lo mein

With the abundance of fresh veggies and with the addition of noodles, lo mein was an easy choice, though prep would be essential to the recipe.

A slicing of the veggies was done using the rotary slicer of the kitchen aid attachment.

One of those recipes, the more you look the more variations you find , you settle as with most “authentic” recipes to the ingredients you have available to the village or are grown locally.

I didn’t  get to list all the sauce ingredients and amounts, but loosely followed several recipes that I researched by listing all the ingredients that compose the sauce to get an idea of the basics. I modified it by adding a bit more cornstarch and a good amount of stock as I prefer s saucy-er thick coating to the dish.

The sauce was a build up from the basic soy sauce/rice wine/sugar combo. Some of the associated components are: soy sauce, rice wine, fish sauce, shrimp paste, chili paste, ginger root, galangal root, garlic, sugar, honey, salt and pepper with sesame oil.

The sauce, less the stock.

The veggies are the same deal, use what you have. Pea pods and the baby bok choy were included as they were fresh and attractive from the market. The carrot was also crunchy as they were fresh, large diameter and not very tapered as the packaged carrots were.

Stir fry the veggies in oil.

 

While stir frying the veggies, prep the noodles, I used rice noodles instead of the wheat noodles, so just a brief toss in hot water is all that’s needed, drain and add to wok.

 

Mix well , then add the sauce… serve….

 

 

 

The result is as good or better result than restaurant  because you have control of the ingredients. So if you like salad with noodles with a sauce here it is.

I made this dish twice and this post is a compilation of the pictures from both.

Rice noodles with sesame seeds

This was modified from a soba  noodle recipe. (Nigella Lawson)  it turned out very well as a cold dish considering you don’t stir fry it. I made 1/2 the recipe, it served 2 as a light meal in hot weather. You probably could serve it as a hot dish.

• 75 grams sesame seed
• salt
• 250 grams noodle, soba, (or rice noodle)
• 2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar, (red wine vinegar)
• 5 teaspoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 5 spring onions
• optional sauteed mushrooms

Toast the sesame seeds in a pan over high heat till golden brown. If you use toasted sesame seeds often they can be toasted in advance, during cooler weather to reduce the heat in the kitchen. Store them stove side in a airtight jar.

Prepare the noodle with salted water as directed by the type, the rice noodle is soaked in cold water,  then  bring to a boil. Like pasta, watch over it and avoid mushy texture. Brake the cooking with drain and rinse with (ice) cold water.

Mix the other liquid ingredients like a dressing, and toss with the cooled noodle along with the thinly sliced green (spring) onion. Toss and add the toasted sesame seed.

If possible, let the dish marinade for some time. I put the dish in the fridge and served later for supper, a cool noodle, suprisingly  savory for a no stir fry dish.

I did taste the sauce and added more honey as I use double black soy sauce and dark sesame seed oil. I could see adding more components to the dish like pea pods or green peas. We like mushrooms so some sauteed  shitake and brown beech mushrooms were added as an ingredient. Broiled beef strips would also be a  good addition.

 

 

broccoli and mushroom fried rice

Boil some rice like pasta in water, when cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. Saute mushrooms, here shitake and brown beech mushrooms, then saute thiny sliced brocolli . Return the rice to the pan, splash with soy sauce, then sesame oil. , season with salt and pepper, serve. You could also steam the brocolli for softer bite.

 

An interesting salad

This recipe was a re definition of a salad.

Close  to the original recipe,  very filling for a salad that I had about 1/2 of the total amount.

Nuts are said to be a superfood, but I won’t profess about what you (should) eat,  the decision is up to you.

Quinoa salad  from Mrs. Twinkle a WordPress blog .

Now I’m open to a lot of grains, bread, couscous, barley, so this looked like an interesting combination. Now those of you either that have a nut allergy or turned off by a meal with no meat, yes this recipe could be modified from the original but I think that would lose something in the translation.

Being used to the usual greens and tomato type salad, with an oil and vinegar type dressing,  this is a pleasant diversion. Little if any modification to the recipe. Other than sesame oil double and skip the olive oil in the dressing, and some chopped ginger added to the main mix, ( I would taste and bring up the level of ginger in the dressing). The crunch of the red cabbage and the nuttiness of the dressing, on a bed of grains is satifiying. 

 I use double black soy sauce for the dressing. Melt the peanut butter and honey in a microwave safe bowl for about 30 seconds. Stir and finish the dressing and adjust to taste.

Assembled

I resisted to add any heat to this recipe!

Roasted Chicken Thigh with Thai Salad

Time on the grille this weekend, soy sauce based several hour marinade* chicken thighs, slow roasted.

Parsnips, elephant garlic, cauliflower, not  shown, leeks which was the best with the crispy outer leaves and tender center.

*soy sauce, ginger, vinegar, sugar, 5 spice powder, oil etc.

 some of the grilled veggies from above were an appetizer..

a few grilled orange slices added

now a weeknight meal , some of the sliced chicken on bread, along with greens and salad.

The baking of bread continues of course.

The salad was made by one of my daughters, a lot of dicing involved.

from:

http://hostthetoast.com/thai-cashew-coconut-rice-ginger-peanut-sauce/

I made some additional peanut sauce with some substitutions and an addition, that is hot red pepper flakes !

It made it on the thick side and can be used as a dipping sauce.

It’s a change to incorporate nuts and coconut into my daily diet, IMO nuts, (peanuts, walnuts, etc. including peanut butter) is a super food.

 You can tell by the price of walnuts , cashews etc.

Other kitchen outtakes…

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Sort of a working night to get posting done , one of the freak occurrence of connection and device  problems, possibly modem, router, or cable problems intermittently. Plus another screen replacement for the mobile device, when these are cracked, almost impossible to use and a botched Imessage implementation. Thanks in advance for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

 

Ginger marinated chicken skewers

Ginger marinated chicken skewers.
Adapted from http://lauralovinglife.org/2013/03/08/sesame-ginger-marinated-chicken-scewers/
Marinade for chicken
Add to a covered container big enough to hold the amount of chicken, in this recipe, 2 breasts, ginger to taste, I have dried and sifted available other than fresh, sesame seeds, soy sauce, about one quarter cup, cider (or rice wine) vinegar about equal amount to the soy sauce, sesame oil and an amount or garlic, ( sliced and mashed), to your taste. Grind in some pepper and as an addition , some brown sugar.

The chicken breast can be pounded thin, but this time I opted to slice the breast horizontally to fillets as the breast are very large and thick and it also keeps the noise level low from using a rolling pin or meat tenderizer mallet or pounding weight.
Add the sliced chicken to the marinade, cover and shake to distribute the marinade and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Arrange by threading the sliced chicken on wooden skewers, at this time I didn’t soak them in water. On a grate over a foil covered broiler pan, place the skewered chicken slices. Place close to under a broiler set to high heat for quick cooking.
Watch out for the skewers! It may be necessary to cover the ends with foil to prevent ignition, but then again, that’s what smoke detectors are for, ( just kidding). You can omit the skewers, or use metal ones, but the wooden ones we have are easier to handle and are shorter than the metal ones. Broil and flip till done.
Served over spinach.