Hawaiian Heart Throb Smoothie

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“Influenced by a vacation in Maui, this tropical drink is a blend of strawberries, bananas, grenadine, coconut cream & pineapple juice.”
- Red Robin Concoctions Menu

2/3 cup frozen strawberries, about 6-10
1/2 banana, peeled
2 Tsp grenadine
2 Tsp coconut cream
4 Tsp pinapple juice, frozen cubes
1-2 cube of ice
1 shot Vodka

Made according to the description and ingredient list from Red Robin, except the Vodka part. Dump everything into blender, should take up about 2 cups total. If your blender is not strong enough to blend whole ice cube, try crushing it into smaller pieces with a mullet first. Blend with slow pulses, so ice settles to the bottom and blend evenly. Pour into a chilled glass and enjoy :)

1 shot glass = 1.5 measure
1 measure = 3/4 oz = 1.5 Tsp

Mudslide

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1 shot Kahlua
1 shot Baileys Irish Cream
1 shot Vodka
4-6 scoops of vanilla ice cream
1-3 cubes of ice

Dump everything into blender, don’t worry about amount of ice cream, more the merrier. Basically everything should take up about 2 cups in the blender. Use quick pulse mode to make sure ice settles to the bottom for even blend. Pour into chilled glass and enjoy :)

Kahlua and Irish Cream have low alcohol content compare to Vodka, this is only slightly stronger than smoothie. But if you want more buzz, try 1.3 shot of everything or 1.5 shot of Vodka.

1 shot glass = 1.5 measure
1 measure = 3/4 oz = 1.5 Tsp

Pina Colada

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3 shots of Daily’s Pina Colada Mix (see substitution below)
1 shot of Rum
2 Tsp pineapple juice, frozen cube
1-3 cubes of ice

Blend everything together, serve in a chilled glass.

You can also substitute Rum with Vodka, or half white rum half dark rum. 1 shot of alcohol is just right for a smoothie type of drink. You can also try 1.5 shot, but any more than that the alcohol will over power the fruity taste.

If you don’t have the mix, substitute it with:
1 shot pineapple juice
4 Tsp coconut cream
1 Tsp sugar syrup

I usually use shot glass for measurement of most ingredients and large chinese table spoon for the rest. Figure most people can measure their alcohol tolerance by shots. But most recipies will use “measure” or other standard measurement units.

1 shot glass = 1.5 measure
1 measure = 3/4 oz = 1.5 Tsp

Rice congee

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Ingredients:
1 cup cooked rice (aka left over, or half cup uncooked)
3 cup water
tiny bit scallion (green part)
1tsp salt

for beef congee:
1/2 cup shreded beef
marinated egg

for pork congee:
1/2 cup shreded pork
1/3 cup shreded pork belly

for sea food congee:
1/2 peeled shrimp
1 stick of fake crab

for sweet congee:
replace scallion and salt with sugar
add some sweet pickles

Boil rice in water in high heat, stir to make sure they are loose. Add salt, stir. Turn to low heat and cook for 20-30min or however long you like, best if you have slow cooker for this. Stir often and cook to the consistency you like, add more water if necessary. Add all other ingredients, turn to medium heat cook til boiled again and dish.

Using left over rice cuts down cooking time, other uses: fried rice, rice pudding.

Imitation Samosas

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Ingredients:
1 potato
1/2 pack wonton wrapper
1Tsp butter
1Tsp thai curry paste
pinch of garlic/onion powder





Peel potato, slide and cut into small pieces (cooks faster). Boil the pieces til you can poke thru easily. Drain and mash, mix in butter, curry paste and garlic powder. Stir til its even goldish color, let it cool.
Cut wrapper diagonally into 2 triangles (Optional, this is so you can wrap filling into triangle shape. Might or might not want to do this, depends on the size of wrapper. Of course you can wrap them however you like, just make sure not too much filling is exposed). Wrap 1/2 to 1 table spoon of potato paste into individual wrapper, lay them out on a big plate, don’t overlap, or they will stick together.
Fire up your deep fryer in high heat (use a small sauce/soup pot, pour in 2-3 cup of oil, 1-2 inches high) . Turn to medium heat and try to maintaint this level. Dump in the pieces one by one, into empty area in the pot, fish them up once they turn alittle yellow (less than a minute). They will turn more gold once they are out, so take them out early rather than late, you can always put them in again if needed. Drain them of oil and put them over sheet of paper towel.
You can heat up leftover in microwave, put them on a layer of towel to keep them dry. Or refry them.

Sweet and sour chicken over bok choy

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Ingredients:
1 large chicken breast (1-2 pounds? you can also use other meat)
1 stalk of scallion (chop white part, dice green part)
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 cup potato starch (or other frying batter)
2 tsp salt and pepper (season salt)
2 Tsp sweet and source sauce (or any other chinese stir fry sauce)

2 stacks of bok choy (baby bok choy or any similar green vege)
1 Tsp squid/fish/soy based seasoning sauce
1 tsp sugar

Cut chicken into small bite pieces, add in salt and pepper, cover and shake it couple times, then let it sit for 10min. Pour in half cup of starch, squish around with your hand, cover all the chicken pieces. Pour in the other half of starch, this time lightly stir the chicken so they are evenly covered and won’t appear slimy. You want to stir alittle so the flour doesn’t just come off when frying.
Deep fry the chicken pieces (see 3rd part of Imitation Samosas), they should float when done. Set aside.
Peel, seperate and clean individual leave of bok choy. Boil one pot of water, put in bok choy, white part down. After it boils again, drain the bok chok. You can either stir fry the bok choy in squid sauce or sugar in a pot, or just shake it. Dish the bok choy, lay them out on the plate if you like.
Heat 1tsp of oil in a wok or large frying pan, add in white scallion and garlic, stir alittle, you should smell the aroma. Pour in sweet sour sauce, add chicken stir alittle. Dish on top of bok choy, sprinkle the green scallion.

Grilled chicken and squash

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Ingredients:
half of squash, zuccini, eggplant
quater of onion
2 pieces of chicken breast
McCormick lemon herb marinade

Best to thaw chicken in the fridge for few hours, but if you need to use microwave, try short burst of 10/20 sec, don’t over do it. Cut (slice) chicken in to smaller pieces (cooks faster), marinade for 15min (could combine with thawing). Slice vegetables, slanted for larger pieces.

Heat up grill, spray/brush some oil. Dump the onion in first, then other vege. Flip over when grill mark shows on first side. Push aside to make room for chicken, grill til both side are fully cooked. But don’t over cook, or meat will be very dry.

Beef & vege stir fry

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Ingredients:
half pound of beef
half eggplant
2 stalks of bok choy
(either or both vege)
1 garlic chunk
1 stalk of scallion (white half)
House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy Stir Fry Sauce (or any other soy sauce based stir fry sauce)



Cut beef into bite size, cut eggplant into bite size wedges, wash and split up each leaves of bok choy, slice garlic, cut scallion into 2cm pieces (as oppose to the usual dicing of green half).

Heat up wok or frying pan with oil. Throw in garlic and scallion, stir alittle, you should smell the aroma from garlic and scallion. Throw in beef, stir til half cooked. Throw in vege, stir some more and cover the pot. Check and stir occasionally til beef is fully cooked, shouldn’t take long.

marinated pork belly with mustard leaves

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Mei Tsai Kou Rou (marinated pork with mustard leaves)

ingredients - Wu hua rou (pork belly, must have skin), mei tsai (dried pickled mustard leaves), scallion, ginger, soy sauce (you need two kinds - dark, aka shen cho, and normal), brown sugar.

tools - frying pan, one tooth pick, and most importantly a steamable bowl that's just big enough to fit all the ingredients


direction - This is a laborous dish... but blue insisted on knowing its secrets ^^;; so here you go... the whole thing will take a while, 4 +- 1 hrs including wait time, so start early =)
1. boil the pork belly just enough so it's fully cooked but still contain all the flavors, maybe 20 minutes defrosted (do NOT cut it into pieces yet!) (tip: the water used to cook the pork is great for soup base, once u remove the bits with a filter)
2. poke holes on the surface of the pork skin with a tooth pick (so that it won't blister) and coat the skin with a layer of dark soy sauce. now pour some oil on to the frying pan and use SMALL to medium heat to fry the skin side of the pork until it's brown (might want to cover it to avoid getting burned)
3. mix normal and dark soy sauce with some brown sugar in a small bowl. cut the pork into thin slices, cover it with the prepared sauce, and line it neatly in the steamable bowl, skin side face DOWN and around the bowl.
4. soak the mustard leaves in warm water for a few minutes (cut it up afterwards if it's not already in small pieces) . Drain, and stir fry it with diced scallion and ginger. pave the cooked mustard leaves on top of the pork so it covers the pork evenly.
5. place the finished product in a steamer and steam for at least 1 hr (i usually steam for 2 hrs).
6. finally, take the bowl out of the steamer and cover it with a plate deep enough to hold the extra sauce ;). and in one smooth motion turn it upside down... let the sauce drain onto the plate and remove the bowl... now you should have a perfectly aligned pork belly sitting on the plate =)

notes
er... good luck, and don't burn yourself.

Chinese Pork Lettuce Wraps

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1 lb Ground Pork
2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
2 tsp Lime Juice
1 clove garlic
3 celery stalks
2 large carrots or handful of baby carrots
1 head of Butter or Iceberg lettuce (or any kind of flexible leaf lettuce)
1/4 small onion
Salt and Pepper to taste

Marinate the ground pork in hoisin sauce, lime juice and garlic
Dice onion, carrots and celery
Stirfry the onion, carrots and celery until soft, then remove
Stirfry the ground pork (take care not to turn it into a giant patty!)
When the pork is done, mix in veggies

To serve:
Wrap the pork/veggie mixture in full leaves of lettuce. Wrap it like a burrito!
You can also serve with Hoisin on the table, but I didn't find it necessary.

Serves 3-4. All measurements are approximate! I made them up myself :P

Dijon Chicken Tarragon

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ingredients
2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 6 to 8 ounces
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon or, 2 teaspoons dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:

Bring 2 cans chicken broth to a boil. Add chicken to the broth, cover and reduce heat to simmer. Poach chicken 12 minutes.
Remove chicken to a plate and pour broth into a large measuring cup or batter bowl. Return the pan to heat and add butter.
Slowly pour cooking liquid back into the pan, add flour until appropriately thickened, combining with a whisk.
Stir in Dijon mustard and tarragon and season sauce with salt and pepper. Return chicken to the pan and coat with sauce. Simmer 2 or 3 minutes to heat chicken back through and to combine flavors.

Presentation of Insalata Caprese

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Insalata Caprese is another name for "tomato, mozzarrella & basil salad"

A cool way to serve this salad is in "stacks".

Slice tomatoes and fresh mozzerrella balls
Then arrange in a stacks
Drizzle with some olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste