SWEET AND SOUR PORK

I love this dish, but hardly made it, mostly ordered it when we dined at Chinese restaurants or take out. Today I decided to make it, I got the idea when I saw a member at cooking forum cooked it for their dinner, and it got on my mind, so today on my morning walk, we went to the store, got some pork chops, a family pack, so I got a good deal, and I saved some for later use..

I had almost everything I needed in my pantry except canned pineapple, so I just went without it...

- 4 thin pork chops, cut in small bite size, marinate with 1 tbsp of garlic oil (or cooking oil but add finely chopped garlic) + 1 tbsp of soysauce or fish sauce + 1 tbsp of cornstarch + 1 tbsp of rice wine, let it sit for few hours

- for the batter: 1/4 cup of flour + 1 tbsp of cornstarch + 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1 jumbo white egg + 1 tbsp of cooking oil + 1/2 tsp of salt + 1/2 cup of water

batter 

- for the sauce: - 1 inch of ginger, thinly sliced,
                        - 1/4 onion, finely chopped
                        - 1 cup of frozen vegetable, carrot and peas
                        - handful of snow peas
                        - colorful red and yellow peppers
                        - jicama or water chestnut, cut in small cubes
                        - small chunk of pineapple (optional)
                        - 1/2 cup of tomato ketchup
                        - 1/4 cup or 1/2 lemon juice
                        - 1 cup of pineapple juice (optional) or water
                        - salt, and sugar
                        - 1tsp of cornstarch to thicken

Method:
- batter: mix well all the ingredients, it should form thick batter
- heat 1 inch oil to 350'F, dip pork in the batter, shake off the excess batter, dip it in the hot oil, fry until golden brown, drain and set aside, fry in batches, not too crowded in the pan, after all done, put them in preheat oven, bake for few minutes while making the sauce (to make sure that all the pork are cooked)
- heat 2 tbsp of oil, sautee ginger and onion until fragrant
- add all the veggies and the rest of ingredients, salt and sugar to taste, lastly add cornstarch to thicken the sauce

To serve, arrange pork in a serving plate, pour sauce on top of it, serve with warm steamed rice

Serving 2 to 3 persons

The whole meal cost me about $5, it's a very good deal compares with 2 orders in Chinese restaurants, and I dare say... the taste is as good as what we can get in the restaurants...  the batter is so crunchy, even sometimes I got the hard batter at the restaurant :(

POTATO CRAB CAKES

I thought about making it for a while, I have canned crab meat, after seeing my friend put a status on her FB about her veggies crab cake, I decided to make it sooner rather than later.. so today, on Ash Wednesday, I put everything I needed together, I have made it before, but today I made it a bit different, I added some potato flakes, it helps to firm the patties and easier to handle when I pan fry it..

- 2 cans crab meat, drained
- 1/4 medium brown onion, finely chopped
- finely chopped green onions
- juice of half lemon
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp of potato flakes
- salt and black peppers
- 1 tsp tabasco
- 2 tbsp of panko and 4 tbsp more for dredging
- 2 egg white, slightly beaten for dipping

Method:
- mix all ingredients except the extra 4 tbsp panko and egg white
- form medium size patties, chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour
- dip patties in egg white
- roll in panko breadcrumb
- heat 1/2 inch oil in a non stick skillet, carefully put the crab patties down, pan fry for 3 to 4 minutes, flip it over and fry for another 3 minutes
- serve with chili sauce, mustard or horseradish

for 12 to 15 cakes

COCONUT CUSTARD PIE

Did I tell you that I hate baking? It's true, but once in a while I'd bake, though it did not always turn out good, but practice makes perfect, right?

Last week I saw a very challenging recipe, from the ingredients I know we'd like it, I bake Egg Custard pie before, quite often, and I like eating coconut, so the recipe today is about COCONUT CUSTARD PIE.. how does it sound? yummy, right?

I got this recipe from a Cooking Forum I joined since January this year, it's a good place to find ideas what's for cooking, tips and else..one of the members posted this recipe, and I instantly fell in love with it

It was Valentine's day, a right excuse to make something sweet, I don't make dessert a lot, I need good excuses to make it, such as special occasion like V day, bday or other celebrations, or we have company for dinner, It's not a good idea to make the whole pie to be eaten only by the two of us..if you know what I mean :)

So, I'll just copy and paste it, with a little changes here and there, thanks to Jimmy

Pastry for single-crust pie , I made my own pie crust, first time making it from scratch, with my mom's recipe, a little bit dry, but tasted good, I found out from my friend that I needed a bit water and vinegar (I'll try it next time on my Chicken Potpie)

4 extra-large eggs, I used 5 large eggs as I did not have extra large eggs in my refrigerator

2/3 cup sugar, I reduced it to 1/2 cup because I used condensed milk instead of heavy cream

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups heavy cream, I used 1 cup of condensed milk, I don't like heavy cream, never had it in our house

1 cup milk , I put more milk, 1 1/3 cup

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flaked coconut , mine was way more coconut, I love coconut

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg , I did not add this

1 1/2 sticks butter + 1 large egg

2 cups flour

chill for 30 minutes

not really a smooth crust, but who could see the difference after it's done 

the method is more or less the same



Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.

Mix and chill the pastry. Roll it out 1/8-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and trim to a 15-inch circle. Transfer the pastry to the pie plate, leaving a 1 1/2-inch overhang. Fold under the edge to stand up 1-inch high and flute. Prick it all over with the tines of a fork. Place the unbaked shell in the freezer for 15 minutes.

To partially bake the shell before filling it, place a piece of foil in the center and weigh it down with pie weights, uncooked beans, or rice. Blind-bake the crust just until it begins to set, about 8 minutes; remove the foil and pie weights and return the shell to the oven until it starts to brown, about 4 minutes more. Transfer the crust from the oven to a cooling rack, then reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

While the crust is baking, make the coconut custard filling. Using and electric mixer set on high, beat the eggs in a large bowl until thick and light yellow, about 5 minutes. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in a small bowl and beat this mixture into the eggs until thoroughly mixed. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium. Add the cream, milk, and vanilla and beat the filling until light and frothy, about 3 minutes more. Stir in 1 1/4 cups of the coconut. Pour the filling into the partially baked crust, dot with the butter, and sprinkle with the nutmeg.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes, sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of coconut, and continue baking the pie until the filling is golden, the coconut is toasty, and the filling jiggles only slightly in the center, about 20 to 30 minutes more. The pie is ready to come out of the oven when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the pie on a wire rack for 1 hour.

add some weight before baking the crust 

getting there :)

ABOUT CEVICHE

Last week my husband picked a big bunch of cilantro from his tiny garden, when I saw it sitting on my kitchen counter, the first thing came to my mind was CEVICHE.. I could taste the freshness and the tangy taste of it on tip of my tongue,  so I rummaged my refrigerator drawer and found out that I had most of the ingredients for making ceviche.. I only needed to buy the main ingredients. white fish and lemon

Off we went to the stores, at Safeway I found Sway fish fillets.. not a good price but I was determined to make it right then, and I got some Meyer lemon at Walmart, I was looking for regular lemons, but they were out, I should have got limes instead, it would have more flavor than Meyer lemon.. but oh well, I found out too late

It was after ten pm on Friday night, my husband was in bed already, and I still could not sleep, obsessed with my ceviche, so I went to my kitchen, started doing it.. juiced my lemons, cut my fish and peeled my shrimps

here is what to do:
- 8 oz or1 fillet of white fish, red snapper, catfish or sway fish, I used sway fish, cut in small cube size
- 4 oz of shrimps, peel, devien and cut in small cubes
- 4 red chilies (Thai chili)
- 4 inches of cucumber, small cubes
- 1 medium tomato, small cubes
- 1 small onion, small cubes
- colorful peppers
- 1 + 1/2 cup of lemon juice
- salt and sugar
- bunch of cilantro, coarsely chopped
- 1 small tangerine orange juice
- 1/2 cup of clam juice (optional)

Method:
- marinate fish and shrimps in 1 cup of lemon juice, add a bit of salt, let it sit overnight in the refrigerator
- in another bowl, make salsa with mixing the rest of lemon juice (1/2 cup) and orange juice with salt and sugar, add in all the rest of ingredients, mix well
- drain the lemon juice from fish marinate, add the marinated fish and shrimps in the salsa, let it sit for hours before serving

it's very good with  corn or potatoes chips.. all we need is a good television show to complete our good night

PANKO CRUST SALMON

We love eating salmon, anyway I cook it, it always turns out good, well, maybe except poaching it (I don't really like it).. Yesterday I cooked it with panko crust, I was obsessed with it since I saw Ina Garten show on Food Network weeks ago.. last weekend, on my daily walk with my husband, we stopped at Walmart and bought a box of panko breadcrumbs, the price was much cheaper compared with the ones sold in Asian store, mostly imported from Korea or Japan, and on that same day we stopped at Safeway, it's located at the same shopping area, and there we found their salmon was on sale, 50% of from their club price, it was their pull date day so it was a good buy for us.

So the next day, I could fulfill my obsession in eating the panko crust salmon, it was so delicious, the panko crust was oh.. gosh.. so good :)

We need:
- 2 salmon steaks or fillers, I like it with skin on, scaled, was and pat dry
- 2 tbsp of lime juice, 1tsp of salt for marinate
For the crust:
- mix well 2 tbsp of mustard + 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs + chopped herbs (I used cilantro) + 1 tbsp of sambal (optional)

the how:
- marinate the fishes for 30 minutes, shake off the excess juice before put them on the heated oil
- pan fry for a few minutes to get the crusty skin
- transfer them a ovenproof dish
- bake for 5 to 10 minutes, set the oven to broil, and broil for 3 minutes

We got our fresh picked salad, it was a good combo for the fishes

MY PAD THAI AKA STIR FRY RICE NOODLES

I love eating rice noodles aka kwetiau.. and my husband likes it too.. for soup, salad or stir fry.. fresh rice noodles can be bought at Asian stores, so it kinda once a month or maybe once in 2 months meal, depends on how often my trip to Asian store is.. it's also a very common food in my hometown, cheap and easy to find, every grocery stores carry them..

Today I cook Thailand style stir fry noodles.. I can't say whether it's authentic or not as I'm not a Thai, so I really have no idea how the authentic Pad Thai tastes, I believe there are so many various ways to cook Padthai, depends on the region of the country.. so here is what I do:

Ingredients:
- 1lbs of fresh rice noodles (if using the dried one, cook or soak it according the instruction on the packet, don't over cooked or oversoaked  it, rinse with cold water, drain it)
- 8 oz of shrimps or thinly sliced pork or beef
- 2 eggs
- fresh bean sprout
- 1/4 onion, slice
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- thinly sliced fresh mushrooms
- some veggies (optional), I used store bought broccoli slaw
- bunch of cilantro, coarsely chopped
- green onion or chive (optional), coarsely chopped

for the sauce:
- in a  bowl, mix well: 1 tsp of tamarind paste dilute with 2 tbsp of water, 2 tbsp of fish sauce,  2 tbsp of soysauce, 2 tbsp of fried garlic oil, 1 tbsp of chili sauce (optional), 1 tbsp of sesame oil and 1 tbsp of brown sugar (I used sweet soy sauce)

for the topping:
- coarsely chopped roasted peanut, green onion, fried shallots (optional)

Method:
- put the cold noodles in the bowl, pour in the sauce, stir gently, until it blended well, put aside
- using a big pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil, brown the onion, add garlic, the meat or shrimps (I'd take out and separate the shrimps once it cooked)
- add in mushrooms, the veggies, stir for couple minutes, push them to the side of pan, add the eggs, add oil if needed, scramble the eggs
- add the noodle, carefully stir everything until mix well, add bean sprouts and cilantro, add the shrimps back in the pan, give a last stir

To serve:
- pour noodles on a serving plate, garnish with peanuts, fried shallots and green onion

for 4 servings

EGGPLANTS CASSEROLE

Today is about eggplants.. not my favorite veggies, but my husband loves it very much.. so once in a while I'd cook it, especially for him.. sweet..

We went to our local market, my plan was to get some big shells for stuffed shell pasta ( I got the idea from a cooking forum I recently joined), when we walked around the store (a bad habit.. happens all the time, went to get a box of shell pasta, but came home with 2 big bags of stuffs and minus the pasta).. anyway.. I saw eggplants was on a big sale, 50 cents each, compares with their regular price, $1.99/each.. so I grabbed 2 of them, thinking to cook it in my usual way, with spaghetti sauce and I completely forgot the big shell pasta :)

The next day I took out the eggplants, started to cook it.. plan changed.. I wanted to try a new way to cook it, first thought was layering it and adding sauce like lasagna, but I remembered we just ate lasagna earlier this month, then I made up my mind, EGGPLANTS CASSEROLE  .. I wanted to cook it as one dish meal, so I did not have to cook veggies as side dishes

What we need:
- 1 lbs of Italian sausage, or 1 lbs of ground meat
- 1/2 brown onion, chop in small cubes
- 2 eggplants
- 2 big tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 4 stalks of celery, coarsely chopped
- 1 can or more (as needed) of tomato sauce
- herbs.. I used our homegrown cilantro and parsley, coarsely chopped
- cheeses.. I used Italian blend cheese, cube mozzarella and parmesan for topping

Method:
- brown sausage in a big pan, add Italian or favorite seasoning if using ground meat
- add chopped onion
- meanwhile, cut eggplants in medium size cubes, add into the skillet, sautee until softened
- add in tomato and celery
- add tomato sauce
- add the herbs too
- pour in cheeses, blend well
- grease the pan with oil, pour the eggplants mix into it.. sprinkle with parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs mix
- bake in the preheated oven on 350'f, for 40 minutes, set on broil for another 5 minutes

For 6 servings