food and mood

we ofthen eat to calm down or cheer up when we're feelings stressed or depressed.

now new research suggests there's a reason: food changes out brain chemistry.
these changes powerfully influence our moods, but can certain foods really make us feel better? nutrition  experts say yes,
 but what should we eat and what should we avoid? here are the foods that work the best, as well as those that can make a bad day worse.

food and mood - we ofthen eat to calm down or cheer up when we're feelings stressed or depressed. (you have to read this great article)

Dish: Orange Chicken

By Danny Hitchens


My father-in-law is back in Taiwan once again for two weeks following a quick trip to China. In spite of him not getting at property that significantly these past few days, I did manage to get inside a few lessons. For those of you who didn't study the past messages connected to this topic, my father-in-law is actually a chef with about 50 years of experience. I can not support but be awestruck as I watch him work in our kitchen at lightening speed in spite of his sophisticated age.

Yesterday I produced a chicken dish that's somewhat similar to orange chicken (contact it that for lack of a much better name). He did not supervise me the entire time, but rather gave me a list of ingredients with approximate measurements.

For starters, I cut up about three cups of chicken breast meat and set it aside. Next, I created the following sauce that is surprisingly easy, but delicious:

1 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (approximation) About 1/4 cup water or low-sodium chicken broth (to dilute soy sauce - otherwise as well salty; I utilised water) two or 3 garlic cloves (crushed) 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Note: Initially I was against making use of so much sugar and vinegar, but my father-in-law insisted on utilizing huge amounts of near equal portions of each. Who's to argue with 50 years of encounter?

About two hours before generating this dish, I poured a bit of the sauce mixture in together with the breast nuggets so meat would soak up flavor. To perform otherwise wouldn't enable the sauce to deeply penetrate the meat. Yesterday, right after frying my first batch of chicken, I tasted a piece and it was scrumptious with out the sauce! Following pouring sufficient of sauce to cover chicken pieces, I mixed in cornstarch (1/4 cup!) and let mixture sit in refrigerator.

Although mixture sat in refrigerator, I reduce up some red and green bell peppers and green onion (total of about 1 cup). Later, I beat a couple of egg whites until frothy and set aside. Right after removing chicken from refrigerator, I poured off sauce mixture and dipped chicken pieces in egg white (my father-in-law claims that this assists to tenderize chicken pieces - Essential.

Next, I mixed in at the least 1/2 cup cornstarch (employing huge quantity - Essential - and mixed with hands till mixture became very gooey. Soon after putting meat back in refrigerator, I heated bit of oil in wok, added 1 clove of minced garlic and sauted bell peppers for about three minutes ahead of adding green onions. I sauted for another 1 - 2 minutes ahead of removing from fire and adding more oil to fry chicken.

Right after oil was hot (about 360 degrees), I placed chicken pieces in oil, wanting to separate them as greatest as you can. After frying chicken (about 1-1/2 - two minutes per piece), I drained pieces on paper towel-lined plate.

Next, I added sauce to wok and heated for any minute or so just before adding about 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with equal volume of water. Right after stirring, I added vegetables and brought mixture to boil. Afterwards, I reduced heat and simmered till mixture started to thicken, at which point I added chicken pieces and heated for about 1 minute.

This dish was served more than white rice and was delicious. The flavor was tangy and sweet, nothing at all like anything I've had before. This would also be great with pork!

I made this dish without my father-in-law's supervision simply because he had a bunch of errands to run. He said I did a quite good job, but need to have added a little oil to the egg white/cornstarch mixture just before frying the chicken. This would have made the nuggets crispier. Oh properly, I guess experience would be the greatest teacher.

P.S. I also learned a vegetable and sauce trick which I'll post inside the near future. Tomorrow I will most likely make a crispy beef dish with my father-in-law. This time, however, he promised to walk me through the actions as an alternative to inform me what I should do and after that disappear . I really feel I have great cooking instincts, however they can only carry me so far--especially in terms of creating Chinese meals (lol)!

Servings: four




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