Posole is a classic Mexican dish that combines hominy (alkali-treated dried corn) and chicken or pork and cooks all day. In our short cut version, we will use an electric pressure cooker, an Instant Pot, to speed up the cooking time, so you can have this delicious, healthy soup anytime you feel like it!
Follow the recipe at least once, and try it as is. I promise you won’t be disappointed. I make this soup/stew dish often when the weather gets a bit chilly for me and my family.
It’s been hot one week and cold the next here in Southern California, so I make this on particularly chilly nights to enjoy after my son and husband comes home from soccer practice. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much we do!
1. Season the chicken breasts generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
2. Set your Instant Pot to “sauté,” and drizzle in the olive oil. Sear the chicken on both sides until golden brown, about 4 – 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a dish.
3. Add the onion to the Instant Pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and translucent. Add the garlic, chile, oregano, cumin, a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the hominy, chicken broth and tomatillos to the pot and stir to combine. Return the chicken to the pot.
5. Cover the pot with the lid, and turn the valve to “sealing.” Set it to cook at high pressure for 20 minutes.
6. When the pressure cooking is complete, turn the valve to “venting” to manually release the steam. When the steam stops, carefully remove the lid and transfer the chicken to a large bowl.
7. Shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Return the chicken to the pot, add the lime juice and stir to mix. Adjust seasonings as needed.
8. Ladle the soup into individual bowls. Top with queso fresco, cilantro, avocado and lime wedges, and serve immediately. Serves 6 to 8.
Call it whatever you want, schnitzel, milanesa, katsu…I always go with what I called it growing up-TONKATSU. And it has to be pork chops! Chicken is only acceptable to me when I have no other choice. 😊
Served with very thinly sliced cabbage, freshly cooked white, sticky rice, and of course the essential Bulldog sauce (no, it is NOT made with bulldogs!), I am a happy camper! I can really eat this everyday and I won’t get tired if it!
My mom, being Japanese, used to make this when we were little. It is definitely a comfort food for me and my family. My son actually loves this as much as do so even if I try to avoid serving fried dishes, I do oblige and make this once in a while. I always top the cabbage with Kewpie mayo too!
Of course, this is also the perfect “milanesa” to top my Peruvian Tallarin Verde. But more about that in my later article!
You’ll need pork chops. As much as you like!
I marinate them in lemon juice and fish sauce if I have time. Equal parts of lemon juice and fish sauce will make your pork chops taste really good, not fishy at all! Leave them in your refrigerator, covered, for a few hours, ideally overnight.
If you’re pressed for time, just salt and pepper them. It’ll taste good too!
You’ll also need flour. I start with about a cup of flour in a plate, and mix in a pinch or two of salt and pepper. This will be your first coating on the pork chops.
Next, you’ll need an egg or two mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of water. Beat that well in another plate. This is your second coating.
Panko. Japanese bread crumbs. This will turn your pork chops into Tonkatsu.
Grab a bag, open, and pour some into a clean plate. A third plate. One for the flour mixture, one for the egg mixture, and one for the panko. Yup, this is your final coating before frying. 😋
Step 1: place a pork chop into the flour mixture, lightly press down on it to coat with flour,
Step 2: Turn over and coat the other side well.
Step 3: transfer to the egg mixture, coat well.
Step 4: turn pork over to coat the other side too.
Step 5: move on to the panko, coating one side thoroughly,
Step 6: turn over and press pork onto the panko to coat the other side. Repeat with remaining pork chops.
Step 7: heat a good amount of canola oil in a fry pan over medium heat.
Step 8: When hot, slide a couple of pork chops in. Let cook for about 3-4 minutes.
Step 9: Carefully turn over to cook the other side. I find this is easiest done with a metal kitchen tong.
Step 10: cook the other side until golden snd meat is cooked through.
Step 11: carefully remove tonkatsu onto paper towel lined plate or wire rack.
Step 12: thinly slice a small head of cabbage. Rinse in cool water snd drain thoroughly.
Step 13: arrange tonkatsu, cabbage, and rice on s plate.
Step 14: serve with Bulldog sauce snd Kewpie mayo! Enjoy!!!
One of the easiest recipe ever! As easy as – place everything in a saucepan, simmer until done and sauce is reduced to a thick, sweet syrup. And of course, the chicken cooked through.
This is another Brentwood UCLA recipe that I still constantly prepare. The original recipe is from my work spouse, Loraine Yokote. She has a lot of easy to prepare yet utterly delicious recipes that I love! I mean who won’t like easy recipes, as we mostly work away from home yet still need to feed our families when we get home, right?
This is perfect, specially for when you are crunched for time. Simmer this on the stove then prepare the sides (rice in a rice cooker needs no supervision, a salad will come together in 5 minutes…) and you will still have enough time to take a shower, or help with homework while dinner is cooking by itself. All around awesome, I think!
1. Place chicken pieces in a saucepan. *I used up a whole package of chicken drumsticks. There were 11 pieces and so I adjusted the amount of the other ingredients accordingly.*
2. Pour in water,
3. Soy sauce,
4. Sugar,
5. garlic and ginger, (I love garlic and ginger, so I added more than what the original recipe called for!)
6. and finally the sake. Stir, stir, stir!
7. Cover the saucepan and set over medium heat. Bring to a boil.
8. Lower heat and simmer for about an hour. The longer you cook it, the more tender the chicken will be. Watch the level of the liquid in the pot. You do not want this to burn.
9. After about an hour you will have this deliciously sweet, glazed chicken that goes perfectly with freshly cooked white rice! Or salad if that is what you like!
I really did NOT need another kitchen gadget but this amazing lady I follow (Impulse to Legend on FB and instagram) started using a Sun Oven and posting the results on her page. It was nothing short of amazing.
I snapped one up right away! I definitely can see the many uses of this:
1. In the summer, it’s often too hot to use the oven. But the sun’s intensity during these months will make using the sun oven outside a brilliant idea.
2. Sunlight is abundant almost year round here in Southern California, a totally eco-friendly alternative to gas or electricity.
3. Sunlight is free! I can bake to my heart’s content without using precious resources. As long as you can cast a shadow on the ground, you can cook!
4. It is super portable, it folds up like a small suitcase and weighs just a bit over 20 pounds.
5. It is perfect for camping, no fuel required and no fire danger issues! A great plus specially in high fire danger areas like here in California.
6. Food won’t burn. I still do not understand how this works but yes, I left a pan of my bread rolls there for over 2 1/2 hours (not on purpose though, got busy and forgot about it) and it was just perfect.
7. Food won’t dry out. It cooks/bakes with moist heat, unlike the oven, but it is not wet like steam cooking. You can see moisture accumulate on the inside of the glass door when you cook. The chicken I baked was cooked through but moist and tender.
8. Emergency situations when power is out. A perfect excuse for me to get this item, like mentioned above, as long as there is sunlight, I can cook and bake.
9. Cooking/baking while on the beach anyone? I see people lugging grills and stoves and even a pizza oven once! I am not one of these people but you could totally bring this too! Me, I just take some drinks, fruits or chips, and sometimes sandwiches. I like to just chill on the blanket or body board at the beach.
I love this oven so much that I asked Sun Ovens to allow me to market these and they gave me a special link. These are affiliate links, where in I might earn a little commission when someone buys the oven using my link, without affecting your purchase price at all. It helps keep my blog going, and I truly appreciate any support.
Click here to attend a free webinar that runs every Tuesday and Thursday evening. During the webinar, each participant will be emailed a link to a special offers page where they will be able to purchase an All American Sun Oven with $118 worth of free products! This includes a free oven cover and their latest cookbook: https://www.sunoven.com/brighter-way-webinar/ref/bluedolphins_tere@yahoo.com
I made it into 24 rolls, and placed 12 dough balls in 2 13×9 pans. I placed the pan in the Sun Oven, stacking the second pan on top. Of course accidents happen and it dropped straight down, flattening the rolls below. Oh well…..I guess flat bread is still bread.
It baked for less than an hour before it was golden brown and the fragrance of baking bread was wafting in the backyard. Time to get it out!
When I removed the pan, I realized that bread in the bottom pan was not browned so I adjusted the oven and left the second pan in there. I forgot about it and got it about 2 1/2 hours later. I’m happy to report that it browned and even though I left if too long, it did NOT burn.
Next was a whole chicken. Now, this I had to finish browning in the Ninja Grill as I started past 4 pm. I spatchcocked the chicken, rubbed it with salt, pepper, and chopped rosemary. Grabbed a lemon from the yard and sprinkled lemon juice over it before placing it in the preheated oven.
I left it for about an hour, but by then my backyard is no longer sunny, as a matter of fact, it is completely shaded by the house. I moved the oven to the front yard and left it for a few minutes but decided to finish it up in the Ninja Grill. It took about 20 minutes to brown the chicken nicely and cook it thoroughly.
I replaced the brown sugar with Splenda brown sugar, used sugar free chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips. Poured the batter into 2 greased loaf pans and into the preheated Sun Oven they went.
It was in the oven from 1:27pm to 2:19pm and it was done!!! Golden brown and smelling delicious!
It does look like it was baked in a regular oven but the bread is moist and very flavorful. Not dry at all.
Look at the slices below! They are absolutely beautiful!
So next, since it was still a bit sunny, I decided to cook this Spaghetti Squash that is in my panty. I cut it in half lengthwise, removed the seeds using a spoon to scrape it away, placed it cut side down on a baking pan, and placed it in the oven.
I decided to leave it there until past dinner, hoping the residual heat will cook it through. I wasn’t mistaken. It cooked wonderfully!
See how it looks like spaghetti? The video below is to show you how tender it was.
I totally recommend this oven if you are like me and want to bake in the middle of summer! I will keep experimenting with recipes that I can bake in it, hoping to use it all year long.
I love the convenience of bottled simmer sauces that are becoming available at the grocery stores. They are truly life savers for when you come home late from work and need something on the dinner table real quick. The trick is finding out which ones you like, which means trying out a few brands.
I’ve always been lucky with almost anything I get at Trader Joe’s. They’re reasonably priced and always delicious, but sometimes you get hooked but you can never get it again. I had some favorite cheeses and sauces that was not available anymore when I came back for more. Sad.
So if I see something I want to try, I usually buy a couple to start with. They do have expiration dates so I cannot really get a dozen or so as we will get tired of it if I cook it too often. 😊
So…this is my most recent find!
I’ll cook this with some cut up chicken, garlic, onions, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, and a couple of bell peppers from the garden.
You can definitely eyeball the amounts and adjust anything to your taste.
Begin by preparing all of your ingredients. I used the following:
1-2 tablespoons oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 pound of chicken breast, cubed
1 big potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 zucchini, trimmed and cut into half moons
A handful of mushrooms, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 bottle of Trader Joe’s Yellow Curry Sauce
Water
Freshly cooked rice and chopped cilantro, for serving
1. Heat oil in a saucepan. Sauté garlic and onions until lightly browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned. Next add the potatoes and carrots. Stir and cook for a few minutes.
3. Add the zucchini, mushrooms, and bell pepper.
4. Pour the curry sauce over. Fill the bottle halfway with water, cover and shake to get every last bit of the delicious sauce, open the bottle then pour contents into the pan.
5. Stir the mixture and cover with a lid. Lower heat to medium low and simmer until chicken and vegetables are done, around 10-20 minutes.
6. Serve over freshly cooked, hot rice. Top with chopped cilantro. Enjoy!
Here is a quick and easy version of a staple Chinese restaurant take out!
Once in a while I’d crave Chinese food really bad. Most good restaurants are not close to where I live so it’ll be about a 20-30 mile drive to get to one and I’m too lazy to drive out to hunt them down. So I made this using an older cookbook I saw at the library a while back.
The cooking process takes no time at all so make sure to prep everything in the beginning (chop, dice, mince…)and have it all ready to go.
Right after I was done with college, my mom, dad, and I got into this habit of driving around without a destination, just looking to relax and unwind. In the process, we got to try a lot of different restaurants all over Luzon, in the Philippines.
One of our favorite was Thai restaurants. The delicious Chicken Satay, bagoong rice with green mangoes and scrambled eggs, and delectable peanut sauce served with it is enough to keep us dreaming till the next Thai meal. Rounded out with Thai Iced Tea and we’ve got fuel enough to take us wherever that full tank of gas can go.
Fast forward 21 years later, allergic to shrimp, I have not been able to eat this in a restaurant because of possible cross contamination. So what was I to do? Make it at home, so that I am sure of what went into my food!
This is a very delicious meal, even without the Bagoong rice. If you are not allergic to shrimp, I recommend you try this with the Bagoong fried rice. I did provide an easy guide at the very bottom of this article.
2 pounds chicken breasts, sliced into pieces about 1”x2.5”
MARINADE:
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped red chili, optional
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons minced ginger, or ginger paste
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 heaping teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
SAUCE:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/3 cup water
Procedure:
1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together all marinade ingredients until well blended.
2. Add chicken slices and mix well to coat evenly.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to overnight, to allow the chicken to absorb the flavors. In the meantime, soak short bamboo skewers in water.
4. Skewer 3 – 4 pieces of chicken in bamboo skewers and set aside.
5. Grill until done on one side, then turn to cook the other side. I used my stovetop griddle/grill plate as it was too cold to grill outside today.
6. Repeat with all remaining chicken skewers.
7. Place all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. *Forgot to take a picture of this sauce! Sorry! I will update once I make it again!
8. Serve with chicken and rice. Enjoy!
*This is usually served with fermented shrimp paste rice. My son and I are both allergic to shrimp so we do not serve it this way. If you do want to make it, though:
Heat a pan and add some canola oil. Saute minced garlic until golden then add chopped onions. Cook until onions are golden and soft. Add a few spoonfuls of bottled bagoong (fermented shrimp paste). Mix well and add cooked rice. Stir to heat up the rice and distribute the shrimp paste evenly. Season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with scrambled eggs sliced in long strips.
This an easy to make dish for weekday nights. You can serve it as a side or as the main dish. My boys like meat so this will only be a side dish tonight!
Try to cook the green bean only briefly so that it retains the crunchy texture that is perfect with the sauce. AND a lot of rice! 😊
1 tablespoon oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, diced
1 chicken breast, cut into thin strips about 1 inch
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-2 inch pieces
2 – 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1. Heat oil in a medium sized saucepan. Add garlic and saute until browned. Add onions and saute 5 minutes more, until soft and lightly browned.
2. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 7 minutes. Sprinkle with ground pepper. Cook until lightly browned.
3. Add green beans, oyster sauce, and water. Stir to combine. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked but green beans are still crisp but cooked, about 5 minutes.
4. Add cornstarch dissolved in water and cook 5 minutes more, until thickened. Adjust seasoning to taste.
