Soup and Rice

We're finally making some headway in cleaning out the cupboards. I have completely emptied our small freezer and depleted the canned goods we had on hand by about half. We are trying to leave here on July 1, so that gives us 2 months and a week to use everything up. For now, the plan is to go to MI until July 9, then head out on the 10th for the 50 million mile drive to New Mexico. We may make a pit stop in St Louis because there is a shipping port there and we're hoping that the government will ship my car that is in storage in New Jersey to there. That way we could pick it up on the way down and be done with it.

I think K1 called the other day, but it was about 15 minutes after I left for work in the morning so I didn't get the call and he didn't leave a message.

Anyhow, today I brought the 500 Chinese Recipes book out again and made two things.

First up, Egg Flower Soup.

You will need:
5 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used chicken)
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs
1 spring onion, sliced
1 tbsp coriander (I did not use this)



Put the stock into a pan with the ginger, soy sauce, oil and five-spice powder. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Blend the cornstarch with 4-5 tbsp water. Stir into the stock; cook until slightly thickened. In a bowl, beat the eggs with 2 tbsp cold water until the mixture becomes frothy. Drizzle the egg into the soup, stirring vigorously with chopsticks. Serve at once, sprinkled with sliced spring onions.

Next up was fried rice with pork.

You will need:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped garlic
4 oz tender pork, cut into small cubes (I used leftover, already cooked pork)
2 eggs, beaten
5 cups cooked rice
2 tbsp fish sauce (I used only 1 tbsp)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp superfine sugar



Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes until softened. Add the pork to the pan and stir-fry until the pork is fully cooked. Tip in the beaten eggs and stir-fry over the heat until scrambled into small lumps. Add the rice and continue to stir and toss, to coat it with the oil and prevent it from sticking. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar and mix well. Continue to fry until the rice is hot. Serve with sliced green onions, fresh sliced red chillies (I did not add these) and 1 lime, cut into wedges (I didn't add this either).

I didn't hold out much hope for the soup, but it ended up not being half bad. It looked awful. I think if I make it again, I would cut down on the five spice powder just a bit. The rice was okay too, but must have been a bit bland for J as he added extra soy.

2 in 1 Day

Two posts today and two different recipes. Even with the unforeseen recent events in Buddy's house (i.e., J's "midlife" crisis), we are still in operation "clean-out the cabinets", so we may have some dinners with things that don't quite go together in the next few months.

First up was "Fresh Tomato Salsa" from the book "Salsa and Tacos The Santa Fe School of Cooking"

You will need:
4-5 plum tomatoes, chopped (I used regular tomatoes)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 tsp dried Mexican Oregano (I used regular oregano)
2 serrano chilies, finely chopped
1 tsp minced garlic (it says optional, but I used it)
3 tbsp coarsely chopped cilantro (there was none to be found in Okinawa today-I used dried)
2-3 tbsp fresh lime juice or cider vinegar (I used lime juice)
1 tbsp olive oil (I did not use this)
Salt to taste
Pinch of sugar (optional-I added it)



Put the tomatoes, onion, oregano, chilies, garlic and cilantro in a bowl and mix well. Add the lime juice or vinegar, olive oil, salt and sugar to taste. Let the mixture sit for 20 minutes to meld the flavor.

Verdict: this was okay; I think it was way too much lime juice because it was definitely overpowering. I added a little more salt to temper the lime.



We also had Fried Rice with Pork from the book "500 Chinese Recipes"

You will need:
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped garlic
4 oz tender pork, cut into small cubes (I used leftover bbq country style pork ribs)
2 eggs, beaten
5 cups cooked rice
2 tbsp fish sauce (I used 1/2 tsp-this stuff is too overpowering for me if I use much more than that)
1 tbsp dark soy sauce (I used 2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp caster (superfine) sugar-I actually have some of this. I must not be a big seller over here, because the commissary had it on sale for .53 cents a 5 lb container at Christmas time

To serve:
4 spring onions finely sliced (I used one)
2 fresh red chilies, sliced (I used green)
1 lime, cut into wedges (I omitted this)




Heat the oil; add the onion and garlic and cook until softened. Add the pork to the mixture and cook until the pork is fully cooked. Tip in the beaten eggs and cook until scrambled into small lumps. Add the rice and continue to stir and toss to coat it with the oil to prevent sticking. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar and mix well. Cook until the rice is hot. Spoon into warmed bowls and serve with the spring onions, chilies and lime wedges.




We thought this was pretty good. At first we thought it was going to be quite bland, but that turned out to not be the case. It gets a smiley face :)

I think tomorrow I will try something from Tyler Florence. He will be in Okinawa on April 1 at 3 o'clock. I plan to leave work early to see him. I'm sure I'll have to buy one of his books, so I need to see which one(s) I don't have.

Summer Rolls and Fish

First up where the Crunchy Summer Rolls adapted from "500 Chinese Recipes" by an unknown author but Contributing Editor Jenni Fleetwood

You will need:

12 rice-paper roll wrappers
1 lettuce, leaves separated and ribs removed
2-3 carrots, julienned
1 small cucumber, peeled, halved and seeded, then julienned
3 spring onions, julienned
8 oz beansprouts
1 bunch fresh mint leaves
1 bunch cilantro leaves
dipping sauce (we used sweet chili sauce)

Soak the rice paper until pliable. Place a lettuce leaf towards the edge nearest you. Then place a mixture of the remaining vegetables and herbs on top. Ford the edge nearest to you over the filling, tuck in the sides and roll tightly. These were okay, but if I made them again, I would leave out the cilantro. I'm in the camp that thinks it tastes like soap.



We then moved on to "The Flavors of Asia" by Mai Pham. We made the Pan-Seared Alaskan Black Cod with Ginger-Lime Sauce

For the sauce, you will need:


1-2 garlic cloves
2 thai bird chiles or 1 serrano chili, chopped (all we had on hand were red chiles)
3 tbsp minced ginger
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp water

Put the garlic, chiles, ginger and sugar in a mortar and pound into a paste. I do not own a mortar and pestle so I just used the food processor. Then stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and water and set aside while cooking the fish.

For the fish, you will need:
1/2 cucumber
1 cup of ginger-lime sauce
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
4-6 oz pieces of black cod (we used swordfish)
4 garlic cloves left whole

Slice the cucumber thinly and place them into the dipping sauce. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the fish and cook until golden on each side. Halfway into the cooking, add the whole garlic cloves and cook until they are golden as well. Remove the fish and garlic and drain on paper towels. Arrange the fish on the serving plate. Remove the cucumber strips from the dripping sauce and arrange on top of the fish. Drizzle some sauce on top of the fish and serve the remaining on the side. Finally, place a garlic clove on top of each piece.

I do not eat fish, but this was given a thumbs up. (It looks a little different than the picture in the book because of the chiles that I used).