Sweet Pea Journey

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

Tagged: super easy

Cooking

Instant Pot Ox Tail

Seriously, I can’t live without my slow cookers or Instant Pots nowadays. They are so handy, either worry free cooking or huge time saver.

I tried this ox tail recipe in my trusty 6 qt instant pot, the smaller one I have. It fit perfectly, 8 qt one probably would be a bit more comfortable.

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Ingredients:

  • 3 lb oxtail1 yellow onion, sliced
  • 4 green onions sliced
  • 3 carrots, cut into 1 inch sections, half the thicker pieces
  • 1 green bell pepper, cut into pieces
  • 5 clove of garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 Tbsp salt
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp 7-spice or all spice
  • 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1 Tbsp BBQ sauce of your choice
    1 tsp dried herb province

Method:

Wash and pat dry oxtail pieces and put in a large bowl (I used my stock pot since all my stainless steel bowls were occupied). Add brown sugar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, 7-spice or all spice into the pot and mix well with ox tail pieces. Set aside to marinate.

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In the mean time cut up all vegetables and garlic.

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Set instant pot on saute function. Add oil once pot is hot. Brown ox tail pieces on all sides till brown. About 2 minutes per side. Brown the pieces in batches to avoid over crowding the pot. Set the browned ox tail pieces into a bowl.

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Once all oxtail pieces are browned. Add a splash of the beef broth to de-galze the pot, using a wooden spoon and scrape all the dark goodness off the bottom of the pot. Add all the vegetables into the pot and saute for a few minutes until the vegetables are softened.
Add the remaining of seasoning into the pot, mix well with the vegetables, add the browned oxtail pieces back into the pot, pour the remaining beef broth into the pot, lid on, seal the vent, and change the setting to pressure cooking, on high for 50 minutes.

Once the pressure cooking process is completed, let it naturally release the pressure.

About 20 minutes later, enjoy a bowl of delicious oxtail stew, you will never believe this pot of pure deliciousness was done within an hour and a half, from start to finish.

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Cooking

Blanched Prawns and Simple Vinegar Ginger Sauce

This dish is such a treat when prawns are in season. Simple cooking methods and sauce brings out the natural sweetness of the fresh catch. From beginning to end, this dish takes 10 minutes tops.

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Ingredients:

1 lb fresh head on, shell on prawns
2 TBSP black Asian vinegar
2 TBSP water, optional
1 TBSP grated or finely minced fresh ginger

Method:

In a large pot, bring about 4 to 6 cups of water to a rapid boil. In the mean time, prepare ginger and put into a dipping sauce bowl.

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Add black Asian vinegar and mix well. Take a taste of the sauce, this is quite strong, frankly. I quite love the strong sauce, however, if it is too strong to your taste, feel free to thin it out a bit by adding some water to it.

When water is boiling, add all prawns into the pot, heads on, shell on. Move them around in the pot to evenly distribute them. They will turn pink quickly. Leave them in the hot water for about 2 minutes, or just before the water comes back to a boil.

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Fish out all prawns and arrange them on a platter to cool.

Twist off the heads, peel the prawns and dip into the dipping sauce. Savor the fresh sweet taste from the prawn, the black vinegar and ginger really brings out and highlights the slightly sweet meat from the fresh juicy prawns.

Cooking

Brown Sugar Carnitas

Save this recipe, I am dead serious! Super easy, super tasty, super satisfying! I used mine for street tacos with home made corn tortilla.

Ingredients:

4 lb pork shoulder, cut into roughly 3 inch chunks, don’t worry about the looks

3 cups of milk, any kind, divided

1/4 of a large white / yellow onion, or half of a small one, cut into chunks

3 cloves of garlic

1 bunch of cilantro stems, yes, stems provides the good flavor, save the leaves for garnish!

1/4 cup of brown sugar

Generous amount of salt and pepper for seasoning

1 tbsp of lard or vegetable shortening. Worst case, use olive oil, don’t fuss about this

Method:

Brown pork in a heavy bottom pot over medium high heat with generous amount of salt and pepper. Leave meat pieces alone for 5 to 6 minutes to thoroughly brown, then flip once and brown for 5 to 6 minutes. You may need to do this in batches. Be patient.

In the mean time, blend the rest of the ingredients except for 1/2 cup of milk and brown sugar in a blender till smooth. Once meat chunks are thoroughly browned, pour milky mixture into pot, stir to combine. When liquid starts to boil again, lid on and lower heat to low and simmer for about 50 minutes. Stir a couple of times during.

When it’s all done and meat is tender, combine remaining milk and brown sugar and pour over meat. Stir, and cook for about 5 minutes. All done! Enjoy over home made tortilla or rice, top pizza dough, make pasta sauce, use it to make pupusas or even enchiladas….

Cooking

Harrissa Chicken and Veggie Bake

This is another super healthy, super easy dish you would want to make over and over again.

Ingredients:

1 green bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 eggplant

2 onions, I used 1 yellow, 1 purple

5 chicken leg quarters, or drum sticks, or thighs, or a whole chicken, butterflied

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

6 tbsp harrisa paste, I used mild this time, will try spicy next time

 

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Clean and cup all vegetables to bite size, arrange at the bottom of 9 x 13 pan. I used 2 pans to avoid over crowding, but this will not be too much food, I know, amazing! Salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil go into the veggie goodness and mix with a spoon or hand.

Score chicken down to the bone, salt and pepper chicken, ensure to rub into the cracks of the cuts. Dump harrisa pates onto chicken and veggies and mix really well. Lay chicken on top of veggies, this way all the chicken fat and drippings will flavor the vegetables.

Both trays go into the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Enjoy the goodness!

Note, the mild harrisa paste isn’t spicy at all, at least not to me. I used some of the chicken for my tacos, and had to add some spices. I will try the spicy version next time.