My Dwarf June Plum (Coc)

Here is the start and death of my dwarf june plum. I planted this tropical fruit tree between April and May of 2008. Because this tree is a dwarf, it fruited the first year I planted it. I guess I was too greedy and didn't remove some of fruits causing all the fruits to be so tiny that I couldn't eat them...lol.

June 1 08

September 10 08


September 15 08

September 21 08

December 25 08

Finally the end. February 16 09

Fried Curry Fish Fillets

Found some fish fillets in the freeze and decided to make it curry to spice up the taste. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Use less curry if don't want it to be spicy.



Ingredients:

2 fish fillets (any white fillets)
2 tsp curry powder
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch

Method:

1. Cut the fish fillets in long chunks.
2. Mix with all the seasoning. Then mix in the cornstarch.
3. Heat a pan with enough oil to pan fry. Fry the fish until golden brown and crispy.
4. Serve with white rice. Use some fish sauce and chili pepper for dip.

Chicken Alfredo Fettuccini

Too much Asian food...now time to eat something else, pasta! :) This is made from scratch so you know what's in it...lol. Good to eat this only once in a while since it is a fatten food. :) But it tastes so great so who care about the fat...lol






Ingredients:

1 pack of fettuccine (14oz)
3 chicken breasts chopped in chunk
1 box whole white mushroom
1/2 onion diced
2 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 stick of unsalted butter
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 tbs olive oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp fish sauce
3 tsp sugar
dash of nutmeg (optional)
3 tbsp cornstarch +1/4 cup water


Method:

1. Cook fettuccine by following the direction on the box. After it cooked, pour out all of the water and add in some salt and 1 tbsp olive oil. Mix and let it drain.

2. Pour oil in a pan and fry the garlic until golden and add in the chicken breast. Stir until almost done and add in the butter. After all the butter melted, add in the onion and sliced mushroom. Add in a dash of salt and sugar. Leave aside.

3. Heat a pot and add in the heavy cream and water. Bring it to boil and then add in the cheese. Stir so the cheese doesn't stick to the bottom.

4. Add the chicken mixture to the sauce and let it simmer for a couple minutes. Add in the seasoning for taste. After you got the right taste then slowly pour in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce. Make more cornstarch if not enough to thicken the sauce.

5. Pour the sauce over pasta to serve.

Chinese Broccoli with Abalone

Last time I made three mushrooms abalone and I cooked three extra abalone to save time for cooking them later. Now it is time to finish them. I decided to cook it with my favorite veggy, chinese broccoli (gai lan). This is such a simple and yet tasty dish. Look at the other post if you want to know how to cook the abalone.



Ingredients:

2 lb chinese broccoli
3 cooked abalone (sliced)
2-3 cloves of garlic smashed
2 tbsp oil
1 cup brothe from cooked abalone

Seasoning for abalone w/ king oyster mushroom:

1 1/2 tbsp abalone bottle sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
dash salt
dash sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch

Method:

1. Cut the broccoli in half so it's not so long. Boil a pot of water. Add in the broccoli and left it boil for until the broccoli starts to change to a lighter green, should not cook for more than 3 minutes. The longer you cook it the softer it gets, and soft is not good. You want the broccoli to be crispy. Add in a dash of salt. Drain and rinse with cold water.

2. Heat the pan with 2 tbsp oil. Add in the garlic and fry until golden. Add in the broccoli and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add in dash of salt, sugar, and fish sauce for taste. Remove from heat and place on plate.

3. Heat a pan with the 1 tsp oil and add in the abalone. Now add in the brothe. Let it simmer a little and add in the abalone seasoning. Stir until thicken and place on top of broccoli.

4. Serve with white rice.

Banh Da Lon (Steamed Tapioca Layered Cake)

Banh da lon also known as pig skin cake. The reason, I don't really know. Perhaps the texture and the layers make it similar to pig skin...LOL. This is a Vietnamese cake made of tapioca starch, rice flour, mung bean, and coconut milk. The flavor is sweet and gelatinously soft in texture. The tapioca layers are great with the mung bean layers. One soft, the somewhat chewy...mmmm....





Green Layer:

300 gm tapioca starch
120 gm sugar
2 tbsp rice flour
250 ml water
200 ml coconut milk
1/2 tsp of pandan paste
3-4 drops of green food color

Mix everything together until smooth.


Mung Bean Layer:

125 gm hulled mung bean (soaked for 3+ hrs)
85 gm sugar
50 gm rice flour
3 tbsp tapioca starch
200 ml coconut milk
1/3 cup water
1/3 tsp salt
2-3 drops of yellow food color

1. Steam mung bean until cooked. About 30 minutes.
2. Let mung bean cool a little and put it in the blender with coconut milk and water. Blend until smooth. (The mixture is a little thick, so blend it slowly to prevent motor burn.)
3. Take the blended mung bean and mix with sugar, rice flour, and salt. Mix well and then add in the food color.

Methods:

1. Heat a steaming pot with water. Oil an 8 or 9 inch pan (or smaller molds). Place the pan in the steamer. Do not need to heat the pan ahead of time.

2. Now pour in the green layer, about 1/2 inch thick. Steam until the cake is clear green, cooked. About 15 minutes.

3. Pour in half of the mung bean, about 1/2 inch thick or thicker. Use a spatula to smooth the mung bean. Steam for another 15 minutes.

4. Now pour in another green layer. Steam until cooked.

5. Pour in the mung bean layer and steam until cooked.

6. Last is another layer of green. Steam for 20 minutes or until cooked. Remove and leave to cool.

7. Depending on your mold, you might have to use a knife to cut the edges to help ease getting the cake out.

8. Slice and serve cool.

Banh Khot (Vietnamese Mini Savory Pancakes)

Another good Vietnamese appetizer. It is similar to banh xeo, except smaller. It is filled with shrimps and mung bean. The batter is made out of coconut milk and rice flour. I took the easy way out by buying a bag of banh khot flour. :)





Ingredients:

1 bag of banh khot flour
1 can coconut milk
350 ml water
1-2 stalk of green onion chopped (use green part)

Filling:
16 large shrimps (peeled and devein)
1/2 cup hulled mung bean
2 stalks of green onion chopped

Powder Shrimps Topping: (optional)

1/2 cup dried shrimps (soak for 2+ hrs)

Fish Sauce:

1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 lime (juiced)
1 tsp vinegar
3 tbs fish sauce
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
2 red chillies (chopped)


Method:

1. In a bowl mix flour, water, coconut milk together. Mix well and add in chopped green onion.

2. Wash mung bean and cook until tender. Remove excess water and mash mung bean into paste. Add in a dash of salt and sugar for taste. In a pan fry 1 chopped green onion with some oil. (Do not overcook.) Mix the fried green onion with the mung bean.

3. Chop shrimps into small pieces. In pan heat some oil and add in shrimps. When shrimps is half cooked, add in the chopped green onions and some salt, sugar, ground pepper, and oyster sauce and cook until done.

4. Remove dried shrimps from water and ground it finely in a blender or food chopper. Heat a nonstick pan and fry until dry. Stir constantly to prevent burn. After cooking leave it to dry completely before storing.

5. After getting everything ready, it is time to make the banh khot. Heat the banh khot pan and brush with oil. Stir the batter and fill each mini cup to 3/4 high. Add in some mung bean and shrimps. Brush on some more oil on the side of the cakes. Cover for 2 minutes. Check to see if it's cook or not. If not then brush on more oil and cover to cook again. When cakes are cooked, sprinkle on some dried shrimps. (Cook in medium high heat.)

6. For the fish sauce, mix everything together and taste.

7. Serve banh khot with fish sauce.

Che Troi Nuoc (Sticky Rice Dumpling w/ Ginger Syrup)

This is another one of my favorite Vietnamese dessert. My mom told me I love to eat this since I was little. But back then we didn't have money to eat this everyday in Vietnam. Well, now I can...lol. This dessert is similar to the Chinese Tang Yuan except the Vietnamese one is made with mung bean filling and eat with coconut milk and sesame seeds.



Ingredients:

1 bag of glutinous rice flour
500 gram hulled mung bean
water

Ginger Syrup:

2 1/2 slap of brown sugar candy
3-4 slice of ginger (less if you don't like ginger)
4 cup water for syrup
salt
sugar

Coconut Milk:

1 can coconut cream or milk
3 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup water +1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Wash mung bean and cook with water. Water level should be double of mung bean. When the mung bean almost fully cooked, remove some of the water. Leave only enough so it will be dry when mung bean is fully cook. Add in some salt and enough sugar for sweetness. Do not make the mung bean overly sweet as the syrup will be sweet. Leave to cool and form into round balls.

2. Place glutinous rice flour in a large bowl. Take 1/2 cup out and add boiling water. Stir and knead until you form a dough. Now pour cold water in the rest of the flour. Knead into a dough. Now add in the hot dough. Mix the two well. (The purpose of this is so the flour will not crack and easier to manage.) Divide the dough into small balls. Leave some dough to make small dumpling with no filling.

3. Flatten the round ball and add in the mung bean paste. Wrap it and in circular motion make a round ball. Repeat for the rest of dough. For dough with no filling, just take a small piece of dough and make it into small balls. Bowl hot water while making dumplings.

4. In a pot boil hot water to put the dumpling in. When the dumpling float, it means they done.

5. In a pot add in the 4 cups water and sugar slap and ginger. Boil until sugar dissolved. Add in the cooked dumpling. You can scoop the cooked dumpling from the hot water straight to the syup.

6. In a pot cook the coconut milk mixture until thick. Remember to stir continously so the cornstarch don't stick on the bottom.

7. Serve while warm with coconut milk and roasted sesame seeds. (Roast sesame seeds by frying in a pan. Just stir until golden brown)

Note: You can always cut the recipe in half if you don't want to make a whole pot.