Sunday, May 23, 2010

Fortune Cookies

3 egg whites
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Have fortunes ready to go on small strips of paper.
In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites and sugar on high speed with electric mixer until frothy, about 2 minutes.
Reduce speed to low and stir in melted butter, vanilla, almond extract, water and flour one at a time, mixing well after each. (Consistency should resemble pancake batter.)
Spoon batter into 3 inch circles on the prepared baking sheets. (Leave room between for spreading.)

Bake for 5-7 minutes in the preheated oven or until the edges begin to brown slightly.
Quickly remove one at a time, place a message in the center and fold in half together into a horseshoe shape.
If they spring open, place them in a muffin tin to cool until set.
Bake them long enough until they are golden around the edges or they will be soft, spongy and pancake-like.

Yield 36 servings.

Enjoy!

Yellow Curry

2-3 medium baking potatoes, diced
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used approx. an 8 oz sized volume of tofu)
2 cans coconut milk (I use lite)
1 tablespoon Thai curry paste (I use red)
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Cut up potatoes. Cut chicken into bite-sized chunks and set aside.
Mix curry paste and powder together and set aside.
In large frying pan add oil and heat on medium.
Add paste/powder mixture and 1/2 can coconut milk.
Dissolve the paste.
Bring to simmer.
Add remaining coconut milk, simmer.
Add salt and sugar, stir.
Add potatoes and chicken.
Cook until done (slow simmer) about 15-20 minutes.
Serve over rice.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Vegetarian Egg Rolls (Spring Rolls)? and Sweet and Sour Sauce

I got this from a friend who found it on someone's blog:) I just leave out the chicken and add mushrooms and broccoli and whatever else I have.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 cup pineapple juice (it was just about a can's worth of pineapple for me)

1/3 cup water (or more pineapple juice)

3 TB vinegar

1 TB soy sauce

1/2 c brown sugar

3 TB cornstarch (I didn't measure this out... but I definitely didn't use this much)

Just mix all the ingredients together and bring to a good boil. And that's it!


Chicken Egg Rolls

1 package cooked chicken (cut into bite size pieces)

Coleslaw

1 medium onion (finely diced)

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder

soy sauce

egg roll wrappers

In a frying pan add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat slightly. Add the coleslaw, onion and garlic . Cook until crisp tender, add the chicken and the soy sauce to taste.... and the salt and pepper.

Spray a cookie sheet with non stick spray....

On an egg roll wrapper, place about a tablespoon or a little more of the filling in the middle

Fold the bottom corner over and then each side, moisten the edges of the last flap with some water and then fold over.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet, spray lightly with some more non stick spray

and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Vegetable Fried Rice

We just make rice in the rice cooker (jasmine or brown rice) and let it cool.

Then stir fry all veggies separate with just a little olive or canola oil or if they have the same cook time together.

red pepper, carrots, peas, mushrooms, 2-3 eggs,

Then you put the rice in too and mix it all up with some soy sauce and stir fry it for a minute.

Potstickers

(recipe from Recipezaar)

**you can get most of the specialty items at an Asian market, or in the grocery store if yours has a good Asian ethnic foods section

  • 2 cups cabbage, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined and finely chopped (can be exchanged, I usually use pork)
  • 1 lb lean pork, ground
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine, sherry or white wine
  • 1 tablespoon green onion chopped
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons fresh ginger chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 64 wonton/gyoza wrappers (usually 1 pkg)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup water with 2 tablespoons flour mixed in it
  1. Sprinkle salt over the shredded cabbage and let stand for 5 minutes, then squeeze out liquid.
  2. Squeeze out any liquid from the shrimp.
  3. Mix cabbage, shrimp, pork, soy, wine, onion, oil, ginger and garlic (filling can be mixed and refrigerated for up to 6 hours in advance).
  4. On each wrapper (keep them covered with a damp cloth so they do no dry out) place about 2 tsp of the mix and seal the edges, use a bit of water on the edge, try to press out all the air and ensure they are tightly sealed (At this point you can freeze them individually on a cookie sheet and them place in a plastic bag. They will keep for a month. Defrost in fridge before continuing).
  5. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp oil, fry 16 dumplings for 1 minute or until golden on one side add 1/4 cup of the flour water into the pan, reduce heat to low, cover and cook, without turning for about 7 minutes or until the dumpling is translucent and most of the liquid has evaporated Uncover and on higher heat cook for another 5-7 minutes or until the bottoms are dark brown, drain put on a platter and keep warm.
  6. Repeat for the remaining 32 dumplings.

Teriyaki Chicken

(we love leftovers of this family recipe!)

Serves: 4-6

4-6 chicken breasts (depending on size)

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. sugar

Cornstarch

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Oil (for frying)

Mix garlic salt and sugar; sprinkle on chicken and chill for 1-2 hours. Roll chilled chicken in cornstarch then beaten eggs (important to do cornstarch first!) and fry in oil until golden brown.

Sauce:

3/4 c. sugar plus 1 tsp. sugar

1/2 c. vinegar

1/4 c. chicken broth

dash of salt

2-4 Tbsp ketchup (more makes for a sweeter sauce)

3 Tbsp soy sauce

Mix sauce ingredients (3/4 c. sugar, vinegar, broth, salt, ketchup, soy sauce) and heat in saucepan until sugar/ketchup dissolves. Pour sauce over chicken in baking dish. Sprinkle 1 tsp. sugar over top. Bake at 325 for 45 min. Serve over rice.

Fried Rice

(this recipe is from a children's recipe book, which is perfect for most of us, but may taste bland to others)

Serves: 4

2 c. cooked brown rice

2 Tbsp canola oil

1/4 c. diced onion

1/4 c. diced green pepper

1/4 c. diced celery

1/2 c. cooked peas

2 eggs, slightly beaten

Tamari (low sodium soy sauce)

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.

Add onions, green pepper and celery.

Sautee until just tender, then remove from skillet and set aside.

Add rice to skillet and sautee 1 min.

Push rice to edges of skillet, forming a ring around a cleared area of skillet.

Drop in eggs and cook/scramble, leaving rice ring untouched.

Once eggs are cooked, mix with rice and return veggies, plus peas to skillet.

Stir-fry 2-3 min, Add tamari soy sauce to taste and serve.