Blogging from A to Z Challenge - C

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge continues today with the letter C.  Our family doesn't eat a lot of red meat. We might splurge once or twice a month, but usually it's chicken, pork, and pasta around here. I tolerate fish, so we have that from time to time too.

Because my family knows how much I make chicken, someone was kind enough to give me the paperback version of The Complete Chicken Cookbook by Bay Books. Two of our family's favorite recipes from this book call for corn flour. Now, though I enjoy cooking, I have to admit I didn't know much about corn flour. According to the Kitchen Dictionary on Food.com, corn flour is "a powdery flour made from finely ground cornmeal." This is not to be confused with cornstarch. Corn flour comes in yellow and white (didn't know that either), and is used for breading. It can also be combined with other flours for baked goods.

Since I don't have an Asian store around here and my regular grocery store also doesn't carry corn flour, I usually substitute wheat flour when I make these recipes. Rice flour can be substituted if you don't have corn flour, or you can pulverize corn meal in a food processor.

Here is the recipe for Lemon Chicken from this cookbook.

Prep time: 15 minutes + 30 minutes marinating
Total cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

500 g (1 lb) chicken breast fillets
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons cornflour*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
1/4 cup (60ml/2 fl oz) oil

LEMON SAUCE

2 teaspoons cornflour
1 1/2 teaspoons caster sugar (I use white granulated sugar)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup (185 ml/6 fl oz) chicken stock
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dry sherry

1. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Cut the chicken fillets on the diagonal into 1 cm (1/3 inch) wide strips. Combine the egg white, cornflour, salt and ginger and add the chicken strips, mixing well. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. Heat the oil in a wok or heavy-based frying pan, swirling to coat. Drain the chicken from the marinade, add to the pan and stir-fry over medium-high heat until just cooked but not browned. Place the chicken on a plate to keep warm while preparing sauce. Carefully pour the excess oil from the wok and discard.

3. To make the lemon sauce, mix the cornflour with 2 tablespoons of water to form a smooth paste. Add to the wok with the sugar, lemon juice, chicken stock, soy sauce and sherry. Stir over high heat and boil for 1 minute. Add the chicken, stirring to coat it with the sauce. Transfer to a serving platter. Serve at once with steamed rice or noodles and stir-fried vegetables.

NUTRITION PER SERVE
Protein 29 g; Fat 17 g; Carbohydrate 8 g; Dietary Fibre 0 g; Cholesterol 63 mg; 1280 kJ (306 cal)

*I spelled corn flour how they spelled it in the book, but it appears to be two words, not one.

As I mentioned earlier, I usually use wheat flour. I don't know if this is what causes the chicken to brown more quickly, but usually the chicken comes out darker than it's supposed to.

My family usually has their vegetables separate from their main course. That's how it was done at my husband's house, so that's how we do it here. I've served corn, green beans or broccoli with this dish. We also have white rice.

You can find a list of other participants of the Blogging A to Z Challenge here.