Refreshing homemade salsa with sweet corn and black beans....what could be better????

Here's a short quick and easy one for you....super tasty and healthy to boot! I love this recipe and I make it all the time when we have Mexican food at our house. It is great as a salad on its own, with tortilla chips, on top of tacos, quesadillas, fajitas....pretty much everything!!

1 medium sweet onion

4-6 roma tomatoes (ripe but firm)

1 medium red bell pepper (or any color you like)

1 cup frozen sweet corn

1 can organic black beans

1 bunch of cilantro (you may use less if cilantro is not your thang)

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

juice from 1 1/2-2 limes depending on how tangy you want it

1 jalapeno (optional)

Chop the onion, tomatoes,red bell pepper,(jalapeno) up into small bits (the size of a pomegranate seed), thinly chop up the cilantro and put everything into a large bowl. Drain 1 can of blackbeans and add 1 cup of frozen corn directly into salsa. Squeeze the juice of 1 1/2 -2 limes directly into the bowl. Season with sugar, salt and pepper. Toss well with a large spoon, cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours and you are ready to serve. It is that simple!!! So much flavor and freshness am I sure you will not be able to stop eating this. After you make this, you're not going to want to buy salsa in the jars at the grocery store again. Another variation is to used grilled (BBQ) corn in the summertime to give it an extra flair.

One of my favorite as a child....Banh Gio

This is one of the many yummy breakfast dishes I remember eating as a child. It's very traditional Vietnamese with simple ingredients all wrapped up in a banana leaf and steamed to perfection. Most of you will probably have never tried this since it is a little mysterious when you see these little pyramids wrapped in banana leaves in an Asian grocery store. But hopefully after reading this and seeing what it's all about, you will be curious enough to try it.

So what is, is a a mixture of rice flour and constarch/tapioca flour with a ground pork filling....It looks like it would be complicated to make but once you break it down step by step, it really is not that intimidating but rather simple.

Start with soaking 1 cup of dried woodear mushrooms in warm water

before:

after:

Next chop up 1 medium sized onion, 1/2 jicama into small pearl sized bits.

In a medium sized pot, add 1 tbs vegetable oil on medium high heat and stir in onions and cook for about 2 minutes, then add  2lbs of ground pork and cook until it is done. Season with 2 1/2 tsp of chicken bouillon powder, 1 tsp of pepper, 1 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of sugar. Next cut up the wood ear mushrooms into smaller size bits (1cm) and add to the meat along with the jicama. Remove from heat and measure 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and chop up 4-5 green onions thinly and stir into the mixture. 

this will be your filling.

Next step is to make the starch component of this steamed dumpling.....the ratio is 1:2/6 with 1 cup of rice flour to 2 cups of tapioca flour/or cornstach and 6 cups of cold water. You can also buy the premixed flour package at the Asian grocery store. Measure out the flour and slowly add the water in a nonstick pot. To add flavoring, I like to use 3-4 tsp of chicken bouillon powder to the flour mixture and 1 tsp of salt. Adding 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil will also prevent the mixture from sticking to the pot.

Start cooking the flour mixture on medium high heat and stirring constantly with a pair of chopsticks or wooden spoon. Mixture will start to thicken rapidly starting with clumps....but don't worry, just continue stirring constantly and it will start to form a consistent paste. Once there is no longer any liquid left, turn off stove and remove from heat while continue to stir. Next prepare your banana leaves by washing them and blanching them in hot water so they are more pliable. Then cut them into large square and fold into a triangle pyramid. There is a good tutorial video on youtube on how to do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phjpeQonYKc

I don't like to use saran (plastic wrap) during steaming so I just use the banana leaf by itself and it works just fine.

Once you are ready, spoon about 1-2 tbs of the thick pasty flour mixture into the pyramid (upside down) making a well in the middle, then scoop in enough filling to fill up the well

Then add another 1-2 tbs of flour paste to cover the filling. fold up the banana leaf into a square bottom and place in steamer tray.

Steam dumplings for 20 minutes and then remove from heat and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. And there you have it, a yummy delicious breakfast dumpling for the family to enjoy. I made this for breakfast this past weekend and wasn't too sure if my girls would like it but everyone loved it including my husband. I really enjoy eating mine with a little bit of siracha sauce and the girls like to eat theirs with a few drops of soy sauce. 

Nom Nom Nom.......simple ingredients but oh so good!!! Enjoy!!!

Ever wonder how do they make Thit Heo Quay (Crispy Roast Pork).....?

I have always loved the crispy cracklings (pork skin) on the roasted pork that you buy at an asian BBQ house. It is always a race to get to it first before everyone else in my family  eats it all because it is the most popular piece...lol I have always wondered how do they get the skin so bubbly  and crispy but not hard or chewy. Was it the special oven that the pig is roasted in?? Was it some special technique that is a big secret??? Well, a girlfriend of mine recently told me about this "secret" that she found on youtube and I was very excited to try it out at home. After learning about this recipe, it looked fairly easy enough and the ingredients were pretty simple that I already had in my pantry. The only thing that was missing was a piece of pork belly/bacon so I went to my local asian grocery store and picked up the leanest slab of pork belly I could find. And this is the result...

First combine the dry rub for the meaty part of the pork belly:

1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar ( I used 1 tsp white granulated sugar and 1 tsp palm sugar)
1 tsp 5 spice powder (ngu vi huong)
1/2 tsp pepper

Then score the slab of belly on the meat side about 2cm deep so the rub can be well absorbed and marinade will penetrate the meat to give it lots of flavor.

Then rub the meaty side with the dry mixture thoroughly and around the edges as well and flip it over in a baking dish. Clean the skin side carefully with a papertowel and prepare the next step.

For the skin, dissolve 2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp baking soda in 1 1/2 tsp white vinegar. Brush this mixture liberally all over the skin side of the pork belly. I used a paring knife to puncture small slits in the skin so the vinegar mixture can penetrate better.

Then  marinate for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator, over night is even better so the flavours can develop. I didn't have that much time because I wanted to make it for dinner so I waited for 3 hours....preheat the oven to 400F degrees and place the slab on a baking sheet lined with foil with skin side down and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove from oven and flip over so meat side is down and brush more of the vinegar mixture over the skin and bake for another 20 minutes. Take it out and brush on the remainder of the vinegar slurry and turn on the broiler. Place the bacon back under the broiler and keep a close watch....the skin will start to bubble and crisp up...but be careful not to burn the crackling.

. Once it is all evenly toasted and crisp, remove from oven and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. When you are ready to serve, just flip it over and use the scored edges to help slice the roast pork into bite pieces. And there you have it, yummy delicious crunchy homemade roast pork.

You can serve it with rice, noodles, or just plain by itself as an appetizer.

Who knew it was so simple??? I'll definitely be making more of this dish again soon.

Nothing like Lilikoi (Passionfruit) Cream cheese delight to transport you to the Hawaiian Islands...

So I have been wanting to make this dessert for sometime now and I finally had a good excuse to do it. My girlfriends birthday celebration was coming up so I figured why not give it a try so I got the original recipe from Kena and Kylie's Tutu (Grandma in hawaiian). Since passionfruit is abundant on the Big Island of Hawaii I knew she would have a good recipe to share having lived there for so many years...

I had to pick up some ingredients for the dessert at http://duchessprovisions.com/ since they carry the frozen lilikoi (passionfruit) puree and many other fine baking ingredients. This gave me an excuse to visit their sister bakeshop next door http://www.duchessbakeshop.com/ while I waited for Provisions to open. If you live in Edmonton and have never been to Duchess, I highly recommend going!!! They have an amazing selections of desserts and macarons.



This morning I had the Tartiflette and a green tea since I was in the mood for something savoury.....so delicious. (Tartiflette: Potatoes, Gruyère cheese, onions and fresh thyme layered on olive-oil-brushed foccacia. Tastes as good as it sounds!)


With all the ingredients in my bag, I was ready! But of course again, I had to give the recipe some Suzie tweaks...lol The dessert consists of 3 layers: the crust, the cream cheese filling and the passionfruit topping.

Crust:
1 cup of butter (room temp)
1 cup of flour
1 cup of almond flour
4 tbs of sugar (I used organic palm sugar)
2/3 cup of unsweetened cocconut flake

First, I combined  all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and then I used a pastry cutter tto blend in the butter. The original recipe just calls for 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of butter and 4 tbs of sugar if you want to keep it simple. I wanted to add more texture and flavor to the crust so I modified the recipe to add cocconut flakes and almond flour. Once all the ingredients are well mixed, spread the mixture into a 9 x 13" pan ( I used 2 smaller pans) and press down to form a crust. Place pan in oven at 350 degrees F and bake until golden brown (15-20 minutes). Once crust is done baking, let it cool completely and chill in the refrigerator while you make your cream cheese filling.

 

Cream cheese filling:
8 oz cream cheese (1 package)
1 cup 35% unwhipped whipping cream
3/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbs of passionfruit powder

Using my stand-up mixer, I added the sugar and passionfruit powder to the whipping cream in the mixing bowl and whipped until stiff peaks are formed, then gently fold into cream cheese and mix until it is blended evenly. Spread mixture onto chilled crust and place in refrigerator again.

 

 

Passionfruit topping:
2 cups Passion fruit juice/puree
honey/ agave syrup added  to sweeten the puree to your liking
1/3 cup corn starch

I took about 1/2 cup of the cold juice and mixed with the cornstarch and set aside. Then place the remaining juice in a saucepan and heat on medium until slightly boiling. Add the honey/agave syrup slowly and taste until you are satisfied with the sweetness of the puree. Since passionfruit is very tart when it is concentrated you may want to dilute down a little bit depending on your puree. Slowly pour in the constarch slurry into the hot juice stirring constantly with a whisk until it starts to thicken. Mixture should start to thicken quite rapidly. Once it has thickened, remove from heat allow to cool partially and before it sets spread over the cream cheese layer. Return to fridge to set completely.

 

 

I underestimated how concentrated my puree was and was using my husband's tastebuds as a guide and under-sweetened my fruit topping....lol he likes tart/sour things so I should have added a little more agave syrup after asking for his opinion. So to solve this problem, I made another batch of the cream cheese filling and used that to put on top of the lilikoi....it helped cut down the tanginess a little. So for the next time, I might use less puree and dilute it with more water and add more honey/syrup to sweeten it up. Overall, it is a yummy dessert especially for summertime BBQ since it is light and refreshing.

My first attempt at Filipino Pancit noodle for dinner.....

So I've never made pancit before, but I have had it  and loved it. It was made by a Filipino nanny that lives in our neighborhood. It looked simple enough and I thought, I could totally do this. So I started researching for recipes to try. I'm not a recipe follower kinda girl, 99% of the time, I will find a recipe that I like and then modify it to my liking...lol

So I finally decided to go with the one posted by the Noodle Guy http://thenoodleguy.com/2012/10/12/pancit-recipe/ and this is what I came up with....

Ingredients:

• 2 packages of dry Pancit noodles (rice sticks)
• 1 small napa cabbage (shredded in 1/2 inch pieces)
• 1 medium carrots (either shredded or chopped thinly into matchsticks)
• 1 small onion (thinly sliced)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 6-8 large shrimp (shelled and deveined thinly sliced)
• 1 package of fish balls cut in half and thinly sliced
• 10 pieces of sliced tofu
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional, add 1 tablespoon soy sauce  if not adding fish sauce)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Lemon wedge
• Chopped Scallions

I first soaked the noodles in warm water (for about 30 minutes-1hr)

Then I prepped my veggies and protein slicing and dicing them into smaller bite size pieces. The key is these noodles are very delicate so if you have large pieces of toppings then each bite won't be very balanced. I like to have each bite containing all the ingredients.

 napa cabbage and green onions (scallions)

 raw shrimp and fish balls sliced thinly

 matchstick sliced carrots and thinly sliced fried tofu

First heat the oil in a nonstick pan then add the garlic and the onion and stir-fry until fragrant and translucent (2-3 minutes) then add the protein and veggies and stirfry for another 2-3 minutes until mostly cooked

then transfer that to another bowl or pot....I left mine in the same pot and just got another same size non-stick pot. In the new pot, add 1 1/2 cups of water and 2 teaspoon of Knorr chicken bouillon until boiling. Then add in the noodles all at once (it is easier if you cut the noodles with scissors before adding them because it can be quite tricky to stir them if they are too long) add the soy sauce and fish sauce to the noodles and cook for about 4-5 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed/evaporated. Then slowly incorporate the stir-fry meat and veggies to the noodles and turn off heat. Gently tossed until noodles and fillings are evenly distributed. Add the thinly sliced green onions at the end and do a quick toss. et Voila! serve it with some cilantro garnish and a wedge of lime/lemon.

It was quite tasty. The noodles were not dry nor mushy. It was the perfect chewy texture....my girls loved it and had 2 servings each! Overall, I would say this was a successful first attempt at making Pancit....the nice thing is you can put whatever meat or protein you want to so you can change it up to your liking.

I hope this has inspired you to try making this yourself....it wasn't terribly that difficult or time consuming. I would definitely make this again!



My love for food.....

So I've decided to start a food blog since I love food and I love to eat so much so why not try writing about it to document some of my culinary adventures...lol

It seems that every time we travel somewhere, the part that I look forward to the most is trying all the different food and restaurants in the city that we will be visiting. To most this may seem strange but I get so much joy out of eating yummy delicious food, taking pictures of it and sharing the experience with my friends when I get home. I don't know what it is about food that I am so drawn to but it is a big part of my life.....some people eat to live but I live to EAT!

I also love to cook so I will be sharing some of my favorite recipes that I have made along the way....I am of Vietnamese heritage and my husband grew up in Hawaii so I am very drawn to the asian flavors. I love Korean, Japanese and Chinese foods and many other ethnic foods like Indian and Italian. I especially enjoy the food in Hawaii because it is a big melting pot of all the Asian cuisines.

This will be a good place to share all my posts and pics of foods that I have enjoyed and also recommendations on places to try when you are travelling. I hope you will enjoy this blog that I have started and I welcome any questions, comments, or feedback you may have.