My mom's steak

Here is how my mom usually makes steak for us, her recipes are always simple with all ingredients we can get easily in Vietnam, so yum!

Ingredients: (for one person)
- Beef fillet (200 gr)
- Lemon, chili sauce
- Pepper
- Fish sauce
- Garlic
- Roasted peanuts (optional)
- Cooking oil
- Sesame oil
- Sugar

Method:

1. To make the sauce: Crush around 1 tsp of roasted peanuts, then mix with 1 tbsp of good soya sauce, 1 tsp of minced garlic, 1 tsp of chili sauce, 1 tsp of lemon juice, a pinch of sugar.

2. Marinate the beef with 1 tsp of fish sauce, pepper, 1 tsp of lemon juice, 1 tbsp of sesame oil, a pinch of sugar, 1 tsp of minced garlic for around 3 hours.
Heat the pan with cooking oil till very hot and cook the beef as you desire, rare, medium or well done.

Served with tomato salad and above sauce.

Vietnamese Coffee

Nothing about food today as so far I have no time to prepare food, just some fast food only. I want to write about my favorite drink which I cannot live without, which I drink every morning or even sometimes at night if I have to stay late, that is coffee
I love coffee, when I have time, I always make my own Vietnamese coffee with the drip filter. But normally, 3 in one is a fast way to start a morning if you have no time.
Today, I have a free morning, and it is raining outside, I feel like spending some time watching the coffee  dripping slowly into the glass.
Here is the filter set I just bought, there are 4 pieces in one filter set.

I put around 2 tbsp of coffee into the filter, pour just a little bit of boiling water first, then wait till the coffee is soaked then fill the filter with boiling water

Now I can just sit next to the window, look out to see the rain and wait for the coffee which is dripping slowly into the glass. I don't know why, I really love watching the rain, and the coffee drops, It is just beautiful and a nice combination for me.

The coffee is ready, now I can add either sugar, milk or sweetened condensed milk, I can also add ice if I want an iced coffee. 

If you like to drink hot coffee like me, you should put the glass into a bowl of boiling water, to keep the coffee hot. Now I can just enjoy my coffee while looking at the rain. What a relaxed morning!

Chapatis

Today, I made Pork curry for lunch, and instead of rice, I wanted to make some bread to eat with the curry. The first thought was trying to make Garlic Naan again, but I did not have enough time and I have tried to make the Naan a few times, and failed every single time.
Then the picture of Chapatis suddenly came to my mind, why not, this bread is so simple to make, and it goes well with the curry.

Serves 2 people:

Ingredients:

150 g flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp oil
warm water enough to bind dough
butter for spreading

Method:

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the oil and mix into a dough with sufficient warm water. Knead until soft and smooth. Cover with a damp cloth for 1/2 hour. Knead the dough again and make into small balls. Dust a little flour on a board and roll the dough into a flat pancake. Heat a frying pan and grill until it begins to puff up. Press with a spatula or with a cloth to assist the puffing process. Turn over and repeat the process. Remove from the pan and spread butter on the top. Serve immediately with curry.

Enjoy your meal!

Boulgour and meat stew

Still rainy season now in Siem Reap, and it rains every day, it is quite cool even during day time. When the weather is like this, I feel like something really hot and liquid for lunch. I checked the cook book that we bought from Zanzibar and decided to try a new dish, Boulgour and Meat stew.
To make it the way I like, modified form the recipe, I added turmeric powder as I love the flavor from turmeric, on the other hand, it is a very healthy spice.

Serves: 2 people

Ingredients:
200g boulgour
200g chicken
2 tomatoes chopped
1 small onion chopped
1 tbsp cooking oil
1tsp grated ginger
t tsp ginger paste
2-4 green chillies (depends on how spicy you like)
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tbsp crisp fried onions
mixed spieces (I used 9 spices mixed powder which sold at the supermarket here)
salt to taste
1tsp of turmeric (optional)
chopped mint or coriander to garnish

Method:
Cover the boulgour and soak overnight at room temperature. Saute the chopped onions until they are soft. Add the chopped tomatoes, green chillies, ginger paste, salt, turmeric powder and the chicken with some water until tender. Put to one side. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the grated ginger, whole black pepper, salt, soaked boulgour and cook with sufficient water. Continue boiling, stirring frequently, and adding water if necessary until the boulgour is very soft. Now add the cooked meat together will all the sauce and cook over a medium heat, stirring vigorously so the meat is mixed thoroughly and the mixture has the consistency of thick porridge. Serve very hot on a bowl. Garnish with crisply fried onions, mixed spices and chopped mint.

It tastes perfectly in a rainy day!

Marinated Beef Steak

As a Vietnamese, I love the taste of soya sauce and fish sauce, I even use that for my steak and I love the taste of the sweet salty of the steak, without adding any salt or sauce. Today I made Marinated Steak for lunch, it was not as successful as I wished, the beef was well-done, I prefer my steak medium so I will reduce the cooking time next time.

It is very simple, most of my dishes are very simple, as I don't like complicated things, no time for them :)

Ingredients: (for 2)
- 2 pieces of stake
- 1 tbsp of sesame oil
- 1 tbsp of cooking oil
- 1 tbsp of soya sauce
- 1/2 tsp of fish sauce
- 1 tbsp of teriyaki sauce


Preparation:

1. Marinate the steaks in sesame oil, soya sauce, fish sauce, teriyaki sauce for 30 minutes.

2. Heat the oil in a non-sticking pan till very hot. Cook the steak both sides, 2-5 minutes each side, depends on the thickness of the steaks, or till they turn brown.

3. Now you can enjoy your tasty steak, don't need to add any salt, you can add pepper if you want.
You can prepare mashed potatoes and green salad or vegetables to eat with if you wish, I love the steam broccoli. A glass of red wine would be good too :)

Chive Pies

I love Chive Pies as they are fresh and succulent, not heavy like meat pies at all.

Ingredients: (make 7 small pies, enough for 2 people)
- Chives: 80g
- Egg: 2
- Prawn: 50g
- Flour: 150g (I use dark flour, as it is much healthier than the white one)
- Hot water: around 100g
- Salt: 1 tsp
- Peper: 1/2 tsp
- Sesame oil: 2 tsp
- Vegetable oil: 2 tbsp

Preparation:
1. Wash the chives and cut into 1.5cm-long sections. Fry the eggs in a work with oil, cut into small stips. Wash the prawns and dice. Mix the chives, eggs, prawns, salt, pepper and sesame oil well for the filling.
2. Pour hot water into the flour (don't pour all, 3/4 first to see how the dough is then add more if needed). Let it cool slightly and knead into dough. Break off small bits and roll into circular skins. Wrap the filling in and fold diagonally. Press into hemispherical pies.

3. Heat and brush a non-stick saucepan with oil and put the pies in. When one side turns yellow, flip and grill the other side till you get the same colour. Pour a little water into the pan, cover and remove after 2 minutes.

You can eat with sweat chili sauce or a simple sauce from the mix of soya sauce with chili paste.

Enjoy your pies!

Tip: Remember to put little water only to the sauce pan, if you put too much, the pies will become soggy and will not taste good . The saucepan must be non-stick so you can turn the pies easily without breaking them.

Roasted Duck Breast

The first Recipe will be this very simple dish, and it tastes soooo good, you can see the photo of the food at the banner of my blog. I use this as the banner picture as it is one of my favorites, so yummy!

It is so simple to make and takes only 30 minutes to cook.

Ingredients: You just need a piece of good Duck Breast, good soya sauce (I use Kikkoman), green mixed salad, good olive oil, cooking oil to roast the duck and lemon.

Method:

1. First, prepare the salad, wash and cut them in small pieces, just as you wish to make it easier to eat. Mix 1 table spoon of soya sauce, 3/4 table spoon of olive oil and 1 table spoon of lemon juice then poor over the salad. Toss well and leave aside. 

2. Heat a pan with oil at high temperature till hot, place the duck breast on the pan, cook the skin side first till it turns golden, then turn and cook till it also is light golden. 

Reduce the heat, continue to cook each side around 10-15 minutes till it is just cooked, depends on the thick of the duck breast. Turn the hop off, poor 1 table spoon of soya sauce on the duck breast and leave the duck breast there for another 5 minutes. 

Then cut in to thin slices, arrange on the plate with salad and poor more soya sauce on top as you wish.

Enjoy your meal!

Tip: The oil must be very hot when you place the duck breast on the pan, so the outside will be cooked first at hight temperature, and after that, reduce the heat to cook inside, to stop the juice running out, to make sure your meat is cooked but still juicy. You can adjust the amount of soya sauce, oil and lemon juice according to your taste.
My secret is that, I never follow the Recipe, just follow my taste, that is why I love my food (there are exceptions, of course, like when you make bread, following the recipe is a must). Happy cooking!


Hope I will have time to try the new dish and share here soon!

My tiny Kitchen

I always love to have a nice kitchen, where I can prepare good food for people I love, where I can sip coffee while listening to the music, or just listening to the sound of the food, where I can chat happily with friends, where I can read and work.

A nice kitchen does not need to be big or luxurious, you just need to feel comfortable and enjoy being there.
My kitchen is very small, not really a proper one, it was modified form a hotel's bathroom, but I love the big window of the kitchen where I can look out, to the dining table, to the balcony which is very beautiful and always full of birds.

My friends told me, my old blog is too messy, when they want to find the recipes for food there, it is not easy, so I decided to create this blog, just about food and cooking stuff and other fun things related to the Kitchen :)
My English is not very good, but I still want to write this in English, as all of my friends speak English, and most of my recipes are in English, so it will be much easier for me to write this in English. And this a  the best way to improve my writing skills :)
At the moment, when I am writing this blog, I am singing loudly the song I like, and at the same time, cooking my breakfast, and I love a morning like this, hope I will have a morning like this very often.
Soon, I will have to leave this kitchen, the place I love best in our house, I start to miss it already, I hope to get another tiny kitchen like this, where I can continue enjoying the cooking, the warm atmosphere of the kitchen.