Salmon burgers with baked soy bean cakes

I'm trying really hard to cook tasty and nutritious meals that won't break the piggy bank. Many of you know that I love, love, love rice. Here's yet another dish I'm serving over a bed of rice. I bought salmon burgers (came in a pack of ten) at Sam's Club and bought the baked soy bean cakes (that's what they're called; I didn't bake them myself) at Pacific Ocean International Supermarket. Garlic and green onions with olive oil on medium heat. Once sizzling (not burning) and the smell permeates, I tossed in the tofu. Added salt and soy sauce. The tofu really doesn't need to be cooked, but I let it cook awhile, to soak in the soy sauce and salt. After that, I placed the sliced salmon burger in (no more seasoning necessary) and when the salmon is cooked, the dish is ready to serve. Again, I cooked the rice in the rice cooker and served the dish over a bed of rice.

2009-1-19

It smelled and tasted much better than it looks here in the picture. It also looked better in person than in the picture. I will be making this again soon! Yummy.

Seared tuna with peas

There is a grocer called Sunflower Farmer's Market that has fantastic weekly deals, and I buy according to what they have on sale. One week the store had a good price on fresh tuna. Mmmm. As Americans, we tend to overcook our meats and fish, and, as my dad pointed out, cooking fish in the oven increases the chances of overcooking the fish.

Since my pregnancy with Victoria, I have really enjoyed seared tuna. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "seared," it means cooked on the outside and fleshy or pink on the inside.

I put some green onions and olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the onions were sizzling and I could smell the fragrance of it, I put the fish in the pan. Probably cooked the fish approximately four to five minutes on each side. Keep in mind this was fresh fish. If you're using frozen fish, the cooking time will need to be increased. I used some salt and soy sauce to flavor the fish, while cooking in the pan. Once the fish was almost done, I tossed in frozen peas (frozen vegetables keep the nutrients in them). Viola, the meal's ready to go. The fish and peas, I served over a bed of rice. I cooked the rice in a rice cooker.

2009-1-8

Delicate slices of udon soup

One of my British friends once told me that he thought it rather drab and boring that a dish be named by some of its contents. I tried to explain that Americans are not interested in trying anything mysterious or choices that do not include a description in the titles. Didn't convince him. I guess Europeans go for menu choices that have creative titles.

My best shot at compromising between the two is: delicate slices of udon soup. There are slices of "fish cake," in the soup. Made this sort of soup for the first time last night, and yes, it is entirely my creation.

I've been craving udon for some time now. And, as many of you know, I am an avid soup maker and consumer. What better meal to be enjoying in cold weather?

I have one other apology to make. This recipe is extremely imprecise. For the most part, I am just going to list the ingredients, in case you are interested in trying this. I figured that would be better than nothing. Otherwise you can come over and try it!

Ingredients:
water
tofu (I used 2 packages of firm tofu)
shittaki mushrooms (a handful)
bamboo shoots (I used one large can - around 15 oz.?)
1 package of fish cake (the pink and white thing you see in the picture)
2 bundles of udon noodles
green onions
soy sauce
salt

The udon and the soup were cooked separately. For the udon, once a pot of water is brought to boil, cook the udon for 12 minutes. After the mushrooms have been soaking in water for a few hours (I buy them dried), marinate them in a bowl of soy sauce and set them aside. Bring all the other contents of the soup to a boil adding salt to taste. Once the soup is boiling, drop the udon noodles in and bring the contents back to boiling. A few minutes before turning the stove off, drop the mushrooms into the soup and stir. Viola! Ready to serve.

Here's a bowl of delicate slices of udon soup, ready to eat:

2008-12-20

Dumplings

Lily's Dumplings

Before

After

This recipe makes A LOT of dumplings. I fed four adults and a child (everyone had additional servings), and after that, there was still plenty left over. Probably feeds somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-15 people.

Please keep in mind, my recipes are not to be taken as an exact science. I cook by my sense of taste and smell. My recipes change a bit every time I make the same thing. I'm only trying to nail down the basic idea for those of you who are interested in making some of these food choices. Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

Pot Sticker Wraps (5-6 packages of 36 wraps)
4/5 head of cabbage
most of a medium size package of full size carrots
green onions
3 pounds of ground turkey
2 eggs
salt
soy sauce


Directions:

1. Cut the cabbage, carrots and green onions extremely fine, somewhere between dicing and mincing (closer to mincing - a food processor aids in this task tremendously). Mix the ground turkey, cabbage, carrots, green onions, 2 entire eggs, and salt (leaving all of these ingredients raw).

2. Next comes the wrapping part. Not sure how to describe this process. I used water as glue. Place a modest portion of the meat mixture in the middle of a circular piece of a pot sticker wrap. Moisten the edge of half of the circle. Bring the tip of the middle of the moist portion to the tip of the middle of the dry portion of the pot sticker wrap (we're still talking about the edge of the circle). From there is making the dumpling look pretty. The description of this step stops here (sorry!).

3. Bring a pot, at least half to two-thirds full, of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, drop some dumplings in the water. Be careful not put too many in at once. How many one ought to put in depends on the size of the pot. I put in about 8-12 at a time, but I was using a reasonably wide and deep pot. Once the dumplings are all floating, the dumplings are ready to eat. Per my mom's habit, I pour a couple to three cups of cold water in the pot, wait for the water to boil again before pulling the dumplings out to serve.

Note: In process 3., the dumplings can be pan fried or boiled.

4. Serve the dumplings with soy sauce as a dipping sauce. There are other variations of dipping sauces. A common Taiwanese dipping sauce for dumplings is to add minced garlic to the soy sauce. Another possibility, suggested by my friend Junko, is to mix soy sauce with rice vinegar.

Lily's Mi-Fen Soup

I'm posting this recipe for Manda. I won't be able to put any measurements or amounts on it for a number of reasons. It depends on the package size of mi-fen (rice noodles) you have, and, well, I tend to make large portions. At any rate, here are the ingredients of the most recent version I made. Oh, and by the way, for lack of any imagination, I don't have an exotic or fun title for this soup yet.

Lily's Mi-Fen Soup

Ingredients:

mushrooms (ready-cut makes my life much easier)
shittake mushrooms
firm tofu
opa (or opo; I have trouble remembering the spelling because I know this vegetable by it's Taiwanese name) squash
diced tomatoes (canned is acceptable)
bamboo shoots (canned)
wood ears
chicken breast
chicken broth
onion / garlic
a package of mi-fen
salt
soy sauce


As the soup base, I use mostly water and a good amount of chicken broth. Everything, except the chicken breast and mi-fen can go into the soup.

In a pan, put in some onion or garlic with some olive oil. Do not turn the stove on high heat. It does something unhealthy to the olive oil. Medium heat will do. Once you can smell the onion or garlic, stir fry the chicken breast. When the chicken breast is well cooked, set it aside.

Once everything in the soup pot is boiling, add the mi-fen. Be careful not to overcook the mi-fen. If it is overcooked, it breaks apart VERY easily. It's hard to tell exactly how long the mi-fen needs to cook. When the soup is brought to a boil after the mi-fen is added, use a utensil to see how pliable it is. If it's rather tough to break, it needs to cook a bit longer. When the mi-fen is just about ready, add in the chicken breast, followed by the salt and soy sauce.

Tortilla pie

I developed this recipe from the June 2007 issue of Parents magazine (p. 198). I think this serves five people (going back for seconds). So, here's my version of the recipe:

Tortilla Pie

Ingredients:
2 small cans of black beans, rinsed & drained
2 cans (10 or 11 oz. each) of whole-kernel corn with red & green peppers, drained
1 jar (16 oz.) chunky mild salsa
1 package of chicken breast, cut fajita style
10 10" flour tortillas
shredded Monterey Jack cheese
shredded Mexican cheese (a medley of three different cheeses)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Cook the chicken in a pan. Once the chicken is done, add the black beans, corn, and salsa; bring to a boil.

3. Spray the bottom of the baking pan with vegetable cooking spray (NOTE: I used a baking pan made of stoneware. Usually I ignore the instructions to spray the bottom of the pan, and usually that's fine. But, this was an exception. The tortillas stuck to the pan).

4. Place one tortilla in the coated pan. Top with a thin layer of the chicken/bean mixture and a good helping of shredded cheese. Layer one more time, finishing with a tortilla on top.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Today, I made this to eat for the first time ever. It was a hit! Definitely a keeper.

Chili

This is a spin off of a recipe Manda was so kind to pass my direction. Made it just now. The fragrant aroma coming from the soup reminds me of being at Manda's, since she made this quite often for the Friday night group.

Chili

Ingredients:

2 cans of diced tomatoes (2 28 oz. cans)
1 can of pinto beans (27 oz.)
1 small can of yellow corn (don't know the size (15 oz.?)
2 packages of dark, ground turkey
1 package of corn chips
chunks of garlic (this is up to your preferences; we love garlic, so I put in half a head)
2 packages of Texas Chili Seasoning Mix (2 1.25 oz. packages)
avocados
shredded Cheddar cheese
shredded Mexican blend cheese

Cook the ground turkey first. I pan fried it. Drain the fatty juices. In a large pot, dump in the ground turkey, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, and seasoning mix. Once boiling, drop in the corn. Salt to taste.

When ready to serve, in the individual bowls, add avocado, cheese, corn chips (and sour cream if preferred).