spicy pad thai

Ingredients

1 pack Kikkoman Pad Thai seasoning mix
2 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 pound boneless chicken or pork, cut into thin strips
1/4 pound fresh bean sprouts
4 green onions, chopped
6 ounces fine egg noodles cooked, rinsed, and drained
2 Tbsp chopped roasted peanuts

Dissolve mix in milk; blend in peanut butter. Gradually stir in 1/4 cup water until well mixed. Heat oil in large sklilet over high heat; add meat. Stir fry until browned. Add bean sprouts and green onions, stir fry 1 minute. Reduce heat; stir in noodles, peanuts, and seasoning mixture. Cook until noodles are heated. Makes 3 to 4 servings.

I found this to be very tasty, but a bit on the spicy side- not as sweet as the pad thai I usually get at restaurants. If you prefer sweet over spicy, try adding some sugar.

scallion pancakes

1/2 cup of flour 1/2 cup warm water 1 tsp salt 1 tsp garlic powder (optional) 2 tsp sesame oil (vege oil or butter) 2 stalks of scallion 1 Tsp vege oil (shortening) rolling pin (beer bottle w/ sarin wrap)

in a large bowl, slowly mix water into flour with a spoon. i dont know how much water exactly, but mix until it becomes one dough, some what sticky. let it sit for 5min, while you chop up the scallion as small as possible [optional].

divide the dough in half. sprinkle flour on a flat surface (cutting board), flatten the dough on to board, sprinkle some more flour on the dough. roll the dough flat into a 10x10 in sheet. keep sprinkle flour to prevent it from sticking to board or rolling pin. just get it as flat and big as you can, shape of the sheet doesnt matter as much here, as long as it's in one piece.

sprinkle salt, garlic power, spread evenly with your hand. add oil, spread evenly with back of a spoon. sprinkly scallion [i usually cut stalk in 2, then cut both at the same time with a scissors right on to the sheet, so you get even spread of white and green part]. roll the sheet up like a jelly roll, pinch the ends. then roll the other way into a snail.

flatten the snail with your hand, sprinkle more flour. this time roll it into 6x6 in circular sheet. for a perfect circle, with tip of rolling pin at center of the sheet and handle at the right, roll it towards you, turn the sheet as you roll.

heat up oil in a frying pan, turn the pan so oil is evenly spread, it's ok if they are in drops. turn heat down to medium, put the sheet in, flip a couple times til you see some golden brown dots on both side. dish up, cut into 8 pieces and enjoy.

*makes 2 pancakes, use 1/2 to 1 stalk of scallion per pancake.

*when rolling the sheet up, bigger the sheet, more layers you will have, the oil is for taste, seperate the layers and add air bubbles

seafood pesto

1 packet of pesto sauce 1/4 cup olive oil 2 servings of vermicelli (quarter size batch) 1/2lb medium/large shrimp (about 12) 1/4lb small scallops (hand full) 2 small squids 1-2 cups of broccoli florets

cook the pasta in a big pot of water, drain. clean and chop up squid into rings. follow direction on the packet for sauce: mix sauce, 1/2 cup water and olive oil in a pan/pot, boil then turn to medium heat. throw in seafood and broccoli, stir. toss in pasta when cooked. dish, sprinkle some Parmesan or pepper.

sushi rice

3 cups uncooked sushi rice 3 cups water 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup vinegar 1 tsp salt

clean rice, add water and cook rice in rice cooker. when rice is done, dump into a big bowl, let it cool. in a small sauce pot, boil sugar, vinegar and salt. slowly mix the solution into rice. mix, dont stir!
what to do with this rice? that's for another day ^^

flatbread sandwich

1 piece of flat bread couple slices of deli meat (ham, turkey, salami, 2each) 2 strips of bacon lettuce (salad packet) shredded cheese (provolone, Parmesan) mustard

warm flat bread in microwave for 10sec, makes it easier to fold. cook bacon. put bread on tin foil, if bread is more oval shape, better to fold along the minor axis. put deli meat on bread first, add mustard, bacon, cheese, then lettuce. fold everything up and enjoy, or wait til lunch ^^;;

seafood soba

1 serving of buckwheat soba (nickel size) soba sauce (or soy sauce + sugar + water) couple medium shrimps some imitation crab pieces slices of crab cake 1 Tsp of shredded fish flakes 1 tsp of chopped scallion

boil soba in a big pot of water. throw in seafood when noodle is done, cook for a little bit longer. cool everything in cold running water and drain. dish, pour soba sauce on noodle, add scallion and fish flakes.

beef curry

2 cups of rice 1 cube of curry mix (S&B golden curry) 1/2lb of beef 1 potato some baby carrots

cook rice separately. peel potato, cut everything into bite size. in a pot, heat up 1 tsp of oil, throw in everything, toss for a little bit until beef is mostly cooked. add 1 to 2 cups of water, depends on how much and how runny you want the curry sauce to be. add the curry cube, stir every once in a while, until everything is nice and gooie.

muffin and hashbrown

2 potato hash brown patties 1 english muffin 1 egg 1 breakfast sausage patty 2 strip of bacon

slice muffin in two and toast. fry hash brown in a (non-stick) pan over medium heat with 2 tsp of oil. put the oil and hash brown in together, hash brown will break up easily if the skin is not fried before it defrost. lightly beat the egg in a small bowl with fork or chopstick. heat one 1 tsp of butter or oil in pan, pour in the egg. if egg spreads too wide, fold it up or scoop it up with spatula. next put the bacon in first, then the sausage patty. leave the bacon bunched up, cuz you have to fit it on top of the sausage. press the sausage a little if it's not big/wide enough. when done, put the egg on the bottom of the muffin, then sausage and bacon on the top. sprinkle pepper and salt on hashbrown.
it's better to cook the patty and bacon last, because they will leave meat grease in the pan, which will make the hash brown and egg look black if you don't clean the pan. also if you buy pre-cut sausage, they are usually very small, so i prefer the kind that's one big blob of meat in a plastic wrap. and low sodium, thin bacon are easier to bunch up.

szechuan beef

green giant - stir fry szechuan 2-3 cups of rice 1/2 - 1lb beef

cook the rice in rice cooker, cook the stir fry as directed on the packet. cooking beef can be tricky, poke it with fork to make sure the inside is cooked.

rice: clean the rice in running water, stir a little, drain. add 1.5 cup of water for every cup of rice, usually water level should be 1/2 inch above the rice. it's better to have too little water and add more later than to have too much water and end up with mushie rice.

meat: you can use any meat, but i prefer flank. you can store meat in freezer for few months, as long as you don't keep refreezing and defrosting it. cut the meat up into serving size blocks, put them in freezer bags and freeze them separately, so that you never have to defrost more than what you need. meat is easier to cut if it's half frozen, so don't defrost all the way.

stir fry: cut meat into bite size. in a pot or frying pan, heat up one tsp of oil (vege, corolla, peanut etc), throw in meat, stir a little, add the sauce from packet, throw in vege, stir some more, you can cover the pot to cook faster. add in the nuts when it's almost done, stir few more times. and ready to dish!

mushroom rice

Lipton rice & sauce - mushroom 1 piece of chicken breast, cut in to bite size chunks 1/2 cup sliced baby portobello mushroom 1/4 cup chopped onion

cook the rice as directed on the package. usually is boil the content of the packet in 2 cups of water and 1 Tsp of margarine/butter. turn down the heat after it start to boil. stir often until it's mostly one blob. you can throw everything in rice cooker, so you wont need to watch over it.
in a small pan or pot, heat up 1 tsp of butter or oil. throw in onion, mushroom and chicken, stir fry until chicken is no longer pink. dish, sprinkle some pepper and enjoy.