at room temperature 15-20 minutes.

Prepare the sauce:  Stir together the chicken stock, soy sauce, sesame chili oil, honey, rice vinegar, and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved.  Set aside.

Heat the oil over high heat, then add the garlic and stir-fry about 30 seconds.  Add the chicken and stir-fry about 2 minutes, then add the frozen peas and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in the sauce and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes to thicken.  Top with the toasted sesame seeds.

General Tso's Chicken

We had this delicious General Tso's chicken from Brown Eyed Baker's blog the other night, another one of Aaron's favorite kinds of food.  I am not going to repost the recipe here, because it is long and involved, and I followed the recipe exactly, or I tried to.  I will call your attention to the coating the chicken part, where the cornstarch flour mixture is made using the rest of the marinade.  I threw my marinade remains out before that part, and then I had to just dump a few ingredients in and hope it would turn out okay.  It did, but I didn't do a good enough job reading the recipe ;)  Learn from my mistakes, right :)? 
The calories are again an estimate on this, because of the frying thing, but they are around 295/serving for 10 servings.  That doesn't include the rice.  I used the coconut rice I have featured before on this blog, and it was delicious as usual.
Anyway, although labor intensive, this recipe is definitely worth the time, it's really delicious.  Aaron and Owen gave it a 9, Noah gave it a perfect 10, and I gave it an 8.