Shrimp and Chicken Rice Soup (Khao Tom Kung Lae Kai)

This is a wonderful Thai rice soup!  So yummy and filling; it could easily be your next comfort food.  It is not spicy like other Thai foods. People from Thailand eat this for breakfast with steamed buns or as a late night snack. 

Ingredients:

1/4 lb of raw shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1/4 lb of ground chicken
4 garlic cloves (chopped)
1 coriander root (chopped)
Pepper and salt to taste
1 spring onion (minced)
3 3/4 cups chicken stock
2 tblsp light soy sauce
2 tsp preserved radish (minced) - optional
1 3/4 cup cooked jasmine or basmati rice
1/2 inch ginger root (sliced)
1 Small Chinese cabbage (roughly chopped)

Garnish:
2 Spring onions (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves

Using a blender of food processor, blend coriander root, chopped garlic, salt and pepper.  Blend until it makes a paste.  In a bowl, mix the paste with the ground chicken and minced green onion until well incorporated.  Using wet hands, pinch a small piece of the ground chicken mixture and shaped into a ball.  Do this until all the ground chicken mixture is shaped into small balls.

In a stock pot, heat the chicken broth to boiling.  Add the soy sauce and ginger. Reduce heat to medium and bring to a low boil or simmer.  Add the chicken balls.   Cook for approximately 3 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.  Add the cooked rice, Chinese cabbage and shrimp.  Cook for another 2 minutes until shrimp is pink and opaque.  Season with salt to taste if necessary.

Serve hot in bowls. Garnish with the spring onions and coriander leaves. These go great with pot stickers.

Sweet and Sour Spareribs

Not many Chinese restaurants prepare this.  I think it is because of the small bones.  But, this is one of my favorite dishes.  This is a new version of a classic using ketchup and canned pineapple.  You can use fresh pineapple if you prefer. Asian grocery stores have spareribs already cut into 1-2 inch strips. All you do is cut between the bones. What I love about this is you get the sweet and sour flavors, but without the heavy breading.

Ingredients:
1 lbs of spareribs (cut into bite size pieces)
Enough oil (canola or peanut) for deep frying

Marinade:
2 tblsp of light soy sauce
salt and pepper
1 tsp sugar

Sauce:
3 tblsp rice wine vinegar
3 tblsp sugar
2 tblsp light soy sauce
2 tblsp ketchup
1 green bell pepper (rough chopped)
1 small onion (rough chopped)
1 carrot (sliced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 inch ginger (minced)
3.5 oz canned pineapple chunks or fresh equivalent

Combine marinade ingredient and pork. Stir until well coated.  Let marinate for 1 hour. In a deep pan or pot add enough oil to fry the ribs. Heat the oil. Deep fry spareribs in batches for approximately 8-10 minutes until done and brown.  Drain on a papertowel and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and ketchup.  Set aside.

In a deep pan, heat 1 tblsp of oil (can use from the deep frying). Stir fry garlic and ginger for approximately 1-2 minutes.  Add bell peppers, onions and carrots and continue to stir fry for another 2 minutes.  Add the sauce mixture and allow to come to a boil.  Add the spareribs and pineapple chunks.  Continue cooking and stirring until everything is heated through.  Serve over white or fried rice.  Enjoy!

Fresh Lumpia (Lumpiang Sariwa)

There are so many versions of egg rolls.  Different parts of Asia have different versions.  The Philippines is no different.  Depending what province you are in, they have their own version.  Most egg rolls are fried, but there are some that are considered fresh.  This is most popular during special events, holidays and fiestas in the Philippines. Depending where you are at, the ingredients could change accordingly.  This one is my grandmother's recipe with a slight variation; she likes to add garbanzo beans to hers.  Fresh lumpia wrapper can be found in the freezer section of most Asian grocery stores. 

Ingredients:
1/2 lbs raw shrimp (shelled, deveined and chopped)
1/2 lbs ground pork
1 jicama (sliced into match sticks)
1 cup bean sprouts
2 cups napa cabbage (cut into strips)
2 cups green beans (roughly chopped)
12 red or green leaf lettuce leaves
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 medium onion (minced)
Slat and pepper
Fresh lumpia wrappers
2 tblsp canola or olive oil

In a large fry pan or saute pan, heat the oil.  Add onions and garlic.  Saute for approximately 3 minutes.  Add the ground pork.  Continue cooking for another 10 minutes until pork is done.  Add the shrimp and continue to saute for another 4 minutes or until shrimp is pink and opaque.  Add green beans, jicama,  and napa cabbage.  Saute for another 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and drain well using a colander. 

Set a small bowl of water next to a plate, lay a wrapper and place a lettuce leave on with the stem to the center of the wrapper and the leafy part extending slightly over the edge of the wrapper.  Put 2 tablespoon of the mixture onto the leave within the wrapper. Lay one side of the wrapper over the filling and gently roll tightly without tearing.  Before reaching the end, pull the bottom to the center and continue rolling until you create a tight cone with the leafy end open. Serve with lumpia sauce. Recipe below:

Lumpia sauce:

4 tblsp cornstarch
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
10 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tblsp canola or olive oil

In a sauce pan, heat oil and saute garlic for approximately 1 minute.  Add sugar and broth.  In a small bowl combine soy sauce and cornstarch until cornstarch is disolved.  Add this to the sauce pan.  Cook for approximately 5 minutes until sauce comes to a low boil and starts to thicken.  Spoon over fresh lumpia.

Pineapple Spam Fried Rice

We were in Hawaii when we had the great fortune to try this at Sam Choy's restaurant.  Spam is super popular in Hawaii.  McDonalds has a breakfast meal that includes Spam, eggs and rice.  It was absolutely great. So, through trial and error and lots of experimenting, I came up with this recipe that my husband believes is just as good if not better than the one we had in Hawaii.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked jasmine or basmati rice (preferably from previous day)
1 tin of Spam (cut into small bite size cubes)
2 green onions (chopped)
1 cup of peas and carrots (thaw first if frozen)
3.5 oz can of pineapple chunks or fresh pineapple
2 tblsp light soy sauce
2 tblsp canola or olive oil
1 tblsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves garlic (minced)
2 eggs (beaten)

Heat oil and butter in a deep fry pan.  Add the Spam and stir fry until slightly brown.  Add garlic and onion and saute for approximately 2 minutes.  Add peas and carrots until heated through.  Push all ingredients to the side and pour eggs.  Scramble eggs until no longer runny.  Add rice and pineapple chunks.  Continue stirring until all ingredients are well incorporated.  Add soy sauce and mix well to ensure rice mixture is well coated. Season with salt and pepper.

Soy Chicken

So easy and flavorful.  I find this under a different section of the Chinese restaurant's menu.  It is always served with steamed rice and is priced differently than the other entrees.  When I discovered the recipe, I tried it and now I can have Chinese soy chicken at home. This is great when serving a crowd.  Picky eaters love it as well.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken (cut up pieces)
1 cup water
2 stalks green onion (sliced)
2 inches ginger root (sliced)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 star anise
2 tblsp sugar

In a sauce pan, brint to a boil, the water, soy sauce, star anise and sugar.  Reduce to a low boil, add green onion, ginger root and chicken. Return to a full boil.  Reduce to a simmer, cover and let cook for 45 minutes.  Stirring occasionally to ensure all the chicken pieces are cooked in the sauce.

Remove chicken from sauce and discard cooking broth.  Grill chicken for approximately 6-8 minutes either on the grill or in the oven's broiler on low.  Rotate chicken and grill the other side for another 4-5 minutes. This is to develop a nice slightly crisp outer layer.  Serve immediately with steam rice.

Chiles Relleno de Picadillo (Stuffed Chiles Relleno)

I was watching the movie Tortilla Soup the other day.  One of my favorite movies. It has a really good story, but I watch it for the food.  All the foods are prepared  by two fabulous Chefs, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.  After watching the movie, I went through their cookbook "cooking with two hot tamales" to see if I could even find the recipes they prepared.  Must be in their other cookbooks.  Anyway, I saw this recipe and made some minor adjustments.  Roasted stuffed chiles are very Mexican-American.  I have made picadillo before, but this one is different.  It does not use your typical Tex-Mex seasoning.  I had a lot of fun making it for lunch one day. It went home with a couple of friends and now their husbands want to be my official food tasters.  Cut the recipe in half if the 12 is too many. I found people wanted at least two (2).

Ingredients:
1 1/2lb ground turkey
1 medium onion (minced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup raisins
5 Italian plum tomatoes (canned, drained and chopped)
1 1/2 tbls cider vinegar
1/2 cup toasted almond slivers
Salt and Pepper to taste

12 large poblano chiles
6 large eggs (separated)
1 1/2 tbls all purpose flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour (in a shallow dish)
3/4 tsp coarse salt (kosher)
Peanut or vegetable oil for frying

You can roast the chiles in an open flame if you have a gas burner. Rotating directly on the flame allowing the other layer to char.  Or you set your oven to broil.  Coat the chiles with a little oil and place on a tray.  Place under the heated broiler and allow to broil for 20 minutes, turning it occasionally to ensure charring on all side.  Once the outerskin is charred, remove from heat and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow to steam.

To make the picadillo, heat oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add onions, season with salt and pepper.  Stir the onions for approximately 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes continually stirring so as not to let the garlic burn. Add ground turkey breaking it up with a wooden spoon as you stir it with the onions and garlic.  Remove any clumps and cook until turkey is completely browned.  Add the cinnamon and cloves and cook for another minute.  Add the tomatoes, raisins and vinegar.  Lower the heat and allow simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pan juices are gone and all the ingredients as well incorporated; approximately 20-25 minutes.

Once the chile peppers have cooled. Uncover the plastic wrap and gently remove the outer layer or skin. The skin should come off in large pieces.  Be very careful so as not to tear the peppers.  Cut a slit across the top (stem end) of the pepper and then down the center creating a "T" opening.  With a small spoon, remove all the seeds and membrane.  Be very careful not to scrape too hard so as not to tear the pepper.  If you want heat, leave the membrane.  Loosely stuff each pepper with the picadillo and close with a toothpick.  

In a large bowl, beat your egg whites with salt until soft peaks.  Beat in each egg yolk one at a time. Then beat in the 1 1/2 tsp of flour until flour disappears.  Heat your oil in a large heavy skillet deep on medium with enough to fry the chiles.  As the oil is heating, roll the stuffed chiles in the 1/2 cup of flour in the shallow dish. Patting gently to remove excess.  When the oil is hot, dip the stuffed chiles into the egg mixture, shake off excess and carefully place in the hot oil.  Repeat with the other chiles. Do not crowd.  The chiles will brown pretty quickly, gently roll them over to ensure browning occurs on all sides evenly.  Remove from skillet and allow to drain on a paper towel.  Cover to keep warm while you cook the rest. 

To serve, place a stuffed chile relleno on a plate, ladle with your favorite salsa (red or green) and serve with your favorite rice (spanish or cilantro lime). Enjoy!

 

Hocks Braised with Sugar (Pata Estofado)

This is a great Filipino recipe.  Cooking time is pretty extensive.  Preparation is easy, pig hocks need a lot of time to braise to make them tender, so the cooking time takes 3-4 hours and does require you to check to ensure that all the liquid does not completely evaporate.  You will need to replenish to allow for the cooking time.
Dried lily blosssoms can be found at any Asian grocery stores.

Ingredients:

2-3lbs pig's hocks
2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
10 peppercorns
2 cup brown sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 cinnamon stick
2 onions (quartered)
10 cloves garlic (minced)
8 tblsp oil (for frying)
1 cup dried lily blossoms (add more if desired)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, heat 3tablespoon of the oil.  Add onions and saute for approximately 3-4 minutes.  Add minced garlic and cinnamon stick.  Continue to saute for another 2 minutes.  Remove pot from heat and add the rest of the ingredients except for the oil and dried lily blossoms.  Allow hocks to marinade for an hour.  Heat oil a large deep skillet.  When oil is hot, remove hocks, reserve the marinade in the pot.  Fry hocks on each side to brown.  Approximately 5 minutes on each side.  Do not crowd hocks when frying.  Continue until all the hocks have been browned. Move hocks back into the stock pot and place on the oven set at medium-high heat.  Allow to boil, reduce heat to a low boil and continue cooking for another 2 1/2 hours.  Check pot occasionally to ensure braising liquid has not evaporated.  If braising liquid is low, add another cup each of water, apple cider vinegar and sugar and a 1/2 cup of soy sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and continue with the cooking process. You can increase sugar if you want it a little sweeter.  This dish is more to individual taste.  During the last 30 minutes of the cooking process, add the lily blossoms.  Test the hocks for tenderness by spearing with a fork, meat is tender if fork slides in without any effort.

Pile a scoop of rice into a large bowl.  Ladle sauce, hocks and lily blossoms over the rice and enjoy!