Sweet Pea Journey

Family, Friendship, Food, Fun and Everything in Between!

Sweet Pea Journey

Cooking

Pork Rib Chow Mein

Another quick and easy dinner, super versatile. Just change out the protein to whatever you like, or cut it out all together for a meatless version.

Ingredients:

1 lb pork ribs, ask your butcher to cut it into 1 inch sections, then cut them into pieces

1 yellow onion, half if it is large

1 orange bell pepper

a handful of asparagus

2 green onions

4 large eggs

1 Roma tomato

1 inch knob of fresh ginger

4 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of soy sauce

2 TBSP oyster sauce

1 TBSP Hoisin sauce

1 tsp chicken bullion powder

about 1 inch bundle of noodles of your choice. I used Chinese style dried noodles

1 cinnamon stick (optional)

2 star anise (optional)

1 bay leaf (optional)

Method:

Slice ginger into thin slices, reserve about 4 slices, put rest of the ginger, cinnamon stick, star anise, bay leaf and rib pieces into a pot, fill with water, enough to cover everything. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 30 minutes. I snapped the asparagus hard stem part off and threw the hard parts into the rib pot.

In the mean time, I whipped up a dump cake, and threw the dessert into the oven to bake.

On the cutting board, I prepared all the vegetables. Thinly sliced the onion, cut the orange bell pepper into thin strips, cut asparagus at a diagonal, and lightly scored the tip of the tomato and put it into the rib water to poach for 20 seconds. I took it out with a slotted spoon, easily peeled it and cut it into small chunks.

I minced the garlic and cut the ginger into thin slices, then thin strips then minced it.

Once the ribs are fork tender, use the slotted spoon to take out all the solids from the pot into a large bowl. Rib pieces can be easily fished out later when needed. But the boiling water is needed to boil the noodle now.

Put about 4 servings of noodles into the pot and boil per instruction.

In a large nonstick pan, add oil and heat it on medium high heat. Once oil is heated up, crack the eggs directly into the pan, then stir fry using a wooden spoon. Poke the yokes first and stir it up. No need to dirty up another bowl, you will never tell the difference.

Once eggs are scrambled, push the eggs to the outer edge, add about 2 more TBSP oil in the center, dump the vegetables into the center and stir fry the veggies for a minute. Mix up eggs and vegetables. Add ribs from the bowl. Add all the seasoning into the pan and mix well. Stir fry until noodles are done. Fish out the noodles and put them directly into the vegetable and rib mixture.

Mix well and let noodles soak up all the flavor. Use 2 wooden spoons as needed. If desired, turn off heat and sprinkle some finely sliced green onions for garnish and flavoring. Dish up and enjoy!

Cooking

Spicy Salt and Pepper Shrimp Ramen

This one is a fusion between staple Sichuan Spicy Salt and Pepper Shrimp and Japanese Ramen, married by stir fry. All I gotta say is try it, you will love it!

Without further due, here is how to make it:

Ingredients:

1 lb headless shrimp, peeled and de-veined

3 green onions, white and pale part thinly sliced, green part cut into half-inch sections

1 knob of fresh ginger, thinly sliced then cut into thin strips

about 10 dried chili, cut into half-inch pieces using a pair of scissors, keep seeds

Optional: about 2 fresh Thai birds eye chilies, if you like extra spicy

2 servings of fresh Japanese Ramen noodles

1 tsp sesame oil

6 TBSP soy sauce, divided

1 TBSP Chinese cooking wine (or use chicken stock if you prefer alcohol free cooking)

1/4 cup of plain all purpose flour

about 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

about 1 tsp Sichuan pepper corn, freshly ground after toasting

Method:

Combine 2 TBSP soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil with cleaned shrimp in a small bowl, set aside let marinade for a few minutes. Mean while, prepare ginger, green onions, chilies, and boil a large pot of water for Ramen noodles.

Heat up about 2 TBSP vegetable oil in a large pan on medium high. Put all purpose flour into a small bowl, coat each shrimp in flour and shake off excess flour. Carefully fry shrimps on both sides for about 1 minute. This gives the final dish a nice crust on the shrimps and a thick sauce to coat the noodles. Don’t over crowd the pan, shrimps will stuck together otherwise. Fry them in batches if needed. Set the fried shrimp aside. Don’t worry about if they are cooked all the way through, there will be more cooking of shrimps later on.

Add another TBSP or 2 of oil into the pan, after removing all shrimps. Heat up oil and in goes thinly sliced green onion white and pale parts, ginger and chilies. Move them around and give them about 30 seconds to a minute to become fragrant.

While large pot of water is boiling, add fresh Ramen noodles into pot and quickly move the noodles around so they don’t stick together. This happens VERY quickly, literally 30 seconds is enough. Drain noodles right away, otherwise the noodles will get very soft and soggy in stir fry process. No need for ice water bath, because it will go into the large pan shortly.

In goes remaining soy sauce and cooking wine. Mix well. Add shrimps back in. Immediately add salt and ground Sichuan pepper corn and sugar. Mix well. Sauce will thicken quite quickly. Add cooked Ramen into the pan with the shrimps. Add all but a few green part of the green onions into the pan. Save the last bit for final garnish.

Use 2 spoons or spatulas, move noodles around, and very well mix with shrimps and soak up all the yummy juices and sauces. Dish up, top with last bit of green onions and enjoy!

Cooking

Oxtail Gravy Spicy Ramen

This is super satisfying. You have got to make the Caribbean Oxtail, and use the gravy or leftovers (if that’s even possible) for this super simple yet extremely comforting weeknight dinner, or mid night snack.

I am not going to waste your time talking about how to make the oxtail, simply refer to my other blog post. Here is how to make the Ramen:

Ingredients:

1 package of store bought Japanese style Ramen. Buy the kind that’s in the refrigerated section, fresh noodles, typically you can find these in Asian markets fairly easily. I normally buy a large pack and separate the leftover noodles into portions. They freeze very well.

3 TBSP light soy sauce

1 tsp dark Chinese vinegar, regular white vinegar will do too

2 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 spring onion, finely sliced

1 tsp sugar

1 TBSP home made chili oil, if you absolutely have none, use garlic chili sauce or small amount of siracha

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

a pinch of ground sichuan pepper powder, leave it out if you don’t have any on hand

1 ladle of oxtail gravy, heated up if cold.

A large handful of any greens of your choice, if you like, or none.

Method:

Boil a pot of water on the stove. While water is boiling, mix all ingredients except for the noodles and greens in a large noodle bowl. You want to use a large noodle bowl which will make the mixing of noodles much easier.

When the water comes to a full boil, carefully drop in 1 serving of noodles into boiling water. Immediately use a pair of chopsticks to mix the noodle around. Add greens immediately.

Literally, it takes about 30 seconds to cook fresh noodles, 45 seconds if frozen. I know it sounds ridiculously fast, but that’s what it takes to get the right texture.

Fish out all the noodles and greens into the large bowl full of amazing sauce. Mix well and enjoy!

Cooking

Piña Coladas Tres Leches Cake

I had to make a cake for parents’ friends gathering the following day. Then I realized I did not have butter, or whipped cream. But I got the following ingredients that I could still make a killer Piña Coladas Tres Leches Cake!

Ingredients:

I box of yellow cake mix, plus oil, water and eggs or whatever the box calls for

1 can of crushed pineapple, drained

1 can of each: sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, coconut milk

1 bag of miniature marshmallows, or large ones, miniatures are what I had on hand.

Method:

Pre-heat oven as per instruction on cake mix box. Make the cake in a greased 9×13 pan according to instruction, but add the can of crushed pineapple into the batter before baking.

Once cake is done, poke the cake with the handle end of a spatula all over.

Combine the 3 cans of milks in a large bowl, whisk to ensure well incorporated. Pour milk mixture carefully all over cake. Don’t worry if it seems like too much milk, the cake will absorb it all, eventually.

Put oven on broil. Arrange marshmallows in a single layer, smugly on top of the cake.

Broil for about 3 minutes, turn the oven light on and keep an close eye on it, it will burn quickly.

Cool on the counter for about 10 minutes and cover the entire cake up with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge over night, to give the cake enough time to soak up the milk mixture. The cake will be so moist and tender the following day. My parents said the cake was all gone in about 10 minutes at their gathering, and they didn’t even get to take a piece.

Cooking

Marinated Chicken Thighs

Super universal, ridiculously easy and fast, amazingly flavorful. Serve it as part of a main dish, and use leftovers in endless options.

Ingredients:

4 skinless boneless chicken thighs

1 cup of soy sauce

1/4 cup of honey

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Method:

Put all ingredients into a large ziploc bag, massage to combine well. Leave on counter top for 20 minutes while preparing the rest of the meal.

Pre-heat a heavy bottom pan, oil the pan to prevent chicken from sticking. Grill chicken on medium high heat on both sides for 5 minutes per side. Serve and enjoy!

Cooking

Quinoa Salad – Make it Your Way

What a great way to get your kid to love quinoa and vegetables!

My 6 year old keeps asking for it, and everyone has tried it loves it.

Ingredient:

1 cup uncooked quinoa (any color, I had red on hand)

Any combination of vegetables, that’s not too liquidy, but an onion (red preferably) is a must. Add vegetables such as multi-color bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, radishes, sugar snap peas, 1 small tomato, 1 rib of celery… The hard part is to have variety but not too much in quantity. An avocado would be a very nice touch for creaminess and coolness.

Instruction:

Rinse and cook quinoa per instruction. Or, bring 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups of water to a boil and reduce heat to low, lid on, simmer for 20-25 minutes or until liquid completely evaporate. Fluff up quinoa with a fork, set aside to cool.

In the mean time, wash and chop all vegetables to about 1/4 inch dice. Throw all vegetable dices into a large bowl.

Throw in cooked quinoa with vegetables.

Sprinkle salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle about 2 tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar, or even lemon juice. Mix well and enjoy!

Cooking

Caribbean Oxtail

Frankly, I wasn’t sure which one was better, my red wine braised oxtail, or this one. They are literally equally fabulous, definitely both worth keeping! No kidding, this melt-in-your-mouth super flavorful oxtail will be requested over and over.

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Ingredients:

Oxtail pieces, 3lb ish, I bought giant oxtail pieces, so I used 5 of them, wash in salted vinegar water and rinse clean.

1 tomato, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

small bunch of parsley, leaves roughly chopped, save stem for later

1 jalapeno, sliced, seeds and all, in the end, you only taste very very mild warmth, don’t worry too much about the spice

1 green bell pepper, seeds removed and chopped

1 inch of fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped

about 2 TBSP of Worcestershire sauce

2 green onions, sliced

1 TBSP ketchup

2 TBSP packed brown sugar, white sugar will do too, if you don’t have brown sugar on hand

2 pieces of beef bullion cubes

2 bay leaves

1 can of coconut milk

Method:

Combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl or ziploc bag, mix well to combine. Marinate in the fridge over night, or at least a few hours. I did 6 hours, worked wonderful.

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In a large heavy bottom pot, heat up about 1 TBSP vegetable oil on medium high heat, sprinkle in brown sugar. Be patient, let it bubble up and become deeply golden brown. This step is crucial, keep a close eye on your sugar oil mixture, don’t let sugar burn. Otherwise you will have to restart. The deep caramelized color will give the final dish a rich color and deep flavor.

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Carefully put in oxtail pieces to brown on all sides, shake off excess juices and vegetable pieces. If there are a few pieces of vegetable pieces stuck on the oxtail, no biggie, reserve all vegetables and juices.

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Patiently let oxtail pieces brown on all sides, roughly 5 minutes per side. Don’t stress about sugar burning a bit at the bottom, it will come right off once the vegetables are added. Don’t crowd the pan, brown oxtail pieces in batches if needed to.

Once all oxtail pieces are browned, put all pieces back into the pot, add in all the vegetables along with the marinate juices into the pot. Stir to combine. Hand crush the beef bullion cubes and sprinkle all over the oxtail mixture. Add coconut milk and enough water to submerge oxtail pieces, add bay leaves. Throw in the reserved parsley stem and bring the pot to a boil.

Lower the heat to low and simmer with lid on for 3 to 4 hours. Stir and scrape the bottom bits of goodness once in a while and move oxtail pieces around to ensure every bit of the oxtail gets some loving.

Last 30 minutes, take lid off, raise heat to medium. At this point, the liquid in the pot shall have evaporated some, and becomes thicker. Keep the gravy boiling and keep reducing until desired thickness and taste for salt.

Serve over humble steamed rice, along side some cooling salad, you will be in heaven!

Cooking

Almond Flour Chocolate Cake

I came across this recipe by accident one day, waking up from a boring TV show.. but boy, isn’t this one a keeper! Making it is super easy as well, you will for sure make it over and over again.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, I used chocolate chips, easier to melt
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 14-ounce can, plus 1/4 cup, sweetened condensed milk, save the rest for your coffee 🙂
  • 1 1/2 cups almond flour, this adds a very tender texture to the cake, great ingredient choice
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • Pinch of kosher or coarse sea salt, salt always brings out sweet flavors
  • 1/4 cup boiling water, this sounds odd, but really brings out the tenderness and moist of the cake
  • Confectioners’ sugar for dusting, think I may have over done a tiny bit? But the cake is not overly sweet, so no big deal 🙂

Method:

Set oven to 350F and preheat. Use a 9 inch spring form pan (yep, I got one just for this cake and it is so worth it!) butter it and cover the bottom with parchment paper. This helps the cake to be removed from the pan after cooling.

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. I used a small sauce pan with about 1 inch of water, and sat a large glass bowl on top, so the bottom of the glass bowl doesn’t touch the boiling water. The steam of the water will heat up the bowl and melt the chocolate and butter inside. Stir occasionally, until everything just melts.

Puree eggs and sweetened condensed milk in the blender until smooth, add melted chocolate and butter and blend. Add almond flour salt, baking powder, baking soda, puree again. Last but not the least, add boiling water and blend.

Pour into the prepared 9 inch spring form pan.

Bake for 40 minutes. Cake will puff up quite a bit. Poke the center with a toothpick, it should come out clean. Let cake cool completely in the spring form pan, the center will cave down to about 3/4 inch while the edges are still high, like a large bowl.

Dust the top with powdered sugar and serve with a cup of coffee, watching loved ones’ smiles on their faces savoring this cake, life is complete!

Cooking

Pork Shoulder Pupusas

Yep, I made those too. Pretty darn proud of myself, because these are amazing!

Ingredients:

1 lb pork shoulder, roughly sliced, liberally salt and pepper all over them on cutting board.

1 TBSP lard or vegetable shortening per batch for frying. I used my amazing Brown Sugar Carnita leftover fat with flavors.

1/2 green bell pepper, roughly chopped

1/4 white onion, roughly chopped

1/4 bunch of cilantro stems. Yes, stems have wonderful flavors and all you need to do is to blend it up, so no one will ever notice the fibers.

2 cups of masa, about 2 tsp salt and enough cold water to form a fairly loose corn meal dough. Read the instruction on the masa bag, prepare a bit more water for looser texture. It would feel like very fresh play dough or a tab bit looser. Dry dough will crack when you try to enclose filling.

Method:

Heat a heavy bottom pan on stove on medium high heat, add vegetable oil to coat. Sear pork shoulder pieces on both sides for a few minutes each, until browned. Cool slightly. In the mean time, make corn meal dough per packaging instruction, but add a tab bit more water to form looser dough than corn tortillas.

Add pork shoulder, onion, bell pepper and cilantro stem to a blender. Blend till smooth, I know this sounds weird, blending cooked meat, but bear with me, amazing things are happening here.

Heat up another heavy bottom pan over medium heat, such as cast iron pan with 1 TBSP any sort of fat. Bacon fat, lard, vegetable shortening, vegetable oil all work. Lucky for me, I had leftover brown sugar carnita fat.

Pinch off a piece of dough, about 1 inch diameter ball, flatten out on your palm, making a disc about 1/4 inch thick, slightly thicker in the middle. Put about 1 TBSP of blended meat filling in the middle of the disc. Carefully close the dough around the filling. This step takes skills. Don’t worry if the dough break or crack, or the filling is peeking through the dough. All you need to do is to pull a little bit more dough from the mixing bowl and patch up the holes on your pupusa.

Carefully form the dough with filling into a flatter disc, about 1/2 thick disc. Slowly and carefully lay the pupusa into the pre-heated pan and leave it alone for 4 to 5 minutes. Flip it over when the bottom is golden brown and slightly burned. You want the black spots, which is very crunchy and full of flavors. Fry the other side for 4 to 5 minutes too to achieve the same golden brown color and fully cooked through. Add more grease as needed.

Dish up and enjoy it with some home made charro beans, what a satisfying meal!

Cooking

Instant Pot Charro Beans

I have my precious Instant Pot. I don’t use it as much as I really should. But this recipe, hands down, is really good!

Ingredients:

2 cups of dried beans, picked and cleaned. Yep, I said dried beans, no soaking, changing water, any of that nonsense….You are welcome!

1/4 lb salted pork, or bacon, cut into small pieces

1/2 onion, yellow or white, diced

1/2 bunch of cilantro stem, roughly chopped. Yep, stem, save the pretty green leaves for garnish for those amazing brown sugar carnita tacos!

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1/2 TBSP ground cumin

1/2 TBSP ground smoked paprika

5 cups of chicken broth, or 5 cups of water + 1 chicken bullion cube

Method:

Heat up instant pot to high heat on saute function, add salted pork to render fat and slightly brown. Add onions and cilantro stem and jalapenos. Add cumin and smoked paprika. Stir until fragrant and onions are translucent. Add beans, broth. Lid on, lock and close vent.

Change the function to pressure cook, 30 minutes. Let pot release pressure naturally after beans are done. Stir the beans and enjoy!

Note, I did not add any salt, salted pork is quite salty as is, you can always add more salt at the very end, after tasting. Serve alongside any tacos, breakfast, or enjoy a bowl of charro beans on its own. This can be easily mistaken as authentic Mexican restaurant take out 🙂