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Currently viewing the tag: "recipes"
Baby Poems over at Martha’s, Yes They’re All Ours!
The American Mathematics Competitions
Why Eating a Big Mac is Cheaper than Eating a Salad
Latin Altar Card (pdf file)
Kids need to watch their #&!@* mouths: Cussing commonplace — Really…? Kids need to watch THEIR mouth? What about US adults? If adults don’t cuss and don’t allow cussing to enter the household via the TV, ‘net or music, kids will not have to watch their mouths. As the Spartans said, “IF.” This really shouldn’t be a NEWS article. Turn the TV on primetime, click through a few channels, and you’ll see exactly why.
And a recipe — which dh will use as a dip for his carrot sticks tomorrow:
Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip
4 handfuls spinach, washed well to remove all grit
4 canned artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and drained again
1/3 cup Vegenaise (vegan mayo)
1/3 cup water buffalo yogurt (or other safe non-dairy alternative if you like — or vegan cream cheese)
pinch hot red pepper flakes
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste
vegan parmesan if you like
enough rice milk or soy milk to get mixture creamy
Mix. Bake everything in dish at 350 degrees, 15 minutes. Transfer to food processor, process, cook 20 minutes more or until thick and bubbly.
Soooo good with potato chips or tortilla chips or other chippy substance you prefer. Or eat healthier and serve with vegetable crudites instead.
My method:
Get 2/3-3/4 cup starter from the fridge — let stand in a covered bowl until it’s room temp (anywhere from 1 hr to whenever I remember that I have a bowl waiting for me)
Add 4 handfuls flour (I figure this is probably about 2 cups) + water to wet everything, stirring with a wooden spoon.
Leave covered with plastic again until I remember it — anywhere from 3-4 hours to overnight
Add 4 more handfuls flour, ~2 teaspoons salt, more water to wet everything, stir again with a wooden spoon
Leave covered with plastic again until doubled.
Cut in half. No fancy shaping, just wet my hands with water and gather up the outside to seal seams — freeform is easiest for me — it may become a batard or a baguette or boule… Put on parchment, spray, plastic.
Let rise until almost double. Heat oven to 500 degrees. Go 10-15 minutes past when the oven beeps to make sure the temps are stabilized.
Slide dough, parchment and all, onto heated quarry tiles. Spray all over the oven with water, careful not to spray the light bulb. I do this a couple of times more every 5 minutes or so depending on mood, or not at all.
Leave it in the oven until I smell baked bread — 35 minutes or so?
Here’s where I get scientific — stick a thermometer on bottom of bread, if it’s 190 or so, it’s done.
The hardest part is convincing the kids that we have to WAIT for bread to cool completely, on a rack, before we slice and eat. Sigh.
When the starter looks like it’s down to 1 cup or so, add about 2 cups more flour, water to wet it, leave on the counter until visibly ALIVE and double, then I put it back in the fridge. If it looks like it will pop out of the glass and shatter, I stir it down again the next day. By then it has calmed down a bit and will stay pretty much where it is volume-wise until I use it again.
oh, and i use whole wheat flour except for the feeding of the starter, which I often do half-half. I’ve used regular whole wheat flour, fresh-ground whole wheat, white whole wheat, etc. One of these days I’ll try sprouted grain.
This is a continuation of Part 1, where I showed you how to make dumpling wrappers using a pasta machine. The technique shown in this post is more rustic, but works just as well.
Mix dough ingredients in a bowl or food processor. Flour a platter or line with wax paper. Knead dough lightly on floured surface until elastic, then divide into 80 pieces or so, each about the size of a regular gumball.
Roll out each piece into a round about 3 inches in diameter.
Follow instructions for filling and pleating the dumplings in Part 1.
Now that they’re cooked, there’s nothing left to do but to chow down.
This is a basic dumpling wrapper that contains nothing but flour and water. A more enriched dumpling wrapper is available containing egg. If you want, you can add an egg yolk into your dough to replace some of the water.
One of the moms at 4Real asked for ground beef recipes, so I thought I’d put several simple ones here — not really recipes but more like guides. We’ve been having more ground meat lately because they made up the bulk of the grass-fed beef we had ordered from Grass Fed Farms — which was surprising, but not altogether unwelcome; there’s so much you could do with it besides the basic meatloaf or meat sauce! I think I still have a shelf-full in the freezer.
Let’s start out with a simple saute:
extra virgin olive oil
minced garlic
chopped onions
chopped tomatoes
a pound or two of ground beef
freshly ground black pepper
salt and/or soy sauce and/or fish sauce to taste
Heat up the olive oil in a large skillet, over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until just beginning to color. Add the onions and saute until limp. Add tomatoes and saute until tender. Add the ground meat, breaking it up, and continue to saute. Cover for 5 minutes, stir again, and add seasonings. Cook 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently and adding water if necessary to prevent drying up.
THAT’S THE BASIC SAUTE.
Here’s where you have some fun:
Continue reading »
I’ve had it on my list for a while to repost this N&R entry here — next to brazo de mercedes and puto, it seems like siomai is the #3 request on this blog. The recipe here isn’t exactly for siomai, however, you can adapt it just by changing the way you wrap the dumpling. I’ll still post a siomai recipe sometime, but this is for those who have been asking — at least something to try in the meantime. If you want it more siomai-ish, don’t use cabbage, add some shrimp if you like and some finely chopped carrots to the mix, plus some chopped shiitake mushrooms (fresh or rehydrated).
When you wrap the siomai, have a bit of the meat peeking on top — best way to do this (I’ll have pics at some point) is to lay the dumpling wrapper over the side of your hand while you form an “O” with your fingers. Make an indentation in the middle and start stuffing it with the meat mixture. As you stuff it, apply a bit of pressure to push down the meat into the wrapper — this will push the dumpling down into your “O” and create natural pleats. When you’re almost at the top put the dumpling down on the counter to flatten the bottom and squeeze the pleats lightly to adhere and hold its shape.
This recipe is from the book Mrs. Chiang’s Szechwan Cookbook, a favorite of mine for many years. I know the Chinese are very particular about how to make this recipe, and some recipes for jiaozi specify how to stir the filling, what to add first, etc. However, in the interest of simplicity (and because my taste buds, though probably more refined than some, are not refined enough to distinguish results made different by the use of a stirring technique), I’ve chosen to vary the instructions here a bit — I sure hope the Chinese purists won’t mind too much. This should enable the beginner as well as the advanced cook to prepare something that’s very basic in Chinese cuisine.
You will recognize this as the pork dumpling which comes in many different shapes and guises at dimsum houses and other Chinese restaurants. You can make your own dough, or use store-bought dumpling wrappers at Asian stores. At any rate, it’s a dish worth making in the home because it’s fun, especially when you get your kids to help. You can freeze some for future use (emergency stash, for a party, etc.). You can steam, deep-fry, or cook it the traditional way (the boiling method posted here). Or, you can cook it “pot-sticker” way (see instructions below), which is how you will usually find this at most restaurants, where it shows up on menus as “Peking ravioli”, “wraplings”, and “crescents”, among other things.
The filling is so versatile that you can also use it to make siu mai, the steamed pork dumpling with an open top (with a little piece of shrimp or a sliver of shiitake mushroom on the top), or spring rolls (wrap in spring rolls and fry, that’s all there is to it), and as the meat and flavoring component for a vegetable stir-fry.
Ingredients for filling:
15 scallions, finely minced
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, finely minced
1 lb. ground pork
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ground roasted Szechwan peppercorns (available at Asian stores, whole and unroasted)
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Here’s what szechwan peppercorns look like:
Ingredients for dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup water
Or, use store-bought dumpling wrappers
I’ll let you in on my secret. This is somewhat tedious work. I’ve found that a pasta machine, while not traditional, is very handy for making and rolling the dough, and I’ve been making my dumpling wrappers using this for years (purists may frown on the method, but hey, it works!
Cutting the dumpling wrappers:
You can either roll everything out, then fill, or alternate between filling and rolling to break the monotony.
Fill each dough circle with 1 1/2 teaspoons meat mixture. Put the filling in the center, then fold the dough over the filling (but do not seal). Holding the jiaoz in one hand, start on one end of the folded circle, pleating the top half-circle with your other hand and pressing both halves to seal with the other as you pleat. You should end up with a little crescent-shaped pouch. This can get a little tricky, but it gets easier with practice.
Lay the filled jiaozi on the floured or lined platter, making sure they don’t touch as they tend to stick together. [You can freeze the dumplings at this point, then put them in a resealable plastic bag when they’re completely frozen.]
Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Cook jiaozi in batches, making sure they don’t crowd. The traditional way is to add jiaoz to the boiling water, then wait for the water to boil again, then add cold water to stop the process. Repeat boiling and adding cold water three times more, for a total of four times. The fourth time, remove jiaozi to a colander. Drain and serve hot.
If you would like to try cooking it “pot-sticker” style, pan-fry in a large skillet filmed with a bit of oil, in batches over medium heat. When the bottom is crusty, add water and simmer until completely cooked, about 15 minutes.
Jiaozi can be served plain, or with a simple sauce of just soy sauce and vinegar mixed together, or if you prefer, with this Szechwanese sauce:
4 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste with 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes in oil (Heat oil in a saucepan until hot and just beginning to smoke, then add red pepper flakes and remove from heat; let stand for 1 minute before using.)
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
A vegetable and meat filling can also be made by adding 2 cups of chopped cabbage or Chinese cabbage (salt lightly, set aside for 15 minutes, then squeeze out the excess moisture before using).
Green beans can also be used, pre-cooked for about 7 minutes before chopping and adding to bowl.
Spinach can also be used, but do not salt it; just chop and add to meat mixture.
You can also make vegetarian jiaoz by using a combination of green beans, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms and carrots, all chopped finely.
The finished product, ready for consumption:):
Adapted from:
Editing to add, 04/18/2012:
Please note that I haven’t experimented with this recipe in a couple of years. The last one was 2010 and I didn’t bother documenting because it was a busy time in our lives. My routine when making puto these days is soak rice overnight, and then refrigerate for up to 3 days or until I have time to make it — I switched to this technique because my life is so unpredictable sometimes and I had an instance when I forgot the mixture for over a week and as you can imagine, I ended up with a really icky vomit-inducing mess. I wish I could experiment on this recipe again and answer all the questions here, but as it is, I don’t have time right now. Please feel free to keep on commenting and sharing your experiences via the comment section. I’ll join in when I can. Thanks for your understanding and good luck with your puto experiments!
Judging from the requests I get here, by e-mail, from friends, etc., making Philippine puto is one of the biggest mysteries of our cuisine. Traditional recipes aren’t easy to find, and even people who used to make puto the old way seem to have resorted these days to the use of wheat flour. Even my aunt whom I was counting on to provide me with a reliable, old-fashioned recipe, recently sent me her “tried-and-true” wheat puto recipe. She said they simply don’t make it “that way” anymore. So it’s left largely up to us culinary enthusiasts to discover the secrets behind traditional puto making. My goal was not to duplicate any specific puto — the objective is simply to find a puto recipe that will work where I am with what I’ve got. After this, I’ll leave it up to you, dear readers, to try out and experiment and figure out other specifics to hopefully achieve puto that will make you and your loved ones happy.
My very first clue as to how puto was made in the old days was provided by Lewing Mendoza, a friend in St. Louis who makes wonderful puto from scratch. Her recipe which she gave to me back in 1995 became the basis of many experiments. It was a good recipe, and produces a serviceable puto, but I think that experience taught her a few tricks she didn’t reveal, because try as I might I couldn’t copy hers exactly. As with my many kitchen adventures though, the experimentation couldn’t be done consistently or regularly — family commitments, travel, etc. If you’re a regular reader you’ve read that here before, I’m sure. My most extensive trials were carried out in 2001, when I attempted several batches, utilizing a rice starter that was fed repeatedly — after several good to very good results, I let it die the 4th day after a refreshment. After that, everything was put on hold, except for an occasional trial.
Until November 2007 when my Cebuana friend Cynthia passed along a recipe in one of her cookbooks and asked that I make the puto to go with her dinuguan. It was definitely the right time to try again, as we were entering into Advent and I had planned a leisurely month of almost no school for the kids, and lots of reading and kitchen fun instead for all of us. Cynthia’s recipe is different from Lewing’s recipe in that it includes fermentation periods, albeit shorter than the fermentation periods I had gone up to in
past experiments. Luckily, I still had my notes from 2001 so I did some combining here, some tweaking there, and just went puto-crazy the whole month of December.
Fermented Foods
Fermented foods intended for consumption have been around for centuries. Most likely rice fermentation was a product of necessity — the lack of refrigeration in the old days. People needed to do something with their food to make it keep for longer periods of time. Fermentation allows ingredients or the dishes themselves to develop microorganisms that aid in preserving the food and keep it from spoiling.
Rice starters are the result of fermentation. They are not just used for making puto , however. Many other countries use fermented cake-like preparations (some using rice, others different grains): the Korean jeungpyon and kichudok, the Indonesian tape, the Sri Lankan hopper (appa), the Ethiopian injera and the Sudanese kisra are some examples. Another similar product is the Indian idli, the main difference between that and our puto being the legumes and spices, and sometimes buttermilk, added to idli. (1, 2)
These products have been developed empirically over generations to suit local conditions and the majority involve primarily a lactic acid fermentation, but a detailed understanding of their microbiology is still in its early stages. (2)
Fermented rice is an integral component of soy sauce and wine making. Moldy rice starters called qu in China have also been used to improve the flavor of meat or fish sauces.
The purpose of the preparation of the starter is to grow mold on the rice and/or wheat grains to produce various kinds of enzymes useful in the production of shao-hsing wine. The difference between rice starter and wheat starter is that there is more saccharifying amylase in the former and more protease in the latter. – Rice by Bor Shiun Luh
(Rice starters are also becoming more popular as the number of people that suffer from wheat and other allergies increase. On a celiac board I visited there was talk about a brown rice starter which is on my list of must-try’s, as brown rice is more nutritious than the white with which we grew up.)
[Disclaimer before we continue: Chemistry is not one of my strongest subjects. I am just summarizing here what I've read and trying to convey how *I* understood it. If you see any errors, please feel free to correct and clarify. My main goal is to get a general picture of how the science behind puto -making works.]
puto is basically a steamed cake, prepared from rice ground with water and allowed to ferment. It is this fermentation that causes the production of natural acids and gases and leavens the puto. This becomes the starter, which then is used either to make a first batch of puto , or to inoculate subsequent batches.
Studies of microorganism content after fermentation revealed the presence of the following: Lactic acid bacteria, the most predominant being the heterofermentative Leuconostoc mesenteroides, plus to a lesser degree, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or baker’s yeast. These are the organisms responsible for the fermentation and leavening that produce the unique characteristics of puto. L. mesenteroides initiates the fermentation process. S. cerevisiae is a minor component until the final stage of the fermentation in which it can reach as much as 18% of the total population, resulting in a small amount of ethanol. The yeast together with L. mesenteroides may play an important role in leavening the batter. (4, 5)
[One chart also listed Streptococcus faecalis as one of the microorganisms, but a discussion of its presence and possible deleterious effects (it's already present in our bodies, but can also cause disease) -- would be difficult to cover in this post, so I won't go there -- but do note that I am duly concerned and will write about this again at a later date if I find out anything else. The research simply stated that it was only significant in acid development, although the following quote may explain why we don't get sick from eating puto.]
Lactic acid bacteria are used in the food industry for several reasons. Their growth lowers both the carbohydrate content of the foods that they ferment, and the pH due to lactic acid production. It is this acidification process which is one of the most desirable side-effects of their growth. The pH may drop to as low as 4.0, low enough to inhibit the growth of most other microorganisms including the most common human pathogens, thus allowing these foods prolonged shelf life. The acidity also changes the texture of the foods due to precipitation of some proteins, and the biochemical conversions involved in growth enhance the flavor. The fermentation (and growth of the bacteria) is self-limiting due to the sensitivity of lactic acid bacteria to such acidic pH. (6)
The specific qualities of different kinds of puto are dependent on microflora that are already present in the milled rice, and the kind of rice used. Microorganisms can either be aerobic or anaerobic. That is, they either need oxygen to do what they’re going to do, or not. Lactic acid bacteria are mostly anaerobic. It was found that aerobic bacteria present at the beginning of the fermentations disappeared.
A thorough discussion of fermentation and beneficial yeasts can be found here.
References:
1. Arora, Dilip K. et al. Handbook of Applied Mycology.
2. Lund, Barbara et al. The Microbiological Safety and Quality of Food. 2000
3. Beuchat, Larry R. Food and Beverage Mycology.
4. Rosario, 1987. Cited in Fungal Biotechnology in Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Applications
5. Steinkraus, Keith. Handbook of Indigenous Fermented Foods.
6. http://waksmanfoundation.org/labs/mbl/lactic.html
The recipe, after the jump!
from my old baking blog:
Not a perfect recipe yet, still working on it, but getting close and the kids scarfed it up, especially drizzled with some non-dairy chocolate syrup.
cooking spray, oil or shortening for greasing pan
alternative flour for flouring pan (I used rice flour)
1 cup superfine sugar (or regular sugar, whirled in a blender)
115 grams Spectrum Organics Shortening (no trans-fats, yay!)
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Wheat-Free Biscuit and Baking Mix
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup rice milk
1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)Prepare 9 in x 2 in cake pan — grease, then cover bottom with cut-to-fit parchment, then grease again, then flour. Tap off excess flour and keep pan in refrigerator until ready to use. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream sugar and shortening in mixer bowl, about 30 seconds. Add flour, applesauce, vanilla extract, rice milk, and cocoa powder. Continue beating until combined well, about 3 minutes. Bake for about 40-45 minutes in the middle of the oven. Test cake for doneness using a skewer or cake tester — it should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack 10 minutes. Take knife and carefully slide it around pan to loosen cake. Turn over gently to release cake then turn over again onto plate and set aside to cool.
Changes I’m thinking of making:
try different kinds / a combination of different flours
try it “marbled” — half of the batter mixed with melted non-dairy dark chocolate, then swirled together in the pan before baking.
we haven’t tried it frosted, so that’s also on the list.The cake should be moister and denser than a regular cake, but that’s okay, my kids thought it was good, so yours might like it too. It should not be “wet” though. I made this twice in November, but lost the pics when our desktop crashed.
Since then, I’ve made this cake 3 more times. I’ve learned to make my own cake mix so now instead of using Bob’s Red Mill, I’ve come up with the following formula:
1 cup rice flour
1 cup fava and garbanzo bean flour (I can make the garbanzo bean flour myself, but I haven’t found dried fava beans that I can grind)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
I would make a large batch of this and use it as needed.
In November of this year I also tried varying the spices to make my 9-yo’s birthday cake. Earlier in the month I had made a buttermilk spice layer cake for a friend, so I used the same spices for this and it came out very well. (I’ll blog about that later.)
We also used this for making cupcakes and they turned out well also. I haven’t solved the crust problem — but the inside is so regular-cake-like that an easy solution would be just to lop off the top 1/4 inch or so. I have NOT tried making it into a layered cake. That should be easy enough to do, though the cake may need to be chilled before slicing, frosted, THEN brought to room temp (or cool) before serving.
I’m planning to try it out again sometime in the next two weeks…. maybe layered, with raspberry filling, and a “ganache” of dark chocolate (dairy free) melted in soymilk, and a frosting made with Smart Balance and confectioner’s sugar. Or maybe a Vegenaise-dark chocolate combination. We’ll see.
This was adapted from a Korean cookbook but I forgot now which, sorry. But the whole family loved it (sorry, no pic) so I’m putting it here, so we can cook it again!
3 pounds squid (I have my very own squid-cleaner here at home — my 16-yo dd who actually LIKES cleaning/prepping the stuff, so 3 pounds is nothing to her, plus we need 3 pounds to feed a family of 6 — this will make about a meal and a half.), cleaned, trimmed, cut into bite-size pieces
bunch of scallions, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 carrots, julienned
1 large onion, julienned or sliced thinly
1 package mushrooms (we used the 8-oz package, but we love mushrooms so even the 12-oz or 16-oz won’t be unwelcome), sliced
1-2 spicy Korean peppers (actually I used the hot Japanese pepper that I found at the Japanese store, I think they’re Sapporo but I’m not sure), chopped
3 tablespoons expeller-pressed canola oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes, or 1 1/2 teaspoons Korean hot pepper powder (the stuff they use for making kimchi, and go from there to adjust to the heat you like)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
In a large pot, put all the squid at the bottom, then all the vegetables on top, then the rest of the ingredients on top of the veggies. Saute over HIGH heat for 6 minutes or just until squid is tender. Serve hot over rice. (We use a mixture of brown and white.) So yummy!
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
red food coloring
Cream first two ingredients in mixer bowl at medium speed, then add the egg and extracts, and finally the flour and salt, until well combined. Color half the dough with red food coloring to desired redness. Divide each dough half into 9 equal pieces. Roll into cylinders, then twist around each other and shape into canes. Transfer to greased baking sheets, about 3 canes per sheet. Refrigerate for 10 minutes before baking for 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven. Let cool 5 minutes on the sheets then transfer to racks to cool completely.
Recipe from 
It was a good enough recipe, and made beautiful, enormous candy cane cookies. My biggest concern here is the liberal use of food coloring. I didn’t use the full recommended amount and my cookies still turned out pink and cream instead of red and cream. I won’t be making this again the way the recipe is written just because I know other people have concerns about food coloring (cancer-causing agents, etc.), and I wouldn’t want to feed this to my family either. There are alternatives though — maybe next year I’ll try adding some cranberry concentrate to the batter and see how that affects the color. Or try food coloring from Nature’s Flavors.
We’ve got some, and don’t really want to do another fried rice version. PLEASE.
However, these sound good:
Ham Biscuits — but dh can’t have these, so it’s not going to happen.
But these sound REALLY GOOD!
Corn Soup with Potatoes and Smoked Ham
Rice Noodle Soup with Ham and Lettuce which reminds me of one of my favorite soups, Filipino Hototai/Hototay, but no noodles and lots more goodies to really flavor that soup — I may adapt, or go totally with my own version
Ham with Bourbon, Molasses and Pecan Glaze — if I go with this the pecans will have to go because of allergies, but I’m thinking some pomegranate molasses will have to go in there since I still have that bottle that needs using….
What are you doing with your leftover ham?
1 lb. rice noodles (the dry, flat kind that’s about 1/4- to 1/3=inch thick)
1 1/2 cups large shrimp, peeled, deveined and butterflied
1/4 cup tamarind puree (If you don’t have access to tamarind puree, you can make it by dissolving a 4-inch square of tamarind block/paste in some hot water, then straining the seeds out through a sieve)
4 tablespoons Thai fish sauce, or to taste
3 tablespoons palm sugar (brown sugar is an acceptable substitute), or to taste
4 tablespoons canola oil or other vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 eggs, beaten well
1/4 cup chopped garlic chives, also known as Chinese leeks (the flat kind, with or without buds)
1/4 teaspoon chili powder, or to taste (a pinch or so of cayenne may be substituted)
3 tablespoons ground dried shrimp (or pounded to a coarse powder)
2 tablespoons minced preserved turnip
1/4 cup chopped roasted peanuts
up to 3/4 cup water
2 cups mung bean sprouts, rinsed and spun dry
1/4 cup chopped green onions/scallions
Additional fish sauce and palm sugar, if needed
1 long hot red pepper, seeded if desired (to decrease heat) and sliced into thin slivers or 1/8-inch thick rounds
fresh cilantro/coriander leaves for topping
lime wedges for serving
Soak the noodles according to package directions (I’ve had best results with soaking the noodles for 10 minutes, draining, then soaking again for 10 minutes, at which time it should be drained and cooked).
In a bowl, combine tamarind puree, fish sauce and sugar.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large wok or skillet over high heat. Add garlic and stir for 5 seconds, then add shrimp, continuing to stir-fry, until shrimp is just barely cooked and has turned pink, about 2 minutes. Remove to a bowl and keep warm.
Add 1 tablespoon oil to wok/skillet, then the eggs, and cook, folding and stirring, to scramble, about 1 minute. Remove to a bowl or plate, chop roughly or slice into shreds and keep warm.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to wok/skillet, then the noodles and the garlic chives/Chinese leeks. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes. Add fish sauce mixture, the chili powder, dried shrimp, preserved turnip and half of the peanuts. Stir-fry another 3 minutes, then test for tenderness. If noodles are too dry, add water, 1/4 cup at a time, continuing to stir-fry for a few minutes, until noodles are almost done. Keep testing noodles before adding more water to prevent overcooking. When noodles are almost at the al dente stage, adjust seasonings to taste with fish sauce and palm sugar, then add half of the bean sprouts and half of the green onions/scallions. Return shrimp and eggs to the skillet and toss together with noodles for 3 minutes or so, until eggs and shrimp are heated and noodles are completely cooked.
Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with the remaining peanuts, bean sprouts, green onions and hot pepper shreds/slices. Serve hot with lime wedges on the side.
reposting from an old aboutweblogs.com/asianfood post of mine
I hesitate to call this dish by anything but its generic English name “fried rice”, because fried rice is so ubiquitous in Asian cuisine. They are all variations on the same theme, the Chinese fried rice, “chow fan”, give or take a few ingredients. In Cambodia, it is called Bai Laen Saik Krok, in the Philippines it’s Morisqueta Tostada, in Korea it’s Bokumbap, the Vietnamese call it Com Chien Thap Cam and Thai call it Kao Pad Kon Jon. It’s a very simple dish, ideally made with chilled cooked rice, either leftovers or cooked specifically for this purpose. Use fragrant jasmine rice if it’s available in your area.
Fried Rice with Chinese Pork Sausage (lap xuong or lap chuong)
For 4-6 servings
2 Chinese sausages, sliced crosswise into 1/8-inch thick pieces (can be found at Asian stores in the meat department)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided use
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
6 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup finely chopped green onions/scallions
Steam the Chinese sausage for 5 minutes and set aside. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. When hot but not smoking, add the eggs; quickly tilt the pan all around to spread the eggs, and when set (about 30 seconds) remove to a platter, shred/slice and set aside. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil into the wok or skillet, and set over medium-high heat. When hot but not smoking, add garlic and steamed sausage slices, stir-frying until garlic is just beginning to turn color, 1-2 minutes. Add rice and sprinkle with the salt. Stir and fold rice, pressing gently on any clumps to separate the rice grains. Cook, stirring/folding frequently until rice is hot. Adjust seasoning. You may leave the rice at this point for a few minutes if you want the bottom to develop a crust. (This crust is highly prized in some Asian cuisines.) Fold in the egg shreds and chopped scallions. Serve immediately.
black truffle
tuber melanosporum
parsnips
pastinaca sativa
celery root or celeriac
apium graveolens
Black Truffle Soup
Zuppa di Tartufo Nero
Black Truffle Soup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chopped peeled celery root
1/4 cup sliced leeks (rinsed well)
3/4 cup parsnips, chopped roughly
1 lb. boiling potatoes, peeled and chopped roughly
1 thyme sprig
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 1/2 oz. black truffle
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add celery root, leek, parsnips, potatoes, thyme sprig, salt and water. Simmer, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until almost all the liquid is gone. Stir in the broth and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Puree mixture in a blender until smooth, or use a handheld blender. Clean and peel truffle(s). Mash in a bowl and add to the soup along with the heavy cream. Adjust seasonings to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
[The thyme garnish shown here is thymus serpyllum, a creeping thyme I wintersowed this year and is growing very nicely in the garden.]
