Mom, what’s for dinner?!
It’s time to make dinner, and the last thing we want to do is head for the kitchen to cook a complicated meal. As an enthusiastic cook with average skills in the kitchen, it is a life-saver for me to have a cache of tried-and-true recipes to turn to for delicious, easy to prepare meals.
I really enjoy cooking. I love pouring over cookbooks, especially the ones that have narratives outlining the author’s personal story. I could (and have) spend hours exploring the glossy photos of perfectly plated meals.
But then reality strikes: it’s 5:10 p.m. and now I have to get together a meal that is tasty, nutritious and did I mention, quick and easy to get on the table?
And if you have kids and a husband with particular food preferences (which I am sure some of us do), the variety of ingredients that your family will not eat is astounding at times. I have decided to try a variety of recipes from websites and cookbooks and give an honest review from the perspective of an average (yet enthusiastic) home coo
20-Minute Chicken Ramen Stir-Fry from Inquiring Chef
https://inquiringchef.com/20-minute-chicken-ramen-stir-fry
This recipe caught my eye because my kids love ramen, and who wouldn’t want dinner on the table in 20 minutes? This combination of tender ramen noodles, chicken breast and broccoli in a slightly sweet soy-based sauce did in fact come together in 20 minutes…of actual cooking time. I did not initially notice that a few of the ingredients listed were pre-prepped; i.e. 3 cloves of garlic, chopped, or 1 pound of chicken breasts, chopped. So after gathering the ingredients and doing the prep work, I was already 15 minutes in before starting any cooking.
A valuable lesson is to tack on some time when ingredients will need to be prepped. That may be common sense to a seasoned cook, but I have fallen victim to that before so here’s to hoping that I will finally learn my lesson.
How to velvet chicken for a stir-fry
https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-velvet-chicken-stir-fry
Once the ingredients were prepped, the process did move on rather quickly. Mixing the sauce was easy. I used a small mixing bowl, but ended up pouring the mixed sauce into a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup. It is a nice size and makes pouring the sauce into the wok a breeze.
I used a medium size pot to boil the water for the noodles, that process was rather straight-forward.
I personally did not weigh the chicken but used 3 very large chicken breasts, which was plenty for this recipe. I used the Kirkland brand from Costco, found in the frozen food section (which any kind of chicken breasts will do). Before leaving the house this morning, I had put the frozen breasts in a Ziploc bag with salted water and put the bag in a bowl in the refrigerator. The breasts were mostly defrosted by the time I cut them into bite-sized pieces for this recipe.
While the chicken cooked in the wok, I defrosted the broccoli in the microwave (also frozen, also from Costco). Once the chicken was done, I removed it from the pan as requested and put the broccoli in the wok with some oil. Although it wasn’t a listed ingredient, I used sesame oil for an added bit of flavor on this step. Since the broccoli was heated from frozen, it did not look as nice as freshly steamed would, but that didn’t affect the dish too much.
Finally, using a large fork to scoop the noodles out of the water in the pot, I added them along with the cooked chicken to the wok and mixed it up. The sauce was a little too thick and wasn’t coating the noodles very well so I poured a little of the water from the noodle pot into the wok and that worked nicely to thin the sauce. I didn’t put the sesame seeds on it in the pan, but sprinkled some on my own plate because no one else wanted any.
The end result was really good. I would consider adding additional vegetables to it (like matchstick carrots, shredded cabbage, red peppers, onions) in the future, but that would most likely increase the prep time and it would only be more items for my kids to pick out. Although it ended up taking me twice as long from start-to-finish, 3 out of the 4 human members of my family gave it a thumb’s up (which is pretty good in my family).
My family’s review
Daughter, age 12: “I like it, Mom. I’d eat it again” (This is high praise from this “selective” eater!)
Son, age 14: He picked out the chicken and the broccoli but didn’t touch the noodles (Go figure! He usually loves ramen but maybe he was expecting the standard flavor packet?)
Husband, age whatever: Didn’t say too much, other than that he thought it was good but he did go back for seconds.
The Verdict
Overall, I would definitely make this again, only I would give myself more time. I also felt that there were more dishes left to clean up, but that may have been due to the fact that I was trying to follow the recipe as closely as possible and not just winging it as I usually do.
I recommend this 20-Minute Chicken Ramen Stir-Fry as it was delicious and easy, if not necessarily quick.