Vietnamese stir fry pasta with beef Nui Xao Thit Bo

 Nui Xao Thit Bo Bam Recipe:

-1 pound of ground beef

-16 oz package of macaroni / pasta

-1 can of tomato paste

-soy sauce

-oyster sauce

-garlic

-onions

-black pepper

-2 chopped tomatoes

-3 chopped green onions

Boil the pasta according to the packaging.  Strain and then add some cooking oli, to prevent pasta sticking to together.  

In a separate pan, sauté the hamburger with soy sauce, garlic, oyster sauce, and chopped onions.  Once the beef is brown all over off stove and set aside.

Sauté the pasta with garlic, onions, oyster, tomato paste, and soy sauce until well mixed and hot for about 3 minutes.  Then add the meat and chopped great onions and tomatoes.  Cook and stir for 2-5 minutes and you are done.  Enjoy. 

Bo Luc Lac / Shaken Beef Recipe: 

500g cubed skirt steak

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp rice wine

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp ground coarse black pepper

1 tsp msg

2 tsp cornflour 

Mix these ingredients well and let sit whilst you prepare the vegetables

2 tbsp oil to fry

1/2 capsicum and red.

1/2 onion cut into squares 

White part spring onion/scallions into cut into small lengths

1 tbsp chopped garlic

Tomatoes, sliced cucumbers and lettuce to garnish.

Heat up wok on high heat add oil and garlic fry until brown, add beef (do 1/2 otherwise you will reduce the temp of oil), fry, shake and toss (I don't have the strength 💪 so I just stir 😂)beef until brown and glossy. Add remaining vegetables shake again for 1-2 minutes and take off heat and serve with red rice.

Garlic knots - White on Rice Couple

HOW TO MAKE GARLIC KNOTS 

Here’s some tips which I’ve found help make things easier when making these garlic knots.

1. Use a Scale.  By using a scale you seriously cut down on clean up (just 1 bowl & 1 spoon needed to make dough!) and it is more accurate.  It also makes it easier to substitute other flours, since the weight ratios usually don’t change much but volume does.

2. Chilled dough (even 15-20 min.) will be easier to handle than a freshly risen one (it is ok to still use the fresh one though)

3. I love our flour sack towels for covering the dough when proofing.

4. Oil and flour both are invaluable to keep dough from sticking.  Usually I’ll use one or the other, but in the forming of the knots I liked using both in coordination.  Oil the board, your hands, and rolling dowel to flatten dough into a rectangle. Slice into 3/4″ strips, then dust board and dough w/ flour to roll into a rope and knot. The oil is great on the outer surfaces of the knots giving a crisper crust when baking, but by using only oil when forming the knots, the dough slips and starts to stick to itself. The flour makes the rolling and knotting easier.  If there is too much flour and it glides around when making the ropes, just dust of excess flour from the board.

INGREDIENTS

DOUGH

1 3/4 cups (415ml) Warm Water (@115°F)

1/4 cup (60ml) Olive Oil

1 teaspoon (5g) Kosher Salt

1 Tablespoon (15g) Sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons (17g) Active Dry Yeast (or 2 active dry yeast packages)

5 1/2 cup (700g) all-purpose, unbleached Flour , approx.

GARLIC COATING

2 Tablespoons (30ml) Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons (30g) unsalted Butter

4 cloves Garlic , finely minced or crushed

1/4 cup (60ml) finely chopped fresh Italian Parsley

Kosher Salt to taste

plus extra Olive Oil and Flour for making the knots

INSTRUCTIONS 

Combine water, 1/4 cup (55g) olive oil, salt, sugar, and active dry yeast in a large resealable container or bowl. Mix to dissolve yeast.

Add flour.  Mix to incorporate flour, cover, and set in a warm spot to proof until doubled in volume (usually 1-3 hrs depending on initial water temp and warmth of proofing area). (A sunny table outside on a warm summer day is perfect for proofing!)

Chill the dough for a bit (will keep fine in fridge for several days if you want to make the dough ahead of time) to make it easier to handle (this can be skipped if you don't have the time) then set up your knotting station.  Put out a large wooden cutting board and oil liberally.  Grab a rolling dowel or pin and oil.  Grab a pizza cutter or something similar to slice dough in strips. Put container of flour within easy reach. Line several sheet pans with parchment paper and place within easy reach.

Oil your hands to help keep dough from sticking to them. Divide the dough in two parts to make it easier to handle.  Take the first half and roll out into an even rectangle approx. 5"x16" and about 1/2" thick. Slice the rectangle into 1/2" wide x 5" long strips.

Sprinkle dough strips and board with flour.  Taking the strip nearest to you, roll it back and forth to create an even rope. Tie into a knot (loop the dough and then take one end over and through the loop) and place on lined sheet pan. Place knots about an 1 1/2" apart.  At first it may seem awkward making the knots but with a little practice it will become easy.  Flour is your friend to help keep the dough from sticking to itself while forming the knots.

Continue making the rest of the knots with the second half of the dough. After each sheet pan fills up, cover with a dry sack towel, and place in a warm, draft-free spot to rise.

Preheat oven to 400° F.

After knots have doubled in size, take off the towel and place knots in the oven.  Bake for approx. 12-15 minutes or until golden.

While knots are baking, make garlic coating.  Gently warm olive oil, butter, and garlic in a small saucepan (if you like your garlic with less of a bite, cook it for a few minutes in oil/butter mix until soft & slightly golden).  Add chopped parsley and set aside.

After removing knots from oven, while still warm, either brush with garlic coating, or place knots in a large bowl and toss with garlic coating. Season with salt to taste. Best served warm, but still good when at room temp.

Steam Pork

 For 4 people, you need 2 salted duck eggs and about 600g (just over a pound) of minced pork. Separate out the whites of the eggs and blend them with the port, a clove of minced garlic, salt and pepper. Spread this mixture out in an even layer on the oiled plate that fits in your steamer. The salted raw yolks are thick and malleable, like dough. Cut each in tow, and flatten each half. Arrange the yolk halves on top of the pork patty and steam the until done. Don't worry about the thickness of the patty as this dish is ery forgiving of an extra few minutes of steaming.

Miso Glazed Salmon

 Ingredients:

Salmon

Miso Paste

Honey

Soy

Rice wine vinegar

Ginger 

Mirin

Water

Directions:

Mix the miso paste, a bit of hot water, honey, soy, rice wine vinegar, grated ginger (can use microplane), and mirin in a bowl to taste. If you're missing any of the ingredients (besides the miso), feel free to substitute. Honey and mirin can be replaced by brown sugar, etc. It's ok to omit some ingredients, main thing is the miso and something sweet.

Put the mixture in the microwave just long enough so that it thickens up a bit. It shouldn't take long

Put the salmon on some foil to make a cleanup a cinch

Brush half of the glaze onto the salmon and pop it under a broiler for about 15 minutes. Toaster oven is ok too

After 15 minutes, take the fish out and brush on another layer of glaze and pop it back under the broiler until the fish has cooked through. It might be another 15 minutes, depends on the how thick your fish is and how strong your broiler is.

*Salmon: Easiest way to cook salmon is to use a toaster oven (if you have one). Lightly wrap the salmon in the aluminum foil, then toast at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, give or take. The foil keeps in the moisture and the toaster oven keeps it fast. Plus, easy clean up.

Pecan Rolo Pretzels

 Make as many as you want (or until you runout of one or more ingredients. A bag of Rolos has about 56 of them in there.)

1 bag of mini pretzels (I used Snyders - supper yummy and crisp)

12 oz bag of Rolo chocolates

1 bag of pecan halves

Preheat oven to 250. On a cookie sheet, neatly lay out pretzels, single layer. On top of each pretzel place an unwrapped rolo on top. Carefully place in the oven for 4 minutes. Remove. Immediately take pecan halves and squish them onto the rolo. Squishing the caramel out and making the pecan stick.

Cool for 15 minutes, and then place in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes, until the caramel hardens.

Pack up and give these away before you eat them all.

(Single bag of Rolo on sale is $3, normal price is $3.50)

Khao Soi - Pim (Nothern Chicken Curry Noodle)

 For the chicken curry:

3-4 pounds chicken, cut into large pieces (or you could use 2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 breast pieces, about 3 pounds altogether)

4-5 Tbsp. Red Curry Paste

2 Tbsp. Oil

3 cups Coconut Milk

1 tsp. Curry Powder

1/2 tsp. Turmeric Powder

1 brown (or black) cardamom, crushed or ground (optional)

1 - 1 1/2 cups of water or chicken stock

a pinch of sugar

Fish sauce to taste

The rest of the ingredients

About 6-7 (loosely packed) cups of Chinese egg noodles

5 shallots, (very) thinly sliced

1 package of Chinese pickled mustard green, rinsed and thinly sliced

3-4 cups oil for frying

6 dried chillies

3 limes, cut into slivers

a handful of cilantro, chopped

First you make the chicken curry:

1. Into a hot heavy bottom pot, add the oil and the red curry paste, curry powder and turmeric and cook, stirring vigorously, for a few minutes until the curry paste is fragrant. Be careful not to burn the paste.

2. Add 1 cup of coconut milk, stir to blend and let the pan come back to a boil. Let it bubble for a few minutes over high heat, stirring often, until you see the red oil separating from the coconut milk mixture. Add the second cup of coconut milk, again wait until the oil separate.

3. Add the chicken pieces to the pan, with the 1 cup water and the rest of the coconut milk. Let the pan come back to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer.

4. Add the fish sauce, starting with 2 Tbsp. Close the lid and let it simmer until the chicken is done. Check the  seasonings, you might need to add more fish sauce. The flavor of the curry should be salty, spicy, and with a very slight after taste of sweetness. When you taste the curry at this stage, it should be a bit saltier than what you would like the final dish to taste like. If it is under-salted now, the addition of the other ingredients at serving time will make it even more insipid.

Then you deal with the noodles and the rest of the garnish:

5. Take 1 cup of the noodle, fluff up until the strands are separated. Fry a little bit at a time in a pan with very hot oil until golden, you will need to flip the noodle once in the pan to get the same color on both sides. Set aside.

6. Use the oil to fry up the dried chilli, very quickly, be careful not to let them burn. Set aside.

7. Slice the shallots, rinse and slice the mustard greens, cut up the limes, chop the cilantro. Set aside.

To serve. 

8. After the chicken curry is done, heat up a large pot of water to a full boil. Rinse the rest of the fresh noodles first in cold water to wash out the excess starch, then cook in the very hot boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Stir the noodles well to prevent sticking.

9. Put some cooked noodles in a bowl, top with the curry, and the garnish to taste. Squeeze some lime juice into the bowl just before eating. You could add the fried chilies if you want more heat.