Sweet Potato Cinnamon Buns

I love to make these cinnamon buns with sweet potato because the sweet potato gives the buns natural sweetness and extra softness. These buns are best eaten the same day that they are made. I used a leftover mashed sweet potato to make this bun and allow the dough to rise slowly overnight. This is the best way to serve breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1 egg
1/2 cup warm milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbs vegetable shortening
1 tbs soft butter
3 ¼ cups of bread flour
2 tsp active yeast
Filling:
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup apricots, chopped
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp grown cinnamon
3 tbs soft butter

Directions;
All the ingredients must be at room temperature. In a bread machine pan, add all the ingredients, except the filling, in the order listed above. Select the dough button and press start. Let dough rise in the machine until double in size. Remove dough and let rest 5 minutes on a lightly floured countertop before hand shaping.

Meanwhile, soak cranberries, raisins, and apricots with 1/2 cup of white wine until they plump. Drain.
Combine plumped raisins, cranberries, apricots, cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar in a bowl and set aside.
Hand shaping:
Roll out dough into a 16” x 12” rectangle.

Spread the filling evenly over the dough.

Roll up dough in jelly-roll fashion to form a 16 inch-long cylinder.

With a sharp serrated knife, cut the cylinder into twelve equal slices. Place slices, cut side up, on a lightly greased 13” x 9” baking pan. Space 2 inches apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let slices rise in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 325°.
One hour before baking, bring out slices to assume room temperature. After baking in oven for 10 minutes, increase the temperature to 350° and bake for 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from oven and enjoy.

Bouillabaisse or Fish Soup

Bouillabaisse is the most famous soup in the country of France. In the countryside, this soup is called fisherman’s soup/stew originating from the port city of Marseille where the fishermen caught their fish and made their dinner. It is often made with the whole fish, but I think using a fish fillet is much simpler, and the bone can be used to make the stock. Firm whitefish, such as cod, bass, red snapper, or monkfish, is best for this recipe. Following my recipe’s simple directions will reveal how easy it is to make this famous bouillabaisse soup.

Ingredients:
3 cups fish stock or water
1/2 lb whitefish, such as cod, bass, or monkfish
6 mussels
4 shrimp
1 tbs oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 large tomato
Pinch of saffron threads
Herbs: tarragon & parley, chopped
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup good white wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Scrub the mussels and remove their “beards”. Cut the fish into bite size pieces. Remove shells from and devein the shrimp. Place the mussels, fish, and shrimp in a bowl and set aside.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and cook fennel, onion, and garlic over medium heat for 5 minutes or until fragrant.
Score a cross on top of the tomato and plunge it into the hot water for 20 seconds. Then drain and peel the skin away from the tomato, discarding the cores. Roughly chop the tomato and add to the pan. Cook tomato for a few minutes. Add white wine and cook for a few minutes. Stir in fish stock, saffron, orange zest, and the herbs. Bring this broth to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour this soup into the blender and purée the soup. Return to a clean pan and bring it to a boil.
Add fish and mussels. Cook for 5 minutes or until mussels open. Add shrimp and cook for a few more minutes. Ladle the soup into a serving bowl and serve with bread.

Egg Noodle Soup with Braised Chicken

This dish is called Mi Vit Tiem in Southern Vietnam, which is very popular in a nearby Chinese supermarket called “Cho Lon". Some say this dish emigrated from China because the meat is marinated in advance with a lot of Chinese spices related to Chinese medicine like cinnamon, ginger roots, star anise, etc... The broth has a slight dark color because of all these spices, but the fragrance is unbelievable. My version of this dish uses chicken legs instead of duck legs because I do not live near by Oriental butcher shops. The method of cooking will be the same as cooking with duck legs. I am very happy with my recipe and hope that you will agree.

Ingredients:
Marinade:
4 oz rock sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp salt
5 star anise
5 whole cloves
Two 3 inch long cinnamon sticks
2 oz fresh ginger, sliced
6 pieces dried orange peels
4 dried chili
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp five spices
2 cups water
Chicken and broth:
2 cups coconut juice
6 chicken legs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
10 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked in water
12 cups chicken broth
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp salt
Vegetables:
1 lb. Chinese cabbage (cai xanh) or Chinese kale (cai lan)
Scallions, cut into 2 inch sections
White onion thinly sliced
Cilantro leaves, chopped for garnish
Fresh hot chili, sliced
1 1/2 lbs. fresh egg noodles

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, add all the marinade ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly. Place chicken legs into a Ziploc bag and pour in the marinade and turn to coat evenly. Seal the Ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight.
Drain the chicken legs. Pour 1/4 cup of oil into a large sauté pan. Add chicken legs and fry until golden brown (about 3 to 5 minutes on each side). Add the coconut juice and some reserved marinade . Cover and braise the chicken legs for 30 minutes. While the chicken is braising, prepare the soaked mushrooms. Remove the stems and cut the caps in half. When the chicken legs are done, remove chicken from the braising liquid and drain the braising liquid. You may use this liquid with the broth.
In a soup pot, add chicken broth, some braising liquid, chicken legs and the Chinese mushrooms. Bring to a boil. Skim the froth as it rises to the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture for 30 minutes or until the chicken legs are tender.
To prepare the soup:
Blanch the Chinese broccoli and scallions in the hot water and set aside
Bring a pot of water to a boil and place a large bowl of cold water next to it. Divide the noodles equally for each serving in a strainer and cook in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Stir the noodles with chopsticks. Then immediately dip the cooked noodles into the cold water to stop the cooking. Drain briefly and place the noodles into an individual soup bowl. Repeat with the remaining noodles.
Divide the vegetables, scallions, white onions and place on top of noodles in each bowl. Transfer the chicken legs into each bowl of noodles. Bring the soup to boil again. Ladle the boiling broth and mushroom caps to cover the noodles and the chicken legs. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro, black pepper, and hot chili.

White Beans Chicken Chili

Enjoy classic chicken chili without the tomato sauce. I use a crockpot to make this recipe even easier for busy moms.

Ingredients:
2 cups leftover roasted chicken
1 can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup corn
1/2 cup roasted salsa verde (store-bought)
1 tbs fresh oregano or 1 tsp dry
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with chopped cilantro

Directions:
In a medium sauté pan, add 2 tbs oil. Sauté garlic and onions until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add cumin, cayenne, oregano, and salsa verde and cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to boil.

 

In a 4 qt crockpot, place chicken, corn, and beans. Pour the chicken broth on top. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the crockpot with lid and turn heat to low. Cook 4 to 5 hours. If desired, add your choice of cheese 10 minutes before finishing cooking or until the cheese has melted. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Yuca Cake (Banh Khoai Mi Nuong)

Yuca or cassava is a long starchy root. It is widely grown in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. For many years, this root is life-saving for poor people because it is very easy to grow.
During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese soldiers planted their own cassava in many places throughout the jungle where they marched through. Any cassava plant from which they removed the root to eat, the soldiers had to replant it by cutting the stem off the cassava plant and then just sticking it into the soil. The cassava plant will grow without much care. My uncle was a soldier and he said this was a plan used to defeat the South Vietnamese Government. The continuous cassava planting was to feed the North soldiers if they got lost in the jungle.
Cassava can be boiled, steamed, baked, or added to a stew. Growing up in a large family with a modest income, my mom used to cook cassava with rice to save some rice for another day because rice was quite expensive.
Another dish that I loved while growing up was baked cassava cake, but my mom seldom made it for us because it required more ingredients that she could not afford at that time. Luckily for me now, I am living in America and cassava is quite inexpensive. Therefore, I can enjoy this cake as much as I want.
If using a fresh cassava root, then the cassava needs to have thick skin peeled off first and then have the white flesh shredded. I found an easy way to make this cake by using frozen yuca, which is sold in most Asian markets. I created this recipe which includes cooked mung beans to add more flavor to the cake because this cake has the unique taste of both yuca and mung beans.

Ingredients:
16 oz shredded or grated frozen yuca (1 lb.)
1 cup cooked mung beans
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 tbs coconut oil
1 tbs butter cut into small pats

Directions:
Grease an 8” x 8” baking pan with coconut oil. Preheat oven to 350°.

In a blender, add mung beans, tapioca flour, coconut milk, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and eggs.

 Blend until smooth. Pour this mixture into a mixing bowl and add the yuca. Whisk them to combine.

 Pour into the prepared cake pan.

Dot on top with butter pats and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Chicken, Tofu, Potato, and Mushrooms Stew

Stew is the combination of food cooked in liquid and the thickening of the liquid. Stew is always served warm with bread or rice. The sauce for stew can vary slightly from cook to cook. It is primarily a soy sauce brine mellowed by some cooking wine, such as sake or dry sherry and seasoned with star anise, fennel, cinnamon, ginger, and garlic. The stock can be used to add more the depth of flavor or a spicier flavor by adding some chilies. Any type of meat or vegetables can be used for making stew. The stew recipe that I created here is a combination of meat and potatoes.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast or thigh, cut into bite size pieces
8 oz firm tofu, cut into bite size chunks
8 oz button mushrooms
1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup white onions, thickly sliced
1 tsp five spice
2 tbs fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Stew Sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tbs dark soy sauce
2 tbs light soy sauce
1 tbs miso paste
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs vinegar
2 tbs sake
1/8 tsp salt
Garnish:
3 green onions, cut into 1 inch lengths
1/2 cup cilantro

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the stew sauce ingredients and mix well.
In a medium pot, add 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Fry the tofu until golden grown and remove. In the same pot, add chicken and fry until chicken is golden brown. Remove the chicken and set aside. Using whatever oil is left in the pot, add potatoes and fry them well. Remove the potato.
In the same pot, add ginger, garlic and white onions. Stir for 1 minute and then add five spice (cook until fragrant). Return chicken, tofu, potatoes, and mushrooms to the pot and the stew sauce. Cover pot with lid and turn the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for anther 10 minutes. Add green onions and cilantro. Serve.

Crispy Tofu Stirfry

Tofu, also called bean curd, is made by first coagulating soy juice and then pressing the resulting curds into small white bricks or blocks. Tofu has little or no flavor by itself but has a ton of nutrition. Vegetarians use tofu to replace meat in their diet. In the Buddhist temple, Tofu is the main ingredient of every dish being served. As a young girl, my mom always took us to the temple on the big Buddhist celebrations. For that, I had a chance to taste most of the wonderful dishes at the temple. It is still fresh in my mind, so I created this stir-fry tofu for my family. I hope this dish will contribute to the vegan world of the best ever tofu dishes, as well.

Ingredients:
1 block of soft tofu, cut into about ½ inch cubes
1/3 cup cornstarch
Sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs rice vinegar
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs cooking wine
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp black pepper
Others
1 cup green onions, cut into 1 inch lengths
1/2 cup chopped white onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup of water chestnuts
1 jalapeno, chopped
Cilantro for garnish

Directions:
Place cornstarch on a shallow dish and roll tofu to cover completely with cornstarch.
In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients and mix well.
Heat 1/3cup of oil in a wok until smoking. Add tofu. Deep fry tofu until golden brown. Remove the tofu and place on a paper towel to absorb the oil. Pour off the oil and wipe the wok clean with paper towel.
Add 1 tbs of oil into the wok. Stir in garlic and white onions (be careful not let the garlic burn). Cook for a few seconds. Add jalapeno and water chestnuts. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add tofu back into the wok. Add green onions in the sauce. Cook until the sauce is thickened. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve.