Chinese Green Onion Pancakes

I can't believe summer will be here soon. My oldest son will be done with his first grade in exactly 1 week. Time really does fly while you are having fun. My little baby boy will soon  be a second grader! I'm so proud of him through out the year in many ways. He has grown and learned so much from the first day that I dropped him off at school.  My baby boy is now a little man with many achievements that make his mama proud. So to reward him for his hard work, I made for him his  favorite snack: the green onion pancakes.

There is a Szechuan Chinese restaurant near our place that we frequently visit on the days that my kitchen temporarily "closes" for service. And every single time we go there, I have to order this scrumptious appetizer for him. I don't blame him though, because as simple as it may look, it is quite addicting. The ingredients are so simple and readily available in most pantries. All you need are some flour, salt, water and green onions. That's it and an hour later you will have this delightful pancake to enjoy as snack.

Galbi Jiim (Korean beef short rib stew)

 

Before I start, let me I apologize for my long disappearance. Sometimes I wish that I could just stretch my day a little longer so I could get more things done. I found that in order to juggle and balance your work and family lives, you have to sacrifice many things that you would love to do at your leisure. Most of my time beside work evolve around cleaning, cooking, doing homework and being a "chauffeur" for my son to his extracurricular activities. The day goes by so quick and when I do have a little time for myself, I just want to lay down and do absolutely nothing else! So ... that is my excuse!:)

Anyway, back to the topic, I made this Galbi jiim dish a while back, following one the popular Korean cooking blog called Maangchi. In my opinion, this dish is best enjoyed in a cold winter day with some homemade kimchi, and a bowl of hot steamed rice. Also, don't forget to accompany some soju or beers with this delicious, comfort meal. It may take some times to prepare and cook, but at the end of the day, you will be rewarded with an awesome homemade beef stew that will knock your socks off. My hubby gave it two thumbs up!

Vietnamese vermicelli with Barbecued Pork (Bun cha thit nuong)

The weather has been warm enough lately for an early Barbecue event. Well, not quite yet at certain places on the globe, but we have been very blessed for living in Southern California with gorgeous weather of early Spring. So I have to take advantage of our new barbecue grill and the weather to make this delicious Northern Vietnamese noodle dish.

To me, this dish resemblances more of a salad than a noodle entree. Mostly, because I love to add a lot of vegetables with the  smallest amount of noodle possible to my bowl whenever I eat this. Also, the fish sauce serves as a dressing and ultimately brings everything together in this dish like a salad. That is why to me, making the fish sauce dressing is just as important as marinating and grilling the meats. The lightness of the minty vegetables and the smokey fragrance of the barbecued meats make you feel delighted and guilt-free when enjoying this noodle "salad".

Bun cha ca Nha Trang (Nha Trang fish cake vermicelli)

 
I have visited Nha Trang once in my life when we went back to Vietnam almost a decade ago. However, I have never gotten a chance to try this local deliciousness until recently. This is actually my second attempt of making this dish. Since I have never tried it before, I'm not very sure how authentic the taste of my soup is. But one thing I know for sure is that it came out deliciously, just how I imagined it would taste. 

The tanginess of the tomato and tamarind soup base blends nicely with the seafood flavor. The crunch from each bite of the bamboo complements perfectly the softness of the vermicelli and the fish cake. This noodle dish requires a large variety of vegetables to accompany it. I am missing the banana blossoms, so I substitute with green leave lettuces and it worked just fine although the banana blossoms may give the dish an additional crunch to the texture. But hey, I can't be too greedy right? Or can I?

Grilled lemongrass beef sandwich (Banh mi thit bo nuong xa)

 
 I can't believed Spring is here already! My oldest son was on Spring break last week, so I used that excuse to take a couple days off from work to do a mini family vacation. It was a nice little get away for the boys, but I told my husband it was more like an adventure for me and him if you know what I mean. Traveling with kids is never easy, especially with the little ones. Therefore, I always pick somewhere locally in driving distance as our vacation destination. This time around, we picked San Diego so the boys can visit Sea world and get acquainted with the fish and sea animals. They loved it, but my husband and I were knocked out at the end of each day while we were there. 

Anyway, I didn't have much time to cook since the vacation and I have neglected my blog long enough so I just want to post something quick that I made a couple weeks ago for breakfast. Traditionally, banh mi is served as breakfast with a variety of different fillings. I particularly love this grilled lemongrass ground beef patties for the filling because it reminds me of my childhood in Vietnam. I used to gulp down these for breakfast before school every morning. The charcoal grilled flavor of the meat blending together with the lemongrass fragrant creates a mouth-watering and irresistible experience in every bite. I hope you will try and enjoy it too.

Tender Pork Tamales

Hot... hot... hot... tamales! Mission accomplished!

I have been wanting to make these scrumptious, wonderful goodness for a long time now, but never got a chance to go through with it. Until last week, when I stopped by the supermarket for some butters. As I walked pass the Hispanic food aisle, from the corner of my eye, I saw bags of Maseca corn flour waiting to be picked up on the shelf. I was then reminded of the tamale that was long imbedded in my to-do list and almost forgotten now. I picked up a bag of Maseca and quickly gathered all other ingredients needed to get ready for my quest for tamales.

Although I had never made tamale before in my life, but I always thought of it as a real challenge to accomplish. And turn out, it was quite a complicating and time-consuming process. I didn't want to jam everything in one day, so I divided the preparation process into two days. The night before, I started braising the pork shoulder in my slow cooker overnight. I was glad that I chose to prepare the pork the night before, because beside saving some time on the second day for my tamales, I also harvested the moist and most tender pork roast ever. The meat was falling apart, juicy and full of flavors. My husband couldn't wait but helped himself to some of the meat with rice for lunch before I could fill them in the tamales. 

In my opinion, a great tamale requires a balance between the juicy, savory filling and the light, fluffy texture of the corn masa. In the recipe that I used, the braising liquid was used to rehydrate the flour, so the homemade flavor was built directly into the masa dough to give it a great depth of flavor. You will see that the complexity of flavor is appreciated in every single bite. This mouth-watering tamale also makes a very filling and satisfying snack or meal. They will keep well in the fridge for a week and a few months in the freezer. But I doubt that you will hardly have any left-over for freezing.  

Kimchi Fried Rice with Shrimps

Just me and the boys are home tonight, so I didn't want to prepare any fancy dinner. The boys were chowing down their Japanese ramen noodles that I cooked for them. This is one of their favorite quick-fix meals. As for me, I use the left over rice and some fresh Kimchi that a friend just got for me to fix myself this quick and delicious fried rice for dinner. It was supper fast to prepare and doesn't even cost an arm and a leg since it was made from very simple ingredients. I especially love the kimchi flavor in this fried rice, just enough the tang and the spiciness that will make your tummy very happy. Too bad that my hubby was missing out on this yummy dish, but that means more for me to devour :).