Hmong Can Cook

Still here, but this will be the last blog entry here

2011-05-17T08:00:00.002-05:00

I regret to say that I won't be continuing this blog anymore, but I'll be blogging more at shopbouchique.com/blog. Come check us out there! Hope to get some of your support! Thanks for visiting my blog this past year!

Hmong Sausage

2011-04-03T22:26:00.017-05:00

I originally was going to make these simple ground beef meatballs with green onions--the kind that my dad used to make for us when we were young. He wasn't the best cook. He basically just cooked food that was good enough for him. I would never eat anything he cooked except for these beef meatballs that he would make. They were just plain ground beef with green onions and then pan fried. Making them again brings back memories and it would make me miss my dad more than usual. I think about the times when he would save a piece of fruit for me because none of my siblings cared for fruit, but he knew that I always loved fruits. After he passed away, just cutting into a piece of fruit would remind me of my dad and how much he loved us.

"Enjoy the little things in life, for someday you will realize they were the big things." - Unknown

Besides making these beef meatballs, I also decided to make Hmong sausages for the first time. I had no recipe to go by, except for the ingredients on the package some Hmong sausages that I recently bought and to what I thought it tasted like. For a first try, it really wasn't that bad. I was so impressed that it tasted just like the sausages I bought except everything was freshly made. I meant to write down the measurements, but totally forgot, so the measurements are not accurate as to what I attempted. The hog casings were easier to find than I thought. They were in the freezer section at my local grocery store; although I had to ask for help. I also read that using pork butt or pork shoulder was the best to make sausage. It has a good amount of meat and fat in it, but you can certainly combine whatever meat portions you like.

Makes about a foot of sausage:

Ingredients (again, these are approximate ingredients since I did not write them down except for the pork. I do remember measuring that.):

Hog casing
1 lb of pork shoulder, chopped or grinded
1/4 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup green onions,finely chopped
2 tbsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp lemon grass, white part only, minced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp shallots, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp Thai chili peppers, finely chopped
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of sugar

Package of hog casing found at local grocery store:

Soak the casings in water for about 30 minutes to get rid of the salt. Boy, did these look weird when I first saw them. They do expand:

Clean casing by flushing it with water:

Cut up the meat to get it ready for chopping or grinding:

My food processor did not grind raw meat well, so I ended up manually chopping the meat with the Hmong knife that my mom gave me. It's a Hmong knife because it had rust all over!

These are the herbs I used to make sausage. I forgot to measure these exactly, but I did not use all the ginger pictured here. I remember that I used about 1 tablespoon of peppers and the sausage came out pretty hot, so I would advise to use half of that. Of course the peppers are optional if you don't like it hot:

Mix the meat, herbs, fish sauce, salt and sugar together. Also use gloves to mix and stuff this because the hot peppers will burn your hand. Also, at this point you want to take a small piece and form it into a pattie and pan fry until cooked to see how you like it. Adjust any seasonings per your taste.

Tie one end of the casing to start your stuffing from the opposite end:

I cut up a plastic bottle of soda and used the nozzle as my stuffing tool. Simply wrap the casing around the nozzle and stuff the meat through. I would show that picture, but my blog is rated G. :p I admit I couldn't stop laughing when I tried to take the picture. It just looked wrong! Anyway, I ended up cutting the plastic down more than the picture below to make it easier and faster to stuff (almost down to the nozzle):

Finished stuffed sausage. I did over stuff mine, so try not to over stuff it because when you cook it, the casing will break as mine partially did:

I did not store mine overnight. You can certainly do so if you like. I made these on another occasion and the flavorings still tasted the same to me when I cooked it right away. How I cooked these were by broiling them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 375 degrees. I wanted them more brown and crispy, so I ended up pan frying them for about 5-10 minutes. After I made these, I found some more references on making Laotian sausage. The difference I have seen with Laotian sausage vs. Hmong sausage is that the Laotian brand is made with sticky rice, lemongrass, garlic and green onions. Many I've seen did not have cilantro or ginger in it. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but here is one of the recipes I found from Laocook:

Here is the basic recipe for our version of the Lao Style Sausage. The fat to meat ratio is very important, we use 1:5, but it is all down to personal taste. This recipe will produce about 3kg.

2kg Coarse Minced Pork Neck
400g Coarse Minced Pork fat
20g Chopped Coriander Stems (Cilantro)
100g Finely Diced Shallot
10g Chopped Garlic
50g Chopped Spring Onion (Scallions)
7 Finely chopped Lime Leaves
70g Finely Chopped Dill
50g Red Chilli Paste (we make our own, but you can use Red Thai Curry Paste)
150g Finely Diced Red Pepper
50g Chopped Lemon Grass, white part only
5g White Pepper
3tbsp Fish Sauce
3tbsp Soy Sauce
3tbsp Oyster Sauce
40g Salt
15g Sugar
3 Eggs
100g Corn Flour (used to help bind the ingredients)

Natural casings

Mix all the ingredients except the Natural Casings. Allow the ingredients get to know each other by placing them in a covered container overnight.

The following day taste the mixture by taking a small amount and shaping it in to a burger and frying it. Adjust seasoning to your personal taste then stuff in to the Natural Casings and shape as required. Make sure to use a pin to puncture the skin at intervals to allow air to escape.

NOTES:
We find them best cooked in an oven set to around 150ºC for around 15 minutes.

They can also be steamed, then browned in a hot pan for colouring.

Some versions of these sausages appear more “red”. For this you can add a few teaspoons of Paprika Powder to the mix.

*****

Mexican-Style Hot Dogs

2011-03-25T13:46:00.006-05:00

I bought some ingredients this week to make some of these hot dogs that I recently discovered. Didn't know the name for them, but they're either called Tijuana hot dogs or Sonoran hot dogs. They were originally grilled when I first had them, but they taste just as good from the oven or pan. I had the ingredients for almost a week, but procrastinated to make these. By the time today arrived, most of the hot dogs were almost gone. I only had about four left, so I decided to make these today before they were all gone! My husband kept asking me when I was going to make these since I told him how great they were and he hasn't tried them yet. Today, I finally made them and he tried it for the first time. He loved them. At first he grabbed two, but I told him that one would be enough because these are pretty hearty.

Ingredients:
Hot dogs or weiners (I used all beef)
Bacon slices for each hot dog
Hot dog buns
Fresh salsa (recipe follows)
4 Avocados
Cilantro
1 tsp lime juice
1 white onion
Jalapenos
Ketchup, mustard and mayo as needed

Salsa:4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/4 white onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, minced
8 cilantro sprigs, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon salt

DirectionsIn a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients together. Toss thoroughly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Method:1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees broil.
2. Make the salsa and set it aside.
3. Wrap each hot dog with a slice of bacon and lay it on a foil covered baking sheet. Broil in oven at 500 degrees until the bacon is browned. Turn over to the other side until both sides are browned. Remove from oven and set aside.
4. While hot dogs are cooking, chop the avocados into small chunks and squeeze a small amount of lime juice into the mix as well as some pieces of cilantro leaves.
5. Cut onion in half and slice onion. Sauteed the sliced onions in some vegetable oil over medium high heat until browned and fragrant. Set aside.
6. Using the same pan, pan fry the jalapenos (one per each serving or per person) until brown on most sides. Jalapeno should come out tender tasting.
7. Simply top bun with bacon-wrapped hot dog, then condiments (choice of ketchup, mustard and/or mayo), onions, salsa and then avocado mixture. The cooked jalapeno can be eaten separate or also put into the hot dog as well.

Waiting for spring!

2011-03-21T22:46:00.006-05:00

Haven't been to a Lund's or Byerly's in a long time. I use to go there just because their desserts looked so good and I like to look. Was in the neighborhood, so I decided to stop in one. A few things I love to just look at: nice clothes, dessert displays and beautiful homes. I used to go to the Parade of Homes every season when they had them before we bought the house. I also went to the Luxury Home Tour twice now just to dream... Wow, so beautiful. There was this one neighborhood called Locust Hills in Wayzata, MN that I just fell in love with. If I was a billionaire, then that's what I would want. My own neighborhood with all my friends and families living in the same neighborhood, so we can see each other more often. My husband doesn't think that's a good idea. :p I've also been attending the ASID home tour every year for the past six years, except I skipped the past two since I was prego and then just got busy.

Anyway, decided to buy myself some treats. Actually, I've been treating myself everyday since the pregnant days. This super sweet tooth hasn't gone away since then. I need to stop, but probably not this week since I just bought like four packs of strawberries (since they were on sale) and stuff to make sweet treats with them.

Waiting for all the snow to melt, so I can go walking outside. I love that. I think this year has the most snow ever that I've experienced. I love March BTW. It's my favorite month. For some reason when March arrives, I am a new person all over again just like spring.

All photos taken with my iPhone. :p

Best Hot Dog I've Had So Far

2011-03-18T01:42:00.004-05:00

Photos from here.

I saw these on FoodNetwork once and always wanted to try one. I had the opportunity to finally eat one the other day when a friend of mine invited me over to a family gathering. They were freshly grilled with bacon wrapped around the hot dog along with toppings of grilled onions, fresh salsa, avocados and topped with a grilled jalapeno. Gosh, just typing that makes me so hungry and craving for another one already. My mouth was watering when I watched them cooked the stuff. I should go to sleep before I head to the kitchen instead of the bedroom. I think I'm going to go shopping tomorrow and get some ingredients to make one of these. I don't know what these are called exactly, but I guess they're Mexican-style hot dogs. Just yummy. I had everything on it except mayo. Ok, not a good idea to think/blog about food when I am hungry and should be sleeping. It's the only time I get any work done with a little one!

Mardi Gras King Cake

2011-03-08T20:40:00.005-06:00

Have you ever had a bite of this? I had it once at work. It was actually good. I think it's just basically a sweet bread with colored sugar on top.

Pictures from here and here.

Best Hmong Pepper Sauce Ever

2011-03-08T15:20:00.008-06:00

Well, one of them that I've tasted, and I've tasted many pepper sauces. I eat pepper with just about anything. Basically, if you don't eat pepper, then you're probably not Hmong or your parents fed you too many McDonald's hamburgers growing up. The second part happened to me too, but I still eat peppers. :p Seriously, the Hmong pepper sauce is a staple on many Hmong dinner tables. Whether it's just the simple pepper and salt or tomatoes mixed with it, Hmong people usually don't eat Hmong food without pepper on the side. If it's not there, then trust me, someone will ask for pepper.

My pepper sauce has the usual ingredients, but there is one secret ingredient in there that makes a difference. Can you guess what it is? It's also about the right quantity of all the ingredients. I originally made this pepper for egg rolls and received many compliments. Nobody cared about the egg rolls, they just wanted to know what was in the sauce. It could've been that my egg rolls weren't that good, but that's the thing! This sauce will make any bad tasting egg roll or meal taste good. I once served this sauce at meal time and someone said that they could just very well eat the sauce despite the other delicious meals that were served.

I just made it in an instant today, so I didn't have time to measure it and take photos, so unfortunately, I won't be posting the recipe until another time. This among other Hmong foods is still on my list to add to the blog to share with others so that we don't forget how to make our own foods.

Homemade Vietnamese Pho Broth

2011-03-05T23:56:00.008-06:00

I regret that I didn't put more broth into my bowl above just for the photo. Perhaps the reason why I didn't was because the recipe I tried produced such small quantity for so much work involved and I didn't want to use all the broth in one eating. :p I started with six quarts of water and only got three quarts when I was done. The broth tasted good, but I was disappointed that it took so much work for such small results. I probably will not make pho broth from scratch again. I know I mentioned in my earlier posts the obvious reasons, but it's been at least ten years since I last made pho broth from scratch and wanted to see if I could improve. Just not worth the time or money. This recipe I tried was good, but it had too much salt to it (including the fish sauce). When I ate the pho, I didn't need to add any extra condiments except for the hot sauce. No fish sauce or hoisin. Nada. I wasn't used to that. It really didn't need it. I suppose that's a good thing, right? I guess not if someone doesn't like their pho to be on the salty side. Also, I skimmed the fat twice and it was still pretty greasy. I got tired of skimming it, so I quit at the second time. My broth came out darker than what I'm used to seeeing. I left the bag of spices in the whole time. I read from another recipe to take it out after 30 minutes. This recipe I tried did have a more intense flavor because the dried spices was simmered for at least four hours. Would I recommend this recipe? Yes. It was good. A lot better than some home made pho I have had before. I just wouldn't make this again because it was just too much work and ingredients. You can find the recipe from Andrea Nguyen. I also referenced Wandering Chopsticks and here.

Yellow rock sugar, star anise, whole cloves and cinnamon stick:

Charbroiling the onions and ginger in the oven under broil since I don't have open flame. Flavors are still there doing it this way:

Putting all the ingredients together in the pot. I used 2.5 lbs oxtails and the rest bones with marrow and tendon. I also put my spices in a pouch. You can use cheesecloth as well or use none at all. It's just easier to get them out later especially if you want the spices out earlier:

Make sure you submerge everything under water:

I skimmed the foam and and other impurities with this handy dandy tool that I found at the local Asian store. It works very good since the mesh is very fine:

After boiling for four hours and letting it cool, I put the pot in the fridge overnight and took out the fat that submerged to the top. I did this twice and it was still greasy. Seeing all this fat scared my husband, so he didn't even bother eating the pho I made for us. I told him this is how it's made and he doesn't believe me. He thinks pho broth just magically comes out clear.

Salmon with Whole-Wheat Spaghetti

2011-03-01T17:01:00.004-06:00

I was hesitant on trying this recipe because the thought of salmon with pasta didn't sound appealing to me. I'm glad I gave it a try anyway because it tasted great! The salmon itself is pretty oily, but overall, this dish not only tastes good, but it's also good for you. The fish and olive oils are great for you as long as you don't consume too much of it.

Original recipe from Food Network:

Ingredients1/2 pound whole-wheat spaghetti pasta
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (4-ounce) pieces salmon
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons capers
1 lemon, zested
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves

DirectionsBring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and transfer to a large bowl. Add the garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Add the fish to the pan and cook until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fish. Remove the salmon from the pan.

Add the basil, capers, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the spaghetti mixture and toss to combine. Set out 4 serving plates or shallow bowls. Place 1/2 cup spinach in each bowl. Top with 1/4 of the pasta. Top each mound of pasta with a piece of salmon. Serve immediately.

Salmon in Lemon Brodetto with Pea Puree

2011-03-01T16:55:00.001-06:00

Here's another salmon recipe I tried many weeks ago. I used to just bake my salmon in the oven, but I like it so much pan-fried. I like the crispiness of the fried filet portion. I like my salmon well done, so this may appear overcooked to some. I remember this recipe had a lot of steps, but it was quite good. It tastes similar to the one with the pasta I just made today. If you must have some rice with it like me, then you can make it with the herbed rice pasta featured below. Both went well together.

Original recipe from Food Network:

Ingredients
Lemon Brodetto:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, diced
2 lemons, juiced
1 lemon, zested
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves

Pea Puree:
2 cups frozen peas, thawed (about 10 ounces)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Salmon:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 (4 to 6-ounce) pieces salmon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
To make the Lemon Brodetto, warm the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the lemon juice, zest, and broth. Bring to a simmer, and keep warm, covered, over low heat.

To make the Pea Puree, combine the peas, mint, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor and puree. With the machine running, add the olive oil in a steady drizzle. Transfer the pea puree to a small bowl and stir in the Parmesan. Set aside.

To make the Salmon, warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over high heat. Season the salmon pieces with salt and pepper. Sear the salmon until a golden crust forms, about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side. Flip the fish and continue cooking until medium-rare, about 2 minutes more depending on the thickness of the fish.

To assemble the dish, add the tablespoon chopped mint to the Lemon Brodetto and divide between 4 shallow dishes. Place a large spoonful of Pea Puree into the center of each bowl. Place a salmon piece atop each mound of Pea Puree. Serve immediately.

Herbed Basmati Rice:
Original recipe from Foodnetwork

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked long-grain (white) basmati rice (recommended: Texmati)
1 3/4 cups water
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced fresh curly parsley leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill leaves
1 tablespoon minced fresh scallions, white and green parts
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Combine the rice, 1 3/4 cups water, the salt, and butter in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat to low, stir once, and simmer, covered tightly, for 15 minutes. (I need to pull the pot half off the burner to keep it from boiling over.) Turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit covered for 5 minutes. Add the parsley, dill, scallions, and pepper. Fluff with a fork, and serve warm.

Look Who's Also Hungry

2011-02-28T17:48:00.006-06:00

I was busy making my pho broth + dinner and saw a pair of legs behind our tree when I looked out the window. Yup, it's a baby deer searching for some food in our backyard. And we live in the cities!

I decided to make pho broth from scratch. I found two recipes online that I wanted to try, so I'll let you know in a few days how it turns out. Yes, pho broth takes that long to make. There's a lot of steps to it for sure.

iPhone, recipe withdrawal, restaurants, etc.

2011-02-26T14:34:00.007-06:00

I don't know where I got the above image from, but I certainly did not make it. I wanted to take some cake decorating classes this season, but I'm already busy with so many projects. Maybe in the summer. Been so busy that I haven't experimented with new recipes for weeks now! I am craving for some new food. The other day, my family and I went out for lunch at a chain restaurant and I couldn't help but miss my own cooking. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but my cooking has improved so much that my own food tastes so much better than places that I used to enjoy dining at. But then again that was only a 2 or 3 star restaurant. :p

Speaking of the iPhone, I really miss my iPhone. I turned it off because I wanted to save some money each month since not working. I've had the phone since it initially launched in 2007. It became my best friend instantly. I'm usually not the type that buys the latest techno stuff, but since I was searching for a smart phone back then anyway, I tested the iPhone out and nothing else beat it at that time. It was funny how every time I brought it out in public, people around me were like, "Is that the iPhone??" And then I would get all these gawkers surrounding me. lol I guess it was kind of rare back then, but not anymore!

We also went to try out Mirror of Korea in Saint Paul on Valentine's Day. Yeah, I know. Not very romantic, but Valentine's is not just about couples. I have a family now, so we didn't necessarily go there because of V-day. I just felt like eating some bulgogi, so we decided to try them out. We have only tried King's and the one across from Mirror of Korea. Forgot what that one is called, but I don't like going there because it's so dark and gloomy inside. I felt scared to even go down to the basement to use their restrooms. Same case with the restrooms at Village Wok; although, I haven't been there in ages.

Mirror of Korea was fine. I was actually surprised how much cleaner and brighter it looked inside compared to the outside. The outside never wanted to bring me in. The food was good. We ordered the regular bulgogi and bibimbap so we could compare to other Korean restaurants. Actually, that's all we know what to order from Korean restaurants. :p I felt like an American going into a Chinese restaurant and the only thing I know what to order is sweet and sour chicken. I love sweet and sour chicken BTW. I didn't know that the bibimbap was going to come in the hot stone bowl. Otherwise, I would've asked for it not to. We also ordered the seafood omelette-type cake. It was quite appetizing. Overall rating of Mirror of Korea. 3/5 stars. It was clean, bright and food was good.

I promise to make a menu plan tonight and go shopping tomorrow.

Baked Alaska

2011-02-17T16:47:00.006-06:00

I always wanted to try out this dessert as it looks so good. I've never seen it on the menu at any of the restaurants I've been to, but I heard that the Oceaniare makes this. Their menu probably changes though. So one day, I decided to look up the recipe and decided to make one myself. It's actually not that difficult, but there are steps to them. I made the cake portion with yellow cake mix, but honestly, to save time you can just buy the Sara Lee pound cake from the freezer. I actually like that better. I made this a while ago and used a couple of different recipes from the Internet, so I don't remember what they were actually. Basically, all I did was line a round small cup with saran wrap, then put strawberry ice cream in the mold, followed by the cake. I let it freeze for hours and then made the meringue. I topped it off with the meringue and put it in the oven.

I think this dessert looks better than it tastes. I mean, it didn't taste bad, but it was nothing special. It's basically just an ice cream cake. My favorite ice cream bar is the strawberry shortcake bar from Good Humor. I want to make an ice cream cake that will taste exactly like that.

Here is one of the recipes that I followed or used to make my own Baked Alaska.

Nam Khao (Laotian Fried Rice Ball Salad)

2011-02-01T02:13:00.009-06:00

I've been meaning to post this a while back because I wanted to show step-by-step photos, but just haven't made this dish in a while. I first discovered this dish from a member of a forum and tried the recipe he/she had given. I wasn't that pleased with it, so I never bothered looking up other recipes. One day at the local Asian store, it sold a to-go package of this dish and I grabbed it. It was love-at-first-bite. Nam Khao is one of my favorite dishes now and the best new dish I have discovered in 2010. To me, it is that good, but it does require some acquired tasting. For example, if you don't like nam sausauge, then you might not like this dish, but you can certainly make it without it. The reason why the store-bought version was so much better than the original recipe I had tried earlier was because the original recipe was baked and not fried. It also did not include coconut flakes in the recipe. Those two things made a huge difference. This dish has to be deep fried or it won't taste the same.

This is a great dish to make when you have a lot of leftover rice and want to try something new besides regular fried rice. If you like the exotic tastes of Thai and Laotian, you will love this dish. I did anyway.

Here is a good tutorial online. I adapted my recipe from hers. For example, I used freshly fried shallots and garlic and threw it in the dish. I also added sugar since the one at the store tasted a little sweeter. I did not add any ground meat to the dish. I thought the nam sausage provided enough meat already. And I never use MSG in any of my foods. Some recipes call for curry, but I did not like that in mine. I also made my rice balls larger, so the rice wouldn't be as crispy (hard) all over. Some people like more of the hard rice, but I didn't want too much of that. One of these days, I'll post my exact recipe, but give this recipe a try first.

I made these the other day on a whim, and didn't turn out exactly like how I made them when I took the time, but here are photos to give you some ideas:

Thailand Food Journey

2011-02-01T01:45:00.007-06:00

Photo from here.

It would be a dream of mine to visit Thailand one day and just go on a journey to eat all their food, visit their markets as well as check out some of their beaches. Growing up, my dad would post all these colorful posters of fresh and exotic fruits from Thailand as well as the beautiful girls in Thai costumes and the markets on the water.

Until then, I like to look at these vendor street food videos from ImportFood.com. They make me so hungry just watching them. Ok, maybe sanitary-wise--not so great, but the food is cheap!

Speaking of exotic fruits, I picked up a pomelo from the Asian store the other day. I never tried it before, but saw it a few times in Thai cooking, so I thought I try one. It's actually quite good. It looks and smells like a grapefruit, but it's actually tastier than a grapefruit. It doesn't have that bitterness that grapefruits tend to have. So if you don't like grapefruit, then you might like pomelos.

And those bananas in the background? I have no idea what kind they are. I thought they were just regular bananas that haven't riped yet, but after a few days, they still haven't riped, so I ended up tossing them. What kind of bananas are these that don't ripe? Were they like the green mango that will never ripe like a regular mango? We buy bananas every week, so I just felt dumbfounded this time.

Semi-Homemade Vietnamese Pho (Beef Noodle Soup)

2011-01-25T22:04:00.010-06:00

Well, the broth is not home made at all, but this is how I make pho when I want that "homemade" taste without all that other work and it still tastes better than your instant noodle in a package. Also, because I have a small family of two adults and a small toddler, it doesn't make sense to make a batch of pho unless of course I plan to freeze the broth or eat pho all week. Besides, this is like making spaghetti from a jar. :) I still need to attempt to make pho from scratch again one of these days. My first time making it years ago was a disaster. It basically tasted like water with boiled beef and fat. The second attempt tasted much better, but I had leftovers for weeks and ingredients were just too much, so I never tried again. I was living by myself at the time.

I usually make my pho with the wide, fat noodles, but for some reason this Asian store didn't carry any (not even the dried kind). I don't know why, but I prefer the wide noodles when I eat pho at home, but don't mind the regular noodles when I'm at the restaurant. I also decided to buy the fresh noodles from the refrigerated section, and I did not like how the extra starch on the noodles diluted my broth. The noodles itself tasted better, but perhaps I should've rinsed the noodles more thoroughly.

Fresh noodles I tried today:

These are the fresh noodles that I would prefer and grew up eating. They make a difference to me:

Or course since I don't see the above fresh, wide noodles available very often, I have settled for the dried wide noodles and they taste fine. I forget the two brands I usually buy, but this is how they look similar to:

This is a great dish to make when you have extra or leftover ingredients laying around and you still want a hearty meal. Since I'm Asian, I usually have all these ingredients available. I just have to buy the broth and sometimes noodles. I usually keep a few cans and an extra package of pho noodles around for those days when I feel lazy to cook everything from scratch.

Serves 2-4
Ingredients - pho is one of those foods that you can easily opt out or add your favorite ingredients. The most important ingredients are the broth, and of course, you need the noodles. Everything else is simply there to complement. Why do you think instant noodle packages just come with noodles and a packet? :p

1 package of wide rice noodles (dried or fresh)
2 cans of beef pho broth (I tried a couple and the one I pictured is the best so far)
Meat of your choice such as thinly sliced beef, meatballs (found in the Asian market freezer section), chicken, and even seafood such as shrimp. (I prefer to eat beef pho with just beef, but I have added chicken to it as well and tastes just as good.)
Fresh herbs such as cilantro, green onions, and basil
Lime wedges
Jalapeno peppers, sliced
Fish sauce
Hot sauce such as sriracha sauce
Hoisin sauce

Method:
1. Soak the dried noodles in hot water in a large bowl while you prep the other ingredients.
2. Shop your cilantro and greens onions. Slice jalapeno peppers. Assemble the herbs, peppers and lime wedges onto a plate or serving trays.
3. Prep and cook your preferred meat. I usually just boil all my meat. Pretty simple and easy.
4. I usually heat up two pots. One for the broth and the other to make boiling water to soften the noodles even more. You want your noodles soft, but not too soft that they break easily. When the broth boils, turn down the heat to low to keep warm.
5. Simply assemble a large bowl with the soften noodles, then broth and add your other favorite ingredients.

Hearty, easy and still has that home made taste. Yum.

Bulgur Wheat Pilaf

2011-01-07T13:18:00.004-06:00

Loved this recipe. And guess what? It's all vegetarian. I found the bulgur wheat at Whole Foods. I forgot the harissa, so I made my own at home. I don't know how harissa is supposed to taste like, but I just quickly made mine by pounding two dried peppers (soaked in warm water until soft) with a pinch of cumin, grounded coriander seeds, and 1/2 a clove of garlic. I then put a little oil in it and let it sit while I prepped the other ingredients. I know that's not entirely the correct way, but I was short on time and I totally forgot about the harissa. I did not follow this recipe exactly. I pretty much only used half the onions since I thought 4 whole onions was a little too much. I used grape tomatoes as well. They turned out great. I didn't make the yogurt as suggested since I didn't realize I was supposed to make it the night before. The dish tasted good without it IMO. I should know better to always read the whole recipe before attempting it, but sometimes I don't. Don't skip any of the other steps though. The surprise was the onions with the cinnamon and lemon juice. That added quite the flavor to the whole dish. So glad I found 101 Cookbooks, because I thought by eating healthier and more veggies meant eating only salads for the most part. Before the baby, I ate salads for a few months, and ever since then the thought of a salad just didn't sound very appetizing anymore.

You may find the recipe at 101 Cookbooks.

Pumpkin Bars

2011-01-07T12:56:00.005-06:00

I've been meaning to make my own pumpkin bars since every fall season. I always buy the ones sold at Festival Foods that's made by Taste of Scandinavia. Their bars are so good. I am happy to have tried this recipe from Paula Dean and it's so good. My husband loves it. I put in a little more sugar in the frosting to duplicate the one from ToS and it taste about the same. The hubby said he actually likes this recipe better because the cake portion is not as sweet, just perfect.

Original Recipe from Food Network:
Ingredients

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

My Favorite Papaya Salad

2011-01-02T23:50:00.009-06:00

Well, one of them. For now. It's from one of my favorite Asian restaurants in the Twin Cities, Cheng Heng Cambodian Restaurant, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Why is Cheng Heng one of my favorite restaurants? Because they have a good variety of food at affordable prices. Depending on what you order, the food usually tastes consistently good and the owners are very nice. They have never let me down. Actually, I have been going there ever since they opened over 10 years ago. I used to go in there and order the usual papaya salad with chicken wings and rice. I often went there to eat by myself, studying for college at times. When I moved into the suburbs and went back a few years later, the owner still recognized me and mentioned that I don't come there anymore. I was pleasantly surprised that she would remember me. I think she is good at remembering her customers. The owners and their family work so hard there. They practically live there. I feel sorry for the owner sometimes because she always looks so stressed out everytime I see her and I have heard her mentioned it a few times as well. It's because they're always so busy. I told my husband that if I ever won the lottery ;), then they would be one of the families that I would help out. Sure they have a successful restaurant, but I would help them make the restaurant look nicer and perhaps give them options so that they wouldn't have to be there day and night every day.

Anyway, back to papaya salad. Sorry, I like to ramble a lot. That's why I blog. ;) Most people that I've seen go to Cheng Heng for their combination noodle soup, but I go for their papaya salad. Yep, I love the papaya salad from Cheng Heng. 99% of the time, they have always made it consistently. It's hard for me to find consistently-good-tasting papaya salad. It has a different taste from other papaya salads out there too. They top it off with basil and mint and it really brings out a unique flavor to the papaya salad. I have ordered their salad for quite a few potlucks now and the majority of people like it. In fact, I ordered a huge batch of their papaya salad for my son's birthday party, and by the time I had any time to get food for myself, it was all gone. I was disappointed that I didn't get to eat my own food that I catered, but glad the guests liked it. :)

Everyone has their own preferences, but I would have to say this is definitely one of my favorite papaya salads for the moment. Actually, for the past decade since they opened.

Double Broccoli Quinoa

2011-01-02T23:20:00.004-06:00

Happy new year! One of my new year resolutions is to eat more vegetables. I found a great new blog that focuses on natural and vegetarian foods. I don't think I will ever become a vegetarian, but I like the first recipe that I tried from the website already. I had three more planned last week, but couldn't find all the ingredients. I will try again this week. I had to go to Whole Foods to get the rest of the ingredients. Have you ever been to Whole Foods? I just love it. I've never been in love with a grocery store before. I am usually into clothing or home decorating stores, but a grocery store? Everything at Whole Foods is just so pretty. Except for the narrow aisles, I love how fresh everything looks. Bakery, veggies to meat looks good there. I would buy all my food there if only they were closer to where I live and if only it wasn't so expensive there. The first time I went there I spent around $50 on maybe three items. I think I bought fish oil and other vitamins though. Today, I spent about $25 on 4 items. Still a lot.

Anyway, I have discovered a new food that I like. It's called quinoa and it's really good for you because of its fiber and protein content. I never really bothered to research why white rice is not good for you, but I guess the reason is because a lot of its nutrients have been stripped away. If you were to eat rice in its natural or wild form, then it would be better for you. Oh well, I'm Asian and white rice will always be a part of my diet. It's not like it's going to kill you if you eat it anyway. Quinoa could be a substitute for rice as it has more nutrients and will fill you up more by just eating less of it than a bowl of rice. It kind of has a nutty flavor to it too. Even my one year old likes it. :)

The original recipe is adapted from 101 Cookbooks. I originally made it per the recipe, but found that I liked more cooked broccoli in it instead of the pesto, so this adapted recipe only makes half of the pesto the original recipe would make. The original recipe only calls for half of the pesto anyway, so I wouldn't waste the broccoli to make more pesto unless of course you don't like broccoli.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked quinoa*
5 cups raw broccoli, cut into small florets and stems
1 medium garlic clove
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Optional toppings: fire oil (optional)**, sliced avocado

Method:

Heat the quinoa and set aside.

Now barely cook the broccoli by pouring 3/4 cup water into a large pot and bringing it to a simmer. Add a big pinch of salt and stir in the broccoli. Cover and cook for a minute, just long enough to take the raw edge off. Transfer the broccoli to a strainer and run under cold water until it stops cooking. Set aside.

To make the broccoli pesto puree one cup of the cooked broccoli, the garlic, 1/4 cup of the almonds, Parmesan, salt, and lemon juice in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil and cream and pulse until smooth.

Just before serving, toss the quinoa and remaining broccoli florets with the broccoli pesto. Taste and adjust if needed, you might want to add bit more salt or an added squeeze of lemon juice. Turn out onto a serving platter and top with the remaining almonds, a drizzle of the chile oil, and some sliced avocado or any of the other optional toppings.

*To cook quinoa: rinse one cup of quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. In a medium saucepan heat the quinoa, two cups of water (or broth if you like), and a few big pinches of salt until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the curlique in each grain, and it is tender with a bit of pop to each bite. Drain any extra water and set aside.

**To make the red chile oil: You'll need 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes. If you can, make the chile oil a day or so ahead of time by heating the olive oil in a small saucepan for a couple minutes - until it is about as hot as you would need it to saute some onions, but not so hot that it smokes or smells acrid or burned. Turn off the heat and stir in the crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside and let cool, then store in refrigerator. Bring to room temp again before using.

Is Korean the new Chinese and French macarons the new cupcake?

2010-12-26T17:30:00.008-06:00

If so, then I have been loving those two for a long time now. Still haven't attempted to make my own macarons yet though. Yahoo Shine predicts food trends for 2011. Just look at how colorful both dishes are, especially the Korean bibimbap dish. They say if you want to be healthier, then eat the rainbow. I have eaten this dish before and it is very fulfilling. Ummm, I think I want to go try this Korean restaurant in town tomorrow. There aren't many (if any at all) good Korean restaurants in the Twin Cities, but I'll give this one a try anyway. It takes a long time for me to make this dish.

Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix: Don't fix what's not broken.

2010-11-22T13:38:00.018-06:00

Ok, I have attempted to bake a chocolate cake from scratch 3x now. One of them turned out good. The other two not so. I bought a box of Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix just in case they didn't turn out. Since it was just sitting in the pantry, I decided to bake some cupcakes out of the box. Boy, were they good! I had them before, but haven't had them in a long time. They're rich, moist and very chocolaty. They're perfect! I don't care what anyone says about cake in a box because nothing beats this chocolate cake especially when you eat it a few moments later right from the oven. I hate store bought frosting though. It just has a very artificial flavor to it. I bought this new glaze from the store and didn't like it. So, I made up my mind. I'm not going to attempt to make a chocolate cake from scratch again because I like this one as it is. Why go through all that trouble and $$ just to make one when there's nothing wrong with this one?

Yum, yum. So moist and yummy:

Semi-Homemade Pumpkin Pie

2010-11-21T12:37:00.011-06:00

Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite desserts especially during this time of the year. Some people don't like it, but I always liked it. The best pumpkin pie I've had is the one from Baker's Square. This one I baked recently is pretty good too; it's almost as good as Baker's Square. I think. That is if I could remember my taste buds correctly. I actually put a half cup of (white) sugar more than what the original recipe called for and it's pretty sweet, but I remember the pie from Baker's tasting pretty sweet as well. I would go with 3/4 cup next time. It's the cream cheese that makes it taste different than regular pumpkin pie. I like this recipe, however, after I put it in the fridge overnight and ate it the next day again, it didn't taste home made anymore. It tasted pretty commercial to me. I wondered if using fresh pumpkin puree and making my own pie crust would've made a difference. Oh well, too much work! I always thought eating pumpkin pie was healthier than having other desserts because I never bothered to look at the ingredients, but now I know!

Original recipe from Food Network:

Ingredients
For Pie:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 large eggs
1 (9-inch) frozen pie crust shell, removed from foil tin and placed in glass pie pan
For Brown Sugar Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and arrange a rack in the bottom third of the oven.

In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin puree, cream, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Using electric hand mixer, add the eggs, 1 at a time incorporating completely between each addition.

Pour the filling into the pie shell and bake on a sheet tray until the filling is mostly set and the crust has browned, about 50 to 60 minutes. The center will still look slightly loose. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.

For Whipped Cream:

In a chilled bowl, beat the heavy cream with a hand mixer until beginning to thicken. Add the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the pie and serve immediately or hold in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours before serving. .

Ran out of whipped cream...

I was actually going to attempt this recipe from Food Network, but didn't feel like doing everything from scratch. It sounds so much better since it uses fresh pumpkin puree and a homemade pie crust. Can you tell I love the Food Network? I used to watch it while exercising and then wonder why I was so hungry after my workout was done. :p

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2010-11-11T10:30:00.010-06:00

I always wanted to make my own chicken broth from scratch, so I bought some ingredients to make some home made chicken noodle soup. This was quite good. It tasted wholesome and pure. It didn't taste like it had artificial chicken flavors and salt in it. Everything was natural. Once you do add in some salt and pepper at the end, then that's all you need. I was hoping the soup would last me all week, but it was gone in one day.

Original Recipe:

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
2 quarts chicken stock, recipe follows
8 ounces dried wide egg noodles
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Directions
Place a soup pot over medium heat and coat with the oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Fold in the chicken, and continue to simmer for another couple of minutes to heat through; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Chicken Stock:
1 whole free-range chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), rinsed, giblets discarded
2 carrots, cut in large chunks
3 celery stalks, cut in large chunks
2 large white onions, quartered
1 head of garlic, halved
1 turnip, halved
1/4 bunch fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

Place the chicken and vegetables in a large stockpot over medium heat. Pour in only enough cold water to cover (about 3 quarts); too much will make the broth taste weak. Toss in the thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns, and allow it to slowly come to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low and gently simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, partially covered, until the chicken is done. As it cooks, skim any impurities that rise to the surface; add a little more water if necessary to keep the chicken covered while simmering.

Carefully remove the chicken to a cutting board. When its cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones; hand-shred the meat into a storage container.

Carefully strain the stock through a fine sieve into another pot to remove the vegetable solids. Use the stock immediately or if you plan on storing it, place the pot in a sink full of ice water and stir to cool down the stock. Cover and refrigerate for up to one week or freeze.

Yield: 2 quarts

Zucchini Bread

2010-11-11T10:07:00.006-06:00

The only times I've had zucchini bread was when I was still working and some coworkers would bring some in. The idea of zucchini bread didn't sound pleasing, but when I ate it, I thought it was pretty good. For some reason, I had a craving for some this past weekend, so I looked up recipes. This is the first time I made it and it was good! I seem to find a good baking recipe after a disastrous one. I did read the reviews and used 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar. I forgot the applesauce so I ended up using 1 cup of oil after all. Okay, after eating all this food, I decided I'm going to go on a raw and organic vegetarian diet. Really.

Original Recipe:

Ingredients
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Shrimp Scampi with Linguine Revisited

2010-11-11T09:56:00.006-06:00

I was watching a show featuring food in Italy and they were eating a simple dish such as this one, so then I craved for a similar dish. I loved the recipe from Tyler Florence, but decided to try a different recipe just for the heck of it. I tried Ina Garten's since she's one of my favorite FoodNetwork chefs. Using fresh shrimp sure makes a difference! (I had tried the frozen kind last time). I usually buy frozen because that's all they ever have at these supermarkets nearby. This dish is one of my favorite Italian dishes so far. I can't decide which recipe I like better now. I just remember loving the Tyler Florence recipe as it was immediately after I cooked it, so maybe I would prefer that one. This one is just as good though! 4/5 stars!

Original Recipe:

Vegetable oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt plus 1 1/2 teaspoons
3/4 pound linguine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 pound large shrimp (about 16 shrimp), peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 lemon, zest grated
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 lemon, thinly sliced in half-rounds
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Directions
Drizzle some oil in a large pot of boiling salted water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the linguine, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or according to the directions on the package.

Meanwhile, in another large (12-inch), heavy-bottomed pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Be careful, the garlic burns easily! Add the shrimp, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and the pepper and saute until the shrimp have just turned pink, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat, add the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon slices, and red pepper flakes. Toss to combine.

When the pasta is done, drain the cooked linguine and then put it back in the pot. Immediately add the shrimp and sauce, toss well, and serve.

Cupcakes from Scratch

2010-11-04T12:14:00.003-05:00

I suck at baking. :( I know I've said that before. I attempted to bake these cupcakes from scratch and the frosting as well, but the cake did not taste so good. They were okay. I think they just had too much flour in it. Baking is not forgiving at all. Ever since I started this blog, I have learned that cooking (including baking) is as much or even more of a science than it is an art form. And the frosting? It tasted better than the cake, but let me tell ya...frosting is one of those foods that I can not eat after I have seen how it's made. Yesterday, I made the frosting and after whipping all that butter, I just couldn't eat it. I just think to myself how gross it is that I'm really just eating a stick of butter. I have the same problem with mayonnaise. I don't eat mayo because I know how it's made. Oil, eggs, etc. all mixed together. Yuck. Sometimes (like today) when I "forgot" how it's made, then I'll eat it. The frosting I made didn't taste so bad, but it's not the best. I love the cream cheese frosting that's put on the pumpkin bars by Taste of Scandinavia in Minnesota.

Hmmm, should I even bother posting the recipes? I'll post the recipe for the frosting. I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of 5. It wasn't too sweet, but it really wasn't that special and I could still taste the flour from it. Maybe it's just me, but it really wasn't the best frosting I've ever had as the PW claims.

Frosting recipe here. This is the frosting that's made with flour.

Shoot, I just realized that I made the cupcakes from an adjusted recipe from another blog. No wonder it tastes like it has so much flour. It does! Here is the original recipe from Ina Garten. Maybe I'll try the original recipe one of these days. It's much different than the adjusted one. Argh.

Beef with Snow Peas

2010-11-02T20:04:00.006-05:00

I don't know why, but I always thought snow peas were called sugar peas. At least that's what I grew up thinking. Along with cherry tomatoes, we used to grow and sell snow peas when I was younger. My parents would have about an acre or two of these. It was hard work! As a kid, my job was to just help plant the seeds, go with my mom to water the plants at night (because it would get so hot during the day in CA), and basically just sit and watch the "house" that my dad built for our farm. It was usually just my younger sister and I that went (out of all the kids in the family). Sometimes I was responsible for grilling the meats over the wood burning fire pit. That to me was some of the best food ever. As much as I disliked going to the farm back in the days, I also miss them now. It was a big part of my childhood and reminds me of how hard my parents worked. It reminds me a lot of my dad who's no longer with us. :( Our Hmong parents are truly great farmers. They know how to grow anything. When we stopped farming, I realized how much poorer we became because the extra income wasn't there to support us.

Anyway, there is really nothing special about the ingredients in this recipe, but I liked how it was cooked. I liked that it was cooked in an iron skillet and the meat was charred (like how I usually like meat). I also added garlic to mine. I love garlic. I just bought some cheap beef from Wal-Mart because I was already there and didn't feel like stopping at another store. Never buy fresh meat from Wal-Mart. They have some of the worst meat IMO. The dish was saltier than what I would've liked probably because I didn't have enough meat (only one pound instead of 1.5). Overall, I would give this recipe a 3/5 stars. Again nothing special, but I liked how it was cooked and how vibrant the sauce made the dish look once it's finished.

The recipe is from The Pioneer Woman. She has great photos and step by step directions, so I never even bother to repeat hers. I'll post the recipe anyway in case it should ever disappear somehow.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pound Flank Steak, Trimmed Of Fat And Sliced Very Thin Against The Grain
1/2 cups Low Sodium Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons Sherry Or Cooking Sherry
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger
8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas, Ends Trimmed
5 whole Scallions, Cut Into Half-inch Pieces On The Diagonal
Salt As Needed (use Sparingly)
3 Tablespoons Peanut Or Olive Oil
Crushed Red Pepper, For Sprinkling

Preparation InstructionsIn a bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Add sliced meat to bowl and toss with hands. Set aside.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet (iron is best) or wok over high heat. Add snow peas and stir for 45 seconds. Remove to a separate plate. Set aside.

Allow pan to get very hot again. With tongs, add half the meat mixture, leaving most of the marinade still in the bowl. Add half the scallions. Spread out meat as you add it to pan, but do not stir for a good minute. (You want the meat to get as brown as possible in as short amount a time as possible.) Turn meat to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove to a clean plate.

Repeat with other half of meat, allowing pan to get very hot again first. After turning it, add the first plateful of meat, the rest of the marinade, and the snow peas. Stir over high heat for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Check seasonings and add salt only if it needs it. Mixture will thicken as it sits.

Serve immediately over rice. Sprinkle crushed red pepper over the top to give it some spice.

Make Fresh Spring Rolls Stay Fresh (longer)

2010-10-28T21:16:00.021-05:00

This past weekend was my son's first birthday, so I was on a mission to cook a lot of food by myself. I even planned to bake his own mini cake with cupcakes, but then I got sick and didn't feel like doing all that cooking anymore. I decided a day or two earlier to cater half the food and order a cake. Fortunately I did that because even after waking up at 4:30 in the morning, I almost didn't finish cooking everything. And fortunately for my guests, they got to eat a yummy cake since I am not the best baker. :P It just feels good to make something yourself, especially for your little one, you know? Oh well, next time. Since I bought so much ingredients, I might as well attempt to make some cupcakes from scratch this week.

One of the things I did make were fresh spring rolls. I think the best spring rolls are the ones you make at home, because you can put anything you like in them and they are truly fresh. I have since learned of a new method to help keep them stay fresh longer. This is important if you're making them for a potluck or a large crowd and they won't be eaten right away. In any case, spring rolls are meant to be eaten the same day, within hours. They are not meant to be refrigerated or saved for the next day. Try it and you'll find out! :D

I've been making these for several years, but they just never turn out how I like them to. I even made them once for my husband's potluck at work and he told me they didn't look too good by lunch time. I woke up at 5AM to help him kiss ass for nothing. :p I think I finally found the
secret(s). After prepping them 5AM in the morning, and people didn't eat until after 1:00 afternoon, the ones I made this past weekend still stayed fresh. By fresh, I mean the wrapper did not tear (as bad) and the wrapper stayed soft (not rubbery like some in the past). Having the wrapper stay in tact is important because it helps keep the rest of the stuff inside stay fresh as well.

Makes about 30 rolls

Ingredients:
Rice Vermicelli Noodles

1 lb pork loin chops
Salt
2 tbsp Hoisin sauce
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1/2 tsp Soy Sauce

1 lb uncooked shrimp, deveined and peeled

Red leaf lettuce
2-3 Cucumbers
3-4 Carrots
2 bunches of cilantro

1 package of spring roll rice paper, must be Three Ladies Brand

Method:
1. Cook the vermicelli noodles according to package instructions. Make sure the noodles come out soft and rinse it under cold water to get rid of the extra starch. Drain the noodles and set aside. It's important to have the noodles (air) dry. This is why I do this step first, but I'm usually multi-tasking. ;)

2. Set the oven to broil at 500 degrees. Mix the sauces and set aside. Prep the pork by seasoning it lightly with salt. Broil the pork for about 15 minutes on one side until cooked (fat around the meat should be brown and almost crispy looking). Turn the meat over and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes or until cooked through. Once the meat is browned, this is when you put the sauce on the meat (I use a basting brush). Let it cook for less than a minute until the sauce starts to sizzle and brown on the meat. Turn over and repeat. Once the meat is cooled, slice the meat into thin strips. Set the cooked meat aside.

3. Boil the shrimp in a pot of boiling water until pink. Drain and set aside. You'll need to slice the shrimp in half. You can do it now or later.

4. Wash all the vegetables and cilantro. After washing the lettuce and cilantro, I use a salad spinner to spin dry the them. It really makes a difference. If you don't have one, you can use paper towels to pat dry the lettuce and cilantro. It's important to have all your ingredients dry (except for the cucumbers).

6. Peel the carrots and cucumbers and cut them into matchsticks. I've been using the Titan peelers to peel all my fruits and veggies as well to julienne my carrots and cucumbers. I love it. :)

The cucumbers will be the wettest/moistest ingredient. If it has too much liquid you can simply drain out some of the liquid, but not too much since that's part of the taste. When rolling, I usually put the cucumbers in the middle anyway, so it doesn't touch the wrapper. Here's all my ingredients lined up on the table and I am ready to wrap and roll. I didn't cut my shrimp in half in these pictures because I had so many leftover and decided to use the whole shrimp. I actually like the taste of a half shrimp better, so I would stick with that. Also with the cilantro, you can use the sprigs of cilantro as pictured or simply use the leaves.

Now, comes the "secret" part after doing some Googling and experimenting. What I used this past weekend was a package of already cut quarters of the spring roll wrappers. I forgot to take a picture of these, but I drew a line here to show how they would look like when you see them in the stores. The Three Ladies Brand carries this and that is what I used. In the pictures below, I cut them in half as per other instructions, but honestly, cutting them in quarters tasted better to me. Some people might just use two wrappers entirely, but I do not like the taste of a thick wrapper and that's why the quarter sheet is the way to go.

The quarter sheet should be placed in the middle along with the full sheet and dunked in hot water. The quarter sheet helps hold the rest of the ingredients better and avoid the tearing in the spring rolls, without that extra wrapper taste.

I initially start out with hot water only because it's my first wrapper and it softens it quickly. I use the same water for about 10 rolls and start with fresh hot water all over again. I usually place new wrappers in the water as I am rolling the other that I just prepped.

Take out the sheets and place it onto a large plate that's been covered with a clean dish cloth. The dish cloth helps absorb a lot of the water and this is an important step as well. Sometimes, I use an extra dish cloth to absorb the excess water on the top of the wrapper.

Start out by placing a lettuce leaf on the bottom of the wrapper (I like to just use the outer parts of the leaf because it's softer and won't tear the wrapper), followed by some noodles, cucumbers, carrots, cilantro and pork.

Roll, tighten, roll...place the shrimp and ready to roll them over as well.

Wrap in the sides of the wrapper in and tightly roll.

When I made these for a large gathering, I place them in one of those large aluminum catering trays that come with a plastic top. I try not to place the spring rolls close to each other, and never on top of each other without placing something in between them. I used parchment paper in this case and that worked well. Instead of the saran wrap, I just put the plastic dome/top over the tray and that helped (along with other steps mentioned above) made the spring rolls stay fresh for hours. Using the Three Ladies Brand produced that soft texture that I like. Some other brands taste rubbery-like to me. Hope this helps you out!

*Sauces*
Sauces deserve their own posting, so one of these days I'll make a posting about the different sauces that can go with spring rolls, egg rolls and rice rolls. Everyone likes theirs a little different.

Penne Pasta with Shrimp and Herbed Cream Sauce

2010-10-16T14:29:00.004-05:00

Boy, I felt like I haven't cooked in a long time! I really haven't. I have been going out to eat too much and making fast food. I haven't experimented in a while. I do miss that because it gives me the chance to eat different food that's home made. Nothing beats home made food! I don't care how good the restaurant. Somehow, it just tastes different and better to me.

Anyway, here is a fabulous Italian dish that I made last night. It was quite yummy, even as leftovers. I usually don't like creamy sauces, but I did not mind this one. It wasn't as thick and I liked that. The sauce wasn't too thick, but I would've wanted more sauce to cover my pasta. Next time, I might just make half the pasta. I also messed up and didn't read the full recipe before I started cooking, so I ended up putting the whole can of tomatoes into the sauce pan. The recipe had called for drained tomatoes. I quickly took the tomatoes out and started cooking a new batch of garlic and oil, but I know I lost some of the broth from the shrimp. It was still tasty anyway. I just love the smell of garlic cooking in olive oil mixed with other herbs. Italian food always smells good.

Here is the original recipe from good old Food Network. I try to find recipes with good ratings and then make them. Most have been on the spot as far as ratings go.

Ingredients
1 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, and deveined
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained, roughly chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup white wine
1/3 cup clam juice
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until the shrimp turn pink and is cooked through, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the shrimp and set aside.

Add the tomatoes, 1/4 cup basil, 1/4 cup parsley, and the red pepper flakes. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine, clam juice, and heavy cream. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, the cooked shrimp, the cooked pasta, and the remaining herbs. Toss together until all ingredients are coated. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve immediately.

Taste of Thailand

2010-08-25T00:03:00.004-05:00

The above pic is the curry chicken I attempted to make from Taste of Thailand. I took all the pics with my camera phone, but as you can see, it looks a lot better than the one I made at home. lol I think mine was sort of close. I think. :P

We went to Taste of Thailand a few weeks ago and every time we go there, the food is always great! I think this is my favorite Thai restaurant in the cities. We usually go to the one in St. Paul on Selby and Snelling. We ordered the usual: curry with spinach and chicken and their spring rolls. We decided to order their pad thai this time and tried their beef salad as well since I've recently grown fond of the Thai beef salad. I'm going to try to make it one of these days. The only complaint I had was that there wasn't enough of it! I wished they would've added more lettuce and less onions. It was very good though. It tasted similar to the one I had at Amazing Thailand, but the portion at Amazing was much bigger. I used to think ToT's spring rolls were the best even though they make them really plain. I think it is the sauce that makes it so good. I prefer the sweet/peanut sauce over the hoisin sauce at Vietnamese restaurants. I have ordered pad thai from ToT before, and don't remember it to be all that great, but for some reason this time was really good!

I haven't done my usual blogging-cooking for a while now. I've been mostly just making meals that I know by heart and haven't tried experimenting anything new recently. I've been so busy with everything: being a mom, wife, work, school, and trying to find ways to make additional income. I actually have a few other blogs out there, but they're more personal blogs. Anyway, maybe when the winter comes, I will cook more since there's less to do outdoors.

Pad thai:

Beef salad:

Curry Chicken with Spinach

2010-08-02T23:32:00.004-05:00

I have found a great Thai cooking book. I have tried four recipes so far, and so far, so good. It has great pictures as well. I was anxious to try out their curry recipes as the ingredients seemed like it would taste good. I was right! This was the best curry I've made at home so far. I was trying to make the same chicken curry from Taste of Thailand. I love that dish. They serve the curry with spinach. Spinach?? Yes, spinach. It's actually quite tasty with the spinach. I actually could just eat the curry with the spinach and skip the chicken, but it probably won't fill me up as much. So, I adapted this recipe I found and tried to make it similar to the one at Taste of Thailand's. I think it's pretty good. When I have more time, I am going to try to make my own curry paste from scratch. I have made this dish twice now with red and green curry. Both are good. I know the picture doesn't look good, but the dish was good IMO. My husband loved it and licked the bowl. He wants me to make curry everyday for him, but coconut milk is very fatty. The original recipe called for only one tablespoon of palm sugar, but my husband likes his curry sweet so I added 2 or 3 more tablespoon. You can start out with one and then adjust, but I liked it at 3 or 4 tablespoons. Sorry, I didn't write down what I did exactly since I made this two weeks ago.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of coconut cream
2 tbsp red curry paste (Maesri brand)
12 oz skinless chicken thigh fillets, sliced
1 3/4 cups of coconut milk
2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp of palm sugar

1 bag of baby spinach (can't remember what mine was...4-9 oz?)

Chopped Roasted Peanuts

Method
1. Put the coconut cream in a wok or saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the cream separates and a layer of oil forms on the surface. Stir the cream if it starts to brown around the edges. Add the curry paste, stir well to combine and cook until fragrant.

2. Add the chicken and stir for a few minutes. Add nearly all of the coconut milk, the fish sauce and palm sugar and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and continue to cook the chicken for an additional 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water on high heat to blanch the spinach. Prepare a large bowl of ice cold water on the side. When the water is boiling, pour the baby spinach in pot and boil for about 30 seconds. Immediately pour the spinach into a colander to drain the water, then transfer the spinach into the ice cold water to stop it from cooking. Transfer the spinach into a colander to drain the remaining water and set aside until ready to eat.

4. The spinach is put into the curry chicken when it is ready to eat. Serve on a plate with some rice. Top the curry dish with the chopped roasted peanuts.

Spicy Shredded Beef

2010-07-18T22:57:00.010-05:00

This is one of my favorite Hmong dishes. It's Hmong because I haven't eaten it anywhere else besides our Hmong household lol. I've been eating/making this ever since I was a young girl.

We had some relatives that stayed with us for a few days and one of them made this dish for us. It was the first time we've ever had this dish (my family and I) and we thought it was soooo good! It still is. I've been making it since then. The funny thing is that back in the old days even though it was available at the time such as the food processor, can opener, mop and broom, etc., my family never bought any of those "modern" appliances. We did everything the old-fashion-back-in-Laos days. Yep, we chopped meat manually, opened the cans with knives and mopped the floors with towels using our feet. Even though the convenience was out there, I still chopped this meat manually for several years until just a few years ago, I finally decided to go buy a mini-food processor. That was why I didn't like making this dish as much because it took so much time chopping the meat, but I knew it was all worth it.

Ingredients:
1 lb of beef (I normally just buy the beef for beef stew that comes in chunks at the store)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp of lime juice (has to be fresh, never use that other kind!)
1 tbsp of dried red chilli pepper, crushed

Method:

Spread the meat evenly on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil at 500 degrees until brown on each side, about 20 minutes the first side and 5-10 minutes the other side. When you turn over to the other side, be sure to drain the liquid off the baking sheet. You do not want the meat to get moist. It needs to be dry, almost like beef jerky.

This is how the meat should look like after it's cooked on both sides. I let my meat cool off either still on the rack or in a dish. I don't like to run things that are hot in my food processor for fear of burning the thing. It's happened before at another household.

Once meat has been cooled off, chop (shred) the meat in a food processor until medium-finely chopped; otherwise, you can manually chop the meat with a knife.

Using a mortar and pestle, pound two cloves of garlic until bruised.

Next, throw in the meat, cilantro and green onions. Mix with a spoon.

Add the fish sauce, lime juice and pepper. Mix well with a spoon. This is where you might want to go sparingly because you might like yours less salty, sour or hot. This is just how I made mine and I like things spicy and hot!

Using the pestle and spoon, mix and pound all the ingredients together. I prefer using the mortar and pestle because it allows one to infuse all the flavors together. I don't get the same effect with any other method.
Keep pounding it a couple of times until the meat and herbs are somewhat bruised:

This dish is meant to be served at room temperature or even cold. I just like eating it with white rice and mixing the two. Tastes great with sticky rice too.

Favorite Recipe Search

2010-07-05T11:02:00.003-05:00

Can you guess what the most searched recipe is that leads visitors to my blog? It's so sweet. No pun intended. lol Yep, just about everyday, someone across the globe searches for "nab vam" or "tricolor dessert." I do wish more people would leave comments, especially if they have tried the recipe. It would help me improve things if the recipe needs improvement or provide others more tips. I don't blame them. Nab vam is a yummy dessert, probably the yummiest Asian dessert there is out there since we aren't known for our desserts. Have you ever notice that when you go to an Asian restaurant, there isn't much variety in the dessert menu (if there is one at all)? I think most Asian restaurants have a dessert section in their menus just to cater to the American public since Americans consume so much sweets.

Thanks for visiting!

California Summer Rolls

2010-06-20T20:35:00.015-05:00

I bought some of these summer rolls made by a local sushi place. Even though they are very plain, they taste so refreshing to me. I love cucumbers and avocados so maybe that's why I like these. They are like the California sushi rolls without the rice and seaweed. I also really like the spring roll wrapper that they used. It's very soft and not like the ones I have used before. I finally bought this one brand recommended by some people and I think I found the right wrapper! It tastes exactly like the one the sushi place uses.

Anyway, on a hot summer day when I don't feel like eating anything too heavy, these are great. These are also great because there is hardly any cooking involved. Making the tamago (omelette) is pretty easy.

Makes about a dozen rolls

Ingredients
1 cucumber
1 avocado
1 small package of imitation crab/lobster sticks or cooked shrimp
Tamago (Japanese omelette)
Spring Roll wrapper (Three Ladies Brand)
Spring Roll sauce (see picture)

1. Prep and cook the Tamago. See recipe below.
2. Cut the cucumber and avocado into long slices or strips (about 2 inches long, 1/2inch wide). Cut the crab or lobster sticks in half lengthwise. If using cooked shrimp, cut the shrimp in half lenthwise as well.
3. Fill a large deep bowl with hot water and put in a single sheet of wrapper into the bowl. I work with just one wrapper at a time to make it easier. Once the wrapper is soft and pliable, take out the wrapper and put it on a plate. You can put the wrapper on top of a dish cloth too, to soak up some of the water.
4. Assemble on top of the wrapper with one seafood stick or 2 shrimp haves. Top it with 1-2 strips of cucumber, 1 strip of avocado, and 1 strip of the tamago. These ingredients should all be clumped together. Then roll the right and left sides of the wrapper in, and then finally rolling into a roll. I didn't take any step by step photos this time, so feel free to reference here on how to roll these.

Tamago Ingredient and Recipe:
3 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce

1. Mix all ingredients well.
2. It's kind of tricky explaining the cooking part, so I recommend just following some videos on YouTube such as this one. I just used a regular round non-stick pan to make mine.
3. Cut the omelette into strips and set aside.

This is the lazy sauce I used for these rolls. This is also the same sauce I used (and mixed) for the rice rolls. I usually make a homemade sauce for other types of spring/summer rolls, but too lazy! Eventually, I'll make some more and different rolls, so maybe I'll post those and the sauce one of these days.

1st Restaurant Review: Amazing Thailand, Minneapolis

2010-06-15T22:23:00.005-05:00

I think I mentioned this before, and in case you haven't noticed, my favorite foods are Thai, Vietnamese and Italian. My coworker who likes similar food as I do recommended this Thai restaurant in uptown Minneapolis called Amazing Thailand. He's been there a couple of times already, so I wanted to try it out for myself. The only other Thai restaurants I've tried are Taste of Thailand in St. Paul and Sawatdee in uptown a long time ago.

Just about everything we ordered was good. I was truly impressed. We ordered the Thai beef salad, red curry, Pad See Iew noodles, and papaya salad. My coworker told me their papapya salad was really good. Unfortunately, I didn't think it was that great. I was hoping it would taste more like the papaya salad I had at The Thai House in Fresno, CA. Somehow they made it simple, but so good. It's still one of my favorite restaurants because I grew up eating there.

Anyway, when you drive by Amazing Thailand, it's easy to miss because of all the shops around uptown, but you'll be surprised inside. It's actually a nicer Asian restaurant than most you see in the Twin Cities area. It is professionally and tastefully decorated with a Thai/Asian theme throughout. The interior was dark due to minimal lighting. They do have some seating outdoors in a small alley and out the front of the restaurant. I actually liked the small alley because it had some unique furniture and it just felt unique being out there, but my husband didn't like it at all. He said it was in an alley, but I thought it felt really exotic being outside. I'm not that big of a fan of dark-interior restaurants, but oh well...at least the food won me over. The service was good too. If I had to compare this to the two Thai restaurants in the Cities, I would rate this one above the other two because food was great, service was good, and the interior was nice. I do like the curry dish at Taste of Thailand more though, but T-of-T service is really slow. Every time we go there, there's like an hour wait to get our food and just when we think they forgot about us, we finally get our food and forgive them after we eat their curry dish. I won't even compare those two restaurants with Sawatdee. I only been there once and it was never that impressive. I'll have to try other Thai restaurants in the future.

So if you like Thai food, I would highly recommend Amazing Thailand. I meant to order a different noodle dish than the one I ordered, but I ordered the wrong one. Either way, it was still good. Yum. I was hoping that my family from WI would come up here and I have another reason to go out to eat, but maybe next time!

Rating: Highly recommended. 4/5 stars for a restaurant in its class. Why only 4? I wish their papaya salad was good as well. I'm probably being too picky, but a 4 in my book is a 5. haha

(Sorry I took the above pic with my cell phone. I didn't know I was going to do a review). :P

Korean Short Ribs (kabi)

2010-05-23T21:25:00.008-05:00

This uses the same marinade as the recipe for bulgogi. I was trying to be a little more adventurous by trying a different marinade recipe. Should've just stuck to what I know is good. I tried a different recipe today and the meat turned out too salty. It was still yummy, but too salty. I would've liked it to be sweeter. Part of the reason is probably because I also tried out a new soy sauce instead of my usual lower sodium soy sauce and the recipe called for less sugar than one I used earlier. Also, I bought the kimchi from a non-Korean grocery store, and it did not taste as good as the one I previously bought. The kimchi was also too salty. All in all, the meat and kimchi were too salty, so they did not complement each other as they were supposed too. I would make this again, except I would just use the recipe I made in my earlier post for bulgogi.

Here is a good post on how the flaken-ribs should look like when you look for it at the store, but I do not recommend the recipe. It turned out too salty for my taste. It didn't even have ginger or regular onions so I added them on my own. I wanted to add more sugar too, but wanted to "trust" the original recipe. I think it's time I trust my own cooking instincts. I'm getting better at cooking now, so why not?? :P If I did, I wouldn't have thrown up when trying this other recipe I found a while back when it called for one or two tablespoons of shrimp paste. Gross. I mean, the only time I use shrimp paste is in my papaya salad and I only use a little, itty bit of it. Again, I should've known and trusted myself! I guess I thought the thought of using that much shrimp paste would've been okay since that is how curry paste is made, but this one wasn't a curry dish. The picture looked so good too. Oh well, this blog is a food adventure-blog after all. No (more) regrets! :P

Ingredients:
4 lbs flaken-style beef short ribs (I found mine at Dragon Star oriental store)

Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Korean pear or Asian pear, grated with juices
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1/2 small white onion, grated or sliced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 (20-ounce) bottle lemon-lime soda, optional (recommended: Sprite or 7-Up)

Method:
1. Mix all marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Add meat to the bowl and mix well. Transfer the marinated meat to a Ziploc bag and marinate overnight. Make sure to let out all the air from the bag.
2. Grill meat on grill for about 4 minutes, or if using oven, set to BROIL at 500 degrees and broil each side for about 4 minutes or until slightly charred. It should not take very long to cook these since they are cut thin.
3. Serve with rice and kimchi. This would also go well with sides of veggies. Yum!

My Attempt at Making French Macarons

2010-05-19T22:12:00.005-05:00

I wish these were mine. They're actually from the site mytartelette.blogspot.com. I attempted to make French macarons. Twice now. The first ones were chocolate, the second ones just a plain recipe with pistachio middle like my favorite ones from Cocoa and Fig. The chocolate ones I had no problem whatsoever removing them from the sheet, but the second ones I could not move a centimeter without messing them up. They tasted so good though. I didn't throw them away. I scrubbed them off the baking sheet and ate them as is. They weren't cookies anymore, but some odd shape. lol They also turned out flatter than what I've seen. I think it's because I just didn't' have the exact measurements. The recipe I used was in grams, but I don't have a food scale to measure in grams. I tried converting it, but it's too off. Baking is not like cooking. If you're off by one speck of flour, then the recipe is ruined. At least that's what it seems for me. So, as soon as I buy my scale, some powdered food color and other things, then I will attempt these again. I know I can get these right! Darn it! I was so excited when I put them in the oven and they formed feet.

Look how flat and ugly mine looks :( :

Malaysian Enche Kabin Boxing Chicken Wings

2010-05-19T21:55:00.004-05:00

I've been meaning to try and make these for a while now since I've discovered Lily's blog last year. I guess it was the deep-frying that delayed it. As much as I don't like deep frying foods, I have deep fried foods 3x now in the last two weeks. One of those (orange chicken) did not turn out. Guess I'll just stick to Panda Garden's orange chicken lol. There might be a 4th deep frying session coming soon since I've been meaning to make some egg rolls. Those are too tedious though! :P

Ok, back to this recipe. This was very good. I couldn't find a meat curry powder, so I just used like two different kinds of curry. A powdered one and a paste one. I just mixed it all together with the other stuff. I think it still turned out good. I don't think I would bother deep frying these next time though. I might just pan fry it first and then bake it in the oven or vice versa. When the wings were done, I thought they tasted good, but nothing spectacular. It was when I dipped it in the sauce was when I thought to myself, "Yum, these are good!" I really liked the sauce. It went well with the wings. To think I was going to skip making the sauce! Good thing I didn't. I have a new favorite dipping sauce. The dijon mustard made a difference. I rate this recipe 4/5. Anyway, here's the recipe from Lily's blog.

Thai Basil Chicken

2010-05-19T21:43:00.005-05:00

There's a small fast food Thai restaurant in the Minneapolis skyway where I work where I first tasted this dish. I originally ran into a recipe from Thai Foodcast, but was not impressed with it. It didn't taste like the one I had at the restaurant. Not only was it too salty, but it didn't taste "Thai" to me. The one at the restaurant had grounded chicken, but the sauce was much better. I guess I should've known when the recipe called for four tablespoons of oyster sauce. I didn't remember the dish to taste like oyster sauce at all. So, since I had some more basil on hand and since I've been buying a lot of chicken breasts, I decided to try a different version of this. One of my new favorite food blogs that I just recently encountered is Rasa Malaysia. That is where I got the recipe for the second attempt. This version tasted much better and more closely resembled the restaurant that I tried. It uses fish sauce instead of oyster, which is more authentic Thai. My picture doesn't look that good since I took it at night time, but I thought this dish was good. I'll give it a 4/5. Easy to make and tastes good. It might be too salty/spicy for some, but then again, this is Thai!

The other version that I didn't like:

Malaysian Curry Puffs

2010-05-19T21:17:00.007-05:00

Wow, been away for almost a month now. I've been cooking off and on still, but just haven't bothered to post anything. I was planning on making some egg rolls two weekends ago, but then came upon a recipe for these curry puffs, and decided to try making these instead since I've never had them. For the dough, I tried two different recipes. One from Rasa Malaysia and then another from Lily's Wai Sek Hong. I intially tried Lily's first, but the dough just didn't look right. It was not soft nor what's the word? Flexible? It was too dry. I tried adding a little more water, but it still didn't look right. Fortunately, I went back to other recipe from Rasa Malaysia and the dough looked much better. Since these were my first time making them, it took me a while to get the dough rolling and wrapped correctly. The first one I made, I used too much dough and so it didn't cook thoroughly. It works best if you just use a small ball and then roll it out with a roller pin. The oil had to be just the right temperature as well. You want it hot, but not too hot. When I finally got done, these didn't blow my mind away like "Ymmmm, these are so good! I just have to make them again!" Unfortunately, no. They were just ok. I don't consider myself a picky eater either. Overall, I would rate these a 3/5. I would recommend making these if you like to try something different and if you like fried foods. I really liked how the crust turned out though. It was buttery and flaky. Boy, did I use a lot of oil for this recipe. A lot of oil in the filling, and of course, the deep frying. That's why I hate deep frying. Too much oil. I also ate these as leftovers the next day, and for some reason, I thought it tasted better the next day.

Meatloaf

2010-05-19T21:01:00.004-05:00

I made this a while back, but just never posted it. Maybe it's because I'm not the biggest fan of meatloaf. I decided to just make it for my husband since he likes it. This recipe was good, but it didn't change my mind about loving meatloaf. I like meatballs, but for some reason I don't like meatloaf. They're similar, but not exactly the same. I guess I would give this recipe of 3. Not great, but not bad either. The sauce or relish for the meatloaf is different though. Much different than your regular ketchup. I actually liked that part of the recipe. The potatoes I've made before (from scratch of course) and the beans were just drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with S&P, then baked in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes until tender but still crisp.

Recipe from Food Network.

Shrimp Scampi with Linguini

2010-04-21T21:45:00.006-05:00

This looks like a simple dish, and it is, but tastes good. Lots of fat though. Most of my food here are fatty. So, if you came looking for healthy recipes, you won't find them here. I try to make healthy food once in while, but since this blog is about experimenting, I just make whatever I feel like and I try not to count calories. Fortunately, I haven't gained any weight since I started this blog. It's all about portion size for me.

Even though I didn't have all the ingredients for this dish, it still turned out good. I used frozen shrimp because they were on sale and dried parsley because that's all I had. The second time I made this I didn't have any white wine. Each time, it still tasted good. I would give this recipe a 4 out of 5 for simplicity and taste.

Recipe from Food Network.

Korean Glass Noodles (Jap Chae)

2010-04-21T18:35:00.006-05:00

Went to the Asian store and saw these noodles. I don't think I've ever had them before. Maybe I did and just don't remember. They taste familiar anyway. Anyway, I didn't have a recipe for this, so I was just going to cook it my way or imitate what was on the picture. Fortunately, I had a lot of the ingredients on hand already. I like meat, so I added meat. Most of the recipes I found didn't include meat, so it's up to you. I just used ground turkey and that tasted fine. I think just about any meat would do.

Recipe adapted from Food Network:

Ingredients:
1 package of Korean Glass Noodles (or potato noodles)
1 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
1 lb of ground turkey (or meat of choice)
4 eggs, 2 tsp of vegetable oil
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 small onion, julienned
2 carrots, julienned
3 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Method:
1. Boil the noodles according to package directions or until soft. Drain and then rinse with cold water. When the noodles are cold to touch, cut the noodles in half with kitchen shears. Leave the noodles drained while prepping other ingredients.
2. Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for about 20 minutes. The mushrooms will expand. After soaking, drain them thoroughly. Cut into long strips and set aside.
3. Set a large frying pan on medium high heat and add ground turkey. Cook turkey until done, about 15 mins. Transfer the meat onto a plate and set aside.
4. Make omelette. Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk a little. Heat a separate small frying pan on medium high heat. Add about 2 teaspoons of oil to the pan. Once pan is hot, add eggs and let it form into an omelette. Cook for about 1-2 mins and flip over to the other side. Cook the other side for another 1 min or until done. Transfer the omelette to a plate or cutting board. Slice the omelette into long strips and set aside.
3. Using the same large frying pan that was used for the turkey, add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil to the pan. Add the onion, carrots, scallions, mushrooms, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Let cook for a few minutes, stirring, until the vegetables are cooked, but still a little crisp. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl.
4. To the same pan add 1 more tablespoon sesame oil. Add the noodles, meat, salt and pepper. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Add to the vegetables with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Stir fry for about 30 seconds. Toss in the egg strips and stir. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and then transfer to a serving dish.

French Macarons

2010-04-14T21:37:00.006-05:00

Have you ever had a French macaron? I just had one today and I fell in love. I love sweets especially chocolate, cakes and cookies. There is a cute little store that opened up in downtown Minneapolis in the Gavidae common area called Cocoa & Fig. They have cute cupcakes, tarts and even those cake bites I made once. This was the 3rd or 4th time I stopped by and always noticed these sandwich-looking cookies (sometimes I just stop by to look :P). They had interesting pastel colors and flavors like pistachio and caramel. Today I tried the caramel and it was very yummy. I wanted another piece, but I only bought one cookie because it was $1.75 a cookie! I then looked up recipes for French Macarons and it clearly says, "Not for the beginner baker." Forget it then. :P I won't even attempt to or will I? Well, perhaps one of these days I will.

I made some more food, but just haven't felt like posting them. I've been too busy doing other things. I have such big dreams and ambitions that I just don't have enough time to do them all, but I really want to. I'm working on something else that's very exciting to me! I will probably post some more recipes this weekend.

"God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind that I will never die." Yup, oh well. Maybe that's why I procrastinate because I don't want to die yet. :P

Purple Sticky Rice with Coconut Milk

2010-04-05T21:04:00.018-05:00

Just about everyone I know that has tried sticky rice loves sticky rice. It was kind of weird how this one time I was at the laundromat with my mom and sisters, and out of the blue this Caucasian man came up and asked me if I knew how to make sticky rice. I don't remember my response. I think I was just surprised that he asked that. Actually, I thought he was kind of creepy looking and thought he was going to hit on me. lol :P I was probably less than 15 back then. That just showed me how much people like this stuff.

When sticky rice is around and it's served next to regular white rice, the sticky rice is usually the first to go. I can usually eat it by itself as well, especially when it's just freshly cooked. Truth is I never made sticky rice until maybe a year or two ago. My mom or my grandma always made it for us growing up. Again, I didn't pay attention! When I finally wanted to learn, I had to call my mom and asked her how to make this. It was more simple than I thought. I think it's easier than making the regular rice (the old fashion way). I don't even remember how to do that either. :P I just remember there were a lot of steps. I think there are rice cookers now that can cook sticky rice, but I don't own one that does that. With the advice from a friend, I tried cooking sticky rice in my regular rice cooker, but it did not turn out! Anyway, I like to mix mine with coconut milk. It gives it a somewhat sweet and creamy taste. I also like my sticky rice mixed with the purple (or actually black) rice. I like the texture that it gives and purple is just an interesting and fun color for rice (I think so anyway).

Ingredients:
3 cups of sweet rice
1/3 cup of black rice
14 oz can of coconut milk
water

Method:
1. Pour the sweet and black rice into a large bowl.

2. Rinse the rice a few times until water is somewhat clear. I also do a wash by grabbing two handfuls of rice and rubbing it back and forth with my hands (I didn't have an extra pair of hands to take a picture of this). I don't know the official reason behind rinsing, but I think it gets rid of the extra starch, dust, excess powder, etc. This is what we've always done when cooking rice (so I just do it), although I don't do it anymore with regular rice in the cooker.

3. After rinsing, pour enough water to cover the rice (about 2-3 inches above).

4. Shake the can of coconut milk well. If it's still too thick, then mix it well with a spoon. Pour the entire can of coconut milk into the bowl of rice.

Stir well.

5. Let the rice soak for several hours or overnight at room temperature. You may cover the bowl with saran wrap to protect it from the elements. Soaking the rice is an important step because if it is not soaked long enough, the rice will not turn out. I don't know the exact minimum, but I do know that I tried it once without soaking it too long (2-4 hours I believe) and it still didn't turn out.
6. Once properly soaked and ready to cook, drain the rice. The rice would have soaked some of the water and will look similar to this:

7. Prepare the steamer by adding water to the pot (about half way filled). Set the temperature on high heat. Pour the rice into the steamer section and place this on top of the pot. Cover the steamer. Continue to cook on high heat for about 40 minutes. Rice is ready when it is tender (but not soggy).

This is the steamer I used and it worked fine. You might see ones specially made for sticky rice that comes with a bamboo steamer. I got this one as a wedding gift ages ago and I've put it to many uses already.

8. When rice is ready, stir the rice with a large spoon to loosen it up a little. Be careful, it will be hot! Serve rice immediately or pour into an insulated container or even a rice cooker to keep warm. Oh, and make sure to clean the steamer right away so the rice doesn't harden and stick to the steamer. ;)

Chicken Laab

2010-03-30T21:51:00.011-05:00

Laab reminds me of the gatherings that my family and other Hmong families used to have when I was growing up. A cow or pig would be sacrificed in the early morning at a butcher shop or farm, and then a bunch of relatives would come over and help cook the meat into many different dishes. One of those dishes was usually laab or larb, however it's spelled. The men were the ones who always made the laab. I should've paid attention growing up because I don't know how to make laab as good as I had them back then. I haven't attended any of those Hmong gatherings in a long time. I'm not a bad daughter-in-law. At least I don't think I am. LOL I'm just not the traditional type, and luckily, my husband isn't either, so we rarely go to these events unless it's in our first family. I just remember two key ingredients that the cooks used and they were lime leaves and roasted rice powder. Since I don't live in St. Paul anymore, I don't have access to the wide variety of herbs and veggies usually available in the Cities, so I didn't get any lime leaves. I used lemongrass in this recipe instead and it worked fine.

Laab is generally a healthy dish, since it is made with the leanest parts of the meat. My version is even healthier because it's made with baked chicken breasts and the rest of the ingredients are pretty low in calories as well. Growing up, we mostly had beef laab and sometimes pork laab. I always liked the white meat laab more. There are many versions of laab, but I don't like it when laab is made into a bitter dish (with some gross ingredients IMO). It's even made raw and I never eat it that way. Laab is meant to be eaten room temperature or even cold and served with greens such as lettuce and of course rice.

Ingredients
3 chicken breasts (about 3 cups once chopped)
1/3 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 cup of green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup of mint leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup of lemongrass (white part only), finely chopped
1 tbsp of chopped fresh or frozen Thai chilli peppers

2 1/2 tbsp of fish sauce
2 tbsp of fresh lime juice
1 tbsp of roasted rice powder

Optional: 1/4 cup of shallots, finely chopped
Note: shallots or onions weren't typically used in Hmong laab, but since I had a bunch around I added it and it added a nice flavor

Method:
1. Bake chicken breasts in oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside.
2. Meanwhile, prepare (chop) fresh herbs.

3. Once chicken is cooked, slice the chicken into large chunks and put into a food processor to chop or chop chicken manually.

I actually over chopped my meat with the food processor. Generally, the meat shouldn't be as fine as this, but it still tasted good to me.

4. Add all the fresh ingredients, but the chillies to the chicken. Mix well. Add the rice powder, then then add the fish sauce, lime juice and chillies slowly (1 tbsp at a time or 1 tsp of the chillies at a time) to adjust to your liking. I am just listing what I used exactly and that's how I liked it. You may like yours less salty, sour, or hot. Make sure to stir everything well.

This is the rice powder I used (found at the Asian markets). You can make your own by roasting dry rice kernels in a frying pan until brown, and process it in a processor until it turns into a fine powder (or use a mortar and pestle to ground). Just make sure you don't burn the rice.

5. Put laab on a serving plate on top of some lettuce as presentation. I used red leaf lettuce because I like it, and the more color, the better for your health. Serve with an additional side of lettuce and a bowl of rice.

Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken

2010-03-23T22:31:00.006-05:00

I made this for dinner tonight and it was quite good. I would rate this a 4 out of 5. Few recipes will get a 5 so 4 is still pretty good. I didn't change anything to this recipe and followed it pretty much exactly. The chicken turned out very moist and tender. It was quite lemony, garlicky and thymey. You get it...the flavors were good. It tastes similar to the rotisserie chicken that you would find at the stores, except it's all home made. I didn't make the gravy though. Once you pop this in the oven, your house will smell delicious. :) Next time, I would make this with some roasted potatoes, carrots and onions (all in the same pan with the chicken).

Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten from Food Network:

Back in the loop...

2010-03-23T22:13:00.004-05:00

Okay, I went out with almost two weeks without a meal plan and that's not good! Ever since I started this blog, I have been planning my meals every weekend for the entire week (at least dinner anyway). It has save me a lot of money and some anxiety over what to make for dinner. I just pack the leftovers for lunch the next day and eat my usual breakfast which can be anything. I have enjoyed trying all these recipes. In fact, it's one of the things that I look forward to coming home to now. I just never know what I'm going to get today (in the recipe)...and that can be exciting.

I must say, though, that I haven't really loved any of the Asian recipes I have tried. I wonder if it's because I eat so much Asian food already, so I am just more critical. The non-Asian food recipes tastes pretty good to me. Maybe it's because I just haven't had enough non-Asian food; kind of like how when I was young I used to think Chinese buffets were the best! LOL And then I ate too much Chinese (American-Chinese e.g. Panda Express) and now I don't like it as much. I happen to not like buffets anymore. Seeing all the cooked food looks appealing, but when I actually eat it, it is not so good. Nothing beats home cooked meals.

I'm also going to start a rating system on the recipes that I try. On a scale of 1-5, 5 meaning the recipe was near perfect where it tasted spectacular (okay, great) and I didn't have to change much or anything to the recipe. One would be disappointing taste and so on. So far, I have only one recipe on my blog that I would rate a 5 and that's the Chicken Parmigiana. That was just yummy!

Cake Bites

2010-03-22T14:58:00.004-05:00

I have been sorta busy, so I haven't been able to do my usual weekly experiments and posting. I plan on posting some more recipes on Hmong food as soon as I get to make them.

I made these cake bites back in December for Christmas. I think they are too sweet for my taste, but a lot of people seem to like them. I would recommend using less frosting and see if that helps make it less sweet. I would also recommend using a higher quailty of chocolate and not the chocolate bark. These were time consuming, but I thought they turned out nice and it was fun to see that others enjoyed them. I would make these again for a fun event.

Original recipe for cake bites from bakerella.com.

Cilantro Garlic Chicken Wings

2010-03-09T22:11:00.005-06:00

Cilantro, green onions and garlic are the main herbs that I use in my cooking (when I cook Asian). Although I have been using a lot of lemongrass lately as well, thanks to my mom who supplied me a good amount of frozen lemongrass to make the Hmong boiled chicken for my post-pregnancy. I have never used lemongrass so much before until I started this blog.

But today’s subject is on my cilantro and garlic chicken wings. It’s actually more than these two ingredients, but I’d say these two ingredients add a nice touch. I first tasted these while we were visiting my brother and his family, and my SIL made it for us. My husband liked them a lot so I attempted to replicate her recipe when I got home. These are fairly easy to make and quite tasty! I plan on trying out more recipes for chicken wings as I do love them.

Serves 6-10

Ingredients:
1 package of chicken wings (about 3.5 lbs)
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp of Maggi seasoning sauce (in Asian aisle) or light soy sauce
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup of cilantro, chopped

Method:
Cut wings at joint and throw away tips. Place wings on a foil-lined baking sheet and set the oven to broil at 500 degrees. Broil wings for 20-25 minutes or until browned. Flip wings over and broil the other side of the wings for 15-20 minutes or until browned. While chicken is cooking, mince garlic and set aside. Chop cilantro and set aside.

When the wings are ready, place a large cooking pan and set it on high heat. Immediately transfer the wings from the baking sheet over to the hot pan and add the minced garlic. Stir the garlic so that it is evenly distributed among the wings. Cook about one minute or until garlic is fragrant, but not burnt.

Add all the sauces into the pan and stir immediately. The wings will start to char and this is when you will add the cilantro. Stir and cook for a few seconds just until the cilantro becomes tender. Remove the pan from heat, then transfer the wings to a serving platter and serve.

My sister made this and she and her family liked it:

A Treat for Myself

2010-03-07T18:53:00.005-06:00

I have never bought myself any expensive cooking tools until recently. Last year I bought myself an All-Clad 12-inch cooking pan for about $140 after I got fed up with the teflon coming off of those non-stick pans I had. I have always used inexpensive knives from any available discount store and I finally had it with them. I decided to treat myself to a Wusthof chef's knife as I heard good things about this brand. I really don't know anything about what to look for, but so far so good. It comes with a lifetime warranty (even though I think warranties are b.s. anyway). I just hope my new knife doesn't end up like the one I've been using right before:

Thai Crispy Fish Salad

2010-03-07T17:23:00.010-06:00

To me this dish sort of resembles "laab" or "larb" except for a few different ingredients and that the fish is fried. It is a good-tasting salad; I just hate to deep fry, but I gave it a try anyway. I probably over chopped the fish with the food processor because when I fried it, it didn't turn out like I thought it would. The fish crumbles were a little too crumbly for me, so I made fish balls with the remainign fish, and actually liked it better that way. I would also recommend using the full tablespoon of salt as recommended. I initially thought one tablespoon of salt was too much and only used about one teaspoon, but one tablespoon is necessary as too little salt may disappear between baking and deep frying. I usually follow recipes to the core and then make changes later to my liking, but I've been afraid to do so ever since I tried this one Laotian recipe and I almost threw up from it. This dish is definitely not gross IMO, otherwise I wouldn't post it. This salad can be served with fresh green mangoes and I know it would taste really good along with the other ingredients. I didn't have any turmeric on hand, and the dressing tasted fine without it.

Serves 4

Method:

Dressing
1 lemon grass stalk, white part only, roughly chopped
4 Thai chillies
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp palm sugar
1/4 tsp ground turmeric

10 oz skinless white fish fillets (traditionally catfish is used in Thai, but I used Tilapia this time)
1 tbsp sea salt
peanut oil, for deep frying
3 tomatoes or large cherry tomatoes, each cut into 4 or 6 wedges
2 Asian shallots
1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
16-24 mint leaves, chopped
2 tbsp roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

1. To make dressing, use a pestle and mortar or food processor to pound or blend the lemon grass, chillies and garlic to a paste. Transfer to a bowl and add the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and turmeric. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat dry the fish fillets, then toss them in the sea salt. Place them on a rack in a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Remove, allow to cool, then transfer to a food processor and chop until the fish resembles large breadcrumbs (or fluff fish with a fork).

3. Half fill a wok with oil and heat over high heat. Drop a small piece of fish into the oil. If it sizzles immediately, the fish is ready. Drop a large handful of the chopped fish into the hot oil. The fish will puff up and turn crisp. Cook for 30 seconds and carefully stir a little. Cook for another 30 seconds until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat to cook all the fish.

4. Put the tomatoes, shallots, red onion, cilantro, mint and peanuts in a bowl with about half of the dressing. Transfer the salad to a serving plate. Break the fish into smaller pieces if you wish and place on the salad. To ensure that the fish stays crispy, pour the remaining dressing over the salad just before serving.

I had some left over fish crumbs, so I turned them into fish balls simply by deep frying them until crispy.

Betel Leaf-Wrapped Sausages with Rice Noodles

2010-02-27T22:13:00.005-06:00

I first tasted these at a Vietnamese restaurant on Nicollet Avenue that is now out of business. I was bummed when they went out of business because I thought they were the only place that made these. I had no idea what they were called and often looked for a description in menus from other Vietnamese restaurants, but couldn't seem to find it. I was fortunate enough to run into some food blogs recently and finally found out the recipe. I used the recipe from Andrea Nguyen since I have tried other recipes from her and they have been good. I've been meaning to make these earlier when I first started my blog, but never had the time to go all the way to Saint Paul to see if they sold the betel leaves. I finally stopped at Dragon Star in Saint Paul and found the leaves. Even when I was there, there were no labels and I just went by what I remember them to look like. I was even afraid when I went up to the register and it rang up "chapou leaves" instead of betel. I guess I should've asked a Vietnamese person there, but all the ones that passed by didn't seem to speak English. However, I felt reassured once I came home and Googled again for betel leaves and compared it to the ones I just bought. They looked exactly the same.

The sausages were pretty easy to make, but even after making a pound of the meat, it didn't seem to make enough. I barely had any left over to bring to lunch for the next day. I served these with rice stick noodles and the Vietnamese dipping sauce to make these as a Vietnamese bun dish. That's how the place where I initially ate these served them and I like it that way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Start out by cooking the rice stick noodles, prepping the fresh vegetables followed by making the dipping sauce. That way the sausages will be freshly cooked and everything else is already made.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

-1 package of rice stick noodles, cook according to package
-Vegetables of your choice such as lettuce, pickled carrots and daikon, and cucumbers
-Fresh herbs such as basil and mint
-Vietnamese dipping sauce, recipe follows
-Betel beef sausages, recipe follows

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (nuoc cham)

Yields 1-1/2 cups

1 clove garlic
1 to 2 Thai chilies cored, seeded, and minced
1/2 tsp. ground chili paste
2/3 cup hot water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp fresh lime juice

In a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and fresh chilies to a paste. (Or mince them together with a knife.) In a small bowl, combine the garlic and chili mixture with the chili paste, hot water and sugar. Stir well. Add the fish sauce and lime juice and combine. Let sit for at least 15 minutes before using. Store leftover covered with Saran wrap in fridge.

Betel Leaf-Wrapped Sausages
Recipe courtesy of Andrea Nguyen of vietworldkitchen.com

Makes about 30 sausages

30-40 fresh wild betel leaves (some leaves came pretty small and I just used two to wrap one sausage)

1 lb ground beef, chuck preferred
2 tablespoons finely minced lemongrass (about 1 medium-small stalk)
2 teaspoons Madras curry powder, Sun brand preferred
1/4 cup minced scallion, green and white part
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. In a bowl, combine the beef with seasonings. Use your fingers to mix well. Set aside to marinate while you prepare the leaves.
2. Use scissors or your fingers to detach the leaves from their center stems. Make sure to keep the leaf stem attached to the leaf. You’ll need it later for creating the rolls.
3. To make the rolls, put a leaf on your work surface, matted side up. Take a bit of meat (about 2 tablespoons) and use your hand to shape it into a small sausage of sorts. Place the meat on the leaf, about 1/3 of the way below the pointy tip. The length of the sausage doesn’t need to span the full width of the leaf because the leaf shrivels during cooking.
4. Then roll up the meat in the leaf, poke a hole in the leaf with a toothpick, and use the little stem to seal it up. The roll will keep its shape. Place the finished roll on a foil-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining leaves until all the beef is used. Rub a bit of oil on each roll when all of them are done.

5. To cook, position an oven rack on the top third of the oven and preheat to broil
(425 degrees). Slip the baking sheet into the oven and broil for 6 to 8 minutes, turning them frequently to cook evenly and prevent too much charring of the leaf. The cooked rolls will feel firm, look a bit shriveled, and be slightly charred at the edges.
5. Transfer to a plate. Leftovers reheat well in a toaster oven preheated to 350F.

Wrapped sausages before cooking:

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Serve by assembling noodles into a large bowl and top it with fresh veggies and herbs, 6-10 sausages and a side of the dipping sauce. When ready to eat, pour the sauce over dish, mix and enjoy.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

2010-02-20T14:08:00.009-06:00

Ok, I said I was going to attempt to make a cake from scratch one of these days because I felt it wasn't me and just the recipe. I chose to make the recipe from www.thepioneerwoman.com. I love her blog. I made this cake today and it was pretty good. Just a little too sweet. I'll probably add less powdered sugar to the frosting next time. It was so sweet that I had to have a piece of fruit to balance it out (and to make me feel less guilty). This cake was very moist and it was very easy to make. The previous cake took me forever and was very disappointing. Somehow, I still prefer Duncan Hines' devil's food cake though. I guess it's just my preference. I tasted some other home made cakes before too and I still didn't like it as much as the Duncan Hines. The best chocolate cake I ever had was at a restaurant called Cattle Company. We used to go there every now and then and order their four course meal (soup or salad, appetizers, prime rib and dessert). I think this is when I started gaining weight too...haha...no wonder... I could never make it to dessert, but since it was already included in the price, I always took it home. The first time I ate it I was in chocolate heaven. I even went back one time and ordered a whole cake for my birthday (I like to use my bday as an excuse to buy myself a cake and eat it too). It's normally like $5 a serving, but the lady sold it to me for $40. That thing served at least 20 people. Too bad they went out of business in Minnesota and I haven't found a chocolate cake that I like as much since then.

Steak Tacos

2010-02-20T13:45:00.010-06:00

I love the steak tacos from Chipotle. I usually just order the crispy tacos with steak, three different kinds of salsa, and lettuce. Nothing else. They used to serve four, but now only serve three for the same price. I still eat it once in a while. I wasn't attempting to make the same taco from Chipotle, but I had some beef sirloin in hand, so I made some tacos and fresh salsa for the other night. I love salsa! It's even better when it's super hot and spicy. Yum.

Steak Tacos
Recipe courtesy of Ellie Krieger of Food Network

Thai Grilled Beef Salad

2010-02-15T11:21:00.006-06:00

This was on my list of healthier dishes last week. It tasted pretty good. Even though it was beef, it tasted quite lean and still very tender. I have been making pretty good steak recently! I ate my salad with rice, but I wish I had some rice vermicilli noodles to mix with it. It would've filled me up more.

Recipe courtesy of Ellie Krieger of Food Network

1 pound top-round London broil or flank steak, about 1 to 1 1/2-inches thick
3 tablespoons lime juice, divided
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons red curry paste or chili-garlic sauce
1/2 head red-leaf lettuce, torn (about 6 cups)
3 shallots, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup), divided, for garnish
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, rinsed and dried
1 cup basil leaves, sliced into ribbons
Directions
Rinse and pat the meat dry. Place in a sealable plastic bag or small glass dish. In a medium bowl combine 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, soy sauce, canola oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and red curry paste. Pour half the mixture into the bag with the meat. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice to the bag. Seal tightly, and marinate meat in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight, turning occasionally. Reserve the rest of the mixture refrigerated, to dress the salad.

Spray grill or grill pan with cooking spray and preheat. Grill steak until medium-rare, about 5 minutes per side, depending on desired doneness. Let rest until room temperature then slice thinly against the grain.

Combine lettuce, sliced shallot, cilantro, basil and beef in a salad bowl, reserving a few shallots for garnish. Add the reserved dressing and toss to coat. Divide salad among 4 plates and garnish with reserved sliced shallots.

Chicken Parmigiana

2010-02-11T22:01:00.011-06:00

Just had this seconds ago and it was soooo good. Yum. I didn't know I could make Italian like this! :P I could taste everything...the olives, basil, parmesan, everything. It was DELICIOUS. I think I liked it better than the lasagna I made, only because this tasted like authentic Italian and just about everything was fresh except for the tomatoes. Anyway, I have been making so many unhealthy meals that last week and this week I've been making more healthy foods to eat. Today's dinner was the exception. Gotta pig out at least once a week right? Well, maybe more than once. Yum. Still can't get those flavors outta my taste.

I didn't take any step by step photos because I made this really late like at 8:30pm. My baby kept crying and wanted me to hold him until his dad came home, so this time dinner wasn't ready until 10:00 for us. I even put him in the kitchen to watch me, but he still cried. He usually loves the kitchen. Natural born chef, maybe? Or maybe just an eater? Ok, I'm very tired now...gotta go...

Note: I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I pounded my chicken breasts with a mallet to flatten it so it would cook faster. I also did not put the sauce over the chicken into the oven because I wanted my chicken to still be crispy. I pan fried the chicken until golden brown and crispy on the outside then put it in the oven for 10 minutues depending on how thick the chicken breasts are. I put the sauce around the chicken at the last 5 minutes along with the mozarella cheese until cheese melted and then served with the pasta.

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence of Food Network (thank you Tyler!)

IngredientsChicken Parmigiana
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 bunch fresh basil leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
Pinch sugar
Pinch red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
1 cup dried plain bread crumbs
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 (8-ounce) ball fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
1 pound spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Method:Coat a saute pan with olive oil and place over medium heat. When the oil gets hazy, add the onions, garlic, and bay leaves; cook and stir for 5 minutes until fragrant and soft. Add the olives and some hand-torn basil, reserve the rest of the basil for finishing the chicken. Carefully add the tomatoes (nothing splashes like tomatoes), cook and stir until the liquid is cooked down and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes; season with sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Lower the heat, cover, and keep warm.

Get the ingredients together for the chicken so you have a little assembly line. Put the flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. In a wide bowl, combine the eggs and water, beat until frothy. Put the bread crumbs on a plate, add the 1 cup parmesan, chopped parsley, and garlic powder Season with salt and pepper and stir with a fork until thoroughly combined.

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high flame in a large oven-proof skillet. Lightly dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off, then dredge in the bread crumbs. When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 4 minutes on each side until golden and crusty, turning once.

Ladle the tomato-olive sauce over the chicken and arrange the mozzarella on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan, and remaining basil. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Serve hot with spaghetti

My 1st Made-From-Scratch Cake

2010-02-06T14:31:00.009-06:00

I am not a baker. After several times of trying to bake cookies and this cake from scratch I think I just wasn't meant for baking. It just never turns out, BUT I haven't really given up yet. I'm still convinced that it's not me and just the recipes that I've tried. Well, I hope so. It has to be because even the box cake I bake turns out. lol And the cobbler I made was good if I just added less blueberries. I don't know what I did wrong in this recipe. This cake may look good, but it was quite tasteless. Not moist at all and not sweet. The frosting was good even though it wasn't that sweet. I had to add more powdered sugar and it didn't make enough to cover the whole cake. After this, I was just craving for some Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake with the frosting I just made. One of these days, I will post a successful baking recipe from scratch. I am determined to do so. Maybe I'll try Ree's chocolate sheet cake since her other recipes have not failed me.

Anyway here's the recipe. I originally found this in the GH magazine while I was in the bookstore and snapped the recipe with my iPhone camera. That's what I've been doing when I find something interesting. I take a picture of the page or article instead of buying the magazine. Hey, saves me money.

Indonesian Ginger Chicken Wings

2010-02-06T14:16:00.008-06:00

Wings are my favorite part of the chicken. They're white meat, but very juicy and have a lot of taste. Besides, I just like meat with bones period (except fish). I made these the other night and brought leftovers to work. People came in and told me it smelled like "pizza" or "bourbon chicken." I can understand bourbon chicken because they're both similar, but pizza?

Recipe adapted from Food Network

Ingredents:
1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
3 lbs of chicken wings

Method:
1. Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Put chicken in a large bowl, add marinade, cover tightly with saran wrap, and marinade overnight in the refrigerator.

2. When ready to cook, set the oven to 500 degrees on broil. Cook wings for about 30 minutes or until skin is slightly charred. Turn wings over and cook the other side until slightly charred.

Rice Rolls (fawm kauv)

2010-01-31T22:50:00.020-06:00

These are one of my favorite appetizers. Actually, I just eat them as a meal since eating a couple of them really fills me up. I'm not sure where these originated from. I know Vietnamese make these too. I'll just give credit back to the Chinese since they invented everything ;). I love eating these, but I hate making these. It sure takes a long time and by the time I'm done making them, there's only a few left because there's usually other people (or myself) eating these as I make these. It takes a lot of practice to perfect the wrapper. I've been making these for years, and they still don't come out consistently perfect each time. I always have a few that don't turn out. The first and last ones are usually the worst ones, which ends up being tossed. However, ever since I found this brand of flour, my wrapper has been turning out pretty good each time. I hope they don't discontinue or change anything about this flour because it's the best flour I have used so far. The instructions to mix is even right on since I've always used more water than what the instructions on the bag says. Excuse the poor picture quality. I made these at dinner time and I don't know why I didn't use my flash. Taking good pictures and cooking at the same time is more difficult than I thought.

Pretty simple ingredients...I like to use Jimmy Dean sausage; it gives a lot of flavor. I usually just use the Regular kind, but I had the Hot kind in my freezer.

This is the brand of rice flour I use. It's the best one I have used. NOT ALL BRANDS OF FLOUR ARE CREATED EQUAL.

Put sausage and ground pork in pan at high heat.

Cook meat until cooked through, stirring constantly until meat is no longer in large clumps.

Drain the meat once cooked to rid the juices and grease.

Put drained meat back into pan and add 2 tbsp of hoisin sauce and 1 tbsp of oyster sauce. Stir until mixed well with meat.

Add 2/3 cup of chopped cilantro and 2/3 cup of sliced green onions.

Cook until cilantro and onions are tender, less than a minute.

In a large bowl, mix the flour according to package instructions. Scoop up a full laddle of the flour mixture and put it into a non-stick pan that's been heated on medium heat.

Using the pan, stir the flour mixture until it forms a good circle around the pan. It is important to use a good non-stick pan (very few or no scratches!).

Cover the pan for about 1-2 minutes. Wrapper will be ready when it is somewhat bubbly and you can see it lifting off the pan. (Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of this). As you can see, I had two pans going...it helps make these things faster. Once it is ready, transfer it immediately to a flat surface such as a plate or you can use foil. If it does not come off of pan easily, it's probably not ready yet and try putting it back on the stove (covered) for a few seconds.

Wrapping is pretty easy. Just spread enough meat around the wrapper and roll away. I like to use a lot of meat in mine because I like it that way!

Serve with a side of sauce of your choice. I just buy the ready-made sweet chili sauce and add some chopped peanuts, more Thai chilis, and some fish sauce to it since I like it a little more spicy.

Makes about 40 rolls (or 20 per package)

Ingredients

Filling:
1 lb of ground pork
1 package of Jimmy Dean Regular sausage (1 lb)
2 tbsp of hoisin sauce
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
2/3 cup of chopped cilantro
2/3 cup of chopped green onions

Wrapper:
2 packages of steamed rice flour
9 cups of water
2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Sauce:
sweet chili sauce
chopped peanuts
Thai chilis to taste
fish sauce to taste

Method:
1. Cook sausage meat and ground pork in pan on high heat until cooked through.
2. Drain the meat so juices and oil run off. Once drained, put meat back into pan. Add hoisin and oyster sauces. Stir to mix well with meat.
3. Add cilantro and green onions to the pan and cook until both are tender, less than a minute.
4. Mix the flour mixture according to package instructions (4 1/2 cups of water and 1 tbsp of oil per package) in a large bowl. Stir until the flour is completely dissolved. It's important to keep stirring the mixture each time you pour a new laddle into the pan so that the flour keeps dissolving (it tends to form back).
5. Set a good non-stick pan on medium-low heat. Once the pan is warm, pour a laddle of the flour mixture into the pan. Using the pan handle, stir mixture until it forms a circle in pan. Cover immediately. Cover for about 1-2 minutes or until wrapper turns somewhat bubbly. Wrapper will be ready when you can see it lifting off the pan.
6. Once wrapper is ready, immediately transfer it onto a flat surface such as a sheet of foil or a flat pan. If wrapper does not come off of pan easily, put pan back on stove and cover for a few more seconds.
7. Spread a spoonful of meat over the wrapper until evenly distributed around wrapper. Start wrapping by folding in the left and right sides of the wrapper, then fold in the top over to form a roll.

To make sauce:
Mix ready made sweet chili sauce with small amount of chopped peanuts, fish sauce to taste and 1-2 chili peppers according to taste.

Serve sauce with rice rolls.

Chicken Fried Steak with Homemade Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

2010-01-30T13:23:00.007-06:00

Chicken (or country) fried steak is one of my favorite comfort foods. It's what I usually order when I go to a Perkins or Denny's. I have made CFS before from a different recipe and that was good, but I like this recipe better. The breading turned out better and the seasonings were perfect. The only thing is that my steak turned out really hard and the breading fell off at the end of cooking. I have used cubed steak from the grocery stores before and that seemed to work fine, so next time I'll just do that again. Also, I would skip the bacon. It was just another step. My gravy didn't turn out white like they had in the video, but it was still good. I decided to make some mashed potatoes with this too. That turned out good as well. Even though everything was good despite the toughness in the steak, I probably won't make this again. It was too much work and grease for something that looks to be so simple. I did take step by step photos, but too lazy to post them now.

Asian Grilled Salmon

2010-01-30T13:21:00.002-06:00

I made this for dinner the other night. I was actually too full and didn't eat this right away. Instead I had it for lunch the next day. It was still good. My husband did eat it right away and he enjoyed it. I used a grill pan to "grill" this indoors and it still turned out.

Blueberry Cobbler

2010-01-26T18:38:00.005-06:00

I made this on Sunday. It's good, but it was very mushy or soggy. I used blueberries instead of blackberries, so maybe that's why. Next time I would only use one cup of blueberries. I especially loved the sugar on top when it was cooked. The crust was crunchy and sweet. Tasted great with a glass of orange juice.

Yummy Lasagna

2010-01-26T18:29:00.005-06:00

I love The Pioneer Woman's blog. I have tried three of her recipes so far and they have been really good. Here is the lasagna I made from her recipe and I must say it was really good! The only thing I would do a little different next time is add less meat. It was a little too meaty for me and not enough tomatoes. Otherwise, this is the best lasagna I've ever made even though this is probably just the 2nd or 3rd time I've made lasagna. ;D I didn't take a good picture of this because it's winter in MN now and it gets dark after 4. I made this for dinner last night and didn't take a good picture, but take my word for it, it's good! It tastes just as good as a leftover too.

Sichuan Chicken

2010-01-21T16:56:00.009-06:00

I originally made this back in the summer of '09 and took these pictures back then as well. I made this dish twice. Here is my old entry dated 09/07/09:

I made this recipe a few weeks ago, but couldn't find the Sichuan peppercorns, so I made it without it. I have to say, I like this recipe so much better w/o the peppercorns! I should've known better because I'm not even a big fan of regular black peppercorns. I thought adding the peppercorns here overpowered everything and made the dish almost bitter. Also, the first time I made this dish I actually deep fried the chicken in peanut oil and used chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. I typically don't like to use chicken thighs in my stir frys, but thought I'd give it a try. I still didn't like it, but it is much more juicier. This time I cooked the chicken by pan frying instead of deep frying since it was so oily last time. I am disappointed in the peppercorns. Did not like it at all. Anyway, here is the original recipe I found here.

Ingredients:
1 lb skinless chicken breast/legs/thighs cut into 1 inch cubes.
1/2 cup dried chillies - washed and cut into 1 - 2 inches, drain dry
2 tbsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp cooking wine
1 tbsp chopped ginger
4 cloves of garlic -- sliced
4 stalks spring onions -- cut into 2 inch lengths
1/2 tsp sugar

Vegetable oil for deep-frying and stir-frying

Marinade :
2 tsp shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp light soya sauce
1 tsp dark soya sauce
1 tsp ground sichuan peppercorns
1 t cornstarch
2 tbsp beaten egg white

Method:
Marinate cubed chicken with the marinade for at least 1/2 hour.

Heat 2 cups oil; when oil is hot, add the chicken cubes and deep-fry until crisping round the edges. Remove the chicken and leave aside.

Tip out the bulk of the oil, leaving about 2 tbsp. behind

Pan-fried chicken:

Add the garlic, ginger and spring onion -- stir and then add the red chilies and Sichuan peppercorns. Fry for about 20 seconds, taking care not to burn the chilies.

Put the chicken back in the wok, splash on the cooking wine to the sides of hot wok and season with soy sauce, salt and sugar. Stir well to combine.

Spicy Pan-Fried Tilapia

2010-01-18T17:15:00.013-06:00

I actually made this dish by accident. I was trying to make fish by cooking it in the oven, but it didn't turn out like I wanted it to. Instead of wasting the fish, I ended up frying the fish and it turned out pretty good. I've been making my fish this way ever since. By covering the fish in foil and then cooking it in the oven helped the fish soak up all flavors from the marinade. Pan frying it gave it that nice, crispy and fatty taste that I like in fried fish.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Marinade:
2/3 cup of cilantro, chopped
2/3 cup of green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp of chopped Thai chili peppers
Juice from 1 large lime, about 1/4 cup
1/3 cup of fish sauce

4 tilapia filets
Oil for frying
Optional: Panko bread crumbs

Chili peppers chopped:

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 365 degrees.
2. Combine all the marinade ingredients into a bowl and mix well.
3. Line a cookie sheet with enough foil to cover 4 fish filets. Place filets on foil and pour marinade over fish. Be sure to turn fish over so both sides are covered with marinade. Cover fish with foil into a pouch.

4. Bake fish in oven at 365 for about 25 minutes.
5. After fish is cooked in oven, remove fish from foil and place on wire rack so juices run off. [Note: If you would like this fish to be even more crispy, skip step #5 and simply dip the filets in Panko bread crumbs and then pan fry them. I just avoided this step to avoid extra calories ;) ]

6. Prepare a plate with paper towels to use when fish is done frying.
7. Heat about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in frying pan on medium-high heat. When pan is hot, place two filets in the pan and fry each side for about 2-3 mins or until browned. When fish is browned on both sides, transfer the fish to the plate of paper towels and finish cooking the rest of the filets. Add a little more oil if needed. The fish should not be too oily. The marinade mix that is fried with the fish should be crispy.

My favorite part about this fish is actually what's left on the pan! :P

I served this dish with a side of garlic and ginger baby bok choy. Here is the recipe for that:

1 1/2 pounds very baby (dwarf) bok choy, each one halved lengthwise

Flavoring sauce:
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
11/2 teaspoons canola oil or sesame oil
2 teaspoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
11/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the bok choy. When the water returns to a boil, let the vegetables cook for another minute, until just tender. Drain, flush with cold water and set aside.

2. Combine the flavoring sauce ingredients. Taste and make any adjustments needed. You want a savory-briny-sweet taste. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, ginger and garlic. Cook for about 30 to 45 seconds until aromatic. Add the bok choy, give things a stir and cook for about 2 minutes, until heated through. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the flavoring sauce and keep cooking for another minute or so, stirring, to coat the vegetables well. The bok choy will weep a bit of water.

4. Give the cornstarch a stir before adding it to the vegetables. Cook for another 30 seconds, or until thickened, and glossy. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Sweet Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

2010-01-14T17:11:00.002-06:00

I love to eat meat with bones and baby back ribs are no exception. Unlike spareribs, they don't require a long time to cook because they are already tender. I thought I would try this recipe I got from Andrea Nguyen. So far, I tried three of her recipes and simply love them. These ribs turned out pretty good even though I usually just like my ribs plain with salt and pepper. It's winter here in MN, so I can't grill outside just yet. I broiled these in the oven at 475 degrees until each side was slightly burned. I'm not sure why this recipe is called Thai barbecued ribs since they tasted more like Vietnamese or even Korean BBQ to me. Maybe I just haven't eaten enough Thai...?

I know I need to work on my plating. The other night, I made some avocado salsa for some steak fajitas and just added it to the plate to make it look pretty. The steak I made turned out really good considering I was only using top sirloin meat. I would post that recipe here too, but didn't take any pictures because it was too dark at night. Anyway, here's the recipe for the ribs. I did use brown sugar instead of regular sugar.

Chicken Spaghetti

2010-01-13T12:25:00.001-06:00

I can't really keep up with this blog, since I cook more than I can keep up. This was last Friday's dinner and this is a picture of a leftover taken on Saturday of course lol. Still looks good anyway right? I am not a huge fan of creamy sauces, but I thought I would try this out. It was good, but I still love my easy to make spaghetti with meat and tomato sauce more. It takes less than 30 minutes to make and I can eat that in one day whereas it took a couple of days to finish the chicken spaghetti. I will post my spaghetti recipe one of these days. I got the chicken spaghetti recipe from here. I won't even bother to cut and paste the recipe since Ree already has nice step by step intructions. I like her food blogs because of that and she has nice pictures. I have yet to try her lasagne to see how it tastes like.

Papaya Salad

2010-01-11T17:05:00.009-06:00

Papaya salad is definitely one of my favorite foods, it's at least on my top five list. I have to eat papaya salad at least every month. If it wasn't for the high salt content, this dish would be very healthy and I would eat it every week. I have never tasted consistent papaya salad, even from the best papaya salad maker. It always tastes different no matter how many times I have made it or when someone else makes it. I think it's because when this dish is made, the ingredients are just added as needed and rarely measured, so it's always different. A small amount of one ingredient will change this dish drastically. This is the first time I measured it and it turned out pretty good. I like to make my papaya salad "Thai" style with just a few extras. It is much more simple and does not involve a lot of the other ingredients.

Just use a teeny bit of shrimp paste as you see here. Too much will make the salad bitter:

Serves 1

Ingredients:
1/2 clove of garlic
1-2 Thai chili peppers, depending on taste
1 tbsp of roasted peanuts
1 tsp tamarind
1 tsp palm sugar
shrimp paste (see picture)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 cup of shredded green papaya
4 cherry tomatoes, halved

Method:
1. Put garlic and Thai chili peppers to mortar. With pestle, smash the ingredients together until nicely blended so flavors mix.
2. Add the tamarind, palm sugar and shrimp paste. Pound with pestle until well blended with the other ingredients. Note: I shredded the palm sugar pictured above with a shredder to yield 1 tsp. I like to use the tamarind pictured above because it has a fresher taste than the already made tamarind mix that you find in the Asian stores.
3. Add the roasted peanuts, pound until well grounded.
4. Add the fish sauce and lime juice. Mix well with a spoon with the other ingredients.
5. Add the papaya and cherry tomatoes to the mix. With one hand holding a spoon and the other with the pestle, toss and pound all the ingredients together until well mixed and tomatoes are smashed. You do not want to pound the papaya too much as you want the papaya to have some crisp, but you do want it a little smashed so that the papaya will absorb the juices from all the other ingredients.

(Click on image for larger view.)

I ate mine with leftover salmon and rice I made last night. Papaya salad is usually served with cabbage. You would take a piece of cabbage leaf and use it as a spoon to scoop up some papaya salad into it and enjoy. The cabbage gives a nice crunch to the salad.

Bibimbap and Bulgogi

2010-01-10T22:48:00.002-06:00

Origally posted 06/21/09 from my other blog:

So last week I found a good recipe for bulgogi and bibimbap, both are Korean dishes. We had the opportunity to try Korean food a couple of years ago when this small restaurant called Korean House was still open in the Cedar/Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis. It since closed down and I haven't been able to find another Korean restaurant that made the two dishes good. I tried this recipe last week and I must say it turned out really good! I was so impressed and happy that I decided to take pictures of it this time. Last week I made the bulgogi with sirloin steak instead and this week I tried it with rib-eye meat. I couldn't really taste the difference. Maybe the rib-eye is just slightly more tender because it's fattier, but since rib- eye is more expensive I think I will just go with sirloin again next time. Also last time I went by what the recipe said. It said to add ground red pepper and the Sprite or 7-up. Last time the red pepper made the dish too hot and all the bulgogi I've tried was not hot, more sweet, so this time I omitted the red pepper completely and it tasted more authentic to me. This time I forgot to add the Sprite or 7-up and I thought that would ruin the taste, but it didn't. It tasted just fine. Actually, I think the Sprite diluted the marinade a little bit. I also used light soy sauce instead both times, so I'm not even going to try the regular soy sauce since it might make it too salty. I also bought a store version of the bulgogi sauce. I did marinade some meat in it, but haven't bothered cooking it to see how it tasted like. When I opened the bottle, it just stank and didn't come close to the home made version. Also, I tried making some short grain rice to make this more authentic and it did not turn out lol. Too wet and sticky. That was my first attempt so I'll need to do a little more research and experiment.

For the veggies in the bibimbap dish, I chose carrots, daikon, spinach, zucchini and bean sprouts.

Here's a picture of all the stuff I made, including the bulgogi meat and the gochujang sauce. I need coordinated plates lol. Oh, and the table in the background I've had for over 10 years now since college. :D

Ok, here's the recipe from Food Network.

Semi-Homemade Bun Bo Hue

2010-01-09T20:28:00.002-06:00

I tried this at a Vietnamese restaurant a couple of weeks ago and liked it. It's similar to pho, but the noodles are different and the broth is much spicier and hotter. My favorite type of foods are Thai, Vietnamese and Italian so you will see a lot of those kinds of variety here. I make semi-homemade pho similar to this. I just buy the ready-made broth, make or prep my own meat and noodles and top it with my favorite herbs, veggies and sauces.
Since I do not have a large family and it's always been me or me and my husband, this is how I make certain foods. Making everything from scratch would take too long, too many ingredients and make too much leftover food for just the two of us. Someday I will try to attempt to make home made pho and bun bo hue broth if I can just find a really good recipe. They cost too much to make for trial and error, especially for just two people.

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 can of Soup Bun Bo Hue broth
thick rice vermicilli noodles
cooked beef
cilantro
green onions
Thai basil leaves
mint leaves
bean sprouts
lime
ground chili garlic oil

Method:
1. Cook vermicilli noodles according to package or until noodles are soft. Drain and rinse with cold water. The ones pictured were the only ones I had in my pantry, so I decided to use these. The ones I had at the restaurants are thicker.

2. You can use leftover meat for this, but since I didn't have any, I just bought a a piece of inexpensive beef from the store and slow cooked it for an hour to make it more consistent to what I had at the restaurant. The meat I chose had fat and tendon on it and went well with the soup.

3. Pour can of soup broth into saucepan. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat to low.

4. Assemble noodles and meat into bowl. Pour broth and top with herbs, bean sprouts, optional lime and ground chili garlic oil. You shouldn't need to add any other sauce to this soup, but I added the garlic oil to make it even more spicy.

Vietnamese-Style Tri-Color Dessert (Nab Vam)

2010-01-09T19:42:00.005-06:00

I'm not sure what they call this dessert in Vietnamese (update: It's called Che Ba Mau). Whenever I go to the Vietnamese restaurants, I always ask for "tri-color" and they know what I mean. I always wondered how the restaurants manage to make the sugar syrup so sweet and creamy without that burned sugar taste that I usually taste with the sugar and water mix I make at home. I read somewhere on a forum to boil condensed milk and coconut milk. I tried that earlier this week and it worked the very first time that I tried it. Too bad I didn't measure it the first time because I had to measure it a couple of times to get the right consistency again. The ingredients in this dessert can vary from person to person depending on what you like. The key ingredient is the sugar syrup. If you get that right, then you can mix and add anything you like. I usually just make mine with the agar agar jello and tapioca balls. Sometimes I like to add the other store bought items such as jackfruit and coconut gel. This time I decided to add sweetened beans to make it more similar to the Vietnamese dessert.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 can 14 fl oz coconut milk, 3/4 can of sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
1 tbsp of agar agar powder, 2 cups of water, green food coloring
1/2 cup of tapioca pearls
Fruit Mix (beans, coconut gel, jackfruit)
Ice

Method:
1. Boil about two cups of water into small pot. Add agar agar powder to boiling water and stir to mix well. Add food coloring at this time if you would like. I like to make mine green. Once mixed well (about 2 minutes), pour into a deep container and keep cool in fridge until the mixture turns into a firm, jello-like consistency. Keep in mind, however, that this will be firmer than the jello that you're used to seeing. I didn't really time this, but after 2 hours in the fridge (when I did check) the agar agar was nicely firm. It may take a shorter time than this.

2. Bring a pot of water to boil on high heat, then add the tapioca pearls. Reduce heat to medium and boil for about 15-20 minutes. The pearls are ready once they turn transparent. You can also sample a few to see if they are ready. Make sure you take a small spoonful and pour it into cold water before tasting. The pearls are ready when they are soft. Once ready, drain the pearls and pour immediately into a container of cold water. Cover the container and store in fridge until ready to serve. Note: The tapioca pearls will absorb a lof of the water and will become larger. You may want to add more water just so the pearls do not stick together, but it is not a huge problem if they do stick as you will be adding the sugar syrup to the dessert.

3. To make the sugar syrup, mix the coconut milk and condensed milk into saucepan and bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and stir constantly for about 5 minutes or until mixture is smooth and mixed well. Pour into a container and cool in fridge until ready to serve. Note: The first time I tried this, I tried with Eagle Brand regular condensed milk (not the non-fat one as pictured) and that one seems to be sweeter. I also tried the Longevity brand from the Asian stores and that one I do not recommend as it had a funny taste to it. If this syrup is to thick or sweet for you, you can dilute it with a little water. I already get that from the ice, but it's up to you.

4. Once the agar agar is firm and ready, it's time to slice them into pieces.

5. Assemble fruit mix (drained), jackfruit (sliced and drained), agar agar, and the tapioca pearls (drained) into a dessert cup. Pour sugar syrup on top of the mixture and top with ice to make this a cold dessert.

Another blog!

2010-01-08T19:02:00.002-06:00

Ok, I decided to officially start a new blog for FOOD ONLY. Reading other food blogs and cooking new recipes from them during my maternity leave has inspired me to start my own. This will help me improve my cooking skills as well as photography skills since I want to take nice pics for this blog. Let's see how I do... I cooked almost a new recipe each day this week, but did not take any pictures. Too bad because most of them turned out really good, so I am so inspired to do more.