~ mama's fried rice ~

since moving to new york, i do miss my mom's home cooking. it is the best taiwanese food you will ever eat. trust me, once you have some of her cooking, you are hooked.

many people associate taiwanese with chinese food you get at a chinese restaurant, like kung pao chicken or sweet and sour pork. i don't remember a time where my mom's cooking was drenched with sauce like what you get at the chinese restaurants. taiwanese food is much simplier and healtheir since the ingredients are fresh. you can taste the sweetness of the vegetables or the fish due to the simple way of preparing the dish.

one of my faves is how my mom makes fried rice. this dish is so simple to pull together because you just add in whatever veggies or left overs you have, no special ingredients really, but extremely filling. my mouth is watering as i'm writing this blog.

the best fried rice always starts with day old rice left over from the day before, or a couple days before. the dried out old rice allows for the rice to soak up the flavors better, leaving for a better tasting fried rice.

a new technique that my shared with me is to cook the eggs and rice together first, allowing each grain of rice to get coated with the egg and fried up. originally, i would cook the eggs as if i'm making scrambled eggs. however, with this new technique, it definitely gives the fried rice a different dimension and flavor with the egg distributed evenly throughout.

recipe (yields 4 servings) :

ingredients (feel free to change up the veggies and meats for whatever you have available):
* 2 cups rice
* 2 eggs
* 2 green onions/scallions, chopped
* 1 medium onion
* 1 carrot, chopped
* 1 zucchini, chopped
* 1/4 cup of frozen peas
* 1 baked tofu, chopped
* 1 4 oz chicken thigh, chopped
* 3 tbs soy sauce ( i actually used japanese seasoning soy sauce to give it extra flavor)
* 2 tbs sesame oil
* 2 tbs cooking oil ( i like to use grapeseed oil since it has a high cooking point and does not give extra flavor to the food like extra virgin olive oil)
* salt and pepper to taste 

note: the ingredients in your add ins should be chopped to the same size
hardware:
* sautee pan
* large mixing bowl

steps:
1) cook off the rice and egg
        > crack the eggs into a bowl/cup and scramble
        > heat the pan to medium high heat with 1 tbs of oil
        > add in the rice to the pan, breaking the rice a bit
        > pour the scrambled eggs evenly over the rice
        > start to mix up the rice with the egg so each grain gets coated with the egg
        > once the egg is cooked through, take out the rice and egg mixture into a bowl

2) cook mix ins for the rice
(keep in mind the sequence of your mix ins: heartier veggies like your onions and carrots go in first, then your protein, then your herbs/cooked ingredients)
        > add in 1 tbs of oil into the pan on medium high heat
        > add in the onions and carrots, sautee until translucent/soft/tender
        > add in your uncooked protein, in this case the chicken, sautee until cooked
        > add in the tofu and zucchini, sautee until tender/soft

3) putting it all together
        > add in the rice and egg mixture to the pan, turn down the heat to medium heat
        > combine evenly
        > add in the soy sauce and sesame oil around the outside of the pan, this allows for the soy sauce and sesame oil to be more aromatic
        > toss in the frozen peas and green onions
        > add salt and pepper to taste (there is already soy sauce so don't go crazy with the salt)

4) serve and scarf down, yes scarf down because it is that good!

cheers!

~ sole with tomato caper sauce ~

coming back from a great vinyasa yoga class, i wanted to keep with the zen feeling. rather than stuffing my body with something that i can zap in the microwave that is full of preservatives and stuff i can't pronounce in the ingredient list, i made myself a quick little something somethintg that did not take me more than 15 minutes to make. i present to you...sole with tomato caper sauce. (i know, very original, haha)

doesn't it look tasty? not many people like fish/seafood, but i think it is because they just had a bad experience with fish/seafood in their past that made them steer clear of it in the future. there are a lot of fish/seafood things that do not taste fishy, one of which is the sole.

there are several preparations that can be used for sole:
* baked with simple seasoning
* breaded and baked or pan fried
* rolled and stuffed with spinach or crab stuff

sole is very delicate and light, not to mention cooks in 10 mins. most of the time you will only find sole in a fillet form since the fish is flat, unlike a salmon or tuna fish. also, sole is low in mercury so you can eat it more often. studies have shown that too much mercury intake can affect brain development and the nervous systems. so to all my pregnant friends, please stay away from high mercury content fish please.

recipe (2-3 servings)

ingredients:
* 1 lb of sole (there are several varieties, any one of them works)
* 2 tomatos, chopped
* 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 tbs of capers, water drained
* 2-3 sprigs of basil, make ribbons with the basil (aka chiffonade)
* 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
* salt and pepper
* old bay seasoning, optional

hardware:
* baking sheet
* sautee pan

steps:
1) pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

2) prepare the fish.
        > pat the fish fillets dried
        > with 1 tbs of the oil, rub the oil on the fillets
        > season with salt, pepper and old bay seasoning on both sides
        > place fish on baking sheet in a single layer
        > bake the fillets for 10-12 mins until opaque, the fish fillets will shrink in size

3) while the fish is cooking in the oven, make the delicious topping.
        > heat the sautee pan to medium high
        > add 1 tbs of oil into the pan
        > once oil is hot, add in chopped onion and chopped garlic
        > sautee onions and garlic for a minute or two, then add in the chopped tomatoes
        > cook for 2 minutes until tomatoes have cooked down, then add in capers
        > sautee for another minute and turn off the heat
        > with the residual heat, mix in the basil
        > season with salt and pepper as needed

note #1: if you want this topping to be a bit more runny, a bit of white wine would be delicious in the topping. add in the wine after the onions and garlic are in the pan so some of the alcohol is cooked off and what is left is the flavor from the wine left.

note #2: this sauce would be delicious on any other protein of your liking. i like versatility in my food.

4) combine and serve!
        > using a spatula, place the fillet onto a plate
        > laddle some of the tomato caper mixture atop the fish
        > devour immediately

cheers!

~ blueberry hand pies ~

every so often.. i get a craving for something sweet and decadent. i am definitely a savory person and rarely do i get a sweet tooth. what about chocolate you say, well i don't like chocolate either. yes, i know, girls are suppose to like chocolate. well i guess i'm just different.

in any case, for some reason i had a craving for one of those hostess fruit pies that you get at the grocery store for 99 cents with the sweet crust and the uber sweet pie filling. they probably have 20 grams of sugar in it, but thats ok because their selling point is that theres no high fructose corn syrup in it = healthier for you?! HA!

so i decided to make my own version of these delightful goodness i call blueberry hand pies..

not many of you know that i have a dairy allergy. yes, it sucks being allergic to dairy since a lot of tasty things in this world have some sort of dairy:

* pastries: pies, cakes (this includes cupcakes), pastries, danishes

* alfredo sauce!

* pizza

* mac and cheese

* you get the picture

however, i've found the lovely world of whole foods carries a lot of vegan products that i can use to substitute for, which is what i did for the pie pastry used for these hand pies.since i didn't have a food processor, the crust was made by hand and they came out quite tasty. i also did not use the blueberry pie filling that you find in the baking aisle, rather i went healthy and made my own blueberry filling. 

if i could have ice cream.. a scoop of it would be fantastic atop one of these treats fresh from the oven.. you guys will have to let me know how it is a la mode style!

 

though making it yourself takes a little more time than say opening a waxy paper packaged fruit tart, it was well worth it! oh, not to mention, healthier since i know every ingredient that went into these little pocket of goodness.

recipe

ingredients:

pie crust-

* 2 1/2 cups of flour

* 1 cup of butter (i used vegan butter but regular unsalted butter is fine).. cold and cubed.. smaller the better

* 1 teaspoon (tsp) salt

* 1 tsp sugar

* 1/4 - 1/2 cup of cold water

filling-

* 1 bag of frozen blueberries.. you can use other fruits here if you want like raspberries, strawberries, apricots

* 2 tablespoon (tbs) sugar.. if you like your filling to be sweeter.. you can add up to 4 tablespoons

* 2 tbs tapioca starch (cornstarch works well here too.. this is just to thicken the juices from the blueberries)

glaze for the top of the pies-

* 1 tbs melted butter (a egg wash works well here too.. which is 1 egg beaten with a spash of water)

* 1 tbs coarse sugar

hardware:

* oven... hahaha i think everyone has one of these now a days

* baking sheet

* rolling pin

* parchment paper .. not really a hardware but more of a supply

* bowl for blueberry mixture

* bowl for pie crust

* fork or pastry cutter

* spatula

steps:

1) pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees

2) make the pie crust.

        > mix well together flour, sugar, salt

        > using the fork (or pastry cutter for you fancy people out there) cut the chilled cold butter into the flour mixture

        > cut the butter into the flour until it is lumpy and looks like wet sand.. you want to get the flour and butter to be friends

        > add cold water 1 tbs at a time until the dough starts to form and clump together. you want to see the dough have pea sized butter all throughout

        > note: do not over mix or else the dough will be tough. you may not need to use all of the water.

        > take the dough out and knead it for a couple of minutes so it comes together

        > separate into 2 batches, wrap it up, flatten into a disk and store away in the fridge for 30 mins.

** if this sounds hard or you dont have the time.. you can always buy pie crust in the fridge of the grocery store and use that.

3) make the blueberry filling

        > mix in blueberries, tapioca starch and sugar together

**again, if this sounds hard or you dont have the time.. you can buy the canned pie filling... but why would you do such a thing.. its 3 ingredients!  

4) let's make some hand pies!

        > 1 of the take out the chilled and rested pie crust dough (1/2 of the yield we made earlier)

        > cut the dough in half ....so you have 1/2 of the 1/2 = 1/4 .. it is just easier to work with a smaller ball of dough

        > dust your working surface and your rolling pin with flour so the dough doesn't stick to it

        > dust the pie crust dough with some flour on both sides

        > roll the dough out into a long rectangle to the desired thickness.. i like it thin so i rolled it out to be about 1/8 inch thick

        > cut the dough into your desired shape (circle for half moon shaped pies.. rectangles for square pop tart looking pies)

        > on half of the dough, stab the dough with a fork to make some air vents

        > on the other side of the dough, add in 2 tps of the blueberry filling

        > fold over the pierced side so the vents are on the top and press together the seams

        > using the fork again, crimp the sides to seal the pockets

        > brush on the melted butter and sprinkle some coarse sugar on the top

        > repeat with the remaining dough

4) bake these cute little pockets

        > using a spatula, place your pockets onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet

        > bake these pies for 13-15 minutes .. this is just a guess since it depends on how big your pies are and your oven

        > note: keep a watch on these guys after 10 mins since you don't want them the edges to burn. it is ok if the juices flow out, thats the best part!

5) eat and enjoy!

~ the frittata ~

i thought i'd start the blog off with the most important meal of the day.. breakfast! i absolutely love breakfast since you can go a) savory or sweet b) eggs or pastry c) indulgent or delicate.. it is absolutely the best.


it is pretty routine for me to get up in the morning and make myself a hearty breakfast. when i say hearty, it does not mean heavy, rather, delicious and your typical american portion = large. since i've been getting bored of my usual 2 eggs over easy, i decided to make a frittata ... voila!



it may look fancy but it is uber easy! i have never thought that a frittata would be so easy, since most recipes call for you to put your pan into the oven and bake. i do not have a stainless steel sautee pan (which includes the handle to be stainless steel or oven safe) so i've always steered clear of it. however, i've learned that you do not need to put the frittata into the oven. a lid over the pan works wonderfully.

why anyone can make this dish.. because it is easy!

* you can add whatever you want. great pairings include:

        > potato and zucchini with bacon (anything tastes better with a bit of bacon) .. one of my faves

        > mushroom and carmalized onions

        > spinach and sundried tomato with mozzarella cheese

* healthy and light

* full of flavor

* takes no more than 15 mins to cook

* looks fancy shmancy, definitely will impress someone with this dish

here it is.. the recipe (specifically for the potato zucchini and bacon frittata)..serves 2 hungry hippos..

ingredients:
* 4 medium eggs... or if you're me.. 3 x large organic eggs
* your add ins
        > 2 yukon gold potato
        > 1 zucchini
        > 2 strips of bacon
        > note: you want to have enough "stuff" to cover your pan
* 3-4 thyme sprigs
* salt and pepper to taste
* grapeseed oil.. but extra virgin or veggie oil works great

hardware:
* knife and cutting board .. important essentials in the ktichen if you dont already have this.. future blog topic
* 10" sautee pan with lid.. or whatever sautee pan you got
* bowl or cup.. this is just to beat the eggs

steps:
1) prep your add ins:
        > cut the bacon into thin chunks .. having the strips of bacon horizontally and slice vertically
        > cut the potato in half, the thinly slice the potato
        > slice the zucchini into thin rounds
        > note: the thinner you slice your veggies, the quicker they will cook

2) prep your egg:
        > crack your eggs into the bowl or cup
        > strip off the thyme leaves into the cup.. the leaves are so small that there is no need to chop them
        > add a pinch of salt and crack pepper .. maybe 6-8 grinds of the pepper mill
        > beat the eggs .. the longer you beat the eggs the fluffier the egg will be = lighter frittata

3) time to cook!
        > heat your pan to medium high
        > put the bacon bits into the pan and cook until desired crispiness
        > take the bacon out and place onto a paper towel
        > leaving the pan as is with the bacon grease (or i call it bacon yumminess) and put it back on the stove
        > add in a teaspoon of oil.. this may not be needed if the bacon had enough oil left in the pan
        > add in the potato and cook until golden brown .. probably 3-5 mins
        > add in zucchini and cook until tender.. 2-3 mins
        > turn down the heat to low and add in cooked bacon
        > making sure the add ins are evenly distributed and leveled off.. add in the egg mixture
        > once the eggs are evenly distributed.. cover the pan with a lid and let the eggs cook for 5-7 mins
        > you will know when the frittata is done when the eggs are cooked through (or looks stiff) and the bottom of the frittata is golden brown

4) cut and serve!

enjoy!