Catfish braised in caramel sauce - Ca kho to

For a 1.5 to 2# small-medium catfish (skin off, split the head for the Canh Chua, filets 1" to 1.5" thick)

Ingredients:
3 Pho spoon egg roll sauce
2 Pho spoon fish sauce
1 Pho spoon oyster sauce
1 small yellow onion finely diced or 2 bigger hanh huong (purple shallot)
4 garlic cloves finely minced
1 tsp Nuoc Mau (or make caramel sauce or use a bottled caramel sauce)

Steps:
Add EVOO into a wide, shallow pan and add in the onions and then the garlic until fragrant

Add in the egg roll sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce, stirring to mix everything up and letting it gently simmer so that the flavors meld together.

Add black pepper to taste and then the nuoc mau (nuoc mau does change the taste, so mix it all in then adjust the seasoning to your preference)

Add the fish and cover the pan for 4 minutes (sauce should not be boiling because you will burn the sauce... gently simmering only) 

Flip the fish only once, scooping the sauce onto the surface so that it doesn't dry out

Cover the pot for another 5 - 7 minutes until done.

Serve garnished with green onions.

Braised pork belly - Thit kho

Recipe from Kim Nguyen-Aguilar, Asian Home Cooking, Facebook

Instant Pot thit kho

Make as many hard boiled eggs as you like (I also made them in the IP)

Cut up into cubes about 2 lbs or so of pork belly and/or pork shoulder 

Set IP on sauté mode: add 2 tbls sugar and quarter cup water and heat until it caramelizes, adding more water as necessary 

Toss in meat and coat with caramelized sugar, add a handful of onions and a couple cloves of garlic

Add to the pot a couple tbls of fish sauce, salt, and pepper

Add about half a can of Rico coconut soda and enough water to just cover meat

Cook on manual 20 minutes, then NPR 

Release remaining pressure and change to sauté to reduce liquid (Add in eggs at this point)

Take a package of pickled mustard greens and rinse and chop, toss into pot

Serve over jasmine rice

Tips: It would be yummier had I seasoned the meat with a little salt and pepper before caramelization (I hadn't planned on making it so it was last minute), I originally cooked mine 25 min and it was too long, the meat was too tender and falling apart everywhere.

Sticky Chinese Ribs

Recipe adapted from Seonkyoung Longest  Chinese Style BBQ Ribs

Chinese Style BBQ Ribs 1 rack of ribs 7 to 8 cups water 1 whole garlic, halves 1/2 inch ginger 1/2 onion 2 green onion 1/2 cup sake (rice wine) 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 teaspoon black pepper corns 2 bay leaves 1 small carrot, halves Combine all ingredients in a large pot, cover with a lid, bring to boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium, cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes. When the ribs are almost ready, start make the BBQ sauce! 1 Tablespoon hoisin sauce 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce 2 teaspoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon sriracha 1 Tablespoon white vinegar 1/3 cup honey Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Whisk until mixed well together. After my ribs and sauce were ready, put on grill for browning.

Notes for Instant Pot:

Adjustments: used St. Louis Style Spare ribs. Used 2 cups water and 1/3 cup rice wine. Set IP to manual 20 min and quick released. Placed ribs on roasting pan and brushed sticky sauce over each rib. Broiled high 5-6 min, brushing more sauce on halfway.

Katsu-don 〜かつ丼 〜

Recipe from Asian Home Cooking, Facebook

Pork cutlet ( Tonkatsu) Rice Bowl ( donburi ) is a very popular rice bowl in Japan.

This is a dish that is made when the you / kids have a important tests, soccer / volleyball / wrestling / judo matches etc...the next day. Katsu means to win and many carry on the superstition by eating the Katsu for good luck.

1. Cut the crispy pork katsu in thick slices and set aside

2. mise en place: sliced onions (half), 4 eggs plus 1 egg for later, chopped green scallions, and the sauce 〜bonito stock 7 Tablespoons, soy sauce 2 Tablespoons, mirin 2 Tablespoons, sake 2 Tablespoons, sugar 1 Tablespoon

3. Put the onions and the soy sauce mixture in a #5 cast iron skillet . Cook until it the onions soften a bit and simmer.

4. Add the sliced Katsu.

5. Then add the 4 beaten eggs and cover until the eggs firm up a bit.

6. Then add 1 beaten egg and sprinkle the scallions , cover and turn the heat off.

7. Serve on a big bowl of rice and eat

Notes: 
* Put the katsu on top of the sauce with the onions , not submerged all the way. Only the beaten egg will be covering the katsu. If you use leftover katsu without crisping it up, some have experienced the panko crust to separate while cooking.

*Best would be if you fry the katsu right before but that never happens in our house. We fry a bunch of katsu and eat it with thinly sliced cabbage the first night, make some katsu sandwiches for lunch and make katsu don or katsu curry for dinner the next night.

Thai mango sticky rice

Recipe from Asian Home Cooking, Facebook

Rice:
1 cup glutinous rice soaked for 1 hour (can do without soaking or up to 4 hours soaking, but after trying few different times, I find 1-2 hours is how we like it)
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
Few pandan leaves (optional but they give a wonderful fragrance)
Toasted sesame seeds to garnish
Mangoes to top

Coconut sauce:
1 cup coconut cream
Up to 1/4 cup sugar depending on personal taste
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all rice ingredients except mangoes & sesame seeds in the Instant Pot and set on rice mode. NPR natural pressure release. Remove liner from Instant Pot to avoid sticking.

Meanwhile gently simmer coconut cream, sugar, and salt till bubbles start surfacing.

Remove pandan leaves from cooked rice.

Keep 1/4 cup sauce for serving & pour the rest over the rice. Mix thoroughly. Let it absorb for at least 30 mins.

Serve with mango, garnished with toasted sesame seeds and a topping of reserved coconut sauce.

Chicken with creamed corn

Recipe is from Rosie Wong, Asian Home Cooking, Facebook

It's a Hong Kong style dish that you'd find often at Cantonese cafe.

Chicken, diced
Canned cream of chicken
Canned corn kernels
Egg
Rice

1 - stir fry the chicken. Add garlic powder, ginger powder and pepper for more flavoring (optional)
2 - add cream of chicken and corn kernels. Let simmer for a few minutes
3 - make a slurry with water and corn starch, add to the mixture to thicken the sauce
4 - crack 1-2 eggs in it and let it simmer for a few minutes more
5 - (optionally) add soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. Serve over rice.

Variations:  I use cream style corn, corn kernels, chicken and chicken broth to make the soup. Crack an egg into it at the end.

Chicken Papaya Soup - Instant Pot

Recipe from Erica Ho, Asian Home Cooking, Facebook

1 stew hen (fat trimmed, blanched)
1 green papaya (peeled, seeded, cut into chunks)
3 slices of ginger
10 cups of water

Add all ingredients to the Instant Pot. 60 minute high pressure. Natural release. 

I tried cooking stew hen for 30 minutes before but the meat was still a bit chewy, so I bumped it up to 60 this time. The meat texture is better and the papaya almost tastes like sweet potato. 

No salt or any other seasoning for me but it's a personal preference. 

*Can use pork ribs instead of chicken

Stir Fried Green Beans with Ground Pork

豆角炒肉末 Recipe from Omnivores Cookbook

Ingredients

Marinade
4 ounces (120 grams) ground pork (or ground turkey or ground beef)
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or Japanese sake, or dry sherry)
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce (or soy sauce)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Stir fry
1 tablespoon peanut oil (or vegetable oil0
1/4 cup chopped green onion (or onion)
1/2 pound (230 grams) green beans
2 tablespoons doubanjiang spicy fermented bean paste (*see footnote)
1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions
Combine ground pork, Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, and ginger in a small bowl. Mix well and let marinate for 5 minutes.

Snip tough ends from the green beans and discard ends. Chop into 2/3-cm (1/4-inch) pieces.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet (or a wok) and heat over medium heat until warm. Add green onion. Cook until it starts to sizzle. Add ground pork. Cook and stir until the surface is cooked. Add doubanjiang. Continue stirring until mixed well.

Add green beans. Stir to mix well, cooking for 1 minute.

Cover skillet and turn to medium low heat. Cook until the green beans are cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes. You typically won’t need to add water during this process. But if you’re using oyster sauce or hoisin sauce to replace the spicy bean paste, it might get burnt if the skillet is too hot. Uncover and check on the beans every 1 minute. If they’re drying out too much, swirl in 2 tablespoons water, cover, and continue cooking.

Transfer to a serving plate and serve warm over steamed rice (or boiled noodles, or top on noodle soup).

Save the leftovers in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for up to 2 days. To reheat, you can use the microwave or a skillet.

Notes:
The dish will be quite spicy if you use 2 tablespoons of doubanjiang. For a less spicy dish, replace 1 tablespoon doubanjiang with 1 tablespoon oyster sauce or hoisin sauce

Taiwanese egg crepe 蛋餅

Recipe from Food52 by Lady and Pups

Makes: 10 ~ 11 crepes

Ingredients

Crepes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
5 tablespoons finely diced scallion, or chives
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 4/5 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
eggs batter

8 large eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Ground white pepper for dusting

Directions

Mix together flour, tapioca starch, finely diced chives (or scallions), sugar, salt, black pepper and white pepper in a bowl. Add the water and vegetable oil, and whisk vigorously until the mixture is smoothly combined without any lumps. Set it aside to rest for at least 30 min. 

Prepare a flat, shallow and round non-stick skillet. There are two ways of forming the crepes. You could either start with a cold pan, add the batter and swirl the pan to let the batter run in different directions to form a circle. Or you could start with a hot pan, and use a wooden “T-shape” stick to spread the batter into a circle. I find that the wooden stick method is easier because this is quite a thick batter to let “swirl”, and I’m not psyched of the idea of cooling down the pan for every new crepe. So I made my own T-stick by sticking two disposable chopsticks together, which has proven to be a flimsy, one-time-use-only device that was released from its duty right after this. But I thought it did the job pretty well. 

Heat up the non-stick skillet over medium heat. Depending on the size of your pan, add enough batter so it can be spread into a thin crepe that fits the diameter of the pan. Use the T-shape stick to swirl over the batter and spread it out. This will take a couple of practices but after the second (or third…) one, it would all come together. Let the crepe toast on the pan until some bubbles start to form and rise up. Flip the crepe over when the first side starts to brown, and do the same for the other side. When both sides are slightly browned, it can be taken out of the pan and cool on a plate. Repeat this for the rest of the batter. PS, These crepes can be frozen for whenever they are needed. Just insert a piece of parchment paper in between each crepe, slide into an air-tight bag and freeze. 

When ready to make the egg crepe, whisk the eggs, milk and salt in a bowl and set aside. Heat up the same non-stick skillet used for making the crepe over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp of oil then approx 3~4 tbsp of the eggs mixture. The pan should be hot enough so the eggs would immediately start to sizzle and bubble. QUICKLY lay 1 crepe over the eggs BEFORE THE EGG COOKS so that the crepe could stick to the eggs. Sprinkle a bit of white pepper over the crepe and flip the crepe when the bottom of the eggs is browned. This would happen VERY QUICKLY, like within 30 sec if the temperature of the pan is correctly hot. Toast the crepe side until it’s nicely browned as well, then fold it in half and take it out of the pan. Repeat with the rest of the eggs and crepes. 

These crepes can be folded, or rolled, or into whatever form you like, but chili sauce is a MUST companion in my kitchen.

Notes: 

• The following recipe has a good sauce to go with it: Foodie Baker
• A shortcut is frying 1 egg with oil, then laying down a tortilla (I use corn for health benefits) and flattening that egg with the tortilla under your hand. (Easy and fast!) When you plate it, you can add topping like avocado, or ("rou shong" that shredded pork which is not good for you but we do it for taste), and anything else you like!

Teo Chew Shrimp Roll

Recipe is saved from Group Recipes

Ingredients:
500 grams of peeled shrimp
200 grams of minced pork shopping list
1 egg
3 tbs of all purpose flour
3 tbs of finely sliced scallion/spring onion
1/4 teaspoon of sechuan pepper powder
pinch of salt and pepper
tofu skin (豆皮) for wrapping

Minced shimp and mix with minced pork, until well blended

Add egg, flour, scallion sechuan pepper, mix until everything blends well

Wet the tofu skin, put around 8 tbs of shrimp mixture into the tofu skin, wrap well. (I can make 6 shrimp rolls with this recipe)

Steam for around 20 minutes, you can served it after it is steamed cause it's healthier

Or some ppl prefer to cut into small portion and fry it cause it tastes better

Instant Pot Spaghetti

Recipe adapted from Amy +Jacky

Ingredients

⅔ pound (300g) spaghetti

½ pound ground beef

1 small onion , sliced

3 cloves garlic , minced

1 rib celery , chopped

8 white mushrooms , sliced (optional)

Sherry wine

A pinch dried oregano

A pinch dried basil

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil , divided

Chicken Stock Mixture

1 cup unsalted chicken stock

2 cups water

5.5 fl oz can (156ml) tomato paste

2 tablespoons light soy sauce (not low sodium soy sauce)

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

Make Chicken Stock Mixture: Combine unsalted chicken stock, water, tomato paste, light soy sauce, fish sauce, and Worcestershire sauce in a glass measuring cup.

Prepare Instant Pot Pressure Cooker: Heat up your pressure cooker (Instant Pot: press the Sauté button), wait until it says HOT. Then, add 1 tbsp olive oil in the pot. Ensure to coat the oil over the whole bottom of the pot.

Brown Ground Beef: Season the ground beef with kosher salt and black pepper. Partially cook and brown the ground beef for roughly 3 to 4 minutes, then remove from heat.

Saute Vegetables: Add 1 tbsp olive oil to the pot. Add onion, then season with kosher salt + black pepper. Cook until the onions are softened and brown. Then add garlic and stir until fragrant. Add chopped celery, mushroom, and a pinch of kosher salt + black pepper, then cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Deglaze Instant Pot: Add a dash of sherry wine to fully deglaze the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Then allow the wine to reduce.

Pressure Cook Spaghetti Bolognese: Add in Chicken Stock Mixture, dried oregano, and basil. *Pro Tip: Taste and season here because it'll be harder to season after cooking as the sauce will be absorbed by the spaghetti.

Add in ground beef, then add spaghetti by splitting them in half (or you can submerge spaghetti in warm water prior to pressure cooking to soften them).

Pressure cook at High Pressure for 6 minutes, then 5 minutes Natural Release.

Serve Instant Pot Spaghetti: Mix well and serve immediately. Enjoy

*Some adjustments: 

Used 1 lb ground beef instead of 1/2.

Used magic mushroom seasoning (nom nom paleo) instead of salt. I didn't have mushrooms.

Used just a splash of Shaoxing wine to deglaze as I don't have any sherry.

Used small can of tomato sauce because I didn't have paste. I only used 1 cup of water because of this.

Can use pasta shells and other types of pasta.