Recipes by Ingredient + Prep – Page 79 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Crispy Okra Salad

Adapted from Chef Suvir Saran

Ingredients:
1 pound young okra, halved lengthwise and julienned
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cored, seeds removed, sliced into thin strips
a handful cilantro, coarsely chopped
2 tsps garam masala
lemon juice
salt
oil for frying

1. In a deep skillet, heat some oil and working in batches, fry okra strips while stirring until golden and crispy. Using a slotted spoon, transfer each fried batch to a plate lined with paper towel. Sprinkle with garam masala and salt.
2. In a large bowl, gently toss the fried okra with the rest of the ingredients.

Daikon Papaya Vietnamese Summer Rolls

If you have a food processor, it will save your life when you try this recipe. It’s not the making of the rolls that took time, it was the cutting of the vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 small daikon, julienned
1 small green papaya, julienned
1 carrot, julienned
1 cucumber, julienned
2 small packets of rice vermicelli
a handful of mint leaves, coarsely chopped
a handful basil, coarsely chopped
a handful of cilantro, coarsely chopped
lime juice
a splash of fish sauce
a splash of rice vinegar
1 small knob of ginger, peeled and minced
3 shallots, finely chopped
a splash of heavy cream
1 tbsp Greek yogurt
rice paper wrappers
1 cup of sugar
salt

1. In a large bowl, toss the vegetables with salt and sugar. Let stand, stirring ocassionally, until wilted and have released a good amount of liquid, about 1 hour. Drain and squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible using a cheese cloth or paper towel. Return to bowl.
2. In a saucepan, bring water to a boil and add vermicelli. Turn off the heat, cover and cook noodles for about 4 minutes. Drain and cool in cold water. Drain again and squeeze out all the liquid. Cut the noodles into shorter pieces using kitchen scissors and add to the bowl of vegetables with the cilantro, mint and basil.
3. In a small bowl, combine the fish sauce, lime juice and vinegar. Stir in some sugar to dissolve. Add ginger and shallots and pour over the vegetables and let stand for about an hour. Save some of this dressing.
4. Prepare one rice paper at a time by filling a pie plate with warm water and soaking until pliable. Lay the wrappers on a chopping board and blot out any water with paper towel.
5. Scoop some of the mixture onto the bottom of the paper and roll into a small log, tucking ends as you roll. Cover rolls with damp paper towel and Saran wrap while working on other rolls.
6. With the leftover dressing, whisk in a little bit of cream and yogurt and use as dip.

Related post/s:
Asia Food Market has rice papers

Tandoori Lamb Chops

Adapted from Chef Suvir Saran

Ingredients:
lamb chops, with deep slashes
3/4 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup heavy cream
lime juice
ginger, peeled and minced
garlic cloves
malt vinegar
garam masala
cumin
paprika
cayenne pepper
nutmeg
vegetable oil
butter

1. Make marinade. Combine all the ingredients except the oil and the butter and whisk in with the yogurt and cream. Add lamb chops and marinate overnight.
2. When ready to cook, add the oil to the marinade and toss with the lamb chops. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before cooking.
3. Season each chop with salt and pepper and brown in a heated skillet for about 4 minutes per side. Brush both sides with butter. Cook for another 2 minutes per side for medium rare.

Related post/s:
Make your own garam masala

Garam Masala

Adapted from asiarecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsps cumin seeds
2 tbsps ground coriander
1 tbsp cardamom pods, shelled
1 tbsp whole clove
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp turmeric

1. Toast all of the spices in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. The whole process should take about 10 minutes. Let cool. Transfer spices to a grinder and blend until smooth. Store in an airtight jar.

Thailand: Ka Prow

Pritsana manages to cook and cater for about thirty people when she’s not busy designing print materials and Web sites for non-profit organizations and for-profit companies. Now, if only her mother would believe that she can actually cook.

Parents are always looking out for their children, so whenever Pritsana would visit them with dishes she cooked, they refuse to eat them because they’re thinking that she needs to eat more than they do. Sometimes, parents never realize that their children can get food without their help.

Ka Prow translates to the Thai holy basil, one of the staples of Thai cooking and the main spice to this dish. (You leave off the R when you pronounced the prow.) We used chicken here and Thai locals would refer to it as Ka Prow Gai in which gai is the chicken.

You can find kaffir lime leaves at a well-stocked Asian grocery store. They usually have them in the freezer so ask one of the clerks to make sure they’re not hiding the goods from you. There really isn’t a perfect substitute for them, but if you can’t get them dried, try using lime zest. You can also get Thai holy basil at the same store, but you can substitute the tinier, more purple sweet basil. Italian basil will do, too, if you don’t have access to Asian produce. You can also use brown sugar instead of the palm, and less soy sauce if you’re not using the semi-sweet kind. Thais cook this dish with ground pork and I can imagine you can use shrimps as well. Top with fried egg and you’ll be smiling.

Ingredients:
8 pieces of boneless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 bunch of Thai holy basil
2 Thai chilis, seeds removed
2 kaffir lime leaves
half a red onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced and finely chopped
semi-sweet black soy sauce or kecap manis
1 tbsp palm sugar
a splash of fish sauce
2 tbsp peanut oil

1. Heat some oil in a heated large wok. SautÃ© garlic until light brown and cook onions until translucent. Add chicken and enough soy sauce to cover half of them. Cook chicken while stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
2. When chicken is almost done, stir in the rest of the ingredients and cook for another 5 over medium-low heat or until basil leaves are wilted.