Yau Choy Stir-fry

Yau Choy - also known as Yu Choy, Yu Choy Sum, or Rapeseed Leave -  is a type of Bok Choy that looks like a thinner-stemmed version of Chinese Broccoli with pretty yellow flower buds. It is an excellent vegetable, especially for stir-fries because it cooks quickly and the stems, if not too big, don't need to be separated from the leaves.  

I stir-fry Yau Choy with chopped fresh garlic, ground pork, oyster sauce, and light soy sauce. Just add garlic to the heated oil, and add ground pork to cook. Then, add Yau Choy in with seasoning sauces and ground white pepper. Add a little water to add liquid for sauce. It doesn't take long to cook, the stems shouldn't be all the way soft and wilt. Serve with rice.

Apprentice

Hello! It's been almost two months since we moved into our new home... Things are coming together mostly. I managed to take a break and make the time to really cook this past weekend. Without much ingredients on hand, I grabbed what was available in my fridge to make lunch. I ended up having my son in the kitchen with me, and learn how to make ham and sausage fried-rice.

These are pretty much the ingredients.
Find the full recipe here.

We added tomato paste and chili sauce for color and heat.



Stir-fried Chicken with Roasted Chili Paste

Stir-fried Chicken with Roasted Chili Paste
(Gai Pad Nam Prik Pao)

You will need:

• 2 C bite-sized chicken slices (I use meat from 2 thighs)


• 1 C sliced onions


• 1 C cut green bean, or haricot vert


• 2 green onions, cut


• 6 cloves of garlic


• 6 fresh chili peppers (adjust to your preference)


• 3 TBsp vegetable oil


• 2 TBsp oyster sauce


• 1 TBsp light soy suace


• 1 TBsp roasted chili paste, or chili paste with soya bean oil ("Nam Prik Pao" in Thai)


• 1 tsp sugar

Directions:

• Mash, or finely chop, garlic and chili pepper together. Set aside.


• Mix oyster sauce, soy sauce, roasted chili paste, and sugar together. Set aside.


• In a wok or sauteed pan over medium-high heat, add vegetable oil. Then, add prepared chili-garlic and saute until fragrant, but not yet brown.


• Add chicken. Stir well for a few minutes or until half-way cooked.


• Add green bean and white onion. Stir well to cook.


• Add the chili paste mixture and green onion. Stir until everything mixed well altogether, and chicken & vegetable are cooked through.


• Check seasoning, then adjust to your preference.


• Serve with steamed rice.

Pad Se-Ew Beef with Broccoli

Pad See Ew is one of Thailand's most popular street foods. This recipe features beef and broccoli stir-fried noodle dish seasoned with soy sauce mixture.


You will need:

• 8 oz. dried flat rice noodle, or 1 lb. fresh flat rice noodle


• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely


• 1 cup thinly slice beef (other choices: pork, chicken, shrimp, or extra-firm tofu)


• 2 cup broccoli florets (unless you can find Chinese broccoli)


• 2 eggs


• 1 cup 1 1/2" cut green onion


• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil


• 2 Tbsp dark sweet soy sauce


• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce


• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce


• 1 Tbsp sugar


• Ground white pepper (black pepper works as well)


• Red chili pepper flakes (optional)
  

Directions:

• Soak dried rice noodle in hot water, until soft. Drain and set aside.


• Blanch broccoli florets in boiling water and shock with cold water. Set aside.


• Mix together dark sweet soy sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, pepper, and red chili pepper flakes.


• Heat wok on medium high heat and add vegetable oil.


• Add chopped garlic, quickly stir, and add beef. Stir to cook.


• Add noodle, and 1/4 cup of water to help cook the noodle. Once the noodle is cooked and soft (add more water if needed, little at a time), mix in the prepared soy sauce mixture, and broccoli florets.


• Stir to mix together all ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning sauces if needed. Then push to side of wok to make room.


• Crack the eggs into wok, and scramble until almost cooked. Then fold in the noodle, and add green onions and pepper.


• Stir to mix well, and turn the heat off.
  

Keep in mind that you can always adjust the seasoning to your preference while cooking.

Enjoy!

Thai Spicy Basil Shrimp

I love fresh Thai basil. Its unique flavor gives any dish such a wonderful freshness. Unlike Italian basil, Thai basil has stronger aroma and sweeter peppery flavor. The most commonly used of Thai basil is Sweet Basil ("Bai Ho Ra Pa") which has a strong exotic scent. It is used in all kinds of curry and stir-fried dishes.

In this recipe, besides fresh shrimps, you can also use any other kind of meats. And you can adjust the heat to your preference by cutting or adding the red chili peppers.

You will need:

• 1 lb. fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 7-8 garlic cloves
• 7-8 Thai red chili pepper (or adjust to your preference)
• 1 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup carrot, cut in matchstick pieces
• 1/2 cup green/red/yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 2 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
• 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tsp light soy sauce (or fish sauce)
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• grounded white (or black) pepper

Directions:

1. Pound garlic cloves and chili peppers together using mortar and pestle. Or you can mince them together using a knife.
2. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chili garlic mixture and stir until lightly browned and fragrant.
3. Add prepared shrimps and stir well to evenly mix everything together. Once the shrimps start to turn pink - but still translucent in the middle !! (pictured above), add onions, carrots, and bell peppers. Stir to get vegetables cooked real quick, you want them to be a bit crisp, not all soft.
4. Then, add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and grounded white/black pepper.
5. Stir quickly to mix the seasonings into ingredients. Then add water, and stir to get everything coated with sauce.
6. Turn off the heat, add the basil leaves and give it a good stir. Transfer to serving dish. Great over rice!

Spicy Basil Beef

I made this dish quickly out of what I had in my refrigerator. The method of cooking is the same as how I make Thai Spicy Basil Shrimp, which you can find the recipe here. I just added sliced green beans to the dish instead of carrot matchsticks. Also, I added some dark soy sauce to give it a little color. We enjoyed it with steamed jasmine rice as usual, and it was wonderful.

Drunken Noodles

You will need:

• 8 oz. dried wide rice noodles (size L), cooked
• 1/2 lb. ground pork (or chicken, beef, turkey - whatever you like)
• 5 garlic cloves
• 5 Thai red chili pepper (or adjust to your preference)
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup matchstick-size strips carrots
• 1/2 cup baby corn, cut in half lengthwise
• 1/2 cup tomatoes cut in wedges (I had to use canned ones here since I forgot to buy fresh ones.)
• 1 cup basil leaves, loosely packed
• 3 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• grounded white (or black) pepper
• 3-4 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
  

Directions:

1. Cook rice noodles a little lesser time than the instruction on package, they will be stir-fried and cooked all the way later.
2. Pound garlic cloves and chili peppers together using mortar and pestle. Or you can mince them together using a knife.
3. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chili garlic mixture and stir until lightly browned and fragrant.
4. Add ground pork and stir well to evenly mix everything together. Once the pork is browned, add carrots and baby corns. Stir to get vegetables cooked real quick, you want them to be a bit crisp, not all soft.
5. Then, add oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sugar, and grounded white/black pepper. Stir quickly to mix the seasonings into ingredients.
6. Then add rice noodles, water, and dark soy sauce. Stir to get everything coated with sauce.

7. Add the basil leaves and tomatoes, give it a good stir. Transfer to serving dish.
   
   I do play around with the ingredients for this dish a lot, depends on what I have on hand. Bite-size meat, fried tofu, or seafood are all good options. And if you make it with spaghetti instead of rice noodle, then you'll have Drunken Spaghetti :)
   
   

King Oyster Mushroom Stir-fry

King Oyster Mushrooms, also known as King Trumpet Mushrooms, have light tan caps with thick white stems. These delicately flavored mushrooms have a woodsy and sweet taste. They are great grilled or stir-fried! In this dish, I use the king oyster together with the Enoki mushrooms -- which have long, slender white stems with tiny, firm caps. They have a mild, delicate flavor that is complimented by a little crunch. Both are ones of the most popular Japanese mushrooms, as well as my favorites..

King Oyster Mushrooms (or King Trumpet Mushrooms),
and Enoki Mushroom

You will need:

• 1-2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 4-5 stems King Oyster Mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 packs Enoki Mushrooms, root trimmed
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• Chopped parsley leaves
• Ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Add cooking oil and butter to medium-heated pan. Then, add garlics - be careful not to burn them.
• Add King Oyster mushroom slices, cook until soft and slightly brown on the edges. Then, add Enoki mushrooms - which don't take long to cook at all.
• Add soy sauce and pepper. Stir to mix all ingredient well.
• Finally, toss in parsley leaves, then turn off the heat.
  

Enjoy!

Weekend Eat

Stir-fried Spicy Noodle - I am all about one-dish meal when it comes to weekend lunch at home. Carb, protien, and vegetable all in one dish. There is always so much to do, or run around for that I don't get to cook meal for my family as much as I would love to. This stir-fried noodle dish is my all time favorite to make, and I am pretty sure my son LOVE it.

I use Mama brand's Thai instant noodles that comes in a single serving package, with seasoning pouches. Tom Yum Goong (or hot and sour shrimp soup) flavor works best for me, since it is very tasty and goes so well with any kind of meat, and shrimp. For the vegetables, I had cabbage, beansprout, celery, onion -- so I used them.

Noodles were cooked in boiling water, until almost done a couple minutes, then drained and set aside. Then, I stir-fried chicken, vegetables, added noodles and the pouched seasonings, and eggs. After that, seasoning with some sugar, soy sauce, ground pepper, and more chili pepper (I like it pretty spicy!). Another quick, easy, and tasty dish!

Chicken and Celery w/ Black Bean Sauce

Friday evening is always a busy night, since there is so much going on -- with the boys. Either having soccer training, going to soccer or football game, going to a movie, or just hanging out together, it's so nice to be kids - no worries :) Anyway, between running around, I made it to come home and cook a real quick dinner! After checking my refrigerator and pantry, I had a dish figured out. While the rice was being cooked in the cooker, about 15 minutes, I got this Chicken and Celery Stir-fry with Black Bean Sauce together.

I cut up some yellow onion, green onion, celery, then sliced a couple pieces of ginger, and chopped up some garlic. Had some bite-size chicken thigh leftover handy, so I used that up.

Once I had everything ready - including all the seasoning and sauce, I stir-fried chicken in vegetable oil with garlic and ginger until meat was cooked.

Then, I added black bean sauce, oyster sauce, a little bit of hoisin sauce, and freshly ground black pepper. Stir well, and add all vegetables - then move them around over high heat real quick. Finally, I drizzled a few drops of sesame oil, turned the heat off, and made the last stir to well-mix all ingredients. Voila!

Stir-fried Snow Peas with Shrimps

I can eat vegetable stir-fry everyday! And I can make it with an endless variety. The combination of protein (meat, tofu, or seafood), and vegetable in light sauce makes a flavorful dish.

So, I first stir-fried ground pork with garlic in oil until cooked. Then, I added snow peas and shrimps. Both only need a short cooking time so that the sweet peas are tender-crisp, and the shrimps just turn pink and firm. Then, I seasoned them with oyster sauce, light soy sauce, a bit of sugar, and ground white pepper. I taste and season the dish while cooking, and adjust the flavor to my preference.

It is a simple quick dish I usually like to cook for dinner. Just have all the ingredients ready before I start cooking. ... All I need now, is a plate of steamed rice!

Spicy Basil Fried Rice

My weekend lunch at home always a one-dish meal I put together real quick, mostly from what I have handy. Half pack of fresh basil I had and leftover rice in the fridge gave me the idea of this fried rice. I also used some ground pork and Chinese broccoli (Gailan) to add some meat and vegetable to the dish. Other than that, the way I cooked it was pretty much following the recipe of Thai Spicy Basil Shrimp dish I blogged recently.

Just add the cool, leftover, cooked rice (see Thai Fried Rice: the Basic) to the stir-fry you make. Then, give it a good stir to mix rice and all the ingredients together. Give it a taste, to see if you need to add any seasonings. I usually add some soy sauce, a little sugar, and some white/black ground pepper - since rice absorbs all the sauce of the stir-fry and the flavor will get lighter. Just using high heat and keep everything in the wok moving. Then, enjoy your meal!!

See my reflection on the spoon? :)

Drunken Noodle

A quick lunch I made today was a one-dish meal called drunken noodle. The wide rice noodle was stir-fried with garlic and fresh chili pepper, as well as soy sauce, pork, beansprout, green onion, jalapeno pepper, and fresh basil leaves. It was spicy, it was delicious, and it was filling -- you will love this dish. I will put together a recipe and post it up soon.

Then, I got to enjoy my afternoon !!

Thai Fried Rice: The Basic

Fried rice is considered fast food in Thailand. It's quick and you can make it with mostly any ingredient you like for the variation. Everyone makes fried rice a little differently, you can always experiment, once you know the basic technique.

As quick and easy this dish is, there are essential tips needed to keep in mind if you want to make "good fried rice". As some say, fried rice is more of a formula than a single recipe.

• Leftover cooked rice: The best rice to use is leftover rice that's been lying in the fridge for at least a day. You cannot make fried rice with freshly cooked rice! The grains of leftover rice is firmer and have no excess moisture, which makes it much easier to separate. You would only get "fried mush" instead of fried rice if you made with freshly-cooked rice. However, if you can't wait a day, you can at least let the rice cool for a few hours in an airy spot. Break loose the rice with your wet fingers.
  
• Hot wok or large skillet: The reasons that restaurant-made fried rice has that smoky flavour is the high temperatures and the seasoned carbon steel woks that they use. The hot wok will caramelize rice with the soy sauce, and keep rice from sticking to the wok. It's all about high heat, and movement (from constant stirring)!
  
• Basic ingredients: Cold rice, eggs, soy sauce, and green onions are my foundation of basic fried rice. However, with the more adventurous versions, this would differently applies according to recipes.
  
• Add-on ingredients: You can use any kind of meats and seafood (shrimps, crab meat) you like, or leftover cooked meat in your fridge, or anything handy (ham, Chinese sausage, BBQ pork, or even Spam!) And for vegetables - peas, carrots, corn, tomato, bell pepper, Chinese broccoli, pineapple, raisin - any of these, and more, will do. Experiment with what you like.

I cook fried rice quite often, it's a quick one-dish meal, and a good way to clean out my refrigerator, or use up any leftover. You can be creative here, just use your judgement.. Normally, I don't have "a recipe" for cooking this dish. There is quite a variety of different versions of fried rice. I add seasonings while cooking, taste it, and adjust the flavor to my taste. I really had to take the time figuring the following recipe out, and I did test the final recipe a few time. So, here it is -- the basic recipe of Thai fried rice.

Chicken Fried Rice

You will need:
(for 3-4 servings)

• 4 cups refrigerated cooked rice
• 2 cups bite-size sliced or cubed chicken breast
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 small onion, sliced
• 1/4 cup vegetable, or other cooking oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (I like Golden Mountain brand, or Mushroom flavor light soy sauce)
• 1 Tbsp black/dark soy sauce (optional - for color)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 green onions, chopped
• White pepper powder (black pepper will do just fine)
• Chopped cilantro
• Lime wedge and cucumber slices (authentic Thai style)

Directions:

1. Heat the wok over high heat. Add half of the oil. Once the oil heated up, add eggs, scramble until almost cooked through, then push it to the one side of the wok.
2. Add the rest of the oil. Then add garlics, onions, and chicken. Stir quickly, until chicken is cooked and onion is soft.
3. Add rice and give it a good stir. Keep moving and gently press the rice with the back of spatula to loosen and mix in the ingredients. Stir and scrape - add a little more oil if you have to.
4. Add soy sauce, black soy sauce, and sugar. Stir to mix thoroughly.
5. Add green onion and white pepper powder. Stir just a little bit more to mix well.
6. Garnished with chopped cilantro. And serve with lime wedge (squeeze juice on top of rice before eating), then eat with the cucumber slides as a side. Enjoy!