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!

My simple fried prawns

I love fried prawns, but don't like the tempura ones as too much batter, and I also don't like just prawns being fried, then will be boring. How about just a very thin layer of batter for my simple fried prawns.

Ingredients:

- 300g prawns, peeled and clean

- 1 egg

- 1 table spoon wheat flower

- salt, peper and chili powder

- cooking oil

Methods:

Mix the flower, egg, a little bit of water with salt, pepper and chili powder till it becomes a thin batter. Put the prawns in and mix gently till all the prawns are cover in that thin batter.

Heat a little bit of oil, just one table spoon, in a frying pan till it is hot. Take each prawn, shake off the liquid, and put on the pan one by one.

Fry each side till it turns golden.

And here are the fried prawns, with a very thin layer of batter that I like, not too oily, but not boring, love it ;)

Sauté shrimps/prawns with fish sauce

I think all Vietnamese love this dish, it goes so well with hot steam rice and some pickle vegetables and so easy, so fast to cook. You can apply this recipe for either shrimps or prawns. If you choose prawns then you should peel them. I like the small shrimps which can find only sometimes in the local market, the ones they get from the river, not the farm ones, taste much better

Ingredients:

 - 200 g of shrimps or prawns

 - 1 tsp turmeric powder (for both better flavor and nicer color after cook)

 - 1 tsp of dark soya sauce 

- 1 tsp of fish sauce

- 1 tbs of cooking oil

- a pinch of sugar

- Garlic and ginger, as you wish

Method:

Heat the oil, saute the garlic and ginger till flavor, add turmeric then the shrimps and stir constantly till it is a little bit dry then add sugar, continue to stir in low heat till it is dry, add soya sauce and fish sauce, then cook till the prawns are dry. Serve hot with steam rice.

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.