Vietnamese Deep Fried Chicken

 

Ingredients:

6 quartered chicken leg

1-1/2 cups of cornstarch

2 teaspoons allspice

Salt to taste

Black pepper

2 teaspoons garlic powder

Frying oil

Brine

1/2 gallon of water

1/4 cup of kosher salt

1/3 cup sugar

Brine Method:

Combine 1/2 gallon of water, salt, and sugar. Mix the solution until salt and sugar dissolve. Completely submerge chicken in the mixed solution, cover and store in the refrigerator for 5 hours to overnight.

Remove chicken from brine, rinse well under cold water, pat dry and set aside.

In a small bowel combine allspice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, mix well to combine.

Rub this mixture onto chicken making sure to coat thorougly.

Put cornstarch in a shallow dish, dredge the seasoned chicken with cornstarch, coat completely.

Cover and place chicken in fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Fried chicken using a cast iron skillet or a deep fryer until internal temp reaches 165 fahrenheit.

Garnish with cilantro or any desired herb.

 

Banana Bread

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Pink Passion Fruit French Macarons

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Easter Bunny Capcake

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Caramel Drizzled Vanilla Cupcake

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Baby Pink with a Touch of Blue Cake Pops

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M&M Kit Kat Barrel Cake

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Blue Cake Pop

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Pink and Sparkly Cake Pop

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Colorful, Fun, and Festive Cake Pops

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Pretzel Dipped Chocolate Festive Party Favor

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Safari Theme Cake Pop Display for Baby Shower

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Healthy Pasta with Kielbasa and Vegetables

Super easy and healthy pasta dinner dish.

Ingredients
1 box of tri-color rotini pasta
2 cups brocoli
3 cups turkey kielbasa ( cut into pieces )
2 cups string bean ( cut into 1 inch length wise)
1 Tbsp olive oil

Method

Cook and drain pasta according to the instruction on the box.

In a medium skillet on medium high heat add olive oil, then add turkey kielbasa. Sautee the kielbasa until slightly golden brown, then broccoli, and string beans. Stir occasionally and cooked for 4-5 minutes or until vegetable is nice and tender.
then add in the pasta, stir evenly, allow to cook for another few minutes, remove from heat and enjoy.

Lemon Cookies with Lemon Zest Glazes

Lemon lovers will absolutely adore these mind blowing lemony cookies with delicious lemon zest glazes.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, soften
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp lemon juice
Zest of one lemon, divide into two portions
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup confectioner sugar
2 tbsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add egg, lemon juice and one portion of lemon zest, continue to mix until all ingredients are combined.

Slowly add flour and mix until dough is form.

Scoop dough using a spoon and roll dough into 1 inch ball, then place dough on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart.

Bake cookies until golden brown, then remove the cookies from oven, and allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

Lemon zest glazes

In a small bowl add lemon juice, remaining lemon zest, and confectioner sugar, stir ingredients until combined.

(either add more lemon juice or confectioner sugar to get the exact desired consistency)

Once the cookies are completely cooled, simply drizzle the glazes over the cookies.

Delicious Peppermint Tea

Delicious Peppermint Tea

After a long day of work, I'd come home and prepare myself a hot cup of peppermint tea to help melt alway the day. Peppermint it self is a refreshing, soothing herb, and it provides health benefits for the body, which is another reason why I try to include mint in many of my recipes. I love mint and I try to keep a bunch in my fridge at all time. If you love mint, you must try fresh mint tea, it's wonderful.

Ingredients

3-4 sprigs of peppermint

2 tablespoon honey

16 oz water

Method

 Rise each mint sprig under cold water, shake off excess water then place mint in a tea cup.

Add 16 oz of hot boiling water to tea cup, steep for 10 minute then enjoy.

Bún Tàu Xào Bắp Cải - Sautee Vermicelli and Cabbage

Bún Tàu Xào Bắp Cải - Sautee Vermicelli and Cabbage.

I like this dish because it's simple and it's easy to make. I usually make dishes like this on a Monday night, where I find myself most tired and exhausted from a long day of work.
So I just toss a few ingredients together and give it a quick sautee.


Ingredients

1/4 of a cabbage head (cut into small pieces or 1/2 inch strips)
3 celery stalks (cut about 1/4 inch on a diagonal)
1 small white onion
1/2 lb string beans (trimmed at both ends, and cut into halves)
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
3-4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon oil

Method

1 - Rinse and wash all vegetables with cold water, remove excess water, then set aside.
2 - Crush garlic cloves and discard the peels.
3 - Using a sautee pan on medium heat add oil and crushed.
     when the garlic starts to release aroma, first toss in the string beans. Let the beans cook for about 3-5 minutes, then add in cabbage, onion, and celery.
4 - Keep on stirring and let vegetable cook for another 4-5 minutes, then add in the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Stir to combine all ingredients, remove from heat.

Canh Chua Ca - Vietnamese Sour Soup with Salmon

Canh Chua Ca (Vietnamese Sour Soup with Fish)
This is one of my favorite traditional Vietnamese soup. It is loaded with tasty vegetables and fresh herbs. In Vietnam people usually use catfish in this soup, but I like to use either salmon or shrimp.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 tbsp tamarind paste
Rock Sugar, or granulated sugar
Fish sauce
2 stalks of lemongrass (Bruised and cut into 3 part length wise)
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp minced shallot
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Medium size salmon filet or 2 small salmon steak
3 Celery stalks (peeled and cut 1 inch thick on a bias)
3 Roma tomatoes (cut into wedges)
2 Cups of fresh or canned pineapple (cut into chunks)
1/2 lb Okra
1 Medium size king oyster mushroom (peeled and cut 1 inch thick on a bias) - Optional
2 stalks of taro stem (peeled and cut 1 inch thick on a bias)
1 lb Bean sprout
1 Cup ngo om (coarsely chopped)- Ngo om is rice paddy herb
1/2 Cup ngo gai (coarsely chopped)- Ngo gai is sawtooth herb
2 Thai chili (think
3 Tbsp fried shallots - optional

DIRECTIONS

1. In a frying pan add 2 tablespoon of oil and fry salmon on medium-low heat until fish is completely cooked. Set fish aside.
2. In a stock pot heat up a tablespoon of cooking oil on low heat. Add minced garlic, shallot, tamarind paste, and lemongrass. Sautee everything for a couple of minutes until garlic and the shallot is slightly brown. 
3. Pour 2 quarts of water into the stock pot, add the pineapple, and bring stock to a boil.
4. Add tomato, taro stem, celery, oyster mushroom, and okra. Cook soup for 5-6 minutes or until vegetable are slightly soften.
5. Add fish sauce, sugar, and cooked salmon. Continue to cook soup for an additional 5 minutes, remove from heat then add bean sprout. 
6. Before serving top soup off with ngo om, ngo gai, fried shallots, and thai chili.

Oven Baked Chicken Drumstick

Ingredients

6 Chicken drumsticks (cleaned and patted dry)

10 cloves of garlic ( roughly chopped)

3 Shallot (roughly chopped)

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Soy sauce

2 Tablespoon oyster sauce

3 Tablespoon sesame oil

Direction

1 - In a bowl combine garlic, shallot, brown sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Stir to mix all ingredients.

2 - Place chicken in a baking dish, then pour the soy mixture over the drumstick. Cover baking dish with foil and let marinate in the refrigerator over night or atleast 6-8 hours before baking.

3 - Preheat over to 350 degree farenheit.

4 - Remove marinated chicken from fridge and place in oven with foil on, then bake for 1 hr.

5 -  Serve with rice and vegetable.

Sup Duoi Bo - Oxtail And Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

2lbs Oxtail par boiled (rinsed with cold water, patted dry)

2 Medium carrot ( peeled, cut into 1 inch pieces)

3 Potatoes ( peeled, quartered)

1/2 a head of cabbage ( cut into 1 inch pieces )

2 Cup celery ( cut on an angle, about 1 inch thick)

1 Can of tomato paste

3 Bay leaves

2 Can of beef broth

salt to taste

Method

In a large pot add oxtail, carrot, potatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, and beef broth.

Then add enough water to cover all ingredients, and bring to a boiled. Once soup start boiling add cabbage, celery and salt to taste. Reduce heat to low, cover lid and let soup simmer for 1 hour.

Goi Xoai - Mango Salad

Ingredients

2 Medium green unripe mango
1 Small red onion
1 Cucumber
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 Cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp fish sauce

Directions
1 - Peel and julienne mango, and cucumber
2 - Thinly slice red onion
3 - In a bowl combine, mango, cucumber, red onion, and cilantro. Then add sugar, lime juice, and fish sauce  mix ingredients until everything is evenly distributed.
4 - Serve mango salad as is or top salad with thinly sliced cooked pork belly, shrimp, roasted peanut, and dried shallot.