Crab Rangoon - kiss of death

Who doesn't love cream cheese filled deep fried wontons?! At China Pearl, their crab rangoons are HUGE and super garlicky. I know of some places that make theirs w/ low grade cream cheese and the result is a toothpaste like consistency and absolutely no flavor! My recipe is super easy, but I warn you: you will NOT be gettin any lovin from ANYONE b/c this is GARLICKY!

- Two 8 oz bricks of Philadelphia cream cheese
- 8 cloves of minced garlic (if you can, garlic paste)
- handful of green onions
- black pepper
- crabmeat (frozen hand picked is great, but i'm cheating w/ imitation)
- olive oil
- wonton skins (thick kind - perfect for frying)


1. Place about 1/2 tbs of olive oil in a pot on medium high.
2. Quickly toss in garlic and sautee. Do NOT burn it. The intention is to release the aroma.

3. Add in cream cheese. Stir constantly to ensure that the cream cheese is smoothed out and super pliable, not melted. Shut off heat.

4. Add in TONS of cracked black pepper.
5. Add in green scallions. (My mom thinks it's too tart, so you can add a bit of sugar)

6. The cream cheese mixture should now be speckled in black, soft, and super garlicky. At this point, you can either take a Ritz cracker and dip or proceed.

7. Take wonton skin. Fill about a teaspoon or a bit more of the mixture into the center.

8. Wet the wonton w/ water or egg wash mixture on the perimeter.
9. Take one end to the other in the form of a triangle.

10. Wet one point and bring the dry point to the other end.



11. To deep fry, set your setting at 350 F. Throw in the fryer until golden brown, roughly 3 minutes.
12. Drain and serve w/ a Thai sweet chili sauce.

For any extras, you can place them in the freezer and save for another day. The consistency will not be as smooth or hot as the first day you make them, but just let it fry longer w/o burning the wonton skin.

Dad's Good Old Marinade

Ever since I can remember, my dad has this kick-ass marinade that he uses on EVERYTHING - beef, porkchops, chicken, shrimp, squid...you name it, he used it. This marinade is SUPER easy and SUPER basic comprising of 6 ingredients.

*Note: As good as this tastes, beware if you are diabetic!!! A boatload of sugar is used and for those w/ hypertension, the fish sauce is deniably salty. However, once in a while, why not???? Its soooooo good!


Ingredients:

- 1 cup of nuoc mam (fish sauce)

- Black pepper

- 4 cloves garlic, worked into a paste

- 1 teaspoon Five-spice powder

- 1 to 1 1/4 cup sugar



1. To work garlic into a paste, you need to first mince the garlic. Add kosher salt, and constantly press the garlic on the cutting board back and forth.




2. Once you have the garlic paste, add in your fish sauce.



3. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Continue to add more sugar until a syrup-like consistency is achieved. The given amount is an estimate, you may need to use more.




4. Stir in 5-spice. The mixture will end up looking "dirty." But damn it will smell good.

5. Stir in your marinade on top of your meat choice. In my case, I had chicken thighs. I did a double baggy method: using a ziploc bag and then a regular plasstic bag to ensure no leakage.





6. Let it marinate for at least an hour.


7. Throw the chicken in the oven at temperature of 400 F. Bake for at least 20 minutes.

This should be the result. The skin should be crispy and sweet and the meat should be juicy and have a faint aroma of the marinade. This is served w/ jasmine rice on the side w/ fried green scallion oil and topped w/ fish sauce.

Bon Appetit!

Dad's Mapo Tofu

Mapo Tofu is traditionally a spicy Szechuan dish made w/ tofu, ground pork, and peppers!!!! Soooo good but when I order it in restaurants, it's usually SPICY but no flavor and w/ the huge grease pockets. I'm following my dad's recipe a bit - w/ the addition of ginger but I'm keeping the heat element.

- Soft tofu, cut in cubes
- 1/4 lb of ground pork
- knob of ginger, julienned
- minced garlic
- green onion
- vegetable oil
- oyster sauce
- soy sauce
- sugar
- crushed red pepper
- cornstarch mixed w/ water

1. Place cubed tofu on a plate as if you are presenting the dish.
2. Add oil to pan and then add in ground pork.
3. When the pork is about 90-95% done, add oyster, soy sauce, and sugar.
4. Add sugar, garlic, and ginger.
5. Add in about 1/4 cup of water and let simmer for at least a minute. Microwave the tofu for one minute, making sure it doesn't explode.
6. Stir in red pepper and then shut off the heat.
7. Add in the cornstarch mixture and stir well. This will thicken up the sauce.
8. Top off the pork mixture on top of the warmed tofu.
9. Dress w/ green onions.

The result is a heavenly mixture of salty meat and silky "plain" tofu. Again, I warn you, if you eat the meat alone, it will be SUPER salty. However, when you bite it w/ tofu, it's a wonderful blend of softness and textures. The red pepper should come through a bit, but what gives this dish character is the GINGER. The ginger should be able to cut through the flavors and provide that clean earthy taste as well as bite.

Chinese Hot Wings

LOVE me some hot wings...but as much as I love 'em, the traditional style of deep frying and melted butter makes me cringe! So here's a healthy cooking method of Chinese wings. (*Remember, eating the skin is NOT healthy, but tasty!!!)

- 2 lbs of drumettes (or wings)
- salt
- cayenne pepper
- five-spice powder (anise seed, cinnamon, fennel, clove, & garlic)

1. Preheat oven to 500 F.
2. Add salt, cayenne, and 5-spice on wings.
3. Flip and repeat.
4. Lay on lightly greased baking sheet (used Pam spray).
5. Bake for at least 30 minutes, flipping drumettes in process.
6. When the skin is golden brown and crispy, then it's time!

The result should be a crispy skin and super super hot wings. The cayenne gives the heat but the five-spice gives it a completely different flavor. Remember to use salt, b/c it would be super bland w/o it!

Breakfast Burrito

Okay, I know I can't compete w/ McDonald's and their

McSkillet Burritos...but dang it, I'm going to make it! This was just to have something for Tony to eat for breakfast right before heading out to work.

- Flour tortilla

- 3 eggs, beaten

- Three slices turkey

- Two slices of cheese, sliced thinly

- Cup of frozen breakfast potatoes

1. In skillet, sautee frozen breakfast potatoes for 5-7 minutes or almost cooked through.

2. Add beaten eggs and scramble like crazy.

3. Fill mixture in tortilla. Top of w/ cheese and roll it burrito style.

4. Throw the burrito back in pan and let it grill for a minute on both sides.

5. Top w/ salsa and enjoy!

Home-style tortilla chips and BBQ Chicken Pizza

Homestyle BBQ Chicken Pizza

Tony and I *love* Papa John's BBQ Chicken pizza. It's sweet, it's tangy, it's full of so much freakin calories/cholestoral/sodium/ etc. So in a quest to capture the spirit of the BBQ CHIX pizza, I decided to do it at home using everyday items.

- BBQ sauce (Jack Daniel's BBQ bottle)
- mozzerella cheese (8 oz, but used half bag)
- Trader Joe's regular pizza dough ($1.29! A STEAL!!!!)
- thinly sliced white onion
- Sliced white meat chicken (I had leftovers - normally when I buy chicken in bulk, whatever's left I broil/grill, slice, and throw it in freezer)
- olive oil
- a bit of flour for dusting

1. Lightly brush olive oil on a cookie sheet or pizza pan while preheating oven @ 450 F.
2. Dust the counter or cutting board w/ flour.
3. Work w/ the pizza dough and roll it out to the desired size. In my case, I'm using a cookie sheet, so rectangular size it is. Oh yes, I didn't have a roller, so it was all handy work.
4. Spoon on about half a cup of BBQ sauce.
5. Spread chicken evenly.
6. Top off w/ onions.
7. Top off w/ cheese.
8. Lightly brush olive oil on the edge of the pizza dough.
9. Throw it in the oven and bake around 15 minutes or until golden brown.
10.Rest the pizza for 5 minutes before cutting.

The result: Well, I was 3/4 done w/ the pizza consumption until I realised I didn't take any picture! It was great! The cheese was tasty, the BBQ sauce was delicious, and the chicken - well, a bit of freezer burn, but yummy - onions so good! Huge difference between this and Papa John's is the liberal use of bacon! But I rather something a wee bit healthier and not feeling heavy after. Sure it's no Papa John's but...saved money! I spent probably $7.00 on making this pizza versus $18 Papa John's!

Homestyle Baked Tortilla Chips

Personally I think bagged tortilla chips are disgusting. Who would want to eat deep-fried corn tortilla chips full of sodium and what other preservatives??? I love buying salsa in store especially from Costco b/c it's fresh and the ingredients are simple. So instead of dropping $3 a bag, I decided to pick up a pack of flour tortillas at Trader Joe's for $1.49. Here we go:

- Flour tortilla

- olive oil

- salt

1. Preheat oven at 375 F.

2. Take one tortilla and brush one side with olive oil.

3. Salt the tortilla lightly.

4. Flip the tortilla and repeat.

5. Cut tortilla in half and then into 8 pcs.

6. Toss on a baking sheet and throw it in the oven.

7. Bake for 5-10 minutes and then turn over.

8. Take out and let them cool on a rack.

9. Stack and store in an airtight container or throw in on a plate and enjoy!

kimchi jiggae

Ahh kimchi jiggae or kimchi stew, a perfect bowl soothes one's soul during a rainy night or a cold day. The hot temperature coupled with the slight spicyness makes this stew a great comfort food.

Unfortunately, Tony doesn't dig my jiggae too much b/c I don't use tuna. When he makes it w/ tuna, I don't like it at all, so I rather my way than his.

- Older kimchi (stinky! but the older the better!)

- one block soft tofu, cut in cubes

- water

- dashida (beef stock)

- sesame oil

1. Squeeze excessive kimchi juice into a reserve bowl.

2. Chop off kimchi into bite size pieces.

3. Adding sesame oil into pot, sautee kimchi pieces.

4. After about 5 minutes, add water and reserve kimchi juice.

5. Boil 15 minutes.

6. Add dashida and tofu. Stir gently making sure tofu is heated through.

7 If need be, add sugar to taste.

Scoop rice in bowl, add the kimchi jiggae and enjoy! Yaay!