Beignets

Happy Christmas Eve!!  I know I haven't posted many recipes lately.  I've been cooking and I have several recipes in draft right now but the whole process of food blogging takes a lot of time.  I can't manage to pull out the DSLR camera, find the cord to upload, and edit photos so right now iPhone photos will have to do.  I need an SLR camera that will email photos to me. 

I've made this recipe a few times over the past several months. I've tweaked the recipe a bit, decreasing the amount of flour just a bit to get a more pliable dough.  I've starting converting many stand mixer bread dough recipes to work with my favorite Zoji bread machine.  

I find that this dough tastes best when allowed to rest overnight.  It still tastes find after refrigerating a few hours but the complex yeast-y flavors take longer to develop.  The dough also poofs up nicely with the longer rest.  I've fried half the dough the first morning and the other half the second morning.  The dough can be kept in the fridge for a few days but I find that after day 3, it starts to get too flavorful.  I've also frozen the dough and it's worked beautifully.

I love eating beignets with Vietnamese coffee made with either Cafe du Monde or French Market chicory coffee rather than cafe au lait. 

Beignets

adapted from Tyler Florence "Ultimate French Quarter" episode

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 3 3/4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• Cooking spray
• Vegetable oil, for deep frying
• 1 cup powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Add all ingredients except for cooking spray, oil, and powdered sugar to bread machine.  Set dough cycle but don't let the dough complete proof cycle.

2. Place dough in oil bowl (cooking spray or butter) and cover.  Refrigerate dough overnight or at least 4 hours.  (Beignets are most flavorful if allowed to rest overnight.)

3. Once rested, gently turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle a little more flour on top so you can work with the dough. Gently shape the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle so it can be cut into squares. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut into squares, (you should yield 12 large squares, depending on how thick you rolled the dough).

4. Heat about 2 inches oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry the beignets in batches, turning them and gently bouncing them with tongs to encourage them to poof, until golden. Remove from oil onto a paper towel lined plate. To serve, transfer beignets to a serving plate and dust generously with powdered sugar.

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Challah French Toast

My favorite bread for french toast is challah (my second favorite is brioche). Whenever I find challah french toast on the menu of a hip breakfast joint, I always have to order it. I think I make a pretty darn good french toast. (I used the same recipe but with a soft french baguette during out snow trip earlier this year. I ended up feeding 30 adults plus several children.)

2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup milk
pinch salt
1 extra large egg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon brown sugar
6 thick slices challah bread

1. Mix all ingredients (except bread) together. Whisk together.
2. Heat a skillet or griddle. Coat with butter and oil. Dip each slice of bread in mixture and fry each side until golden brown.

I usually buy my challah at the Whole Foods in Cherry Creek. They usually carry the braided loaf most of the year and the braided crown around Rosh Hashanah.

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Chinese Sesame Balls (Jin Dui or Jien Duy)

I've been feeling a little tired and uninspired lately. However, I did manage to do some cooking over the weekend. I had leftover adzuki beans from a different recipe and decided on the sesame balls instead of red bean dessert soup. I used dried adzuki beans to make the red bean paste. (This took a very long time.)

The recipe can be found here. These sesame balls are very similar to those found at dim sum restaurants. (I also like the Vietnamese version called bánh cam or bánh rám. The Vietnamese version is usually filled with sweetened mung bean paste.)

The pictures are not the best. The sesame balls happen to be one of the last items I cooked. It was already dark by the time I started the recipe. (It was cloudy most of the day so even the pictures I took during the day were crappy.)

The dough is slightly tan because of the dark brown sugar. The recipe calls for glutinous rice flour. If you buy a Thai brand, then it's the bag with the green writing. I always get confused between the red and the green writing. Green = Glutinous rice and Red = Regular rice. The red bean paste was made from dried adzuki beans, sugar and a pinch of salt.

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Pizza Lue

The reason why I am posting about this is because my dear brother commented on my blog. He said I post about too many western recipes. I should focus on more Lue recipes. I told him that it would be impossible for me to only blog about Lue recipes because I know approximately six Lue recipes and I'm not certain all six are authentic.

I made a conscious effort to make a "Lue" dish over the weekend. I had leftover sticky rice in the fridge. I took the leftover rice and made one of my favorite breakfast recipes. We call it "Pizza Lue." The name is made up but we've been calling it "Pizza Lue" for so long, I'm not sure I know the real name. I'm not even sure if it is a real dish eaten by the Lue folks in Sipsongpanna.

I don't expect anyone to read this blog entry and then feel inspired to make "Pizza Lue." I know the ingredients do not make this dish sound very appetizing and I'm not sure anyone outside of the Lue community would be able to get their hands on the fermented soybean paste. It is not sold on the shelf of your local Asian grocery store. I got my little jar from my aunt. (Note to self: I must learn how to make fermented soybeans.)

Start off by reheating your leftover sticky rice and form the rice into one large circle (about the size of your frying pan) or into smaller circles.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil in a nonstick pan. Fry both sides of rice until crunchy and slightly golden.

Spread fermented bean paste sauce on one side of the rice.

Dip rice in eggs mixture (eggs, water, fish sauce, black pepper and MSG) and fry until eggs are cooked.

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Mom's Crab Rangoon and My Wonton Wrapped Shrimp

The bf loves crab rangoons (aka crab cheese wontons). You can only imagine his excitement when my mom made them for my friend's baby shower. He ate three dozen. He told me to get my mom's recipe since her wontons were better than the ones served in restaurants.

I called my mom and asked for her "recipe." She told me the ingredients. Her secret ingredient is Knorr chicken bouillon powder. She also adds frozen peas or frozen mixed vegetables to the filling.

I made the platter above to take over to dinner at a friend's house. It was a dinner for four.

Mom’s Crab Rangoons (Crab Cheese Wontons)

1 package 8 ounce cream cheese
2 stalks green onions, finely diced
3 sticks imitation crab meat, finely diced
½ cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
freshly ground pepper
1 package square wonton wrappers

1. Mix cream cheese, green onions, crab meat, peas, bouillon powder and ground pepper.

2. Fill wonton wrappers and shape. I use water to seal the edges. (I'm not wrapping them the same way they do it in the restaurant. My mom doesn't either. She says it is a pain. I make them more like tortellinis.)

3. Freeze them and then fry. (I don't know why but I always like to freeze my wontons and egg rolls before frying them.)

Place a spoonful of filling in the center (or off-center like me) and fold to form a triangle. Bring the two tips of th folded end together.

I also left a few as triangles to store in the freezer. I took the rest over to dinner at a friend's house. She also loves crab rangoons.

I think they look like little pudgy pokemon puffs.

And now the Wonton Wrapped Shrimp.

This is really not a recipe. One of my classmates in middle school showed me a very simple way to cook shrimp. We used small egg roll wrappers instead of wonton wrappers but I think both wrappers work well.

What you need:
Shrimp
Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce
Wonton or small egg roll wrappers

Method:
Peel and devein shrimp but leave the tails on.
Dip shrimp in Mae Ploy sauce and coat well.
Wrap the shrimp.
Fry.

I told you it was easy.

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Nam Khao Tod (Laotian Fried Rice Ball Salad)

A lot of the food I grew up eating is a mix of different Asian dishes from different regions in Asia. This particular dish is from Laos. When I was home during Christmas, we stopped by the Laotian food plaza and my sister ordered some Nam Khao Tod. I haven’t had this in years.

I remember making this dish with my aunt when I was very young. It was something that my family made every once in a while but since it was easier to order from a Laotian restaurant, we seldom made it ourselves. Sometimes I will go to a party and the host will serve trays of nam khao ordered from a restaurant. (I also love the trays of banh cuon that are also usually ordered for these events.)

A lot of Laotian food is a little too pungent for me but I do enjoy most of the dishes. The problem is I can never make it as tasty as my Laotian friends. The sour pork sausages in this dish can be a bit overwhelming for many Western palates. I didn’t tell the bf that the chewy noodle-like strands were boiled and sliced pork skin. (He is still alive and well.)

I’ve never made som moo sausages (soured pork) before because we always bought it from the store. If you’re lucky enough and live in a large city, you might be able to find it at your local Asian grocery store. If you can’t find the sausage and want to make your own, I think there is a mix sold by Lobo called Nam powder mix.

The Lao Cook website has video on their site with pretty detailed instructions. It doesn’t look like they used the powdered mix so I suppose it is possible to make it using natural fermentation. I’ve never tried this and am quite leery since it requires fermenting raw meat. The sour sausages I am using are from my aunt. I visited her last week and she gave me several varieties of homemade sausages. (She just bought a new meat grinder and sausage stuffer contraption.)

I have the sausage so it must not be very difficult to make the other components of this dish. Well not exactly. Unlike other Asian recipes, Laotian recipes are very difficult to find. I searched for recipes but mainly found blogs about people ordering this dish from a Laotian restaurant and are now searching for a recipe. One of the blogs I found featured Lao Champa restaurant in Oakland, California. I have eaten at this restaurant. My sister took the family there when we went to her graduation. Our server was one of her classmates. I remember it being very good but still the site did not have a recipe. I looked to Joy's Thai food site (because she usually makes both Thai and Thai Isaan recipes) for guidance and although she does have a recipe, it was very vague.

How difficult can this be? I know most Asian recipes are not measured using exact quantities so it should be very forgiving. In preparation for this recipe, I wrote down the ingredients I thought I needed and then I filled in the measurements as I cooked. I was working from the memory of my one and only experience making this and my memory of the tastes and textures of this dish. I tried my best to cook this, jot everything down and to photograph the steps. I wish I had a few extra sets of hands in the kitchen. It turned out very well. I am quite satisfied. Feel free to enlighten me if I failed to execute a crucial step or if I leave out a vital ingredient.

Rice balls:
3 ½ cups Jasmine rice
½ cups grated coconut
1 pound ground pork, chicken or turkey
2 eggs
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
MSG, to taste
Fish sauce, to taste
1 tablespoon sugar
Oil for frying

For the salad (Quantities are for one serving of three rice balls.)
¼ cup peanuts (use the raw, skin-on peanuts and toast them yourself)
1 stalk green onion, thinly sliced
5 sprigs coriander leaves, finely chopped
½ length (about 3 tablespoons) Som Moo (sour pork sausages), torn into small pieces
1 tablespoon fried shallots (I used the fried shallots sold in a little canister.)
juice from a wedge of lime

To serve:
Green leaf lettuce
Dried chili peppers, fried
lime wedges
coriander leaves

Mise en place:

1. Cook rice in rice cooker and allow to slightly cool.

2. Grate the coconut (if using fresh coconut). I used frozen grated coconut because it is much easier and for this recipe, the frozen stuff is fine. I just grated a fresh coconut yesterday but I’m saving it for a different recipe. Someone told me that they even made this with Baker’s sweetened coconut and it tasted fine. I think the recipe will also work with the unsweetened shredded coconut I use for coconut cupcakes.

3. Toast, peel and chop the peanuts. You will need about one to two cups for the entire batch. Raw peanuts can be found at Asian grocery stores. It will be labeled either “raw peanuts” or “red peanuts.” My mom used to toast the peanuts in a small frying pan but I find it easier in the oven. Once the peanuts are toasted, allow them to cool and then skin them by rubbing the peanuts between your fingers. I used to do this is the backyard. After rubbing the skins of the peanuts, I would blow the skins off the tray to get rid of them and leave only the heavier skinless peanuts. At this point, I would use a mortar and pestle to crush the peanuts but I don’t have one so I chopped them up with a knife.

Directions:

1. Mix together the cooked jasmine rice, grated coconut, ground meat, eggs, salt, pepper, MSG, fish sauce and sugar

2. Firmly pack the rice mixture into balls about 2 inches in diameter. (I actually make my “balls” into flat saucers in order to increase the surface area for frying. This way, I get more crunchy crust pieces.)

3. Working in batches, fry balls until dark golden brown in color.

4. When all rice balls are fried, toss in a few dried red chilies into the oil and fry for a few seconds, until fragrant. (I never eat the chilies so I omitted them.)

To assemble salad (You can mix up the entire batch or assemble serving size portions. The quantities above are for assembling a serving size portion of three rice balls.)

1. When balls are cool enough to handle, break the balls into smaller pieces.

2. Add chopped peanuts, green onions, coriander leaves, sour pork sausages, fried shallots and lime juice. Mix well.

3. Serve with lettuce, additional lime wedges and fried chili peppers.

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Chicken Egg Rolls

I wrapped 75 egg rolls last Friday, froze them in layers and then fried them on Saturday morning. I like to make a large batch of egg rolls and freeze them. Sometimes I freeze them prior to frying and other times after frying. They are better frozen in their un-fried state but so much more convenient when frozen after frying. All I have to do is heat them up in an oven for about 15 minutes and they crisp right back up.




I've had this All-Clad 6-quart deep saute pan for a while but I never thought about using it for deep frying. I like my electric deep fryer but that darn thing fries about 5 egg rolls at a time. I wanted to fry in large batches. When I opened the Williams-Sonoma catalog, I saw this set up and wanted to give it a try. I didn't have the fry basket or the tongs but I have the pan. I thought about buying the basket but never really got around to look for it. It is so awesome.

I fried all 75 egg rolls in about 3-4 batches. It isn't my mom ginormous wok but it worked really well for me. So if you are looking for something to take care of your deep frying, I highly recommend this pan. The only downside is that it is not as fool-proof as an electric deep fryer. You can't set the temperature and wait for the light. You can use a separate thermometer. I've never found a need for one. I learned how to deep fry from my mom and we never used thermometers. After a while you just learn how to look at the oil and you can tell if it is hot enough. You can also dip a piece of your food in the oil to see if it sizzles. You also learn to adjust the heat of the oil between batches by judging the rate the food is cooking.

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Khua Mee: Fried Noodles

I’m not exactly sure what to call this dish but after doing some research, I’m going with Khua Mee. I thought the dish was Laotian in origin because the first time I had it was when a Laotian friend’s mom made it. I did some research and a found that a few different countries and ethnic groups within these countries have their own claim to the origin of this dish.

I read that the Shan ethnic group in Burma have a dish they call Mee Kola and Cambodians also have a noodle dish called Mee Cha. In Laos the dish is either called Mee Lao or Khua Mee. I believe the word “mee” or “mi” is the universal Asian word for noodles.

This is a pan-fried and caramelized noodle dish topped with slices of crepe-thin omelets, bean sprouts, green onions, coriander leaves and sometimes shredded chicken. The taste is sweet, savory and garlicky. The contrast between the warm soft noodles and the cold crispy bean sprouts is perfect.

The noodles that my friend’s mom used were pho rice noodle sticks so I use the same noodles. I have a feeling that the ingredients of the dish have been changed based on what is readily available.

After several attempts, I found a method to recreate this. I’m not guaranteeing that this is the way that my friend’s mom made it. It was all trial and error until I was satisfied with the finished product.

The bf gives his stamp of approval.

Khua Mee aka Fried Noodles

2-3 boneless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, cut in half
salt

2 packages banh pho noodles
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup canola oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups water
¼ cup Pearl River dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons fish sauce
MSG
salt
pepper

8 eggs
salt
pepper
MSG
2 tablespoons water
oil, as needed

Half bunch coriander leaves, roughly chopped
1 bunch green onions, sliced
4 cups bean sprouts


Prep Work:
1. Poach chicken breasts with salt and garlic until cooked. Allow to cool and then shred into strips.
2. Soak pho noodles in hot water (tap is fine but if your tap doesn't get very hot you can bring the water just below a boil) until slightly softened; approximately 5 minutes. Strain noodles and set aside.

3. Wash and prep the cilantro and green onions.

Directions:
1. In a wok, caramelized sugar until golden brown. Add oil and garlic and cook garlic until golden.
2. Carefully add water to the wok. (Be very careful because you are adding cold water to caramelized sugar.) Add soy sauce, fish sauce, MSG, salt and pepper. Bring to a low boil.

3. Taste the liquid, adjust seasonings and when caramelized sugar has melted, add the pho noodles. Stir to evenly coat noodles with sauce. Continue to cook until noodles are softened and sauce had been absorbed. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool.

Preparing the Egg Strips:

I think the "EB" stamped on the eggs are so cute.

1. Beat eggs with salt, pepper, MSG and water.
2. Heat a nonstick (yes I said nonstick) pan and slightly coat with oil. Pour a little of the beaten eggs into the pan (like preparing crepes) and cook on both sides. Repeat until all eggs are cooked.

3. Stack the egg omelets and slice into strips.

Assembly:
1. When noodles have completely absorbed the sauce and is cool enough to handle, carefully separate the strands of noodles and place into a casserole pan (I often see people use the disposable aluminum pans but a casserole will work.)

2. Spread a layer of green onions and coriander leaves on top of the noodles.

3. Then a layer of shredded chicken breasts.

4. Then a layer of egg strips and finally a layer or bean sprouts.

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