Seared Halibut wth Asparigus

Normally we wouldn't have a dish like this as it is so expensive >< (I'm not even going to go into pricing), but since my parents gave me some, we had it. It was really good, especially since we don't eat fish that often here. Came out clear and fresh, the tastes adding but not hiding the flavors of the halibut or asparigus. Adapted slightly from this recipe (1), here's how we cooked it:

• 2 3/4 lbs Halibut Fillets (cut into 7 pieces)
• 2 lbs Asparigus
• 1 head + 5 cloves Garlic (minced)
• 2 Large Tomatoes (pealed, deseeded and diced)
• 2 Green Onions (finely chopped)
• 1/2 cup Dry White Wine
• 1/6 cup Lemon Juice
• 1/2 cup Margarine
  
• Salt and White Pepper

In a large pan, heat oil to medium heat and saute 5 cloves minced garlic. Remove the garlic and pan fry the asparigus for about 6 minutes, when the vegetables have become soft and dark. Place into a separate bowl and toss with the sauted garlic.

Season fillets with salt and white pepper on both sides. In the same pan, heat oil to medium-high heat. Saute half a head of garlic (minced) until golden brown and set aside. Place enough fillets in the pan to cover it and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Reduce to medium heat and cook for another 4 minutes on each side. Repeat for remaining fillets

Scrape pan and remove oil. Place wine and lemon juice in pan at high heat and reduce to half (about 2 minutes). Add margarine one spoon at a time until completely added stirring all the while. Toss in tomato, green onion, and sauted garlic. Remove from heat.

Over a bed of white rice, place one filet and some asparigus. Spread a generous serving of the tomato and wine sauce over both. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Cites:
(1) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Seared-Halibut-with-Haricots-Verts-Scallions-and-White-Wine-Sauce-104104

Braised Oxtail

Due to my family visiting and a some housemates being away, we haven't had to do much in the way of cooking recently. Last night we however made this little dish which I found quite delicious. Adapted from this recipe (1), the dish is flavorful and meaty and even the sauce itself seems full. Anyways, here's how it went:

• 2 1/2 lbs Oxtail (2-3" thick pieces were used, smaller would be better though)
• 8 cloves Garlic (minced)
• 2 Green Onion (chopped)
• 3 tbsp Ginger (minced)
• 3 Carrot (chopped)
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 1 cup Dried Shittake Mushrooms (soaked for >1 hour)
• 2 cup Chicken Broth
• 3/4 cup Rice Wine
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
  
• 3 tbsp Hot Black Bean Sauce
• 2 tbsp Sesame Oil
• Water

In a large pan, heat oil to medium-high heat. Pan fry oxtail on each side for about a minute. Add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp rice wine, 2 tbsp ginger, 2 tbsp green onion, 3 cloves garlic, sesame oil and hot black bean sauce to the pan. Mix, coating the meat well, and fry for a few minutes. Transfer to pot and add chicken broth, the remaining soy sauce, rice wine,, garlic, ginger, and green onion, and enough water to cover all the meat. Bring to boil and dissolve in the brown sugar. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add the vegetables and simmer for at least another 2 hours. Enjoy over rice.

After 3 hours, the meat should be tender and come right off the bone. The sauce is red in color due to the hot black bean sauce but the flavor is not that spicy. Chili Oil can be added to increase the heat. Sauce is also quite full due to the bones in the oxtail making broth out of the added water. Oxtail itself was ~$7, including the rest of the ingredients coming out to ~$10. Enough for 3 people with enough leftovers for 1 or 2 more. Cheers.

Cites:
(1) http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/chinese-braised-oxtails-with-root-vegetables-44689

Summer Dinner Get Together

Final get together of the summer, as a lot of people are going off for a bit before school starts anew. Hope everyone enjoyed the food. Here was the menu and how it all went down.

Calbi (Korean Short Ribs):
Korean short ribs were on sale at $2/lb at 99 ranch and seemed to be an awesome choice for a big dinner. I hope I was right. Came out a little salty, but seemed to be good overall. Based off this recipe (1).

• 12 lbs Korean Short Ribs
• 32 cloves Garlic (crushed)
  
• 12 Green Onion (sliced)
  
• 2 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 1/2 cup Rice Wine
• 1/3 cup Sesame Oil
• 2 cup Sugar

On a large surface layout short ribs and rub with a total of 1 1/2 cup sugar on both sides. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl until sugar is dissolved. In large ziplock bags, place 4-5 short ribs and pour in 1/6 of total sauce into bag. Remove air and seal (total of 6 bags, hence 1/6 to each bag). Keep in fridge overnight (~18 hours total marination) flip over at some point (hours before cooking).

To cook, remove from the fridge and let warm to near room temperature. On a grill or pan heated to medium heat place 3-4 short ribs and cook for around 4-5 minutes on each side (or as wanted).

This was cooked during dinner with people taking turns being in charge of the meat. It seemed to work out pretty well. Fed 14 people easily with 1/4 of the meat left. $30 for the dish total.

Spicy Garlic Eggplant:
This dish was apparently spicy enough for the hot food lovers who came over, and it was quite spicy. Taken mostly from this recipe (2), but adjusted to be more wet and more spicy.

• 5 large Chinese Eggplant (sliced thin)
• 16 cloves Garlic (minced)
• 1/4 cup Ginger (minced)
  
• 1 1/2 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 1/2 cup Rice Wine
• 1 cup Water
  
• 1/3 cup Sesame Oil
• 1/3 cup Chili Oil
• 1/3 cup Hot Chili Sauce
• 2 Green Onions (minced)
  
• Few stalks Cilantro (minced)
  

In a large pan, heat oil to medium-high heat. Saute 1/3 of the garlic until beginning to brown. Add enough eggplant to the pan to cover in one layer (about 1/3 of total) tossing in the garlic. Saute the eggplant until the garlic is browned and then add 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup rice wine, 1/3 of the ginger, and 1/3 cup of sesame oil, chili oil, and chili sauce mix. Bring to boil, making sure that the eggplant is well coated. Add 1/3 cup water and cover. Let sit, mixing every few minutes, until soft all the way through. Remove from pan and repeat with the rest of the eggplant. Garnish with green onion and cilantro.

Ended with around 1/3 of the eggplant remaining. Perhaps it was too spicy, but I felt it was flavorful through the heat. $7 for the dish.

Home Style Kang Kong (Kong Xin Cai):
Made this dish before on the blog, but I'll list it again. This one appeared to be a favorite - completely demolished by the end of the night.

• 3 lbs Kang Kong (Kong Xin Cai)
• 12 cloves Garlic (minced)
• 3 cups Chicken Stock
• 3 cups Rice Wine
• Garlic Salt and White Pepper

Trim the kang kong and then cut into 1-2" pieces. Heat oil in large pan on medium-high heat. Saute 6 cloves minced garlic until golden and then place in 1/4 of the kang kong. Pour in 1 cup chicken stock and 1 cup rice wine and mix. Let sit for a minute and add another 1/4 of kang kong along with 1/2 cup stock and 1/2 cup rice wine. Stir and cover. Let sit until the stalks have softened (about 8-10 minutes). Remove and repeat with other 1/2 of kang kong.

Simple and clean flavor and recipe. Came out to $7.

All the dishes were serve with steamed rice. Veggies eaten quickly as people were hungry while waiting for the meat the cook XP. $54 total for 14 people with quite a bit of leftovers. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much I enjoyed making it. Cheers.

Cites:
(1) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Korean-Barbecue-Beef-Marinade-1-109586
(2) http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/ubbs/archive/VEGETARIAN/Asian_Hot_and_Spicy_Eggplant_Stir-Fry_with_Ramen_Noodles.html

Orange-Soy Braised Pork

Ribs were on sale again, but instead of slow cooking them like usual, I decided to go with braising them. It turned out really well - savory and tender. Taken mostly from this recipe (1). Here's how it went:

• 4 lbs Country Style Pork Ribs (1/2" cubed)
• 2 heads Garlic (minced)
• 3 tbsp Ginger (minced)
  
• 2 1/2 cups Orange Juice
• 3/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1 tbsp White Pepper
• 1 tbsp Salt
  

Cube and salt the ribs and set aside. Heat oil in a large pan (or two pans) to medium-high heat and saute 2/3 of the minced garlic in it. When the garlic begins to brown, pour in the rest of the garlic, ginger, orange juice, and soy sauce. Bring to boil and dissolve the sugar within. Sprinkle pepper and mix. Add cubed pork in one layer on the pan and bring to boil again (if one pan isn't enough, divide the sauce in two and use two pans). Lower heat to simmer and let sit for at least 1 1/2 hours.

Ribs on sale coming up to $5, including the rest of the ingredients, it amounts to around $7. Served with rice, feeding 5 people with seconds, with half a pan of leftovers remaining (we cooked the meat in two pans). Enjoy.

Cite:
(1) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Orange-Soy-Braised-Pork-Ribs-231363

Gluten Free Katsu!

So we had to try this eventually, and it came out beautifully. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that we used actual panko also instead of cereal. Definitely would make this again to confuse people with the outcome if they saw the raw ingredients.

• 4 lbs Boneless Pork Loin (1/8-1/4" slices)
  
• 1/2 box Corn Chex (ground with hands)
  
• 2 cups Corn Starch
• 6 Eggs

Slice the pork loin. For each loin, pat down in a bowl of corn starch and then dip into a bowl of beaten egg. Dredge through the ground corn chex. Proceed to do so with all slices. In a large pan, heat enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan to medium heat. Place 4 slices of coated pork on the pan. Fry each side for 4 minutes. Remove from pan and slice into pieces. Continue this for the rest of the pork. Serve with rice with tonkatsu sauce, Japanese mayonaise, or use the Katsudon recipe from before with this tonkatsu to create gluten free katsudon!

Way more than enough for 5 people's dinner and lunch the next day (I had 3 cutlets alone!). Came out to around $8 total. I'm wondering if this is the first gluten free katsu recipe. Well - at least it's something almost everyone can enjoy =).

Jiu Cai and Pork Dumpling (Filling)

(Cooked Saturday) Great dumpling filling, but eaten in a completely different way as we can't use dough in our house. Covered in rice paper and enjoyed as mock spring rolls, but easily turned into a dumpling dish. Here's the recipe:

• 1 lb Jiu Cai (minced)
• 2 lb Ground Pork
• 1 cup Soy Sauce
• 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Rice Wine
• 3 Eggs
• 2 tbsp Sesame Oil

Toss the jiu cai in the ground pork with hands. Toss in the remaining liquids and mix. Beat eggs lightly together and mix with hands into the pork and jiu cai. If used in dumplings, may want to use a little bit of corn starch to hold the dumplings together. Fill each dumpling skin with a heaping tbsp of filling and fold up, pinching the sides. Either pan fry or boil them. Enjoy with soy sauce with strips of ginger within.

We pan fried the filling since we couldn't make dumplings. Still great, with much leftover. Price for the dish came out around $8. I hope someone enjoys making great dumplings out of this stuff. Cheers.

Amazing Pork Chop

(Making up for posts lost...) This post was meant for last Wednesday. This was the first time we had made pork chop and it came out spectacularly. The meat was just right, and the sauce was amazing. We rarely make non-asian type foods, and this was a good surprise (courtesy of Shannon).

Garlic Orange Pork Chops:
Followed recipe here (1) with minor changes. Came out delicious and even better the next day after it had sat in its sauce.

• 5 1" Thick Pork Chops
• 1 head Garlic (minced)
  
• 1 Lime (squeezed)
  
• 1 cup Orange Juice
• 1/2 cup White Wine
  
• 1 Onion (chopped)
  

Heat up oil in a large pan to medium-high heat. Toss in as many chops as will fit on the pan. Fry until golden brown on that side. Flip over. Add half of the garlic and let fry in the oil. After both the pork and garlic are golden, add half of the lime, orange juice, and white wine mixture. Bring liquid to boil. Cover and cook for 5-10 minutes. Should be cooked all the way through. Toss onion in the sauce. Repeat with the remainder (other half) of the chops.

Served with rice. Amazing taste, strangely reminded of tomato even though there was none inside. Enough for 4 and 2 lunches the next day. Smells as good as it tastes. Enjoy.

Cites:
(1) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Garlic-Orange-Pork-Chops-11520

Sweet Surprise

Today's dinner came out a little different than I had expected. I knew I had added a lot of sugar, but I didn't know that it would turn out so sweet. In a dish that I had thought would turn out more savory than it was, the sweetness was a nice surprise.

Sweet Stewed Pork:
Sweeter than I thought it would be, but probably could have been cooked a little more than I had made it. It was also a little dry, so probably could have used more liquid too, but turned out pretty well. The dish reminded me of Chinese sweet jerky (whatever the real name for that is called ><). Loosely based on this recipe (1). $7 for the dish enough for 5 people and a little more for lunch the next day.

• 3 lbs Pork Sirloin (sliced, but probably better cubed)
• 1/2 head Garlic (minced)
  
• 1 head Shallot (minced)
  
• 2 Green Onions (chopped)
  
• 3/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 3/4 cup Beef Stock
• 1/2 cup Rice Wine
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 3 tbsp Cornstarch (with water)
  

Everything but the pork into a pot and bring to boil, stirring to incorporate the sugar. Once boiled, add the pork and stir. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes (longer for softer meat, but we were hungry so we let it go for 30 minutes). Meat should be cooked all the way through (white the entire way). Remove the meat, and add cornstarch mixed in water. Bring sauce to boil. Remove from heat and add back meat. Stir, let the sauce thicken, and serve warm over rice.

Kang Kong (Kai Xin Cai/On Choy):
We've made this veggie before, but I called home to try that recipe. It came out lighter and fresher than the other stir fry. It also looked better due to the lack of soy sauce to make it brown XP. $4 for the dish and it was completely demolished at the meal.

• 2 lbs Kang Kong
• 1 cup Rice Wine
• 2/3 cup Beef Stock
  
• 1/2 head Garlic (minced)

Cut off the ends of the Kang Kong (the stems with white within) and then chop the rest of the vegetable in half. In a large pan heat oil on medium. Saute half of the minced garlic until starting to brown. Toss in half of the kang kong, and pour 1/2 cup rice wine and 1/3 cup beef stock on top. Cook for nearly 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the leaves are wilted, but the stalks are still crunchy. Repeat for other half.

Sweet pork and savory veggies served over rice. Enjoy.

Stir Fry

You really can't go wrong with stir fry. Originally I had planned to make steamed chicken and Kang Kong (On choy/Kai Xin Cai), but the whole chicken had gone bad ><. I don't understand why though, today was the day the chicken said to use it by. Anyways, that led to the use of chicken breasts instead and a somewhat improvised recipe for it since we didn't want to waste the already cut ginger, shallot, and garlic.

(Improvised) Chicken and Onion Stir Fry:
Pretty good for something made on the fly, but could've used stronger flavoring. It wasn't bland, it just came out lighter than usual. Came out to $8 for this dish, serving 5 of us and still yielding a bunch of leftovers.

• 4 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 3/4 Onion (chopped)
• 1/2 head Garlic (minced)
• 1 Shallot (minced)
  
• 2 tbsp Ginger (minced)
• 2 cup Soy Sauce
• 1 1/4 cup Rice Wine
• 1 Green Onion (chopped)
• 3 tbsp Sesame Oil

Cut the chicken breasts into small bite size slices and place in a bowl with the chopped onion. Add 1 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup rice wine, and 1/2 chopped green onion and mix. Let sit to marinate. Heat oil in large pan on medium-low. Saute the garlic, shallot, and 1 tbsp of ginger until golden brown. Remove this from heat and set aside.

Bring in enough chicken and onion to fill the pan (about 1/3 of it). Add 1 tbsp sesame oil and 1 tsp ginger, stir, and let cook for 4 minutes (covered). Add 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice wine, and 1/3 of saute. Stir, cover, and cook for another 3-4 minutes. The chicken should be white all the way through by now. Remove from heat and set aside. Repeat for other 2/3.

Home Style Eggplant:
I called home for this recipe - I missed it a lot. Eggplant is one of my favorite veggies and I really like the way we make it at my house. Maybe next time I'll try cooking in a clay pot. This time the eggplant came out cooked but still a little crunchy as the slices were a little thick. It was still tasty though and I would do it again. $4 for this one and we still have half of it.

• 3 Chinese Eggplants
• 1/4 Onion (minced)
• 1/2 head Garlic (minced)
• 1/3 cup Oyster Sauce
• 1/3 cup Rice Wine
• 1/3 cup Soy Sauce
• Olive Oil

Preheat oven to high broil. Cut the eggplant into diagonal slices and arrange on a baking sheet. Cover with olive oil (I poured olive oil over it, coating it poorly. Probably better to do this with a brush). Broil for ~10 minutes, when the skin begins to turn brown and the eggplant is still firm but is more soft. In a large pan heat oil on medium heat. Saute the garlic and onion. Add the oyster sauce, rice wine, and soy sauce and stir. Add the eggplant and stir. Let sit for 2-3 minutes. Should be mostly soft through the eggplant slice when done.

Both dishes were served with rice and eaten together. Enjoy.