Cook Blog: Shrimp & Avocado Salsa Dip

It is hard to find the salsa dip that match with your taste bud. I love the their sauce, even though not much, but I long for something I used to have. From what I remember, I love the combination of shrimp and avocado and all the veggies should be finely chopped, not puree. Which is why I decided to make my own salsa dip. My recipe is not complicated, but quick and easy. We just need simple ingredients you can find in your pantry and refrigerator. More importantly we don't need to wait until the flavors are all blended. I serve it as my favorite snack as well as my dinner.

 Ingredients:

3 medium sized Tomatoes, chopped
1 chopped Onion
1 diced Avocado
2 finely chopped Jalapeno
10 Shrimps
1 Cup of minced Cilantro
Juice of 1 Lime
1/2 Tsp of Salt and Pepper
1 Tsp of Olive Oil
1 Cup of Tomatoes (Pasta) Sauce

Method:

Bring water to boil over medium-high heat and pour shrimps for 5 seconds. Discard the shrimp. Leave it cool down a bit then chop them.

In a salad bowl, combine the first 5 ingredient together. Add Pasta Sauce, Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil, minced Cilantro and finish with Lime Juice. Mix them well. Now, you're ready to serve with your favorite Tortillas.

Make approximately 4-5 cups.

Note: I love them a bit sour. If you don't, you can use only 1/2 Lime.

 

Cook Blog: Spicy Beef Salad with Lemongrass Dressing

I'm a huge fan of salad. Both Asian Salad and Western style Salad. The main ingredient of salad is the dressing. So I want something a bit different. I'm in the mood to make western salad for church but I'll stick to Asian style too. That's why adding lemongrass to the dressing make the difference to this salad recipe. I love the aroma of lemongrass and sesame oil together. They combined each other very well.

Ingredients:

1 pounds beef shirloin steak
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp grounded black pepper

Salad

1 1/2 cup sweet basil leaves
1 cucumber, sliced
2 wedged tomatoes
1 Sliced Red Onion

Dressing

1 tbsp less sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp minced lemongrass stalk
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp Chilli Sauce (sambal oelek)
1/2 tsp sugar

Method:

Heat a nonstick pan on medium heat. Season the steaks with pinch of salt and black pepper. Add the steaks to the pan and cook until desired tenderness. Transfer the cooked steaks to a plate and slice.

Prepare the Dressing by mixing all the ingredients together.

Combine the Salad ingredient in a salad bowl. Drizzle the half of Dressing mixture over the salad and toss gently. Place the salad in the place and top up with sliced steaks. Drizzle the remaining dressing on the steaks.

Cook’s Notes:

Sambal oelek can be found at Asian grocery stores.

Cook Blog: Stuffed Mushrooms

I determined to blog more especially on those foods I made but then I never. So I am now writing cook post about making stuffed mushrooms that I just made 2 hours ago. Okay, because I feel like writing something. So blogging is it. This is the second post after I made my first post about how to make your own soymilk.

Initially my husband bought mushrooms because he wanted to make spaghetti. It has been few weeks and he never had time to make it. I have one tomato and half of onion left that I don't know what to do with them. I thought stuffed mushroom would be the best because my husband and I decided not to stuff our stomach with dinner late at 10:30 pm, so he asked me to bake his favorite ready-to-eat Samosa every night instead of heavy dinner. I don't know how he can eat them everyday, that's why I thought preparing this stuffed mushrooms, freeze them, then get them baked when needed is the best choice for now and also he can alternate Samosa with my stuffed mushroom.

Ingredients:

17 pcs of White Button Mushroom
15 pcs of Shrimps, 
1 Tomato, diced
1/2 Onion, finely diced
1 Stem of Spring Onion, chopped
1 Egg Yolk
1 Wedge Cheese (Optional)
1 Cup of Bread crumbs (to add crunchiness)

2 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

Boil shrimps in water for 10 seconds, chop them and place aside.
Wash mushroom, dry them and scoop the stem out of the mushroom to make a hollow inside. Save the cap and finely chop the stem. 

In a bowl, gently combine shrimp, mushroom stem, tomato, onion, spring onion, egg yolk, cheese, bread crumbs, olive oil, salt and pepper all together. 
Use a small spoon to stuff the filling into mushroom.

Place all the stuffed mushroom in the baking pan, drizzle them with olive oil. Pre-heat and bake at 375 F for about 20 minutes. Let them stand for another 5 minute before serving.
You can add ketchup or squeeze lemon juice before serving.

Cook note:

1) Bake them for only 15 minutes if you want to save them to freeze and serve later.
2) You can make stuffed mushroom with other filling by using whatever you have in your refrigerator.

Cook blog: Homemade Soymilk

I'm a big fan of soymilk. Perhaps, I got it from my Dad. I always stopped by to get them everyday before heading to office. I enjoy it as my breakfast and most of time, I have it without sugar. It is very healthy and it's good to add to our diet.

There are many soymilk out there, but it's hard to find a delicious homemade soymilk nowdays. I used to ask my grandma how to make soymilk. She told me briefly and it was hard for me to catch what she was telling me because I know nothing about cooking and plus I was too busy to make my own soymilk.

Now, I can make my own first homemade and of course delicious soymilk! With what I remember from my grandma and what I've been searching through Youtube. Yesterday, I spent more than 6 hours straight just to make almost 2 gallons of soymilk out of 6 lbs soybeans. To my surprise, with my effort and not to mention I nearly burnt my kitchen, my soymilk came out really good. My husband loves it and I love it too. And now I'm sharing my soymilk recipe, except I'll calculate how to make soymilk from 1 lb of soybeans instead, so you're not gonna spend more than 6 hours straight like me! Hehehe Enjoy!

Ingredient:

1 lb organic soybeans

1.05 quarts (1 liter) water

1 Pandan leaf (Asian Vanilla / Slek Toy) to add aroma

Sugar (to taste to your liking)

Method:

Rinse the soybeans throughly and soak them overnight in water. Be sure to add a lot of water because the next day, you'll notice the soybean grow bigger and longer in size. Discard the water and rinse the soybeans 3 more times. Remove the skin as much you can. Drain it and set aside.

In the blender, add the soybeans and water and blend well. Transfer the blended soybeans into a pot. Continue blending the rest of soybeans. Discard the soybeans foam before boiling them. Turn on the heat to medium, add the pandan leaf in the mixture of blended soybeans and bring it to boil. Be sure to stir frequently to avoid burning the soybeans sticking at the bottom of the pot. Once it boils, lower the heat to low and simmer for about 15 more minutes or longer. Remember, the longer you boil the richer your soymilk will be.

Once it's done, turn off the heat and let it cool down a little bit. Use the cheesecloth or cloth filter to filter out the the blended soybeans. Try to squeeze the residue and make sure you have all the soymilk is fully extracted. Discard the residue and pandan leaf. Add sugar to taste until it reach to your liking before serving.

Cook Note: Most of recipes I found in Youtube, they blend the soybeans and then filter out the blended soybeans before boiling the milk. It's easier and faster way, but I think boiling the blended soybeans before filter them out help making the soymilk richer in taste.