Asian Chicken Wraps

This dish was no appetizer - make these for your family along with a side of rice or lo mein, and you've got a impressive full meal.

I was scared to try making these - chicken wraps always seem rather fancy and complex in restaurants.

Turns out, the hardest part of this recipe was mincing the water chestnut and carrots.  Everything else was pretty enjoyable, to be honest.

I started off by stir frying the carrot (6 or 7 babies) and water chestnut (a small can of Sun Luck brand) together, with a couple of splashes of soy sauce, some black pepper, and barely a pinch of crushed red pepper, to make things interesting.

Next, I diced and tossed in the meat of four fully cooked chicken thighs (much tastier and better texture than breast) which were already boiled in water with a bit of chicken stock to preserve the flavor.  After mixing, I added in about 4 teaspoons of hoisin sauce - the signature flavor in most wraps I've sampled- and a tablespoon of oyster sauce to complement the hoisin with some meatiness.

I stir fried it all together at medium high heat for about 4 or 5 minutes, just barely allowing it to reach smoking point.  Garnished with some green onion, and served with some bib lettuce that was on sale.

They tasted great - I recommend a little extra kick with a few drops of my old friend Sriracha (Cock-a-doodle-doo!)

Chicken thighs    -    $1.50

Water chestnut   -    $0.70

Baby carrot       -     $0.20 (I'm guessing)

Hoisin               -     $0.25 (estimate)

Oyster sauce     -     $0.10 (estimate)

Bib lettuce        -      $3.00

Total                       $5.75

And we ate at least twice as much as you get at a restaurant!

Honey-Miso Glazed Tilapia w/ Soba Noodles

Maybe I can think of a better name for this dish - one that makes it sound cheaper.  But to be honest, I can think of any way to improve it.  I took the idea for the glaze from Alton Brown (thanks!) and tried to build a meal around it with the ingredients I found in the kitchen.
Miso costs about $4 a bag, but a little goes a long ways.  I mixed one tablespoon of red miso with one tablespoon of honey, then brushed it over the two tilapia fillets and baked in the oven at 325 for about 25 minutes.
Soba noodles run about $2 for a pack of 8 generous servings, if you get them a good Asian grocer (thank you, Super China in Sandy!).  I boiled the noodles, rinsed them out with cool water (they are usually served chilled), then tossed in some toasted sesame seeds, a few halved grape tomatoes for acidity, and a few splashes of chili-garlic oil.
On the whole, this dish was pretty great.  The flavors and textures balanced each other out very nicely. 

• Tilapia - $3.00
• Soba noodle - $.25
• All other ingredients - <$1.00

Not bad, eh?