Kobe's back!

And so is Kobe soup!

You may remember that when Kobe scored 81 points in 2006, Hubs and I were eating Tom Ka soup, which we thereafter dubbed Kobe soup. It's one of those that I don't use a recipe for, so it's a little different every time...I realized, however, that the way I did it tonight was enough different (and enough better) than when I posted it last time to warrant a Take Two post.

Comeback Kobe Soup 

(Tom Ka Gai)

Peanut oil
8oz chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 package extra firm tofu, drained well and cubed in 1 inch pieces
2 cans light coconut milk (I like the Thai Kitchen brand)
14oz chicken broth (fill one of the empty coconut cans)
About an inch of fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp or so chopped lemon grass (I use the kind in a tube from the produce section)
3 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tsp palm sugar
about a tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp chili paste
2 dried chiles, chopped fine
One can peeled, broken (or chopped) straw mushrooms, drained
one can baby corn, drained (cut them in 3rds or 4ths if they're whole)
Thinly sliced green onion and chopped cilantro, to serve

Heat a large soup or stock pot over medium high, add a little peanut oil (1 tbspish). Add tofu and let cook, tossing or stirring occasionally, until they start to brown (takes like 10 minutes). Remove tofu, and add chicken, and cook a minute or two. Add turmeric, lemongrass and ginger and stir to coat. Cook another minute.

Add broth and coconut milk, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, stir tofu back in and remaining ingredients (besides the cilantro and green onion), and let simmer about 15 minutes.

Top with the green stuff, and that's it!

I *sniffle* hate the f*sniffle*ing Santa Anas.

What is it about these annual winds that makes everyone crazy? I grew up with them, and they're basically the weather equivalent of a full moon. People. Act. Nuts. Besides the normal nutty behavior associated with having to deal with downed trees and power lines, destroyed hair, dirt in your eyes, and head congestion, I mean. It's probably all the electricity in the air? Serious, check Wiki's Health Effects section. It's legit crazytime.

Anyway, I just got back from visiting my parents in the Inland Empire‚ which is like, Santa Ana central. Their house even shakes in these winds, which is actually cool to me, because in So Cal we often like weird things that terrify normal people (i.e. earthquakes, eating raw fish, flip-flop tanlines.) Anyway, it also means I returned with a head full of snot and completely plugged up ears. They got so pressurized on my drive home over the mountains that I literally couldn't hear E whining in the back seat. So, not all negative, I guess.

I woke up this morning and the sore throat was gone and I can hear out of my left ear, so it's getting better, but I still wanted something soupy for lunch. I was going to make this, but I had tofu that needed to be used, and some bean thread noodles my mom sent home with me (she may have discovered they weren't actually another form of bean sprouts and some hilarity may have ensued, but that's for another day), so I did some substituting. And it was delicious. And easy. And I will definitely be making again.

You could probably substitute green curry paste, if that's more your thing (I will be next time, cause I love it), but I had red in the fridge so I went with it.

Red Curry Coconut Soup
1 tsp peanut (or canola) oil
2 tbsp red curry paste
6 cups chicken broth
1 can light coconut milk
5 tbsp fish sauce
juice of 1.5 limes
3 tbsp sugar
1 package extra firm tofu, cubed or thinly sliced
2 small bundles of bean thread noodles (or about 4oz any asian rice noodles)
cilantro, chopped, to top

Heat the oil and curry paste in a stock pot over medium heat. Add broth, coconut, lime juice, sugar and fish sauce, bring to a low boil. Add noodles and cook until soft, anywhere from 5-10 minutes depending on the kind of noodle.

NOTE: If you used really thin noodles (like bean thread) take a sharp knife or some kitchen shears, stick it in the soup, and cut, cut, cut. It'll still be a bitch to serve (and will require chopsticks to eat) but this helps a ton.

Add tofu and let cook another minute. Turn off the heat and let sit a couple minutes to let tofu get hot.

Add more lime juice to taste and top with cilantro.

I'm not exact. You've been warned many times.

I bought my first skillet last month. I don't know why I've never had one. Should I have? I dunno. It seems like an obvious thing to own. But I own a mandolin and never use that, so I assume it evens out somehow.

Anyway, I used it to make Laab tonight, and I now understand why people in the south are fat. 

(Southern food is cooked in skillets. I think? This is a highly unresearched fact I'm dropping right now. Stay with me here.)

Holy crap, everything sticks. You need some serious fat or oil. Or something. I'm a cooking spray devotee and that shit just ain't doing it here. I'm sure using low fat content turkey didn't help anything, but wow. 

On the plus side, I now realize I've been browning meat incorrectly in my nonstick pans all this time and OMG I'VE BEEN DOING THIS WRONG FOR YEEEEEAAARS NOW WHY HAVEN'T I HAD A GODDAMN SKILLET???

Soooo my point is that if you're trying to cook a lower fat meal, or one where your meat isn't supposed to be browned, the skillet is not your friend. 

I'm still glad I got to use it. It's been hanging out in my oven all this time, forgotten until I have a tray full of something ready to be baked (it happens, ok??) and there's a freakin' hot ass skillet chillin' in the middle of the pre-heated rack. This is has obviously led to hand burns, cursing, and many an eye roll. It's happened. It's traumatic.

SO ANYWAY LAAB. LARB, However you want to spell it. I made it, it was great, and I'd give you the recipe, but I didn't write it down and I make it different everytime. I know, this is kind of the worst post ever.

So here's the idea:

One package ground turkey cooked with:
shallot slices (1 or 2)
garlic slices (4 or 5)
lime juice (1?)
salt and pepper

Tossed with:
2 parts lime juice
1 part fish sauce
1 part sugar
chili paste to taste
celery, chopped
cilantro, a handful, chopped
mint, a handful, chopped
green onion, a handful, chopped
cooked rice noodles, a couple servings

Over:
romaine (like a head)

Topped with:
Sriracha to taste
chopped roasted peanuts (the rest of my mostly empty jar)

Seriously, this is my recipe. If you want more specifics (AKA you're not down for a little adventure, you can try this (it's pretty similar to mine) or this or even this.

Do it. It's delicious.

I love how my kitchen smells

When this sort of thing starts happening.

I lied!!!

So, not only did I not lose my Pad Kee Mow recipe, I typed it up and calculated the calories for it. I don't remember doing any of this, but that must have meant I was debating how much of it I could get away with eating in one sitting.

I also don't remember how much of it I did eat, but let's pretend it was a ladylike portion, shall we?

Anyway, Pad Kee Mow is also known as Drunken Noodles, which is obviously the best. name. ever. I've never actually eaten them whilst intoxicated, but apparently that's the thing to do in Thailand, where street vendors sell these deliciously spicy noodles out of food carts at all hours of the day.

The best Drunken Noodles I've ever had are from a little place in San Diego called Saffron, which also, btw, has the best chicken and veggie egg rolls on the planet. I'm hoping to sneak away and grab some next weekend while we're down there...but we're traveling with some non-experimental eaters, so wish me luck. Hopefully I'll be able to blame the fetus-it shouldn't be that much of a stretch, because I crave noodles and Thai constantly these days, and if you add the proximity of Saffron to the mix, my poor body will be going crazy. Mmmm. Now I want egg rolls.

My version adds mushrooms and uses regular rice noodles, instead of the wide flat noodles that are damn near impossible to find.

Pad Kee Mow (Drunken Noodles)
5 oz rice noodles
Canola or peanut oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 an onion, thinly sliced
2 minced garlic cloves
2 green onions, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
8 oz chicken breast, sliced
About 30 basil leaves, sliced
Can straw mushrooms, drained

4 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp chili paste

Soak noodles in hot water for about 20 minutes until flexible and a little soft.

Stir fry in 2 tsp oil about 2 minutes. Add soy sauce and stir fry another few minutes until just soft. Remove noodles. Heat 1 tsp oil and stir fry onions, garlic and bell pepper for about 3 minutes. Add chicken and stir fry another 5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Add mushrooms and basil.

Combine oyster sauce through chili paste, and add mixture to chicken. Let sauce cook down a bit while stir frying constantly. Add noodles back in, and toss well, cooking another 2 minutes or so.

Serve hot.

1128 total calories
4 servings: 282
3 servings: 377
2 servings: 564

Digging in the Thai pantry

I know I mentioned I was going to post a recipe for the Pad Kee Mow I made last week, but somebody threw away somehow lost the piece of paper I wrote it down on.

By somebody, yes, I mean me. Preggo brain. I blame the fetus.

I also blame it for my laziness—I wanted to make Pad Thai, but I would have had to drive an extra block and a half to the grocery store for lime, tofu, cilantro and bean sprouts. So instead, I went the easy route and just used what I had with a Pad Thai-esque sauce.

Makes two big servings, even for a preggo home alone and willing to eat all of everything in front of her. (I didn't even eat half, and trust me, I tried. Had I not eaten half a box of Wheat Thins earlier, I may have succeeded.)

Easy Thai Noodles
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp peanut oil
one shallot, minced
red chile, minced
8oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thinly
one egg
two servings rice noodles
green onion, sliced

Soak rice noodles in hot water until flexible but not completely soft (10-25 minutes, depending on the brand). Drain.

Mix fish sauce, sugar and vinegar in small bowl.

Heat oil in wok over high. Add shallots and chile and stir fry about 2 minutes. Add chicken and stir fry until completely white. Push chicken aside and crack in the egg. Let cook and then scramble until cooked completely. Stir into chicken. Add noodles and sauce.

Push mixture around until combined. Let sauce cook down until no longer wet, tossing fairly frequently.

Sprinkle with green onion and peanuts. Serve with Sriracha to taste.

Back in the saddle.

I'm kind of amazed that today is only the 20th...I've been to New York and back, spent two days at the beach, wasted a week being sick, read about a million books, and watched far too many Lifetime movies to admit. The only thing I haven't done enough of is cook. And so here we are again.

How was New York? Fantastic. I don't really feel like it was New York as much as it was Hanging Out at the Parallel's House, but that was the whole reason I went. I even brought some Buffalo home with me...the world's most adorable child sweetly gave me her baby cold (how does something that has only been on this planet for 4 weeks have access to germs I haven't yet encountered?), which would have been fine with me, except for the fact that it was the gift that kept on giving, day after long, sneezy day. (Hubby says thanks for his share, as well.)


And so, rather than cooking, I spent last week eating meals that were more dorm-style than anything else.


Mac & Cheese out of a box is totally a meal. Especially the Three-cheese kind. But it's not exactly creative. This week, I'm making up for it. My plan is for Thai, Cambodian, falafel, and tropical chicken. In that order...and I'm excited, cause if everything is as good as Thai night, we're eating well this week.

This one takes a ton of basil; it's hard to give it an exact amount. I used one of the large containers from the grocery store, then just cleaned and stripped the leaves from the stems. You can chop them if you want, but they work fine if you leave them whole, too. I'd guesstimate I used about 3 to four cups of whole leaves.



Basil Pork
2 tbsp canola oil
6 cloves minced garlic
2 minced chiles (more or less according to your taste)
1 lb ground pork (or ground chicken or turkey)
5 tbsp fish sauce
Large package basil, washed picked from the stems (a good few cups worth)
Half a cucumber, peeled and sliced
Half a lime, quartered
Cooked rice, to serve
Cooked spring rolls (whatever frozen ones look good)

Heat oil over medium high, cook garlic and chiles a couple minutes. Add pork and cook until it turns completely white and not at all pink, about 8 minutes. Add fish sauce, then stir in basil leaves. Turn off heat. Serve over hot rice with slices of lime, cucumber, spring rolls, and dipping sauces (below).


Dipping sauces
Spicy-Sour
Combine:
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 shallot, minced
1 chile pepper
juice of 1/2 lime

Spicy-Sweet
Combine:
1 tsp chili paste
pinch of salt
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp water
And microwave 30 seconds at a time until dissolved

It may take awhile, but ask and eventually you shall receive.

One of my girls asked for this recipe, like, a million years ago, and I haven't gotten around to making it again until now. So, Laura, I'm sorry. But here you go.

While you may recognize this as Tom Ka Gai at your local Thai haunt, it's known as Kobe Soup around the Pammy H. house. We were eating this soup while watching the Laker game in which our boy dropped a ridiculous 81 points on the poor Raptors...we felt it was deserving of a name change in his honor. Cause come on, whether you're Laker/Kobe fan or not (we are both, stop hating), that's some impressive shit.

Whatever you want to call it, this is a surprisingly easy and delicious soup. I happened to make it with just tofu this time, but it's better with chicken or a combination of the two...and I'm just now realizing we have chicken, and so now I'm kicking myself. Oh well.


Kobe Soup
1 lb chicken breast, thinly sliced
(or 1 package extra firm tofu, cubed, or a mixture of the two)
2 cans light coconut milk (I like the Thai Kitchen brand)
Cooking spray
2 cups chicken broth (or water)
2 tbsp minced ginger (or 1 tbsp powdered/dried)
1 tbsp or so chopped lemon grass (optional)
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
about a 1/2 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp Sriracha (or 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne)
One can straw mushrooms, drained
Thinly sliced green onion and chopped cilantro, to serve

Heat a large soup or stock pot over medium high, coat with cooking spray. Add chicken, and cook a couple minutes until it turns white (do the same thing if you're using tofu, but it obviously won't turn white). If you're using fresh ginger or lemongrass, go ahead and throw it in now so the chicken gets a little of the flavor.

Add broth and coconut milk, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, stir in remaining ingredients (besides the cilantro and green onion), and let simmer about 15 minutes.

Top with the green stuff, and that's it!

Six ingredients(ish) or less.

I love Italian Wedding Soup. I make it every chance I get...but as we're counting calories again, I wanted to make something in between that and my fave simple chicken/cabbage soup recipe, thinking I could avoid pasta if I combined cabbage and meatballs. It worked. Easy, yummy, great for sickies like me (I have a never-ending cold).

Oh, and I don't count S&P, fish sauce or sriracha as ingredients, cause the first two are totally to taste. And the fish sauce is optional.

And so, here we go.

"Thai" Wedding Soup
Half to one head of cabbage, roughly chopped
12-14 cups chicken broth
One package lean ground turkey
One egg
About 4 large cloves garlic, minced
Dried basil, about a tsp
S&P, good pinch each
Sriracha, at least 1 tsp
Fish sauce, about a tbsp or so

Heat broth in stock pot til boiling. In the meantime, mix turkey, garlic, egg, and basil in a large bowl (use your hands).

Once broth is boiling, roll medium large meatballs (less than 2 inches across) between your hands, and drop slowly into soup. Let boil slowly about 15 minutes, then stir in sriracha, cabbage and fish sauce. Cook another 10 minutes or until cabbage is cooked.

______________

Once that short-list meal panned out (and fed me for 5 meals over 3 days), I decided to try again with chicken. I figure stuffing is always easy and quick, so I could use the opportunity to play...and baked goat cheese stuffed chicken with proscuitto sounded like a winner.



Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken
6 thin slices prosciutto
2 6oz chicken breasts
2 oz herbed goat cheese
S&P, a pinch each
honey (1 tbsp ish)
balsamic vinegar, about 3 tbsp
1/4 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 425, Arrange three pieces of prosciutto side by side. Take one piece of chicken and make a slit longways. Stuff with 1 oz of goat cheese. sprinkle with salt and pepper, then wrap the chicken with the prosciutto. Repeat with other breast. Spray both with olive oil spray, place on roast rack (or cookie sheet) and cook for about 25-30min or until cooked through.

If you want to try a balsamic glaze on it, heat the honey, vinegar and pepper over medium high until it reduces a bit (5 min+) Pour over chicken (and rice, etc.)



-posted out of laziness from my iPhone.

Spicy noodles with chicken and cucumber

I think maybe one of my favorite things about Asian food is how awesome the prep work always looks. Colorful, textureful, flavorful. Just...full, if you will.


It may look like a lot is going on here, but it really was quick. Careful with the sriracha. It was hot even for us, so be warned (I put in a hefty squirt).


Spicy noodles with chicken and cucumber
adapted from a Cooking Light cold sesame noodles recipe

About 8 oz of chicken tenders
Peanut oil
Salt and pepper
About 3 servings rice sticks
1 cucumber peeled, seeded, then sliced or chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
Large clove garlic, minced
About an inch of peeled Ginger, minced
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
Sriracha to taste
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sesame seeds
One stalk green onion, chopped
Handful dry-roasted peanuts, chopped

Boil enough water to cover the dry noodles. Pour over noodles, let sit until just tender to eat, 10 min or more (taste a couple times if you need to). Drain and rinse well.

In the meantime, heat a splash of peanut oil over medium high. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, cook about 5 min a side or until just cooked. Let cool, tear into small pieces.

In small bowl, mix 1 tbsp peanut oil, and fish sauce through honey. In large bowl, combine cucumber, chicken, sesame seeds and noodles. Pour sauce over. Toss well, top with peanuts and green onion.

-posted out of laziness from my iPhone

Back to normal. As close as we get, anyway.

Time to get back to cooking.

After being cold for 3 days last week (I'm being dramatic, their house was always toasty), I wanted some summer food...did a little Cooking Light recipe searching and found Thai Cabbage Slaw. Perfect to use up the half head of cabbage in the fridge.

The store was out of red cabbage, and I'm not the biggest bell pepper fan (I like them raw alone or with spinach dip), but I had cucumber, so I substituted there. I also added sriracha instead of chili paste, and added seasoned grilled shrimp on top. But you can leave it off if you want to keep it veggie. I bet it'd be good with a spicy thai tofu soup.

Thai Slaw with Grilled Shrimp
Juice of a fresh lime
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp limeaid (optional)
1 tsp creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon sriracha
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 a head of green cabbage, chopped
half a cucumber, halved, seeded, sliced
1 cup carrot, chopped
handful chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp chopped dry-roasted peanuts
handful chopped fresh mint

garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp limeaid (or 4 tsp water mixed in 3 tsp lime juice and a dash of brown sugar)
red chili flakes
salt and pepper
1/2 lb. raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (if you don't know what that means, ask the butcher for cleaned, peeled, raw shrimp. Trust me. You don't wanna learn how to do it tonight. It's gross and not fun.

In large bowl, mix together lime through garlic. Add cabbage, cucumber, carrot and cilantro, mix well. Cover and stick in the fridge for an hour. Toss with cilantro, peanuts and mint, serve into bowls.

Heat grill.
In a large ziploc, add together garlic clove through shrimp. Shake well (or use a bowl and mix well if you need to). Quickly skewer shrimp and grill a couple minutes per side or until cooked through. They cook pretty quickly, but metal skewers are always better because they don't burn. If you only have wooden, soak them for at least 10 minutes before you use them.

Serve over slaw.
For an extra large serving spoonful and 3oz shrimp, roughly 285 cals, 6g fat, 9g protein, 6g fiber, 20g carbs

A little Asian persuasian.

I really should write recipes down. I'm terrible about it. Having this to write has honestly been the only time I've regularly recorded what I make. I really like trying new recipes...I try one or two new things a week, I'd say...but the way I like to cook my old standbys is a handful of this and a cup or so of that...a splash of this, a 1-2-3 count of that. And not surprisingly, you can tell, cause it's never the same twice.

Maybe that makes me an irresponsible cook. I'd like to think it makes me an exciting cook. You never quite know what you're gonna get (evil eyebrow lift).

I think the prime example of this is my Pad Thai. But since my Pad Thai made the list in the husband's-favorite-things-I-make bridal shower game, he doesn't seem to mind too much. (Although, I do think I know the version that's his favorite. It includes pre-made sauce that's hard to find. But I try my hardest to fake it.)

I'd say a large percentage of our meals have an Asian flair of some sort, from Thailand to India to the middle east. I think it's probably the spice factor. We love eating it out, and we love making it at home.

I love Thai food because it's spicy, flavorful, not meat heavy, and normally full of rice noodles, which I can eat. And it looks so colorful and yummy in my wok. So I keep searching for a great Pad Thai recipe, but I've discovered that while everyone has their idea of how it's best, the main ingredients tend to be roughly the same, so I stick with those.

If I could buy it at a street cart on the streets of Bangkok, I would. In a second. But until then, I have to make my version of it with a bit more Americanized ingredients. But keep in mind that fish sauce is a necessity. Don't think about what it is (fish soaked in brine, then pressed. Don't think about that.), think about the deliciousness it adds to pretty much any Thai dish. The ground shrimp is optional, but if you decide to use it, you can usually find it in the Hispanic spices section.

The ratios take some trial and error, you may like it a bit sweeter (more sugar), spicier (more sriracha), or a bit more sour (serve with lime slices, that tends to help), so play with the sauce til it's where you like it.

Eat it with chopsticks. It helps the experience, I promise. If you don't know how...learn. It's worth it.


Pad Thai
2 servings rice noodles
1 tbsp peanut, sunflower, or canola oil(small but healthy pour)
3 cloves garlic, minced
8oz chicken, cut in bite sized slices or pieces
(Or substitute/add raw peeled shrimp or sliced tofu)
1 egg
big handful sliced carrot (about a cup)
3 large handfuls bean sprouts
2 stalks green onion
2 tbsp or so chopped peanut
handful of cilantro
Sauce:
About 3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
a big squirt of ketchup, maybe 1/4 cup or so
Sriracha, about a tablespoon (more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
juice of half a lime, more to taste
Big pinch ground shrimp (teaspoon or so)

Cook the rice noodles by putting them in a bowl and covering them with boiling water. Let them soak until soft, about 25 minutes. Prep everything else in the meantime, because once you start stir-frying, it all comes together really quickly.

Heat peanut oil in wok or large saute pan. stir fry chicken pieces about 5 minutes or until cooked. Add garlic, stir-fry another minute. Push everything to the side and crack egg into wok. Scramble it by cutting it in pieces and pushing it around, about 2 minutes or until cooked. Add carrot, stir-fry all another few minutes. Add 2 handfuls bean sprouts and drained cooked noodles, mix, then add sauce, and mix well. Remove from heat, and top with remaining sprouts, peanuts, cilantro and green onion. Serve with lime slices.

Serves four. (Or two big portions. But you have to do the math there.) About 340 calories, 13g fat, 44g carbs, 2g fiber, 19g protein