Thai Chicken Satay

Satay is Thai barbecue and is a signature of Thai food. Its preparation is very impressive as street vendors carefully thread the chicken, pork or beef onto skewers made of dry coconut leaves or soaked thin bamboo sticks. The fragrance of sweet coconut milk, garlic, lemongrass and ginger in the marinade is mouthwatering when the meat hits the hot charcoal.
 Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup oil
2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, chopped
2 tbs chopped lemongrass
1 tbs chopped ginger
1/4 cup oil
About 25- 6 inch bamboo skewers (soak skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent burning)

Peanut dipping sauce
1/2 cup coconut milk or whole milk
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup water
1 tsp red curry paste
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp lemon juice
Sugar to taste

Directions:

In a bowl, whisk all the ingredients together, except the chicken.

Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts. Slice the chicken breasts diagonally against the grain into 1-inch wide strips.

Add the chicken strips into the bowl and marinate for a few hours.

Preheat the grill to medium heat or cast iron over medium heat.
Thread the chicken strips onto the bamboo skewers.

Grill the meat until just cooked through (about 2 or 3 minutes each side). Serve with the peanut dipping sauce and cucumber salad.

Dipping sauce directions
In a sauté pan, add oil, red curry paste and turmeric. Stir until the mixture sizzles. Add the rest of the ingredients and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes. Remove the sauce from heat. Adjust the seasoning to achieve a balance of sweet, salty, and a hint of spicy to personal taste. If red curry paste is not on hand, then sauté the chopped lemongrass, garlic, shallots, red chilies and galanga to mirror the taste of red curry.

Thai cucumber salad dressing ingredients
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 salt
Bring all the ingredients to boil or until the sugar is dissolved. Let cool. This dressing can be kept for a long time in the refrigerator.
Cucumber salad ingredients
1 English cucumber, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped white or yellow onions
1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
1 fresh red hot chili, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp chili flakes
2 tbs chopped cilantro

Combine the cucumber salad ingredients in a bowl. Top with 1/2 cup of the dressing. Let sit 20 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Muffins

I haven't made pumpkin muffins for quite some time. Yesterday, after making vegetable stock for the fried fish ball soup and having pumpkin leftovers, I realized that I could make these sweet little muffins for breakfast.
Ingredients:
1 cup homemade muffin mix
1/2 cup of pumpkin purée'
2 tbs soft butter or margarine
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 tbs honey
2 tbs sugar
1/8 tsp pumpkin spice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Combine cake mix, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and chopped walnuts. Set aside

In a mixing bowl, whisk egg, sugar and honey until fluffy. Add cake mixture and whisk the mixture well. Add pumpkin purée and vanilla.

Pour equal amounts of the batter into 6 or 7 medium-size muffin tins lined with paper (filling each to 2/3 full, which allows room to rise during baking).

Bake the muffins in a preheated oven set to 350° for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Fried Fish Balls Soup with Pineapple and Tomatoes

The weather is getting colder everyday now. It time for me to clean up my herb-vegetable garden to see what I can use for my kitchen. The pumpkins and kohlrabi are enough to make a good vegetable stock for fish balls soup that I about to prepare, and the chives are still good for the garnish. At the end of the season, most vegetables are tough to eat but good for making stock. I always want to cook in a fun and creative way and use whatever ingredients that are available to me; therefore, this soup is perfect at this time of year.

Ingredients:
Vegetable stock:
1 small pumpkin (any type available)
2 kohlrabis
1 apple
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 onion
A few cabbage leaves
1 piece of kelp about 4 inches in length
6 quarts of water
Fish balls:
250 gr fish paste ( homemade or store bought)
3 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
2 tsp annatto seed oil (for color)
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt, pepper to taste
1 tsp fish sauce
2 cup pineapple, cut into bite-size pieces
2 large tomatoes, cut into wedges
1  white onions, cut into wedges

5 cups chicken broth
5 cups vegetable broth
Garnish:
Chives, cut into 3 inches
Cooked rice noodles and dia rau song (Vietnamese salad plate)

Directions:

Place all the vegetable stock ingredients in a stock pot. Add water and cook for 1 hour. Drain and use stock for the fish ball soup.

Mix the fish paste with chopped shallots, garlic, and green onions. Season with salt, black pepper and fish sauce. Add annatto seed oil to the mixture.

Moisten hands with water and coat fingers and palms with some oil. Roll the fish balls into a ball the size of a golf ball.
Add about 1 cup of oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Fry the fish balls.

 Rotate the fish balls until each side becomes golden brown. Set aside

In a 6 quart pan, add chicken broth and vegetable broth. Bring broth to boil. Add pineapple, onions, tomatoes and the fried-fish balls. Bring back to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with fish sauce.

Place the cooked noodles in the bottom of a serving bowl. Arrange a few pineapple pieces, tomato wedges, and fish balls on top of the noodles. Ladle the broth on top and sprinkle with chives and green onions.

Apple Cobbler

Living in the Pacific Northwest has the benefit of being with nature. During summertime friends and neighbors often stop by with blueberries or blackberries that they picked on farms or even in parks or along roadways. The fall season is for apple picking, so my friend dropped by my house yesterday with a bushel basket of different kinds of apples that she picked while visiting her uncle's orchard in Yakima, Washington.. I posted an apple cobbler recipe in my blog before, but recently I found an old recipe from a cookbook that featured many favorite recipes of diverse famous hotels around the country. This recipe is for the apple cobbler served at the Ahwahnee Hotel, which is set on the valley floor of Yosemite National Park. I will share this recipe here. Even though this recipe comes from a real chef, it is quite easy for an amateur cook like me to prepare. I omit the Anglaise sauce that is called for in this recipe because I think it is a little too rich for my taste; I cut the original recipe's ingredients in half to serve six.
 Ingredients:
The Batter
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup half and half or whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
The Fillings
1 pound apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices (about 3 cups)
2 tbs apple brandy
1/4 cup sugar
Anglaise sauce (optional)
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream, heated

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Then stir in the sugar and the baking powder. Whisk in the half and half and vanilla. With a wooden spoon, gradually stir in the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and beat until smooth. Set aside.

In another large bowl, toss all the apple fillings.
 Butter the bottom of a 9" x 9" baking dish and spread the apple slices evenly in the pan and pour the

batter over them. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm .

To make Anglaise sauce:
In a large bowl, beat the sugar with the egg yolks until the mixture is thickened and a pale yellow color. Gradually beat in the hot cream. Pour the mixture into the top of a double boiler over medium heat. Then cook and stir constantly until it thickens (do not allow the sauce to come to a simmer). Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and let cool.

Pot Stickers

These small fried-steamed dumplings stuffed with chicken and vegetables are traditionally served as an appetizer in many restaurants or for brunch in some dim sum restaurants. They have the same filling as fried wonton, but much healthier, because "pot sticker" means sticking to the bottom of the pan by using very little oil at the beginning but then adding chicken broth to steam the dumplings until court. These dumplings are nutritious, delicious and easy to please picky guests.
Ingredients:
1 cup ground pork or chicken
1 cup shrimp, peeled, deveined, and finely chopped
1/4 cup bamboo shoots, chopped
1/4 cup cabbage, chopped, lightly-salted, and with excess water squeezed out
2 shiitake mushrooms, soaked, drained and chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh minced ginger
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped
1 tsp salt and black pepper
1 tbs oyster sauce
1 tsp shaoxing wine
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 egg
1 tbs cornstarch
2 green onions, chopped

35 to 45 wonton wrappers (homemade or store bought)
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbs oil for 15 dumplings

Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Red hot chilies and minced garlic

Directions:
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients listed above the wonton wrappers.

Wet the wonton wrappers with water.

 Place 1 tsp of the filling in the center of a wrapper.

Fold the wrapper in half.

Use the index finger and thumb to bring the sides together to pleat an edge while keeping the other edge smooth. The longer smooth edge will serve as a support to the shorter length pleated edge. Pinch

the pleats together. Then pinch them to seal. Repeat the procedure for the other dumplings.

In a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add oil. To line the pan, arrange the dumplings in
the hot pan, flat side down.

Turn heat to low and fry the dumplings for 1 minute or until golden brown.

Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and cover the pan.

 Cook for 6 minutes or until the water evaporates. Continue cooking the rest of the dumplings in the same procedure. Serve warm with dipping sauce

Salmon In Shiitake Gravy Sauce

Since salmon is a popular food and common in many cultures, I try a lot of diverse recipes for salmon in my blog and the one that I will show here is quick and simple. Most of the ingredients are easy to find too.
Ingredients:
Two – 8 oz salmon fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
Marinade
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tbs shaoxing wine or dry sherry
1/4 tsp sesame oil
Gravy
3 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked (reserve the soaking water)
1/4 cup chicken stock + 1/4 cup mushroom water
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped red onions
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tbs oil
Thickening Solution
1 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs water
Garnish
Chopped cilantro and green onions

Directions:
In a bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients together. Add the cut salmon pieces. Let salmon pieces marinate for 30 minutes.

When ready to cook, remove salmon pieces from the marinade but reserve the marinade.
Remove the soaked mushrooms and cut into 1 inch strips.
In a wok, heat oil. Sauté chopped onions and garlic until the onions become soft and fragrant.

Stir in mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes.

Add salmon pieces and cook until the salmon pieces become opaque.

Add the gravy and the marinade and bring to a boil.

 Add the thickening solution and cook until the
sauce is thickened (about 3 minutes). Season with oyster sauce. Sprinkle with cilantro and green onions .