Category: Recipes by Ingredient + Prep

Recipes by Ingredient

D’jaj Souiri, or Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Eggs

What do you do when you have enough farm eggs to last you for a few weeks? You have 2 eggs for breakfast everyday of course, but you also have eggs for dinner.

This tagine, d’jaj souiri, is different from your traditional Moroccan tagine because it has a more Spanish influence: the eggs like a tortilla, or a Spanish omelet.

Ingredients:
3 chicken legs
1 white onion, chopped
saffron threads
1 cinnamon stick
5 eggs
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp cumin, grounded
juice from 1 lemon
a handful of parsley, finely chopped
paprika
oil, salt, peper

1. Brown the chicken pieces by heating some oil in a deep, large skillet and then adding and cooking them until they are golden brown on both sides. Remove them to a plate.
2. Using the same skillet, add a little more oil. Saute the onions, add saffron, and the cinnamon stick. Season with salt and pepper and then add 4 cups of water.
3. Add the chicken and turn up the heat to boil. And then cover and turn down the heat medium-low. Let simmer for 25 minutes.
4. In the meantime, beat the eggs in a bowl and season with cinnamon, cumin, salt, and pepper.
5. Uncover the skillet and turn the chicken over. Continue to cook, uncovered, to thicken the sauce.
6. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice. Pour the beaten egg all over the chicken and let it set, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika.

Leftover Healthy Vegetable Bowl

I don’t have measurements for this recipe because it truly is a leftover bowl of whatever I needed to use up in the fridge. The only thing I bought is the sweet potato.

Ingredients:
sweet potato
red cabbage
broccoli
scallion
sprouts
quinoa
carrot
avocado
lemon juice
oil, salt, pepper

For the dressing:
2 garlic cloves
a small knob of ginger, peeled and sliced
turmeric
cider vinegar
maple syrup
salt, pepper

1. Preheat oven at 425º. Wrap the sweet potato in foil, place on a cookie sheet, and bake for about 50 minutes, or until it’s fork tender. When it’s cool enough to handle, peel, and chop in smaller pieces.
2. Marinate the red cabbage in a little lemon juice, salt, and pepper and set aside.
3. Make the dressing now and set aside. Blitz everything and season to taste. It should be a little more tangy than sweet.
4. Peel the carrot and continue to use the peeler to shred the meat onto your salad bowl.
5. Toss the broccoli florets in oil, salt, and pepper, and add to the cookie sheet to bake with the sweet potato for 20 minutes.
6. Cook the quinoa according to package instructions. Fluff with a fork and transfer to your salad bowl.
7. Assemble and complete your salad. Add sliced avocado, scallions, and sprouts. Drizzle the dressing all over.

Instant Pot: Lu Rou Fan, Taiwanese Braised Pork Belly

Don’t think I haven’t been using my Instant Pot–I have–but I haven’t found a cool new toy that could write this post for me while I’m actually going through the recipe. So recipes are being tested, but I haven’t made the time to sit and write and edit them down.

Here’s one though, a remake of an old Taiwanese favorite for the Instant Pot. I cut the recipe for you in half so it’s perfect for 2-4 people. At the very last minute, I ended up adding a can of water chestnuts for crunch because you can imagine how the pork belly pieces were super giving (they were saaaaawft) after pressurizing them.

Do me a favor: the next time you eat a tangerine, keep the peel and air-dry it, and then store it in an air-tight container for the next time you cook this recipe again. I know you will.

Ingredients:
1 lb skin-on pork belly, cut into 1″ pieces
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
6 cloves
3 bay leaves
2 pieces tangerine peel
2 slices fresh ginger
1 tbsp sugar
1 medium onion, finely chopped
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in 1/4 cup hot water until soft, saving the water
1/4 cup Shaoxing wine
3 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tbsps dark soy sauce
3 hardboiled eggs, peeled

1. Using the sauté function of your Instant Pot, add the pork. First in one layer all smooshed in. Make them sweat. They will render fat right away. Mix them a couple of times to avoid stickiness and then you can add the rest of the pork belly and do the same for the other batch, with the already heated pieces on top. Continue to mix them to keep rendering fat and to avoid them from sticking to the bottom.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the eggs. Include the mushroom water. Stir a little to incorporate everything together. The pork will render more water when you pressurize, so no need to worry about any burns.
3. Cover and lock the lid properly. Select the Pressure Cook function for 20 minutes. When it’s done, do a quick release after venting and letting the steam out.
4. Switch back to the sauté function and stir everything just to make sure flavors have melded. Season with salt if necessary. Serve with steamed white rice and top with the eggs cut in half.

Flash-Fried Squid

I wanted to eat shrimp tonight but picked up a pound of squid instead from Whole Foods that called out my name. My intent was to eat light for dinner with the least amount of time spent cooking. I got just that with this Asian-flavored salad.

I used the Chinatown-bought wok here that I inherited from my brother. He said he couldn’t really control how hot it got so he didn’t become a fan. I didn’t mind a new toy in the kitchen as long as it’s lightweight and could be stored inside the stove.

Flash-frying in a wok can be super rewarding. They key is to keep it moving, so while you’re adding the rest of the ingredients, you’re sautéing and tossing the squid pieces at the same time. All you need is about 3 minutes for the pound of squid here; any longer and the squid will be too tough and chewy.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 lemongrass stalk, coarse outer layer peeled, softer inner core, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
a small knob of ginger, peeled, sliced into thin matchsticks
2 Thai red chiles
1 lb squid, cleaned, patted very dry, mantles sliced into rings and tentacles separated
2 scallions, sliced diagonally
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsps, Shaoxing wine
salt, pepper

1. Heat a wok until almost smoking. Add peanut oil. Turn down the heat to low-medium. Sauté lemongrass, garlic, ginger, and the Thai chiles.
2. Before the garlic gets brown, turn up the heat back to high, add and flash-fry the squid for 1 minute.
3. Toss in the scallions, sugar, Shaoxing wine, and season with salt and pepper. Keep flash-frying for another minutes until the wine practically disappears.

Instant Pot: Pork Shoulder with Pineapple and Red Bell Pepper

What do you do when you have a whole fresh pineapple leftover from a party? This is a great mix of sweet and sour. Waiting to add the red bell pepper for last leaves them tender and with more bite than if you include them in the pressure cooking. Same for the pineapple: they will cook just enough to produce more juice, but not so much that your stew is syrupy. This is even better the next day when all flavors have melded.

Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 white onion, chopped
1 lb pork shoulder, cut into chunks
a small knob of ginger, sliced into matchsticks
1/4 cup soy sauce
oregano
half of a whole pineapple, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded, chopped
oil, salt, pepper

1. Using the sauté function of your Instant Pot, heat some oil. Sauté the garlic until golden brown, and then the onions until translucent. Add the pork and brown them on all sides.
2. Stir in the ginger and the soy sauce, and season with oregano, salt, and pepper. Add about 1/4 cup of water. Cover and lock the lid properly. Select the Pressure Cook function for 15 minutes. When it’s done, do a quick release after venting and letting the steam out.
3. Switch back to the sauté function. Add the pineapple and red bell pepper and cook until the bell pepper is tender. Season until you get a nice combination of sweet and sour.