recent discoveries of the old

I’m one of those coffee addicts and no doubt spend more money on caffeinated drinks than I really should.  However, I don’t know where I’ve been all this time, I was introduced to this greentea frappacino at one of the ubiquitous Starbucks today!  It is so refreshing on a summer day.  Nice and cooling but not too heavy or filling.  Definitely one of the awesomest things I’ve come across in a while thanks to a friend.  🙂  I hope the summer won’t end, so I can continue getting this! 😀

In other news, my first time making Omu-rice today! I was first reminded of the recipe from a youtube clip.  God I love youtube cooking inspirations.  It is a tomato sauce fried rice wrapped inside a layer of egg (as you can see).  It’s a very appetizing and fun recipe because you get to decorate/draw with ketchup! lol Unfortunately, I burned the egg a little… lack of skills.  But no worries! Will get better with practice 🙂 I also need to perfect the appearance a little too… 😛

Those of you by the philly area, I highly recommend going to Mad Mex located in University City.  I love all things fried….. aaand comfort food.  Not to mention, they brought back the half-off deal on food after 11pm!!!!!! 😀 How. Glorious. Is. That?! That equals $5 dollar burrito, $4 dollar wings and $3 dollar taquitos!  I feasted so many times during the college years on a budget at this place.  It was great returning to it last night getting some satisfying down-to-earth food.  P.S. they got GREAT waffle fries!

While i’m at it, I just want to mention.. I can’t get enough of my spring rolls! absolutely love taro! It’s so delicious! I encourage people try to make their own cause it’s fun, easy, and soooo delectably delightful!  I forgot to mention this in the last post.  My mom made her own dipping sauce.  We used vinegar as base, minced garlic, and mix with a hint of fish sauce.  It compliments the taro spring roll so well 🙂

Hurricane?!? meh, spring roll time!

Yesterday was dumpling… today was spring rolls!! Making this a shorter post because I got a how-to video this time. 😛 so enough said… check it!

they look a little like mini fried chinese burritos… LOL but the important point is that they’re delicious!

Hurricane?! nah let’s make dumplings

So Hurricane Irene is supposed to hit soon… everybody is panicking… I took my chill pill and decided to treat it like any other day.  Plus, it’s not the end of the world, guys… So anyway, my mom decided to make dumplings for the special occasion and I’m helping out!  Many people wonder how to make dumplings so I’ll give you a brief and easy tutorial.

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 1/2 lb of ground pork (you’re certainly welcome to use ground chicken or a mix of both)
• leek
• a pack of dumpling wrappers (can be found in any Asian supermarket)
• sugar
• oyster sauce
• salt

this will yield about 30 to 40 dumplings, you can decide the amount of leek to add into your mix depending on your preferences.

To prepare the mix, put your meat in a big mixing bowl, add the leek, mix it a little THEN add the seasoning.  You can go nuts with the oyster sauce (I say squirt like 3-4 TABLE spoons worth (not tea)), sprinkle salt all over, and give like a splash of sugar (about 2 tea spoons)) surprisingly, sugar brings the flavor of the meat out.  Once you got everything in there, just mix it all up!

Procedure is super duper simple:

1) Scoop a spoonful (like the size of a quarter) and place it in the middle of the wrapper.

2) Next, you want to fold from one corner to the opposite one, making it look like a triangle.  IMPORTANT: before you fold, use your finger and be sure to dap water at the edges and where the meat isn’t present! Fold and squeeze the edges a little so it doesn’t fall apart.

3) bend and curve the dumpling a little so the 2 ends/corners come together and put a little water on that so they stay glued

4) once you are done folding them, you can start cooking them.  Have a pot of boiling water ready, and put the dumplings in when the water is boiled.  Move them around, so they don’t stick to each other or the pot.

5) when they float to the top (about couple minutes), then you can take them out! You see the big ladle thingie in the picture?  We transferred the cooked dumplings into chicken broth for more flavor, but that’s optional.

Usually, we like to serve it with a side dish of red vinegar.  If that’s too exotic, try some sesame oil, also delicious.

And that’s how we prepared for the hurricane 🙂 no stress

How to make a quick meal

I was heading home today around 2pm, STARVING.  So I thought, what to eat? That’s quick, simple and most importantly, CHEAP.  I decided on pasta.  I was in a creamy alfredo mood today, so I did a quick stop at the supermarket and just picked up a jar of 4 cheese alfredo sauce and boy, did it turn out to be a good choice. 🙂

Anyways, some things all kitchens should have (if you ask me) are salt, pepper, jar of minced garlic, and frozen ingredients (ie: frozen mixed veggies, shrimp).  Why? Because they all last for a very long time! Trust me, it helps when you’re starving and just want to make something delicious to eat.  Having your fridge stocked is very crucial.

Shrimp and Mushroom Alfredo Pasta

Ingredients:

• Pasta
• Couple shrimps
• 3 big mushrooms (optional veggie?)
• Jar of Alfredo sauce (or any type of pasta sauce works too) $2
• garlic (optional), salt, pepper, olive oil

Prep time: 5 minutes   Cook time: 15 minutes  (my prep time is usually mixed in between the cook time, I like to make it as fast as possible 😛 )

Steps:

1) Boil water to cook pasta.

Since making pasta takes the longest, you want to do that first.  While you’re waiting for the water to boil, begin to cut up your ingredients, or whatever you choose to put in your pasta.  I always like to have some form of veggie in my meal so I can lie to myself and say I eat healthy.  Today, I happened to have mushroom, so I added that.

2) Cook the pasta! Don’t forget to sprinkle salt and a drop of olive oil into the water.

So while that begins to cook, finish cutting your stuff…. I cut my frozen shrimp into halves for smaller bites and the mushroom into slices.  I also added a strand of scallion just for kicks.

3) Start heating your pan.  Don’t forget the oil!

At this point, your pasta should be ready (for those of you who don’t know, pasta should be ready in about 10 minutes), so drain the water and put the pasta aside while your pan heats up.

4) When the pan is heated, you will begin to put in your ingredients in the following order:

1 – Garlic

You want to get the garlic flavor to mix with the oil so your dish gets a plethora of flavor.  Make sure you don’t let it burned.

2- Shrimp

You can pretty much add the shrimp immediately after the garlic.  Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper for flavor to the shrimp. Move it around so it doesn’t stick to the pan.

3 – Mushroom (or frozen veggies or w/e)

Wait about 30 secs to a minute, you’ll begin to see the shrimp turn pink.  Then throw in the mushrooms or your choice of veggie.  I picked mushrooms because they cook easily and quick.  Move it around, make sure everything is being cooked evenly.  It should be ok after like a minute or 2.

4 – Pasta

Once your ingredients are pretty much done, you add your pasta and mix everything.  You may choose to add more salt if you like it saltier.

5 – Alfredo sauce

Now add your sauce and mix it all around! Then you’re done! Let it heat for like 30 secs and you’ll be good.

Hope this post helps some of you with ideas for dinner.  I did this a lot in college and it beats eating out constantly.  This cooking method works for all pasta, tomato sauce, Florentine, or pesto.  You can also substitute shrimp with bacon! I love bacon.  Just make sure the bacon is cooked thoroughly (maybe like a a min or 2 longer than shrimp).  So today I spent a total of $2 dollars on my meal! and used whatever I had left in my fridge.  A great saving and much healthier than eating out. 🙂