Dave's Cave

I just started harvesting one of the garlic for this year, so I thought it was time to post this Garlic Chicken recipe. This is the version of this recipe for those that LOVE the stinking rose, so be warned that the garlic level is pretty high on this one. The other spices are pretty tame for one of my recipes because, in this dish they are just supporting actors and garlic plays the lead.

While I have been using fresh from the garden garlic cloves, this recipe is just as good with decent store bought, or even using the chopped garlic in a jar from Costco. The resuting dish just comes out a little different, that's all. In fact, I rather lke the results with the jarred garic as it seems to carmelize a little better than the fresh, but you give up that fresh garlic bite.

This is my version of the simply wonderful recipe that I found in The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo. This is one of those cases where I stick very close to the original recipe, as it really is that good.

Traditionally this dish is made with chicken thigh meat, but I find it is just as tasty using breast if it is what I have on hand.

Mongolian Beef was one of the first Chinese dishes that I fell in love with back in my early carnivore days. I never had much luck reproducing the same texture at home until I found a recipe that recommended deep frying the strips of beef for a short time before stir-frying to finish things off.

This is the fairly simple form of Mongolian Beef with only the strips of beef and the scallions served on top of fried bean threads. If you like other things like bell peppers, onion, or water chestnuts go ahead and add them during the stir-fry portion, remember, it is your dinner, make it the way you like.

This is a modification of that original recipe that I found, making it hotter and making the sauce a little clearer with the addition of a little broth. I also found that the original ended up with a little too much oil in it for my taste.

This recipe is much closer to how Kung Pao chicken is cooked in China, instead of how it tends to be cooked in restaurants here in the United States. Once you try this version, you will almost certainly stop ordering it at your local Chinese eatery.