Baked Cod with Coconut Oil and Tomato

Lately, coconut oil is the "talk of the town" because it is a superior health food, based upon a study on the life expectancy of the people who are living in the regions where most people use coconut products. Everywhere in the market many products are made with coconut in it. Much Asian food includes coconut from sweet to savory. Coconut oil can be used for every recipe that calls for olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, or margarine. Today, I will introduce a recipe with a very short list of ingredients but produces a healthy and delicious meal.

Ingredients:
Two 6 oz cod fillets or any kind of fish
2 tbs coconut oil
1 tbs lime juice
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs of store-bought Asian seasoning*
1/4 tsp salt and black pepper
1/2 tomato, sliced

Green onions and cilantro for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.
In a sauté pan, heat coconut oil until melted. Pour oil in a bowl and add lime juice, Asian seasoning, soy sauce, salt, and black pepper. Place cod onto a baking dish and pour the coconut mixture over cod. Top with sliced tomato.

Bake for 20 minutes and sprinkle with green onions and cilantro. Serve.

*Asian seasoning is sold in Asian food markets, but other seasoning can be substituted. A simple rub substitute can be created at home with a few ingredients, such as garlic powder, cayenne, paprika, onion powder, black pepper, and some dried herbs.

A Bowl of Ramen Noodles Soup

Several days ago, I posted a recipe for making Dashi stock. It is one of healthiest, easiest stocks to create at home. Before I talk about how to make this simple dish, Ramen noodles had an especially sweet memory for me. It is true that when hungry, everything tastes wonderful – even simple Ramen noodles with hot water. When my family was finally permitted to leave Vietnam to unite with my father in the USA in the summer of 1984, we first landed in one of the refugee camps in Thailand and stayed there for ten days for medical checkups. During the time we stayed in that camp, Ramen noodles soup was the best soup I had ever tasted – well at that moment anyway. However, Ramen noodles play a significant part in meals of Asian cultures. In Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese groceries, one can be lost when choosing which Ramen noodles to buy. In my family circle, both of my nieces, never go on vacation without packing Ramen noodles, and these noodles correct their tastebuds after they had eaten something that they do not like. I can envision their disapproving faces with what I am will create here because for them eating Ramen noodles can only be just adding hot water and using the included small spice pack. Even though I agree with them, I still think for a healthy choice, adding Dashi stock and vegetables to the Ramen noodles soup and not using the spice pack are much healthier. However, it will give Ramen noodles a different taste. It is a personal choice. However, because a bowl of healthy Ramen noodles soup on a winter day brings back a sweet memory, it is a wonderful choice for me.

Ingredients:
1 pack of Ramen noodles
2 cups Dashi stock
1 hard-boiled egg. shell removed and cut in half
Vegetables:
1 cup total of daikon. carrot, and Japanese pumpkin
2 shitake mushrooms, soaked in water
Handful of bean sprouts
1 tsp mirin
2 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp black pepper

Some other toppings of your choice: left over roasted chicken or fish, shrimp

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro

Directions:
In a sauce pan, add Dashi stock and bring to boil. Add daikon, pumpkin, carrot, and shitake mushrooms. Bring to boil and simmer until the vegetables are soft but still tender.
In another saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to boil and cook the Ramen noodles for 1 minute. Remove and place on the bottom of a serving bowl. Top with bean sprouts and hard-boiled egg and pour the soup over the noodles. Sprinkle with green onions and cilantro and enjoy.

Apples-Coconut Cake

Coconut oil, juice, and milk are part of the healthiest foods to be consumed now to replace the regular way of making cake. I have been using coconut oil for various daily routines for my skin, hair etc.… When baking, I replace most of the butter in the recipes with coconut oil. Try it and you will love it.

Ingredients:
Two cups self-raising flour
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine (room temperature)
1/2 cup coconut oil
3 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup coconut flakes
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups apples diced (use the varieties of apple, such as Granny Smith, red delicious, and gala)

Directions:
Grease and flour cake pan with coconut oil and flour.

Preheat oven to 350°.
In a bowl, add flour and ground cinnamon

In a KitchenAid stand mixer with a beater attachment, add coconut oil, butter, and sugar. Turn machine on and beat for 3 minutes. Add egg one at a time and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Add milk and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour and beat well with egg mixture. Stop the machine occasionally to scrape the better. Stir in apples. Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan.

Top with coconut flakes.

Bake in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Vietnamese Roasted Chicken (Gà Rô-ti)

Vietnamese Chicken Rô ti is similar to French Poule, which is roasted chicken. This meal can be made in a regular oven, or it can be fried in hot oil because in Vietnam not many households have an oven. The spices used for this meal are endless. The most common are soy sauce, honey, shallots, garlic, five spice, and green onions. The whole chicken is normally used in this meal’s recipe, but the quickest and easiest way to handle this recipe is to use parts of the cut up chicken. Remove some of the skin if it is too fattening. This is totally a personal choice. What I like to introduce today for this Rô ti is roasting chicken in a rice cooker.  This method saves clean up time. Most of all, the chicken turns out moist and wonderful.

Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken thighs and drumsticks
1 cup white onions, sliced
Marinade:
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs sweet chili sauce (Thai brand sold in Costco)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp honey
2 tsp five spice
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs peanut oil

Directions:

Remove some of the fat and skin from the chicken. Wash and dry the chicken and place in a bowl.

 

Combine the marinade and pour over the chicken. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours or preferably overnight.

 

Place all chicken in a rice cooker.

 Close the lid and start with the cooking function.

After the cooking function is finished, let chicken sit in the rice cooker for 20 minutes before serving. This can be served with French bread or simply sweet sticky rice*.

*Directions for making sweet sticky rice:
Use 1 cup of sweet rice. Wash and drain.
Place washed sweet rice in a rice cooker and add 1 cup coconut water. Start the cooking button. This is how to make sweet rice without soaking the rice and steaming.

Brain-Boosting. Cranberry-Pecan Muffins

I read in some websites on how to maintain a healthy brain function, and this recipe seemed good. The ingredients are mostly what I already have available. It’s time to make these muffins for breakfast.

Ingredients:
1 cup muffin mix or self-raising flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbs melted coconut oil, butter, or margarine
1 tbs Chia seeds gel
1/2 cup coconut milk or regular milk
1/3 cup orange juice
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line a muffin pan with 7 to 10 paper muffin liners.

In a bowl, combine egg, sugar, melted coconut oil, and Chia seeds gel and beat well.

Add milk and orange juice. Beat in muffin mix and vanilla well.

Stir in cranberries and nuts.

 Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin liners to 3/4 full.

Top with coconut flakes.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

Simple Dashi Stock

Japanese Dashi stock made with kelp and bonito flakes, which is shaved tuna bone. Dashi is very easy to make and a quick fix soup with Ramen noodles or stir-fried basic sauce. Most Asian groceries now are selling a powdered Dashi, which allows this stock to be made even faster. However, I prefer to make this stock from scratch for the simple reason that it is to avoid some preservatives added during the process of making Dashi powder. This stock after making can last a few days in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:
2 oz kelp
1 cup bonito flakes
10 cups water

Clean kelp with a damp towel and soak the kelp in 8 cups of water for 30 minutes.

 C

ook the kelp with the soaking water on low heat. When the water starts to boil, turn the heat off and add the bonito flakes.

Let it mixture soak for 30 minutes. Drain the cooked kelp mixture through a colander and pour the Dashi stock in a clean jar with a lid. Now this stock is ready to use.

 

 

 

 

Making the second Dashi stock:
Use the cooked kelp and bonito flakes and add about 5 cups of water and simmer for another 30 minutes. Drain this second stock through a colander for soup or anything that needs seafood flavor.

Quick Stir-Fried Vegetables & Ramen Noodles

A Lo Mein dish is a crowd pleaser at many potluck parties. I find that using Ramen noodles is another quick way to make this stir-fried dish at home in no time. Most of us will always have packages of Ramen noodles in our pantries. With a simple stir-fried sauce, a pack of Ramen noodles, and some fresh or frozen vegetables, this dish will please most every hard taste food critic.

Ingredients:
Two packages of Ramen noodles
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white onion, cut into wedges
2 tbs peanut oil
Sauce ingredients:
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp miso paste
2 scallions chopped
Vegetables:
1/2 cup white onion, cut into wedges
1 carrot, julienned
3 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup sliced red,yellow bell pepper
1 cup bean sprouts
Or
2 cups frozen vegetables, blanched in boiling water

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to boil. Add Ramen noodles, discard the seasoning package inside the Ramen noodles package, Cook Ramen noodles for 1 minute (use a tong to separate the noodles). Do not overcook the noodles. Drain in colander.

Heat wok over medium high heat with the peanut oil. Add onion and garlic and stir until fragrant.

Add carrots and mushrooms and stir and cook until wilted.

Add noodles, bells pepper, and sauce. Mix them well (about 1 minute).

Adjust the seasoning with salt, if needed. Add bean sprouts and quick stir to combine. Serve on a plate.