Hot and Sour Soup

Various recipies, various failures, finally I made a hot and sour soup I'm happy with.

Ingredients:

1 cake tofu (fresh, if possible)
2 ounces pork tenderloin

Marinade:

1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Other:

1/2 cup bamboo shoots
1 handful of dried Asian mushrooms
6 cups water
1 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
2 teaspoon granulated sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons red rice vinegar, white rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar
2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1 egg, beaten
3 green onions, finely chopped

White pepper to taste
Hot chili oil, to taste


Hot and Sour Soup Directions:

Slice pork very thinly. Mix marinade ingredients and marinate pork for 20 minutes.

Cut tofu into small squares. Cut bamboo shoots into thin strips and then into fine slices. To reconstitute the mushrooms, soak in warm water for 20 minutes. Pick them out of the water, give them a good squeeze to remove fluid, and then chop finely. Return to the "mushroom water" and set this aside for now.

Bring the water to a boil. When it is boiling, add the bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and pork. Stir. Bring back to a boil and add the tofu.
Stir in the salt, sugar, soy sauce and vinegar and sesame oil.
Test the broth and adjust the taste if desired, using white pepper and chili oil to suit your heat level.

Mix the cornstarch and water. Slowly pour the cornstarch mixture into the soup, stirring while it is being added. Let the broth come back to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, remove the broth from the stove.

Slowly drop in the beaten egg, stirring in one direction at the same time. Add the green onion and serve hot.

Pumpkin Soup with Rice

Karen is ill today, so she clapped her hands sharply and ordered soup(s).

2 lbs. roasted pumpkin flesh
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups 1% milk
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp ground pepper

1 cup cooked white rice
pinch of ground cinnamon, to serve


Simplicity itself, put first six ingrediants in a pot, heat until just starting to boil, and puree' that stuff with a stock blender. Put a scoop of rice and a sprinkle of cinnamon in each bowl. Serve!

Grilling stuff

Forgive me. I have a brand new grill and I'm still just having way too much fun. Recipes and new stuff soon.

Maryland Crab Cakes

Thai Red Curry with Spiced Baked Chicken

I've been in love with Indian-style (ok, English-style pub curry) for so long I make it on auto-pilot at least once every few weeks. Thanks to http://foodporndaily.com/ I now get random urges for whatever happens to be there. One day mentioned red Thai curry and off I went. To my eternal shame I don't own shrimp paste (you likely don't either) and I wasn't about to take off for Somerset street in the middle of a blizzard. The vegetarian alternative is to use some soy sauce to at least replace the salty/savory that would be missing.
Ingredients:

* 2 large onions, chopped
* 1 stalk lemongrass, minced ( see instructions below) OR 2 Tbsp. frozen prepared lemongrass (available at Asian stores)
* 1-2 red chilies, OR 1/2 to 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, OR 1-2 tsp. Thai chili sauce
* 4 cloves garlic
* 1 thumb-size piece ginger, sliced
* 2 Tbsp. tomato ketchup (OR 2 Tbsp. tomato paste + 1/2 tsp sugar) * 1 tsp. ground cumin
* 1 tsp. ground coriander
* 1 tsp. ground pepper
* 3 Tbsp. fish sauce (OR 4 Tbsp. soy sauce if vegetarian)
* 1-2 tsp. shrimp paste (omit if vegetarian)
* 1 Tbsp. sugar
* 2 Tbsp. regular chili powder
* 1/4 can good-quality coconut milk (or just enough to keep the blades turning), reserve remaining for the curry*
* 2 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice
* Optional: 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (OR add 1 cinnamon stick to your curry pot)

Preparation:

1. For complete instructions on how to buy and cook with lemongrass, see: All About Lemongrass: Your Guide to Buying, Preparing, and Cooking with Lemongrass.
2. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and process well to create a fragrant Thai red curry paste. (Note that it will taste very strong at this point.) 3. To use immediately, fry the paste in a little oil to release flavors before adding your choice of meat, tofu, wheat gluten, or vegetables.
4. Add remaining can of coconut milk to create the curry sauce (*I cheated and added the whole can into the food processor, hence it's not very "red").
5. At this point, you're basically making a stew. I added two diced carrots and one diced green pepper. A chopped lemongrass, baby corn, bamboo shoots, thin strips of chicken, go nuts.
6. Serve with a mix of chopped cilantro and fresh basil.

The chicken? I tossed it with flour seasoned with curry powder, garam masala, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder. Baked it for an hour at 350C. Easy.