Foods & Culiner

Keep Your Wife Happy

2011-08-01T01:36:00.000-07:00

You beloved her and she knows them! Even so besides being articles with this, you need to keep her happy, to make your wedding successful. If she has the better affair to happen stylish your life, you need to show your admiration and love to her too. Espousing consecrates only assured you that you need to keep her happy, not how flutter it. Appropriate to keep your wife elated, you need to incorporate certain new habits in your life. Read on to technique to keep your wife happyand your marriage blissful.

Apprise Her
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Hear To Her
To the highest degree adult female* quetch that their married man* don’t hear to them. Make a point your married woman knows that you pay care to everything she says and keep it in mind too. Just like 'the way to a adult male* heart is through his stick out', the direction to a woman's heart is through your ears. Even if you do listen to your wife, besides being a passive listener, attic active one. If you pick her daily after office, ask her how her day was and listen patiently if she would like to* tell something.

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Apple Cranberry Stuffed Pork Roast Recipe

2011-06-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Filling

1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large shallot, peeled, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups dried apples (packed)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Pork Roast

2 1/2 pound boneless center-cut pork loin roast (short and wide - about 7-8 inches long and 4-5 inches wide)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Before starting on the pork, put the pork roast in the freezer for 30 minutes to make it easier to cut. While the pork is chilling, you can make the filling.
2 Bring all the filling ingredients to simmer in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until apples are very soft, about 20 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the liquid. Use a rubber spatula to press against the apple mixture in the sieve to extract as much liquid out as possible. Return liquid to saucepan and simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside and reserve this liquid for use as a glaze. Pulse apple mixture in food processor, about fifteen 1-second pulses. Set aside.

2 Preheat oven to 350°F or prepare your grill for indirect heat. You will be "double-butterflying" the pork roast. Lay the roast down, fat side up. Insert the knife into the roast 1/2-inch horizontally from the bottom of the roast, along the long side of the roast. Make a long cut along the bottom of the roast, stopping 1/2 inch before the edge of the roast. You might find it easier to handle by starting at a corner of the roast.

Open up the roast and continue to cut through the thicker half of the roast, again keeping 1/2 inch from the bottom. Repeat until the roast is an even 1/2-inch thickness all over when laid out.

If necessary, pound the roast to an even thickness with a meat pounder.

3 Season the inside of the roast well with salt and pepper. Spread out the filling on the roast, leaving a 1/2-inch border from the edges. Starting with the short side of the roast, roll it up very tightly. Secure with kitchen twine at 1-inch intervals. Season the outside of the roast generously with salt and pepper.
4 Place roast on a rack in a roasting pan, place in oven, on the middle rack.
You can also grill the roast, using indirect heat either gas or charcoal. If you are using charcoal, use about 5 pounds of coals, bank them to one side. Preheat the grill, covered. Wipe the grates with olive oil. Place roast, fat side up, on the side of the grill that has no coals underneath. Place the lid on the grill, with the vent directly over the roast. If you are grilling with gas, place all the burners on high for 15 minutes to heat the grates, brush grates with olive oil, turn off the middle burner, place roast fat-side up on middle burner. If you are grilling, turn roast half way through the cooking.
Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, until the internal temperature of the roast is 130 to 135 degrees. Brush with half of the glaze and cook for 5 minutes longer. Remove the roast from the oven or grill. Place it on a cutting board. Tent it with foil to rest and keep warm for 15 minutes before slicing.

5 Slice into 1/2-inch wide pieces, removing the cooking twine as you cut the roast. Serve with remaining glaze.
Serves 6-8.

Apple Cranberry Stuffed Pork Roast

2011-05-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

Are you familiar with Cook's Illustrated? It's a magazine and a website from the same people who create the PBS show America's Test Kitchen. It's the only cooking show we watch with any regularity, and we read each issue of the magazine from cover to cover. What I love about the magazine is that they go into great deal of detail about the how's and why's of various cooking methods; I always learn something new. (What I don't love about the magazine is that they tend to overcomplicate things, just for that n-th degree of perfection.)

This apple cranberry stuffed pork roast recipe is based on a recipe from Cook's Illustrated (Sept 07). We absolutely loved it; I've been eating the leftovers for days. The filling is essentially a sweet sour chutney, made with brown sugar, vinegar, dried apples and cranberries. Though pretty much any chutney would work in this recipe. The roast is "double butterflied", filling applied, meat rolled up and roasted. The acidity of the chutney-ish filling tenderizes the pork roast from the inside. The original recipe calls for grilling the roast with soaked wood chips but you can easily make this roast in the oven. The recipe also uses dried apples, which can be a little hard to find. I think next time we may try making this with peeled, diced, fresh apples.

Zucchini Bread with Pineapple

2011-04-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup olive oil
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini
1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. In a mixer, beat eggs. Add oil, sugar, and vanilla; continue beating mixture until thick and foamy. With a spoon, stir in the zucchini and pineapple.
2 In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. A third at a time, add dry ingredients into wet and gently stir (by hand) after each addition. Add the walnuts and raisins, blend gently.
3 Divide the batter equally between 2 greased and flour-dusted 5 by 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in to the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.
Makes 2 loaves.
Adapted from a 1974 Sunset Magazine recipe

Grandma's Zucchini Cake Recipe

2011-02-25T03:13:00.000-08:00

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes

The frosting amount assumes that you are going to keep the cake in the pan and only frost the top. If you plan on removing the cake from the pan and frosting the sides, you'll want to up the frosting amounts.

Ingredients

Cake:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon (can sub 1 teaspoon with other spices such as allspice and nutmeg, go easy on the cloves though)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
2 cups white, granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional, my addition)
2 cups (from about 3-4 regular sized zucchini) grated un-peeled zucchini (place grated zucchini in a sieve and press out some of the excess moisture before measuring)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (my grandmother recommends black walnuts)
1/2 cup golden raisins (optional)

Frosting:

3 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature (Philadelphia cream cheese recommended)
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 to 2 cups of powdered sugar

Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x12 or 9x13 baking pan (I used a pyrex pan).
2 In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
3 In a mixer, beat the 3 eggs on high speed until frothy. Lower the speed and beat in the sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla, and lemon zest (if using). Stir in the flour mixture, a third at a time. Stir in the zucchini and chopped nuts and/or raisins.
4 Pour mixture into a 9x12 or 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes. (My grandmother's notes say you can also bake in an angel food pan for 1 hour.) Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting. (While the cake is cooling, let the frosting's cream cheese and butter sit at room temperature to soften.)
5 To make the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
Frost the cake and serve. Store covered with aluminum foil.
Yield: Makes about 20 pieces.

Italian Sausage and Cabbage Stew Recipe

2011-01-25T22:49:00.000-08:00

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes

We use savoy cabbage for this recipe, but you could use regular cabbage, or even collard greens or dinosaur kale. If you want to make this stew vegetarian, leave out the sausage and double the beans.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, bulk, or removed from casings
1 large yellow onion, half sliced and half minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 15-ounce can of white beans (cannellini, Great Northern, or Navy), drained
1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
1 quart water
1 teaspoon salt, more to taste
1 2-pound savoy cabbage, quartered, then sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped parsley, loosely packed
1/2 cup to a cup of freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese for garnish

Method

1 Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat in a large (8-quart), thick-bottomed pot. Add the sausage, breaking it up into pieces as you put it into the pot in a single layer. When the sausage has nicely browned, remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2 Add the minced onion (save the sliced onion for later) and sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Once the onions give up some of their water, use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the minced garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
3 Add the white wine and the beans and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. If you want, for a thicker base, use an immersion blender to blend some (or all) of the beans and onions.

4 Add the water, stock, salt, cabbage, sliced onion half, bay leaves and browned sausage. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking until the cabbage is tender, about another 10-20 minutes.
To serve, sprinkle on chopped parsley and grated cheese.
Yield: Serves 8 to 10.

Dry Spiced Beef | Be Sampi Mesitsit

2011-01-25T00:53:00.000-08:00

Ingredients :

2 lb. beef top round, cut in 4 steaks of 8 oz each
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tsp. coriander seeds, crushed
1 Tbs. chopped palm sugar
2 large red chilies, seeded
2 Tbs. galangal, peeled and sliced
2 tsp. dried shrimp paste
2 cloves, ground
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black peppercorns, coarsely ground
2 Tbs. oil
2 tsp. fresh squeezed lime juice

How To Make :

Bring 20 cups of lightly salt water to a boil in a stockpot. Add beef and boil for approximately 1 hour or until tender. Remove from the stockpot. Meat must be so tender that its fibers separate very easily. Reserve the stock. Pound meat until flat and shred by hand into fine fibers.
Place garlic, coriander, palm sugar, red chilies, galangal, dried shrimp paste, cloves, salt and pepper in a food processor and purée coarsely, or grind in a stone mortar.
Heat oil in a heavy saucepan and sauté the marinade for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add shredded beef, mix well and sauté until dry. Season with lime juice.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Serve at room temperature with steamed rice.

Grandma's Zucchini Cake

2010-08-05T03:12:00.000-07:00

Rummaging through my mother's old recipe file recently, I stumbled upon a photocopy of a handwritten recipe for zucchini cake. The recipe is in my grandmother's hand, my dad's mom. She was the baker in the family (a title now passed on to my father). She moved from St. Paul to live with us in Los Angeles when I was four. Mom, being rather busy with all the kids (6 kids in 8 years!) and working as a head start teacher, didn't have much time for crafts or baking. It was grandma who taught me to sew, to knit and crochet, and to bake. She made cherry pies, angel food cakes, apricot jam, and the best oatmeal raisin cookies. We fought for the rights to lick the batter bowl of whatever cake she happened to be making. When we moved to Sacramento, she would send my mother recipe clippings and notes. I think that's how we must have ended up with this recipe for zucchini cake. It's a lot like zucchini bread, moist and somewhat crumbly, but in sheet cake form, with more egg and sugar, and with a cream cheese frosting. Great for summer potlucks.

Kebuli Rice | Nasi Kebuli

2010-03-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

500 GRAM CHICKEN FILLET, cut in cubes
800 GRAM CHICKEN STOCK
300 GRAM RICE
200 GRAM PINEAPPLE, cleaned and cut
4 GREEN ONIONS, chopped
5 CARDAMOM PODS
1 STALK LEMON GRASS, cut
PIECE OF FRESH GINGER ROOT, grated
2 CLOVES GARLIC, mashed
1 TSP CORIANDER SEEDS

How To Make :

Fry the garlic, coriander seeds, lemon grass, ginger and cardamom for a few minutes.
Add the chicken and fry a few minutes more. Add the stock and cook the chicken for 5 minutes.
Take the chicken out of the stock and add the rice and the green onions., simmer for 20 minutes.
Then add the pineapple and stir the chicken back in. Serve with fried onion.

Indonesian Beef Stew | Semur Daging

2010-03-25T00:24:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

2 lbs boneless beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 potatoes, peeled and cut as desired
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled
2 cups water
2 tbs oil
3/4 cup minced shallots
3 salam leaves (Indonesian bay leaves)
2 tbs minced ginger
1 1/2 tsp minced laos (galanggal)
1/2 nutmeg, grated
1 star anise
1 piece of cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp salt
4 tbs kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)
2 tsp tamarind juice or lemon juice
2 tomatoes, cut in 1/2-inch dice

How To Make :

Heat up the oil and fry the shallots about 3 minute or until it's translucent.
Add the ginger, nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, galanggal and salt.
Add the beef, stir and cook for about 5 minutes or until it's lost the raw pink color.
Pour in the water, add the kecap manis, tamarind juice and salam leaves, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low for about 1 hour .
Add hard boiled eggs, potatoes and tomatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes or until the beef is tender.
Serve it with with rice.

Zucchini Bread

2010-03-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

I still remember the first time I encountered zucchini bread as a teenager. I had a hard time getting my mind around the concept. At the time, zucchini was something my mom made me eat, and not anything you would bake into something sweet. Fortunately, the pathway into my naturally resistant-to-new-foods teenage mind had already been cut with carrot cake. Heck, if you could get something that good out of carrots, why not zucchini? After one bite, I was sold forever. Grated zucchini, mixed into the batter, brings moisture and tender texture to what is essentially a spice cake.

Here are two favorite, tried-and-true zucchini bread recipes. The first couldn't be easier; you don't need a mixer and can make the whole thing in one bowl. It's basically our zucchini muffin recipe in a bread form. The second recipe is adapted from one in an old issue of Sunset Magazine (September 1974) and is the recipe I used to follow as a teenager to make zucchini bread. The pineapple, walnuts, and raisins (my substitute, the original recipe called for currants) make the bread even more interesting.

Spicy Soup Tegal Style | Soto Tegal

2010-01-25T00:21:00.000-08:00

Ingredients :

150 g chicken breast boiled, fried, and cubed
100 g cow's heart boiled, fried, and cubed
100 g tripe boiled, fried, and cubed
150 g boiled chicken intestine, fried
750 ml stock
100 g bean sprouts, blanched, drain
5 tbsp sliced green onion
3 tbsp fried sliced shallots
2 tbsp fermented soybean (miso)
2 tbsp oil for sauteing

Spices :

3 tbsp sliced shallots
1 tbsp sliced garlic
5candlenuts
1 tsp shrimp paste
1 tbsp sliced boiled red chilies
2 1/2 tbsp sliced capsicums
1 tsp sliced galangal
2 salam leaves/bay leaves
1 stalk lemon grass
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Sambal Tauco :

1 tbsp sliced red chilies
1 tbsp fermented soybean (miso)
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp oil

How To Make :

To make the sauce : Blend all the spices. Put oil in the pan, saute the paste over medium heat, add fermented soybean, salam leaves, lemon grass, sugar, and salt as seasoning.
Boil the stock over medium heat, put the seasoning and continue boiling for 10 minutes, turn off the heat.
In a serving bowl, put bean sprouts, chicken pieces, entrails, and green onion. Pour the hot sauce and serve immediately.
Accompaniment : sambal tauco and sliced lime.
To make sambal tauco : blend red chilies, fermented soybean (miso), and sugar into a paste. Put oil in a pan, saute the paste over medium heat until done.

Lombok Style Marinated Beef Satay | Sate Ampet Sasak

2009-12-25T00:50:00.000-08:00

Ingredients :

2 lbs (1 kg) beef sirloin
24 bamboo skewers, coaked in water for 4 hours before using Lime or lemon wedges, to serve 1 portion Sambal Kecap (see our Sambals Categories)

Ingredients For Marinade :

4 candlenuts, roughly chopped
1 in (2 ½ cm) fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
2 red finger-length chilies, deseeded
2 to 3 bird’s-eye chilies, deseeded
5 cloves garlic, peeled
½ teaspoon dried shrimp paste (trasi), dry-roasted
1 teaspons salt
2 tablespoons oil
1 cups (250 ml) thick coconut milk

How To Make :

Cut the beef into bite-sized cubes and set aside.
Prepare the Maride by grinding all the ingredients (except the oil and coconut oil) toa smooth paste in a mortar or blender and adding a little oil if necessary to keep the mixture turning. Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat and stiry—fry the ground paste until fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the coconut milk and simmer until the marinade has thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and set a side to cool. Pour the Marinade, until well coated and allow to marinate for marinate for at least 2 hours.
Prepare the Sambal Kecap by following the recipe (see our sambals categories)
Thread the marinated beef cubes onto the bamboo skewers and grill over hot charcoal or under a preheated broiler for 5 to 7 minutes, turning and basting frequently with the Marinade, until the meat is well cooked and browned on all sides. Arrange the satays on a serving platter and serve with the lime or lemon wedges and a bowl of Sambal Kecap on the side.

Mixed Spicy Chicken

2009-06-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

3½ lb. young chicken, cut into frying pieces
¼ cup sliced shallots
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsp. crushed dried red hot chili
5 candlenut, crushed
1/8 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 cups coconut milk
1 Tbs. Vegetable oil
1 thick sliced ginger
1 stalk lemon grass

How To Make

Blend the shallots, garlic, chili, candlenut, salt and sugar with ¼ cup of the coconut milk into a paste.
Heat the oil in a wok and sauté the paste for a minute or two until you can smell the aroma.
Place the chicken, ginger and lemon grass into the wok and stir fry for five minutes or more over medium heat. Then add the rest of the coconut milk, and let it cook for forty five minutes, stir the chicken frequently.
It is ready to be served if the sauce is somewhat thickened and the chicken should be tender.

African Chicken Peanut Stew

2008-07-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

Like peanut butter? Chicken? Then this African chicken peanut stew by Hank is for you. Perfect for chilly weather. ~Elise
Chicken, sweet potatoes and peanuts are one of those magical flavor combinations that make me feel all warm and happy, especially because I never would have thought to do this 20 years ago, when I met some fellow University of Wisconsin students from Ghana who made this stew at their apartment. Chicken groundnut stew is, in various forms, common all over West Africa, and this is my version, inspired by my colleagues at UW.

The best way to make this stew is with two whole stewing hens—older chickens available at Asian and Latin markets. You start by simmering the birds to make stock, which then becomes the base of the stew, and then you use the meat from the hens. This is a bit labor-intensive for most, so I normally use pre-cut chicken parts: legs, wings and especially thighs. This stew is just made for chicken thighs.
What is a little unusual about how you make the stew is that you first brown the chicken and then stew it on the bone. You can certainly eat it off the bone in the stew, but this is messy, so I prefer to fish out the meat and shred it. Why bother with the bones and skin at all? They add a ton of flavor to the stew.
Sweet potatoes or yams are a must in the African version, but if you hate them, use regular potatoes or turnips.
The stew is supposed to be pretty spicy, so I normally use a lot of hot sauce thrown in at the end of the cooking. I only call for 1 teaspoon of cayenne here, because no matter how chile-adverse you are, it ought to have at least a faint bite of heat. If you truly can't take chiles, skip the cayenne. But someone in Ghana will cry.

Grilled Chicken Roll | Ayam Gulung Panggang

2008-06-25T00:13:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

350 gram chicken filet or chicken breast deboned first and wash with vinegar or lemon juice
25 gram wheat flour
2 tablespoon bread crumbs
1 eggs, beated
5 tablespoon coconut milk
1 tablespoon chopped celery
5 little shallots or 1 big onion
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon coriander powder
Some pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
2 candlenuts
1 inch fresh galangal
1 tablespoon tamarind water
Salt
Sugar

Ingredients For The Omelets :

3 eggs, beated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon butter

How To Make

Make a smooth paste of garlic, shallots, candlenuts, galangal, coriander and cumin powder. Set aside.
Chopped chicken filet or chicken breast until you get very small pieces. Pour some lemon juice over this. Mix this chicken filet with wheat flour, bread crumbs, eggs, and the smooth paste. Add coconut milk, chopped celery, salt, sugar and tamarind water. Mix well and set aside.
Meanwhile make the sheets from eggs. The sizes is about 8 inch.
Take 2 sheet of eggs, spread half of the mixture, and roll them. And do some bake paper over this, and make sure that the end is close. Take another 2 sheets, and make the same roll again for the other half of the mixture.
Steam the mixture for about 30 minutes.
Make the roll open, and put them into baking plate and bake them in the oven with 175 degree celcius for about 30 minutes.
Cut into thick slices about 1 inch.

Fragrant Rice | Nasi Gurih

2008-03-25T00:48:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
6 green shallots, sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp galangal powder
2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed
2 cups coconut milk
1/2-1 cup water
6-8 curry leaves

How To Make :

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add garlic, green shallots, coriander, galangal powder and rice.
Stir for 1 minute to coat rice and cook until it smells good.
Add coconut milk, water and curry leaves and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes stirring from time to time or until liquid is absorbed.
Transfer rice to a steamer and steam for 10-12 minutes or until grains are light.
If you don't have a steamer continue to cook rice at the lowest heat for 5-10 minutes or until cooked. Remove curry leaves and serve immediately.

Chicken Grilled In Yellow Spices | Ayam Panggang Bumbu Kuning

2007-09-05T00:44:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

1 whole chicken, cut up into 4 pieces
500 cc thick coconut milk
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 cloves
2 cardamom, bruised
1 Tbsp. tamarind juice
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Spices :

3 cloves garlic
8 small shallots
5 candlenuts, dryly fried
3 tsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. aniseeds
½ tsp. cumin seeds
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tbsp. galangal
2 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tbsp. salt

How To Make :

Stir fry the spice paste over medium heat with 3 Tbs. vegetable oil for a minute or two and then add the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, cloves and cardamom until fragrant.
Add the chicken pieces and stir well until the chicken is half done.
Pour in the coconut milk and tamarind juice.
Cook it until the chicken is almost done and the sauce is thickened, remove.
On a barbeque grill or in an oven over moderate heat, grill the chicken until done while brushing it with the spices.

Spicy Grilled Chicken | Singgang Ayam

2007-06-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

375 ml (1 1/2 cups) thick coconut milk
1 fresh spring chicken (about 1 kg/2 Ibs), split along the breast, opened and flattened
1 turmeric leaf
5 kaffir lime leaves
2 stalks lemongrass, thick bottom part only, tough outer layers discarded, inner part bruised

Paste ingredients:

1 tablespoon black peppercorns
3 to 4 shallots
2 doves garlic
2 1/2 cm (1 in) galangal root, peeled and sliced
2 1/2 cm (1 in) turmeric, peeled and sliced
1 cm (1/2 in) ginger, peeled and sliced
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon salt

How To Make :

To make the Spice Paste, grind all the ingredients toa smooth paste in a mortar or t1lender, adding some coconut milk to keep the paste turning if necessary. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Heat the Spice Paste in a wok over medium heat and gradually stir in the coconut milk. Bring the mixture
slowly to a boil and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the chicken, turmeric leaf, lime leaves and lemongrass, and mix well. Cover the wok and simmer for about 30 minutes, turning the chicken frequently, until the chicken is tender. Remove from heat.
Grill the spiced chicken on a charcoal or pan grill over medium heat until golden brown on both sides, basting with the leftover sauce. This should take about 5 minutes. Cut the grilled chicken into serving pieces and serve hot.

Albondigas Soup Recipe

2007-05-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

If fresh mint is not available, you can use a couple teaspoons of dried mint from herbal mint tea. You can also vary the vegetables depending on what you have on hand. Spring peas in their pods instead of shucked peas, for example. Or you could add some chopped fresh zucchini or corn. My mother often puts a couple extra tablespoons of chopped fresh mint directly into the soup. Feel free to substitute ground turkey for the ground beef, we do it often.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 quarts of chicken stock or beef stock OR water OR a mixture of both (we usually use half stock half water as the meatballs will create their own stock)*
1/2 cup of tomato sauce

1/2 lb of string beans, strings and ends removed, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced

1/3 cup of raw white rice
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup of chopped fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
1 raw egg
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
A dash of cayenne (optional)

1 1/2 cup of frozen or fresh peas
1 teaspoon of dried oregano, crumbled, or 1 Tbsp fresh chopped oregano
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

*If using prepared stock, be sure to use gluten-free stock if you are cooking gluten-free.

Method

1 Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed pot (5-qt) over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a minute more. Add broth mixture and tomato sauce. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Add carrots and string beans.
2 Prepare the meatballs. Mix rice into meat, adding mint leaves and parsley, salt and pepper. Mix in raw egg. Form mixture into 1-inch meatballs.

3 Add the meatballs to the simmering soup, one at a time. Cover and let simmer for 1/2 hour. Add the peas towards the end of the 1/2 hour. Add a few pinches of oregano and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and a dash of cayenne, to taste.
Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.

Albondigas Soup

2007-03-25T22:38:00.000-07:00

Albondigas soup is a traditional Mexican meatball soup ("albondigas" means "meatballs" in Spanish) that my mother has cooked for our family for almost 50 years. It is our version of comfort food. What makes the flavor of albondigas soup distinctive is the chopped mint in the meatballs. I once complained to a Mexican chef about the lack of mint in his cookbook's albondigas soup recipe, and he looked at me with surprise and said, "my mother puts mint in her albondigas!" You can, of course, skip the mint, substitute with a little fresh oregano or some cilantro, but to me, the soup's not the same without it. You can also vary the vegetables added, depending on what you have on hand and what's in season.

Spring Minestrone Soup

2007-01-25T22:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome spring with this savory soup from Hank. ~Elise
Minestrone is one of my favorite soups, and it is infinitely malleable with the seasons. This version celebrates springtime, when fresh, new vegetables begin to show up at the market. I know to make this soup whenever I can get asparagus, artichokes and peas all at the same time. These vegetables form the backbone to the soup.

Another good thing about this minestrone is that it takes only about an hour to make, from start to finish, including prep time. Classic minestrone takes at least a couple hours to make, and my own recipe for minestrone takes 8 hours. There's something to be said for a quick version.
Keep in mind that the ingredients below are a guide. Minestrone is supposed to be free-form, with whatever looks good at the produce market. Don't like artichoke hearts? Skip them. Despise chickpeas? Use some other bean. Just be sure to use lots of different kinds of vegetables and you'll be fine.
The other key to this recipe is to build the soup like a house. Don't toss everything in all at once, or some vegetables will be overcooked and some undercooked. This is why when you read my recipe below you will see that I add ingredients little by little.
Feel free to use canned or frozen vegetables in some cases. I use canned chickpeas and will often use frozen peas, which are almost as good as fresh. For a special occasion, use all fresh ingredients, though, as you can definitely taste the difference.

Spicy Soup Madura Style | Soto Madura

2006-06-25T00:16:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

500 gr beef or internals
100 gr bean sprouts
80 gr rice noodles
60 gr parsley
60 gr spring onions
60 gr ginger
1 lime

How To Make :

Boil meat until done. Drain and cut into bite-sized slices.
Remove the tails of bean sprouts, boil until half done.
Boil rice noodles separately.
Keep these in separate plates.
Cut Indonesian parsley and spring onions.
Grind shallots, and brown it for a little bit.
Skin and cut ginger.
Make beef stock using beef bones boiled in water for about an hour. Remove bones, and put in salt, pepper, ginger, and shallots.
Serve the soto by putting the beef, bean sprouts, noodles into a bowl. Pour soup into it.
Sprinkle with Indonesian parsley and spring onions.

Fish Cooked In Coconut Milk | Ikan Mangut

2006-04-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :

2 tbsp sliced red chilies
500 g tuna fish, clean and remove the inside
200 ml cream coconut milk
1 egg
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp sliced kaffir lime leaf
1 stalk lemon grass, bruised (white part)
Banana leaves

Spices :

6 candlenuts
2 tbsp sliced garlic
3 tbsp sliced shallots
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tsp sliced kaempferia galanga
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp sliced ginger
1 tbsp sugar

How To Make :

Steam the fish over boiling water at high heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the steamer and let cool. Take out the fish bone and shred the meat in fine strips, set aside.
Blend all spices into a paste, saute with oil over medium heat. Add lemon grass, chilies, kaffir lime leaf, stir until fragrant.
Add fish, stir for a few minutes, pour coconut milk and simmer until the sauce reduces and turns dry. Remove from heat, pour egg and mix thoroughly, divide into 10 portions.
On a sheet of banana leaf, put the mixture in the center, roll and wrap tightly, secure on both ends with bamboo sticks. Steam in the steamer at high heat for about 15 minutes and take out from the steamer.
Continue cooking : grill in oven or on charcoal to make dry the packs. Arrange on serving dish to serve.

African Chicken Peanut Stew Recipe

2006-02-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

Use chicken legs, thighs or wings for this recipe. They have more flavor and will hold up better with the flavors of the stew than breast meat.

Ingredients

2-3 pounds chicken legs, thighs and/or wings
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large yellow or white onion, sliced
A 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
6-8 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
2-3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 quart chicken stock
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
Salt and black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

Method

1 Heat the vegetable oil in a large soup pot set over medium-high heat. Salt the chicken pieces well, pat them dry and brown them in the oil. Don't crowd the pot, so do this in batches. Set the chicken pieces aside as they brown.

2 Sauté the onions in the oil for 3-4 minutes, stirring often and scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté another 1-2 minutes, then add the sweet potatoes and stir well to combine.

3 Add the chicken, chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, peanut butter, peanuts, coriander and cayenne and stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer and taste for salt, adding more if needed. Cover the pot and simmer gently for 90 minutes (check after an hour), or until the chicken meat easily falls off the bone and the sweet potatoes are tender.

4 Remove the chicken pieces and set them in a bowl to cool, until cool enough to touch. Remove and discard the skin if you want, or chop it and put it back into the pot. Shred the meat off the bones and put the meat back in the pot.

5 Adjust the seasonings for salt and cayenne, then add as much black pepper as you think you can stand—the stew should be peppery. Stir in the cilantro and serve by itself, or with simple steamed rice.

Aunt Sally's Banana Foster

2006-01-25T00:19:00.000-08:00

Like many people I suppose, for me, certain foods are connected to memories of people and places. I first tasted this week’s choice, Aunt Sally’s pralines (auntsallys.com) during a trip to New Orleans. I remember walking into the charming shop and deciding to try some of the local fare. With the first taste, I became a praline fan. It was delicious, and there was something wonderfully decadent about it. Over the years, I’ve brought back pralines to enjoy and shared them with family and friends.

A perk of working for Fancy Food & Culinary Products magazine is sometimes your favorite foods come to you. It was at the recent Sweets & Snacks Expo held here in Chicago that I received samples of the pralines, including some new flavors.

One of these is Bananas Foster. For me, it is another memory treat. The smooth, rich creamy taste of pecans and brown sugar blends perfectly with the taste of banana and other flavors to evoke the famous dessert served at Brennan’s, The praline makes a great dessert or a nice treat in the afternoon. It joins a whole selection of flavors including original, Café au lait, and chocolate. All would be a fine take-along choice for a summer evening outing, as well.

For retailers, I could see the pralines included in a variety of gift baskets. They could even be part of a promotion or theme event. And for later in the year, they could be a fun stocking stuffer. It’s another gift from New Orleans that you can enjoy anytime.

La Tartine Gourmonde

2006-01-03T01:02:00.000-08:00

A cherry soup with an an exotic flair

Cherry soup with ginger, lime and vanilla

Un…deux…trois…Whenever I start eating cherries, I cannot stop.
You?
I am really fond of the fruit.
I love to keep a few cherry pits in my mouth while I go on with my daily activities, and I even forget about them until I decide I need to eat or drink more.
For my entire French family, cherries are really special too.

My grandparents and parents have always owned cherry trees at the back of their houses. Each spring, we enjoyed conversations to guess how good the season would turn, awaiting when the fruit would become ripe.
“Ton père est dans l’arbre entrain de cueillir des cerises,” (Your father is picking cherries in the tree) my mum said a few days ago when I called to ask how they were.
“Je ne sais plus quoi en faire tellement il y en a cette année,” (There are so many this year that I don’t know what to do with them anymore) my father later added.
This year, everyone back home says it happened very early.

With us, cherries would go in jams and tarts; clafoutis and cakes; ice creams and preserves.
My grandmother always liked to poach cherries in syrup. She’d add the fruit to tall glass containers that she’d sterilize attentively. They were what she’d decide to take out of the pantry and serve for dessert with crème fouettée (whipped cream), should unexpected guests stay for dinner. Then, she always gave my mother a few of the preserved fruit, and I remember that we loved to have them when cherry season was over. When we were lucky, they’d last until the next season started.
Thankfully.

Even if to me, the best way to enjoy cherries is to gulp them down one after the other while continuing with my day, I also enjoy to use them in sweet or savory dishes.
Do you remember? In the past years, I’ve used them in clafoutis, with or without chocolate; in amandines and crumbles; salads with shaved fennel and radish; and summery soups.

This recipe is another summery soup, refreshing and light, that highlights the beauty of the fruit.
With accents of vanilla, ginger and lime, I know it’s certainly not the kind my grand-mother would have made since ginger would have been a foreign ingredient to her.
I kept thinking about how recipes evolve. With time, and generations.

I keep thinking how special it is to initiate Lulu to the taste of the soup (there’s some work ahead…) And about how much I wished I could have prepared it for my grandmother if she were still alive.
Maybe she would have liked the taste of Rainier cherries too.

A radish salad and a picnic at the beach

Les radis multicolores

When we woke up early on Friday with Lulu cuddled between us, the sun was already filtering through the bedroom blinds. A few robins were chirruping in the trees near our window and instantly, we knew that the day would be gorgeous. P. had the day off so we decided to go to the beach. And have a picnic.
Since our plan was rather spontaneous, I was thankful for my visit to the first farmer’s market the afternoon before.
I had come home with pretty colorful radishes, strawberries, purple spring onions and beautiful mesclun salad in my market basket. Enough to imagine a radish salad that would accompany a dish of warm black quinoa with asparagus sauce that takes only minutes to prepare.

“On va à la plage,” we told Lulu while we were having a plate of vanilla-flavored millet waffles at the breakfast table. Her face immediately lit with a large smile.
“Vacances !” she shouted out loud.
We laughed. Of course. Our small excursion sounded like a vacation indeed.
And so with the help from my Lulu, I prepared our picnic lunch.

It was a beautiful and easy day.
The bushes lining the sand dunes displayed pretty flowers that looked like colorful pieces of candy. I could smell the vibes of summer without the crowds and the August heat.
As expected, Lulu had a lot of fun. Seeing her run and skip on the beach, laughing heartily, was the best gift we could have hoped for that day.

“Tu as faim ?” (Are you hungry?) I asked her shortly after her first dip in the water.
“Oui,” she replied instantly.
The three of us sat on the edge of the blanket with our feet dug into the sand. And we started to eat. Quietly. Undisturbed by the seagulls curious about our food.
The way Lulu was letting me feed her quinoa showed that indeed, she must have been hungry.
P. and I enjoyed the balance of texture and spicy taste the radish salad brought to our meal. I had also packed a strawberry salad and apricots, and was glad to find rhubarb muffins in the freezer that I wrapped and tossed in our picnic bag too.

By three o’clock, we decided to leave because, on the way back, we wanted to make a stop at a farm nearby to pick strawberries.
“We start tomorrow,” the tall solidly-built young girl standing at the cashier said when I asked her whether we could pick the fruit.
“But you can buy strawberries we’ve already picked, if you want. And you can go and see the animals at the back of the farm.”

So I bought two large containers of strawberries. One for us to enjoy. The other to go inside a dessert I was planning to make and bring to a friends’ garden party the next day.

Les fraises de la ferme

And then we walked outside to see chicken and geese; ducks and goats; sheep and ponys.

“On reviendra la semaine prochaine,” (We will come back next week) I told Lulu as we were walking back to the car. She was holding her papa by one hand, with a warm doughnut I bought for her at the farm stand in the other.
“These are good!” P. exclaimed after biting into one too. “So nice that I think I want a second one!”
I looked at them and smiled. Munching each on a doughnut, they really made a happy-looking pair.
“I am sure she is going to sleep in the car after all of this, ” I laughed.
It didn’t fail. Back inside the car, within minutes on the road, Lulu was fast asleep, assuring us that she liked the beach, when we asked her if she had had fun.

Spring Minestrone Soup Recipe

2005-01-25T22:45:00.000-08:00

ou can either make fresh pesto for this recipe, or you can just buy some high-quality pesto in the market.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
6 green onions
2 green garlic stalks, or 2 large garlic cloves
1 pound baby potatoes, or Yukon gold potatoes cut into 1-inch chunks
1 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
Salt
1/2 pound artichoke hearts (fresh or frozen), chopped roughly
1 15-ounce can of chickpeas
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1/2 pound asparagus, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 cups greens (dandelion, chard, spinach, kale, arugula, etc), sliced into thin ribbons
Up to 1/4 cup pesto
Grated parmesan or pecorino cheese for garnish

Method

1 Chop the green onions and green garlic and separate the white and light green parts from the green tops. If you are using regular garlic cloves, put them with the white parts of the green onions. Slice the potatoes and artichoke hearts into chunks you would want to eat with a spoon.
2 In a large pot set over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil for 1 minute. Add the white parts of the green onions as well as the garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the potatoes, stir to combine and cook 1 minute.
3 Add the diced tomatoes with their liquid and the quart of vegetable or chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, add salt to taste, then cover and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
4 Add the artichoke hearts and cook another 5 minutes, then add the chickpeas and green peas and cook another 5 minutes. Remove the cover from the soup and add the asparagus. Cook 2 minutes. Add the greens and the green parts from the green onions and green garlic, if using. Stir well to combine and cook 1 minute.
5 Turn off the heat and stir in the pesto. Serve topped with grated cheese.
Yield: Serves 4-6.

Italian Sausage and Cabbage Stew

2004-07-25T22:47:00.000-07:00

Brrrr, it's cold outside. We had a warm spell for a few days, sunny, high 60s, but now the storms have returned and Sacramento is getting a good chilly drenching. Perfect timing for a big pot of warm and filling cabbage stew. This is an Italian version, using Savoy cabbage (the round, wrinkly cabbage which has a milder taste than regular cabbage), Italian sausage, white beans, fresh parsley, and Parmesan cheese. I'm so used to German treatments of cabbage, I'm surprised at how good this stew is with the Italian sausage and Parmesan. I don't usually think of Parm and cabbage paired together, but they really do work in this stew. Easy to make and easy on the budget. Buon appetito!