Tiger Prawns With Fennel 茴香蝦

I used the fennel I bought from flea market and cooked it with the prawns. I was surprised to find the fennel had a texture like celery and a very pleasant fragrant but not as strong as lemon grass.  I like snow peas with shrimps, I thought this would be a good combination.

Ingredients:

5 Basil leaves
Fennel, discard the top part and slice the root as you would do with an onion.
1 lb. Snow peas
1 chili hot pepper. sliced (optional)
Tiger prawns, cleaned and rinsed
Ginger, minced
Garlic, minced
Shredded lettuce or arugula (optional)

Mixed sauce:
1 tbsp cornstarch
4 tbsp water
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, add a little salt and blanch prawns and snow peas, drained
2. Heat up a pan with oil, saute prawns until fragrant.
3. Add minced ginger and garlic.
4. Add black pepper, hot pepper, basil, fennel and saute for 5 minutes.
5. Add cooked prawns and snow peas and cook for 2 minutes.
6. Stir in the mixed sauce and stir well.
7. Pour over shredded lettuce or arugula.

Lamb Chop Marinade

I had some lamb meat in my fridge for sometimes.  I followed the recipe on this blog with slight changes and it was so delicious.  Sue from The Journal of a Girl who loves to cook was kind enough to let me share the recipe here. Thanks Sue for your kind sharing.

Lamb Chop Marinade

• Lamb meat/Chop
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tsp strong Honey French mustard
• a sprinkle of flake sea salt
• 1 tbsp of cooking wine
• 3 cloves garlic finely diced

Directions:

1. Pound the meat with a meat pounder.
2. Marinate the meat with all the ingredients.
3. Heat up the pan and add a little oil.
4. Grill or cook on non stick pan until cook.

Note:

The only difference I made was I pounded the meat first and add wine to the ingredients.

Shrimp with Sweet Walnuts

If you love eating the Shrimp with Sweet Walnuts from the Chinese restaurant, you will like this recipe. I don't usually fry food at home or use much oil in my daily cooking.  But my daughter loves this dish and it usually costs a lot but serve only with a small portion from the restaurant.  So I decided to try and make this for her.  She was so disappointed that I wasn't able to make it last night as promised.  But I made a point to devote my time to make this tonight.  It's a hit and was almost gone by the time I got to sit down for dinner. This recipe was verbally given to me by someone who used to own a couple of Chinese restaurants. I have separated the recipes into fried shrimp and sweet walnuts because they can be served individually.  But they should all serve together as one dish like this:

Fried Shrimp with Mayonnaise:

Ingredients:

1 lb. Large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
4 egg whites
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup oil
1 tbsp condensed milk (or Honey)
1/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions:


1. Wash shrimp and pat dry with paper towels. Marinate shrimps with cornstarch, soy sauce and sesame oil, set aside.
2. Beat eggs well; Stir in the cornstarch until it has a consistency like Elmer's glue.
3. Heat the oil on medium high, until hot.
4. Dip the shrimp in the eggs mixture. Slowly add in the shrimp one by one into the hot oil.
5. Stir and separate the shrimp so the shrimp will not stick together when frying. Immediately flip the shrimp over. Remove the shrimp once they are turned and drain on paper towels to soak up the excess oil.
7.  In another bowl, mix the condensed milk with mayonnaise well.
8.  Toss in the shrimp to coat with the  mixed mayonnaise.
9.  Pour on top of shredded cabbage or lettuce.
10. Serve with sweet walnuts (see recipe below).

Note:
If the tail is cut too deep. the shrimp will not curl into a ball shape when fry in the oil.  The mayonnaise can be used as salad dressing for the shredded cabbage or lettuce.

Sweet Sesame Walnuts:

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup oil
2/3 cup white sugar

Directions:

1 .Add water in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add the walnuts and bring back up to a boil or about 2 minutes.
3. Drain the water, spread out the walnuts on a cookie sheet and wipe the walnuts dry.
4. Heat up oil until hot.
5. Add the walnuts and fry for 2 minutes. Make sure to stir the walnuts so they won't burn.
6. Scoop up the walnuts with slotted spoon and add them to sugar and coat them well.
7. Add some sesame to the coated walnuts.
8, The walnuts should taste sweet and crispy.

Note:
You can add this to any salad as a topping, or eat them as snacks, you might not be able to stop yourself once you start eating it.

Jambalaya

A little history of how I became a fan of Jambalaya first. I had a chance to visit New Orleans few years ago and loved it there. That was the first time I went to the South.  I took a couple of tours to see the plantations and houses there. As the tour guide explained how the life was back then.  It reminded me of some of the scenes from the movie "Gone with the Wind".  I could see and feel that era as I walked through the old houses. The kitchen, the rooms, the beds were just what I saw in the movie.

I was also able to enjoy different styles of the popular jazz musics there.  Both traditional and contemporary live jazz musics can be heard everywhere while dining at the restaurants on Bourbon Street and dinner cruise ship.  I experienced the mini Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street. I saw and crossed the famous Mississippi River which I had heard about it since I was a little kid.  The South is just very different from the West coast where I live, and that was an unforgettable trip for me.

The food I tried at the restaurants were the famous Creole and Cajun.  They are just excellent but honestly expensive to eat everyday. The restaurant owned by Emeril Lagasse was located in the French Quarter.  Unfortunately we arrived late afternoon from the airport and the earliest reservation we could get was 10:00pm. However, I was able to try some of the famous food from the South, like seafood gumbo, crocodile soup, crawfish etouffee, rice pudding,etc. The Jambalaya was also one of the dishes I tried there.  I love the food from the South very much that I even got a couple of recipe books from the local shops. 

I have a habit of trying to mimic the food I ate from traveling and learned to cook it  for my kids.  That's the way I introduced new food to my kids.  We all love to eat Jambalaya so much that whenever we go to Elephant Bar, that's a must order item from the menu. I started to look for the Jambalaya recipe online.  This recipe is from one of Rachel Ray's cooking show. It is so delicious that it has become my daughter's "must post recipe" onto the blog.   If you love Jambalaya, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed with this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 Tbsp Butter
1 lb. Chicken,cut to pieces
3/4 lb. Sausage,diced
1 Medium onion, diced
2 Ribs Celery,diced
1 Bell Pepper,diced
1 Bay leaf, diced
Hot Sauce
2 to 3 Tbsp All purpose flour
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes in juice
1 can (14 oz.) Chicken Broth
1 tsp Cumin
1 round tsp. Dried Chili powder
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 lb. Medium Shrimps
2 Cups rice, cooked

Optional ingredients:
Salt and Pepper
Chopped Scallions, for garnish
Fresh Thyme, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat the pan with oil, add butter and chicken, saute for 3 minutes.
2. Add the diced sausage and saute for 2 minutes.
3. Add onion,celery, bell pepper,bay leaf and hot sauce, saute another 5 minutes.
4. Pour in all purpose flour stir and cook for 1 minute.
5. Add diced tomatoes, chicken broth,cumin,chili powder, worcestershire sauce and bring up to a boil.
6. Add the shrimps and simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Serve over cooked rice.
8. Add or decorate with any optional ingredients if desire.

Chicken Masala

I wasn't sure what to cook tonight until I saw the 2 bottles of Masala wine in the China cabinet.  I have not made this for a long time and I was rushing to make dinner.  It only took me 30 minutes to  finish cooking the whole meal.  I must say I am surprised that the chickens were very tender and delicious.  Here's how I made this:

Ingredients:

4 Boneless chicken Breasts
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup flour
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1/2 lb. of fresh mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup Masala wine

Directions:

1. Halves each chicken breast lengthwise into 2 thin slices. Add them to the milk and let them soak.
2. Flatten the chickens by pounding the chickens to 1/4 inch thickness.
3. Heat the pan and add cooking oil until hot.
4. Coat the chicken breasts with some flour and then add to the heated oil.
5. Turn to medium heat and cook for 5 minutes until golden brown, then flip to the other side and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
6.  Add the mushrooms and mix with the chickens and let them cook for another 5 minutes.
7.  Turn to low heat and drizzle soy sauce and the Masala wine around the pan and mix well with chickens.
8.  Cook another 5 minutes. Then they are ready to be served.

Notes:

I recall the restaurant I dined with long time ago served this with mashed potatoes and spinach. That's why I  served the Chicken Masala with mashed potatoes and stir fried spinach.

Braised Pork Rice （ Lu Rou Fan ）

My friend Teresa is a great cook and she often look at recipes and cook something complicated.   I like to ask her for recipes since I don't like to go through recipe books nor do I have the patience to take the time to go through the long process of making a dish.  This is a dish that's fairly easy to prepare in huge quantities ahead of time and is well loved by all of us. It's just like spaghetti: the older it gets, the better it tastes.    She told me the most important ingredients to use in this dish are the 5 spices and the shallots.

Ingredients:

1 lb. Pork (Pork that has at least 50% fat is preferred)
6 Shiitake mushrooms (soak in cold water for few hours)
3 to 4 Shallots
2 gloves of garlic
1 and 1/2 Tbsp 5 spices (see Note below for description of spices)

1. Cut out the pork skin if any, cut the pork in tiny pieces.(marinate with some soy sauce and sugar)
2. Soak the shiitake mushrooms and dice into small pieces.
3. Chopped the garlic and  shallots
4. Heat pan on high,add the pork and keep stirring until all fat comes out.
5. Scoop out the pork and put aside.
6. Using the same pan (which still has some oil in it), add the shallots and stir fry until fragrant.
7. Add in the mushrooms and stir fry
8. Add in some soy sauce, rock sugar and 5 spices (1 tbsp)
9. Add a little water just enough to cover the pork.
10. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
11. To make boiled eggs, add eggs into cold water and cook for 12 to 15 minutes.
12. Remove the eggshell and add in to the pork while it's still simmeingr.
13. Turn the eggs in the pot occassionally so the eggs are covered by the sauce and will evenly brown.
14. The dish is done after 30 minutes.
15. Serve egg and some pork mixture over rice.

Note:
1. This dish tastes well with fatty pork, you can remove the excess fat when it's done stir frying.
2. The 5 spices consists of fennel,anise,cinnamon, gloves, and ginger. It's supposed to be added in before ready to be served.  You can find a bottle of this blend of spices in any Chinese grocery store.