Recipe - Hot Sauce

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I learned how to make this hot sauce from my friend Rebecca, a small-town Kansas girl who ended up marrying a friend of mine from high school who is Lao-Hmong. Not only does she make this great hot sauce, her sticky rice and papaya salad are amazing too. I have a lot of friends who are in interracial marriages and I am always impressed by the ones who adapt and embrace a completely different culture. Although I love my husband and his Irish roots, I never quite fell in love with bubble and squeak, beef stews or potatoes served a hundred ways. I much prefer the bright, spicy, acidic flavors of southeast Asian food. Give me some lime, cilantro and fish sauce and call me a happy camper.

Rebecca makes this hot sauce by hand in a mortar and pestle so the colors are brighter and the flavors have more depth. I am lazy so I throw the whole lot into a mini food processor and bzzzzzzz, blend the crap out of it. This is a yummy dipping sauce for grilled steak and chicken and sticky rice, but with all the fresh ingredients, it will only last one extra day in the fridge. I poured the hot sauce into a long-necked bottle (which is what I had laying around), but a wide-mouth jar is much better for this chunky hot sauce. I added a hand-drawn label, created during some extremely dull moments of jury duty. 

Read the recipe after the jump.

Vietnamese Banana Cake

I took a visit to the City Market this week and got a ton of veggies for $10.50. Only half my haul is pictured above. The same produce at the supermarket would have been at least 3-4 times as expensive. It's not as convenient and you do have to plan ahead, but I definitely need to make more of an effort to go down there! A lot of times, there are "on their last legs" produce offered, like these super ripe bananas which were $1 for an entire basket.

I found this recipe for Vietnamese Baked Banana Cake on Almost Bourdain and it sounded like my mom's banana cake. It didn't look like hers, but I gave it a go because the recipe and steps sounded so ridiculously simple that even a novice baker like myself could make it. The end result was a deliciously rich, banana-y dessert that I will be making again soon. Very soon. Because I still have more bananas! I much prefer it hot out of the oven, but traditionally it is eaten cold. And next time, I think some whipped cream or ice cream would make this standout dessert even more amazing.

Bananas are so easy to prep! Peeling and slicing only took moments. Then some caster sugar was added to give the bananas a nice syrupy coat. The rest of the ingredients (eggs, butter, flour and condensed milk) got mixed together and the bananas folded in. That's 20 minutes AT THE MOST. I didn't have a deep round cake pan like they had shown over at Almost Bourdain, so I used a rectangular pan instead and it tasted just as good. I just sliced them into squares and rectangles instead of pie shapes. All the sugar gave it a crispy crust with the filling being a hot custardy texture. The house smelled like heaven.

The next morning, I wrapped them up in some cellophane and butcher paper and tied it up nicely with my unending supply of baker's twine. Over at The Employee Lounge (my other blog), we recently chose an Employee of the Month and an Honorable Mention. Along with their gifts, I also delivered some home-made banana cake. Short story long, this is a great dessert, hot or cold and easy to make. Definitely give it a try. 

My "Famous" Instant Noodles

I love Asian instant noodles, there are so many different kinds and flavors. But for the "recipe" I'm sharing with you today, this is my preferred noodle type and brand - MI LAU THAI. The shrimp flavor comes in a red bag as shown below, but the seafood flavor is in a very close reddish-orange package. The seafood flavor lends a completely different flavor profile, which I personally don't like, but of course, you should try both and see which you prefer. If you're allergic to shellfish, there's also a chicken flavor.

Each package will come with the noodles and four flavor packets: one with dehydrated onions, one silver package and two with brownish liquids inside. If you use another brand of instant noodles, you may only get one or two flavor packs. But don't worry and continue on with the next steps.

You will also need cilantro, green onion, white vinegar and Sriracha chili sauce. 

There's not much measuring in this recipe, but sometimes I use a soup spoon (approx. 1 tbsp) to measure my vinegar. Most of the time I eyeball it.

(1) Boil water in a pot. Just use enough to cover the noodles. You can also boil your noodles in a saucepan if you're only making one or two packs. Once the water boils, add your dehydrated onions and noodles to the pot. Don't overcook the noodles, maybe 3-5 minutes.

(2) While the water is boiling, I like to empty all my sauce packets into small prep bowls/dishes. The brown liquids get combined and the silver packet gets dumped into a separate bowl.

(3) If the water still hasn't boiled, go ahead and chop your cilantro and onions. How much? It's up to you. I like a lot of greens in my food so I use huge handfuls.

(4) When the noodles are done, strain all the liquid out and give it good it a good shake.

(5) Pour drained noodles into a large nonstick sauce/frying pan and cook on high heat.

(6) Add the brown sauce packets onto the noodles and spread the love. Toss the noodles around to get an even coat around everything. It's okay to let the noodles sit a little while, it fries up and crisps the bottom which I kind of like. If you don't have these packets, just skip straight to the next step.

(7) Do the same with the silver flavor packet. Spread it around and give it quick stir.

(8) Add the vinegar next, it'll make the pan sizzle a little. I typically use 1 big spoonful for every package. For less acidity, just can use less or omit this ingredient altogether. Next squeeze on the Sriracha. Give it a another quick stir, about 30 seconds and you're almost done!

(9) Add chopped cilantro and onion and give everything a good stir.

(10) I made four packages of noodles for this little photo shoot, so I definitely put my lunch into a smaller bowl. Delicious with kim chee too. :)

All photos by Linh Trieu/©Fresh Fish Creative

Cook for Your Dad!

Another great way to show your dad how much you love him is with food, of course! Here are some recipes you can try...

Eggs on Toast w/ Dandelion Green

Recipe from Gourmet Magazine - click here for the recipe.

Coffee-Rubbed Cheeseburger with Texas Barbecue Sauce

Recipe from Epicurious.com/Bon Appétit - click here for the recipe.

Grilled Shrimp w/ Molasses-Guava Glaze

Recipe from Epicurious.com/Bon Appétit - click here for the recipe.

Bison Rib Eye Steaks w/ Roasted Garlic

Recipe from Food & Wine - click here for the recipe.

Miso-Glazed Sea Bass with Asparagus

Recipe from Gourmet Magazine - click here for the recipe.

Supper Club

Who likes to clip out recipes and let them sit stagnant in a folder, on the fridge, but more often, underneath a stack of junk? In order to dust off some of those recipes, we started a monthly Supper Club. The group is limited to eight so it's not overwhelming and everyone gets a chance to talk (very important when we are all social butterflies and loudmouths). It's been so much fun that friends are clamoring to join, but this is an exclusive club and very hard to get into. :) Our solution? The hosts get to invite two extra people to dinner. Here are some guidelines if you want to start your own exclusive foodie club:

1. Choose friends who enjoy cooking and eating. It doesn't hurt to know someone in the wine business either. Ahem, Craig.
2. Keep the number of the group relatively small.
3. Do it regularly, but be flexible.
4. Come up with basic ground rules. For us, the host provides the main course, everyone else chooses a side, appetizer or dessert to complement the theme...and it's always on a Monday.
5. Have fun! This is about enjoying the food, wine and company, not talking it to death.

George and I hosted this month's supper and the theme was Argentina. The setting was all about bright colors, a casual setting and one huge box of paper napkins. We ate like kings: grilled clams, roasted artichokes, corn & shrimp salad, Caesar salad with cheesy crisp, roasted garlic, grilled corn, Asado (rough cuts of meat, charred and grilled) with chimichurri, quinoa, and carrot cake cookies. Some food snapshots...