1st cookbook

I mentioned in my first blog post how I started cooking when I was away at college. I had begun to get tired of eating fast and frozen food way too often. I remember getting a wok as a birthday present and I bought this book to go along with. Well the wok is long gone but the tattered book still remains.

I leafed through it many times thinking of exotic Chinese food and locales. Pickled Szechwan Vegetables started sounding like something I would like to try. Spicy Sprout and Cucumber Salad. Sure. Fifteen Minute Chicken. Yes. I began to go to the grocery store so that I would have the various ingredients on hand. I would look for dried mushrooms, bean pastes and hoisin sauce. I was becoming obsessed. Various Chow Meins, egg rolls, and all sorts of stir fries slowly began to happen.

I even filled in the title for this recipe from the index because it was not printed.

Through the years, this Almond Chicken has become a family favorite.

I think we all can tell I've made this before.

It has become the base for many different stir fry dinners since I learned the basics. Cutting up and marinating the chicken, making the crisp almonds, prepping the veggies and making the sauce. Next I cook the chicken in the wok and remove. Then stir fry the veggies until crisp tender, add in the sauce, then the chicken. Serve with some rice and it's a nice dinner.

I now like to change up the veggies for variety. Carrots, celery and snow peas are natural choices. Broccoli and cauliflower florets can work well. Bean sprouts or Shishito peppers? Why not. I even swapped out the bamboo shoots for these kohlrabi 'bamboo shoots' last year.

The family didn't seem to mind. So feel free to take this recipe and change it up with whatever you have in your fridge. I guess at some point it isn't Almond Chicken anymore, but something slightly different and usually pretty tasty.

I guess I owe Rose Cheng, Michele Morris and Chinese Cookery a big THANK YOU for helping me get started with my hobby of cooking!