Fried Glass Noodles with Shrimp, Eggs and Sprouts

Here's something not for the calorie counters. It's simple, delicious and totally unhealthy. If you're planning to go on a diet this noodle is just not for you...(Unless you plan to run a marathon the very next day by all means fire away) I've attached links to images of the products that you could find from your local store. Since I'm in Finland I try to link them to products available at our local Asian stores.

Garnish with Spring Onions

Ingredients

5 pieces of  large shrimp preferable with tail on
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 Large Egg
A handful of bean sprouts
1-2 Tbsp of cooking oil (preferable peanut, maize, rape seed) (pls don't use olive oil or butter!)
1 pack (50 grams) of Mung Bean Vermicelli (Glass noodle, soaked for about 15-20 mins)*
1 tsp of oyster sauce
1 tsp of light soy sauce
1/2-1 tsp of dark soy sauce
a dash of white pepper
optional dash of sugar
optional 2 tsp of Thai chili powder (or the Indian type chili flakes will do too)
optional chopped chives/spring onions (check above picture) for garnishing

Method

• Put cooking oil in hot wok and add the chopped garlic and chili flakes.
• Stir fry the shrimp until cooked and then push aside.
• Break the egg into the cleared area (add more oil if needed) and a dash a little of light soy sauce
• Once the egg is about 3/4 cooked throw in the glass noodles and add the sauces (light soy, dark, soy and oyster sauce). If you're adding sugar now is the time.
• If the noodles get a bit clumpy add a little bit of water. 
• Towards the end throw in the beansprouts and stir for a few seconds before turning off the heat. Let the beansprouts cook in the gentle heat. Now add a dash of white pepper and garnish with chives and serve. =)

Eating with kids

I think a lot of parents agree that at some point it's just impossible to feed your child. No matter how much he/she used to love something, one day they just decide they won't eat it anymore. I've found a way to battle that (at least up to 80% of the time) with making an effort in food presentation on top of taste. I agree it's a lot of work and if you don't enjoy doing things like this it might not be such a good idea. However if you spend some time over the weekend to some simple recipes and ideas that I will share (or try to remember to take a picture and post) over time that might make your kitchen adventures easier and fun, at the same time creating cute edible healthy foods for your children.

Almost the entire clubhouse members are here
in this bowl except Pluto
(Oh god?! How do I know this?! I've been brainwash with my
daughter's obsession to the MMCH)

So I'll start with today's simple lunch. I found some really cool Disney Macaroni from the store a few days ago. What I did was make a minced meat soup with fresh veggies (onions, spring onions, carrots and cauliflower this time) and just toss the macaroni to cook with it. The result was great. It got my daughter eating all the macaroni and then working down towards the cauliflower and carrots. She tried to avoid the spring onions but they get in her system anyways ;).

Peanut Cookies (Fah Sang Peng, Toh Tau Piah)

The ready batch of Peanut Cookies!

Ingredients:

200g finely ground roasted peanuts (If you use a stick blender becareful not to overblend or else you'll end up with peanut butter)
150g plain flour
100g icing sugar/ or fine sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt (optional if you use salted butter)
2 tbsp of butter (melted, I mean really melted)
50-100 ml Peanut oil (or enough to mix the dough so it sticks, alternatively sunflower or other non fragrant cooking oil can be used *NOT OLIVE OIL*)
1 egg yolk mixed with a tablespoon of milk for glazing
Handful of raw peanuts (halved) for decoration

See how you place the raw peanuts on top of the dough
and glaze over them.

Method:

• Pour finely ground roasted peanuts into a large bowl.
• Toss in all the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Pour in the melted butter and incorporate.
• Then slowly work in the Peanut oil until you can form small doughs.
• Bake in the oven at around 175 °C for about 20 mins (if you have a fan assisted oven reduce the heat to about 5 - 10°C, * 300 -330 °F)

Notes: I use 175°C because my oven is somewhat on the warmer side to avoid all my baking goods to get burnt. So experiment a little with your oven. I've seen the range of baking this dessert from 170°C - 180°C with fan assist and without.

Pineapple Tart

Makes about 24 pieces :)

Ingredients:

Pineapple Jam
150-160 grams of butter (if you're using unsalted butter then put about 1/4 tsp of salt)
200 grams of flour
2 medium egg yolks
45 grams of icing sugar
2 tbsp of cornflour

Preparing to roll my pineapple tarts. The Jam is
filled inside the dough.

Assembling them for baking

I used a scissors to create a 'pineapply' look

Because I didn't have a soft brush, the result was
pressed in unevenly washed pineapple tart :(.

Method:

• Beat butter and icing sugar until fluffy
• Add one yolk at a time incorporating it to the butter mixture
• Finally mix cornflour+flour mixture and blend well
• Depending on the shape of the tart you can either use a mould or individually make them into little pineapples. 
• To make them into little pineapples, shape them into a slight oblong shape, use a sharp and tiny scissors to cut into the dough to create pineapple spikes.
• Brush egg wash over the little pineapples and bake in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes at 180 °C

'Mexican' Beef Stew served with Wildrice

Before all my Mexican friends go Ga-Ga this was originally taken from a British Magazine and has been modified. I don't know how 'Mexican' it is but since this was the name given, I'm keeping it as it is ;).

Mexican Stew Beef served with Wildrice-Basmati

Ingredients:

About 1 dl of vegetable oil
2 kg of stew beef (cubed, the bigger the cube the longer it takes to cook)
1 litre of of beef stock
2 tbsp of chipotle chili paste (or Poppamies's vampyyri)
4 cloves of garlic (crushed, although I only smashed them with a knife)
20 grams of grated ginger
1/2 tbsp -3/4 tbsp of ground cumin (it's quite a strong spice you reduce if you don't like it too much but you must use it to give the stew the kick)
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
3/4 tbsp plain flour
1-1 1/2 cans of chopped tomatoes
1tbsp of oregano
1-2 cans of kidney beans (if using dry beans you need to prepare this in advance. Pinto beans work nicely too but since kidney beans are readily available from Finnish supermarkets I suggest to just use them. They are tasty anyways.)
salt to taste

The ingredients overview

Method:

• Heat a small amount of oil in a cast iron pan (if not just a normal flameproof dish). Brown the meat in small batches and set aside to a clean dish. Add a little more oil after each batch to avoid burning and sticking. After all the beef cubes are cooked and set aside.
• Add onions to cook until caramalized. Then stir in chipotle paste, garlic, ginger, cumin, cinnamon and flour into the onions and cook until fragrant (1-2 mins). Gradually pour in the beef stock stirring constantly. Add can chopped tomatoes and oregano and allow to slowly simmer for 10-15 mins.
• Gently pour in the beef into the pot, cover the pot and allow to simmer gently from 2.5 - 4hours (depending on the cut of meat) until meat is tender and tears easily.
• Open the lid and add the beans and allow to boil another 15 mins.
• If the sauce appears to thin just allow it to continue simmering without the lid. Take a taste and add salt to taste.

Brown in small batches

Fry onions, garlic, ginger, chipotle paste,
 flour, cumin, cinnamon in a little bit more oil.

After all the stock has been added, chopped tomatoes
and meat has been put in the stew will be a bit thin.

This is the finished product after the liquid has been
reduced.

Tip 1: Sometimes the stock is readily salted so you don't have to add any additional salt. If you're using low sodium or saltless stock then you'll need to adjust to taste.

Tip 2:  In this recipe it says caramelize onions, DO IT. Seeing I wanted to get everything into the picture I just dump the onions, grated ginger and garlic altogether. (Don't do this or else you'll have clumpy onions, I'm already regretting. xD)

Tip 3: Poppamies Vampyyri paste is much much spicier than the chipotle paste (that I haven't been able to find at the store but on poppamies's webstore) Vampyyri is sorta similar but the idea is to get the smokey flavor of chipotle into the stew. So if you don't want to end up a fire breathing dragon I suggest you order the paste directly if you can't find it from your local K-Citymarkets.  Poppamies Website

Condiments:

Beautiful Wildrice

This goes well with tacos, enchiladas, tortillas, rice...For today I'm having enchiladas and wildrice

So that there are options for my guests I've decided to buy a ready made enchilada and steam the wild rice seperately.

Wildrice is black in color hence the water will be black when cooked. So if you're planning to do a combo cook the wildrice separately or else you'll get a glob of goo and uncooked Wildrice. Another good thing is that I get to put more Wildrice instead of white like you would normally get from Myllyn paras or Uncle Ben's wildrice mix boxes.

To cook the wildrice:

Soak the rice for about 5 mins and pour away the water. If you're using the microwave (I did), cook the rice for about 18 mins at high heat with a dash of salt. If there is some water left behind it doesn't matter just strain it away. You can mix the wildrice with white race or eat it as it is. It has a nice nutty taste so it goes well with the stew.

If you are boiling, You can add a bit more water, cook at medium-low heat stirring until the grains have expand slightly in size, depending on volume it can take from 20-25 mins. Wildrice is perfect for baking as well.

Roasted Tomato-Bell Pepper Salsa

Roasted Tomato-Bell Pepper Salsa

Ingredients:

1 Bell Pepper
2 Red chillies (seeded or you can leave the seed in if you like it spicy)
1 Green Chilli
2 Tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 shallot
1 yellow onion
1 tbsp chopped Coriander
1tbsp of olive oil
1-2 wedge of lime
100 grams can of chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
salt to taste

Roasted veggies before blending.

Method:

• Put Bell pepper, chillies, tomatoes, garlic and onions in a roasting pan with a drizzle of olive oil. Roast until the top is slightly brown and onions are soft.
• Blend the roasted veggies with a stick blender.
• Stir in the cumin and salt.
• Pour the chopped tomatoes and mix well. 
• Finally put in the chopped coriander and stir. Save some for garnishing.

The wild rice hunt

Wild Rice from Alambique Oy

I ran out of my dear wild rice that I use normally with salads or when I want to give my plain boring white rice a little zing! In Finland this seems like a rarity. The pack I had was from Germany and when it ran out I went on a frenzy hunt. The nutty crunchy taste of wildrice is just fantastic. I've got some red rice that I use from time to time and it's not as nutty flavoured but feels a bit more 'fibery' compared to white rice. With that said, I want to promote this lovely species of rice by introducing a few recipes on here. Some I've gotten from friends and family, some from cooking books I've bought and tested online recipes (I'll try to always link the page but if there are some ingredients not found I'll adapt with local ingredients test it out and post the modified version on my blog)

For those who would like to know what other products Alambique delivers can go visit their website
Alambique Oy