Recipe for Asian Salmon Patties over Sauteed Veggies

One of Mr. ELEB's favorite meals lately is my Sesame Salmon and Spinach which I usually serve over whole wheat pasta.  I wanted to do something similar but wasn't in the mood for pasta.  Hmmm.  I had book marked a recipe for salmon sliders a while back and used that as additional inspiration for this meal.


Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 3 servings


Ingredients:
Veggies

• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1 TBSP Thai seasoning (I use Baron's Savoury Secrets Thai Curry Blend)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot 
• 2 cups shredded cabbage 
• 1 cup finely chopped broccoli  
• 1 cup finely sliced onion  
• 1 cup finely sliced mushrooms
• 3 TBSP light coconut milk 
• 2 tsp toasted black and white sesame seeds, plus more for garnish

Salmon patties

• ¾ lb sockeye (or your favorite wild salmon), poached in water and 1 TBSP Thai curry seasoning, cooled then flaked
• 1 ½ tsp Thai curry seasoning (in addition to above)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 cup finely chopped carrots
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• ½ cup panko (may need slightly more or less depending on how patties are coming together)
• 1 tsp toasted black and white sesame seeds
• up to a ¼ cup egg whites
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil

Optional sauce:

• 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt, plain
• 2-3 TBSP sweet chili sauce

Method:

• Heat vegetable oil over medium heat and add veggies and seasoning.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted and softened, about 15 minutes.
• Stir in coconut milk and sesame seeds.
• While veggies are cooking, heat frying pan over medium high (I used cast iron) with up to 1 TBSP vegetable oil.
• Combine remaining salmon ingredients and form into 3 patties.
• When oil is hot, cook patties until lightly browned on both sides (about 5 minutes per side); turning gently.
• Combine yogurt and chili sauce if using.
• Serve patties over veggies with a dollop of sauce.

I love having another salmon recipe in the files.  I don't think this will replace Sesame Salmon and Spinach for Mr. ELEB, but he enjoyed these patties a lot too!

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Recipe for Spiced Coffee Rubbed Pork with Cauliflower and Bean Puree-Daring Cooks

Once a month I join a group of adventurous cooks online in cooking up something new.  It might be preparing an unusual or unfamiliar recipe from around the world or trying out a specific cooking technique.


Our April 2012 Daring Cooks hosts were David & Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. They presented us with a very daring and unique challenge of forming our own recipes by using a set list of ingredients!  The challenge was to cook using 1 ingredient from each list:


List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant (aubergine), Cauliflower
List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle peppers
List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas


This was a fun little exercise and many very creative meals were developed-check them out at the Daring Cooks website.


This meal is pretty simple.  I like mixing up rubs for pork and we love cauliflower mash, so I really didn't overextend myself here!


Time:  45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients:

• 4 center cut boneless pork chops (bone in would work too)
• 1 1/2 TBSP ground coffee beans, cinnamon flavor
• 1 TBSP ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground chipotle chile powder
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped coarsely
• 1 cup cooked white beans
• 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with back of knife
• 2 TBSP light coconut milk
• Salt and pepper

Method:

• Mix coffee, cardamom, chipotle, and kosher salt together.
• Very lightly sprinkle a drop or two of olive oil on both sides of pork chops, then generously rub the spice mixture all over both sides (save a small amount for garnish).  Let meat rest at room temperature.
• Bring water to a boil and add cauliflower and garlic.
• Cook cauliflower until very soft, about 30  minutes; throw beans in last 2 minutes to heat, then drain and add cauliflower, garlic and beans to food processor with coconut milk, salt and pepper.
• Process veggies until very smooth.
• About 15 minutes before veggies are finished cooking, preheat oven to 425 degrees and heat a heavy oven proof pan (I used my cast iron skillet) over medium-high on the stove top.
• When pan is hot, sear pork chops 1 minute each side then place pan carefully in to the oven.
• Cook for 5-8 additional minutes in the oven, depending on thickness of chops.  
• Finish cooking, drain, and prepare cauliflower while pork chops are in oven.
• Slice chops and serve over pureed cauliflower/bean mixture.  Garnish with a few sprinkles of the left over rub.

The hint of coconut in the puree complemented the chipotle and cardamom flavors of the pork.  The coffee was a background nuance.  I might actually add some additional cinnamon next time as that flavor didn't really come through (so if you don't have flavored coffee don't worry!).

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Other Daring Cook's Challenges I've participated in:
Indian flavored squash patties
Beef braised in Rooibos tea
Char sui bao
Braised scallops

Recipe for Curried Chicken with Peanuts

As I recently mentioned, we've been eating a fair number of Asian themed meals lately.  They are quick to put together-usually from stuff on hand.  They are also tasty and healthy.  So I find it's hard to go wrong!  Take this recipe for example. Tender chicken, salty peanuts, a subtle curry/coconut milk background and a little pop from the green peas stirred in at the end.  Simple and pretty perfect!

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 45 minutes


Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP canola oil
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 TBSP fresh ginger, grated
• 1 TBSP curry powder (or more to taste)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup light coconut milk
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1 1/2 cups frozen green peas, thawed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup peanut halves
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• Salt and pepper 

Method:

• Heat oil over medium-high and when hot, add chicken that has been well seasoned with salt and pepper.
• Brown chicken for about 2-3 minutes then remove from pan.
• Add ginger and curry powder and cook for 30 seconds.
• Add broth, rice, and raisins and bring to a boil.
• Add chicken back to pan and reduce heat to medium/medium low, cover pan and cook until rice is tender about 20 minutes.
• Stir in the coconut milk, peas and green onions; let sit covered, off the heat for 5 minutes.
• Stir in the cilantro and peanuts and serve.

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Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Recipe for Chicken Curry

I've been cooking a fair number of Asian themed meals: stir fries, curries etc. This recipe is based on one that a group of us used to make on the weekends in the dorm back in the 70's.  We were poor and had very little in the way of utensils.  We cooked on an illegal hot plate and used inexpensive canned chicken.  We sure didn't have access or means to acquire fresh herbs or coconut milk. And the only seasoning we had was Martha's curry powder her family sent her from India.   But we turned out a mean chicken curry.  The whole floor of the dorm smelled lovely and we ate well! So here's to the girls on the 12th floor!

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 30 minutes


Ingredients:

• 2 cups finely chopped potato (1/2x1/2 inch)
• 1 ½ cup chopped onion (similar size to potato)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 TBSP curry powder (more if desired)
• 1 TBSP Garam masala
• ½ TBSP ground cardamom
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup light coconut milk
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into small pieces (similar size to potato)
• 2 cups frozen green peas, defrosted
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro plus more for garnish
• 1 cup golden raisins
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Heat oil over medium heat.
• Add spices and stir constantly while cooking for 45 seconds.
• Add potatoes, onions, water, and coconut milk and cook for 15 minutes. 
• Add chicken that has been seasoned with salt and pepper (and more water/coconut milk if needed-you do want a moist curry).  
• Cook 10 more minutes or until chicken no longer pink and potatoes are soft.
• Stir in peas, cilantro, raisins and cook 2 additional minutes.
• Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.
• Serve garnished with cilantro, with rice or naan.

The fragrant cooking smells will drive you crazy until the dish is finished and you can sit down and eat.   What recipes do you cook that bring back memories of days gone by?

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Recipe for Pork and Peanut Stir Fry

I've yet to make a Mark Bittman recipe that I didn't like.  This recipe was adapted from one of his in "The Food Matters Cookbook" which I have and love.  The recipe can also be found on line. 


The flavors in this dish are Asian fusion in my estimation.  Sort of a fried rice, pad Thai, stir fry cousin.  The recipe originally called for chicken but I used pork. The basic recipe can be customized to your preferences and ingredients.  I made the rice in a rice cooker the day before and kept it in the fridge until needed.



Time: 30 minutes (make the rice ahead of time and store in fridge)
Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients:

• 3 TBSP canola oil
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
• 3 cups bean sprouts
• 8 oz pork chops, trimmed of fat and sliced thinly in bite sized pieces
• 1 TBSP minced garlic (2 large or 3 small cloves)
• 2 cups chilled, cooked brown rice
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 TBSP fish sauce
• 1/3 cup peanut halves
• 1/2 cup chopped basil and more for garnish
• 1/2 jalapeno or other chile, seeded and chopped (more if you want it spicier)
• Juice from 1 lime
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Cook the onions, carrot, mushrooms and bean sprouts in 1 TBSP of the oil over high heat for about 4-5 minutes until softened and beginning to brown (watch for scorching and turn to med-high if necessary).
• Remove veggies and add 1 TBSP oil to pan.
• When oil is hot, add pork and stir fry until no longer pink, about 4 minutes then remove to bowl with veggies.
• Add remaining oil and when hot add garlic and rice, breaking up any clumps of the rice.
• Once rice is broken up and sizzling, add egg to center of pan and scramble, stirring into rice as it cooks.
• Add pork and veggies to pan.  Stir in coconut milk and cook for a minute or so.
• Stir in fish sauce, taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
• Stir in peanuts, basil, lime juice, and chile.
• Serve garnished with basil.

This was a big hit at our house, hope you enjoy!

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Recipe for General Tso's Chicken

Have you found the terribly addicting website "Pinterest"?   If not, I suggest one of two things:  If you're a visual person and have some time every day to dawdle and browse around a really fun website, check it out.  If you're a super busy person who already wastes too much time on-line, stay away!  Seriously though, it is a great place to see all sorts of things from food and recipes, to ideas for decorating, funny pictures and sayings and so much more.  I found the inspiration for this recipe there.

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 45 minutes


Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
• 1 1/2 cups cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup peanut oil, plus 1 tsp
• 1/4 tsp dried red chili flakes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp white sesame seeds, for garnish
• 1 scallion, green parts thinly sliced, for garnish

Marinade

• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1TBSP sherry
• 2 egg whites

Sauce

• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 1/2 TBSP tomato paste
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP rice vinegar
• 1 tsp hoisin sauce
• 1 tsp chili paste
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Method:

• Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinade chicken for 15 minutes.
• Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.
• Heat 1 cup of peanut oil in a hot wok over med-high heat.
• While oil heats, drain chicken from marinade and toss in cornstarch to coat.  Shake excess cornstarch off and add chicken in batches to hot oil in wok.
• Cook chicken until well browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes.
• Remove chicken-drain on paper towels, and discard oil.  Wipe wok out with paper towels.
• Add 1 tsp peanut oil, garlic and red pepper flakes to hot wok and stir fry for 30 seconds until fragrant but don't burn garlic.
• Add in sauce (stir first if cornstarch has settled) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes until thickening.
• Add chicken to wok and cook until well coated and warmed through.
• Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds.

We don't have any really good Chinese restaurant here (I know this probably isn't authentic Chinese but...) so I was happy to find a relatively easy recipe reminiscent of good Chinese restaurant food.  Do you cook "Chinese" at home?

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Original Recipe

Recipe for Char Sui Bao - Daring Cooks

Do you love dim sum?  We do and always try to go to our favorite dim sum restaurant when we get back to San Francisco (Yank Sing-a top 100 SF Restaurant in 2011).  They call it deem sum...they probably know better than I do, but I've always seen it written as dim sum, except on their website.  Anyone know the correct spelling?  Anyway, I digress.  I love the steamed pork buns-Char Sui Bao-but never gave a thought to trying to prepare them at home.


Turns out they are a challenge to make, but not an insurmountable one.  That's why I really enjoy participating in The Daring Kitchen challenges.  The challenges so far have pushed me in to culinary experiences I wouldn't have picked on my own and are presented with very detailed instructions, priming the pathway to success.  Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from BellyRumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

Pork for the filling

Filling for the buns

Three stages of buns:  front-dough balls after rising; middle-dough patted out; back-filled buns

Buns ready for steaming

Before I go any further I will admit that one area of this challenge that I didn't feel much success in was the bun making.  They tasted great but are sort of ugly-Char Sui Bow Wow.  I did try. I even watched some U-Tube videos but, meh, just not pretty.  Now, this lady-she knows how to make buns!


Yield: 20 buns
Time: 3+ hours including rising time for the buns; does not include overnight marinading time for the pork


Ingredients:
Char Sui (pork)

• 1 pork tenderloin (1-1.5 lbs)
• 4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 TBSP peanut oil
• 3 TBSP honey
• 2 TBSP hoisin sauce
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 TBSP oyster sauce
• 1 TBSP sherry
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
• 1 TBSP sesame oil

Pork filling

• 12 oz char sui, finely diced
• 2 green onions, finely diced
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 3 TBSP oyster sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil

(The original recipe was for 1 TBSP soy sauce, 2 TBSP oyster sauce, 1/4 cup chicken stock and 1 tsp cornstarch but I felt the filling was too dry so I added additional quantities as per the list above)

Bun Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup of milk, scalded
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp dried yeast
• 3 cups plain flour
• Parchment paper
• Steamer (original recipe called for bamboo but I used metal in my wok)

(The original recipe called for 1 cup of milk but my dough would not come together so I added another 1/2 cup as per the list above)

Method:

Char Sui (Pork)

• Trim tenderloin of fat and silver skin.
• Cut into 4-5 equal pieces.
• Mix remaining ingredients together.  Reserve 1/3 of mixture-place in fridge.
• Marinate pork in remaining mixture overnight or at least 4 hours.
• When ready to cook, preheat grill to med-high and clean and oil grates.
• While grill heats, remove pork from marinade and pat excess marinade off with paper towels. 
• Remove reserved marinade from fridge.
• Grill for 2 minutes each side to get a slight char and then reduce heat to medium, baste with reserved marinade.
• Grill for an additional 10-12 minutes until center is just barely still pink.
• Remove and rest/cool while preparing dough and filling.

Pork filling

• Heat vegetable oil in skillet over med-high heat.
• Saute the green onion for 2 minutes until soft.
• Add diced char sui and stir to combine.
• Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil; cooking stirring constantly for one minute.
• Mix cornstarch and stock together and add to the meat mixture, stirring well until mixture thickens, about 1-2 minutes.
• Remove from pan and allow to cool.

Buns

• Stir sugar, oil and salt in to scalded milk and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• Once cooled, add yeast.  Set aside until frothy, about 10 minutes.
• While yeast develops, sift flour into a large bowl then add milk/yeast mixture.
• Mix together briefly with hands and turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
• Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with damp cloth.
• Let dough rise until doubled (1-2 hours).
• Punch dough down and divide in to 20 equal pieces.
• Roll or press with hands each piece in to 2-3 inch circles.
• Drop 1 TBSP of cooled filling in center of a dough circle, gather the edges together and twist to seal. Repeat with all dough pieces.
• Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.
• Place each bun on a piece of parchment paper slightly larger than bun (buns will enlarge as steamed) and place a few at a time in steamer over boiling water in wok (don't crowd them).
• Cover wok and steam for 12 minutes.
• Serve warm.  They keep well in fridge and freezer.  To reheat thawed buns, steam for 5 minutes (or as Mr. ELEB did-nuke in microwave for 15 seconds).

The filling is delightful and the buns have just the right hint of sweetness and a good texture.  Even though they were ugly when I made them, the steaming sort of softened everything up so they didn't look so bad. Once we bit into them, we didn't really care what they looked like!  Do you like dim (deem) sum?

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