STEAMED/BAKED FISH IN GINGER AND SOY SAUCE

One of my favorite ways to cook fishes is to steam or bake them, this recipe is so simple.. my Mom likes to cook this, she likes steamed White Pomfrets.. it's kind of expensive here and hard to find in our Asian stores.. so I substitute it with  Pompano, I just found out recently how tasty it was.. the meat is so smooth and juicy.. not too much bones..

Today is Chinese New Year, it's customary to eat fish on CNY.. it signifies prosperity.. so today I cooked it, just because I like eating fish and it's been in our tradition since long time ago..

Ingredients:

- a big chunk of ginger, thinly sliced

- 2 big shallots.. thinly sliced

- 1 tsp of minced garlic

- 1 red jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced

- chopped cilantro

- chopped green onion

- 1 tsp of Wine vinegar

- 2 tbsp of soy sauce

- 1 tbsp of sweet soy sauce ( can substitute with 1 tsp molasses or dark brown sugar )

- black pepper

- 1 whole white meat fish, Pompano, Pomfrets, Tilapia or stripe bass, clean and sprinkle with fresh lemon juice, season both sides with a bit of salt

Method:

- prepare a heatproof bowl, spray with cooking oil, place the fish in 

- heat a pan, add a bit of oil, add ginger, stir until fragrant, add in shallots and garlic, stir, then add jalapeno pepper, stir until all softened, turn off the heat

- mix vinegar, with soy sauces 

- pour the softened ginger mix on the top of the fish

- pour in the sauce mix, black pepper

- top with cilantro and green onion
- spray a bit of cooking oil on top of the fish 

- cover with aluminum foil

- bake in a preheated oven 350'F for 25 to 30 minutes or steam in a hot steamer for about 15 to 20 minutes 

- let it rest covered

- serve with white rice

STUFFED TOMATO

While I'm still in my writing mood.. here is another easy recipe entry

I made this for my DH's brunch.. and I tasted a little bit.. it was so good.. tangy from the tomato, sweet from the Johnsonville Maple syrup sausage,  a bit heat of the chili flakes makes it perfect.. and the cheese.. mmh.. gooey..

What we need:
- 1 big round tomato, carefully carve off the top, then scoop out the meat and seeds, discard the seeds and excess juice
- 2 tbsp of leftover cooked sausage ( I used Johnsonville Maple Syrup sausage )
- 1 tbsp of cheese
- cilantro
- chili flakes

How:
- chop tomato meat, sausage, cilantro
- mix the cheese in
- add chili flakes
- mix well, then carefully stuff back in the tomato, press hard
- spray with cooking oil, I use olive oil
- bake in a preheated oven 350' for 20 to 25 minutes

I serve it with my homemade bread, light toasted

MY KIND OF ROAST BEEF

Another recipe entry today.. while it's still fresh in my head, I'm going to write it down for my future reference..

This roast beef tastes so good.. a bit tangy from tomato ketchup, a bit heat from the chili powder.. the meat roasted to perfection.. tender and melt in your mouth

I bought this Boneless Chuck Roast cut.. I forgot yo take the picture.. it was a beautiful cut.. with beautiful marbles and some fat.. it was perfect for slow roast

This time I tried a different way for the seasoning.. and it turned out so good that I want to keep the recipe

What we need:
- 1 chunk meat ( about 2 to 3 lbs, preferred a little fat )
- in a bowl, mix together: 1/2 cup of tomato ketchup, 1 tsp of coriander powder, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of freshly ground peppercorn, 1 tsp of cayenne chili powder, 1 tsp of brown sugar and some chili flakes
- rub all over the meat and let it sit in a covered container for a few hours

Then place the container ( covered with aluminum foil) in the preheated 400 'F oven, roast it for 30 minutes, reduce the heat to 300"f and roast for 2 more hours, I turned the meat once and continued to roast it until tender, for about another hour.. let it rest for a while before cut and serve

I made mashed potatoes to go with, for the leftover I made some wild rice to eat with.. both times I sauteed some Kale.. it was a good match

For the Kale.. I love eating Kale lately.. blanch them and add into my green smoothies or sauteed it.. here is a good way to do it.. sauteed some onion until soft, add cleaned and washed chopped kale, add some salt, black pepper and pour some Balsamic vinegar, cover pan with lid, cook for a few minutes until the leaves are wilted.. add diced potatoes if desired... cook potatoes until tender, add chopped kale leaves.. some seasoning, balsamic vinegar, cover and cook until the leaves wilted

EGG BRAIDED BREAD

Hi all.. first of all.. Happy New Year... I wish you all the best in this new year..







It has been a long time I abandoned this blog.. no mood to write or share recipes.. though I cook daily but nothing too special to share ( read.. too lazy to share )







Today I'm going to share ( really share, because I mostly copy and paste haha.. though I'm going to share bunch of my pictures

 
This recipe I got in a forum I joined since last year.. it's a small group of people who like good foods and good chats about foods and else..

Well.. about this bread recipe.. I saw one of the member ( Hi Beth :) ) made this beautifully and I was challenged to make it... I usually make my breads in my bread machine ( the kneading and rising part ) but this time I determined to do it manually... I know some of my friends do it effortlessly and get good results.. and they are right.. I can do it with too.. it's so easy if you follow the recipe precisely.. there is no more excuse for not able to make good and beautiful breads for lack of a bread machine in the house ( my lame excuse )

I proudly present my beautifully done EGG BRAIDED BREAD :)

note.. I made some little change on the recipe.. and I included Beth's note too

HAPPY BAKING... GIVE IT A TRY AND I'M SURE YOU CAN DO IT TOO 

Egg Bread – Single Loaf
(from Jetfan at cooking.com)

Ingredients
• 1 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 3/4 cups warm milk (110° to 115°)
• 2 T. sugar
• 1-1/2 t. salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 T. butter, softened
• 3 1/2 to 3-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• Sesame seeds

for egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 1 tsp water

Directions

• Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter and
2 cups flour; mix well. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

• On a floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes.
Place in greased bowl; turn once to grease top. Cover and let rise
in warm place until doubled, 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

(Beth's notes: I used the paddle attachment on the KA stand mixer to incorporate and mix the first 2 c. of flour to a sticky dough, then used the dough hook attachment as I added the balance of the flour and let it knead in the bowl for approximately 5 minutes. Finally, I just finished with about 10 or 12 turns of the dough on a floured mat to finish it before turning it into the oiled bowl to rise.)

• Punch down. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 30
minutes. Divide into six portions. On a floured surface, shape each
into a 14-in.-long rope. braid the ropes together
on greased baking sheet; pinch ends to seal. Cover and let rise
until doubled, about 50 minutes.

punch to deflate 

second rising

divide 6 portions

roll to form 6 long ropes

braid carefully ( it's the fun part )

• Beat egg yolk and water; brush over loaves. Sprinkle with sesame seeds... I used Parmesan cheese instead of sesame seeds.. it gives a good crunch and saltiness on the crust

sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

Bake @ 350° 25 – 30 minutes or until internal temperature of 200°

it's good with a cup of hot green tea

or chocolate spread 

STIR FRY MIXED VEGGIES

Okay.. it seems like I was not too active lately.. I've been MIA for months.. so many things happened.. some trips I took, then a visit from my family members.. but the real reason was my laziness to update this blog.. I even hardly got on it..

I cooked every day, but nothing special to share here, then again, that was because of  my laziness..

Today I'm going to share one of my family's favorite recipes, it's one of my comfort foods.. the food I cooked when I ran out of  idea what to cook.. it so simple and easy yet so yummy.. it's my DH's favorite too, he likes it very much, he can eat the whole bowl if I let him * bad, right*

Ingredients:
- basically.. whatever we want or like or have in our fridge, today I used:
- 4 leaves of Napa cabbage, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 3 medium size of bokchoy, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 1/2 small onion, sliced
- 1 tsp of minced garlic
- 1 big carrot, thinly sliced
- green onions or chives, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 2 tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tbsp of sesame oil
- 1 tsp of corn starch mix with 1 tbsp water
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- canola oil
- thinly sliced meats ( I used some leftover boiled pork meat)
- shrimps, peeled and deveined

What we do:
- heat oil in a wok, add onion and garlic, stir until fragrant
- add meat (if the meats are raw)
- add carrots,stir until soft
- add the rest of veggies
- add in fish sauce and sesame oil
- add chicken broth
- stir quickly, until all well blended
- add shrimps, then cornstarch solution
- give a quick stir
- turn off the heat
- ready to be served... on white rice or fresh egg or rice noodles

OVEN BAKED SALMON IN PARCHMENT PAPER POUCHES

Since I saw this on an ads of Italian restaurant, I've been "obsessed" with it..  so I tried to cook it, with different veggies and rub on my salmons..  today I made it again, this time I rubbed my salmon fillet with my new found favorite rub, salt and sugar only.. I tried it before for my smoked salmon, it was so good and I fell in love with it..

Summertime in AZ is so hot, esp now, with the monsoon and storm, the humidity is very high... it causes a small change of our daily meals... I don;t really like to spend too much time in my kitchen, tried to avoid baking or long cooking.. so mostly I cook easy and light meals.. and oh.. no mood to write new recipes too 

Now I'm going to share this recipe, mainly for my own future reference.. 

What we need:

- salmon fillet ( about 12 oz), scaled and boneless, I like the skin on

- 1 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of sugar, mix well

- any kind of veggies.. this time I used Napa Cabbage, spinach, onion, red bell pepper and green onion

- 2 pieces of parchment papers

Method:

- wash and clean the fillet, pat dry

- cut salmon in 2 pieces 

- generously rubbed the salt mixture on the salmon

- let it sit  for 1 hour in the fridge, I covered it with plastic wrap

- after 1 hour, rub off the excess salt mixture.. rinse in a running water if needed, then pat dry

- arrange the veggies on a piece of parchment paper

- place salmon on top veggies

- sprinkle with a bit  of oil

- fold and secure both ends of the papers

- bake in a preheated 350'F oven, for 20 to 25 minutes 

- take it out, let it sit for 5 minutes, then carefully unfold the pouches, beware of the hot steam 

- ready to be served.. I served it with couscous.. it was so good 

here are some pictures of my pouch salmon, seasoned with lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic and baked with various vegetables.. my favorite way to cook salmon for now.. I might try it with chicken fillets too.. 

BAKED EGGS FOR BRUNCH (CHEESY ASPARAGUS QUICHE)

Today's brunch is easy, low carbs and low fat, I would not call it's a healthy meal, because it has eggs in it, as for some people, eating eggs esp egg yolks is unhealthy because of their health problems or their personal references.. I like eating eggs but I, too, have to cut off a bit because of my cholesterol number is in the red zone.

Since last week, I and some of the ladies I know from a cooking forum have agreed to have a challenge, it calls "LOW OR LESS CARB CHALLENGE" we try to support each other to consume less carb, we give ideas what we have for our meals, we tell interesting stories how hard we have to restraint ourselves not to eat carbs.. (the hardest part for me is, RICE, as I grew up in a country where its people eat rice 3 times a day)... we promise we won't cheat LOL... and at the end of the day we send email back and forth telling how our days are.. it's hard though, but it's fun and so far I managed to cut down my daily carbs intake and I managed to restraint myself from snacking at night too... I'm proud to say that when I get on my scale every morning, my number is going down and down, not much, but it's down and it motivates me to try harder..

Back to my brunch today... CHEESY ASPARAGUS TOMATO QUICHE

Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 lbs of asparagus, chop in 1/2 inc size
- 1 roma tomato, roughly chopped
- 4 tbsp of 2% milk
- mozzarella cheese
- garlic powder, salt and peppers

Method:
- Beat the eggs in a big bowl
- add milk, mix well
- add the chopped veggies
- garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
- pour in a well greased small bowl or muffin tin
- add mozzarella cheese
- bake in preheated oven, 350'F for 25 minutes
- set broil and broil for a 3 minutes
- let it cool a bit and transfer it to a serving plate

Serve it with or without toast.. I ate 1/2 bowl and without toast.. it satisfied my stomach until dinner time at 4 pm