Drumsticks & Eggplant Stew

In order to prepare never-ending good and healthy recipes for their loved ones, all cooks need to combine the ingredients that are available. This recipe sure helps.

Ingredients:
5 drumsticks, cut into big chunks
1 eggplant, cut into big chunks
Marinade ingredients for drums:
1/2 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger
3 scallions, chopped
Stew sauce ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut water or chicken broth
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sugar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp wine vinegar
1 tsp fish sauce
Other ingredients:
1/2 red onion, cut into thick slices
3 scallions, cut into 2 inches

Directions:
After washing, drain and cut up the drumsticks. Place them in a bowl. Combine the marinade ingredients and mix with the cut up drumsticks. Let marinate for one hour.

Heat 2 tbs oil in a deep sauté pan, and start browning the drumsticks.

Combine the stew sauce ingredients and pour the sauce into the sauté pan.

Add some fresh chili or dried chili as your spicy taste buds desire. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the eggplant and red onions and stir to join with the drumsticks.

 Cook for 10 more minutes or until the chicken and eggplant are tender.

Adjust the seasoning with more fish sauce, soy sauce, or salt. Add the scallions cut into sections 30 seconds before turning the heat off.

Serve with rice.

Tip: If keeping the drumsticks’ skin, then use less oil.

Low-fat Fish Chowder

I like to prepare this recipe when I have the fish stock or shrimp stock on hand. Also, the kelp broth plays some role in this recipe to make it a healthier chowder. During summer, fresh corn is the best to add into this chowder. However, I use the frozen corn sold in Costco, and it is very convenient to me. Most of the ingredients in this recipe are easy to find. Enjoy a healthier version of fish chowder.

Ingredients:
1 8 oz. whitefish, such as cod, tilapia, bass, etc.
1 1/2 cups fish stock or chicken stock
1 cup low-fat milk or skim milk
1 cup corn
1 baking potato, peeled and cut into cubes
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced (about 1 cup)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Fresh chopped parsley to garnish

Directions:
In a medium deep sauté pan, heat oil and stir in onion and potato cubes. Cook and stir occasionally until the onion is soft and the potato cubes are nicely brown (about 7 to 10 minutes).

Add stock to the pan and bring to boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the potato cubes are tender.
Cut fish into cubes.

Add fish and corn and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

 Add milk and seasoning with salt and black pepper.

 Bring back to boil and serve.

 

Easy Chicken Kimchi Soup

This recipe serves one. I like to make this recipe when my Korean neighbor gives me some of her homemade kimchi. Most of the ingredients are easy to find. I call this recipe a lazy, easy meal.

Ingredients:
2 oz. chicken breast thinly sliced
2 to 3 oz. kimchi, diced
1/4 cup sliced white onion
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup Korean cabbage, chopped
2 button mushrooms, sliced
2 green onions, root trimmed and diced
1 jalapeno sliced
1 egg
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, kelp broth, or water
1 tsp sesame oil
Korean spicy sauce ingredients:
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp Korean hot chili paste or powder
1/4 tsp Korean chili flakes
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbs chicken broth

Directions:
Combine the Korean sauce ingredients and set aside.
In a single pot, add the broth and the combined Korean sauce ingredients, chicken, and kimchi. Bring to boil.

 Let cook for 5 minutes and add the rest of the ingredients except the bean sprouts. Skim any foam that appears with a spoon. Stir often. Add sesame oil, scallions, and bean sprouts.

Gently break the egg into boiling stew. Turn off the heat and serve with rice, Ramen noodles, rice noodles, Korean clear noodles or whichever noodles that your taste desires.

Vietnamese Udon Shrimp Chicken Balls Soup

In the Vietnamese cuisine, there are many ways that noodles are processed depending on the region in the country: from the northern region crab noodle soup (bun rieu cua), the spicy beef noodle soup (bun bo Hue) of the central region, to fish soup of the south region (bun ca). Depending on the tastes of each region, the noodles have gone from north to south and are very popular but also have become famous in some articles writing about the Vietnamese cuisine. Today, I will share a recipe that I have created by copying characteristics from all of noodle soups of the Vietnamese cuisine. It is between the crab meat soup from the north and the fish or shrimp soup from the south. This recipe is budget friendly and healthy friendly. My sister just gave me a recipe for fresh homemade noodles, It is like the udon noodle from the Japanese or Korean cuisines, but using sweet rice powder and tapioca instead. I can call this a Vietnamese gluten-free noodle to serve with this soup. As a frequent visitor to my blog, you will already like my homemade stock, which is dashi and chicken broth, which reduces the fat content of pig's bones ordinarily used to make this Vietnamese broth. This is a noodles soup with a sweet natural taste from kelp, dried shrimp, and dried mushrooms. I hope you will add this noodle soup to your family's weekly menu.

Ingredients:
8 cups chicken and kelp broth
Shrimp chicken balls ingredients:
1/2 lb. shrimp, remove the shells
1/2 lb. ground chicken
1/4 cup dried shrimp soaked in water, drained, and reserve the soaked water
1 shallot
3 green onions, white part only
2 garlic cloves
Season with fish sauce, salt, sugar, and black pepper
Other ingredients:
2 small fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp Korean chili powder
1/4 cup oil
6 shitake mushrooms, soaked in water
Garnish with chopped cilantro and green onions
Vietnamese udon ingredients:
1 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup sweet rice flour
3/4 cup hot water

Directions:
To make udon:
In a KitchenAid® or other blender with dough attachment, add both types of flour and turn the machine to stir. Increase the powder slowly to add the hot water. Beat the flour until it becomes smooth. Stop the machine and place the dough onto the countertop dusted with tapioca flour. Roll out dough in a 4 inch wide rectangle. Cut the dough 1/8 inch thick. Place in a bowl with more tapioca flour. Cover and set aside. This amount of udon is enough for 2 to 3 people.
I do not have the photos for making noodles. sorry
To make shrimp-chicken balls:
In a food processor, combine shrimp, soaked dried shrimp, chicken, shallots, garlic, and green onions. Turn dial to chop until it becomes a paste. Season with fish sauce, sugar, salt, and black pepper.

To make the broth:
In a medium pot, heat oil. Add chili powder. Turn the heat down and cook for 2 minutes.

 

 Add chopped tomatoes and add some sugar and salt (this process will help to preserve the color of the tomatoes). Let tomatoes cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the broth and soaked shiitake mushrooms. Bring to boil. Use a melon ball or small ice cream scoop to scoop the shrimp-chicken paste into the boiling broth.

 Remove the some of the scum from the shrimp paste to make the broth clean. Cook for 30 minutes. Add the udon and cook until the udon floats on the surface. Adjust the seasoning. Ladle the soup into individual bowls and serve.

 

Tip: cook udon noodles in boiling water and drain is another way to serve this soup. Other kinds of noodles, such as rice or egg noodles, can be used as well.

Creamy Quinoa Wild Rice Chicken

Nowadays, supermarkets are always selling ready-made dinners for singles or large families. A well-made creamy wild rice with chicken is delicious. Personally, I like to cook, so sometimes it distorts my objectivity a little. My goal is to make a variation of dishes for the taste and to meet a standard of healthiness of my family. Therefore, most of the time, I taste the products and then make it myself. Today, I will share the recipe for this dish by using black rice, quinoa, and coconut milk instead of heavy cream that is usually used for this recipe. I consider this a very sensible and easy modification made with a few easy to find ingredients and most of them are already available in our kitchen..

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, diced
2 tbs ranch dressing powder mix

1 cup white onions, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup total of diced carrot, peas, and corn
3 button mushrooms, diced
2 cups coconut milk
2 tbs coconut oil
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup black rice
Salt, black pepper to taste

Directions:
Wash and drain quinoa and rice.

In a sauté pan, heat coconut oil. Add onion and garlic. Stir and cook until fragrant. Add chicken and then brown the chicken (it takes 5 minutes). Add the ranch dressing mix and stir well. Add coconut milk and bring to boil.

In a rice cooker, add quinoa, rice, mushrooms, peas, corn and carrot. Pour the hot coconut milk with chicken into the rice cooker.

 Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper at this point. Close the lid and turn to cook.

Sprinkle with cilantro or parsley or green onions on top.

 

Asian Dressing for Marinating Meats

Preparing this dressing will insure that dinner will be ready in flash. Use this dressing to marinate meats or seafood. Cook favorite noodles and grilled meats using this dressing for a fabulous bowl of noodles.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup rive wine vinegar
1 tbs mirin
1 tbs honey
1 tbs brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs minced ginger
2 tbs sriracha hot sauce

Directions:
Place all the ingredients in a glass jar with lid and shake well. This refrigerated dressing stays fresh for months.  

Cheese Muffins

Cheese muffins can easily be substituted for bread rolls at dinner. Kids love ham and cheese muffins for breakfast. This recipe, which uses cake mix, is even faster to prepare. I use mozzarella cheese, but cheddar cheese is more common. Enhance this recipe with ham, pine nuts, bacon, or sausages.

Ingredients:
1 cup muffin mix*
1 tbs sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 tbs chopped fresh chives
1/2 cup coconut milk or regular milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter

Directions;
Preheat oven to 400°.
Line 3 to 4 medium-sized muffin tins with paper liners.
In a mixing bowl combine cake mix, salt, sugar, and cheese.
In a Vitamix® or other blender, add milk, oil, and egg. Blend for 20 seconds.
Pour the egg mixture onto the dry ingredients and add chives. Gently mix until just combined (do not overmix).
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Use extra 2 tbs cheese to pour over the top.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until well risen. Serve.

 

*If cake mix is not available, use 1 cup of all-purpose flour and add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder.

Easy Coconut French Toast

French toast is made with milk, butter, and egg for the batter. Day-old bread is the way to finish the bread in an interesting way. Many recipes for French toast that one can use make up their own way of making French toast with sweet seasonings, such as cinnamon, maple syrup, honey, and powdered sugar. Others will use bacon, sausages, etc... French toast serves perfectly for breakfast. It is quick and easy with only a few ingredients. I use coconut milk and mix coconut oil with butter for my own health. Most of the French toast recipes use butter and regular milk. Chef John from the All Recipes has a secret, which is to bake the French toast to finish the recipe. I love this idea and will try it today.

Ingredients:
4 to 6 slices of day-old bread,
 2 eggs
 1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbs coconut oil
1 tbs butter or margarine

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, whisk coconut milk and eggs with added vanilla and cinnamon.

 Add bread slices to the egg mixture and let them soak for 10 minutes.

Heat a skillet with coconut and butter. Fry the bread slices for 2 minutes on each side.

Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Arrange the fried bread slices onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve with fresh fruit. Sprinkle the French toast with powdered sugar or honey, your choice.

Vegetarian Stew

This is a very special vegetarian recipe that I usually do on the weekends when my fridge is left with small quantities of vegetables that are not enough to cook in its own dishes, but I do not want to throw them out because it is too wasteful. When all the leftover vegetables are synthesized, this is a delicious meal. Not necessarily a vegetarian dish, but today I would recommend to my bloggers a very simple vegetarian way to create a stew for those leftover tubers. The natural sweetness of the vegetables helps to make this dish a very special taste.

Ingredients:
8 oz. firm tofu
1 carrot
A piece of daikon
A piece of kopachuk
1 potato, peeled
1 cup mushrooms
A few pieces of bitter melon
1 small Japanese eggplant
Oil for deep-frying
Stew sauce ingredients:
1 cup coconut water
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs mushroom seasoning
1 tbs vegetarian oyster sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sugar
Black pepper, Cayenne

Directions:
Cut tofu and all the vegetables into bite-size pieces.

Heat one cup of oil and start to fry them all.
Combine all the stew sauce ingredients and mix well.
In a saucepan, place all the fried vegetables and tofu.

Add the stew sauce and bring to boil.

Simmer for 15 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender. If serving guests, at the last few minutes of cooking, heat a clay pot and pour all the stew vegetables into the clay pots and serve in the clay pots.
Serve with hot cooked rice. 

 

Tip: garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and fresh chili can be added to your liking.

 

The Buddha in mud

                                                                                    Narrated by Thuần Bạch
                                                                                    Translated by Ngọc Bảo 

Once there was a thief. One day he was found while he was breaking into a house. Off he ran as fast as he could, until he reached a dam. He jumped to the bank of the dam, fearful of the people in hot pursuit after him. Looking around, there was no bush to hide in, so he just sat down on a clump of weeds full of mud. Petrified with fear of being caught, he dared not move, just sat motionless with his eyes closed. The pursuers were startled when they found a muddy man sitting motionless. They asked themselves: “Who is this man?” One of them thought this man looked like someone in meditation, so he told the others: “He’s a monk in meditation!” Everybody became respectful, they bowed to him and asked: “Master, we are sorry to bother you, but did you see a man running by earlier? We are looking for a thief.” The thief reply: “Oh no... I did not notice anything…” So they left, but came back after a while. The thief was still sitting there, because he did not know where to go. Thinking this is a kind of profound meditating practice, the pursuers were full of respect. They asked him to become the monk of the village’s temple, which until now had been without any residing monk. Being in such a situation, the thief had no other choice than to accept it.

Although living in the temple, a thief was always a thief. He soon thought of stealing the valuable things in the temple and take off when there was a chance. 

That morning, he went into the main shrine, removed all the valuable statues, worshipping appliances etc... stuffed them into a bag and got ready to go. Suddenly there came a crying believer, because a member of his family just passed away last night. The believer asked him to go to his house to pray for the dead. The thief hastily put down his bag, acting as though he was just dusting and cleaning the appliances. He comforted the believer, took his name on a piece of paper, then promised to go there to pray. Sighing disappointingly for his foiled plan, he put back all the stolen things and set out to the believer’s house. Before that, he was careful to bring along one of the prayer book that he found in the shrine.

And so the days went by, he stayed in the temple waiting for the good time to leave. But he never had the chance. Believers kept coming, asking questions, or inviting him to their house for funeral prayers, and to be able to serve them he had to read and learn the sutras. Soon he began to practice meditation, chanting the Buddha’s name to relieve himself of his worries and stress. The old thief who was forced to become a monk now had to learn to live the life of a monk, and unexpectedly, this simple life gradually brought peace to him. 

A year passed by. His daily schedule now was like the schedule of a real practitioner. He worked all day, cleaning, growing the vegetables, practicing meditation and chanting the sutras every morning and night. He partook in the joy, the sadness of the peasants in the village, shared with them the products that he grew by himself. Looking back at his previous life, he was horrified. How can he think of stealing from these poor, hard working people! He was ashamed of himself. From now on, he would make time to repent for his past sins. 

Henceforth, he was transformed from a thief to a real practitioner. All traces of his past life were now erased. He became a new person, a person of goodness and a spiritual support for the people of the village.

 Narrated by Thuần Bạch From Hoavouu.com
                                                                                    

Taro Soup with Chicken Drumsticks

When we were young, my mom cooked the taro soup with shrimp or pork ribs in such a way to let us know that we were obedient. Normally, my mother made the taro soup with dried shrimp to save money for a family with 10 children like ours. I love this soup either cooked with dried shrimp, fresh shrimp, or pork ribs, but I do not usually cook this soup because I do not live near a Vietnamese or Korean food market for all the necessary ingredients. Yesterday, my friend visited me and gave me some taro that she bough while shopping at a Vietnamese grocery. I still like the taste of taro soup with shrimp or pork ribs. However, my diet has changed quite of lot recently, so instead I like to make this soup with chicken drumsticks. I also encourage people to use kelp broth instead of water and a few carrots and daikon, which will increase the taste and add nutrients for this very popular rural soup.

Ingredients:
6 chicken drumsticks
1 lb. taro, peeled, washed and cut in half
1 carrot, cut in thick slices
1 piece of daikon, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, chopped
6 cups kelp broth*
Seasonings:
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp back pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp mushroom seasoning
1 tbs fish sauce

 Garnish with chopped cilantro and green onions

Directions:
Remove skin from drumsticks, then wash and cut drumsticks into big pieces. Add minced garlic, shallot. salt. let it marinate for a few hours

In a pot, heat 2 tbs peanut oil. Add drumsticks and stir to brown the chicken (about 5 minutes).

Add kelp broth and bring to boil, Cook for 5 minutes and add carrot, taro, and daikon. Season with salt and sugar.

Bring to boil and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until the chicken and all the root crops have cooked through.

 Adjust the taste with fish sauce at this point.

Ladle the soup into a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped cilantro and green onions

*To make kelp broth:
Soak a piece of 4” x 4” kelp in 6 cups of water for 30 minutes. Slowly bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove kelp and use the cooked kelp in a salad. The broth is ready to use.