Poached Chicken with Chili Sauce
Hi y’all!
I hope you guys are beginning the week with calm and mindful spirit. I started meditating with my roommate last week and it’s been going great so far. I feel like I can start my mornings with a good note and really it’s been helping me to be more productive during the day. I am an sensitive, emotional person, so I’m curious to see how this is going to affect my perspective and how I approach things. I’ll keep you guys updated 🙂
On a kind of related note? I learned something about myself in this past couple of days. I like cooking for people! For a personal reason (I won’t go into details), my boyfriend needs to stay at his friends’ house, and unfortunately, I might not be able to see him for a little while. As you can all assume, I cook for us every night. I realized that cooking for myself is so much less fun than cooking for others. I was so used to our routine, I didn’t realize my joy of cooking included seeing people smile. It’s honestly THE BEST feeling when someone tells you “this is delicious! Thank you!”
For me at least, those words and the smile make me feel so warm inside. I also think I am extra appreciative towards food when I have someone to share it with, you know? I’m not sure if this is because of meditation or what, I feel more intuitive and am able to learn more about myself.
It’s not just what I’m doing though, I think this quarantine/situation that we’re all faced has been affecting me, in a way, positively. Personally, I have more time to think and reflect about myself, friendships, relationship, family, society, environment…etc. For me it’s been a learning experience. – I should not take anything for granted. Focus on what I have rather than what I don’t have, what I can do rather than what I cannot do.
There is a word in Buddhism: “Jiri-rita”. Essentially, it means that your happiness leads to others’ happiness and others’ happiness leads to your happiness. Of course, it’s so important to take care of your own well-being. But, it’s also as important to look after others’ well-being. We are all connected to each other, and every one of us is equally responsible for taking care of one another.
I’m sorry I went on a little rant! I was feeling deep today😌. Anyways, here’s today’s recipe.
This is one of my boyfriend’s favorite!
Healthy food doesn’t always have to be gross and tasteless. Just like grilling, poaching does not require added fat or oil. It is actually the healthiest way to cook chicken!
Let me introduce you my ~Japanese~ way to make it extra juicy and extra delicious!
Poached Chicken with Chili Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1000 cc water (for poaching)
- 4 stalks scallions
- 1/2 ginger root
- 2 tbsp sake
- green part of a leek
Chili Sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tsp chili oil (adjust depending on your spice tolerance)
- 1 tsp grated ginger (ginger paste works fine!)
- 2 tbsp fried garlic
- 2 tbsp water used for poaching
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- black pepper
Instructions
- Put water into a large pot, add sliced ginger root and leek, and bring to boil.
- Add chicken breasts, turn off the heat, and leave it for an hour.
- In the meantime, mix the sauce ingredients together (except for water used for poaching) and chop scallions.
- Once chicken is done, take them out, and slice them into small pieces.
- Add the water used for poaching into the sauce mix.
- Put chicken on a plate, garnish it with scallions, and pour the sauce on top. (I love eating this with some lettuce, so I usually chop some romaine lettuce and put the chicken on top of that!)