Beef, Green Peppers & Mushrooms Stir-Fry
So after I soaked the salty Wal-Mart steaks, I made a stir-fry out of them. Not to toot my own horn.. hmmm, yes I am.. it turned out pretty good. The green peppers added freshness and the soaking process pretty much removed any salty flavor from the meat so the soy sauce seasoning was not a problem at all.
If you’re going to make this stir-fry, please don’t buy steaks from Wal-Mart so you don’t have to soak them in water before cooking. Wal-Mart meat sucks. Find a local butcher instead.
INGREDIENTS:
2 pieces of steaks, sliced in thin strips
2 green pepper, sliced in strips
1 medium onion, chopped
thumb-sized ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup of light soy sauce
1/4 cup of water
a drop of sesame oil
sprinkle of black pepper
5-6 leaves of napa cabbage, sliced
3-4 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
a little bit of oil
2 tbsp cornstarch + 1/2 cup water, mixed together
Heat up oil in a wok or sauté pan.
Sauté’ onions, garlic and ginger. Add the strips of beef. Stir and cook until beef is tender.
Season with light soy sauce, water, sesame oil and black pepper. Gently stir everything together. Add the green pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and napa cabbage to cook for a little bit. Maintain the crispiness of the veggies as much as possible.
Pour the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the sauce slightly.
Serve with white rice.
Pork & Red Skin Potatoes With Coconut Milk
I was craving for the creamy coconut taste with pork tonight but I didn’t necessarily want to make pork adobo with coconut milk. I decided to modify the adobo recipe by omitting the base flavor which comes from the combination of soy sauce and vinegar. I came out with a totally different dish which was sooo good thanks to the 1 simple component that I decided in the middle of cooking. You’ll find out as you go through the step-by-step recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
about 3 pounds of pork (Boston Butt cut, or whatever cut you could slice into thick cubes)
1/2 cup of flour
sprinkles of; salt, black pepper, sage powder, dried basil
a pinch of cayenne pepper
3 tbsp of oil
1 sm onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 medium size red skin potatoes
1 sm can of coconut milk
water (sm can of coconut milk size)
salt & pepper
juice of 1 kalamansi (or 1 wedge of lime/lemon)
chopped scallions for garnish
If you’re wondering what a Boston Butt pork cut it, here it is. It’s from the upper part shoulder from the front leg. It’s marbled with fat that’s why it’s very affordable and delish when cooked 
. Boston Butt is mostly used for Southern pork bbq. This one is from Piggly Wiggly, almost 3 pounds for $3.52. Not bad, no?
Slice the pork in chunky cubes. Not too big but not too small either. If you would prefer a less fatty pork meat then buy a different cut with no fat, I guess. I happen to like the pork fat. It makes the dish moist actually. FYI, I didn’t use all the meat. I set aside a small size for lemon pork cutlets for another night.
In a bowl, mix together flour and the sprinkles of salt, black pepper, sage powder, dried basil plus a pinch of cayenne pepper. Add the pork into the bowl. Toss by using your hands to coat the pork with the flour mixture.
Heat up the oil in a non-skillet pan. Put the pork into the pan to brown. cook for about 5 minutes.
While that’s browning, take care of the onions, garlic and red skin potatoes. You can peel the potatoes if you want but I like red skin potatoes in all its glory.
Transfer the pork into a clean bowl, set aside. Make sure to leave the grease in the pan.
Using the same pan, saute’ garlic and onions. Don’t be shy in scraping the flour bits to incorporate with the onions and garlic. That’s the purpose of using the same pan.
Combine the coconut milk and water. Pour the mixture into the pan. Stir and stir.
Season with salt and pepper. Let it boil slightly.
Add the browned pork chunks. Stir everything.
Cover the pan to simmer slowly in medium heat for about 35 minutes. Stir it occasionaly.
Hello Gorgeous! That’s after simmering for about 35 minutes.
Add the red skin potatoes. Stir and stir.
And here’s that magical twist. 1 kalamansi. You can use a lime or lemon wedge if you don’t have it. You can opt not to add it also but I’m telling you, this 1 factor made the dish oh-so-good. The little amount of acidity blended deliciously with the creaminess of coconut milk. Discard the seeds then squeeze the juice onto the pan. Then gently stir everything.
Put the cover back to continue cooking until the potatoes are fork-tender. Stir only a couple of times. Fight the urge to stir more than that.
Transfer into a serving bowl then garnish with sliced scallions. You don’t have to but hey, it makes everything pretty. And I like my food pretty, like me. *wink*
Serve with rice and steamed broccoli, or whatever veggies you like.
The best way to enjoy dishes like this with to-die-for sauces/gravy is to mix it with the rice to have one delicious bite with all the flavor playing within your senses. Do the same with dishes like stir-fries or adobos. Just a tip of course.
And because it looks pretty with all that scallions, and so delicious with the kalamansi, here it is again. Oh yah, we stuffed ourselves silly.
Spicy Shrimp And Vegetables Stir-Fry
This is a little different from the previous Spicy Shrimp With Green Peppers Stir-Fry dish that I’ve posted back in June. This one has more vegetables, I also used soy sauce as part of the seasoning, and this dish has slightly thickened sauce.
INGREDIENTS:
1 bag of frozen shelled shrimps
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, sliced in thin strips
1 head of broccoli
a cup of baby carrots
3-4 pieces of napa cabbage leaves, chopped in strips
2 tbsp of chili garlic sauce
1/2 cup of water
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup of water
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
Heat up the oil. Sauté garlic and onion until cooked. Add the frozen shrimp. No need to thaw the shrimps. Cook for about 3 minutes or so.
Add the broccoli and carrots, water, chili garlic sauce, and soy sauce. Stir and cover. Cook until the vegetable are tender. Not too soft. You want to maintain the crunchy textures.
Add the green peppers and napa cabbage in the end. Stir and cook until the green peppers are tender but still crunchy. Stir in the cornstarch mixture to thickened the sauce. Turn the stove off to avoid over cooking the veggies and shrimp.
Serve with white rice. I’m cutting back on rice so I only had 1/2 cup even though I had seconds of the spicy shrimp and veggies.
Beef Hoisin Satay
The weather is perfect today. So appropriately perfect for a summer grill. It’s not as authentic as the real satay wherein turmeric powder is a must in traditional satay recipes to give it that yellow color. Let’s just call this Beef Satay ala Dexie.
INGREDIENTS:
beef tenderloin, cut in strips
10-15 skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes before using
1 thumb of ginger, peeled and grated
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup of soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup of hoisin sauce
sprinkle of black pepper
1 tsp of curry powder
sprinkle of red pepper flakes (optional)
In a bowl, combine soy sauce, lime juice, hoisin sauce, black pepper, curry powder, red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic.
Put the strips of beef in either a container or ziploc bag. Pour over the marinade onto the meat. Gently work the meat and marinade together to coat. Cover the container. Store in the fridge and marinade overnight or 3-4 hours before grilling.
Skewer the marinated beef strips. Grill the meat, about 8-10 minutes (or longer) on each sides. It depends how thick you cut the beef strips.
I cut mine slightly thicker and skewered 3 pieces of meat on 1 skewer since I made this for dinner. It’s more filling this way.
Beef Tofu & Mushrooms Stir-Fry
Another easy stir-fry that only needs a few ingredients that goes nicely with white rice. You’ll have a delicious lunch or dinner in no time.
INGREDIENTS:
1 steak, cut in thin strips
1 pack of of firm tofu, drained, cut in cubes
3-4 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 sm onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, shopped finely
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 cup of mirin (rice wine)
1/4 cup of water
sprinkle of black pepper
4 tbsp vegetable oil
Heat up oil in a wok, or non-stick pan. Brown the tofu cubes. Be gentle so you don’t turn the tofu into mush. You want to maintain it’s shape and texture. Transfer into a bowl and set aside.
Using the same pan, sauté garlic and onions. Add the beef strips, stir and cook until tender.
Season with soy sauce, oyster sauce, water, mirin and black pepper. Add the mushrooms, stir, cover, and let it cook for another 6-8 minutes or so, or until the mushrooms are cooked.
Add the browned tofu into the pan. Gently stir everything together. Cook for another minute or so, then turn the stove off. No need to cook it any longer. You just need to incorporate the tofu into the whole thing and coat it with the sauce.
Serve on top of white rice. If you want to add more veggies, you surely can and I have the recipe for it too with a step-by-step guide to boot .
Crab Flakes & Napa Cabbage Stir-Fry
When I’m craving for stir-fry without having to chop all sorts of fresh vegetables and meat or seafood, I rely on using 2 main ingredients. It’s always nice having packs of imitation crab flakes and some type of cabbage. Napa cabbage and bok choy are pretty much staple vegetable items in my grocery list. They’re good for stir-fries or soups.
Sweet Pork Hocks W/ Green Onions
A step away from the usual sour, salty and spicy pork dish is this sweet dish using hocks cooked for hours in a crock-pot. It’s not something I make all the time because I much prefer salty, sour, and spicy tastes but it’s also good once in a while.
Goat W/ Lemon, ginger and Cilantro
Here is a goat dish that I made with lemon, ginger, vinegar, and cilantro. The Filipino term of this is called “KILAWEN“, pronounced as “kee-lah-when“. My version is more of the minimized version because the authentic dish actually involves goat skin, brain, liver, and some grilling. This goat dish is still good and probably easier to make compare to the authentic version.
Asian Steamed Meatballs
I had leftover pork fillings when I made pork dumplings for dinner last night. Usually I’d put the leftover in a freezer bag, freeze it, and use it later for dirty rice. Last night I decided to turn them into mini meatballs and steamed them like I did the pork dumplings.
If you want to make a lot for appetizers or snacks, here’s a modified recipe of the dumplings to make Asian Steamed Meatballs.
Miso Ginger Pork Cutlets
From my last visit to the Pork Butcher, I bought a pork shoulder roast that I was going to cook in a crock pot but later on changed my mind. See, I bought a bottle of Miso dressing that I thought would be a great use for marinating. So I sliced part of the shoulder roast in cutlets and marinated them in a miso-ginger marinade that I mixed with other ingredients.
