Sometimes, you get home from work and you just don’t feel like doing anything. Last week, I had been having a terrible day at work and wanted nothing more than to come home, order Chinese, and watch Netflix for the rest of the night.
But eating out gets expensive. In New York, it’s so easy to get sucked into eating out all the time for many reasons. The biggest is that the kitchens here are SO SMALL. When I was looking at apartments before I moved here, some apartments had a “kitchen” that consisted of nothing more than an efficiency-sized sink and fridge. I mean, really?
So I did a new take on Chinese food by making Sweet and Spicy Chicken with Fried Rice. While this does take a little bit of prep work, it’s all worth it when you take the first bite (and the 1,000 after that). And, it makes enough for three or four days, so not only do you not have to cook—you don’t have to order in, either. What’s better than that?
Sweet and Spicy Chicken
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Start by combining the oil with the spices in a bowl. Work them together until smooth.
When you’re done, there shouldn’t be any clumps.
Next, pour up to a cup of white wine in a baking dish. Why wine? Because regular cooking spray will dry up really quickly with the rub on the chicken. And ain’t nobody got time for that.
Take your chicken and pat it dry.
Rub it around in the bowl with the spice mixture until the chicken is covered.
Place the chicken in the dish and sprinkle with top with sugar. Place in the oven and cook until the center of the chicken reads at least 160°F on a kitchen thermometer, about 45 to 50 minutes.
Fried Rice
Heat the oil in a pan and coat the entire bottom.
Add in the vegetables and the garlic.
After the vegetables are cooked and the onion starts to become translucent, push it all to one side of the pan and add the egg.
Cook the minute rice per the instructions on the package. Once the egg is cooked, mix the rice in with the egg and vegetables, and add soy sauce. Let the mixture cook on low for about 5 minutes.
Sweet and Spicy Chicken
Ingredients
- For the Chicken:
- 8 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 tablespoons brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons chili powder
- 3 tablespoons oregano
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1-2 lbs chicken legs and thighs, bone on
- For the Fried Rice:
- 3 cups cooked white rice
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 cup peas (fresh or frozen, thawed)
- 1 cup carrots (fresh or frozen, thawed)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
Steps
- Heat oven to 400°F.
- In a bowl, first four ingredients until smooth. There should not be any clumps of brown sugar.
- Grease glass baking dish with cooking spray. Pour in the wine, until bottom is completely coated.
- Pat chicken dry with paper towels. One by one, place pieces of chicken in the bowl with the mixture and coat completely, getting in all crevices. Place in baking dish. Top chicken with any extra mixture.
- Sprinkle sugar over top of chicken.
- Cook until chicken is done, about 45 to 50 minutes, and kitchen thermometer reads at least 160°F.
- In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium high heat.
- Add the peas, carrots, onion and garlic. Stir-fry until tender and onions are translucent.
- Lower heat to medium and push mixture to one side. Pour eggs on other side and fry until scrambled.
- Add rice and soy sauce. Blend entire mixture together well.
- Stir-fry until thoroughly heated.