Ceviche, B*ylis style

Ceviche is a raw fish salad, but can also be made with shrimp or scallops. I prefer shrimp (which is cooked), but I also very much like it with white fish.

Tonight we're having shrimp, because I had 2 pounds of frozen, cooked shrimp in the freezer.

Recipe from my parents. My father's very funny notes in parenthesis.

White fish or shrimp
Lemon juice to cover fish overnight
Drain lemon juice

Add:

• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup white wine (no whining)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 red onion diced
• 1 fresh tomato (check expiration date)
• Coriander to taste
• 3 or 4 jalapeño slices (or whole jalapeño diced if you’re not a wimp) and some jalapeño juice to taste (if you don’t use whole jalapeño)
• Hot sauce to taste

Mix it all together, serve with tortillas or tortilla chips

Fish Congee/Yee Sang Chook

What do I eat for breakfast? This question arised in many a conversion with westerners.  Congee, of course, nothing beats a bowl of hot congee/chook on a cold winter's morning, besides warming the body, it takes the place of a beverage.  While we think of rice as belonging at the dinner table, in many parts of China and Asia, this nutritious staple is consumed three times daily, including for breakfast.

Nonetheless, there's more similarity between an asian and western breakfast than it would first appear. Many asians begin their day with a warm bowl of congee/chook, a watery rice gruel that bears marked resemblance to porridge.  Ah, porridge, for the longest ever, we in Malaysia, have associated the english term for congee/chook as porridge.  When my brother was hospitalized, we told our aussie sister-in-law to make him porridge and you guessed right - she made oatmeal porridge and then did we know that porridge and congee/chook are not the same.  To her, congee/chook is 'rice soup'.

Ingredients:  
For the congee/chook

• 1 cup jasmine rice
• 1/4 cup glutinous rice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 small piece rock sugar
• 1 tbsp cooking oil.

Accompaniments:

• 1 lb fish fillet(any fish of your choice)
• Fried Tung Fun
• 1 knob of ginger - peeled and juliened
• Fried garlic
• Spring onion/coriander - chopped
• Soya sauce
• Sesame oil
• Pepper

Marinate for the fish fillet:

• Shaoxing wine
• Soya sauce
• Sesame oil
• White pepper
• Ginger Juice

Method:

Put all the ingredients for the congee/chook in the pressure cooker and add enough water to come to half pot.  Close the lid and bring up the pressure to 15 lbs.  Pressurized for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat. Release pressure before opening lid.

Turn heat on again and using a wire whisk, stir and whisk vigorously until congee/chook has thickened. Add cold water as you whisked to the consistency you like.

Fried Tung Fun

Fish Fillet - sliced thinly

Juliened ginger

Marinate the sliced fish fillets

Put marinated fish fillets at the bottom of a large bowl and pour hot congee over them.  Top with all the accompaniments and enjoy.

Honey-Lime Chicken with Warm Black Beans and Spinach Salad

After the last few posts, it may appear that all we ever eat at our house is junk food night and day, but I actually do cook dinner every night too. :) This meal I tried from a church cookbook was one of those meals that qualified as healthy AND good in my book. The original recipe called for salmon so I've included those instructions in here, but since my husband is very allergic to seafood I've substituted it with thinly sliced boneless skinless chicken breast tenders instead. The meat was well-flavored and tender and devoured by kids and adults alike, while the corn/bean mixture packed a little bit of a punch with the crushed red pepper and scared off the kids. Next time I will probably halve the crushed red pepper amount (or omit it) for the kids' sake.

We served this meal to a friend with vegetarian leanings and he absolutely LOVED the corn/bean salad. With the kids just wanting to eat the meat, it was a good mix for both of them!

Click here for printable recipe.

The ingredients:

4 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium red onion, diced

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)

Juice of 2 limes

3 Tbs. honey

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

6 chicken tenders (or salmon fillets)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 box (10-oz.) frozen corn (or can)

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 can (15-oz.) black beans, rinsed and drained

2-3 Tbs. fresh cilantro, chopped

6 cups baby spinach, chopped

Preheat skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add onions, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, cumin, salt, and pepper (the spice). Saute 3 minutes. While the onions are cooking, preheat a medium skillet over med-high heat with remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. In a shallow dish or plastic bag, combine juice of 1 lime, honey, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Add chicken breasts (or salmon fillets) to lime-honey mix and toss to coat thoroughly. Add seasoned chicken/salmon to hot skillet and cook until just cooked through: 3-5 minutes on each side.

To the cooked onions, add bell peppers and corn and cook another minute.

(I decided to throw in an orange pepper too)

Add chicken stock and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Add black beans and cook until heated through. Remove skillet from heat and add juice of second lime, cilantro, and spinach. Toss to wilt spinach. Serve salmon/chicken on top of warm black bean and corn salad. Serves 6.

Enjoy!

Healthy Alfredo Sauce made with Cashews

My friend Mirien (who I've never actually met, but consider a friend nonetheless) is the queen of tweaking recipes to make them healthier. She has an arsenal of ideas for making just about everything better for you--less fat, more whole grain--and somehow they still taste great too. I love a good alfredo sauce, but feel guilty every time I eat it with all its cream and butter, so when I found Mirien's recipe for a healthier alfredo sauce made with the healthy fats of cashews instead of cream, I knew we needed to give it a try.

Little did I know just a couple days after printing this off from her site and filing it that my husband would declare that he was craving pasta with alfredo sauce. It was Sunday that day, which meant I'm off duty in the kitchen, so I handed him the recipe and told him to have fun. Glen was a little skeptical about its unique combination of ingredients, but dutifully got to work anyway while my mouth watered in anticipation.

The results were a thick, creamy sauce that exceeded our expectations in every way. Besides meeting with Glen's and mine approval, every single one of the kids also eagerly devoured their servings and asked for more. It was definitely a painless way to eat a little healthier, plus it's perfect for someone who needs to eat dairy free. Just omit the Parmesan and you've still got a thick, creamy sauce no one will believe doesn't have any milk products.

Click here for printable recipe.

The ingredients:

SAUCE:
1 cup raw cashew pieces
2-1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 Tbs. minced garlic
1 tsp. lemon juice, if desired
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (omit if making dairy-free)
salt and pepper to taste

SERVE WITH:
8-oz. pasta
chopped, sauteed (or grilled) chicken or seafood
Sauteed vegetables

In a blender or food processor pulse the cashews until they form a paste. Then add about a cup of the warm water and continue to process until smooth (or as close as you can get). Add remaining water and continue to blend.

In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil medium heat and saute the minced garlic until it just begins to brown slightly. Add the cashew/water mixture, stirring and scraping as it heats, until it begins to boil and thicken. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in salt, pepper, and Parmesan, stirring until melted. If sauce is too thick, add a little more water.

Boil the pasta, then drain and add to the cashew mixture and stir to coat the noodles. Serve with chopped fresh parsley, if desired. Makes 4-6 servings.

**This sauce is perfect as a topping for chicken or seafood or even as a pizza sauce. **

Enjoy!

Grilled Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane Skewers

This dish, know as Chao Tom in Vietnam is a classic. Originally created by the ingenious cooks of the Imperial Kitchens in Hue, it has become a national treasure. To appreciate its full impact, it is better to simply grill it and eat it by itself, enjoying every single bite, right down to the sweet, smoky flavors of the sugar cane. Although canned or frozen sugar cane can be used, it is no substitute for fresh. This dish is usually served with the traditional accompaniments of salad, rice wrappers and a dipping sauce. The frilled shrimp paste is pulled off the sugar cane, wrapped in a rice paper and dipped in sauce. The stripped sugar cane can then be chewed.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz pork fat
• 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp raw cane or dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 12 oz raw shrimp - peeled and deveined - wipe really dry with kitchen towel
• Salt and black pepper
• A piece of fresh/frozen sugar cane, 8 inches long

Method:

• Place the pork fat in a large pan of boiling water and boil for 2 - 3 minutes. Drain well and chopped using a sharp knife. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a heavy pan and stir in the onion and garlic. Just as they begin to color, remove from the heat and transfer them to a bowl. Beat in the egg, fish sauce and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Season with a little salt and plenty of black pepper, and stir in the cornflour.

Add the pork fat and shrimps to the mixture, and mix well. Process to a slightly lumpy past in a food processor.

Divide the paste into eight portions.

Using a strong knife or cleaver, cut the sugar cane in half and then cut each half into quarters lengthways.

Put a piece of cling wrap on the tabletop, then place a portion of shrimp paste. Top another piece of cling wrap and press the shrimp paste into a thin rectangle. Remove the top cling wrap and put a piece of sugar cane on one end and wrap the shrimp paste over the sugar cane, continue to roll until the end of paste and press tightly so that shrimp paste adheres to sugar cane. Remove the cling wrap and place on a greased plate and repeat the rest of the shrimp paste and sugar cane.

For best flavor, grill the shrimp paste skewers over a barbecue for 5 - 6 minutes, turning them frequently until they are nicely browned all over. Alternatively, cook the skewers under a conventional grill(broiler). Another alternative, is to deep fry them.

Serve immediately while still hot.

Serves