Quick Spicy Noodle Soup with Guachujan

A great spicy soup from Marion. I did this the other day when I was craving a spicy soup and it did the work and it's so easy. Thanks Marion! She does it with pork but I did it with chicken. Here it is.

INGREDIENTS:
-300-400 grams of chicken or even less. 
-3 garlic cloves.
-2 tablespoons of guachujan.
-2 tablespoon of chinese vinegar black vinegar.
-2 tablespoons of soy sauce.
-some noodles.

-6 cups of chicken.
-baby spinach.

STEPS:

1. Fry the chicken or pork in the pot with some oil. Let it brown a little.

2. Now add the garlic to it and sautee. 

3. Now add the guachujan paste, 2 tablespoons.

4. Now add the soy sauce. 

5. Now add the chicken stock,  6 cups and bring it to a boil.

6. Now add some spinach or bok choy and serve on top of cooked noodles.

7. Garnish with spring onions. 

That's it guys! Super good. 

Photos Singapore.

Pork Spicy Soup (yes another spicy soup)

This recipe of Marion is pretty awesome for when you need a warm spicy soup to warm your insides. AND simple. Mine is a variation of this recipe, but it is so good! I had to record it for posterity. Here it is:

INGREDIENTS:

-250 grams of pork mince.
-1 clove of garlic.
-some shredded ginger.

-500 ml of chicken stock.

-1 heaped teaspoon of red curry.

-A bunch of spinach.

-Some shitakee mushroom.

-Some noodles.

STEPS

1. Brown the pork mince with some olive oil in a sauce pan.

2. Add the minced garlic and make sure it is well cooked and not raw.

3.

Add the shredded ginger and stir it all.

4. Add a heaped spoonful of red paste Thai curry for spiciness. Mix it all well with the meat.

5. Add the chicken stock, stir well and bring it to a boil.

6. Add some spinach and some shitakee mushroom (these are things I always have in my fridge).

7. Now add some noodles! and that's it!

So good, the combo of pork and red curry spiciness is spot on. 

Miso Chicken Meatballs

Melbourne, the city of incredible Asian food

 So I have no idea where I got this recipe from...I forgot to pin down the link so I apologize to the person who has created it, and if you see this recipe please write a comment and will link my post to your website. 

So. Tired of bland meat? I am too, often. So this recipe provides an alternative to eating tasteless chicken all the time. Here it is:

INGREDIENTS: 

For meatballs:

-600 grams of turkey.
-1 shallot sliced.

-2 teaspoons of grated ginger. 

-2 garlic cloves crushed or minced.

-3 tspoons of miso paste.

-1/4 cup of breadcrumbs.

-salt and pepper.

For the sauce:

-60 ml of mirin sauce.

-60 ml of rice wine vinegar.

-2 tablespoons of honey.

-1 teaspoon of ginger grated.

-2 teaspoons of miso paste.

STEPS:

1. In bowl add all of the ingredients for the meatballs, mix well and make round meatballs. Fry them in low heat until the are cooked inside.

2. Whisk all of the ingredients for the sauce.

3. When the meatballs are cooked, pour all the sauce on top of them and simmer them a little and let them get juicy. 

Yum, that's it guys. Not bad, definitely some work but doable. I am back to the world of work, no time to breathe...good-bye cooking for a looooong time. Hence my lack of posting.

  

 

Peanut and Vegggies Noodles

This recipe has reminded me that I have been cooking functional food for about 6 months. Here is the reason:  Stress, stress, studying, sicknesses, more stress, studying, more sicknesses, ankle sprained and more stress. 

Don't you guys agree that cooking is a sheer nightmare when life is overwhelming? And yet it has to be done if you want to remotely function.

But this recipe looked so good and now that I am done with my exam (which I am 90% sure I will fail), I needed to do it because I was sure it was going to be a keeper and of course it is. I asked Kenton about this he said: "Heck yeah, why are you still standing there?".

But first of all, I want to thank Deb Perelman for making my life SO MUCH BETTER. Seriously, you are wonderful Deb. Life is rough but your recipes have made my life so much richer, not just because the food is great, but simply having your creativity and blog and writing in this world. I just love you and I also love New York. 

INGREDIENTS: 
For sauce: 
-1/2 cup of peanut butter (4 or 5 heaped tablespoons).

-1/4 cup of soy sauce.

-1 tablespoon of ginger grated.

-1 garlic clove grated.

-2 tablespoons. of rice vinager (or really any)

-1 +1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil.

-1 tablespoon of honey.

-1 tablespoon of chili oil with flakes, or pepper flakes or some spicy sauce.

-1/3 cup of water.

-Sesame seeds (for decoration: totally optional).

For the noodles: Some noodles, any you want, wheat, soba, whatever.

For the veggies: raw veggies cut in slices like ...

-carrots 

-cucumbers,

-peppers 

-green onions cut all in slices. 

For the meat: cooked chicken or tofu cut in cubes.

STEPS:
1. I mean the steps are simple. Cook the chicken and cut it in cubes seasoning with salt-pepper.
2. Cut the veggies in slices and put in Tupperware container. 
3. Cook the noodles, usually 5 minutes in boiling water and cool them off with cold water.
4. Make the sauce. Stir it well and thin it out with water.

And that's it guys. Throw it all together for a great tasty meals. This dish can be cold or hot, so it is perfect for summer too, and if you want it warm stick it in microwave for 30 seconds. 

The hardest part of this dish is not eating the whole bowl of peanut sauce....it is so good it will knock your socks and the ball out of the park! 

I made double actually and will freeze half. :) 

The photos are Valencia, not Australia, although
it surely looks like Oz...like Northern Territory.

Tapioca Pearls with Coconut Milk

It has taken me years and years to be able to publish this recipe, but here it is. First trying to find Tapioca pearls in Spain, which seemed an impossible task, only Sago pearls, which is not the same. THEN, finding a good and simple recipe. Found one in Australia and then lost it. But This recipe really has helped me to nail this dessert. Thank you to this person. Sometimes the most simple recipes are the hardest, and this one seems to be one of them.

So I have just spent today 2 hours throwing a ton of tapioca away after failed attempts. Bad videos everywhere in the internet. This is why I keep this blog, to have things ready to go, or you have to watch and read hours of recipes again. Okay so it is the starch of the tapioca which makes this simple recipe complex, because if you are not careful the whole thing becomes a gelatin mess. But here is the solution. 

INGREDIENTS:
-1/2 cup of tapioca pearls.
-1/2 cup of sugar.
-1 pinch of salt.

-1 can of coconut milk.

-5 cups of water (1.200 ml)

STEPS:

1. Get 5 cups of water and bring to boil. Now, to this boiling water add the tapioca pearls, no rinsing and no nothing, just straight from the package to the pot.

2. Stir them in the boiling water for about 7-8 minutes. Stir, and stir and stir and stir while you listen to your favourite podcast.

3. Now rinse them in cold water, lots of them and set them apart. They will still have a white centre, they will be half-cooked, like in the photo.

4. Now set in the same pot the coconut milk and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and quickly add the sugar that will dissolve instantly and the salt. Stir quickly and mix it all. 

5. Now add the tapioca pearls and stir, stir, and stir for 15 minutes in medium fire. They willl be cooking through, stir, and stir. 

6. Now lower fire to a minimum and let the tapioca pearls absorb the milk remaining, maybe cover, but be really careful to not let them stick to bottom or burn. 

That's it. Tadah. 

Great texture, just like in Thai restaurant. If it is not sweet enough, just sprinkle some caster sugar and it will be fix it. The dish gets better with time, because the flavours come together.

Finally I nailed this. This was one of my fave desserts in the whole world. And now I've eaten so much tapioca this evening, that I'm going to explode. 

Pics: Singapore.

Asian Chicken Noodle Broth by Jamie Oliver

This soup of Jamie Oliver is fantastic. I cannot recommend more his book "The Ministry of Food" in which he teaches people to cook from scratch. So good. If you only have one cooking book, have this one. If you master that book, you are a great cook already.

Back to the recipe. Simple. The key ingredient to have is "5 chinese spice", very popular and not hard to find.  

INGREDIENTS:

Broth: 

-2 litres of chicken stock. 

-A piece of ginger.

-Serrano peppers for spiciness (optional).

-2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

-1 lime.

-sesame seeds and some toasted nuts (optional)

---------

-500 grams of chicken.

-300 grams of noodles.

-2 bock choy or a handful of mangetouts.

STEPS:

1. Cut chicken in stripes and coat them well with 5 chinese spice, like in the photo. Now sautee them in medium fire until golden (be careful to not burn the spices, have medium fire). Once ready set it apart.

2. Cook which ever noodles you want separately. You can add them too in the broth and cook them there, but I like to do it separately because the broth them is more clear.

3. Get the broth going separately. Put the chicken stock,  2 litres of water, and the ginger together, bring it to a boil.

4. Once it boils, add the green beans for 2 minutes. 

5. After 2 minutes in which the green beans have softened but are still very crunchy, add noodles and chicken, bring it to boil again and immediately turn off fire.

6. Now finally add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and stir. 

7. The finally touch is: squeeze in each bowl the lime, half lime for each bowl and sprinkle sesame seeds. The sesame seeds are optional but the lime is not optional, it makes it 5 times better.

Voila. C'est magnifique. 

    

Basic Spicy Korean Soup

Korean soups are addictive. Kenton and I have them all the time. They are whoah so spicy dang satisfying! My korean friend Crystal gave me her gochujang  which is the paste you need to make it and I've realized it isn't hard at all to make them. 

Looking into Marion's blog, the queen of Asian soups, I found this recipe that gave me the basis of what I am going to post now. I made it last night after an insane day of work and it was so satisfying. Kenton approved too. So before I forget what I made and how, I wrote it down here:

 INGREDIENTS
-Some olive oil.
-Some garlic.
-Some ginger.

-Some piece of chicken sliced.

-One shallot sliced.

-One tablespoon of gochujang. 

-One teaspoon of red curry paste.

-One tablespoon of soy sauce.

-1 litre of chicken stock

-Some chow mein noodles.

-Some napa cabbagge sliced.

-Some mushrooms.

STEPS:

1. In hot oil sautee garlic and ginger diced. Yum! smells so good!

2. Now add the shallot sliced.

2. Now add the sliced chicken or any piece of chicken, or turkey you may have, cooked or uncooked.

3. Now add the gujojan and coat it all. So sticky!

4. Now add the red curry paste, and mix well.

5. Now pour the  chicken stock (I use 1 litre of water and add half of a chicken stock cube).

6. Now bring to boil and then add noodles and nappa cabbage right here and then lower it.

7. Add the tablespoon of soy sauce.

7. Let it come together for 10 minutes and serve.

So so good. Pics: Singapore. People in Asia eat looking at the their phones 24/7.

Great Chicken Broth

 Okay, so this broth is very good. Liquid gold, the author calls it. Here is the recipe. I'm very impressed at this lady Marion. Her recipes are winners. 

My only variation of her recipe is adding a celery stick to the equation. Obviously her recipe is for more volume, more soup. 

INGREDIENTS:

-2 litres of water 
-1 free range chicken skeleton
-1 clove of garlic smashed.
-1 green onion.

-1 celery stalk (my addition)

-1-2 bay leaves (my addition)

-3 slices of ginger.
-some peppercorns.
-1 teaspoons of salt.

-1 prawn (optional at the end)

STEPS:

1. First of all, you are much better off watching the video she has in her recipe. It is a great video. But anyway, basically you need to put all the ingredients above in a pot, bring it all to a boil and then let it simmer for 1 hour or so. 

Just remember to smash a little with the blade of the knife the ingredients: the peppercorn, the garlic, the green onion so the flavours come out in the water easier.

2. After that I let it cool off and basically I let it all sit down in the stove for 1 day (obviously when it is cold, NOT in summer). The flavours get richer the longer you let it sit there. Then I put the whole thing in the fridge and the grease after some hours comes up to the surface.

3. After that, or even after 2 days, I throw in the trash everything that's in the pan and put the broth through a fine sieve.

4. And voila! there you have your great broth. Season it maybe with more salt if you want.

Pics: Singapore, the country of fines.

 

Dumplings or Wontons or Gyozas

My attempt to make wontons is finally here. Something that has been on my list of projects to cook for over 2 years, the day finally came. This recipe of Marion  inspired me. So here is my feeble first attempt to make them. I think wontons or dumplings are much easier than what we think, but they sound quite intimidating. But really just see them as empanadillas. Are you afraid of empanadillas?? probably not. Well, it is the same concept. Also the folding is not rocket science....just do your best, and it will be fine. You will freeze them so that is what holds them together in the soup and don't come apart, the fact that they have been frozen for 2 weeks or 2 months.

The good thing about this recipe is that you can use it to make meatballs, no need of the wrapping and wow they taste awesome too.  Here is my recipe. It is pretty dang asian I must say. My korean friend Crystal thought they were pretty astonishing. 

Shrimp+Pork combo Wontons

INGREDIENTS:

-150 grams of pork minced 
-150 minced prawns.
-1 tbsp grated ginger.
.a pinch of white pepper.
-1/2 tsp sesame oil
-1/4 cup chicken stock
-2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
-1 egg
-25 wrappers of gyoza, dumplins etc.

Pork wontons: 

INGREDIENTS:

-300 grams of pork.

-1 tbs of grated ginger.

-1/2 tsp of minced garlic.

-a pinch of white pepper.

-1 stalk of green onions. 

-a few stems of parsley.

-2 tsp sesame oil.

-3 tablespoon of soy sauce.

-2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

-1 egg.

Another 25 wraps of gyoza, wontons, dumplings.

STEPS: 

1. Just mix everything together well.

2. Add a little to each wrapper and close them up with a little water and set on a plate and freeze. Just set them on some type of paper when you are about to freeze them or they get stuck to the plate in the freezer.

Do you ever get confused about green onions, spring onions, shallots, scallions etc? This article has helped me.

 

Pork ribs and Corn soup

 A wonderful chinese classic that most chinese kids grow up eating. I  can't remember where I saw this soup, thus, I will not have a link and this is my version, but I have made it several times and it has very warm and comforting flavour, bony but sweet. We are back from Australia, where I have gotten lots of inspiration for new recipes. I needed that.

Anyway, I made this one today and was inspired to write it down because it turned out very well.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 litres of water.

.300 grams of pork ribs.

-2 corn cobs.

-some garlic.

-a few green onions stalls.

-1 parsnip in slices.

-some white pepper.

-some black pepper.

-1 tsp of salt.

STEPS:

1. Place some garlic in big pot and sautee.

2. Now add the ribs and brown them a bit for a few minutes.

3. Now add the 2 litres of water and the corn and bring it all to a boil.

4. Now add the salt, the pepper, and add the green onions that you have diced up previously.

5. Bring it all to a boil again quickly and then simmer in low heat.  Slowly you will be getting a great great broth, this is the trick of chinese soups, slowly you stew the bones.

6. You can then remove the ribs and corn and cut it all up to make it all more convenient to eat. I basically cut off the corn kernels and get the meat off the ribs.

So nice! perfect for winter this recipe is.