Being An Adult Sucks

Growing up sucks. You have to do your own laundry, you have to cook your own meals, you have to clean the dishes after you eat. UGH. Can my mom come to the city and do my chores for me, it's only 50 miles away. Thanks Mom!

This is a fairly typical meal that I had growing up. A meat dish and a soup dish, served over rice.  Today I went with caramelized chicken and a simple water spinach soup.  Clean, healthy eating after a weekend of dirty martinis.

Water Spinach Soup (Canh Rau Muong)
Makes 4 servings
A big bushel of water spinach (Rau Muong), cut into 3-4 inch pieces
about a quart of water
2 garlic cloves
1/2 a lime
2 tbsp of fish sauce (more to taste)

1. In a pot, bring 1 quart of water to a rolling boil and add the washed water spinach.
2. After 4 minutes remove the water spinach from the water.
3. Add 2 crushed cloves of garlic (don't mince), the lime juice and the fish sauce. Bring back to simmer.
4. Simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors marry, add the water spinach back to the broth before serving.
5.  I like to serve this soup with a side of pickled egg plants in fish sauce, easily found at any Asian grocery store.

Caramelized Chicken (Ga Ram Mam)
Makes 4 servings
1 lb of chicken thighs, cute into 2 inch chunks
1 minced clove of garlic
2 minced green onions
1 tbsp of sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp fish sauce (or to taste)

1. Add the minced garlic and the white part of the green onion to the chicken along with the salt and pepper. Mix and let marinade for 15-20 minutes.

2. In a sauce pan or small pot, add the sugar and oil and turn the heat to high.  Let the sugar melt and turn to caramel. DO NOT STIR the sugar with anything, just roll the pan around until it looks caramel-y

3. At this point, add the chicken and quicky stir to coat the chicken with the caramel sauce.  Then add 1/4 cup of water and the fish sauce and cover with a lid (or a plate if you can't find that one lid that fits)

4. Bring the chicken to a boil and then reduce the heat to med-low and cook for 5 minutes.  Then remove the lid and let cook for another 20 minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened.  Sprinkle on the rest of the green onions. Serve immediately.

Meals like this are easy to make on a weeknight when you're lazy since the majority of the cook time is just waiting around. The beauty with these meals are that they're pretty versatile, you can switch out the protein or the veggies with whatever you have around so you don't even have to go to the store.  Plus afterwards, you don't have that many dishes to clean because they're both cooked in 1 pot.  I guess growing up isn't that bad.

But now... what to do about that pile of laundry...