Recipe: Chicken Teriyaki

This easy dinner just requires a bit of pre-made gluten-free Teryaki Sauce (http://www.san-j.com/product_info.asp?id=8) and a knife. You can add veggies if you’d like (pictured here are stir fried peppers and squash), but the highlight is the chicken. To serve 2, take two boneless chicken breasts and cut the raw meat into bite sized pieces. Moderately salt and pepper these cubed pieces, place the raw meat into a bowl, pour the pre-made sauce over the pieces, and let sit. I’m impatient, and this time around I only let the chicken marinate for about an hour. Ideally, you’d leave it to sit considerably longer (2 hours is generally the minimum for marinating chicken), but I’m terrible at planning things that far in advance. My trick to this is to slow-cook the chicken in the marinade in a covered pan. This seems to allow the chicken to absorb a bit more flavor, while also allowing me to continue to be impatient! Once the chicken is white on both sides, I’ll pour the marinade out and cook the chicken directly on the pan to ensure a crispy texture on the outside of the cubes. This time around, I heat up some extra sauce and added a bit of corn starch to thicken it. I poured this thicker sauce over the finished chicken, which added that extra bit of flavor that really made the meat delicious.

Other than cooking the chicken, there’s really not much to this recipe! Just throw the rice in a rice cooker if you have one (if you don’t have one, you should get one. Gluten-free eaters make lots of rice), and chop up some veggies and stir fry them if you choose (just put some oil in a pan, heat it up a bit, and throw the veggies in. Keep in mind that some veggies cook much more quickly than others!). This meal is a good choice for a tired cook!

Recipe: Chicken Shawarma with Impromptu Gluten-Free Pita

Middle-Eastern flavors are very unique, full of anti-inflammatory properties, and were formerly a staple of my diet! I remember there were three days straight where I had Chicken Shawarma (a garlic-based chicken recipe served with Tzatziki sauce) for dinner and was not even close to feeling sick of it. So, replicating this dish in a gluten-free form has been a high culinary priority.

Imagine my delight when I found (or thought I found) gluten-free pita bread on sale at Whole Foods! Nesteled between Udi’s frozen Blueberry Muffins and Ezekiel’s Sprouted Grain Bread was a package of 6 pitas! So, I bought it and rushed home to find a recipe for Chicken Shawarma. Here is that recipe:

http://kurryleaves.blogspot.com/2011/08/chicken-shawarma.html

As far as preparing the chicken and veggies to fill the pita goes, that recipe is gluten free! I bought plain greek yogurt for the seasoning, and followed the instructions given (which are pretty clear). However, I was used to having this dish with Tzatziki Sauce (which the recipe doesn’t call for), so I googled a separate recipe to make the sauce:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tzatziki-sauce/

The sauce is pretty easy to make. I used the hour that I waited between marinating the chicken and cooking to create the Tzatziki Sauce. I quartered the recipe (since as given you’d end up with TONS of tzatziki sauce!), and processed all of the ingredients in a magic bullet ^.^ I also didn’t have any dill on hand, but I thought the sauce came out delicious without it.

After processing the tzatziki sauce and still waiting for the chicken to marinate, I decided to look at the ostensibly-gluten-free pitas that I had been so enthusiastic about at Whole Foods. Well, I suppose the gluten-free foodie’s equivalent of beer goggles had worn off, because I realized at the VERY last minute that the pitas were, in fact, NOT gluten free. They were normal, wheat based Pita. So there I was, in the middle of a recipe that calls for pita bread, with no pita bread and at least 30 minutes away from Whole Foods.

Thank goodness I became gluten-intolerant in the age of Google. A quick google search lead me to this recipe for 20 minute gluten-free pitas:

http://www.weareglutenfree.com/gluten-free-pita-bread-recipe/

I didn’t have the flours that the recipe calls for (all I had on hand was All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour, which is very different from the Almond Flour/Coconut Flour listed in the recipe), but I followed the proportions given and hoped for the best. I’ve included a picture of the result. While they don’t look particularly glamorous, these pitas did come out flexible enough to wrap around the the rest of the recipe. They tasted fine, but were definitely not a main feature of the dish. I think next time I’ll use this recipe: http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/how-to-make-quickbread-pita-bread-step-x-step/ (Gluten Free on a Shoestring is awesome!).

This dish came out fairly well, although I wish the chicken had had much longer to marinate (I only gave it about an hour and 20 minutes), and I wish I’d added more salt to the marinade (I probably added 1/2 a teaspoon). The Tzatziki Sauce was excellent (even without the dill), and the pitas made the whole experience much more exciting than expected.

Recipe: Orange Chicken

I knew from the start that, for me, Asian Foods were going to be the most difficult thing to let go of. What I didn’t know then was how far the gluten-free industry has come in making wheat flour substitutes! Frying the chicken with gluten-free stir-fry oil and Rice Flour (Substituted for traditional flour) made this recipe a great choice for gluten-free eaters.

The original recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/panda-express-orange-chicken-103215

Gluten-Free Substitutions:

Where the recipe calls for traditional flour, I substituted Bob’s Red Mill White Rice Flour (http://www.bobsredmill.com/organic-white-rice-flour.html?&cat=15). This flour creates a lighter texture after stir frying (which is my preference). When substituting rice flour for wheat flour, you’ll likely need to use a little more rice flour (by a factor of about 1.25) to  compensate for the reduced density of the substitute. However, your chicken should come out nice and golden brown!

For the rice, I used white Arborio Rice (certified gluten-free!) from Lundberg (http://www.lundberg.com/products/rice/Arborio_White.aspx). This rice naturally comes out fairly sticky, and doesn’t require any extra prep! It went well with the finished chicken.

The instructions in the recipe are lacking. You’ll want to create the orange sauce during your prep time (this doesn’t require any heat, you’re simply combining wet ingredients in preparation for when you start to create the sauce). If you’re unpracticed with using corn starch, make sure you brush up before starting because this recipe will lead you astray otherwise. Don’t add the chicken to the sauce before adding the activated corn starch. Rather, follow the more traditional method of adding the corn starch (mixed with water in a separate bowl) to the heated orange sauce/ginger/garlic mix and allow this to reduce until the sauce is somewhat thickened. Add the fried chicken to this sauce once it has reduced somewhat.

Despite lacking directions that would clarify things for inexperienced cooks, this recipe does make some damn good orange chicken! And it’s easy enough to convert to a gluten-free version 🙂

Ingredients
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces (I used  closer to 1.5, and it made plenty)
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
white pepper
oil (for frying) (I used Whole Foods Stirfry oil, which adds a nice flavor)
1/2 cup cornstarch (I used closer to a 1/4 cup, and I thought the chicken came out just fine. Lighter on the breading, but that’s healthier!), plus
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup flour (substitue rice flour, linked above)
1 tablespoon ginger root, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red chili pepper (I didn’t include this because I’m not a fan of spicy food)
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon rice wine (can be tough to find, and expensive)
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Orange Sauce for Stir Fry
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons water
5 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons white vinegar (Be careful, Whole Foods 365 white vinegar’s label reads that it’s possibly contaminated with gluten. Hinez should be safe, but make sure to always read the labels!)
1 orange zest (grated peel)

Directions

1) Place chicken pieces in large bowl.
2) Mix egg, salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon oil, then pour over chicken and mix well.
3) Stir cornstarch and flour together in separate bowl.
4) Mix flour mixture and egg mixture.
5) Coat chicken with flour mixture.
6)Heat oil for deep-frying in wok or deep-fryer to 375 degrees. (I used a normal frying pan. It just requires a bit more oil).
7) Add chicken, small batches at a time, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden crisp (keep your burners at about Medium/Medium High heat).
8) Remove chicken from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels; set aside.
9) Clean wok and heat 15 seconds over high heat.
10) Add 1 tablespoon oil.
11) Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant; about 10 seconds.
12) Add and stir-fry crushed chiles and green onions.
13) Add rice wine and stir 3 seconds.
14) Add Orange Sauce and bring to boil.
15) Stir water into remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth and add to orange sauce (reduce heat).
16) Heat until sauce is thickened.
17) As sauce thickens, add finished chicken and allow sauce to thicken around the chicken. (this also reheats the chicken if needed!)
18) Stir in sesame oil and orange zest if desired.
19) Serve over rice (make sure your rice is gluten-free! Again, rice is naturally gluten-free, but is often cross-contaminated at the factory).