Pickled Plum and Seaweed Rice

It's getting hot weather and I feel summer has just arrived. Summer is not my favorite season... I feel no energy and melted all the time. When I start feeling that, I usually eat my grandma's handmade Umeboshi (pickled plum). It increases my appetite.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 rice cooker cups of rice (about 270cc)
210cc water
2 umeboshi (pickled plum), pitted and minced
2 table spoons wakame seaweed, chopped
1/2 aburaage (deep fried tofu), sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 table spoons sake

METHOD:

Wash the rice and drain well. Add 210cc water the allow the rice to sit for half an hour. Then add chopped seaweed, sliced aburaage, soy sauce and sake. Mix well. place pitted and minced umeboshi on top and turn the rice cooker on.

When the rice is done, mix the umeboshi with rice and let it steam at least 10 minutes.

Coconut Meringues Recipe

I love light and airy meringue. This is it!

(31 meringues)

INGREDIENTS:

Dash of salt
3 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 flaked sweetened coconut, toasted

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 250ºF.

Combine salt and egg whites in a large bowl; beat with mixer at medium speed until soft peaks form.

Add sugar, i tablespoon at a time, beating at high speed until stiff peaks form. Add extract; beat just until blended (do not over beat).

Gently fold in coconut. Drop by rounded table spoons, 2 inches apart, onto 2 baking sheets covered with parchment paper.

Bake at 250ºF for 1 hour until very lightly browned and almost crisp, switching baking sheets and rotating front to back halfway through baking time. Remove from oven.

Cool for 25 minutes (meringues will crisp as they cool). Sprinkle evenly with 1 table spoon cocoa.



Recipe Adapted from Cooking Light, December 2007 (some ingredients are omitted)

Mama Tanya's Blinchiki (Russian Crepe) Recipe

Last year when my parents-in-law came to the United States to visit us, my mother-in-law was cooking almost every day and fed us with great Russian cuisine.

She showed me how to make Blinchiki which is my husband's favorite Russian crepe. I thought it called Blini, but she said that Blini is thicker than Blinchiki, and made by different dough. There are many pancakes and crapes in Russia, I find they are also called differently depending on the regions.

We ate Blinchiki with sour cream and sugar, or honey or jam.

It is also great with stuffing, there are plenty of variations such as boiled egg with onion, meat, sour cream with sugar, caramel for holidays etc.

(18 blinchikis, 8-9 inches diameter)

INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup hot water (use room temperature water if milk and eggs are room temperature)
1 1/2 ~ 2 cups flour (2 handfuls )
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

METHOD:

Whisk together eggs, milk and sugar, then add hot water and whisk.

Add flour and baking soda and whisk until blend well. Add salt to taste.

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If you have time, cover the mixture and keep it in the refrigerator for an hour. It gives your tender crepe. Most of the time, I don't have time for doing it, so I skip this method but it still get good result.
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Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour the batter onto the heated frying pan, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Quickly move pan around, so that batter spreads evenly, covering the whole surface with a thin layer.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is nice brown color. Then flip with spatula, and cook the other side for about 5-10 seconds.

Repeat these steps until out of batter, stacking cooked crepes on a plate.



STUFFING VARIATIONS:

#1
boiled eggs chopped in small pieces
caramelized onions
salt and sugar to taste

#2
chicken (any meat) cooked and cut in small pieces
caramelized onions
salt to taste

#3
sour cream
sugar

#4
cottage cheese
chopped nuts
sugar

#5
caramel (for holidays)>> Recipe

Meal Diary:May Review

Cold Salsa Pasta Recipe

It is getting good season for cold pasta. I like it for hot day's lunch. It is very light and refreshing.

This time I used left over hand made salsa from the other night's tacos dinner. All I had to do was cook pasta, that's so simple and easy. I used Spaghetti but Capellini may suite better for this recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 pound pasta
1 1/2 cups salsa

METHOD:

Boil pasta in the salted boiled water 1 minute longer than the cooking instructions for the pasta.

Drain and wash in the cold water. Drain water well.

In the large bowel, add salsa and pasta, and toss until evenly coated.

Grilled Blue Cheese Hamburger

After several times of blue cheese salad, the left over crumbed blue cheese was in my fridge for a while. When I was making hamburger for weekend lunch I was thinking of the left over blue cheese how to clean up, then I remember the blue cheese hamburger's menu at restaurant that I was curious and never tried. So I grabbed the blue cheese from the fridge and mixed with half of the meat mixture, I kept the other half as plane, just in case when it doesn't work.

For one hamburger meat mixture, added 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons crumbed blue cheese and mixed well. Then grilled as usual about 7-10 minutes. When it out of oven, the cheese was melting out from meat and looked so tasty. Yes, it was tasty! I liked it, and also good to have choices, blue cheese or with American cheese. Actually, I made it smaller than regular size of hamburger, so I could enjoy both!

Kaiser Roll

Kaiser roll is one of the breads that I wanted to bake for long time. The only thing stopping me was that I don't own the kaiser stamp to make the unique shape of the dough. But I've read an article saying that traditionally kaiser roll was shaped by folding. So I realized that I don't need the stamp to make it! Unfortunately the article doesnt' have any illustrations how to do it. I used my imagination, pictured that flower looking round shape in my head and tried to shape it. It turned out OK, pretty close that I imagined, may be little more practice brings nicer shape!

Simple Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe

According to the nutrition facts, 1 table spoon mayonnaise is 100 calories and 99% is fat! If you make it yourself, you'll see it why... In spite of the nutrition facts, I like mayo for cooking, not a lot, it brings mild flavor to fish, meat or salad.

The good thing of handmade mayo is that you can adjust oil as you like. Vegetable oil is basic, olive oil is something special. Once you start eating vegetable sticks with this mayo, you can't stop eating! No need for fancy dip any more.

INGREDIENTS:

1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar
2/3 cup vegetable oil or salad oil

METHOD:

In the small bawl, whisk together york, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Add 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice and beat until very think and pale yellow.

Add 1 tablespoon oil slowly, drop by drop, whisking constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Repeat this step until finish remaining oil.

Add remaining 1/2 table spoon lemon juice and whisk to blend.

Cover and refrigerate until needed. Do not keep longer than 1 week.

NOTE:

The egg yolk in this recipe is not cooked, which may be of concern if salmonella is a problem in your area.

Strawberry Bread Recipe

When I found this seasonal recipe online, I was so excited to make it. I found this strawberry bread has to be rested for a day or two days, otherwise you don't get the right texture.　I tasted first, right after the bread came out of oven, it was kind of rough and I didn't like that much. So I wrap with plastic and let it rest for a couple days. Then tried it again. It was amazing! The only thing is the color of strawberries, as you see it, not pretty... like other strawberry pastries.

It is very good with tea in the afternoon.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced.
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until light and fluffy, add oil and beat until blended. Beat in the sugar.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Beat all but about 2 tablespoons of the dry mixture into the egg-oil mixture. Add the strawberries to the remaining dry mixture and toss to coat the berries well. Fold this mixture and the orange rind into the batter.

Spoon batter in the greased loaf pan.

Bake until the loaves are nicely browned and inserted toothpick in the center comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer the pans to wire racks and cool 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pans and carefully remove the loaves. Return loaves to the racks to cool completely.


Recipe Adapted from gingersfoodieblog

Apple Compote Recipe

Apples is a kind of fruits that I always keep some at home. But when seasonal fruits come out, such as strawberry at this moment, suddenly apples are left in the basket untouched for weeks. When I had two apples left and were about going to bad, I found such a easy and simple way to store them.

INGREDIENTS:

2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar

METHOD:

Place sugar and water in the medium saucepan, heat and bring it to boil.

Add apple slices into boiling water. Cook until tender about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let it cool. Keep it in the refrigerator.

VARIATION:

Add a few cloves into the boiling water for different flavor.


I had several slices of this apple compote with plain yogurt in the morning, it was really good, fresh and tasty.


Recipe Adapted from Give Recipe