General Tso's the Ukrainian way (A.k.A the awesome way).

So yeah, inspiration crept into myself, the ginger viking cheetah, and honey space bear today. We decided our first post on this blog should incorporate our love for chicken, spice and of course, Chinese food.

I had tried to make general tso's before, but it wasn't really a full-fledged effort. So after an intense afternoon of hacky-sacking, we stopped by our beloved ATB (lucky's style supermarket of Ukrainian notoriety) and picked up a few necessities, which included but weren't limited to:

1 Big bottle of Coca Cola
1.5 kilos of Chicken
1 Bottle of Soy sauce
3 medium-sized red-onions
1 package of white mushrooms
and a bunch of other stuff i'm too lazy to write about at the moment...

Back to the house we trotted. Once we arrived, we quickly dispatched to our tasks with great enthusiasm and fervor. I myself of course took care of the chicken and per usual, mr. honey space bear was dispatched  to the vegetables, rice and sauce. Like true warriors we fought with blades in hand, and in the end we conquered the almighty task of making General Tso's. The battle goes as follows:

Ingredients:
2 lbs of chicken cubed into inch by inch peices
4 red and yellow peppers
2 medium sized onions (red or yellow, we used both)
1 cup of green onions, diced
3 carrots, grated
4 small tomatoes, cubed
10 mushrooms or so, cut in half or anyway you want
6 cloves of garlic
1 hot pepper, your choice of color
1 package of ginger powder
1/3 cup of water with 3 tables spoons of cornstarch
1/2 a cup of soy sauce
Chili pepper, salt and pepper to taste (with a touch of paprika)
1/2 cup flower
1 egg
oil
2 cups of rice
1/2 cup of roasted peanuts

How we fought:
1. Cut Chicken in to cubes, break egg on the cut cubes and bread them in flower with pepper and chili flakes
2. deep fry that ish in sunflower oil until golden brown
3. Start simmering your onions
4. throw some mushrooms on those onions- keep simmering
5. throw some soy sauce and ginger powder on there (we did the ginger in small increments, per chocolate lion pirates advice)
6. start adding vegetables such as carrots and peppers.
7. Once there is a good amount of liquid in there, throw that corn starch with water in the mix
8. Add the rest of your spices, such as ginger, paprika, etc (you can improvise here).
9. Add  your tomatoes and green onion at the very end.
10. Let everything simmer for a few minutes
11. Get your breaded chicken that you finished earlier, dump those bad-boys in
12. Finish up your rice, throw all that goodness on a plate.
13. Most importantly, grab your coca-cola and grab your plate of food and go enjoy the crap outta it.
14. Go into coma-mode.

Now look at this:

That's right, you gotta have all four burners going to be legit.

Simmering veggies

You know you're doing it right when you roast your own peanuts in soy sauce and chili flakes. BOOM.

Chicken. 'Nuff said.

Mr. Honey Space Bear preppin' those veggies.

Boom. Eat it.

Домашний Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli: Part One

I made ricotta.  For reals.  It's super easy.  I used this recipe, but I doubled it because I needed more than 3/4 of a cup of cheese. Pictures:

 Milk and salt mixture on the stove.  Just pretend that I'm stirring constantly and not taking photos.

 Heat Level Medium.  

 Vinegar added.  Looks super yucky.

 I don't have cheesecloth, so I used a random bit of fabric.  Still worked out well.  Also, do this for about 5 minutes if you want a wetter consistency.  I suggest timing it by dancing around your kitchen to approximately 2 Mika songs.

What you need for homemade ricotta:  salt, vinegar, and milk (pasteurized, lots of fat).

Now that your ricotta has been successfully created, it is time to start making the filling for the raviolis.  This is going to be glorious, just wait.

What you need:

-225 grams frozen spinach (cooked in water until no longer frozen)*

-about 1 - 1 1/2 cups of spectacular homemade ricotta (dude, we just made this!)

-1 medium sized red onion, diced

-2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

-1 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp pepper

-1/4 cup of nice cheese, grated (I used a mozzarella masquerading as a cheddar) 

See?  That cheese wants you to think that it's cheddar, but it's really mozzarella.

Making the filling is a bit time consuming, but easy, nonetheless.  What I did first was put two bricks (225 grams) of my spinach into a pot of water and put that over some medium-low heat.

Next, dice those onions, like a boss.  If you don't like/want red onions, you don't have to.  The three reasons I used them for this recipe are as follows:  1) I love red onions like whoa.  2)  The market was closed yesterday so I couldn't buy good onions for cheap.  3)  The grocery store was selling regular onions, but they were a quarter of the size of the red onions, so I was all like, 'Nope.'

See my new knife?  I love it.  I won't break this one trying to open my freezer door.  Promise.

Now, saute your onions with two cloves of garlic.  Saute that nonsense until your kitchen smells like Heaven.

This is what Heaven smells like.  For serious.

Last step!  Mix all of your ingredients together!  Don't forget to strain your spinach and grate your fake cheddar.  Mix them really well because the ricotta doesn't like to mix with other food friends.

Resist taking more than one bite.  Remember, this is just the beginning.  At the end, we will have glorious raviolis.

Now for the notes on the bottom.  I will be giving credit where credit is due:  I used this recipe for the filling and I also plan on using it for the pasta.  I did add the onions, which the recipe did not call for.  Also, I laugh derisively at the idea of using a food processor or pasta machine.  Where the eff do I find that/how the eff do I pay for that nonsense in Ukraine?  I ask you, really?

Also, 225 grams of spinach comes out to be about 1 or 1 1/2 cups.

recipe by chocolatelionpirate (with some help from the internet)

*Will chocolatelionpirate succeed in creating glorious raviolis?  Will chocolatelionpirate have Alia over for dinner at the conclusion?  Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of Домашний Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli coming soon.*