MIA (on vacation)

I haven't been posting because I have been on vacation and didn't take the little MacBook with me. Whenever I take my computer, I am tempted to work. I wanted to have a relaxing vacation so the computer stayed at home. (I did check emails on my phone but that was about it.)

I highly recommend the breakfast buffet at Duke's. It is located in the Outrigger Waikiki and right on the beach.

What a great way to start the day. We woke up at the crack of dawn, showered, walked on the beach and then ate breakfast. We were done by 9:00 am, leaving the rest of the day for other activities.

After laying out on the beach and swimming with the fishies, we had my birthday dinner at the Top of Waikiki restaurant. Of course I had the duck. The menu description: Tea Smoked Ginger Duck l'orange: organic free range Long Island duck with prosciutto, mascarpone, mesculin greens wrapped in a corn crepe with blackberry balsamic syrup, ginger-orange sauce & duck au jus & crispy sweet potato.

The bf had the fish special. Sorry the pictures suck because I was trying to be discreet by using the camera on my phone instead of a real camera.The next morning we climbed to the summit of an extinct volcano and then rewarded ourselves with the best snow cone in the world. This snow cone truck is located at the base of Diamondhead.

After waiting all morning at Pearl Harbor and taking the guided tour, we were famished. (The tour is definitely worth the wait. I'm a sucker for history so this tour was up my alley.) My buddy Scott took us to a local place he likes to dine at. It is called Wally Ho's Garage and Grill. It is a gas station/auto repair shop/grill. The food was really good. I thought the Coca Cola bottle shaped slat and pepper shakers were adorable.

I've never seen pineapple growing before. I loved the Dole plantation.

Me and my pineapple soft-serve in a waffle cone.

My fresh coconut I bought from one of those famous shrimp trucks on the side of the rode in North Shore. We didn't have the shrimp because we were still very full. The shrimp is supposed to be really good. This place had their own shrimp pond where they harvested their shrimp fresh daily.

Just some food posts. Maybe some other posts later. I am still tired.

Read More

Chinese Birthday Cake Take Three

I've been making this a lot. It is my favorite cake and the bf actually enjoys it. I'm still trying different variations. This time I baked it in a tube pan. It is the same recipe as Chinese Cake Take Two. This time I didn't forget the vanilla. I think I actually prefer it without the vanilla. It tastes more authentic without it. The texture was lighter this time because I inverted the cake while I let it cool.

I sliced it into two layers and layered with fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

Chinese Sponge Cake (aka Chinese Birthday Cake)
(Gai Don Go)
9 eggs, separated
1 cup cake flour, sifted
½ cup all purpose flour, sifted
½ tsp. cream of tartar
½ tsp. baking powder
1 c. sugar
½ c. water
¼ c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Beat egg yolks until thick, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, water, oil and vanilla and beat until creamy. Set aside.
2. Beat egg whites until foamy, add cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
3. Fold a third of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture until incorporated.
4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven. If using a 9x13 pan, bake for about 20-25 minutes. If using tube pan, bake 35-40 minutes and invert the pan while cooling.
5. When cool, top or layer with fresh whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

Read More

Corn Stir-Fry

My grandmother used to do wonderful things with sweet Coachella Valley corn. She made these wonderful steamed corn puddings wrapped and steamed in their husks. She would take ears of corn and grate the ear of corn on a box grater until she was left with a large bowl of liquefied corn. She would then mix it with some corn meal and sugar and wrap them in washed corn husks saved from the ears of corn. I’m not blogging about this steamed corn pudding today.

Another dish she made was stir-fry fresh corn kernels. I love this stir-fry with a bowl of piping hot jasmine rice. I bought one too many ears of corn last week and decided to make stir-fried corn kernels for dinner this weekend. The bf thought it was an interesting dish (almost as interesting as when I made stir-fried water spinach).

1 pound ground chicken breast or other meat
salt
pepper
MSG
Canola oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
4 ears sweet corn, removed from cobb
2 carrots, sliced
1 8-ounce container crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 head of broccoli, cut into pieces
2 thai bird chilies, minced
maggi sauce, to taste
fish sauce, to taste
oyster sauce, to taste

1. In a large wok, heat oil and add meat, salt, pepper and MSG. When meat is cooked, add onion and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until onions are translucent.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until corn is tender.
3. Serve with jasmine rice.

Read More

Pureed Sweet Potatoes with Real Maple and Nutmeg

Last Thanksgiving we were invited to an intimate dinner at a former SoupGroup member's home. She had to withdraw from SoupGroup because of the new babe. She is pretty awesome. She is vegetarian but ended up cooking the turkey. Her husband (who is a proud meat eater) was in charge of the turkey, however he was called to perform emergency surgery for a dog that swallowed something...I can't remember what but it became solid in the dog's stomach and he ended up removing a mass that was a mold of the dog's stomach.

We all brought a few dishes to share. One of the dishes the hostess made was this delicious puree of sweet potatoes. I didn't make a leftover plate to take home since we were both heading out of town. The bf was on his way to see his parents and I was on my way to California for my friend's one-month baby celebration. When I returned from California, I immediately emailed her for the sweet potatoes recipe. It is quite delicious. I made it for a potluck for work and several people asked for the recipe.

• 5 pounds sweet potatoes, unpeeled
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375° F.
2. Pierce the sweet potatoes several times with a fork and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake until softened, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on size; let cool.
3. Slice each sweet potato in half lengthwise. Scoop the flesh into a saucepan and discard the skins. Add the maple syrup (to taste), butter, and sour cream. Using a wooden spoon or potato masher, mix until smooth. Season with the salt and nutmeg. Place over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through, about 5 minutes

Read More

Glenn's (the Burrito Guy) Green Chile Breakfast Burritos

Every office needs a burrito guy or gal. We used to have one. His name was Glenn. He made these awesome green chile breakfast burritos filled with eggs, potatoes, cheese, pork and green chile. His burritos were awesome. When we moved our offices, we lost Glenn. We have a new breakfast burrito lady but hers are not as yummy. Her burritos are salty and dry.

Glenn’s burritos were never dry. His green chile sauce kept the burritos nice and moist. I made these burritos to replicate Glenn’s awesome burritos. These are a little saucier than the typical breakfast burrito. Glenn didn’t add sausage or bacon to his burritos. The meat came from his pork green chile sauce.

I caught Glenn off guard and he shared his family’s green chile recipe with me. I used his recipe to make the green chile sauce. If you don’t want to spend the time making your own green chile, 505 brand green chile will work in a pinch. It is a little expensive and you do need quite a bit of it so I prefer to make my own when I make breakfast burritos in bulk.

I made 60 burritos but kept 10 for myself. I gave the bf 20, dropped 20 off for the new parents and gave 10 to another friend. They are a real lifesaver when you need breakfast (or dinner) in a hurry. Just pop them in the microwave for two minutes and you have yourself a delicious portable meal.

3 pounds potatoes, small dice
olive oil, as needed
30 large eggs
½ cup milk
Salt
Pepper
Butter, as needed
2 pounds cheese, grated
8 quarts pork green chile (recipe below or use jarred green chile with 6 pounds of diced pork shoulder or butt)
60 flour tortillas

Wax paper (buy the heat-safe kind)
Aluminum foil

1. Toss the diced potatoes with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in oven until soft and golden.
2. Beat eggs with salt, pepper and milk. In batches, scramble the eggs and leave them in large curds.
3. In a large stockpot or bowl, gently mix together cooked potatoes, scrambled eggs and green chile. You should have a slightly liquid mix.

4. Place some filling on each tortilla and wrap. Wrap each burrito in wax paper and then in foil. Place burritos into large Ziploc bags. I reuse the zippy bags that the tortilla came in and fit about 10 burritos in each bag. Freeze.

5. To reheat, remove burrito from aluminum foil and microwave about 2 minutes. Remove from wax paper immediately to prevent sticking.


Pork Green Chile sauce

- 6 pound pork shoulder, small dice
- garlic powder
- cumin
- mexican oregano
- ancho chile powder
- sea salt
- black pepper
- bacon drippings or oil
- flour
- 2 onions; diced
- 3 cloves garlic; crushed
- Water
- 3 jalapenos; roasted, peeled, deveined, de-seeded, and diced
- 5 poblanos peppers; roasted, peeled, deveined, de-seeded, and diced
- 2 cups roasted peeled green chile or two 4 ounce cans green chile
- 5 diced tomatillos (or a 7 ounce can of Herdez salsa verde)
- 1 can diced tomatoes (I think it was a 14-15 ounce can.)
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ cup chopped cilantro

1. Make a blond roux using equal parts bacon drippings or oil and flour. Set aside.
2. Season pork with garlic powder, cumin, Mexican oregano, ancho chile, black pepper and salt. In a sauté pan, brown pork in batches. Transfer to large stockpot when browned.
3. In same pan, sauté onions and garlic with a little oil or bacon fat. Transfer to stockpot.
4. Place stockpot on medium heat. Add jalapenos, poblanos, and green chile. Add tomatillos or salsa verde, diced tomatoes, water, and bay leaves. Simmer about two hours or until pork is tender.
5. Add roux and bring to a boil. Roux will thicken chile when it comes to a boil. (I usually will make the roux with about half a cup of flour and add in small quantities until I get the desired consistency.) Stir in cilantro and adjust seasoning.

Read More

Egg Rolls: Ambiguous Origins...Perhaps China?

No recipe for this. I basically used the same filling for these egg rolls as I used for the Vietnamese egg rolls. The only difference is omit the sugar, use carrots instead of sweet potatoes and use cabbage instead of potatoes. These egg rolls keep better, are less temperamental and are easier to make but in my opinion are not as tasty as Vietnamese egg rolls.

I usually make them the same time as Vietnamese egg rolls and either freeze them uncooked or sometimes cooked. They actually fry up better straight out of the freezer. The only reason I sometimes freeze them cooked is out of sheer laziness. I don’t particularly enjoy heating up a pot of oil to fry up a few egg rolls. I simply place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake them at 350 degrees for about half an hour or until crispy.

Serve with Nuoc Cham and green leaf lettuce.

Read More

Coco Rico Nuoc Cham

Okay this is a bastardized version of the Vietnamese dipping sauce nuoc cham. I use a coconut soda called Coco Rico. Coco Rico is a Puerto Rican soda. I sometimes make and even more bastardized version using Coca Cola as the base. I cannot take the credit for this sauce. My aunt said her Vietnamese friends told her their little secret.

Sometimes I will mash fresh Thai chilies and garlic with a mortar and pestle but I have jars of chili garlic sauces in the fridge and they are so convenient. I used a tablespoon from each jar. One jar is the Huy Fong brand. The bottle is plastic and has a green lid. The characteristic rooster is the trademark of the company. Huy Fong also makes the original Siracha sauce. The other jar I use comes in a glass bottle. It is a Thai company called Jack Hua. The sauce has large chili chunks instead of a paste. Both sauces are vinegar based.

Nuoc Cham is great for egg rolls, bun (vermicelli noodle) bowls, Vietnamese broken rice dishes, Vietnamese crepes (banh xeo), banh cuon and other Vietnamese dishes. I love pouring an entire bowl of it on top of my vermicelli noodle bowls.

Bastardize Dipping Sauce:
½ can Coco Rico coconut soda or Coca Cola soda
¼ cup fish sauce (Three Crabs brand)
1 lime, juice
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch MSG
2 tablespoons chili garlic sauce (Huy Fong or Jack Hua brand)
or
1 clove garlic, minced
2 thai chili peppers, smashed

optional:
shredded carrots

Mix everything together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let sauce sit a few hours or overnight before use.

Read More

Malisa's Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Cha Gio)

Let me preface this by saying that this is my take on Vietnamese egg rolls. I’m not Vietnamese and I didn’t use a recipe from a Vietnamese cookbook. This recipe is from years and years of experimenting. I try different ingredients and in the end this is what works for me.

Some people might find the use of sweet potatoes and potatoes strange ingredients but I find them integral in the texture of my egg rolls. The sweet potatoes are a substitute for carrots. I am not too fond of cooked carrots and whenever I can find a sub, I will opt for the sub. You can use carrots instead of the sweet potatoes.

I also like to use potatoes to help lighten the filling. The potatoes help prevent having hard fried meat rods. I also use potatoes in my empanadas. Many people will use shredded cabbage as an egg roll filler but as much as I like cabbage, I prefer not to use it in my egg rolls. They contribute too much moisture and then start to ooze out of the wrappers. My friend told me that in order to prevent this, you can shred the cabbage the night before, put it in a strainer and weigh it down to remove much of the liquid. She said that restaurants put their shredded cabbage in one of those mop buckets to squeeze out the liquid. I’m not sure if this is true.

Egg Rolls

Filling:
1 pound Ground Chicken, Pork or Turkey (I used ground chicken because I just got a great deal on organic ground chicken breast.)
½ pound Shrimp, chopped
2 Eggs
Fish sauce
Salt
Pepper
MSG
sugar
1 bundle Cellophane Noodles, soaked in hot water until soft
¼ cup Sliced Dried Wood-Ear Mushroom, soaked in hot water until soft
2 Potatoes, shredded (Russets are fine but I used Yukons because that is what I usually buy)
½ pound Sweet Potatoes or Carrots, shredded
1 Yellow Onion, shredded
3 cloves Garlic, minced

50 Banh Trang Spring Roll Wrappers (Rice paper wrappers)
Oil, canola or peanut

1. Start by soaking your cellophane noodles and wood-ear mushrooms. I use the pre-sliced mushrooms.
2. Mix all filling ingredients together. Take a spoonful of the filing and microwave it about a minute. Taste the filling for proper seasoning. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Refrigerate if not planning on using immediately.
3. To wrap: Heat a large skillet of water. Don’t let it boil. The water should be hot enough to rehydrate the dried wrappers but you should be able to dip your fingers in the water. Soak the wrappers in the water until slightly soft. Don’t soak them too long or they will start to fall apart. The wrappers should be malleable.
4. Place filling on each wrapper and wrap as shown below.

Place filling in the center but about a third of the way from the bottom edge.

Fold in the sides towards the center.
Starting from the bottom edge, roll up toward the top edge.

Your Vietnamese Egg Roll: Slightly stout and pudgy.

Vietnamese Egg Rolls are on the left and Chinese Egg Rolls are on the right.

5. Heat oil in a wok, chicken fryer or electric deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry egg rolls in batches until slightly golden; about 10 minutes. Vietnamese egg rolls will not completely brown and are a little more difficult than regular egg rolls to work with. The egg rolls will stick together. Let them stick. Once they are almost done they can easily be separated. Tip: Let the egg rolls dry out a bit and they will be easier to work with.

Vietnamese egg rolls are delicious wrapped in green leaf lettuce and dipped in Nuoc Cham sauce or cut up and served on top of vermicelli rice noodles, chiffonade lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and other assorted crunchy veggies and drizzled with Nuoc Cham sauce.

Read More

Mexican Rice like Casa Guadalajara

A few years ago I set out to make Mexican rice like my favorite Mexican restaurant in San Diego. Casa Guadalajara makes my favorite mole and my favorite rice. Their rice includes celery and frozen mixed vegetables. It doesn’t look traditional but is very delicious. The bf even approves of the recipe.

Mexican Rice
2 tablespoons bacon drippings or oil
2 cups long grain rice
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 can diced tomatoes
2 stalks celery, chopped
salt
pepper
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

1. Heat bacon drippings or oil in a large dutch oven. Add the rice and cook until slightly toasted and golden. Add the onion and garlic and cook about a minute longer. Add the tomatoes (including liquid) and cook until liquid has evaporated.
2. Add the jalapeno, celery, salt, pepper and chicken stock. (I usually use the juices from cooking chicken guisada meat and add chicken broth to make 4 cups. This time I used the meat juices from the carnitas.) Bring to a rapid boil and then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook about 15 minutes and then add the frozen mixed vegetables but do not mix in. Cook another 5 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender. Turn off heat and let the rice rest at least 15 minutes before fluffing with a fork.

Read More

Carnitas

We had suite tickets for Dane Cook on Sunday night. Before going we met up with some friends at their house. Since my friend’s husband was planning on staying behind to watch the new baby, we decided to bring dinner over. I made carnitas.

Carnitas are traditionally slow cooked in its own fat in a large copper pan called a “caso.” Some methods of cooking are not well suited for the modern kitchen. If I was at my parent’s or my grandparent’s home cooking chunks of meat in a large pot of fat would not be a problem at all. My mom used to do this all the time in large 10 gallon pots. So here is the compromise. I slow braised it with a little water for about 2 hours, let the meat cool, brown the pieces in its own rendered fat plus more rendered bacon fat. (My Boston butt was not very fatty so I needed a little more fat to help with the browning.) I served them as the filling for soft tacos.

3 to 4 pounds Boston butt, sliced into 1 ½ inch slices)
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon Mexican cut oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
2 cups water
bacon drippings or oil, as needed

Accompaniments:
corn tortillas
guacamole
salsa verde
bottle taco sauce
cheese, shredded

Method:
1. Marinate sliced pork with salt, pepper, ancho chile, Mexican oregano, garlic and bay leaves overnight or at least 4 hours.
2. In a cast iron dutch oven add the marinated pork and water and bring to a simmer. Braise for two hours. After two hours, drain the liquid but reserve the drippings. (I use the pork liquid to cook the rice.)
3. Shallow fry the pork in the reserved drippings plus additional bacon drippings or oil, if needed. Fry until the pieces are crispy. Cut the meat into small chunks.
4. Serve with tortillas, guacamole, salsa, cheese and any other taco garnishes.

Read More