Homemade Pasta for the Holidays

Christmas Day has come and gone and a few days ago, we have just welcomed the year 2012. While most of us are probably still clearing our plates of the leftovers from our holiday feasts, some may already be on the lookout for their next holiday dish.

Allow me, therefore, to share this recipe I tried for our Media Noche this year. I have been looking for a pasta dish to cook for the holidays since November, and a trip to Yellow Cab prompted me to search for this particular dish. I found one here and made some adjustments to suit our taste.

Without further ado, let me present my Homemade Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta recipe (under the cut).

Ingredients:

500 grams spaghetti

chicken breast and thigh, cut into small strips

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

½ bulb of onion, chopped

¼ cup olive oil

2 cans of shiitake mushrooms, drained and sliced thinly

½ teaspoon sugar, dissolved in ⅓ cup water

1 pack (30 grams) char siu sauce (Chinese barbecue sauce)

10 tablespoons oyster sauce

3 tablespoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

¼ teaspoon salt           

½ cup of peanuts

Procedure:

1. Cook the spaghetti according to the directions in the packaging. Drain excess water and set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine char siu sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, chili garlic sauce, and sugar solution. Mix everything until the mixture is almost homogenous. The oil won’t really mix with the sauces. Set aside.
3. In a sauce pan, heat olive oil then sauté garlic and onion. When the onion turns a little brownish and the onion has caramelized, add the chicken strips and cook until brown. Add the sliced shiitake mushrooms and cook for two more minutes.
4. Pour in the liquid mixture to the sauce pan and allow the chicken to absorb the flavor. Simmer for a couple of minutes. At this point, you can try tasting the sauce and adjust according to preference. You may add a little more chili garlic sauce or some more oyster sauce if you want to adjust the spiciness.
5. When the sauce has thickened a little, add the peanuts to the sauce.
6. Turn off the heat and toss in the spaghetti to the sauce. Put the dish to your serving plate and garnish with peanuts and greens.

You may notice from the picture above that I have heated the chicken strips beforehand. That was supposed to remove the lansa of the fresh chicken. The chicken may also be marinated in oyster sauce so that it will absorb the flavor better. Personally, I could have also added a teaspoon or two more of chili garlic sauce but since children will also eat the dish, I took the spiciness into consideration.

According to my mom, she’s giving a 7 out of 10 rating for the dish I prepared. If I had known the precise ingredients used by Yellow Cab, I could’ve made it exactly like the one they serve but this oriental pasta dish really comes close to the original.

Looking forward to more kitchen adventures in 2012,

Oshin <3