A Garden in My Kitchen

About a month ago I bought a bag of onions. I haven't been using a lot of onions lately, so I was surprised to see this a few days ago. Now, if I need green onions, I don't have to go to the grocery to buy some!

Garlic Beef with Green Beans

This is the other recipe I am making using half of the pork tenderloin. Yes, I bought a big bag of frozen green beans so I've been using it a lot. The original recipe calls for broccoli and is taken from "A Spoonful of Ginger" by Nina Simonds

1 ½ lb flank steak or boneless sirloin

Marinade

3 ½ tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine or sake
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp cornstarch
…
1 ½ lbs broccoli, broccoli rabe or Chinese broccoli
5 ½ tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 ½ tbsp minced fresh ginger
¼ cup rice wine or sake, mixed with 3 tbsp of water

Sauce (mixed together)

½ cup chicken broth or water
6 tbsp oyster sauce
1 ½ tbsp rice wine or sake
1 ½ tbsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp toasted sesame oil
1 ½ tsp cornstarch
…

2 tbsp minced scallion greens

1. Cut beef across the grain into thin slices about 1/8 inch thick, then cut the slices into 1 inch squares. Put beef in bowl, add premixed marinade and toss lightly to coat. Let marinate for 1 hour at room temperature or longer in the refrigerator.

2. Separate the broccoli florets into bite-size pieces

3. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a pot. Add broccoli and cook for about 3 ½ or 4 minutes or until just tender. Drain in a colander and refresh under cold water. Drain again.

4. Heat a wok or a large skillet, add 3 ½ tbsp of oil and heat until near smoking. Add beef and stir fry over high heat until it loses its raw colour and the pieces separate. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Clean out pan.

5. Reheat pan adding the remaining oil adding garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 15 seconds or until fragrant, then add broccoli and rice wine-water mixture and toss lightly to heat through. Add the sauce and cook until it thickens, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Add the cooked beef and toss until the meat is heated through and everything is coated with the sauce. Sprinkle with scallion greens and serve with rice.

Serves 6

Pork and Green-Bean Stir-Fry

I like it when I'm able to prepare more than one dish from a slice of meat. I bought half a kilo of pork tenderloin today and was able to make two dishes out of it. This recipe from Food Magazine was one of them. I forgot to add the sugar when making the sauce and I didn't have red-pepper flakes, red bell pepper and peanuts, but the dish was still good and so easy to prepare.

* 1 pork tenderloin (about 3/4 pound), trimmed of excess fat
* Coarse salt
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce
* 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
* 1 teaspoon sugar

* 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
* 1 tablespoon minced, peeled fresh ginger
* 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
* 1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
* 1 cup fresh broccoli florets
* 1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, cut into thin strips
* 1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts, chopped
* Cooked white rice, for serving (optional)

Cut pork diagonally into 1/4-inch thick slices. In order to cut the pork thin enough, stick it in the freezer for about 20 minutes before slicing it up. Cut each slice lengthwise in half. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar; set sauce aside.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add half the ginger, pepper flakes, and pork; cook, stirring, until pork is no longer pink, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat, cooking remaining ginger, pepper flakes, and pork in another teaspoon oil; transfer to plate. (I cooked the pork all at once.)

Meanwhile, cook green beans in a medium pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain; dry with paper towels.

Add remaining teaspoon oil to the skillet. Add beans, bell pepper, broccoli and 2 tablespoons water; cook over high heat, stirring often, until peppers are tender, about 2 minutes.

Add peanuts, pork mixture, and reserved sauce. Cook, stirring, until pork is coated, about 1 minute. Serve immediately, over rice, if desired.

Japanese-Style Hamburgers

Update: I have tried this recipe and didn't like the way it turned out. Combining the eggs, milk the breadcrumbs separately made the mixture clumpy so it was difficult to incorporate it with the beef. Since I don't want to waste food, I crumbled the beef patties and made chili and shepherd's pie instead. I will not attempt to make burgers again. I will just wait for my brother-in-law to send a batch of his burger patties. I will definitely continue to cook burgers the way they do in the recipe below.

I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I like the way the burger is cooked. I usually am wary about cooking hamburger, especially for my son's lunch, because I'm not quite sure if it's cooked all the way through. The technique used here guarantees that the meat is cooked evenly.

Burger:
14 oz (400g) ground beef
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 onion
vegetable oil for frying
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1 cup breadcrumbs

Sauce:
2/3 cup water
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon butter

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper and set aside.

2. Chop the onion very fine and saute in a little oil until transparent. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, combine egg and milk and mix, then add breadcrumbs and mix briefly. Set aside to allow flavors to combine.

4. Add the onion mixture and the breadcrumb mixture to the beef. Mix lightly by squeezing the meat 2 or 3 times with your hands. This will make the meat light and fluffy.

5. Dab a little oil on your palms and divide the meat into four portions. Toss each portion from one hand to the other, as if you were playing catch, to remove any excess air. Shape into 4 hamburgers, indenting the middle of each with your thumb.

6. Heat a little oil in a fry pan and saute hamburgers over medium heat until nicely browned on one side. Turn and brown the other side.

7. Add enough boiling water to the pan to half-cover the burgers. Cover the pan and simmer over medium-high heat until burgers are cooked through. Remove the lid, lower heat to medium, and continue cooking until all the liquid has evaporate. Place on individual plates and set aside.

8. To make the sauce, add water, ketchup, sake, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and butter to the same pan, and bring to a boil. Simmer until slightly thickened and ladle the sauce over burgers. Serve with your favorite vegetables.

Japanese Pan-Fried Chicken

Due to my ready access to the library, I've been borrowing a lot of cookbooks and trying out new recipes. Here's one easy and delicious recipe I cooked for dinner last week taken from "The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook" by Katsuyo Kobayashi.

2-3 boneless chicken thighs
8 fresh shiitake mushrooms (I used dried mushrooms)
3 small bell peppers
2-3 tablespoons mirin (or 2-3 tablespoons sake + 2 teaspoons sugar)
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
Japanese sansho pepper (optional)
sichimi togarashi red pepper or red chili flakes (optional)

1. Trim off any excess fat from the chicken.

2. Cut off hard stems off the mushrooms, and cut each mushroom in half or into quarters. If using bell peppers, remove caps and seeds, and cut lengthwise into 4-6 pieces.

3. Make the sauce by combining mirin and soy sauce, and set aside.

4. Heat a nonstick fry pan until very hot. Place chicken skin-side down and fry over medium-heat until the skin starts to crisp and turn golden brown. Turn chicken over and brown the other side. Add shiitake and green peppers to the pan.

5. When the meat is just cooked through, add the sauce. Turn chicken and vegetables repeatedly, to develop the flavor.

6. When sauce thickens, remove chicken from the pan and cut into easy-to-eat pieces. Arrange attractively on a dish with mushrooms and peppers. Serve hot, setting out sansho pepper and shicimi togarashi red pepper on the table as optional seasonings.

Oatmeal Cookies

It's all about oatmeal this week. Here's an oatmeal cookie recipe that I tried on a whim and it's very good. I didn't have wheat germ, so I replaced it with dried cranberries.

1/2 cup butter (1/4 pound)
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 lightly beaten egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
3/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or toasted sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 375F. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and salt, and beat well.

Stir flour, baking powder, wheat germ, and rolled oats together with a fork. Blend well with other ingredients, adding a tablespoon or more of water if necessary to hold the mixture together.

Place by tablespoonsful on greased cookie sheets. Flatten them slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 24.

Sweet and Sour Tofu

Here's a different kind of sweet and sour dish. I add some chicken slices because my husband and son aren't into vegetarian dishes.

1/2 cup large walnut pieces
2 blocks tofu (about 22 ounces or 624 grams)
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sherry or sake

1 large onion
1 large green pepper
1 stalk celery
1 large or 2 small carrots
2 tablespoons oil
1 heaped cup fresh pineapple chunks (i used canned tidbits)

1-1/2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vinegar
1-1/4 cups vegetable stock or water (i used the pineapple juice from the tidbits + water)
1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Toast walnut pieces in a dry skillet over medium heat, and set aside.

Cut tofu into 1" cubes and marinate in 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce and sherry.

Cut onion across center and down through the middle into wedge-shaped slices. Cut green pepper in pointy wedges and celery and carrots in thin diagonal slices. Stir-fry in oil until crispy-tender, adding pineapple after the first 2 or 3 minutes. Use a wok or heavy pan that has a lid - but not one made of cast iron; the acidity of this dish will cause it to discolor and taste metallic.

Combine honey, vinegar and 1 cup of the vegetable stock, and add to vegetables along with tofu. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes to heat tofu thoroughly.

Dissolve cornstarch in remaining 1/4 cup stock and the remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Stir into vegetables. Heat, stirring, while sauce thickens and clarifies somewhat.

Just before serving, adjust balance of sweet and sour to taste. Stir in the walnuts. Serve with brown rice. Makes 6 servings.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Saturdays are usually Pancake Days. It's the only time of the week I prepare breakfast, because during the week it's my husband who makes breakfast. He likes chocolate chips with his pancakes while our son likes them plain. Recently, I discovered this recipe from Laurel's Kitchen. Our son does not like oatmeal so this (as well as Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies) is a good way of getting him to eat more fibre.

Here's what happened after I added the oil and egg. I was amazed and had to take a photo.



1 cup milk
1 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the milk and rolled oats in a bowl and let stand at least 5 minutes.

Add the oil and beaten eggs, mixing well; stir in the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Bake on a hot, lightly oiled griddle, using 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Turn them when the top is bubbly and the edges are slightly dry.

Makes 10-12 four-inch pancakes.

Spaghetti Squash

I finally baked the spaghetti squash today and was thrilled when I saw how it turned out after baking it for half an hour. The strands are crunchy. We were suppose to have it for dinner tonight, but my mother-in-law already prepared enough food, so we'll eat it for lunch tomorrow. I plan to toss it with onions, garlic, feta cheese, tomatoes and some herbs.

Update: The spaghetti squash recipe was a hit. Even my husband liked it. It went well with the Baked Salmon with Pan Asian sauce I prepared. And for dessert, we had a bar of York Peppermint Wafer Bars.

Minestrone

Minestrone is one of my favorite soups and is one of the easiest to make. You can put almost anything in it, such as leftover vegetables and pasta.

I got this recipe from The New Laurel's Kitchen cookbook. I first got a copy of this book when I was in high school, but most of the ingredients were not available where I lived so I don't remember trying any of the recipes. Whole foods cooking was very new at that time. I'm glad to note that this book has been updated and seems more practical than its first edition.

1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
1-1/2 cups chopped celery
1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups chopped tomatoes with juice, or 1 six-oz can tomato paste and 3 cups vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons basil
pinch fennel seed

2 cups or more, chopped: carrot, zucchini, potato, broccoli, green beans, green pepper, cabbage, peas, corn, sauteed mushrooms

1 cup cooked beans: lima, kidney, pinto, black, or garbanzo

handful of raw or cooked whole wheat pasta

(1/2 cup cooked grain)
salt to taste
plenty of pepper

(tender greens, cut up)
1/2 cup chopped parsley

Saute onion, garlic and celery in oil until soft. Crush garlic. Add tomatoes, or tomato paste and stock, and herbs. Simmer the soup gently while you prepare whatever vegetables, beans, or grains you wish to add.

At least 30 minutes before serving soup, add beans, noodles, and/or the grain.

Minestrone welcomes leftover steamed vegetables, but if you are cooking them fresh, we suggest steaming or simmering them before adding to the soup because vegetables cooked with tomato will lose their color. Incorporate the vegetable cooking water into the soup. Parsley and tender greens will keep their color and not be overcooked if you add them just a few minutes before serving. Don't count them as part of the 2 cups of vegetables because they cook down so much; just add them as extras.

After combining all the ingredients, bring the soup to a boil, simmer briefly, and correct the seasonings. If you like, garnish each bowl with a spoonful of Parmesan cheese.

Makes about 10 cups - all to the good because it's even better the next day. Serves 6 generously.

Peeling Peaches

I bought a couple of white peaches yesterday, just because I wanted to eat more fresh fruits. Peeling peaches is a bit tricky because you might end up bruising the fruit and getting juice all over your hands so I had to go on the internet to see how to do it properly. It's a lot like peeling tomatoes and apricots. Dunk the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds, transfer to a bowl of ice water then pull the skin off with your hands. It was so easy! I didn't realize though that peeled peaches, like apples, discolor easily. My son suggested I put them in the refrigerator first because they're best eaten cold. When I took them out a few hours later, they were a bit browned, but they still tasted good.

Salad

My husband fell in love with this salad he first tried at Nordstrom Cafe when we lived in Chicago. He talks about it every time we have salad and finally got to recreate it yesterday. He prepared everything, including the caramelized walnuts, but drizzled it with bottled vinaigrette. Maybe one of these days, he will even get to make the dressing himself!

Stir-Fried Green Beans with Pork and Chillies

This dish is called Moo Pad Prik Sai Tua Fak Yao in Thailand.

500 g (1-1/4 lb) green beans
12-16 garlic cloves
6-9 fresh hot green or red chillies
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
275 g (10 oz) lean pork, minced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon brown sugar
3 tablespoons fish sauce or salt

Wash and trim the beans. Cut them crossways into 5-7 mm (1/4-1/3 inch) rounds. Peel the garlic and chop it finely. Cut the chillies crossways into very thin slices.

Put the oil in a wok and set it over a medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the garlic and green chillies. Stir and fry until the garlic turns golden, then add the pork. Stir and fry, breaking up any lumps, until the pork has lost its raw look. Put in the beans, paprika, sugar, fish sauce or salt and 300 ml (10 fl oz) water. Stir and cook on a medium-high heat for about 8-10 minutes or until the beans are tender and most of the water has been absorbed.

Bulgogi

This is one of my son's favorites. He said I should include it as one of our family's favorites. This recipe came from Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery.

500 g (1-1/4 lb) lean tender beef steak
1/2 medium-sized hard pear
4-5 garlic cloves
5 cm (2-inch) cube fresh ginger
4 tablespoons soy sauce (shoyu)
5 medium-sized mushrooms
120 g (4-1/2 oz) onions
3 spring onions
1 medium-sized carrot
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
2-1/2 tablespoons sugar

Cut the meat against the grain into 7.5 x 5 cm (3 x 2 inch) rectangles that are about 3 mm (1/8 inch) thick.

Peel and core the pear half and chop it coarsely. Peel the garlic and ginger and chop coarsely. Blend the pear, garlic, ginger and soy sauce in an electric blender until smooth.

Cut the mushrooms into 3 mm (1/8 inch) slices. Peel and thickly slice the onions. Cut the spring onions into 6 cm (2-1/2 inch) lengths. Peel the carrot and then cut it into 6 cm (2-1/2 inch) chunks. Then cut each chunk lengthways into 3 mm (1/8) inch slices. Put the meat in a bowl. Add the paste from the blender, the mushrooms, onions, spring onions, carrot, sesame oil, sesame seeds and sugar. Mix well. Cover and marinate for 1-24 hours.

Set a large cast-iron frying pan on a high heat. Let it get almost white=hot. Put in as many of the meat slices as will fit in one layer. Cook, turning the meat pieces over as soon as they brown a little. (You could also cook the meat, spread out, under a very hot grill.) You may leave the meat rare if yo like. Remove the meat as soon as it is ready. Cook all the meat this way. Then put in the vegetables and the marinade. Cook on a high heat for a minute or so. Then spoon the mixture over or beside the meat. Serve immediately.

Cooking Day

Today is cooking day. We went to the grocery this morning and I got some round steak, chicken breasts and drumsticks, and ground pork. With the round steak I was able to make tapa and bulgogi (both are still marinating overnight) and I was about to make beef bourguignon when we realized that we didn't have a corkscrew to open the bottle of red wine. Bitin! I already prepared the other ingredients which will now have to be stored until we buy the corkscrew tomorrow.

It's my son's first time to see ground pork. He calls it worm meat because they look like worms and he's curious to see how it will look when it's cooked.

Another purchase I made was spaghetti squash. I wanted crookneck squash, but the grocery didn't have any. I've been curious about spaghetti squash, which looks like ordinary squash when raw, but when cooked the flesh falls away like ribbons or strands, hence the name. I've been looking at several recipes and haven't decided how to prepare it. I do know that I would like to roast/toast the seeds (http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/snacks/r/pumpkinseeds.htm) . I've been craving for "butong pakwan" that the other day I bought a small bag of trail mix, but discarded the almonds. Got mostly pumpkin and sunflower seeds and cranberries.

Aside from cooking, I made my usual chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies, but added some slivered almonds this time, which made the cookies taste even better. Whenever I make a batch, my son always reminds me of the comment one of his classmates said about the cookies (the best chocolate chip cookies he's tasted). I used my Kitchen-Aid mixer, which has been idle for over a year. Maybe even two. I hope to use it more often this time.

Glazed Gingery Spareribs

It's been more than a year since I cooked, hence the paucity of recipes from this blog. Since we moved to our apartment last month, I've been cooking everyday, mostly recipes from my collection. Lately, I've been trying out some new recipes. This is one I cooked yesterday. It's very similar to the Asian-Style Pork Chops that I've tried several times. Instead of baking though, this one is braised. It's from Madhur Jaffrey's Far Eastern Cookery. The recipe calls for pork ribs, but I used pork loin chops.

1 kg (2 lb) pork spareribs or pork loin chops
6 tablespoons dark soy sauce
6 tablespoons sugar
1-inch cubes fresh ginger (I used minced ginger)
3 spring onions (I didn't have this ingredient)
3 tablespoons rice wine or dry sherry

Separate the spareribs individually and then cut them into 3-inch lengths. (Use a cleaver of heavy knife to cut through the bone or persuade your butcher to do this for you if possible.)

Put the spareribs in a wide, preferably non-stick pan. Add the soy sauce and sugar. Peel and lightly crush the ginger cubes and add them to the pan. Add the whole spring onions also. Pour in the rice wine or sherry and 1 litre (1-3/4 pints) water. Bring to the boil. Cover, turn the heat to medium-low and simmer fairly vigorously for 45 minutes. Turn the meat around every 10 minutes or so to allow even colouring. Remove the lid from the pan and turn the heat to high. Remove and discard the ginger and spring onions. Cook for another 20 minutes or so or until the liquid is thick and syrupy. It should coat the ribs with an even, dark glaze. You may need to stir the ribs around a few times during this period.

Kadyos

Kadyos is another one of my comfort foods. It's one of my father's favorite dishes and we grew up eating it every now and then.

Kadyos is pigeon peas or black-eyed beans and is cooked with pork and unripe jackfruit. At first I thought it's an Ilonggo dish, but I just learned that it's also served in Cabanatuan where aside from kadyos, baboy and langka or KBL it's also cooked with chicken and banana heart and is known KMU (kadyos, manok, ubod).

Frozen Avocado

One of my comfort foods is mushed avocado mixed with milk and sugar. I have to eat it frozen though to enjoy it and I had a serving of it - okay two - today after lunch. Yummy! Perfect for hot summer days like today. Too bad I don't have my camera. I should take a photo next time.

Easy Chicken Stir-Fry

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp tarragon
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup zucchini, sliced
1 cup mushrooms. sliced
(I use a variety of frozen veggies)

Saute chicken and garlic in olive oil. Add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, pepepr, and tarragon. Add chopped vegetables. Stir occasionally. Simmer covered until vegetables are tender. Serve with rice.

Steel-Cut Oats

I've always wondered how steel-cut oats or Irish oats tasted, and I finally bought a box the other week and gave it a try. I prefer it to rolled oats. It's chewier and creamier. It takes a longer time to cook, but the trick is to prepare it the night before by boiling water and dropping a cup of the oats and leaving it overnight. The next day, just heat it for about 10 minutes.