Easy Red Eggplant and Egg Curry

I like Indian egg curry that was served on a Princess Alaskan cruise several years ago when my family and I were on vacation. I like all kinds of curry, and I discovered since that the store-bought Thai curry paste is very helpful. Today, I will share another easy curry dish using red curry paste and eggs as the main protein source for this dish. The other ingredients are very easy to find as well. If a Japanese eggplant not available, any other eggplant will suffice.

Ingredients;

1 Japanese eggplant, cubed

5 hard-boiled eggs, shell removed

2 tbs red curry paste

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups coconut milk

1 large baking potato, peeled and cubed

2 medium carrots, peeled and cubed

Season with:

2 tbs fish sauce

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Green onion and cilantro for garnish

Serve over cooked rice, bread, or rice noodles

Directions:

Heat coconut oil in a pot, and stir in red curry paste. Cook until fragrant or the oil starts to separate.

Add chicken broth and bring to boil.

Add potatoes, carrots, and eggs and cook for 10 minutes. Add the seasonings to the pot.

 Add the coconut milk and eggplant.

Bring back to boil and adjust the seasonings at this point with more fish sauce, or salt, or sugar to your liking.

Cook for another 10 minutes or until potatoes, carrots, and eggplant are tender.

Sprinkle with green onion and cilantro to the pot or on top of an individual serving bowl.

English Buttermilk Scones

To my understanding, the scone is more like quick, beautiful bread. People who travel on the train in Britain will see the scone being served with an afternoon tea or with breakfast with jam or butter. Slit the scone and take a spoonful of butter or jam to spread on the scone, and you are in heaven. In an old English movie, the way Britain enjoyed a scone is very elegant. Almost everyone knows the right amount of jam or butter to spread onto the scone. This social custom is not the American way to eat a scone or even making one. Therefore, I think a scone is easy to make and for breakfast, it is best served with a hard-boiled egg and a cup of coffee. Today, I will share a basic scone recipe, but give credit to the English people for knowing how to elevate the scone into elegant bread.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbs sugar

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup buttermilk

1 stick of butter cut into small slices

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

Directions:

Save 1 tbs of butter to grease a baking pan.

Sift all the dry ingredients into a big bowl. Rub in the butter and vegetable shortening until a moist, sand -like texture is reached. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes make a well in a center and pour in the buttermilk. Start with 1/2 cup and increase, if needed. Use a fork to gently gather the flour,

Lightly flour a countertop and turn out the batter. 

Gently form into a circle or rectangle, whichever shape is easy for you.

Cut into a wedge about 3/4 inch thick. Place each scone onto the prepared baking sheet (lightly touching each other).

Brush with milk or heavy cream.

 Bake in a preheated oven set to 400° for 12 to 15 minutes or until the scones are golden brown.

Serve with your choice of jam.

Easy Cod and Green Curry with Chayote Squash

Curry is a part of the Asian cuisine, especially from India and Thailand. I like all kinds of curry, and a light and easy curry is fish curry. The store-bought green, red, or yellow curry makes this dish easily put together. I add chayote to this dish because it is green colored in keeping with the theme of green, but any Asian squash is okay, such as winter squash, gourd, etc.. This is a quick and easy curry recipe.

Ingredients:

3 cod fillets, cut into chunks

2 chayotes, peeled (remove seeds and cut into chunks)

2 tbs green curry

2 tbs coconut oil

2 cup dashi stock or chicken stock*

One 14.5 oz can coconut milk

2 tbs fish sauce

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/2 cup cilantro stems, chopped

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Hot cooked rice

Directions:

Heat oil in a pot and add curry. Stir and cook for 3 minutes or until fragrant.

Add dashi stock and add chayote chunks. Season with salt and sugar.

Bring to boil and cook for 10 minutes or until chayote is tender.

Put the cilantro stems in a blender with coconut milk. Blend until smooth (you can omit this step if you think curry is green enough).

Pour coconut milk and cilantro into pot. Bring back to boil and add cod

(simmer for 5 to 7 minutes). Fish cook quickly; Adjust the seasoning with fish sauce,

Curry is now ready to serve.

*To make quick Dashi stock:

 1 piece konbu (kelp seaweed about postcard size)

 5 cups water

Handful dried bonito flakes

In a saucepan, soak the kelp in 5 cups water for a few hours. Cook over low heat just until the water starts boiling. Remove kelp and add bonita flakes. Bring the liquid back to gentle boil. Turn off the heat and let the bonito flakes settle to the bottom and strain the dashi through a fine sieve lined with a piece of towel. Use this stock to make soup or a stir-fried sauce.

Vegetables-Egg Fried Rice

Fried rice is a dish that Asian people love. It is also a dish that clears out leftover cooked rice and other vegetables that are still in the fridge and need to go. It may not sound good, but trust me, fried rice is always fantastic to eat. Egg is a vital protein ingredient to add with the rice.  I can name this dish as a heart-friendly, age-defying dish because Asian people do look younger than their actual age, perhaps because we are eating rice every meal. 

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked rice (I prefer day-old)

3 eggs, beaten

2 green onions

1 garlic clove, minced

3 tbs peanut oil

1 ½ cups total of following diced vegetables: carrots, peas, corn, green beans

2 button mushrooms, sliced

Handful of bean sprouts

Seasonings:

1 tsp salt

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Bring a pot of water to boil to blanch the carrots, peas, green beans, and corn for one minute. Drain.

Heat 2 tbs of oil in a wok. Then stir-fry eggs until cooked.

 Stir in green onions and sliced garlic. Fry until fragrant. Add mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. 

Add another tablespoon of oil. Then stir in rice and blanched vegetables. Stir and cook. Add seasonings and adjust to your liking. Mix well.

Add bean sprouts. Stir to combine. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cake

I always like easy-baking recipes, especially when it comes to baking a cake. I have this easy recipe and have been making it all the time to entertain surprise guests who show up unexpectedly. This cake is moist, and the frosting is very much up to what ingredients each cook have on hand. This recipe’s simple frosting is water frosting, which is just powdered sugar with water or chocolate frosting. In this recipe, I will include the easy chocolate frosting. Every time I bake this cake reminds me of some of the 100-year-old cake recipes that our grandmothers and great grand mothers must have baked for churches a long time ago with very few tools and ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup good cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk (I use whole milk)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup hot water

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Chocolate frosting ingredients:

3 oz. baking chocolate

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 stick butter

Directions:

Grease and flour a 13” x 9” cake pan.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add sugar to flour and mix well.

Add eggs, milk, oil, and water.

Use a handheld beater to beat aforementioned ingredients until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan

Bake in a preheated oven set to 350° for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool completely before frosting.

While the cake is baking, place chocolate in a bowl over gently simmering water to melt the chocolate. Remove from heat. Put butter in a medium bowl and beat until fluffy. Sift in the powdered sugar until smooth. Add melted chocolate and beat together until well mixed. Spread the frosting on top of the cake.

Stir-fried Eggplant with Fish Patties

I shop for most of my groceries at Costco, and two items that sell there are salmon and Pollock Burgers. These items gave me the idea to create an easy healthy recipe for dinner instead of using these items just for ordinary burgers. The Japanese eggplant is another ingredient in this recipe to make it a complete healthy choice. The stir-fry sauce for this recipe uses miso paste and soy sauce, which always add flavor to the dish. The taste balance for this dish is saltiness and sweetness with a hint of sourness.

Ingredients;

1 Japanese eggplant

2 salmon patties or Pollock

1 cup sliced mushrooms

3 green onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs peanut oil

Stir-fried sauce ingredients:

1 tbs miso paste

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp honey

1 tsp Sriracha hot sauce

1 tsp rice vinegar

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Wash eggplant and slice diagonally into 1/2 inch-wide pieces.

Break  patties into small pieces.

Mix the stir-fried sauce ingredients and set aside.

Slice green onions (separate the white and green parts) and set aside

Heat wok and add eggplant to char until eggplant has wilted. Remove eggplant.

Add oil to the wok and add the white parts from the green onions and garlic. Cook for a few seconds until fragrant.

Stir in salmon and mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes or until mushrooms appear soft.

Add eggplant and the sauce to the wok. Cook for 5 more minutes (constantly stirring to mix well.).

Adjust the seasoning to your liking.  Add the green parts of the green onions and make a quick stir.

Serve with hot cooked rice.