My First Video!

Hello! I've been wanting to make a video for a while now and I made one last week. It's just for fun, so I hope you guys enjoy it! It's a video of me making sunomono, a recipe I posted about a while back. Enjoy!

Making Sunomono from Foodie Newbie on Vimeo.

Type rest of the post here
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Shrimp Fried Rice

How do you like your fried rice? Nhat likes his super fried, to the point where it's almost crispy. I like mine soft and not so fried. Yesterday I made fried rice and as much as I believe in compromise in a relationship, I can not stand rice that is too fried. So there is no extra fried rice here. However, if you want your fried rice more fried, just turn up the heat and cook for a bit longer. Here's my rendition of shrimp fried rice. I added "gio" pronounced: yar. Gio is basically pork meat thats been super ground and compressed together. It's a very good thing to have around when you want to add some protein to a noodle, rice, or sandwich recipe.

This is the second successful dish I learned to make. The first being mash potatoes. =) If you like more flavor in your fried rice, you can add more seasonings. I like my fried rice rather simple with just the taste of fish sauce and some salt and pepper. I also added some Sriracha sauce separately in my bowl at the end.

Shrimp Fried Rice makes 6 servings
2 cups of uncooked rice
13-15 shrimps peeled and devein
2 eggs
1-2 cups of frozen vegetables
2 Tbs of fish sauce
2 tsp of minced garlic
Salt and Pepper
Oil
1 tsp of garlic powder (optional)
1 cup of chopped Gio (optional)

Cook the rice and let sit in the fridge for a bit. I don't care too much for this step because I actually kind of like my rice a little moist and plump. In a large skillet over medium heat add about 1 tbs of oil. Add garlic, frozen veggies and gio.

Season lightly with salt and pepper (you can always add more later if you like) and let cook for a few minutes until the gio starts browning. Add rice and with your spatula mix rice around and loose the clumps of rice. Add 1 Tbs of fish sauce and continuing stirring the rice. Add garlic powder. Then add eggs and quickly stirr to mix the eggs all through the rice. Add another tablespoon of fishsauce. If needs more salt you can add more salt and pepper. Add shrimp and continue cooking untill shrimps are cooked thouroughly.

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Chorizo Soup (kind of)

Is it me or does it seem like I make soup a lot? Tonight I made another soup. I call it Chorizo Soup because I used chorizo in it (clever aren't I).  If I had more I would have use added more chorizo but I only use what I had left which was about ½ cup of chorizo. This recipe is very versatile and I added stuff along as I thought of it. All the ingredients are estimations so you can add as much or as little as you like. Shredded chicken or maybe using beef chunks would be a good addition to the soup also.

Chorizo Soup

½ cup of chorizo
¾ large onion (diced)
1 tbs mined garlic
2 large carrots diced
2 small tomatoes cut in large chunks
3 small potatoes diced
Some parsley minced
1 ½ can chicken broth
1 can of water
½ jalapeno minced
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp worchestsire sauce
1 Tbs tomato paste
1-2 Tbs olive oil

Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic a pinch of salt and pepper and let onions and garlic sweat. Add chorizo and stir. Add carrots and potatoes and stir around to cover in oil. Add chicken broth and water and stir. Turn up heat to high. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, chili powder, jalapeno, garlic powered, Worchestchier sauce, and parsley. Once soup comes to boil, lower to simmer and cover for about 20-25 minutes until potatoes are cooked.
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Vietnamese Cabbage Salad with Chicken::Goi GA

Yay! I finally have grass in my back patio area. Hopefully it’ll survive. I’ve been warned by the previous tenants that because of the lack of sun, grass rarely survives. But I had to give it a try. So cross my fingers and hope for the best!

A few days ago when the weather was actually cloudy and cold and the barometer resembled autumn a bit more than today, I wanted to make a Vietnamese Rice Porridge with shredded chicken to make us feel warm and safe from the weather. I knew I would have to make a Vietnamese Cabbage Chicken Salad, Goi Ga, to go with the otherwise, very mild tasting porridge. Goi (cabbage salad), is really easy to make. I remember whenever my parents made it back home I was always captivated everytime I tasted it. It boggled my mind how they could put together such a seemingly complex salad with so many great tasting flavors. The variations of colors from the exotic herbs, tomatoes, and cabbage, along with the combinations of fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar always made this dish so tantalizingly intimidating.

When I moved out on my own, I was unwilling to leave this dish behind and I was determined to learn to make it. Before I moved, I bought the book, Quick and Easy Vietnamese by Nancie McDermott. McDermott has truly mastered many Asian dishes. She’s written many different books ranging from Thai Cuisine to the many Asian stir fry dishes. Quick and Easy Vietnamese has really been my saving grace for me to remain connected to my parent’s dishes while I’ve been away from home.

Yes, in case you were wondering, I have asked my parents how to make their recipes but every recipe to them is an approximation. They’ve actually rarely given me any guidelines clear enough for a newbie, like me, to work on! McDermott’s recipe are clear and has a more slightly Americanize twist, for example using a lot of chicken breast instead of whole chicken, but her flavors come pretty darn close to what I’ve had from my parents. I used her recipe for Goi Ga with a few adaptations of my own that I remembered from my parents’ Goi. It’s usually served with rice porridge and you can also substitute the shredded chicken for cooked shrimp, which is also very good. Everyone has their own adaptations to this recipe but here are mine.

Goi Ga
Adapted from Nancie McDermott’s Quick and Easy Vietnamese

2 cups cabbage, cut into thin pieces
1 tomato cut into chunks
¼ cup pickled carrots and daikon (dua chua), you can usually buy a container of this in any Vietnamese store. They’re great in sandwiches also.
1/3 cup thinly sliced onion
½ cup or mint and rau ram (in my opinion rau ram really give the goi its special flavor)
1 cups shredded chicken breast
1/3 cup of salted peanuts (chopped)
For the dressing
1 juicy lime
1 1/2 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs vinegar
1 ½ Tbs sugar
1 Tsp black pepper

Put the chicken breast in about 10 cups of water and bring to boil then lower to simmer until cooked.
Take out the chicken breast and allow to cool. Use the water to make the Chao Ga, Rice Porridge with chicken.
To make the dressing combine lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, and pepper. Stir until the sugar dissolves.
Combine cabbage, onions, pickled veggies, tomatoes, and shredded herbs. Pour sauce all over and toss to incorporate all sauce. Add chopped nuts, mix, and serve. You can serve right away, but if you allow the salad to sit in the fridge for a while then the flavors will be more pronounced. I love it even more the next day.

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Stainless Steel Makes Any Day Better

Isn’t it beautiful? Ever since I’ve started cooking I’ve only used non-stick pans because they were given to us by Nhat’s parents. I’ve always wanted a stainless steel pan but their price range put it out of my reach. Everyday, sitting on my beaten beige sofa, I watched in wishful awe as the cooks did their magic on TV. Using their gorgeous stainless steel pan with the heat perfectly distributed to their wondrous foods, meats browning nicely, a perfect deglazing with their fancy red wine, in my eyes, every dish looked better with stainless steel.

And now…surprise!!! For my birthday, Nhat surprised me with my very own All-Clad 12 inch stainless steel fry pan. So new, so beautiful, so perfect I could almost cry, but I won’t. Instead, I will contemplate on the perfect first dish for this stainless beauty. I just ordered the book, Eat Feed Autumn Winter, by Anne Bramley, so perhaps I will find inspiration in there. Until then, my new pan will just have to sit in the drawers high among my other pots and pans waiting to be beckoned upon to test its wonders and all its glory.

One stainless steel pan, check. Next, kitchen rug.

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Huh? Is That a Sprout I see? and Pasta Pomodoro

Look closely what do you see?

Closeeerrrr

CLOSER!

It's a sprout!!!

Yes, it has been the highlight of my weekend. I know I know…I live such an exciting life. But finding an itty bitty sprout emerging from my tiny little basil and parsely plant has definitely made my weekend that much better! Some may be thinking “Big deal, there’s a sprout, so what?! I can grow a basil forest!” While others may still be analyzing the pictures trying to figure out if such a thing even qualifies as a basil plant. And all I have to say is, it does in my book buddy!

This is a HUGE achievement for me considering the fact that since I’ve begun trying to plant and maintain herbs, nothing has survived past a week under my care. =( So that fact that I’ve managed to keep a few plants green and living is quite exciting. And the sight of something actually sprouting is to me, nothing short of a miracle. My gardening woes are not all my fault. You see, I actually have very VERY limited space not to mention the unstable and scare sunlight that my patio receives.

As I often say to Nhat, I have to “catch the sun” which translates to me moving my plants around to wherever I can find sunlight in the back. Sometimes I even move my plants 5 maybe even more times in a given day just to provide the plant with enough sunlight. Nhat rolls his eyes and think I’m being “ridiculous” when he sees me make my way to the patio to move the plants, but I have proved him wrong! As today, weeks later, my basil and parsley plants are still green and alive and are sprouting new stalks! Unfortunately, now that colder weather is quickly approaching we’ll see how the plants continue to do.

If I can manage to have basil throughout winter that would truly be a miracle and if I succeed in maintaining basil throughout winter I may even dare to grow new plants and herbs…but I won’t get ahead myself. I forget that I actually go back home during holidays so we’ll see what I’ll do about my plants then. In the mean time, while I still do have some fresh basil and parsley, do you know what dish all these herbs would be good in? PASTA POMODORO!

Pasta Pomodoro with Sauteed Eggplant

I used a lot of basil and parsley this weekend and could have used more if I had more. While I was watching a video on the Tamra Cooking Show, I was inspired to make Pasta Pomodoro, a light pasta and tomato dish. I love fresh tasting pasta dishes and this one was exactly what I wanted. I added sautéed eggplant to provide some meaty textures. If you ever have a few tomatoes around or even canned tomatoes and you’re not sure what to do with them try this recipe out.

Pasta Pomodoro with Eggplant (makes 4 good size servings)

4 big tomatoes

4 cloves garlic (sliced)

2 shallots or third a small onion (chopped)

¼ cup red wine

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

2 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch chili flakes

A handful of fresh basil and parsley (chopped)

Parmesan cheese

A handful of spaghetti noodles

Olive oil
Optional:

Eggplant (I used Indian eggplant, they’re smaller so I used three). You don’t want to use too much eggplant just enough to have some in your pasta sauce but not overtake all of the sauce.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. On a baking sheet rub tomatoes in olive oil and put in oven for 15-20 minutes. After 15-20 minutes, you should see the skin blister. Once tomatoes cool, peel the skin off the tomatoes. You can chopped up the skin and add them into the sauce later if you like, that’s what I did (I hate to waste). Cut each tomato in half.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Salt the water and add pasta
In large pan over medium high heat add about 2 tbs of oil, sauté the eggplants then set aside.
With the same skillet on medium heat, add more olive oil (about another 2 tbs) then add onions, garlic   and chili flakes to brown a bit. Add a tiny bit of salt and pepper.
Add the tomatoes and with your wooden spoon or whatever else you’re using, mash in the pan to break a part the tomatoes and release all of its juices. Add the sugar and stir.
Add the wine and cook off the alcohol then add the vinegar.
Once the sauce comes to a boil, lower the heat to simmer. Add more salt and pepper if you like. Add ¾ of the chopped basil and parsley.
Allow the sauce to continue simmering uncovered to allow the sauce to reduce to a consistency that you like.

Add spaghetti noodles and mix to incorporate sauce. Add eggplant and mix again.

Transfer to serving boils and garnish with parmesan, parsley, and basil.

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Sunomononononomono....

As if I don’t have enough green on my page, here’s some more green for ya. I made sunomono today! It’s a vinegary cucumber salad that probably all Japanese restaurants serve. I remember years ago when I first began eating Japanese cuisine, sunomono was one of my favorite things. One day I decided to ask the waitress how they made it. She didn’t quite seem to know herself, something with rice wine vinegar and sugar she said. At that time I wasn’t quite as ambitious with food so I just left it at that. And I was left only to enjoy this sweet, salty, crunchy, tasty delight at the restaurants. Fast forward many years later and today I am proud to say I actually made the dish that first ignited my love for Japanese food so many years ago.

Sunomono is actually really easy to make. The hardest part is getting ingredients that you may not already have such as mirin (imagine sake with less alchohol) and rice wine vinegar. The rest is a matter of measuring and stirring. I made sunomono with English cucumbers but you can also use pickling cucumbers. The regular cucumbers you usually find at the store has too high of a water content and will not be as crunchy (bleh). I actually followed the recipe from Rouxbe dot com. I just halved the recipe because I didn’t want to make so much. I also cut the cucumber into half moons instead of circles. I added a bit more sugar because I like my sunomono a little sweet. I served it along with fried gyoza.  I still can't believe how easy it is to make! Aren’t you as excited as I am?! You can all have sunomono in your fridge now! Yay for Japanese food! Yay for internet!

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Zucchini Zucchini: Another Soup Recipe

Zucchinis are one of those things that I think are just okay. I don’t love them (unless they’re fried) but I buy them anyways. I’m not sure why, but to me they always seem to have looked better sitting in the store than in my fridge. Well I had a couple of zucchinis sitting in the fridge a few days past my comfort zone so I decided to finally use them. I didn’t feel like making a whole meal today so I went for the good ole soup making instead. I love making soup because they’re quick, easy and very inexpensive. This soup took me about 20 minutes. I added a tiny bit of Madras curry powder for a little more depth and flavor (don’t worry it won’t taste like curry at all). The soup basically consists of just zucchinis, chicken broth, some milk, and the usual onions and garlic. That’s about it!

Zucchini Soup

2 zucchinis
1 can chicken broth (14 ounces)
½ cup milk
1 Tbs butter
Half of a medium onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic minced
½ tsp Madras curry powder
2 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper

In a medium pot melt butter and add garlic and onions. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and stir the onions and garlic. Let the onions and garlic cook for a few minutes. Meanwhile cut the zucchini into little pieces. After the onions become translucent add the zucchini and stir. Add the curry powder and give the zucchini another stir to mix up the curry powder. Cook the zucchini for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Add the chicken broth, turn up the heat and cover lid and bring soup to a boil. Once it starts boiling, turn heat to low to allow the soup to simmer for about 5 more minutes. Taste the soup to see if it needs more salt and pepper. Turn off the heat, add the milk, and stir. Blend with an immersion blender or standing blender. Top with Parmesan cheese. Makes about 3 servings

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What's a Foodie Anyways?

I had a conversation with my best friend today. We were discussing some details of a foodie book I recently purchased and I was nonchalantly throwing the term “foodie” at her left and right when she suddenly stopped me in the middle of my rant to ask me, “What's a foodie anyways?” What is a foodie? It’s interesting when you find yourself involve in something that you love and enjoy so much you often fail to see that there are often times one or sometimes many more sides to a topic. In my case, I failed to see that the term foodie was not as clear to someone else who may not share as much enthusiasm as me with the areas of gastronomy. Her question also led me recall the criticisms I’ve read on the internet over this very term.

I think those that hate the term don’t actually understand what it is. Foodies are not food snobs. They are not self proclaimed elitist. Foodies are actually people who love food beyond the extent of consumption. They love to study food and research it. Sure most people are food lovers. But I honestly don’t think everyone loves to research and learn about food. Foodies can be anyone, regardless of social class or economic background. As long as you love food and have a drive to learn more about food, then you’re a foodie. It’s that simple.

Take me and Nhat for example. Nhat loves food. He loves to eat food and he’ll occasionally cook a meal or so, but that’s about as far as his love for food will go. As for me, I love to eat food, but beyond that, I love to study food. I love to know the different types of foods available. I want know the best way of preparing a dish. I want to learn about the fruits and vegetables that are available to me, what season are they best at, when are they ripe…and the list goes on. Sure there are some foodies who have been around a bit more, for example Pim Techamuanvivit from the well known blog, Chez Pim (I'm actually a big fan of hers). She’s been all around the world trying out different foods. She knows the who, the where, and the how of nearly all the areas of gastronomy. Then there are the thousands of foodies, like myself, who probably love food just as much as Pim, but may never get to experience eating an authentic dish in an exotic and foreign country prepared by a world renown chef (although we may dream). But although I may never reach that level, that doesn’t make me any less of a foodie.

So that’s my point. Foodies are not food snobs. If anything they are the opposite. They will try almost anything (at least once) for the sake of knowledge. Foodies simply have a quest for knowledge in the areas of gastronomy. I took it upon myself to make a checklist of what I feel encompasses a foodie. So here it is. You only have to say yes to at least two of the six criteria. If you check two or more, then you’re a certified foodie by my standards!

1. When you've eaten something really good, do you automatically want to know more about it?
2. Upon wondering about the food, do you actually go home, get on a computer or find a book and do the research to find out more about it?
3. After learning about it, and it was a recipe, do you make a mental note to one day recreate the recipe?
4. Do you think about food a lot?  So much that it might be the last thing on you're mind at night?
5. Do you regularly follow a food blog or perhaps maintain your own food blog?
6. Do you secretly dream of quiting your day job and one day becoming a food critic or food writer or anything else related to sharing your foodie experiences? (this last one might just be me)

So that is my foodie checklist. Remember you only have to say yes to at least two of the six criteria. I'm a foodie...are you?
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Starting off the week with White Bean and Garlic Soup

After a weekend of heavy eating and drinking, I felt soup would be the perfect thing to sort of detoxify from the weekend and kick off another week. After watching Giada De Laurentiis make Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup a while back, I now always have cans of white beans and chicken broth in my pantry for days when I want a quick simple and healthy meal. I adapted the recipe to ingredients that I usually have, as a result I substitute cream for milk so my soup will be not as thick. I also used some dried chopped bay leaves instead of sage leaves (I’ve been meaning to get some sage leaves, I just always forget when I’m out shopping). Regardless, the flavors are still wonderful and comforting. I drizzled some of the white truffle oil I bought from this weekend over the soup and it complemented the soup very nicely. This soup seriously takes me less than 20 minutes to make. Serve the soup with toasted bread and let yourself melt into the comfort of a warm soup.


White Bean and Garlic Soup
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup

1 can of white beans (15 ounces)
1 can of chicken broth (14 ounces)
1 Tbs minced garlic (more or less to your preference)
1 Tsp dried chopped bay leaves (or 1 bay leaf)
¼ cup milk
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp of olive oil

Drain and rinse beans in a colander. In a medium size pot heat olive oil then throw in the minced garlic. Let the garlic cook for a bit to release its flavors but not turn brown. Add the beans and stir for about 30 seconds. Add chicken broth, bay leaves and stir. Cover lid and let soup come to a boil then lower heat to medium low. Taste and add pepper and salt if necessary. Give it another quick stir and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add milk, stir then turn off heat. Blend using immersion blender or if using standing blender then remember to not completely cover lid as the heat will cause pressure to accumulate and will cause soup to splatter when lid is removed! Serve with toasted bread. Makes two servings.

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Grape Harvest Festival…But where are the festivities?!

This weekend was quite an eventful weekend. From a wine and cheese party to a grape harvest festival, it was a food lover’s dream. Unfortunately the later wasn’t as enjoyable as the former so I won’t bore you with too many details. You would think a grape harvest festival would have more food related festivities on schedule, but there was not much of anything that appealed to even the simplest of food lovers, Nhat. If he wasn’t excited by anything there, then you know darn well not to expect anything great. There was not much more than a few random vendors trying to sell you their products (non-food related products). Not to say that they can’t be there, just that there were more random non-food/produce vendors than anything else. It’s a good thing the admission’s fee was only $1.

To be fair, the festival wasn’t completely devoid of all food vendors, as you can see from some of the pictures.  There were the usual food stands that you can find at any fair-like event which included a fried foods stand, a barbecue stand, Mediterranean ...etc, all typical: overpriced and nothing special. The only highlight from this event was watching a grape stomping (which I’ve never seen before) and buying some gourmet olive oils and balsamic vinegars from Bistro Blends in Napa Valley (oohh how I long to be back in Northern California again). Nhat also picked himself a little treat, a bottle of Chipotle Chile BBQ Sauce.

We salvaged the rest of our Sunday by hitting the outdoor mall nearby and finding great deals on clothing for the quickly approaching colder weather. And…last but not least, I found myself inside my happy place, Williams-Sonoma. Of course their stuff is much too expensive for me at this time so I was just wishfully browsing. I did however, leave with 14.95 microplane grater. And by leaving with it, I do not mean I “left with it”. I mean I first paid for it and then left with it. =)

As you can see I ripped into the White Truffle Oil right away to see how it smelled like.  I've never had truffles before so i'm not sure how its suppose to smell or taste.  From what I've researched, truffles are suppose to have an earthy taste and stinky smell, but its flavors are suppose to greatly enhance the flavors of many dishes. When I smelt the oil there was a very slight subtle earthiness and it acutally smelled really nice, but it might be because the truffles were in the oil form.  Whatever the case, I'm excited to use it and see what I can do with it.

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Tzatziki: A recipe easier to make than to spell!

I picked up some Greek yogurt when I went to the grand opening of Fresh & Easy a few days ago. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, I just have always wanted to buy it but never really got around to it. The perfect opportunity arose while I was browsing around the store, trying to reach the $10 limit so that I can earn a free canvas bag (it was a grand opening special the store was having: spend $10 and get a free canvas bag). I picked up a few yogurts, saw the Greek yogurt and thought, eh why not.

So there it sat in my fridge, without a plan in the world. At least not until Nhat came back from school and saw it. Tzatziki sauce and Kofta kabobs! He suggested with so much zeal in his voice and eagerness in his eyes that it was quite hard for me to do otherwise. I knew Tzatziki was basically made with Greek yogurt and cucumbers, but I didn’t know the specifics. I studied various recipes on the internet and found the recipe written by Michael Chu, Anghelika’s Tsatsiki, the most appealing. I changed it a bit with my own preferences and I think it turned out really well. I served the sauce along side Kofta Kabobs (recipe to come later) and white rice. Delish!

Tzatziki Sauce

8oz Greek Yogurt

Half cucumber
Half lemon (about 1 Tbs)
½ tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp grated or mashed garlic
1 Tbs olive oil
Paprika for garnish
pinch salt

Cut the cucumber in half length wise then take out the seeds with a spoon. Grate the cucumber. With your hands, squeeze out the excess water in the cucumber and discard water. In a small bowl, combine and mix all the ingredients except for the yogurt and cucumber. Add cucumber and lemon mixture to yogurt and gently fold through the yogurt to incorporate all ingredients. Refrigerate the Tzatziki for AT LEAST 1 hour. Refrigeration is a critical step. This give the sauce time to let all the flavors release in to the yogurt. If you skip this step the sauce will just taste like yogurt. Sprinkle some paprika over the top as garnish before serving.

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