SOUPED UP MINUTE RICE RECIPES

Steps:

• Cut 1 green pepper into 1-inch squares. Smash and peel 4 of the garlic cloves. Put the green pepper and garlic into a large pot with the beans, ham hock, bay leaves and 1 tablespoon salt. Add 2 quarts water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer until the beans are tender, an hour or more.
• Meanwhile, make a sofrito. Cut the remaining ½ green pepper into ¼-inch dice. Peel and finely chop the remaining garlic. Heat the olive oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the green pepper and onion and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeño (leave out the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy), oregano, cumin, black pepper and 2 teaspoons salt and stir for another minute. Pour in the vinegar and scrape any browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. This is your sofrito.
• When the beans are cooked, discard the bay leaf. Remove and set aside the ham hock and let it cool. Transfer 1 cup of beans to small bowl, mash them into a paste with the back of a fork and return to the pot. Add the sofrito, then the sugar. Pull the meat from the ham hock, leaving behind any white sinew or gristle. Chop the ham into ½-inch pieces and return it to the bean pot.
• Stir the beans well and bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so, skimming any foam from the top. Taste for salt and serve with white rice.

Steps:

• Slice the chicken breast thinly, which allows the marinade to mingle faster and it will also cook faster.
• Slice a few garlic thinly and julienne a little bit of ginger. Put them into the chicken as part of the marinade. If you don’t like to actually bite into the ginger, you can grate it finely so it is not too strong for you.
• Season it with 1/3 tsp of salt, 1/2 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine, some black pepper to taste, and 1/3 tsp of baking soda, sprinkle it here and there. Baking soda will break down the meat fibers and tenderize the chicken. It will give you that melt in your mouth texture. Mix well. Set it aside.
• You can use whatever vegetables you have left in your fridge. I am using carrot, bell pepper, a few mushrooms, some snow peas, and some scallions. If you think cutting vegetables is too much work, you can just buy a pack of pre-cut, mixed vegetables from the supermarket. If you are a meat-eater, you can even skip most of the vegetables and toss in some scallions and onion at the end for the flavor.
• Combine all the sauce ingredients thoroughly: 1.5 tbsp of Soy sauce, 1.5 tbsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp of Oyster sauce, 1 tbsp Hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine, 1/2 tbsp of pure peanut butter, and 1/2 cup of water.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles until 80% done. Drain completely. Do not over cooked the noodles otherwise they will turn soggy when you finish them in the wok with that lomein sauce.
• Meanwhile, turn the heat to high and heat your wok until smoking hot. Toss in the marinade chicken and stir for 2 minutes or until it just changes color. Add all the vegetables except for the scallions. continue to stir for 1 minute. Add the well-drained noodles along with the lomein sauce. Keep stirring over medium heat until all the sauce is absorbed. As soon as the sauce is gone, you have to turn off the heat. Otherwise the noodles will start sticking to the wok.
• Add the scallions and serve.