Friday Dinner: Fried fish in vinegar marinade

Tonight's dinner has a Southeast Asian flavor to it.

Fried fish in vinegar marinade (for 3-4 people):
Thinly sliced onion (1 cup)
Julienned Carrot (1/2 cup)
Chopped cilantro (a bunch)
Rice vinegar (1 cup)
Sugar (2 Tbsp)
Salt (2 tsp)
Soy sauce (2 tsp)
Chili peppers (1/4 tsp)
Tuna (15 oz)
Potato starch (as needed)
Oil (as needed)

1. Mix everything well except for the fish, potato starch, and oil.
2. Cut tuna into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Put potato starch on the fish pieces.
3. Heat oil in a pot. It just needs to be about 1 to 1.5 inch deep. When the oil gets hot enough so when you put a wooden chop stick into the oil, little bubbles shoot out of the tip of the chop stick, put the fish in. Fry until the edges get brown.
4. Put fried fish on paper towel to get rid of excess oil. While it's still hot, put it into the marinade mixture. You can serve right away or let it marinade for a while.

For vegetables, you can also put sliced red/yellow peppers. To make it even more Southeast Asian, you can add some fish oil. This dish goes well with rice.

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Technorati Tags:fried fishp, Southeast Asian recipe, vinegar marinade

Wednesday Dinner: Seared pork with mango salsa

Tonight's dinner was very colorful. All the bright colors definitely boost your appetite.

The recipes were taken from Cooking Light magazine.

Basically, you rub a mixture of chili powder, salt, and allspice onto center-cut loin pork chops then sear them. For mango salsa, peeled and chopped mango is mixed with fresh mint, lemon juice, sugar, and crushed red pepper.

For roasted sweet potatoes, toss cut sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt, cumin, and ground red pepper. Then bake them in the oven at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.

I served salad on the side.

So, the pork chops were not as tasty as I thought they would be. The spices didn't really give enough taste to the pork. Maybe more salt had to be added...

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Technorati Tags:pork chop, mango salsa, roasted sweet potato

Tuesday Dinner: Chicken with almond crust

This dinner was really simple and quick. Couscous is a great source of carbohydrate for quick dinner because it takes only like 10 minutes to make!

For chicken with almond crust, use the smooth side of a meat tenderizer to pound out chicken breast so the thickness would be even. Salt and pepper both sides. Brush on honey Dijon mustard on both sides then put sliced almonds. Sear chicken breast with olive oil.

Actually, the almonds didn't really form a crust like I hoped because they got stuck on the pan. Maybe if I used a non-stick pan, they might have stayed on the chicken... not sure.

I also roasted asparagus in the oven and cooked couscous.

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Technorati Tags:asparagus, chicken, almond

Monday Dinner: Crab fried rice

This fried rice was really good! If you have never made fried rice, definitely use Jasmine rice. It makes great fried rice. I like the subtle taste of crab, but if you want, you can use sausage or ham instead.

Crab fried rice (for 2 people):
Crab (1 6oz can)
Jasmine rice (1 cup uncooked)
Green onions (3 stalks)
Egg (2)
Salt
Pepper
Soy sauce (1 Tbsp)
Vegetable oil (1 Tbsp)
Sesame oil (1/2 Tbsp)

1. Cook Jasmine rice. Chop green onions and separate green and white parts. Strain crabs. Beat eggs.
2. Heat a work with vegetable oil and sesame oil on high heat. Once the wok gets smoking hot, put the white part of green onions in. Stir-fry for few seconds, then add crabs. Stir-fry for few seconds, then add eggs. Keep stirring like when you make scrambled eggs. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Once the eggs start to get cooked (but not completely), add rice in. Stir fry really well so everything gets mixed well. Add a pinch of salt. Stir fry. Then add soy sauce from the side. Stir fry well. Add the green part of the green onions. Stir fry and serve.

This is a really quick meal because the wok gets so hot that everything cooks quickly. To make good fried-rice, you want to make sure that you have everything in front of you when you start stir-frying.

I served it with seaweed soup.

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Technorati Tags:crab fried rice, Chinese recipe

This Week's Menu and Shopping List

For this week, main dishes are really quick and easy to make like grilled pork, chicken skewers, and seared swordfish. But putting little more work into making sides or sauces really can make the dinners wonderful. You can also try to add vegetables in season for sides. I used spring onions that I found at the farmer's market and grilled it and marinaded it with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Monday:9-spice pork
Tuesday: Seared swordfish with cilantro pesto
Wednesday: Chicken skewers
Thursday: Non-fried "fried" fish
Saturday: Stuffed cabbage

Shopping List:
Pork loin (4 pieces, 1/2 inch thick) - 9-spice pork
Swordfish steak cut (2) - seared swordfish with cilantro pesto
Chicken breast (6 oz) - chicken skewers
Fish fillet (2 large) - Non-fried "fried" fish
Ground beef (1 pound) - stuffed cabbage
Bacon (3 pieces) - stuffed cabbage
Chopped green onions (1/2 cup) - cilantro pesto
Fresh lime juice (2 Tbsp) - cilantro pesto
Grated peeled fresh ginger - cilantro pesto, chicken skewers
Garlic cloves (1) - cilantro pesto, stuffed cabbage
Grated fresh Parmesan cheese - cilantro pesto, stuffed cabbage
Bread crumbs - Non-fried "fried" fish, stuffed cabbage
Flour (as needed) - Non-fried "fried" fish
Egg (2) - Non-fried "fried" fish, stuffed cabbage
Cabbage (1 medium) - You need 8 nice size leaves.
Onion (1-1/2 medium) - stuffed cabbage
Carrot (1 large) - stuffed cabbage
Celery (1 stalk) - stuffed cabbage
Button mushrooms (1/2 cup sliced) - stuffed cabbage

Recommendation for sides:
9-spice pork - sauteed spinach with garlic
Chicken skewers - Asian slaw
Non-fried "fried" fish - Boston lettuce, tomato, and avocado salad dressed with balsamic vinaigrette
Stuffed cabbage - grilled fennel and spring onions in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper marinade

Things that may or may not be in your pantry/fridge:
Brown sugar
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Cumin
Whole grain dijon mustard
Ground allspice
Ground red pepper
Cooking spray
Ground red pepper
Dried oregano
Nutmeg
Bay leaf
Canned tomatoes, whole or diced
Olive oil
Soy sauce
Mirin
Sesame paste or ground sesame