Oatmeal Chicken Nuggets

My husband and son love to eat chicken nuggets, but I find this grocery item a bit expensive,  Php80.00 for a pack of 10 small pieces only. To save money, I thought of making a homemade version of the chicken nuggets. With the help of different cooking shows and Yummy Recipe Book, I created my version of Oatmeal Chicken Nuggets. This is a healthier version than ones available in the market today. I'm able to make my son eat vegetable by adding grated carrots in this recipe. With this, you're sure of what kind of meat or what part of the chicken is used for the recipe. I've seen on the TV show "Food Revolution of Jamie Oliver", he presented that most of the ready-to-fry chicken nuggets in the USA use the backsides/bottom (fatty part) and bony parts of the chicken to constitute their "ground chicken."  So, it's really better to prepare your own food. You know what's exactly in it. 


This is a sure-fire hit with the kids and adults. It is best paired with ketchup or Barbeque sauce. It can be served as baon for the kids/adults. I usually prepare the nuggets a day before and keep in the freezer. 


Ingredients


500 grams ground chicken or skinless chicken breast fillet cut into 1 inch piece
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup Japanese breadcrumbs
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt, divided into 2 portions
1/4 teaspoon pepper, divided into 2 portions
oil for frying


Procedure

1. In a bowl, combine flour, milk, salt and pepper. Mix well.
2. In another bowl, combine the rolled oats and breadcrumbs. 
3. Mix ground chicken, grated carrots, 1 egg, salt and pepper in another bowl. 
4. Dredge chicken pieces in the flour mixture. (Use an ice cream scooper or round measuring spoon to scoop the chicken so that you will have a uniform size of the nuggets).
5. Dip in 3 beaten eggs and coat with oatmeal mixture. Freeze the nuggets for at least 30 minutes before frying. 
6. Heat oil then fry the nuggets until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. 

VEGGIE PITA POCKETS

I first tasted this dish at my sister's house. I found out it to be really tasty even without a trace of meat in it. So I tweaked their recipe to make my own version. This is a staple in my cleansing diet. I prepare this meal whenever I want to get rid of toxins in my body. This recipe is for the health-buffs. 

VEGGIE PITA POCKETS

Ingredients

200 grams Asparagus, removed 1 1/2 inches bottom part, diced
4 squares tofu (firm), pan-fried & sliced into cubes
1 medium size carrot, diced
2 small potatoes or 1 medium size potato, diced
1 small red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon liquid seasoning
2 teaspoon canola/vegetable/olive oil
2 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese or 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
6 pieces whole pita pockets


Procedure

1. Heat the pan and add oil once the pan is hot.  
2. Saute garlic and onion in the pan.  
3. Add the carrots, potatoes and asparagus into the pan, with an interval of 2 minutes per each vegetable. Season with salt, pepper and liquid seasoning. 
4. Cook the vegetables until it's soft to the bite (approximately 8 minutes).  
5. Stir in the pan-fried tofu. Set aside.  
6. Heat the pita pockets in an oven or use a non-stick pan.  
7. Slice into half the pita pockets.  
8. Put the veggies inside the pita pockets.  
9. Top with cheese and ready to serve.  

This serves 4-6 persons.
Enjoy this healthy but delicious food!

The Tea Series

In my food journey, I'd like to share my newest discoveries in gastronomic pleasures (which have turned out to be my favorites) and one of which is the Chatime. This is located at the Second Floor, SM North EDSA, Main Mall. 

Though I'm a self-confessed coffee addict, I love tea also, especially milk teas. Tea is the latest craze in town. Different tea stations are sprouting in the metropolis. I choose tea over coffee on days when I want to control my caffeine. The former has less caffeine content. I've tried many milk tea drinks from different tea stations and Chatime is in my Top 5 list for tea stations. 

Chatime has so many choices to choose from flavor, toppings, ice options and sugar level. The flavors have 9 categories - Mellow Milk Tea, Smoothie Series, Coffee, Oriental Pop Tea, QQ Jelly (drinks that have pearls and coconut jelly), Chatime Special Mix, Fresh Tea, Energetic Healthy Juice and Chatime Mousse. Each category has an average of 5 selections. You may choose pearl, grass jelly, pudding, coconut jelly, rainbow jelly, red bean and aloe vera for your toppings. Additional charge of Php15.00 - Php20.00 is applied on extra toppings. It also has 4 options for the ice: Non Ice, Less Ice, Normal Ice and Extra Ice. Regular (16 oz.) and Large (20 oz) are the sizes of their drinks, except for the coffee, which is 12 oz. This is my first time to encounter 6 choices for the sugar options, other tea stations only offer 3-4 levels of sweetness for their drinks. Chatime has 6 sugar options: 0% Sugar, 30% Sugar, 50% Sugar, Normal Sugar and Extra Sugar. Price ranges from Php60.00 to Php100.00. Plus, it offers the same vibe that you get from coffee shops in which you can unwind, relax, read newspapers/magazines, surf the internet, hang out with family and friends. Most tea stations don't have ample seats for their customers, since some of them are merely stands or kiosks. What sets the Chatime apart from their competition is their wide array of choices, making your drink really personalized or customized to your taste. 

These are what ordered in Chatime - the classic Pearl Milk Tea (for me), Taro Pudding Milk Tea (for my hubby Nelson) and the Taiwan Mango QQ (for my son Joaqui). I really liked the Taiwan Mango QQ, since it is kid-friendly. It does not contain caffeine. It's composed of fresh mango juice with pearls and coconut jelly. The blends were just right. You can actually see and taste the small fibers of the taro in the Taro Pudding Milk Tea. 

So if you want something new and fresh, check out Chatime!

Watch out for the continuation of my Tea Series!

Breakfast Favorite - Beef Tapa

Beef Tapa with sunny side-up and fried rice or simply Tapsilog is my favorite breakfast. I really like my breakfast to be heavy. I can have this anytime of the day - morning, noon and night. I can never get tired of eating it. This is what I regularly order in Pancake House and other breakfast joints. I wanted to have this breakfast even when I'm just at home, so I made a homemade beef tapa. Allow me to share with you my special Beef Tapa recipe,(bragging aside) which is one of the favorites of my family and friends.


Homemade Beef Tapa (without the nitrates)


Ingredients
1/2 kilo Beef sirloin, sliced thinly
1 head Garlic, minced
3/4 cup Soy sauce
Juice from 8 pieces of Calamansi
4 Tablespoons Sugar
dash of Pepper

2 tablespoons of Oil for frying (Canola/Corn/Vegetable)

Dipping sauce

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

dash of salt & pepper

dash of sugar

3 tablespoons vinegar

chili (optional)

Procedure

1. Mix together the garlic, soy sauce, calamansi juice, sugar and pepper.
2. Add the mixture to the beef sirloin. Marinate the meat for at least 6 hours or overnight. 
3. Strain the meat from the mixture. Fry in oil until golden brown. 

VARIATIONS

You may add a slice chili pepper and a dash of paprika to make a spicy tapa. Whenever I have leftovers of my tapa, I add it to my fried rice, making it Beef Tapa Rice. Another way of preparing my beef tapa, I make the beef tapa flakes, though this is more time consuming.  This maybe done a day ahead. The said marinade is the base for my beef tapa flakes. Just add 3/4 cup of water to the tapa marinade. Let it boil for at least 30 minutes to make the meat tender. Once the meat is cool, use a fork and knife or better yet your hands to shred the meat into flakes. To make it more crispy, store the flakes in the refrigerator. When ready to consume, fry the flakes in oil. You may pair this with fried rice, sunny side-up or salted egg and tomatoes. Any leftovers of Beef Tapa Flakes, I add it to my fried rice with scrambled eggs, creating a new dish altogether Beef Tapa Flakes Rice. 

But for this day, I'll just have my Tapsilog with my freshly brewed coffee :)