I recently stumbled upon this lovely Japanese cooking blog and have since fell in love with it. The recipes posted are easy and the dished come out delicious! I have since tried a few other Japanese recipes from her blog with delicious results.

With a piece of salmon I got on sale, I decided to cook up some teriyaki salmon for the husband and I. Right away, I knew I had to look up Nami's blog: Just One Cook Book for this dish and was delighted to see that she has a recipe for it. I had most of the ingredients in the pantry and was able to make salmon teriyaki as planned.

Unfortunately, I did not have sake in my pantry but was able to use dry sherry as a substitute. I cut my piece of salmon fillet to larger pieces than what the recipe asked for; so cooking time was slightly longer. Result was a very delicious piece of teriyaki salmon; one each for the husband and I and extra for my neighbor. We served the salmon teriyaki with some steam rice with furikake and clam miso soup. Dinner that day was super yums!

Here's the recipe adapted from Nami's blog. The instructions on her blog are clear with step by step pictures.


SALMON TERIYAKI RECIPE
*Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 Salmon Fillets, Skin On (About 3/4" thick - the skin will hold the flesh together when cooking)
• Salt
• Freshly Ground Black pepper
• 1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Tbsp Dry Sherry ( or Sake)
• 1/4 Tsp Toasted Sesame Seed (Optional)
• 1 Tbsp Chopped Green Onion (Optional)

Enjoy!

Simply June 

We've been blessed to have friends from different parts of the world and generous to share their culture with us. Often, sharing their culture/tradition involves eating.... and the husband and I cannot say no to food! =)  A couple months ago, our Italian friends C&A invited us over for a traditional Italian meal; Bagna Cauda which originates from their town. According to C & A, their family always have it over winter and share the meal with family and friends. After I tried this delicious dip/meal, I was totally hooked!!

According to Wikipedia, Bagna Cauda is a warm dip typical of Piedmont, Italy and is served and consumed in a manner similar to fondue. The dip is made with garlic, anchovies, olive oil, butter and sometimes cream. Therefore, you must like fish or in this case anchovies to enjoy this dip. The dish is eaten by dipping raw, boiled or roasted vegetables and even bread. Traditional, the Bagna Cauda is placed in a big pan in the center of the table for communal sharing. Now, it is usually served in individual pots.

C & A was generous to haul 2 (or 3) large cans of anchovies back from Italy during their last trip. It took them several days to clean the salt cured anchovies and prepare some of the vegetables for dipping. We were greeted with a melange of steamed, boiled, and raw vegetables (raw beets, boiled cabbage, boiled potatoes, raw radish, steamed cauliflower, steamed asparagus, raw fennel, steamed carrots, boiled mini onions, etc) C prepared the quick yet delicious anchovy dip in front of us, so I had a first hand look of how it's being made. Super easy, just make sure you have some canned anchovies at home. Since I could not find salt cured anchovies, I used anchovies soaked in oil instead. The result is still as good.  It's definitely a good way to load up on a lot of vegetables. Some vegetables was surely an excellent match for the dip, some was just ok... but overall it's a personal preference thing as there's no one vegetable that I dislike after dipping it in the bagna cauda! Here's the recipe!


BAGNA CAUDA RECIPE
*Serves 1-2

Ingredients

• 1 Small (2 Oz) Can Anchovies (in oil), Drained
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 4-5 Cloves Garlic, Grated
• 2 Tbsp Heavy Cream
• Dash of Ground Black Pepper, Optional

Method
In a small pot, heat oil over medium heat. Then, add grated garlic and anchovies and let the mixture cook over medium low heat until the anchovies melt. Stir occasionally to help melt the anchovies. Finally, add in heavy cream and let the mixture warm up. Transfer bagna cauda to a small porcelain bowl and add some fresh cracked black pepper. Serve the warm dip with your favorite steamed or raw vegetables. Bread also goes well with this dip.

June's Notes: With the bagna cauda sauce I made, I decided to steam some asparagus till slightly tender and poached and egg. I poured about 2 tbsp of the bagna cause sauce over the asparagus and poached egg platter and loved the combination of the runny yolks and the bagna cauda sauce! 

To learn how to poach an egg, check out Alton Brown's tips. 

Simply June 

The MIL and I were discussing what vegetable dish to make for dinner. After going through the vegetables I had in my fridge, we decided to cook okra / lady fingers. I usually cook my okra/lady fingers the only way I know it's yummy.....in fish curry.  MIL was thinking about a stir fry... However, we ended up making the sambal okra / lady fingers after seeing a mouthwatering picture of sambal lady fingers in one of my nonya cookbook. We used that picture and recipe as an inspiration to make this dish!

My MIL was kind enough to cook us a big batch of "Dried Shrimp Sambal" or more fondly known in Hokkien as "Sambal Hae Bee. We used that as part of the ingredients for this recipe; instead of using regular dried shrimp. So, if you happen to have some delicious homemade (or store-bought) "sambal hae bee", give this recipe a try!!!  Mixing all the ingredients needed for the sambal, I couldn't wait to dig in... The sambal tasted sooo good!!!! The amount of sugar and lime in the recipe is totally up to your personal preference. The hint of minced kaffir lime leaves and roasted belacan powder gives it a nice aroma. The spicy, sweet, sour and fragrant sambal reminded me of tom yam! I had plenty of rice that day... and happily cleaned the plate of leftover sambal. It's so addictive and appetizing, I could eat another plate of it! Here's the recipe..... I hope you like it as much as I do! Nom..Nom..Nom..!
SAMBAL OKRA / LADY FINGERS RECIPE
Ingredients

• 15-16 Lady Fingers / Okra, Top and Tip Trimmed
• 2 Tsp Oil 

Sauce Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp Sambal Oelek
• 2 Tsp Belacan Powder
• 3 Tbsp Homemade Dried Shrimp Sambal 
• Juice from 1 Lime
• 3-4 Kaffir Lime Leaves, Finely Minced
• 2-3 Cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
• 3-4 Tsp Sugar (Adjust accordingly)
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 Tsp Fried Shallots (Optional) 

Method
In a wok, heat some water over medium high heat and place a rack in the wok. Arrange the okra/lady fingers in a single layer in a shallow bowl and drizzle with some oil. Once, the water in the wok starts to boil, place the bowl of okra / lady fingers and cover the wok. Let the okra / lady fingers steam for about 5-7 minutes until tender. The okra / lady finger will turn a darker shade of green.

While the okra / lady fingers are steaming, mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Adjust the sugar and lime accordingly to get your preferred level of sourness and sweetness. I like my "sambal" to be a little sour, so I use about 3-4 tsp of sugar to mix with the juice from the huge lime I used.

Once the okra / lady fingers are cooked, pour the sambal mixture onto the steamed okra / lady fingers. For optimum flavor, gently cut a small vertical slid in the middle of steamed okra, gently pry it open with a small teaspoon and stuff some of the sambal into the okra / lady fingers. Pour remaining extra samba over the okra / lady fingers and sprinkle with optional fried shallots. Serve with plenty of warm white rice!!Enjoy!

June's Notes: If you do not have "sambal hae bee" at home, I think you could probably use some toasted chopped dried shrimp. The flavors might not be as intense, but shouldn't be too bad. I'll have to try this version and let you know the results! =)

Simply June 

Husband and I love Mayo Shrimp and I’ve made it once before. We recently ordered take out from a restaurant near our place and just couldn’t resist what we saw on the menu; Jumbo Shrimp Mayo. Just had to order it!

The Shrimp Mayo was slightly different from what’ve we’ve had before but it was still good. I recognized immediately that they used coconut milk in the sauce. Mmmm….

So, a few weeks later I attempted to recreate what we had  I tweaked the recipe I used before and was pleased with the result. It tasted like our take out dinner the other day!

MAYO SHRIMP RECIPE

Method:

Part A (Fried Shrimp):

• 1/2 Lb Shrimp, Peeled & Deveined
• 1 Large Egg White
• 1/4 Cup Corn Flour
• 1/4 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/8 Tsp Salt
• 1/3 Cup + 1 Tsp Oil

Part B (Sauce):

• 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp Condensed Milk
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Coconut Milk
• 2 Tsp Lemon Juice

Method:

Mix egg white, corn flour, baking soda, salt and 1 tsp oil in a bowl until you get a smooth paste. Pat dry the shrimp and mix them into the paste/batter. Make sure shrimp is well coated with the batter.

Heat 1/3 cup oil in a small pan over medium heat and slowly drop the nicely coated shrimp one at a time into the hot oil. You do want to make sure the oil is at least 1/2” deep. Add more oil if your pan is bigger. Do not overcrowd the pan with the shrimp. Fry the first side of the shrimp until it’s golden brown before flipping them over to fry the second side. This shouldn’t take too long as the shrimp cooks very quickly.

While the shrimp is cooking, prepare the sauce part by mixing Part B in a bowl until well combined. Set it aside. Remove fried shrimp, drain oil and place them in a bowl. Pour sauce over the shrimp and coat well before transferring onto a serving platter. Serve immediately with some white rice. You could also place the sauce on the side instead of coating the shrimp in them!

Quiche for my French themed dinner! It was easier than expected especially when I use store bought crust. Here’s an easy recipe for either breakfast, lunch or dinner (like what I did!)! I did not fuss with the crust for my version of quiche and just used a store bought pie crust for it. I thought it turned out pretty well. The quiche although has cream and eggs was kinda light.

SALMON & SPINACH QUICHE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 Pillsbury Pie Crust, Defrosted
• 6-7 Oz Smoked Salmon, Chopped
• 1 – 10 oz Packaged Frozen Spinach, Defrosted and Drained
• 3/4 Cup Cream
• 4 Large Eggs
• 1/2 Medium Onion, Chopped
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• Salt & Pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F. Melt butter in a pan, add garlic and onion. Sauté until garlic is lightly brown and set aside. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and cream. Add chopped smoked salmon, spinach (with all juice squeezed out), onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Line a 9 inch tart pan with the pie crust, trimming excess crust. Lightly pierce the crust with a fork, then pour in egg mixture.

Bake quiche for 30-40 minutes or until the center is set. Serve either warm or even at room temperature! Enjoy!

Psst…Mom..you gotta try this recipe! =)

With a package of frozen cooked New Zealand mussels I have in the freezer, I decided to do something with it for my Tapas Party. I’m not a huge fan of those plump mussels (or any similar shellfish), but I don’t mind them when they are chopped. I decided to google for a stuffed mussels recipe and found one on my favorite online food sites; Tastespotting. I found a recipe here and extracted bits and pieces from it.

The mussels can definitely be prepped / stuffed ahead and baked about 15-20 minutes prior to serving. You do want to make sure to cover and store the stuffed mussels in the fridge if you do not plan to bake it right away.

STUFFED MUSSELS RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 10 Cooked Mussels, On Half Shell
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Onion
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Bell Pepper
• 2 Clove Garlic, Minced
• 2 Tbsp Flour
• 6 Tbsp Milk
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 Tbsp Bread Crumbs
• 1-2 Tbsp Grated Parmesan

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Carefully remove mussels from shells and chop them. Set shells aside for stuffing. Set chopped mussels aside.

Heat butter in a pan over medium high heat. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic. Sauté until bell pepper is soft. Stir in flour and cook for a few minutes to make a roux. Gradually, stir in milk to achieve the béchamel sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Once sauce thickens, remove pan from heat.

Stir in chopped mussels and evenly stuff them into the mussel shells. Sprinkle some bread crumbs and parmesan cheese over the stuffed mussels. Placed them on a baking pan lined with some foil and baked them for about 15 minutes or when the crumbs turn slightly brown. Let mussels cool slightly before serving.

I have a can of red salmon (what ever that is) sitting in my pantry. I think my inlaws got them when they were here and yes they’ve been sitting a while in my always very packed pantry. I can never go hungry if I’m stuck at home!! =)

Having never seen, heard and let alone use canned salmon, I had to think of a quick way to use it. Making cakes/croquettes was a brilliant idea to use up canned fish. I held my breath as I opened the can and dump the contents into a bowl. I don’t know what to expect. The canned salmon was actually a portion of a cut up salmon, cooked till bones are tender (skin still intact) and squashed into a can! Other than that, it looked any boiled salmon I guess…

Japanese Breadcrumbs (Panko) gives the cakes a nice little crunch! Ground cumin in the salmon cakes was a nice little spice spruce me up and gave the cakes a little different flavor. Here’s the recipe for the Salmon Cakes.

SALMON CAKES RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1 Can Red Salmon (14-2/4Oz can)
• 2 Ribs Celery, Diced (About 1 Cup)
• 1 Medium Onion, Diced (About 1 Cup)
• 2 Cloves Garlic , Minced
• 4 Tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 Tsp Chopped Parsley
• 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Tsp Ground Cumin
• 2 Large Eggs
• 2 Tbsp Butter
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 Cup Panko
• Oil

Method:

Drain juice from salmon and remove skin and as many bones (bones are edible, but I like to remove them) as you can. I ended up with about 9 oz of salmon. Mash the salmon and set aside.

In a pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Once butter has melted, add onion, celery and garlic. Saute mixture until onion is soft. If you prefer, you can also cook until the celery is soft. I personally prefer a little crunch to the celery.

Once that is done, set the mixture aside and let it cool. Add celery & onion mixture, cumin, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt and pepper add one beaten egg into the mashed salmon. Mix well and use a ice cream scoop (or not) to scoop them and shape them into discs/patties (About 2-1/2” x 3/4”). Beat an egg. Gently dipped the salmon patties/cakes into the the beaten egg mixture and coat patties well in Panko crumbs.

Heat a pan with oil (to cover at least half the height of the salmon cakes) over medium high heat. Fry the Panko coated salmon cakes until golden brown on the first side and continue the same for the second side. This will give you about 9-10 pretty delicious salmon cakes!

June’s Comments: The Salmon Cakes can be quite fragile but will firm up after you cook them. I love to serve anything fried with a concoction of mayonnaise (my favorite dipping condiment!!), ketchup and chili sauce. Serve the Salmon Cakes as is, with some salad or sandwiched between bread! =)

I believe my aunt taught my mom this recipe and my mom passed it down to me when I saw her make this unbelievable quick and delicious pasta. A French lady or someone who’s lived in France taught my aunt this amazing creamy tuna and tomato pasta which is now one of my favorite comfort food.

Making and eating this pasta reminds me of home somehow. I’m truly lucky that my mom enjoys cooking and trying out various recipes from different parts of the world. I’m proud to say my passion for cooking and baking has its roots; my mom.

In this recipe, use SOLID canned tuna either packed in oil or water. I personally prefer the ones packed in oil as I think they are a little more flavorful. Solid Tuna as shown in picture above (left) will definitely give you chunkier, meaty tuna pieces. Yes, it does cost more, maybe double the price of the Chunk Tuna as shown in picture above (right) but the investment is worth it. Chunk Tuna pieces will disintegrate into unappetizing mushy little pieces. It taste better to able to bite into large chunks of tuna. Leave that mushy mess for your tuna salad sandwich! =P

CREAMY TUNA & TOMATO PASTA RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 Cans Solid Tuna in Oil (or Water)
• 1-2 Plump Tomatoes, Diced
• 2 Clove Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Chopped Parsley
• Salt & Pepper
• 1/2 Lb Spaghetti or Linguine

Method:

Boil pasta in seasoned water (oil + salt) until al dente. Drain and set aside. Heat oil over medium heat and stir fry garlic until fragrant, not burnt. Then add cream, tuna and let mixture come to a boil. Once it starts boiling, add cooked pasta and seasoned with salt and pepper. Toss in tomatoes and half of chopped parsley. Transfer to serving bowls and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately. This should serve 2-3 people.

I’ve had this dish at many Chinese restaurants (and I love it!) but have never thought about making it. If it wasn’t because of my baby brother who recently made this dish and posted the yummy pictures and the recipe on his blog, I would have never made it. At least not so soon. I’m SO PROUD of him to be able to cook such yummy dish even though he’s technically not a baby anymore but he’s still my precious little brother who’s 5 years younger than me. Ahh…it still felt like yesterday when I held my new born baby brother in my arms….and that was a little more than 20 years ago!! It’s funny how we both never really cooked when in Malaysia and here in the US, we’ve learnt to cook, bake and experiment with different stuff. Mummy and daddy will surely be proud of our cooking ability now!! =)
Back to the food…. I think this dish goes by many different names at various restaurants…but the dish is the same. The most common name is Mayo Shrimp. I’ve also heard of Salad Shrimp and my brother has a longer name for it “Shrimp with Sweet Creamy Sauce”. In some Chinese restaurants, they even add candied walnut to the shrimp “salad”, thus making it “Honey Walnut Shrimp”.
Here’s the recipe of the Mayo Shrimp my brother found online to which I made some changes to the sauce part. My brother told me that the sauce was too sweet and suggested to reduce the condensed milk. Since I was only making 1/2 Lb of shrimp, I modified the sauce to accommodate to the amount of shrimp I have. 

MAYO SHRIMP RECIPE
Ingredients:
Part A (Fried Shrimp):

• 1/2 Lb Shrimp, Peeled & Deveined
• 1 Large Egg White
• 1/4 Cup Corn Flour
• 1/8 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/8 Tsp Salt
• 1/3 Cup + 1 Tsp Oil

Part B (Sauce):

• 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Condensed Milk
• 2 Tsp Lemon Juice

Method:
Mix egg white, corn flour, baking soda, salt and 1 tsp oil in a bowl until you get a smooth paste. Pat dry the shrimp and mix them into the paste/batter. Make sure shrimp is well coated with the batter.
Heat 1/3 cup oil in a small pan over medium heat and slowly drop the nicely coated shrimp one at a time into the hot oil. You do want to make sure the oil is at least 1/2” deep. Add more oil if your pan is bigger. Do not overcrowd the pan with the shrimp. Fry the first side of the shrimp until it’s golden brown before flipping them over to fry the second side. This shouldn’t take too long as the shrimp cooks very quickly.
While the shrimp is cooking, prepare the sauce part by mixing Part B in a bowl until well combined. Set it aside. Remove fried shrimp, drain oil and place them in a bowl. Pour sauce over the shrimp and coat well before transferring onto a serving platter. Serve immediately with some white rice. You could also place the sauce on the side instead of coating the shrimp in them!

June's Notes: If you like coconut, check out my current favorite version of Mayo Shrimp here.

The sound of Macaroni and Cheese sounds heavenly but the sight of it where the macaroni is all coated in Orangy goo, just scare the daylight out of me! The best macaroni and cheese I had was the King Crab Mac & Cheese @ Phillips Seafood in Baltimore, MD. The second best perhaps a Truffle (Infused?) Mac & Cheese I had at Medici Cafe @ Las Vegas Ritz Hotel. Ahh… how I would die to  be able to eat them right now!!

Anyways, having experiment with Mac & Cheese a couple times and trying to create perhaps an adult version of it, I decided to make it for my Halloween Dinner. I thought it turned out well except this silly chef forgot…SALT!! With Salt added, the Mac & Cheese was YUMS!

So this recipe was inspired by the King Crab Macaroni & Cheese I had. The cheese is overall subtle and perhaps not overly cheesy. That way you can eat more and not get filled up quickly by all those cheeses! =) If you’re looking for a super duper cheesy Mac & Cheese, this recipe is probably not for you…well unless you add more cheese to it!

LOBSTER MACARONI & CHEESE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Chopped Lobster Meat
• 5 Oz Asparagus, Cut into 1”
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
• 1/2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 2-1/2 Cups Macaroni Elbow
• 3 Tbsp Butter, Divided
• 2 Tbsp Flour
• 2 Cup Milk
• 2-1/2 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
• 1/3 Italian Breadcrumbs
• Salt
• Pepper

Method:

Boil pasta in seasoned water (oil + salt) until al-dente. Drain and set aside. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in a pan and add garlic and onion. Once garlic and onion have started to brown, add asparagus and stir fry until asparagus is tender. Remove and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375F. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large pan over medium high heat. Whisk in flour and stir vigorously to avoid clumps. Stir in milk and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add cheese and cook until cheese has melted. Add in asparagus, lobster, cooked macaroni and mix them well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer macaroni mixture into a 9” x 13” glass baking pan. Top macaroni with bread crumbs and bake in oven for about 20 minutes. This should serve 5-6 people as an entree.

June’s Notes: Feel free to use chopped grilled/rotisserie chicken instead of lobster. If you do not have Italian breadcrumbs in your pantry, feel free to use Panko breadcrumbs. Melt about 2 tbsp of butter and toss in about 1/2 cup of Panko breadcrumbs before topping your macaroni. Bake until the panko turns golden brown!

We had a simple Malaysian cuisine for last Friday nite’s dinner. It was Nasi Lemak served with the simplest condiments of egg, cucumber, peanuts and sambal ikan bilis (anchovy). Nasi Lemak originates from Malaysian and can easily be found in many eateries. There are many different varities to this dish; some have more luxurious condiments, some are more basic (and original?). Never the less, this dish is loved by many.

I had planned to share the recipe to make the “Nasi” (Coconut Rice) which is rice cooked with coconut milk, lemongrass, ginger and some salt. I forgot to measure the amount of rice I used this time, so I guess I’ll share the next time then. However, I do like to share my Sambal Ikan Bilis (Anchovy) that I made to accompany the rice time and again. Hubby and I loved it to bit and it’s easy to make with the right ingredients on hand! I’ve always made it using a cheat method by using Sambal Oelek (that way, I do not have to cut up fresh chilies or reconstitute dried ones), onions, ikan bilis (dried anchovies..YUM!), sugar and seasoning. Here’s the recipe!

SAMBAL IKAN BILIS (ANCHOVY) RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 4 Oz Asian Dried Anchovies (Ikan Bilis), Wash & Drain
• 2 Cups Thinly Sliced Onions
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 1/4 Cup Sambal Oelek
• 5 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
• 1/4 Cup Water

Method:

Heat oil over medium heat and add anchovies. Fry anchovies until fragrant and slightly brown. Add onions and stir fry till onions are soft. Then add sambal, brown sugar, light & dark soy sauce and water. Let mixture simmer until sauce become slightly thick. Remove and serve with warm rice, fried or hard boiled eggs.

Here’s a picture of the sambal oelek, available from most Asian grocery stores in the US. You could also get this sambal from the regular grocery store in the US; look in the Asian aisle for it.

My MIL wanted to eat lobster cooked in some kind of Sweet and Spicy Sauce like the famous Chili Crab dish commonly found in Malaysia and Singapore.  I won’t claim that this dish is Malaysian as there are debates that it originates from Singapore. I guess it depends on who you ask! I browse through  my “Authentic Tastes Of Southeast Asia” book by Celine Carnegie and found a recipe for Singapore Chili Crab in it. This recipe that I’m sharing is based on her Singapore Chili Crab recipe with a little modification. This dish is slightly sweet, spicy and “garlicky”!  Since I’m not a big fan of crabs, and lobster are still reasonably cheap ($4.99/lb); I used lobster for mine. I personally think that lobsters are easier to eat and perhaps a lil’ less messy?

CHILI LOBSTER (OR CRAB) RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 Lb Live Lobster (Or Mud Crab)
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Oil
• 3 Tbsp Minced Shallots
• 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 4 Tbsp Garlic Chili Sauce
• 4 Tbsp Tomato Sauce / Ketchup
• 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock 
• 1-2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1Tbsp Chopped Scallions/Green Onions (Optional Garnish)

Method:

Please see my notes below on how to prepare the lobster or crab for cooking.

Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add shallot and garlic and stir fry until slightly brown. In a bowl, whisk together ketchup, garlic chili sauce, and chicken stock (You can double this mixture if you want more gravy). Add prepared lobster/crab and sauce mixture into the pan. Make sure your lobster/crab gets a good coating of the sauce. Add in sugar (adjust sweetness according to your preference) and cook this until sauce slightly thickens and your lobster/crab turns bright orange. Transfer to serving platter, garnish with scallions and serve immediately with warm rice.

June’s Notes:

How to prep the lobster: I bought a 1-1/2 lb live and kicking lobster, quickly rinse it and dunk it into boiling water (enough to cover the lobster) just long enough to kill it (Sorry, Mr. Lobster!). Let it cool a little before cutting it up and watch out for the hot liquid inside the lobster! Cut the legs and claws off the lobster. As for the claws, you just just slightly crack it (Use a nutcracker) or cut it length wise. Twist the head off the lobster or use a knife to severe the lobster tail from it’s body. You may need to remove and rinse off the tomalley (the green icky looking stuff) inside the lobster. Cut the lobster tail into 4-5 bite size pieces. Put all this in a bowl and drain it just before cooking.

If you are brave to run your knife into the lobster, check out this tutorial on how to kill it. I do like to keep the head whole for garnish! =)

How to prep the crab: Remove large claws. Remove and discard the flap from the body section. Pull the body away from the back shell and remove and discard the gills and stomach sac. Cut the body section into 4 pieces and crack the large claw shells with the back of a heavy knife. Wash the crab and drain. Scrub the back shell and keep it whole to use as a garnish. (This “tutorial” on prepping the crab is extracted from the book: Authentic Tastes Of Southeast Asia by Celine Carnegie”)

You can also view a different tutorial on cleaning and cutting the crab HERE.

Assam (Tamarind) Prawn is one of my favorite Malaysian dish and requires minimal ingredients to cook! I found recipe for the Assam Prawn HERE, followed it and it turned out great! It’s been a long time since I’ve had some Assam Prawns and yesterday’s dinner of jumbo juicy assam prawns left me wanting to cook more!!!!!!

Tamarind pastes are hard to get in Western countries. However, you should be able to get some at any Asian stores selling either South East Asian or Indian food stuff. I got my block of tamarind from a local South East Asian grocery store. I forgot how much I paid for it, maybe less than $2.

ASSAM PRAWN RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 300gm Prawns, Shell On
• 4 Tbsp Assam (Tamarind) Paste
• 4 Tbsp Water
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tsp Salt
• Oil for Frying
• Dash of Dark Soya

Method:

Mixed Assam paste with water then add sugar, salt and dark so sauce. Add prawns to it and let it marinate for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take the prawns out and sieve the rest of the Assam juice if available but it should be no more than 2-3 tbsps of thick gravy left. Discard the Assam pulp/pits.Heat oil in pan over medium high heat and fry the prawns till they are cooked. Remove the prawns once they are cook and set aside. In the same pan, pour in gravy and cook it until thick. Then toss the prawns into the gravy and coat it well.

June’s comments: All I had were shell on shrimps without the shrimp heads, which I deveined. After marinating the shrimps, I remove them from the marinate for frying and set the marinate aside along with the Assam pulps. I saved 1/2 of the Assam pulps, added about 2-3 more tablespoon of water to the marinate mixture as I like my Assam Prawns to have more gravy. Assam prawns are usually on the drier side. Enjoy!!

Hubby and I love New England Clam Chowder and have been trying to make Chowder since hubby’s Valentine dinner attempt. We’ve been using more affordable clams without sacrificing the flavor too much. Fresh clams are surprisingly pretty costly at about $5 per pound and with the thick heavy shells, you probably end up with 1/4 lb or less of actual clam meat! And you really really need lots of clam meat to make clam chowder yummy and hearty! For a soup to feed 4, you would need about 3-5 lbs of clams! Unless the clams are in season and are super duper cheap, we will definitely stick to more affordable alternative! After several trials with different kind of clams (as well as different potatoes), we thought that canned chopped clams (6 cans @ $5.99 from Costco) were quite a good substitute. Hubby and I would love to try frozen clams next time and see what yummy chowder we can make out of it! The recipe we’ve been using is based on Kim’s Country Clam Chowder. And we’ve made changes to her recipe according to our preference! We added more cooking wine (cheap @ $2 per bottle) than the recipe asked for. Hubby teased that I should start a food blog with food recipes with lotsa liquor and wine used in cooking..since we do love alcohol in our dishes! And no, we’re not alcoholics!! =P. Here’s our version of the New England Clam Chowder…. won’t bother renaming it as I’m not that creative in making new names! =p

 

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER

Ingredients:

• 4 Strips Hickory Smoked Bacon,
• 2-3/4 Cup Red Skin Potatoes, Skin On & Diced Into 1/2 Inch Cubes
• 1 Cup Yellow Onion, Chopped
• 3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
• 3/4 Cup Celery, Diced
• 3 x 6.5 Oz Cans Snow’s Chopped Clams In Clam Juice
• 1/2 Cup Clam Juice
• 1 Cup Dry White Cooking Wine
• 1 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
• 1/4 Tsp Dried Thyme
• Salt (**Optional)
• 1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Butter, Room Temperature
• 1/2 Tsp Chopped Parsley
• Oyster Crackers

Method:

In a large pot, fry bacon strips until crisp (no oil needed). Remove bacon from pot, drain on paper towel and leave bacon grease in pot. Add potatoes to pan and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add celery, onion and garlic and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Strain canned chopped clams and set clam juice aside. There should be about 1-1/2 cups of clam juice from the canned clams. Give the clams a rough chop. Add chopped clams, clam juice and white wine. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir in thyme and pepper.

Reduce heat to low and gradually add milk, then heavy cream, stirring frequently until chowder begins to thicken slightly. Season soup with salt if needed. In a separate bowl, combine butter and flour until smooth then add tiny dollops of it into the soup to thicken the soup a little more. If you like your soup very thick, repeat the butter and flour mixture until you get the consistency you like. Remember to let the soup cook for a minute or two before adding more flour mixture.

Ladle soup into individual bowls and top with crumbled crispy bacon as well as pieces of oyster crackers. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and serve this piping hot! If you have a warm crusty bread….that would be awesome! This serves 4-5 people!

June’s Notes: I would not recommend the use of Baby Clams… the texture is just not right!! You should be able to find chopped clams and clam juice at the aisle where they sell canned tunas.

PS: I was the sous chef last night, helping hubby cutting and prepping the ingredients for the chowder. Hubby was the “executive chef” for this pot of chowdah!

I love pasta especially when it’s served with white cream sauce …yum-yum! I can eat pasta all day long, ok maybe not all day long..but I won’t reject a plate of pasta with white cream sauce (not quite a big fan of red sauce pasta!)! Yesterday, I made pasta with a slight Japanese twist. I got so inspired after watching something from the Food Network (I think) and recalled my mom’s pasta dining experience in Japan many years ago.

I thought the touch of Panko and Nori to the pasta turned out really well! I enjoyed the crunchy texture the Panko gave the pasta! I loved it so much, I can’t wait to just share this recipe here! I hope you will enjoy this recipe as much as I’ve enjoyed creating and sharing it!

 

SHRIMP & PEA PASTA (WITH A JAPANESE TWIST) RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Rotini (short twisty/spiral pasta) or any short pasta of your choice
• 8 Jumbo Shrimp, Quatered ( This gave me about 1/2 cups shrimp – that’s all the shrimp I have in the freezer! That’s why I had to be frugal with the shrimp and cut it up!!)
• 1/2 Cup Frozen Sweet Peas
• I Small Onion, Chopped
• 2-3 Garlic Cloves, Chopped
• 3 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 2-3 Tbsp Grated Parmesan
• 1 Tbsp Fresh Parsley, Chopped
• Salt & Pepper
• 1/3 Cup Panko (Japanese Breadcrumb)
• 2-3 Pcs Ajitsuke Nori (Japanese Seasoned Crispy Seaweed Snack), Cut Into Strips

Method:

Boil Rotini pasta or any pasta of choice till al dente and remove. In a separate pan (medium heat), toast Panko till slightly golden brown – stirring constantly. Then, add 1 tbsp of butter to the toasted butter, stir it and brown it a little more. Transfer to a small bowl. In the same pan (medium heat), melt remaining butter and add chopped garlic and onion; cooking them till soft. Stir in shrimp and frozen peas, letting them cook for a while before adding heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Simmer sauce before stirring in cooked pasta and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Make sure pasta is well coated with the white cream sauce. Transfer to a serving platter or individual plates.

Now, here’s the Japanese Twist to the pasta……Top up the pasta with the toasted Panko and sprinkle strips of Ajitsuke Nori. Serve immediately! This serves 2!

If you do not have Panko or Nori, you can still serve your pasta; of course there will be no Japanese twist to the pasta now! Top it up with more chopped fresh parsley and or some parmesan cheese.

The toasted Panko will give the pasta a nice crispy bite to it! If you decide to try this recipe, please let me know what you think! =) Good Luck!