Vietnamese Curry
As I mentioned when I went to Hawaii, I’ve recently fallen in love with curry. All types of curry. To the point where I’ll randomly have major cravings for curry - any kind of curry.
Such was the case earlier this week. All of a sudden, on Tuesday, I wanted curry, but I didn’t have any S&B Golden Curry around - so no quick way to soothe my craving. However that wasn’t a problem - it was easy to make my own.
This recipe is for Vietnamese curry. Though similar, it has a very distinct taste - different from Japanese, Indian, or Thai curries. Depending on the curry you buy, the taste varies, and can range from mild to quite spicy, so make sure to check your curry package for ingredients and/or spice level before you buy!
Here is the recipe I used, adapted from RecipeZaar. My curry craving has been satisfied - for now.
Oh so flavorful…
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cut bite-size pieces
- 1 tsp salt, to taste
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp good curry powder
- 3 large potatoes, skinned and cubed
- 2 large carrots, skinned and sliced
- 1 (13 1/2 ounce) can coconut milk
- 1 (13 1/2 ounce) can chicken stock
Cooking Directions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and fry the onions and garlic for 1 minute.
- Add the chicken, cook for three minutes.
- Add the salt, pepper, and curry powder.
- Stir in spices, let cook for a few minutes, or until the chicken is tender.
- Add the remaining ingredients.
- Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 30-60 minutes, or until the vegetables are at your preferred softness. We like the veggies soft, so we cooked the curry for an hour, but if you prefer harder/crunchier vegetables in your curry, then cook it for less time.
- Serve over a bed of rice or with quality bread to dip in the curry.
…and incredibly addictive.
Kugelhopf
Kugelhopf, like rugelach, is another baked good that I had never in my life heard of before Yolanda from All-Purpose Girl picked it for TWD. However, I wasn’t too intimidated by this one - I’ve made brioche before (several people said this was similar) and I figure I can deal with any bread studded with chocolate chips.
Just look at those chocolate chips!
Wait, chocolate chips? Didn’t the recipe call for raisins? Well, yes, but I’m not a huge fan of raisins, and didn’t have any in my apartment, so chocolate chips it was.
I’m cutting a slice just for you…
Also, no traditional kugelhopf pan - I can’t justify buying a pan that I’ll probably never use again. But it turned out just as well in a regular loaf pan.
The airy bread would be perfect with a cup of coffee.
I even made a mini loaf of kugelhopf! Unfortunately, no pictures. We ate it as soon as it had cooled - sliced up the mini kugelhopf loaf and bananas, and scattered them atop some ice cream and drizzled it all with chocolate sauce. Seriously guys, it was an amazing way to eat the kugelhopf. The crispy, airy, somewhat dry kugelhopf paired incredibly well with the ice cream and bananas, and what isn’t improved by a little chocolate sauce?
Would you like some?
Tofu Stir-Fry
Ask anyone who knew me growing up, and they’ll tell you I’m a meat-and-potatoes girl. Who (*gasp*) refuses to eat her vegetables. Give me a big slab of steak and some sort of potato side dish, and I was happy. Of course, that was long ago, in my pickier years. I wouldn’t eat sashimi or most more exotic ethnic foods at that time either.
The rich tofu…
Nowadays, though I am by no means vegetarian, I’ve started to lean the other way. No longer does a big honkin’ piece of steak sound like the perfect meal - now I tend more towards fish (sashimi, anyone?) or even vegetarian dishes. Just a change in tastes, I suppose.
…the soft vegetables…
Recently we were at Son’s parents’ house for a Buddhist holiday where they couldn’t eat meat, and his mother made a vegetable stir-fry with this fried tofu. The old me would have turned up my nose at the dish but tried to choke it down to be polite, but nowadays? Well, needless to say, I loved it. So much, that I had to ask his mom for the recipe. She didn’t have actual measurements for anything, but I’ve tried my best to approximate the amounts that I used when I made the dish for dinner just a few hours ago… it was a success.
…all on a bed of rice.
Ingredients
- 1 container firm tofu
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 3 large zucchini, sliced
- about 20 mushrooms, quartered
- olive oil
- 1 cup shoyu
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
Cooking Directions
- Slice the tofu along the short side into slices at least 1 cm thick.
- Pour a little bit of olive oil into a frying pan or wok, heat over medium heat.
- Place the half of the slices of tofu into the pan in one layer.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of shoyu over the tofu.
- Sprinkle about 2 tbsp sugar over the tofu.
- Spread about 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce onto each piece of tofu.
- After about a minute, flip the tofu using a pair of tongs. (I find that it’s really difficult to flip the tofu using chopsticks without breaking the tofu slices.)
- Spread about 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce onto the second side of each piece of tofu.
- After another minute, flip the tofu again. Continue flipping every minute or so, until the tofu begins to brown and the sauces/sugar begin to caramelize.
- Remove the tofu from the pan onto a plate.
- Repeat with the remaining tofu.
- When you have cooked and removed all the tofu, place the onion slices into the pan.
- Sauté the onions until translucent, then pour 1/2 cup shoyu and 1/4 cup sugar over the onions.
- Add the zucchini and mushrooms to the pan.
- Add in the chili garlic sauce. If you want your stir-fry spicier, then you can add more, but 1 tbsp is just enough to give it a kick without being very spicy.
- Sauté the vegetables until they are soft, about 5-10 minutes.
- Serve the vegetable stir-fry over a bed of rice or noodles, topped with a couple slices of fried tofu.
Does it get any better?
Rugelach
When I heard this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie pick by Piggy of Piggy’s Cooking Journal was rugelach, well, I was a bit skeptical. I’ve never even heard of rugelach, never mind actually ever having some. So you can understand why I might be a wee bit nervous about making a brand new sweet, especially when I still have baked goods from previous weeks laying around.
See the gooey jam and chocolate oozing out?
Oh man, were my worries unfounded. Although I was reminded of something I had made before by the way they were rolled, the rugelach were so much better. Seriously. I ate four as soon as they were cool enough to touch. It’s possible that there won’t be any left tomorrow.
Just look at that… yummy, sweet, gooey…
Rather than using the exact fillings that Dorie lists, I used her suggestions more as guidelines. For the jam, I used my favorite jam in the whole wide world - my grandmother’s strawberry jam. Seriously, I’m spoiled. I won’t eat any other jam. (Remind me to get that recipe from her someday… I must learn to make it!) I used just a sprinkling of pecans for the nuts (I’m not a huge nut fan), and a ton of chocolate. What? I like chocolate. Although a lot of the jam melted all over the pan rather than staying in the rugelach, it still turned out wonderfully. And very addictive. I have a feeling these (along with the biscotti) may be making another appearance during the holidays…
Mmmmm… strawberry jam…
The Most Fantabulastic Pancakes
For many, many years, my family was a Bisquik family. Pancakes and waffles were always made from Bisquik mix. That is, until my sister came home with a pancake recipe from one of her friends, and insisted on using that recipe instead of our old stand-by. That was the day our pancake breakfasts changed forever.
The great thing about these pancakes is that they are open for interpretation. Want strawberry pancakes? Just press strawberries into the pancake after you pour the batter onto the griddle. Want chocolate chip pancakes? Mix chocolate chips into the batter. Want pumpkin pie pancakes (which I really recommend, they were delicious!)? Mix half a can of pumpkin puree into the batter, sprinkle a little nutmeg, ginger, and a bunch of cinnamon in, and enjoy!
Yummy, yummy pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 3/4 tbsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp melted butter
- 1 1/4 cup milk
Cooking Directions
- Mix all ingredients together until just blended, but do not over-mix - it’s okay if the batter is a little lumpy.
- Heat a griddle or pan over medium heat.
- Spread melted butter around the griddle, or spray with cooking spray.
- Pour 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter onto the griddle, depending on how large you want your pancakes.
- When the bubbles begin to set on the pancake, check the underside for doneness (if it’s burning, the heat is too high). If it is at your preferred doneness, flip the pancake.
- When you can easily slide a spatula under the flipped pancake (about 20-30 seconds after flipping it), remove the pancake from the griddle, onto a waiting platter.
- Enjoy with butter and syrup, or jam, or peanut butter, or even whipped cream!
Ready to dig in!
