NomNom: Soba Noodle Salad

I've always had mixed feelings towards Fall. Like most people, I enjoy the crisp change in the air and Fall fruits/veggies, but do so with reservations because I know that summer has ended (sad) and winter will be coming soon (very sad). Winter and I are not friends in case you haven't noticed already.

My friends make fun of me for never wanting to leave my house when the temperatures drop to freezing because I would rather cozy up on the couch all snuggled in my PJs, netflix, and a glass of wine. Am I lame? That's cool, I'm okay with it.

When I hibernate during the winter like a wimp, I start to day dream about sunshine, the beach, and anything summer related--including food. The recipe I'm sharing with you today takes me back to this past summer because it was on heavy rotation in my kitchen due to the easiness of preparation and well, eating cold noodles is just a staple in Asian cuisine to combat the hot weather.

Soba noodles are made of buckwheat flour and is common in Japanese cuisine. The noodles have a slight nutty flavor and is usually eaten cold with a dipping sauce which I actually don't prefer but I do love it when prepared as a noodle salad. Feel free to use whatever vegetables you may have in your fridge but I personally like the fresh bites of cucumbers and the slight sweetness bell peppers bring to the dish so those are usually a must for me. Since I always have kale in the fridge I threw that in too, especially because kale holds up so well in dressings and won't wilt. Yup, we are still on that kale bandwagon.

Not only is this dish a delicious and light meal, it is a surefire way for me to eat my veggies and hopefully for you as well.

Have a great week. Xo.


Ingredients (Adapted from Food Network): Yields 4 servings 
1 package of soba noodles
1 carrot thinly sliced
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 bell pepper, julienned
2 cups of chopped kale
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
4 Tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons of sriracha
5 Tablespoons of soy sauce
1/2 lime, juiced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tablespoons of ginger
4-5 Tablespoons of olive oil
3 Tablespoons of roasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Procedure
1. In a medium stock pot, boil water, add salt, and cook noodles according to package directions (about 7-8 minutes). If water threatens to boil over, add 1/2 cup of cold water. When finished, rinse noodles with cold water. Drain and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl combine sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha, olive oil, lime juice, garlic and ginger. Mix thoroughly and then combine prepared vegetables and noodles.

3. Garnish with sesame seeds.

2 tsp. sesame oil
4 tabs. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. sirachi
5 tabs. soy sauce
1 chili, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tabs. hoisin
1 tab. ginger
1/2 lime juiced
4-5 tabs. olive oil

NomNom: Hawaiian Fried Rice

Food confession time. I'm in love with spam.

It all started when I was a young child when my mom would make us kimchi jjigae (a delicious kimchi stew) with spam in it or put it in gim bap (korean version of sushi rolls). I loved having it in my kimchi jjigae so much that I would refuse to eat it if she cooked it with another type of meat. Gosh, I was such a brat. Sorry mom.

Most people probably might find Spam to be gross and overtly salty but I love it anyway. Spam, rice, and roasted pieces of seaweed with a side of kimchi is one of the most simplest and satisfying meals to me. When I was on vacation in Hawaii during my childhood, I distinctly remember going into a 7 Eleven and seeing individiually wrapped musubi sold as snacks! It's basically spam sandwiched into rice, all wrapped in seaweed. So perfect. So great.

When I first came across this recipe, I was intrigued about this take on non traditional fried rice. I loved the idea of using sweet and salty together for this dish, but the only problem I had with this recipe was that they used ham. I mean, the recipe is titled Hawaiian fried rice so it's only appropriate to use Spam. Le duh.

Leftover rice from the past week or even from your take out/delivery is the perfect excuse to whip this incredibly easy dish in about 30 minutes. But, let's face it. Do we need an excuse to make really good fried rice?

Hope you enjoy the long holiday weekend ahead. I'll be spending mine in NYC visiting my sister:) Xo.


Recipe (Adapted from Cook's Country) Yields: 4
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot sauce (like Tapatio or Sriracha), more or less to taste (I used 2 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon vegetable, canola or peanut oil
2 cups cooked, chopped ham (I used Spam)
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
6 green onions, chopped, white and green parts separated
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
5 cups cooked rice, white or brown, cold
3 large eggs
1-2 cups pineapple pieces

Procedure
 1. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil and hot sauce. Set aside. In a large nonstick skillet or electric frying pan heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil until rippling and hot. Add the ham, red bell pepper, and the chopped white parts of the green onions. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned and the red pepper is tender (but not mushy), about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook another minute. Scrape the mixture onto a plate and set aside.

2. Heat another teaspoon of oil in the skillet until hot. Add the cold rice and cook, breaking up large clumps, until the rice is heated through, 5-6 minutes.

3. Push the rice to one side of the skillet and heat the last teaspoon of oil on the empty side of the skillet. Crack the eggs into the hot oil and stir lightly with a spatula or wooden spoon, cooking until the eggs are lightly scrambled and set. Stir the eggs and the ham mixture into the rice. Pour the soy sauce mixture into the rice and cook, stirring, until thoroughly combined and hot.

4. Off the heat, stir in the pineapple and green parts of the onions. Serve immediately.

NomNom: Shrimp Pad Thai

Happiness is knowing that you're officially on vacation and leaving for Germany early tomorrow...and this delicious recipe of shrimp pad thai I'm sharing with you today. You're welcome.

Right now I'm feeling a happy kind of stress because I haven't even started to pack yet for this trip (I'm a last minute packer for reals) but thankful that my last day of work before my vacation was yesterday so I have all day today to take care of last minute errands for the trip. The to do list seems to keep on growing though. Why is that?

I've been thinking about the wonderful German food that I'll be indulging in such as schnitzel, pretzels, sauerkraut, beer, etc. which truly makes my mouth water as I type and am beyond excited to happily welcome those foods into my diet tarting tomorrow. Since food has been on my mind, per usual, I figure it would be appropriate to leave you with a food post before I leave....and trust and believe this is a good one.

I've talked about my food cravings on my blog and this pad thai meal was born from just that. For some reason I really wanted to eat pad thai a couple of weeks ago, so I quickly went through my bookmarks from my cookbooks and came across this recipe that's been bookmarked for awhile. Thankfully I had all the ingredients in my kitchen minus the rice noodles which I find ironic since I'm Asian, because instead I had fettuccine noodles in the pantry. Go figure.

There are so many vibrant and balanced flavors in this dish that it kinda awakens your senses and knowing that it's cooked at home makes it even better because of the leftovers. I totally had it the next day eating it straight up cold because there are days I prefer to eat my leftover noodles cold. Such is life.

Knowing that I can successfully make pad thai at home makes it almost embarrassing to order it at a restaurant now. If that happens, just know that it was a do or die craving situation.

Since I will be out of the country for the next couple of weeks my blog will be on vacation as well. My focus is going to be on enjoying and fully embracing a new country but I hope to meet you back here in a about 2 weeks. Thanks for reading:)

Have a great weekend. Xo.

Ingredients (Adapated from America's Test Kitchen) Yields: 4 servings
SAUCE
2 Tablespoons tamarind paste (You can replace tamarind with 1/3 cup of lime juice and 1/3 cup of water, use light brown sugar instead of granulated sugar to give the noodles some color and a faint molasses flavor)
3/4 cup boiling water
3 Tablespoons fish sauce
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons chili paste, sambal oelek or sriracha (optional but highly recommended)

NOODLES AND SHRIMP
8 ounces (1/4 inch wide) rice noodles
12 ounces medium shrimp (41 to 50 per pound), peeled and deveined
salt and pepper
pinch sugar
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 shallot, minced
2 larges eggs, lightly beaten
6 ounces (3 cups) bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped dry roasted peanuts, plus extra for garnish
3 scallions, sliced thin on bias
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (optional)
Lime wedges

Procedure
1. FOR THE SAUCE: Soak tamarind paste in boiling water until softened, about 10 minutes. Push tamarin mixture through fine-mesh strainer into medium bowl to remove seeds and fibers and extract as much pulp as possible. Stir fish sauce, sugar, oil, rice vinegar, and cayenne into tamarind liquid and set aside.

2. FOR THE NOODLES AND SHRIMP: Bring 4 quarters water to boil in large pot, Remove water from heat, add noodles, and let stand off heat, stirring occasionally, until noodles are softened, pliable and just tender about 10 minutes. Drain noodles and set aside

3.  Toss shrimp, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and sugar together in medium bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12 inch non-stick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add shrimp in single layer and cook without stirring until beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Stir shrimp and cook until light pink and just opaque, about 30 seconds. Transfer shrimp to bowl, cover to keep warm and set aside.

4. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, shallot, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to skillet, return to medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until light golden brown about 1.5 minutes. Stir in eggs and cook, stirring constantly, until scrambled and barley moist, about 20 seconds.

5. Add drained noodles and toss to combine. Add sauce, increase heat to high and cook, tossing constantly until noodles are evenly coated, about 1 minute. Add bean sprouts, peanuts and all but 1/4 cup scallions and continue to cook, tossing constantly until noodles are tender, about 2 minutes.

6. Return shrimp, along with any accumulated juices to skillet and cook until heated through, about 30 seconds. Transfer noodles to serving platter and sprinkle with reserved 1/4 cup scallions; cilantro if using and extra peanuts. Serve with lime wedges.

*Tofu is a good and common addition to pad thai. Add 4 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, to skillet with cooked shrimp in step 6.

NomNom: Pork and Cabbage Dumplings

My mom is a master of Korean cuisine. I'm sure that all Korean kids say that their mom is the best at cooking Korean meals but they're...wrong. My mom is the best and that's just a fact.

Looking back, I think my sister and I were somewhat spoiled with certain things, one being fed home made dumplings. My mom never once bought store bought dumplings to feed the family and instead would make it all from scratch (minus the wrapper..that still counts, right?)

As a kid, I remember this one time I was hanging out at my friend's house and her mom invited me to stay for dinner. She mentioned mandu (Korean word for dumplings) and I guess since I was so used to eating homemade dumplings I assumed all Asian households operated as is. Nope, totally not the case. My friend must've seen the look of hesitation from me when I saw her take the frozen bag of dumplings out from the freezer because she tried to reassure me that "this stuff was good."

Wrong. So, so wrong.

On dumpling days, my mom would call my sister and I down into the kitchen and tell us to help her assemble the dumplings. We begrudingly did as we were told but looking back now, I'm so thankful that she did. Not only was that her way of spending time with us, but it was also teaching us that as we get older, one of the roles we will someday step into will be to cook for the family. Learn by example. Smart lady.

What is it about summer that makes me feel like time moves a bit differently? It's already August and before we know it, fall will creep up. And then winter. Crazy.

After recent events that happened a couple of weeks ago with the family, I've been thinking about things that matter to me. Time and effort are two things running through my head. Making the effort to spend time with loved ones, whether it be family or friends no matter how "busy" life becomes are important. Life lessons.

To my friends who've visited/emailed/texted me periodically to check up on me: Thank you. I've been slow to get on the reply button because I still need my space but I haven't forgotten. Your words mean a lot and I really appreciate it.

Now, although my mom is an amazing cook, the woman does not have a exact measurements to her Korean cuisines. Problematic. After much perusing through magazines and online recipe hunting I came across this recipe found in Martha Stewart Living that showcased a Korean cook's dumpling recipe, which are very similar to the ingredients my mom uses to make her dumplings. 

Excuse the messy fingers. It can happen in the process. No biggie.

If you end up making too many dumplings, that's totally fine. Just freeze them on a lined (plastic wrap or aluminum foil) cookie sheet. Once frozen, transfer them to a zip lock bag or a sealed container. They are good for up to 3 months. Lazy days=leftover dumplings.

I'm grateful that my mom made my sis and I help her with dumplings because however you spend time with family/loved ones is something that is invaluable and simply put--time well spent. Dumpling making is a great way to interact with friends, kids, and boyfriend/husband. There are so many variations of dumplings out there that you could even host a dumpling party.

Note to self: Get on that.

Have a great weekend. xo.

Ingredients (Adapted from Eunsook Pai in Martha Stewart Living June 2012) Yields: 80
7 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided, plus more if needed
6 cups thinly sliced napa cabbage (about 1/2 head)
1 3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt, divided
2 cups thinly sliced Vidalia onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives (about 1 bunch)
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions (about 4 scallions, plus more for garnish)
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic (about 6 cloves)
1 1/2 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
1 package of store bought frozen dumpling wrappers (defrost at room temperature for 30 minutes)


Ingredients for dipping sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Chinese chili oil/chili paste (optional but highly recommended)

Procedure
1. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in large saute pan or wok over high heat. Saute cabbage, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 2-3 minutes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and transfer to a large bowl. Heat another tablespoon vegetable oil and saute onion, stirring occasionally, until just softened, 2-3 minutes.Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, add to bowl with cabbage, and let cool for 5 minutes. Process in a food processor until just coarsely chopped, and return to bowl.

2. Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in pan over medium heat, and satue chives until just tneder, about 1 minute, and saute chives until just tender about1 minute. Transfer to chopped cabbage mixture and let cool. Stir in scallions, garlic, pork and sesame seeds, sesame oil, 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

3. Stir together soy sauce, vinegar, and hot chilli oil/paste in a small bowl, set dipping sauce aside.

4. Working with 1 wrapper at a time, moisten edge with beaten egg, then place 2 teaspoons filling in center. Fold in half to form a half-moon, press edge to seal tightly, and place on a parchment-lined/foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.

5. TO STEAM: Wipe out pan. Working in batches and wiping out pan between each, heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil until simmering, and sear dumplings until browned about 1 min. per side. (If preparing in advance, stop here and steam before serving.) Add 1/4 cup water, and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Steam dumplings in 2 minutes. Transfer to a platter and loosely tent with foil to keep warm. Repeat with rest of dumplings. Garnish with scallions and sesame seeds. Serve dumplings with dipping sauce.

6, TO BOIL (I used this method on today's post): When all dumplings are assembled, you can cook immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to several hours. To cook, fill half of a large pot with water and bring to boil. Gently slide in 1/3 of the dumplings while boiling. Turn down the heat to simmer and gently cook for 5-7 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and repeat with the rest of the dumplings. Serve with dipping sauce.