Green Papaya Salad with Beef Jerky

The green papaya salad is the most popular in Asian cuisines. Each Asian country has its own version of making this salad, and one can see the differences in the dressing and the accompanying cooked pork, shrimp, dried shrimp, anchovies, or beef jerky. My Vietnamese green papaya salad or a "goi du du bo kho" is my favorite one of all the Vietnamese salads. There are two ways to prepare the dressing for this salad, and the easier one uses the Vietnamese dipping sauce made with a good fish sauce, garlic, hot chili and sweetened with sugar and lemon to each individual's taste. The other more difficult one to prepare, which I much prefer, is a little more time consuming but well worth the time spent. I will share the recipe here.
Ingredients:
Dressing:
1 can coco soda
1 can tamarind sauce (nuoc me chua)
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup chili sauce (tuong an pho)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs good fish sauce
A few dry hot chilies, broken up
Salad:
1 green papaya, peeled, seeded and shredded
1 cup pickled daikon, carrots with juice
2 cups julienned beef jerky
1/2 cup panfried anchovies (optional)
Garnish
Fresh garlic, minced
Fresh hot chili, thinly sliced
Fresh basil, julienned
Roasted peanuts, chopped
Crispy fried shallots
Scallion, green part only, chopped

Directions:
Peel green papaya with a vegetable peeler.

Remove seeds and membranes and wash with cold water very well.

In a food processor, use the shredded plate to shred the papaya to moderately thin.

 Place the shredded papaya in cold water for 20 minutes. Drain papaya and use a kitchen towel to squeeze out all excess water.
To make the dressing: in a saucepan over medium heat, bring all the dressing ingredients to simmer. Let the liquid summer for 15 minutes. The dressing can be drained after that and kept refrigerated for months.
In another sauté pan over medium heat, stir fry the dried anchovies with 1 tsp of olive oil for 5 minutes or until they become crispy.

To serve salad:
Place 1 to 2 cups of papaya onto the plate. Top with julienned beef, 2 tbs dried anchovies, 1/4 cup pickled daikon-carrots, 2 tbs chopped roasted peanut, green onions and basil. Accompany with 1/2 cup of dressing. Add garlic and hot chili.

Broiled Cod Fillets

This simple healthy meal can be prepared in less than 20 minutes. The lemon juice will help tenderize the fish and make the fish tenderer; Serve with a piece of toast.
Directions:
Two- 8 oz cod fillets
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp honey mustard
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp soy sauce
Garnish with Caramel Red onion and fresh basil

Directions:
Preheat broiler. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, oil, mustard, soy sauce, and salt. Arrange fish fillets on a nonstick baking sheet. Brush each fillet with half of the lemon.

 Broil for 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily. Sprinkle with fresh basil and serve.

Simple Rasin Scones

Scones are a cross between small cakes and biscuits and are very good for breakfast or afternoon tea. Making scones is very easy, and kids can get involved in making them. I found this raisin scone recipe from an old community cookbook. Most of the recipes in this book come from groups of small town people getting together and sharing their recipes passed down from generation to generation. I tested this recipe and scaled it down to a smaller size for individuals who enjoy making scones for themselves.
Ingredients:
Dry ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup frozen butter
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup raisins or any dry fruit
Wet ingredients
1 egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Combine all the dry ingredients except the frozen butter. Grate the frozen butter into the dry ingredients.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg, sour cream, and vanilla. Pour mixture into the dry ingredients.

 Mix until just combined. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead briefly. Roll dough or pat down into a rectangular or circular shape.

 Cut dough into 4 pieces.

Place scones onto a lightly greased baking pan and bake in preheated oven set to 375° for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Vegetarian Pate' Chaude

Ingredients: 1 puff pastry recipe
2 cups homemade vegetarian pâté or store-bought
1/4 cup cooked young soy beans
1/4 cup carrots, chopped
2 dry shitake mushrooms soaked in water
1 king oyster mushroom, chopped
1/2 cup chopped leek, the white part
1 shallot, chopped
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs soy sauce,
1 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper

Directions:
To make filling:
In a sauté pan over medium heat, add oil. Sauté leaks, shallots until fragrant (about 5 minutes). Add shitake mushrooms, king oyster mushroom to this sauté mixture for a few minutes. Add carrots and young soy beans. Season with soy sauce, salt and black peeper . Remove from heat and let it cool.
In a bowl, mix pâté and mushrooms mixture until all is combined.

To assemble:
Unfold the puff pastry sheet onto lightly floured surface.

 Use a larger size biscuit cutter to cut the pastry into 10 or 11 pieces (each about 5 inches in diameter). The rest of the pastry dough uses the smaller size biscuit cutter to make 10 or 11 smaller pieces to cover the top.

Gather some left over pastry sheets cut them into 11 strips to wrap around the filling.
Each pâté chaude needs two pieces of pastry dough and 1 strip dough to wrap around. Fill 1 tbs of the filling onto the larger size of pastry.

wrap small strip of dough around the filling and top the filling with the smaller size of pastry.

 Brush with egg-wash on the top and around edges of the pâté chaude to seal the filling inside.

Continue in the same manner until all the pastry sheet is done. Bake in preheated oven set to 400° for 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Beer-Battered Fish in Tomato Sauce

We are living in a busy society, but we shouldn't sacrifice eating properly just because we don't have much free time. Some recipes need only a few ingredients to create a home-cooked meal in less than 30 minutes. Celebrity chef, Sandra Lee, is famous for her semi-homemade meal or Robin Miller who teaches people how to make simple weekly meals. In a grocery there are many good sauces and ready-made battered fish or chicken that one can buy to create a shortcut to a home-cooked meal, and the recipe here is the result of those conveniences.
Ingredients:
Four- 4 oz each ready-made battered fish (your choice of fish)
1 cup good tomato sauce (Ragu)
1/2 cup white onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley or basil, chopped
1/4 tsp each salt, black pepper
2 tbs olive oil

Directions:
Bake fish in oven set to 400° for 15 minutes (or follow the instructions on the package). Place on the plate and keep warm
While the fish is baking, prepare the sauce. In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. Sauté' onions and garlic for a few minutes or until fragrant. Add tomato sauce and bring to simmer. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over fish and sprinkle with chopped parsley or basil. Sprinkle with a few drops of olive oil.

Vegetable Stock

The last time I was visiting my mother, who lives with my brother, Dzung, in California, I prepared a vegetarian soup that included a special stock. I always think good soup has to have either a good meat stock or vegetable stock as the soup base, but also be simple enough for everyday healthy meals. I love to delight my family and friends with the simplest special spices, rare flavors, and unusual aromas even with just vegetable broth. Dzung was impressed with my broth, and he wants me to share this recipe with him. I scaled down the quantity of the ingredients so Dzung or someone living alone can prepare this wonderful broth. With this broth, cooking time will be cut in half and so many dishes can be made with it, such as miso soup, bean soup, tomato, egg-drop soup, etc... This broth freezes well. I encourage people to use cooking as a way to express themselves in the same way that Artists express their thoughts on canvas. By using one's imagination, the opportunities are endless.
Equiptment:
One 8 qt stock pot
Ingredients:
1 kohlrabi
1 chipotle squash
2 medium carrots
1 leek
2 celery stalks
1 small jicama
1 Fuji apple
1/4 head cabbage
1 small daikon
1 small honey squash , cut into half with seeds removed*
2 oz rock sugar
2 oz salt
2 tbs whole black pepper
1 piece kelp or kombu (six-inch length, cleaned with a wet paper towel).

Directions:
Wash and cut vegetables into big chunks. Place all the ingredients above the kelp or kombu piece into stock pot. Fill up with fresh water and bring to boil over medium heat.

Skim off any residue that rises to the top. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 2 hours. Add a piece of clean kombu or kelp and simmer for another 1/2 hour.

Let the broth cool off; Drain broth through sieve. The broth now is ready to use. The broth can be put in freezer at this point for later use.

* Winter squash can be substituted

Best Salmon Dip

My Friend vacationed in Alaska last summer and brought home and gave me a famous Alaskan smoked salmon. The salmon dip here uses some of this smoked salmon. This salmon dip is great on top of a piece of toast or any kind of cracker and is also the best finger food for any party.

Ingredients:
12 oz smoked salmon
8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sour ream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup chopped green onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbs tabasco
Juice of 1 lemon and its zest
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a food processor, mix cream cheese until it looks runny. Add salmon and use pulse button to mix the salmon and cream cheese; Stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Add salt and white pepper to taste.