Ingredients
1/4 cup fermented chinese blk. beans
1 lb snow peas
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp finely minced garlic
2 tsp finely minced fresh ginger =or=- po, wdered ginger
4 chicken breast halves (boned)
3 tbsp salad oil
2 tbsp dark sesame oil (optional)
1/4 bunch cilantro
Directions
SOAK THE BLACK BEANS IN WATER for 15 minutes. Drain and discard water.
Meanwhile, cook the snow peas in boiling salted water for 30 seconds.
Immediately drain and plunge into ice water to chill. Drain again,
dry on a towel, cut lengthwise into thin julienne strips and set
aside. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine the black beans with the sherry
and cook for 1 minute over high heat. Add broth, garlic and ginger
and bring almost to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add the chicken
breasts, cover and simmer 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let the
contents of the pan steep, covered, for 5 minutes. Remove the chicken
breasts to a plate and return the pan to the stove. Place over medium
heat and cook uncovered for 5 minutes, reducing the liquid by 1/3.
Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl, let cool for 10 minutes, then
transfer the mixture to a blender. Running the blender on medium,
slowly add both oils. When it's time to put dinner on the table, pour
the sauce onto a platter, and place a pile of snow peas in the center
of the plate. Slice the chicken diagonally across the grain into thin
strips. Fan chicken breasts around the snow peas. Arrange vegetables
around the chicken and sprinkle with cilantro.
Servings: 4 servings
Chicken Salad With Black Beans Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Chicken; Chicken Salad; Poultry; Salad
The History of Recipes
It is actually possible to trace the history of recipes back into the distant past, at least as far back into history as pharonic Egypt, and possibly even further. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these old recipes were just primitive hieroglyphic recipes for preparing food.
The truth of the matter is, the oldest recipe discovered, according to historians are a few stone tablets in ancient Sumerian describing the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made those who drank it feel exhilarated. As we move on, there are a couple of interesting books published in the 1300s : one book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, they have no connection with the spicy food that is popular today, but instead accounts of the types of food on the tables of the rich people of the period. Later, in the fifteenth century, the Crusaders brought back many foods and spices from the holy lands, such as coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. These new spices and herbs was responsible for an outbreak in cookery books, many of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. During the next few centuries, the powerful families of Wesstern Europe competed with each other to offer the most extravagent banquests, and consequentially cooks and their collection of recipes were much in demand. Even so, it was during the 1800s the formal cooking and recipe collections reached a high level of popularity. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the USA, devoted much of their lives to assembling, verifying, and publishing recipes for their fellow cooks to enjoy. The revolution that is television brought us TV cookery programs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. And that neatly brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing us all to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on our web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Chicken Salad With Black Beans recipe.
