Shrimp and Tofu Satay

The Official Line: The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day.

When I read the Daring Cooks’ challenge for January, I must admit I breathed a sigh of relief. After blow out cooking marathons over the holidays I needed a bit of a break. Satays with a peanut sauce were simple enough to pull together on a weeknight and with the ability to use any type of meat I could even keep it on the healthy side.

With an eye for simplicity I opted to use shrimp and tofu, which only needed to rest in the marinade for about 30 minutes. (Other options such as pork or chicken would also work very well in this dish, but need to marinate for 8-24 hours.) After infusing the meat with ginger, onion, and an array of spices, all that was left was a quick turn on the grill. Everything was hunky dory until I tried to turn the skewers. The shrimp happily popped right off the grill pan, but the tofu hung on for dear life. After much prodding I finally got the tofu to turn over, but it left a layer behind that refused to budge and proceeded to burn while the second side cooked. Do you see a pattern here? I’m beginning to think that I should call myself a “challenged” Daring Cook! Fortunately the peanut sauce came together without a fight- requiring only that you warm up the coconut milk and peanut butter until they are combined.

When the shrimp and tofu were dipped into the thick and creamy coconut flavored sauce they were delicious. Warm, crispy on the edges, and slathered in a mildly spicy peanut sauce, satays are a fantastic way to eat food on a stick. Plus I always think food tastes better if you get to use your hands!

Shrimp and Tofu Satay (Printable Recipe)

Recipe from Cuppylicious

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb. Shrimp

8 oounces Extra-Firm Tofu, drained and cut into 1″ squares

Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)

2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)

1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)

1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)

1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)

1 serrano pepper, seeded

2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)

Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (light is fine) (6 oz or 180 mls)

4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)

1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)

1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)

1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)

1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

Equipment:

Blender

Bamboo Skewers

Grill or Grill Pan

Directions:

Make the Marinade

If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the shrimp and tofu and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.

Marinate the Meat

Thaw shrimp if necessary. Place shrimp and tofu cubes into a gallon size Ziploc bag. Add the marinade into the bag, seal, and gently shake the bag until all ingredients are well covered. Set the bag in the fridge and let marinate for 20-60 minutes.

While the meat is marinating, place the bamboo skewers in water to soak.

Assemble the Peanut Sauce

Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.

Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often. Keep the sauce warm while you cook the meat.

Cook the Satays

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high.

Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes*. Serve hot with peanut sauce on the side.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, brush the meat once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Beef Pho Soup

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes for Vietnamese Pho (pronounced fuh) soup are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. When I learned about this challenge I became quite excited since 1.) It didn’t require working with temperamental dough (hooray!) and 2.) I’ve been curious about beef pho soup for a long time but have never worked up the nerve to buy beef shin bones.

When I purchased beef bones from my neighborhood butcher, he was more than a little surprised to learn they were not for Oscar. Apparently making Vietnamese soup isn’t a common occurrence around here! In an adventurous excursion to a Chinese/Latin American/Thai/Vietnamese grocery store (I really need to write about that place sometime- it is crazy!) I managed to identify many of the remaining ingredients and came home with all the supplies necessary for Pho soup.

The first step in making a quality Pho soup (or any other soup for that matter) is to make the base stock. This is a simple process, which entails par-boiling beef bones to remove the scummy bits, and then simmering them for a long time with spices and vegetables. In a unique twist, this recipe incorporates charred ginger and onion as base flavors for the stock. While the stock simmered, our whole house was filled with the aromatic scents of anise, cinnamon, and ginger. It was at once a foreign and comforting aroma- perfect for the first snowy day of the season.

Once the stock is finished simmering, the rest of the recipe is simple assembling. A mix of fresh herbs, rice noodles, and chili peppers are layered into individual bowls. Then strips of flank steak that are ‘cooked’ by the hot broth are added at the last minute. Warm, fragrant, comforting and filling- a bowl of beef pho is the perfect way to warm up on a cold October afternoon!

The full recipe can be found at Steamy Kitchen.

Potstickers – From Scratch!

As if committing to bake bread once a week wasn’t enough of a challenge, I also somehow jumped on the Daring Cooks bandwagon. For almost a year I’ve gazed with complete awe on the beautiful creations turned out once per month by a group called the Daring Bakers. However, my trepidation around all things doughy and sugary left me on the sidelines watching these creative bakers fashion all kinds of amazing desserts while I simply drooled. So when I learned that the Daring Bakers decided to spin off a new group that was focused on cooking adventures- I wanted in. Then, when I received instructions for the first challenge it (of course) involved dough. Drat.

Not wanting to give up before I even started, I decided to face my fears and take on the challenge issued by Jen of Use Real Butter to make homemade potstickers. While Jen gave the challengers complete leeway to create new and exciting fillings for the potstickers, I knew if I got wild and crazy it would simply end in disaster. So I followed her detailed instructions exactly.

Making the dough and assembling the filling was actually rather easy. The combination of ground pork, green onion, and mushrooms made my mouth water. However when it came time to roll out the dough, the challenge began. Using a big rolling pin to try and achieve very thin rounds of dough with a thicker center and thinner edge was not easy. I soldiered through, finally getting the swing of it after the first twenty. Feeling confident, I rolled away, stacking the rounds as I went. Then, after I had rolled out about forty potsticker wrappers I looked over at my growing pile of rounds and paused. Warning bells started to sound in my head and I gingerly tried to peel the wrappers apart. Sure enough, they were stuck together like glue. One big doughy mass that refused to come apart. A few choice words left my mouth and I had to put down the rolling pin and take a walk around the kitchen for a few minutes.

Stack of Woe

Mr. B was called in for reinforcements, and we quickly developed an assembly line. I re-rolled out the dough, and while he filled it and then pinched the wrappers closed. An hour later the potstickers were finally assembled and ready to be cooked. Using Jen’s method of browning the potstickers and then quickly steaming them in the pan, they cooked up beautifully.

As we bit into the first one, and I surveyed the disaster that was my kitchen I thought, “This had better be worth it.” Luckily it was. They were tender and delicious despite rolling out the dough twice, and it made enough that I could freeze half of the batch to enjoy later without the mess. If you’ve ever had a wild hair to make your own potstickers then I would look no farther than Jen’s recipe. Just remember – DON’T STACK THE DOUGH!

Link: Use Real Butter’s Homemade Potstickers

Asian Style Tempeh Kabobs

Grilling always brings to mind flames, smoke, and sizzling hunks of meat. While this gets me quite excited, there are days (usually immediately after I’ve gorged myself on the aforementioned) where I’d like to pass on the beef and stick to something healthier. On one such evening we were in a hurry to eat and I needed a dinner that would come together quickly. Since we always have tempeh on hand, I grabbed a package out of the fridge and then started rummaging around to see what else might jump out at me.

Soon a pineapple, red bell pepper, and button mushrooms landed on the counter and tempeh kabobs were born. I raided the pantry to create a sauce that incorporated a tropical-Asian flavor into the kabobs, and luckily had the presence of mind to measure out what I was doing so I could share it here!

My favorite way to quickly marinate items for the grill is to throw everything in a large Ziploc bag and gently squish it around a few times. It’s quick, it’s easy, and there are no dishes required! After letting all the ingredients hang out in the bag for 30 minutes, I placed the kabobs on the grill and in 10 minutes they were done. Dinner in under an hour. If you are new to tempeh I recommend starting out with this recipe for orange glazed tempeh as it will introduce you to tempeh in a milder way. However if you enjoy the flavor of tempeh and don’t mind it front and center then these kabobs are a delicious way to have a quick summer meal.

Asian Style Tempeh Kabobs (Printable Recipe)
Serves 2

Ingredients:

Marinade
3 Tablespoons Grapefruit juice
3 Tablespoons Orange juice
1 Tablespoon Seasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons Fish sauce
2 teaspoons Sesame oil
1 teaspoon Chile oil
1 teaspoon Soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sugar
2 teaspoons minced ginger
2 cloves garlic, minced

Kabobs
8 oz package of tempeh, cut into 1/2″ squares
1 Red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1″ chunks
1 cup pineapple chunks
8 oz brown mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds (optional, garnish)
6 Wooden or metal skewers

Directions:

Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat (about 400-500 degrees). If using wooden skewers, place them in water to soak while assembling the meal.

In a gallon size Ziploc bag, place all marinade ingredients. Seal the bag closed, and shake a few times to mix up the marinade. Place all tempeh squares, bell pepper, pineapple, and mushrooms into the bag and seal again. Shake and gently squish the bag until the ingredients are well covered with the marinade. Set bag on the counter for 30 minutes, turning and shaking it occasionally.

Remove skewers from water if soaking, and thread kabob ingredients onto each skewer, alternating between ingredients for visual variation.

Place kabobs on the grill, and cook for 4 minutes on one side. Baste the kabobs with any remaining marinade in the bag. Turn kabobs over to cook the other side for another 4 minutes. Once all sides are cooked, remove from heat. Sprinkle the kabobs with sesame seeds if desired and serve.

My First Miso Soup

My First Miso Soup. That sounds like the name of a children’s book doesn’t it? When I set out to make miso soup at home I felt somewhat like a child- excited to learn something new, curious about unfamiliar ingredients, and laughing while trying to pronounce strange words. A beautiful and highly detailed post by The Paupered Chef introduced me to the steps of making miso. After seeing it broken down in such a clear fashion I thought to myself, “I can do this!” An upcoming trip to Whole Foods meant I could locate unusual ingredients without a problem so I made my list: Bonito flakes, Konbu, Wakame, Shiro Miso, Aka Miso, and Tofu.

Bonito Flakes and Konbu

Upon returning from my sojourn to Whole Foods (oh what a happy place!) I set out to make the soup. The first step was to make an ichiban-dashi (first stock). This required three ingredients: water, konbu, and bonito flakes. Konbu, I learned, is simply flat rectangular pieces of kelp. It looked and smelled a lot like the kelp my brother and I would throw at each other when playing on the beach as children. I used to pick up a long strand and threaten him saying, “I’m going to make you eat your salad!” While he in return lobbed seaweed at me, laughing when it stuck to my skin. (There’s nothing quite like having a younger brother!)

Bonito flakes were also new to me. Apparently they are made by smoking and drying out skipjack tuna, pressing it into a block, and then shaving flakes off into bags. I cautiously opened the bag and took a whiff, expecting to be bowled over by a nasty fish odor. To my utter surprise the smell made my mouth water. It had a sweetly smoky fish aroma that was quite pleasant and made me think of an umami flavor.

Making the ichiban-dashi was rather like a dance of ingredients in sequences that were new to me. You bring part of the water and the konbu to a boil, then remove the konbu and add more water. When that boils you turn it off and add the bonito flakes and wait while they fall to the bottom of the pot. Then you strain out the bonito flakes and set aside the water for some other use.

Making the Niban-Dashi

Next with the leftover bonito flakes and konbu, you make the niban-dashi (second stock). Adding water and the leftover bonito and konbu to a pot you simmer it for a while and then add in more bonito flakes, again waiting until they float to the bottom. Then you strain everything saving the water and discarding the rest. When this is all finished you have your stock and can finally get around to making the miso soup. Yes, it is a lot of steps but I think the purpose is to achieve the correct level of flavor in the stock, one which will not overwhelm a delicate miso but still have complexity from the konbu and bonito flakes.

Wavy Wakame

Compared to making the dashis, the miso was simple. You re-hydrate wakami (seaweed) and at the same time bring the niban-dashi to a simmer. The miso is whisked in, tofu is added, and that is it. You place the wakami in the bottom of each bowl, pour the soup on top, and garnish with chopped spring onions. Voila, miso soup.

So how did it taste after dancing around with unfamiliar ingredients all afternoon? Well, I’m going to be honest. It was just okay. I learned that there are several different types of miso which vary on the flavor spectrum from sweet to savory. This recipe used a lot of Shiro miso, which is a sweet blond colored miso. It created a cloying almost muddy flavor and I think I prefer a more savory style Hacho miso. Also, in my efforts to make this soup more of a “meal” than an appetizer I ignored the recommended proportions of tofu and dumped in the whole package. This resulted in a miso-tofu stew. Not quite the delicate soup I was aiming for.

Will we try this again? Absolutely! Now that the ingredients and processes are demystified, I am eager to give this a try again with different miso. The broth was very satisfying and I think by tweaking the ingredients to match our preferences I will be able to make a miso soup that we enjoy on a regular basis.

The step-by-step process and recipe from The Paupered Chef can be found here.

Baby Bok Choy Joy

The week we returned from San Francisco, I put off going to the grocery store for a few days. I wanted to let the happy afterglow of our trip hang around for a little longer before reality set in for good. When I finally did walk into the store it was difficult not to feel a bit depressed. After glorious piles of freshly picked produce, mouthwatering stacks of cheese and dizzying racks of wine, my grocery store seemed like it was part of a bad 1950′s movie set. The dingy florescent light reflected in the worn linoleum seemed even dingier and out of season wilting produce appeared even more droopy.

I sighed and pushed my cart into the produce aisle- half-heartedly glancing at the hard pieces of pineapple sitting in Styrofoam and the tomatoes that could pass as potatoes save for their color. As I reached in to grab a shrink wrapped cabbage to make Oma’s Roasted Vegetable Soup, an unusual green shape caught my eye. Hidden behind the bowling balls of cabbage, was what appeared to be a lone bundle of baby bok choy. I blinked and looked again, wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me. No, it was still there. Incredulous, I gingerly picked it up and looked at the vegetable up close. Sure enough, I was holding a baby bok choy.

My mood immediately changed for the better, and I couldn’t believe my luck. In three plus years of living here I had never seen a baby bok choy at the grocery store. The odd thing was that there were no other bok choy in the case. Just this one. I had no idea where it came from or why it was all alone hiding behind the cabbage.

When I reached the cashier (a very young teenager who slightly resembled Paris Hilton) she looked at the bok choy and said, “Um, what is this?” Grinning I told her “It’s a baby bok choy!” I was met with a blank stare- she obviously didn’t understand my excitement. “A what?” she asked. “A bok choy” I replied. She turned to the teenage checker in the lane next to her and said, “Sue, do you know how much this is?” Sue looked over blankly and said, “What is it?” The Paris look-alike replied hesitantly and sounding slightly like a chicken, “Bawk Choy”. Then she giggled. Sue had no idea. The produce manager was then called and he had no idea what it was or where it came from saying, “It’s not in the system”. They finally decided to charge me $2.00 and I left feeling like I had experienced a minor miracle. (Okay, very minor compared to what most would call a miracle.) It provided a much needed reminder that when you’re feeling really sorry for yourself life can provide a happy surprise if you just look behind the shrink wrapped cabbage.

After finding a miraculous bok choy I wanted to do it justice by cooking it in a simple way that celebrated the vegetable. Our weather had finally cheered up so after browsing the Internet a bit this recipe for grilled bok choy seemed to be the perfect fit. The flavors came together nicely and complimented a quickly grilled chicken. We savoured the baby bok choy with a glass of white wine and decided that there’s no place quite like home after all.

Grilled Baby Bok Choy (Printable Recipe)
Recipe Adapted from: Jorj.com
Serves 4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

4 heads of baby bok choy, cut in half lengthwise, washed and dried
1/3 cup orange juice (fresh or bottled)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

Directions:

Place a grill sheet or aluminum foil on your BBQ and heat it to medium heat (about 350 degrees).

In a small bowl, whisk together the orange juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and dried red pepper flakes.

Brush the mixture onto the baby bok choy, and place them cut side down on the grill sheet or foil. Loosely cover the bok choy with foil, and grill for 8-10 minutes until they are tender. While the bok choy are grilling, baste occasionally with the sauce. Serve immediately.

Stir Fried Edamame with Garlic and Chile

For me, the Superbowl represents an annual test of wills, not on the field mind you, rather between the perennial New Year’s resolve to stick to healthy food and the temptation of joining thousands of people around the country in an afternoon of finger-licking, beer drinking, chip crunching revelry.

I must confess that I don’t follow football. I couldn’t even tell you who’s playing in the upcoming game. However, when there is a reason to make over-the-top snack food and lounge on the couch watching crazy ads – who can resist?

This quick and easy recipe for stir fried edamame manages to satisfy the craving for salty, spicy and crunchy finger food while still scoring on the healthy side. When I introduced this recipe to my family, it quickly became a favorite snack. Even my brother, who grew up claiming to like nothing green but jelly beans, will chow down an entire bowl in nothing flat! So add this to your Superbowl line up and feel slightly less guilty about all those chicken wings.

A few simple ingredients

A quick stir fry

Mmmmm

Stir Fried Edamame with Garlic and Chile
Serves 2-4 (depending on how much you like to share!)
Recipe from Gourmet Magazine

Ingredients:
1 lb. frozen edamame (soybeans in shell)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic

Directions:
Cook soybeans in a 5-6 quart pot of boiling unsalted water for 5 minutes, then drain in a colander.

Stir together soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and red-pepper flakes in a small bowl.

Heat wok over high heat until a drop of water evaporates immediately. Add vegetable oil, swirling it to coat wok. Add ginger and garlic and stir fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds, then add soybeans, and stir fry until pods are lightly charred, 2 to 3 minutes. Add soy sauce mixture and stir-fry until soybeans are well coated and most of liquid is evaporated, about 1 minute.

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My First Miso Soup

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