Fried Salty Dumplings

This is a simple Vietnamese recipe for salty fried dumplings, perfect for cold winter days with chili sauce or fish sauce and green papaya slices in vinegar and sugar.


Ingredients:


Sticky rice flour: 250g
Rice flour: 50g
Sweet potato: 50g
Water: 240 ml
Sugar: 30g
Salt: 5g
Cooking oil: enough to cover the dumplings
Mince pork: 100g
Rice vermicelli: 50g
Perfume dried mushrooms: 8-10 pieces
Onion: 1/2 piece
Carrot: 1 piece

Method:


1. Boil the sweet potato and mash.

2. Cook the sugar, salt and water till dissolve (warm only, not boil).

3. Mix both flour with 2 table spoons of oil, the mix of warm water with salt and sugar and knead then add the mashed sweet potato. Cover and keep for one hour.
4. Make the fillings: Soak the mushrooms in hot water then cut into small pieces. Soak the rice vermicelli till soft and cut into small pieces. Cut the carrot into long thin strips then cut the onion in small pieces.

5. Mix the minced pork, rice vermicelli, carrot, onion together. Add 1/3 tsp pepper, 1/3 tsp sugar, 1/3 tsp salt. Mix well and leave for half an hour then make small balls.
6. Divide the flour into equal pieces with the size like an egg. Make it flat then put the fillings in, cover it carefully.

7. Pour the oil in to a frying pan and fry the dumplings till they are cooked, don't put too many dumplings at a time to avoid them sticking together.


Now you can enjoy your yummy hot dumplings with your sauce as you wish. Perfect in winter days ;)


Tips: to make sure the dumplings are cooked inside and not burnt outside, cook at low temperature first for about 10 minutes each side then turn the temperature higher to make the cover crunchy and become golden so they look nice.

Mini Pancake with Black sesame seeds

Got up very late one Saturday morning with an empty stomach, I found almost nothing I could eat in the fridge, no yoghurt, no fruits, not even juice. Checked out the cupboard, only flour and black sesame seeds left, luckily, one egg left also in the fridge. I remember I read in some cook book that black sesame is very healthy and can be one of the ingredients for pancake, which takes only a few minutes to cook, then I will have a quick breakfast to fill my empty stomach.

I was so happy with that breakfast, just need to top what ever you like to make the pancake less dry, butter, jam, honey.... or simply just have a glass of milk like I did.

Here is the recipe to make 30 of the mini pancakes (yes, I also made for my flat mates :P ): 

1 1/2 cup flour

1 egg

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

small pinch of fine salt (or sugar) as you wish

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, whisk till the batter is very smooth then allow it to sit for at least 15 minutes. Stir again.

Heat a small splash of oil in a large skillet over medium heat, just enough to coat the pan. Add spoonfuls of batter to the pan, one at a time, be careful not to over crowd as the batter will spread around. Cook around 1-2 minutes each side or till the edges are golden. For me, I could make 4-5 pancakes at one time. Then transfer to paper tower to get rid of the oil if you wish, or straight to your plate. The pancakes taste much better when they are hot so you should eat them immediately.

Chinese cabbage salad

Papaya salad with dried shrimps is very popular, and I really love the recipe, love the flavours of the hot chilli with garlic in fish sauce, the sweet and salty dried shrimps, the fresh taste of the papaya. As I am on a diet dinner, I was thinking of making this salad today, but I decided to replace the Chinese cabbage with green papaya to see how it goes. And I was very happy with the result, I even prefer to the taste of green papaya.

Here is the simple recipe.

200 g Chinese cabbage, clean and thinly sliced.
3 bird's-eye chillies
3 cloves garlic
1 small carrot cut in half length way and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon dried shrimps
1 ripe tomato
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 pinch of sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Pound roughly the garlic and chillies in a mortar and pester or process very briefly in a blender. Mix with the cabbage, carrot then add peanuts, dried shrimps and tomato, mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix again.
Cover and chill in the fridge for half an hour. Served best with roasted chicken. Enjoy!

Pork adobo

I must say I am a very lucky person. During my visit to the Philippines, I have met and made so many new friends, see many new birds, and I was taken care of by very kind and friendly people, I was so touched for the warmth and kindness I got from people there.

I was invited to stay with a very sweet birding couple, Tito Bob and Tita Cynthia. (Tito and Tita is a respectful way to address people who are at the same age like your parents in a formal way, I was told).
More than that, I had a chance to enjoy the home cooking by Tita Cynthia and I really loved the pork dish. I could not hide it on my face that I love that dish so much, thus Tita Cynthia sent me the recipe and she said its simple, you can try.

I told my friend about the dish and asked her to come and try my new recipe as I love to share my cooking with others. It turns out very tasty, though not as good as Tita Cynthia's Abodo, and here is the recipe I got from her.

This Adobo can be made either with pork, beef or chicken. What Tita Cynthia made was with pork and I really missed that so I decided to make with pork.

Ingredients:

300g pork with little bit fat
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup soya sauce (I used dark soya sauce, the taste and the color are better than the normal one)
Garlic, salt, peper and one bay leaf.

Method:

Cut the pork in small pieces then put all ingredients in a pot. Boil then add a cup of water, boil then simmer till the pork is tender.
If you like egg, you can add one egg. Boil the egg then peel and put in the port together with the pork.

We ate this with steam rice and some pickle cabbages, so yummm!

Thank you so much Tita Cynthia for the recipe!

Crispy Fried Duck

Don't know why I always feel hungry when it rains, and always feel like eating something heavy, hearty, so I made Crispy Fried Duck today for lunch.

Ingredients: (for 2)

- Duck breast: 500 gr
- Spice paste*: 100g
- Cooking oil: 1 tbsp
- Lemon grass: 2 stalks, bruised
- Cinnamon Stick: 5 cm length
- Chicken stock: 1 litre

Marinade:

- Spice paste*: 50g
- Salt: a pinch
- Black peppercorns: 2-3, crushed
- Rice flour: 50g

*Spice paste: Grind coarsely these ingredients and mix with a little bit of water: large red chillies, shallots, garlic, galangal, ginger, turmeric, candle nuts, dried prawn paste, coriander seeds, black peppercorns, nutmeg, cloves salt


Method:

1. Marinate duck with half the spice paste for 1 hour in a cool place.
2. Heat oil in a heavy saucepan, add remaining spice paste, lemon grass, cinnamon stick and saute for 2 minutes. Pour in stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 minute.
3. Add the duck breast and bring back to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes till the duck is 80% cooked. Remove from the heat and leave duck to cool in the stock. When cooled, remove from stock and drain well.
4. Marina duck. Rub duck with spice paste, salt and pepper and dust evenly with rice flour. Deep-fry in medium hot oil till duck is crispy and golden brown in colour. Drain well and served with steam rice, can use the sauce of soya sauce mix with chili sauce and warm water.

Pork & Cucumber Salad

Ingredients: 
- 200g pork fillet
- 1 large or 2 small cucumbers
- 2 tablespoons small dried prawns, soaked, cleaned

Dressing:
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon tamarind juice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground dried red chillies
- 1/4 teaspoon dried shrimp paste
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tables spoon ground roasted peanuts.

Method:

1. Boil the pork till just cooked, about 20 minutes. Cool, then slice thinly.
2. To prepare the dressing: Blend the tamarind juice, chillies, half of the shallots and shrimp paste until fine. Stir in the rest of the dressing ingredients and mix all in a large bowl. Add the dried prawns, pork slices and cucumber. Toss well.
3. Serve with steamed rice.

Fried Rice with Kim chi and Fresh bacon

I haven't cooked for myself a proper meal for ages since I have been too busy. Got a week off from work because of the horrible Migraine made me bored so I looked at my camera and found the picture of the fried rice I made just a week before I got the migraine and today, I am not totally recovered yet, but the pain is bearable to write this post.

It is not easy to cook for one person, so left over food is always a big problem for me. And I got an idea for left over rice, with some fresh bacon and kim chi (fermented cabbage in Korean style), I had a wonderful fried rice that tasted so good that I need to share on this blog.

Ingredients:


- Shallots
- Fresh bacon
- Kim chi (can buy in Korean food store)
- Chili paste (option)
- Spices,  and of course, cold cooked rice (or left over rice)

The amount of each is up to your taste, to your like.

Method:

Heat the pan, fried the thinly slices of bacon till the oil is out and both sides become golden, put in the shallots, then the rice, reduce the heat, stir constantly so the rice won't be burnt about 10 minutes, put in the kim chi and little chili paste (if you want it spicy) and continue stir about 10 more minutes then add some salt and pepper and serve.

Enjoy!