Tag Archives: cooking

Twice-Cooked Pork

Posted by Dave in asian, meat and tagged with , , ,

Twice-Cooked Pork

Szechuan Twice-Cooked Pork, a.k.a. Double-Cooked Pork, is one of my favorites and thankfully available at most every Chinese restaurant where I live. It almost always consists of sliced pork, cabbage, black mushroom, scallions, and a brown sauce that is a blend of sweet and spicy.
I added a bit more color with red pepper and carrot in this preparation of about 4 servings.

I’ve learned that twice-cooked pork is traditionally made with pork belly (but I’ve not seen that in american restaurants). I decided to use inexpensive, lean chops instead.

First, I boiled three whole pork chops in water with salt and pepper, cooled them (with ice cubes in the water), then thinly sliced them diagonally so that cuts are across the grain and so the slices can be wider than the thickness of the chop.

To prepare the sauce: start with about a cup of stock (I made the stock with some granulated chicken-flavor instant bouillon and the water used to boil the pork), add minced fresh ginger and garlic (4 cloves), coarse ground black pepper, sugar or honey (1-2 T.), soy sauce (2-3 T.), oyster sauce (4 T.), rice vinegar (1-2 T.), a dry red wine (1 T.), black bean paste (1 T.), chili garlic sauce (1-3 T.), and a couple teaspoons of corn starch. Be sure to taste-test the sauce for the right balance of sweet, sharp (vinegar), and spicy. There’s plenty of salt in soy sauce and bean paste, so don’t add salt!
This resulted in about 2 cups sauce before reduction, which worked well, since I like my pork saucy, like my … oh you know the joke.

To fry: in canola oil, stir-fry the pork slices to brown edges, coat with some sauce, then remove. Next stir-fry the vegetables, occasionally adding sauce slowly (to coat and reduce): carrot, green and red bell pepper, scallions, then sliced black mushroom (fresh or reconstituted), and then chopped cabbage and scallion greens. Return the pork to the pan, add remaining sauce and reduce to your liking.

Serve with sticky rice and enjoy!

I read a lot of recipes and watched videos while researching this one. Here are some of the most useful:

“Chinese Twice Cooked Pork”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07L92tgRVfY
– I really like this guy’s amateur video… he seems like a kindred spirit. :-) He would have been fine if he’d just stir-fried the pork before putting in the vegetables that release moisture.

“Twice-cooked pork”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhnq0v7ck8
– This chef shows an interesting stir-fry technique and a minimal recipe.

“Double Cooked Pork Slices”
http://www.tastehongkong.com/recipes/

UPDATE (March 2013):

I’ve made this dish many times, most recently with pork shoulder roast ($1.99/lb.) and skipped the mushroom and substituted white onion for scallions, simply because I didn’t have them on hand. It always comes out great.

Twice-cooked pork.

Twice-Cooked pork

Veggie Fried Rice and Wasabi Pea-crusted Tilapia

Posted by Dave in asian, fish and tagged with , ,

Veggie Fried Rice and Wasabi Pea-crusted Tilapia

This is a recipe that I just made up, while getting over a learning and coding-induced headache this evening. :-) I’d been meaning to use dried wasabi peas in a dish, and found that many people online had also thought of it, such as to coat fish or to season popcorn.

Fish: small tilapia fillets, dipped in an egg wash and in a mixture of powdered wasabi peas (crushed with a mortar and pestle) and a bit of rice flour, then pan-fried in peanut oil.

Rice: canola oil, sliced carrot and scallion, sticky rice, green peas, soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar, minced garlic, chili garlic sauce, black pepper, scallion greens, and egg scrambled (in advance, then added to the rice at the end) in a bit of peanut and sesame oils.

Surprisingly, the fish wasn’t particularly spicy. I added plenty of additional chili sauce when eating this one. Next time I’d add a couple other seasonings to the fish as well or just mix pieces into the fried rice.

Shiitake and Bok Choy Soup, Broiled Tilapia, and Sesame Sautéed Baby Bok Choy

Posted by Dave in asian, fish, soup and tagged with , , , , ,

Shiitake and Bok Choy Soup, Broiled Tilapia, and Sesame Sautéed Baby Bok Choy

I found some dried shiitake mushrooms in the cupboard that my mom gave me some ten years ago (they were grown in Arkansas, of all places), so I decided to finally reconstituted them for this soup. To the best of my recollection, this is the first soup I’ve made from scratch. :-)

Here are the recipes I used for this healthy meal:

“Chicken, Shiitake and Bok Choy Soup”
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Shiitake-and-Bok-Choy-Soup-103106
(The water used to reconstitute the mushrooms was used, in part, to make chicken bouillon.)

“Asian-Style Grilled Tilapia”
http://www.food.com/recipe/asian-style-grilled-tilapia-192282
(I substituted chili garlic sauce for red pepper flakes, added minced cilantro to the marinade, and served this atop sticky rice. While broiling, I reduced the marinade and served it over the tilapia.)

The sesame bok choy was prepared similarly to my earlier sesame swiss chard, but spiced up with a spoonful of chili garlic sauce.

Chicken Tikka and Curried Potato

Posted by Dave in indian, meat and tagged with , , , ,

Chicken Tikka and Curried Potato

Served with basmati rice and cucumber raita.

Chicken: bite-sized chicken breast pieces marinated for hours then broiled. Marinade: goat milk yogurt, toasted cumin seed, minced fresh garlic and ginger, lime juice, salt, turmeric, garam masala, black pepper, cayenne, paprika.

Potato: prepared in a covered skillet, with canola oil, diced russet potato, minced garlic, white onion, water, chopped cilantro leaves, fennel seed, hot curry powder, garam masala, salt, green peas (frozen).

Here are some useful related recipes:

“Chicken Tikka”
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Tikka-109308

“Chicken Tikka Masala”
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-tikka-masala

“Vegetarian Tikka Masala Recipe with Potato, Cabbage, and Peas”
http://melissaraydavis.hubpages.com/hub/Vegetarian-Tikka-Masala-Potato-Cabbage-Peas

“Cucumber Raita”
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cucumber-Raita-104741

Sweet Clementine Chicken and Szechuan Green Beans

Posted by Dave in asian, meat and tagged with , , , ,

Sweet Clementine Chicken and Szechuan Green Beans

At Christmastime I made a slightly spicy Clementine marmalade, and still had some left, so decided to use it in this orange chicken dish.

Orange Chicken: carrots, baby bok choy, peanut oil, sliced chicken breast, minced fresh garlic and ginger, water, rice vinegar, soy sauce, five spice powder, salt & pepper, red pepper flakes, sliced scallion greens, Clementine marmalade, toasted slivered almonds, and (frozen) green peas, corn starch to thicken sauce as necessary. Served with sticky Calrose rice.

One “trick” I discovered is to cut the carrots the way many Chinese restaurants do, so that the slices have slanted ends and ripples on the long side edges: first slice the carrot diagonally into thick “chips” with a ripple blade (or mandolin), then lay the chips flat and cut them into relatively thin strips.  Here’s a 1 minute video on Fancy Cut Carrot.

Szechuan Beans: green beans, peanut oil, minced fresh garlic and ginger, minced scallion (white portion), chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, toasted sesame seed.

Here are the recipes I consulted for ideas:

“Spicy Orange Chicken Stir-Fry”
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spicy-Orange-Chicken-Stir-Fry-353398

“Szechuan Green Bean Recipe”
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetablesrecipes/r/greenbean.htm

“Clementine Marmalade”
http://ming.com/foodandwine/recipes/simply-ming-season-4/clementine-marmalade.htm

Pork Tenderloin with Clementine Marmalade over Rice and Wine-simmered Vegetables

Posted by Dave in asian, meat and tagged with , , , , ,

Pork Tenderloin with Clementine Marmalade over Rice and Wine-simmered Vegetables

I marinated this pork tendorloin in olive and sesame oils, red pepper flakes, and minced fresh garlic and ginger and cooked separately. The wine sauce with vegetables was made similarly to that in the recipe below.

This was inspired by recipies on the television program Simply Ming. Personally, I found the combination of both the sweet simmer sauce and the sweet marmalade to be too sweet overall, so I’d use one or the other instead of both.

“Braised Lamb Shank with Clementine Marmalade”
http://ming.com/foodandwine/recipes/simply-ming-season-4/braised-lamb-shank-with-clementine-marmalade.htm

“Clementine Marmalade”
http://ming.com/foodandwine/recipes/simply-ming-season-4/clementine-marmalade.htm
(I halved the amount of most of the marmalade ingredients, thus essentially doubling the ginger and thai bird peppers)

Potato and Chickpea Masala Dosa

Posted by Dave in indian, potatoes, vegetarian and tagged with , ,

Potato & Chickpea Masala Dosa

I selected the ingredients for this masala mostly from the recipe below: Russet potato, cumin seed, jalapeno, fresh ginger, garlic, garam masala, curry powder, cinnamon, turmeric, canola oil, water, yellow onion, chickpeas, green peas, cilantro, but I also stirred in about 3/4 cup of goat milk yogurt at the same time as the frozen green peas.

This one was SPICY!

For the dosas, I used half all-purpose flour and half rice flour and added a bit more water until the batter spread thinly in the pan. Also, it was easier to spray the pan with cooking spray than to brush it with oil.

Some restaurants prepare a similar delicious dish, presenting a crispy dosa impressively as a tube larger than the dinner plate.

“Rava Dosas with Potato Chickpea Masala”
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rava-Dosas-with-Potato-Chickpea-Masala-356035

Spicy Cornmeal-crusted Catfish

Posted by Dave in awards, fish, potatoes, salad and tagged with , , , , ,

Spicy Cornmeal-crusted Catfish

Pan-fried catfish fillets are one of my favorites. Here the catfish is dipped in an egg/milk wash and coated with cornmeal, seasoned with crushed rosemary, oregano, thyme, turkish paprika, cayenne powder, salt and pepper and pan-fried. Topped with a sauce of mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce, minced cilantro leaves, and lime juice.

Accompanied by roasted potato stacks (sweet and russet potato, with olive oil, garlic, salt and peper, sprinked with thyme leaves) and sautéed red cabbage and spinach, with pine nuts, and tossed with a mustard vinaigrette dressing (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, honey, garlic, and black pepper).

Here are some related recipes:
“Roasted Potato Stacks”
http://gourmandrecipes.com/roasted-potato-recipe/

“Red Cabbage and Warm Spinach Salad”
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Red-Cabbage-and-Warm-Spinach-Salad-103305 

Certified Yummly Recipes on Yummly.com

UPDATE: The recipe search site Yummly selected this recipe of mine and dubbed my blog “Certified yummly.” :)

“Kickin’ Catfish Recipes for National Catfish Day”
http://www.yummly.com/blog/2012/06/kickin-catfish-recipes-for-national-catfish-day/

UPDATE (March, 2014): Here’s another nice version from ThingsMyBellyLikes.com!
“Southern-Style Fried Catfish“

Frittata

Posted by Dave in meat, mediterranean and tagged with , , ,

Italian Sausage Frittata

This Frittata was prepared in a cast iron skillet, so that I could finish it in the oven.  Additional ingredients were: Italian sausage, mushroom, garlic, bell pepper, spinach, fresh basil, oregano, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, cheddar and parmesan-reggiano cheeses.

Earlier today I watched this rather pedantic, condescending cooking show, “Food for Thought with Claire Thomas.” While she’s beautiful and quite possibly a wonderful person, I found it annoying; even the name of her blog: “The Kitchy Kitchen?” Ugh.
Anyway, here’s a video clip from the show: Farmer’s Market Frittata (sic).

I hadn’t made a frittata before, so here it is. Take that, Claire Thomas; thanks for teaching me something.

Here’s her recipe for reference:

Gyros

Posted by Dave in meat, mediterranean and tagged with , , , ,

Gyros

This is a pretty easy meal to make at home, especially as I did here using pre-marinated Burgundy & Pepper Lamb Tips from Trader Joe’s. These tips are pre-packaged and sold by weight, for 4 generous servings (8 medium-sized gyros) I chose the least expensive package at about $12.

First, prepare the tzatziki sauce consisting of Greek style plain yogurt (e.g., Trader Joe’s), peeled cucumber – cut into small pieces, minced garlic, lots of dill (fresh and/or dried), black pepper, and a bit of apple cider vinegar or other vinegar if you like a bit more sharp flavor.
Tzatziki is great for other dishes and sandwiches, so just put the left-over portion back in the yogurt container and keep even up to a week or more.

Trim the lamb tips to remove any fat and sinew, cut the pieces across the grain to bite or two-bite size and sauté the pieces in a bit of oil until cooked to just nearly medium well.

Warm pita in a pan until they just begin to brown, both sides (brush pita first with olive oil if the pita doesn’t contain oil, such as those from Trader Joe’s), and serve topped with lamb, slather on the tzatziki sauce, and add thinly sliced red onion, fresh tomato.