Are you ready? 完璧なんてない
Have you ever had one of those cooking moments where everything just seemed to go wrong to the point where you were just about to throw in the towel; but then, in the end, it somehow turned out more than just fine? Yeah, it was one of those nights.
Accidentally Delicious Bok Choy Soup
1/3 chicken breast
2 baby bok choy* bunches
3 cloves of garlic
1 can (equivalent container) of chicken stock+
1 Tablespoon sugar#
1/2 Tablespoon salt#
2 generous sprinklings of ginger powder
2 sprinklings of white pepper
*Also known as pak choy in Australia, I think.
+I prefer the cardboard containers to cans because I'm not a fan of the metallic taste cans can give to chicken stock. Also, if you like chicken bouillon, feel free to use that instead.
#Our sharehouse has no such thing as measuring anything. So the measurements above are estimates based on the size of my palm.
1. Thaw the chicken breast if it's frozen. Break the baby bok choy apart at the stem and wash thoroughly to make sure there's no dirt. (Adult bok choy really doesn't work as a substitute because it can be more bitter... unless you like that. :D)
2. Cut off about an inch or 1.5 centimeters of the white stems of the bok choy. Dispose of this in the rubbish bin or compost heap. Cut the rest of the bok choy into 1 centimeter slices, or whatever size you like. Sometimes for the bigger leaves, you can cut them in half if you like. Set aside on a small plate.
3. Peel the cloves of garlic. Cut off the very tips of the ends and dispose of those. Dice the garlic up into as small of pieces as you care to take the time to chop. (I'm not very good at dicing, so my garlic tends to be a bit larger that the 'garlic in a jar.')
4. Cut the chicken breast into small pieces (about the same size as the bok choy). Wash your hands.
5. Pour a thin layer of chicken stock into a medium sized pan over med-low to medium heat. When it's had a chance to warm up a bit, put the garlic in the pot. Let it cook for about 2-5 minutes. (Electric stoves cook faster than gas stoves).
6. Put the chicken in the pot, stirring it constantly. Cook the chicken until absolutely no more pink is showing.
7. Add the bok choy and stir until the leaves just begin to wilt.
8. Add the rest of the chicken stock. Let it heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. Add the salt, sugar, ginger and white pepper and stir them in. Let it sit over the stove while you clean the mess you've made so far. (Approximately 20 - 25 minutes in my case.) Stir occasionally.
10. Taste to make sure you don't need to add ingredients. Serves 2 (or one person with left overs) as a part of a meal (bread or crackers sort of thing).
Halfway through cutting up the ingredients, I realized that we had no oil in the house. I wasn't intending to make a soup, but I did in order to not let the chicken stock go to waste.
Then, when I was cleaning up my mess while it cooked over the stove, I tried to clean the counter with the new cleaner I had bought. It wasn't cleaning the way I was used to. So I stopped to look closer at the cleaner. It was meant for bathrooms and had a few warnings about not ingesting it. (I could make an excuse that it's because I'm not familiar with the cleaning brands here, but the real reason is that I'm a complete space case.) So it took me longer in cleaning that I had expected. I spent a great deal of time trying to get the entirety of the cleaner off without paper towels. I ended up wasting a sponge instead. I didn't want to put the sponge back in case someone mistook it for a dish-washing sponge. This is why I really don't like chemicals.
But when I was about ready to just be frustrated with cooking altogether (and after I had washed my hands twice to make sure I no longer had chemicals I shouldn't ingest on them), I got to taste the made-up soup. And I was honestly and truly surprised. I hadn't expected it to turn out as good as it did. Usually, my cooking ends up on the 'bland' end of the spectrum. But this wasn't so! Neither was it overwhelming. It was just... good! And that made me feel so much better, I didn't mind the wasted sponge. |D
The same goes for anything really. No one's ever really expecting perfection. And the times when it does come out alright,... well that just makes it all the better, doesn't it? After all, the only thing that's ever really perfect is the fact that we're here now in the present moment compressed by the entirety of our past and our future. There are times, like this one, when I just know it, and it's those times that I just can't help but smile all the time.
Snugs and loves all the more~!
Accidentally Delicious Bok Choy Soup
1/3 chicken breast
2 baby bok choy* bunches
3 cloves of garlic
1 can (equivalent container) of chicken stock+
1 Tablespoon sugar#
1/2 Tablespoon salt#
2 generous sprinklings of ginger powder
2 sprinklings of white pepper
*Also known as pak choy in Australia, I think.
+I prefer the cardboard containers to cans because I'm not a fan of the metallic taste cans can give to chicken stock. Also, if you like chicken bouillon, feel free to use that instead.
#Our sharehouse has no such thing as measuring anything. So the measurements above are estimates based on the size of my palm.
1. Thaw the chicken breast if it's frozen. Break the baby bok choy apart at the stem and wash thoroughly to make sure there's no dirt. (Adult bok choy really doesn't work as a substitute because it can be more bitter... unless you like that. :D)
2. Cut off about an inch or 1.5 centimeters of the white stems of the bok choy. Dispose of this in the rubbish bin or compost heap. Cut the rest of the bok choy into 1 centimeter slices, or whatever size you like. Sometimes for the bigger leaves, you can cut them in half if you like. Set aside on a small plate.
3. Peel the cloves of garlic. Cut off the very tips of the ends and dispose of those. Dice the garlic up into as small of pieces as you care to take the time to chop. (I'm not very good at dicing, so my garlic tends to be a bit larger that the 'garlic in a jar.')
4. Cut the chicken breast into small pieces (about the same size as the bok choy). Wash your hands.
5. Pour a thin layer of chicken stock into a medium sized pan over med-low to medium heat. When it's had a chance to warm up a bit, put the garlic in the pot. Let it cook for about 2-5 minutes. (Electric stoves cook faster than gas stoves).
6. Put the chicken in the pot, stirring it constantly. Cook the chicken until absolutely no more pink is showing.
7. Add the bok choy and stir until the leaves just begin to wilt.
8. Add the rest of the chicken stock. Let it heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. Add the salt, sugar, ginger and white pepper and stir them in. Let it sit over the stove while you clean the mess you've made so far. (Approximately 20 - 25 minutes in my case.) Stir occasionally.
10. Taste to make sure you don't need to add ingredients. Serves 2 (or one person with left overs) as a part of a meal (bread or crackers sort of thing).
Halfway through cutting up the ingredients, I realized that we had no oil in the house. I wasn't intending to make a soup, but I did in order to not let the chicken stock go to waste.
Then, when I was cleaning up my mess while it cooked over the stove, I tried to clean the counter with the new cleaner I had bought. It wasn't cleaning the way I was used to. So I stopped to look closer at the cleaner. It was meant for bathrooms and had a few warnings about not ingesting it. (I could make an excuse that it's because I'm not familiar with the cleaning brands here, but the real reason is that I'm a complete space case.) So it took me longer in cleaning that I had expected. I spent a great deal of time trying to get the entirety of the cleaner off without paper towels. I ended up wasting a sponge instead. I didn't want to put the sponge back in case someone mistook it for a dish-washing sponge. This is why I really don't like chemicals.
But when I was about ready to just be frustrated with cooking altogether (and after I had washed my hands twice to make sure I no longer had chemicals I shouldn't ingest on them), I got to taste the made-up soup. And I was honestly and truly surprised. I hadn't expected it to turn out as good as it did. Usually, my cooking ends up on the 'bland' end of the spectrum. But this wasn't so! Neither was it overwhelming. It was just... good! And that made me feel so much better, I didn't mind the wasted sponge. |D
The same goes for anything really. No one's ever really expecting perfection. And the times when it does come out alright,... well that just makes it all the better, doesn't it? After all, the only thing that's ever really perfect is the fact that we're here now in the present moment compressed by the entirety of our past and our future. There are times, like this one, when I just know it, and it's those times that I just can't help but smile all the time.
Snugs and loves all the more~!