Pickled Cucumber and Carrots

Pickled Cucumber and Carrots:

In a large glass bowl mix:
3-5 garlic cloves finely diced
1-2 Thai chilis finely diced
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup hot water (hot water will dissolve the sugar

Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly and put in jar or glass bowl

1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 teaspoons kimchee base spicy chili sauce (Momoya brand)
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes
10 Persian cucumbers sliced or 2-4 regular large cucumbers.

*optional to add 1/2 sliced red onions

(Make sure that your cucumbers are clean. I soak in salt water for an hour and scrub the skin and rinse)

- Refrigerate for a few hours.

***You can adjust the amount of kimchee base sauce, salt, garlic, rice vinegar and chilis to your preference.

John's Fish & Shrimp Soup

Recipe from John Stacy, Facebook

1 7 oz can Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 lbs shrimp w/head and shells on. 
8-10 fish fillets (white meat fish- tilapia, cod, halibut).
4-6 cloves garlic
2 large white onions quartered
5 large tomatoes quartered 
4 guajillo dried chili pods
6 white potatoes quartered
3 chayote squash quartered
3 celery stalks finely diced
2 extra large/thick stew carrots (or 6 normal carrots) cut. 1" chunks
1 bunch cilantro diced
1 bunch Italian Parsley diced
1 bunch Epozote diced
1 red bell pepper diced

-Remove shrimp heads and shells and place in bowl. 
-Remove the "vein" and rinse the shrimp and set aside in bowl (refrigerate).

In a large deep pot:
20 cups filtered water
Shrimp heads and shells
2 tablespoons Knorr chicken flavor bouillon powder
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon oregano 
Bring to rolling boil and cook for 30-40 min med high heat.
Strain out the shrimp heads/shells broth and set aside liquid in a large pot.

In a small pot: 
4 guajillo peppers (remove stems and seeds). 
Add 3-4 cups water and bring to a rolling boil.
Set aside (don't throw away guajillo liquid).

In a food processor or blender:
Add 4 large quartered tomatoes, garlic, onion, guajillo peppers, can of chipotle peppers, salt and guajillo liquid and blend fine. (You may need to do it in two batches to process).
Strain into a large bowl.

In large pot:
On high heat
2-3 tablespoons oil 
Add 3 small white onions sliced
Add 3 celery stalks finely diced
3 Bay Leaves
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspooon ground coriander
Salt
Pepper 
Saute for 3 minutes

Add the strained chipotle, guajillo & tomato liquid (8-9 cups approx).
Bring to a boil.
Add carrots, chayote squash and potatoes cook for 15 minutes.
Add chopped Cilantro, Italian Parsley and Epazote (1 cup each).
Add shrimp broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce to medium heat.
Add fish fillets cook 5 minutes.
Add shrimp cook 5 minutes and then reduce to low simmer.
-Garnish with diced white onions and diced cilantro 
Enjoy!

Mango Sticky Rice

Recipe from Katie Le, Katie's Test Kitchen

Katie Le: Mango Sticky Rice (Pot in pot method)
Omg... it's amazing! My family ate it all so I'm cooking a second batch! Toddlers keep wanting more.  We eat this a lot at Thai restaurants and I think I have successfully replicated it.

The best part about this method is nothing sticks to the inner pot. Easy cleanup!

Ingredients:

Rice (serves about 4)
- 1 cup of sweet rice
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon of cooking oil (I used olive)
- 1/2 cup of coconut milk
- 1.5 table spoons of sugar

Coconut Sauce (pour over rice before serving)
- Remainder coconut milk from the 400 ml can
- 2 table spoons of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon of corn starch and mix with 2 teaspoons of water.
- Toasted sesame to garnish

1. Wash and rinse sweet rice well. Pour in ramekin bowl (can use pyrex or anything that can sustain high heat). Add water, oil and salt. Place trivet and pour 1 cup of sink water to inner pot. Place ramekin bowl on trivet. Close lid, select manual, high pressure, 10 minutes. While the rice is cooking, mix 1/2 cup of coconut milk and 1.5 table spoons of sugar. Set mixture aside to wait for rice.

2. For the coconut sauce to pour on before serving, heat pan on stove top and add remainder coconut milk, 2 table spoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Once sauce is hot, slowly add the corn starch with water mixture to thicken the sauce. Whisk well, bring to a boil and set aside.

3. Once rice is cooked, quick release. Pour in the coconut milk and sugar mixture (from step 1) and stir well. Close lid and let it "keep warm" for 10 minutes for the rice to absorb the sauce.


4. For presentation, slice mango preferably a riped one. Scoup rice and drizzle coconut sauce (from step 2). Add toasted sesame and serve! I like my rice warm with a lot of coconut sauce! Enjoy and go on a diet another day.


Recipe from Katie T. La, Facebook

I used the rice cooker because that’s all I can do right now, so I soaked it in coconut sauce afterwards for 45 minutes, then drizzled more on before eating

Mango with sticky rice
2 c sweet rice
1 1/2 c water
1/2 tsp salt
After cooking, let sit for 25 minutes untouched
Fluff with chopsticks

Coconut sauce:
2 cups coconut cream
4 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pour 1 1/2 cups into rice and let soak for 45 minutes

Save remaining to drizzle on later

Serve with mangos and toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Recipe from Lisa Longanisa, Facebook

1 mango
1 can coconut milk (reserve 1/4 cup for sauce)
1 1/2 cup sweet rice (rinsed and drained)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
Sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:
Wash rice and let soak for at least an hour before using.
In a saucepan bring the coconut milk, rice, water, sugar & salt on low heat until the liquid evaporates (with lid on)
For the sauce: (use reserve) 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 tsp tapioca starch in a saucepan; bring to a boil.


Notes: Coconut cream for sticky rice - I use 1 can cream of coconut (14 oz.), 1/4 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 heaping teaspoon tapioca starch, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well and simmer tills gently boil

Steaming sticky rice -  I soak overnight and then steam it in a bamboo steamer wrapped in cheesecloth. Hint: Make sure that you wet your cheesecloth first with water before putting the rice on it or it will stick and be harder to separate the rice and cloth after steaming.

Rice in Instant Pot - Next time try 2 c and 1 1/3 c water with 1/4 tsp salt. Always turns out just the right consistency for me.

VIETNAMESE CARAMELIZED PORK - THIT KHO TAU

Adapted from this recipe: katies test kitchen

Thịt Kho Tàu Instant Pot (Vietnamese Caramelized Pork and Eggs)

Author: Katie Le | Katie’s Test Kitchen

Ingredients

2 lbs of Pork Picnic, Butt or Belly (cut into large chunks, 1-2 inches thick)
1 dozen eggs
1 shallot (minced)
4 green onions (white part smashed and minced for marinade, green part chopped for garnishes)
Fish sauce (I used Red Boat. Another good brand is 3 Crabs)
Sugar
Ground pepper
Coconut Caramel Sauce for color (make your own if you wish), see FAQ #8 for photo reference
3 cups of Coco Rico Soda (or coconut water)
1 cup of water
red chili to garnish

Directions

Parboil pork for 5-10 minutes on the stove top. Rinse well with sink water and pat dry. In a mixing bowl add 4 tbsp of fish sauce, 3 tbsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of ground pepper (more or less to your taste) and 1/4 tsp of coconut caramel sauce. Mix marinade well and add chopped white part onion and minced shallot. Toss the pork into the marinade and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for an hour or more.

For the eggs, place on a trivet/steamer basket. Add about 2 cups of water to inner pot. Select Manual/Pressure Cook, High Pressure, 4 minutes. Quick release when cook time is over. Gently remove eggs and drop them into an ice bath for 5 minutes. Peel and set aside.

Add pork along with the marinade sauced into inner pot. Gently add peeled eggs. Pour 3 cups of Coco Rico Soda, 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of fish sauce. Select Manual/Pressure Cook, High Pressure, 30 minutes, 10 minutes NPR.

Once Cook Time is over, wait additional 10 minutes then Quick Release and open lid.  Taste the sauce and make adjustments with sugar and/or fish sauce if necessary [If the sauce is too bland for you add more fish sauce; if it’s too salty, add more sugar and/or dilute with water]. Please adjust to you taste!  Garnish with chopped green onion and fresh chili. Serve with rice, raw vegetables (cucumber and tomato), boiled vegetables (broccoli and chayote) or pickled Mustard Greens!

NOTES:

Marinate cut up in cubes a whole pork shoulder for roughly 30 mins to 1 hour in 4 tablespoons of fish sauce, 3 tablespoons sugar, half teaspoon of black pepper, 4 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 chopped onion. (I add alittle Sirracha)

During that time I boil 18 eggs and peel (optional 2 quail eggs in a can)

After marinating I shear the pork in a pot For browning before putting it in the insta pot.

After all meat is seared I cook 3 cans of coco rico to get the cooked caramel off the cooked pot and dump it with the eggs in the instant pot. Set insta pot on pressure cook on high with 35 mins.

FYI It can last for a week. I sometimes freeze half for yummies meals later

Newport Seafood's house special lobster

Recipe from Vietnamese Home Cooking Enthusiasts, Facebook

Today, I attempt to make the house special lobster like the ever-so-popular Tân Cảng Newport restaurant in Santa Ana. With no access to fresh/live lobster, I have to settle for lobster tails at HEB. I bought a total of 10 tails and asked the HEB butcher guy to cut each lobster tails into 3 pieces. 

Recipe:
10 lobster tails (about 3lbs)
2 bundles green onion (chop thick/roughly)
2-3 jalapenos/serrano peppers (thick slices)
2-3 TBSP roughly minced garlic
Corn starch to generously coat lobster

Sauce:
3 TBSP oyster sauce 
1 TBSP fish sauce (Squid brand)
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP black pepper
2 TBSP sugar
1 1/4 cup water

Combine and set aside. I find that using hot water helps to dissolve the sugar easier.

Direction:

1. Clean lobster and drain well.

2. Prep and chop all above ingredients and set aside. 

3. Heat enough oil to about 350° for deep fry.

4. Coat lobster generously with cornstarch and deep fry in oil. Do not stir the lobster too much as you will lose the flour coating. Wait for the lobster to float to the top. That's when the lobster is cooked. Remove and leave in a colander to drain excess oil.

5. Heat a wok with 2-3 TBSP oil at med-high heat and stir fry garlic until fragrant. Add in 1/2 of green onion and 1/2 of jalapenos. Keep stir fry for 2-3 min.

6. Add in lobster and stir fry for another 2-3 min to coat well with the garlic.

7. Now add in the sauce mixture and stir fry to combine well. It will be saucy. No worries! 

8. Close the lids and cook for about 3 minutes or until the sauce reduces down. This will allow the lobster to absorb the sauce.

9. Add in the rest of the green onion and jalapenos and stir fry for another minute to combine. Done!

肥媽靚湯 Chinese Soups

Chicken Feet Peanut Soup

Chicken Feet
1 rice bowl of peanuts
眉豆 Black eye peas 
1 蜜棗Indian Jujube

Blanch the chicken feet, let it boil for at least 2 minutes

Add Cleaned chicken feet, peanuts, black eye peas and Indian jujube to pot. Add hot water and let it boil for 10 minutes. Lower to simmer and let it cook for another 2 hours.


Pork Bone, Carrot and Corn Soup

Pork bones
1 big carrot
2 corn (keep husk)

Blanch the pork bones.

Add pork bones, carrots, corn to the pot. Twist the corn husk into a knot and add to pot as well. Add water and let boil for 10 minutes. Lower to simmer and let it cook for 2 hours.


Chayote and Chicken Soup

Chicken wings (or chopped chicken)
Ginger (1 big chunk, a little bit more is ok)
Chayote - cut in big cubes
Fish sauce
Shao Shing wine

Heat pot, add a little oil, and add the sliced ginger. Stir fry for a bit. Add chicken and brown chicken in ginger and oil. Don't move the chicken around too much so it can brown.

Add chayote, fish sauce and shao shing wine. Add hot water. 

Let the water boil till the squash is soft and cooked.

Korean Short Rib with Minute Maid concentrate

From Vietnamese Cooking Group, Facebook

Per 4 pounds of the Korean 3 bone meat : ACTUALLY THE CHEAPER MEAT WITH MOST FATS IS PREFERRED I DON’T like lean. Fat is good!!!!

1.Use 2/3 bag of the lemon grass(xa) the one larger than sandwich bag.
2.Use 1/2 bottle of the #1 Korean CJ BBQ BULGOLGI that has the apple 🍎 🍐 (larger plastic bottle)
3.Use 1/2 bottle of the #1 Korean BBQ KALBI that has the apple 🍎 🍐 (larger plastic bottle)
4.add a pinch of Himalayan pink salt ( if you don’t want organic vegan or healthy go with the other kosher salt. I didn’t have so had to made do with plain table salt )
SALT WILL bring all the flavors out and the vietnamese term for it is Dam Da.
5.Last step is also the secret ingredient use Minute Maid country or Tropicana premium concentrate with the PULP.

6.Make sure you massage it in deep and let the marinate seap and soak in all submerged under the marinate overnight.
7.In the morning take 1 small piece microwave to see taste. I guarantee taste is spot on perfection. This is different from american seasoning with mainly salt and pepper. Try it like this don’t MODIFY what is PERFECT .
8.Grilled on wooden charcoal if not regular charcoal but gas grill doesn’t give that great flavor.
9.ENJOY🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Bon appetit

Irene Kuo's 1-2-3-4-5 Spare Ribs

Recipe from Irene Kuo

"This is a lighthearted title for an extremely easy and delectable dish—the 1 to 5 referring to the simmering ingredients. The sauce-coated meat is succulent, with a deep sweet and sour flavor. The dish serves 2 or 3 amply when accompanied by rice and a stir-fried leafy vegetable or a crisp salad. The ribs are also good as an appetizer." —Irene Kuo 

For Beef Shank: Her immediate response was: 1-2-3-4-5 beef, a shank simmered with rice wine, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and water. The “1-2-3-4-5” corresponded to a Chinese soup spoon ratio of ingredients in the order that she’d rattled off.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds meaty spare ribs (ask the butcher to slice them into individual ribs and cut each rib crosswise into 3 pieces)
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons water

Directions

Put the ribs in a skillet or saucepan and set it over high heat; add the rest of the ingredients and stir to mingle. When the liquid comes to a boil, adjust heat to maintain a very gentle simmering, and cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir and turn the spareribs from time to time. Uncover and turn heat high to bring the sauce to a sizzling boil; stir rapidly until the sauce is all but evaporated. Serve hot. Note: It’s best (and easiest!) to ask your butcher to do the cutting, but if you find yourself with whole ribs, you can either carefully chop them yourself with a sturdy cleaver, meaty side down, or leave them whole. Left whole, they’ll be harder to stir and coat evenly and might look a little funny as the meat shrinks up on the bone, but it works fine in a pinch.

*Insider Family Tips
The recipe from The Key to Chinese Cooking was dead simple except for the part about chopping the spare ribs through the bone into small pieces. Jim pointed out that Irene always used a heavy knife to prep whole chicken and small-boned cuts of meats. But what happens to lingering bone bits?

Her tip to her son was this: Wipe away bone fragments with a cloth or paper towel, and as needed, snip off sharp edges where bones have splintered.

Knowing my cleaver limits and wanting to avoid disasters, I headed to my local butcher, picked out a rack of St. Louis–style ribs and had him saw it through the bone into narrow strips. Then it was just a matter of cutting the rib strips into individual riblets and adding everything to a saucepan. I chose a low 2 1/2–quart pan that would allow the riblets to evenly cook in one layer.

The sherry, soy sauce, cider vinegar, and sugar lent an incredible combination of flavors: bitter, salty, sour, and sweet. The water facilitated initial cooking, but at the end of the line, the pork released its fat to gently fry the flesh and concentrate the seasonings around the dark-and-handsome riblets.

It was transformative to say the least—minimal-ingredient cooking at its best.

Bulletproof & Versatile
The genius of this recipe lies in its elasticity. For example, if you forget to have the butcher cut the ribs, they’ll be harder to stir in the pan. The meat shrinks up so much around the bone that they’ll resemble high-water pants. But even with an oversight like that, the ribs will still taste fine.

For the dry sherry, use a Fino or Amontillado style. You can also use Shaoxing rice wine, which wasn’t well known in America in 1977, when Irene’s cookbook was published.

Chinese dark soy sauce has a touch of molasses to impart a rich mahogany color to dishes. Pearl River Bridge is my go-to brand. When it’s not available, substitute a 2:1 ratio of full-sodium soy sauce (such as Kikkoman) to molasses.

Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋

Recipe from Chichihehe

Ingredients:

• 10 to 15 or so eggs, hard boiled, shells gently cracked, not pealed*
• 4 c. (1 L.) of water
• 1 T salt
• 2/3 c. (150 ml) soy sauce
• 1/2 oz (15 g.) Oolong 烏龍茶 or black tea 紅茶
• homemade spice mix/pack**, see options below

Spice Option 1: 5 spice 五香滷水滷包 (the complicated option)

• 3 g. 花椒 sichuan peppercorns (~1 t)
• 2 g. 丁香 whole cloves (~1/2 t)
• 2 g. 小茴香 fennel seeds (~1/2 t)
• 6 g. 八角 star anise (~4 pieces)
• 4 g. 桂皮 stick cinnamon (1 stick)
• 4 g. 甘草 licorice root (~4-5 pieces)

Spice Option 2: Basic (the easy one)

• 2 slices of ginger root
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 3 star anise
• 2 or 3 pieces of dried tangerine peel
• 1 t of sichuan peppercorns 0r cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Put the eggs, water, salt, soy sauce, tea, and spice mix/pack into a non reactive pot. Make sure all the eggs are covered by the liquid and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Turn off heat leave all the ingredients in the pot and let the eggs soak for at least 2 hours (I prefer 5hours or more).
3. Serve the eggs or store them in the fridge in the liquid. (The liquid can be frozen and reused)

notes *Boiling eggs. I prefer the following method; put eggs in a pan with enough cold water to cover by 1 inch. Turn heat to med-high bring eggs to a boil and turn off the heat and let the eggs sit in the water for 10 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. When cool enough to handle gently crack the shells with the back of a spoon… Also as you will notice by the following that the Taiwanese seem to boil their eggs a little differently; They use 10 eggs, 1 L of water, 2 T of salt and boil according to the following directions: 將雞蛋，水，鹽一起放入鍋中， 開小火慢慢煮滾，滾約 3分鐘後再將雞蛋取出用冷水沖涼。I didn’t really notice much of a difference in the outcome.

** Spices can be put into a spice bag or a large mesh tea ball for convenience, but this is not absolutely necessary.

Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)

Recipe from itsmydish

Ingredients
2 cup of ground pork
1 box of tofu (medium to firm)
½ cup of chili bean sauce
1 tsp of Sichuan pepper powder (optional)
1 tbsp of sugar
1 cup of broth or water
1 tbsp of cornstarch
1 tbsp of water

Instructions
Mince garlic and ginger

Dice tofu

Heat up a pan with medium heat, add 2 tbsp of oil, stir fry garlic and ginger until aromatic

Add 2 cups of ground pork, stir fry ground pork until it is cooked

Add ½ cup of the chili bean sauce, stir fry until the color is even

Add Sichuan pepper powder (optional)

Add 1 box of diced tofu and 1 cup of broth or water

Stir carefully by pushing toward the center, bring to boil

Make the cornstarch slurry by mixing 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 1 tbsp of water

Garnish with green onions

Taiwan braised pork - 台式肉燥飯

Recipe from Candice-kitchen.blogspot.com

材料：(2人份量)
免治豬肉………1盒(約600g)
紅蔥頭(切小粒)……..約6粒
蒜頭(切小粒)….........….1粒
雞蛋……………….........1隻
鹽(如需要)……………少許
蔥粒(裝飾用)………....少許
白飯…………………....2碗

調味料：
萬字醬油………......…2湯匙
老抽……………........半湯匙
紹興酒…………….….2湯匙
冰糖…………….....….1小粒
白胡椒粉………........…少許
水…………………約150 ml


1) 把免治豬肉洗淨後，隔乾水待用

2) 紅蔥頭及蒜頭切粒待用

3) 下油，油起煙，以中小火爆香紅蔥頭

4) 爆香紅蔥頭後，盛起待用

5) 下油，以中小火爆香蒜蓉粒，再放入免治豬肉

6) 一齊炒勻至豬肉變色熟透

7) 放入調味料內的所有材料：

• 萬字醬油 Kikkoman soy sauce
• 一小粒冰糖，可自行調較甜度及試味
• 紹興酒
• 水約150 ml (如果喜歡醬汁稀一點，可多加50 ml至100 ml的水)
• 老抽
• 白胡椒粉

8) 醬料材料拌勻後，把醬料以中火煮滾

9) 加蓋以中小火煲約10-12分鐘至醬汁變成「杰身」

10) 最後加入已炒好的紅蔥頭碎拌勻

11) 把醬汁煮至自己喜歡的濃度，加入少許的鹽調味後肉燥醬汁就完成，記得先試味！我喜歡這個濃稀度，帶點醬汁，但又不會過稀，才是最好吃！

12) 用滾水煲熟雞蛋約5分鐘

13)  預備熱騰騰的白飯，雞蛋切半放上飯面淋上肉燥醬汁，灑上蔥花，非常簡易就完成咯！