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.

Thai Spicy Beef Salad - Yum Nua

Flavor profile of this Yum Nue, or Thai Spicy Beef Salad is the balance of sour, salty, sweet, spicy, and umami flavors.

You will need:

- 1 lb. boneless chuckeye steak
- 1 tomato, sliced
- 1 cup sliced cucumber
- 1/4 cup shallots or red onions, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Chinese celery, or celery heart, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

- 3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 2 Tbsp. fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp. palm sugar, or brown sugar
- 1-2 Thai chili peppers, or 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Combine lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and chili pepper in a small bowl. Stir until sugar dissolved and well-mixed. Adjust the taste to your preference. Set aside.

2. Season steak with salt and pepper. Then, grill or broil steak to your preferred doneness. Allow the cooked steak to rest 5 minutes, before you slice into bite-size strips.

3. In large bowl, add steak strips, cucumber, tomatoes, shallots, celery, cilantro, and the dressing. Toss gently to combine all ingredients.

4. Serve as a side salad, or a main dish if you like. You can also serve on a bed of lettuce, or salad greens.

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.

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!

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!

Green Papaya Sald: Som Tum

Som Tum - or Thai Green Papaya Salad - is one of my most favorite this dishes! It is healthy and very nutritious, and full of flavors. The dish is very easy to make once you have all the ingredients on hand. The main ingredient is the shredded green papaya. Tomato and long bean are also a must-have. I just didn't have any long bean today... The rest are garlic, chili peppers, fish sauce, fresh lime juice, and palm sugar. Roasted peanuts and dried shrimps are usually added as well. I didn't have those handy, but I used some salted crabs to make a Northeastern-style Som Tum, the way I like back at home. All the ingredients are pounded together in a mortar using pestle. This beautifully unique salad gives you all the flavor -- salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. I always enjoy it with sticky rice, and BBQ chicken or grilled steak.

Steak for "Dad"

There is nothing more perfect than Big Juicy Steak for a dad on Father's Day. And when it comes to choosing the cut of meat, rib eye is my favorite choice. Rib-eye cuts have beautiful marbling which adds deep beefy flavor and juiciness to steaks.

We had our Father's Day dinner at home. I grilled rib-eye steaks, asparagus, and garlic bread. I also caramelized yellow onions as another side dish to our meal. With a little bit of time and patience, the precesses of breaking down and browning natural sugar in the onion provide a melt-in-your-mouth texture and rich flavor caramelized onions.

To season a steak is really up to your own preference. To me a very good cut only need a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper - sea salt and freshlyground whole black pepper.. And in order to add another layer of flavor to a steak, I add some dried bold herbs. Store-bought mix would even do the job. My trick is to also add lots of fresh, minced garlic, then drizzle with a little olive oil. Let the steaks sit a little bit while you prepare something elses, and get the grill ready.

As for the asparagus, I marinated them for about an hour in the mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, minced garlic, minced shallot, salt and pepper. Grill until charred but still retained its bright-green color. When done I toss them back in the reserved marinade before serving.

To cook, I preheated the grill to high heat for 15-20 minutes. I grilled the steaks over direct heat, about 5-7 minutes on each side (depends on the thinckness of your meat). Turning only once, and never use knife, fork, or even thermometer, to pierce steaks to check for doneness. You don't want to drain the juice and the goodness of the steak into the grill. Just try to "feel" it by pressing on the steak. When done and removed from the heat, the steaks need to rest for about 5-7 minutes so that the juice would redistribute into the entire piece of steaks.