Menu Guide: Vietnamese Taste

After the Italian Food I brought in our potluck last week, another set food I brought in our Mandarin class. I prepared Vietnamese Finger Food (Snacks) since majority of my classmates are from Vietnam. As usual, I'm after the convenience and here they are:

Vietnamese Coconut Tarts

It was funny, one of my classmates from Vietnam never heard or taste of this tart. In fact, it's one of the 100 food must try in Vietnam. Anyways, she likes it and asked me to make again sometime.

Vegetarian Vermicelli in Vietnamese Wrapper

I especially prepared this vegetarian vermicelli for my classmate who's a Buddhist. I'm glad he likes it too. I'm not supposed to wrap, I just thought it would be more convenient. I don't need to bring plates and chopsticks when eating. That's why I included it here as finger food.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

The famous spring rolls in Vietnam, of course there are different ways to prepare. I made this a little bit tasty (more spices), so I don't have to prepare sauce.

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Note; Sorry for the delayed post! I just arrived from Hongkong :)

Vietnamese Style Spring Rolls

In my Mandarin Class, I have Vietnamese classmates and I thought of making their famous spring rolls. I'm so happy, they like the taste except for the wrapper. They suggested next time  cut the wrapper in half so it wouldn't be so thick and the mixture will be cook easily. In the orginal recipe from Wandering Chopsticks, ground pork is added. Unfortunately, yours truly is not eating pork so I added beef instead. Maybe, next time more vege will be added like carrots  or mushrooms.

handful vermicelli (mung bean noodles)

3 shallots, chopped

3 spring onion, chopped

300g shrimps, chopped

300g beef, ground or chopped

1 tablespoon fish sauce  or oyster sauce (I used soy sauce)

pinch of salt

pinch of sugar

pinch of pepper

olive oil

Vietnamese Wrapper

 

In a big bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Let it marinate for 10-20 minutes. Soak noodles in cold water. Add the noodles in the mixture. Keep mixing to blend all the flavor.

Rub the wrapper with water until soft. Place in  flat surface. Scoop a tablespoon of mixture, place in the middle of a wrapper. Fold one side over to the mixture, then fold left and right sides. Roll forward to wrap the mixture.

Heat oil, deep fried the spring rolls (make sure not too crowd, the wrapper is kind of sticky). Place in a absorbent or paper towel to drain excess oil.

Serve hot. If desired, sauce of your choice. Enjoy!

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Chicken Cacciatora (Hunter Style-Chicken)





One of Italians' appetizing treats! I tried for the first time and I like the taste! Well, maybe because of the red wine I added, and the smell of cinnamon. It's really a hunter way of cooking, all I have to do is to add everything! I adapted the recipe from the cookbook - Your Favorite International Cuisine.

2 chicken breast fillet, cubed

salt and pepper to taste

flour

2 tablespoon butter (I used olive oil)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

pinch of sugar

pinch of cinnamon

1/4 cup red wine

1 large tomato, chopped

chicken stock (I used water)

Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, and flour. Heat oil in a pan and saute the chicken until slightly brown. Set aside. Using the same pan, add the onion, celery, and garlic. Saute until the cook. Add the chicken, sugar, cinnamon, and red wine. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato and water. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until chicken becomes tender.

My chicken is good, but my neighbor’s looks better.

~ Romanian Proverb

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Italian Herb and Cheese Wheat Bread

Wheat bread with Italian herb and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It's very soft and tasty. Love it!

2 cups wheat flour
3 teaspoon active yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup cold water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup freshly grated cheese

For toppings
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix yeast in warm water for five minutes, until the it blooms. Add cold water, oil, salt and sugar, mix well. Slowly add wheat flour until the dough comes together into a hook. (If it's too soft, add more 1 -2 tablespoons flour). Place in a oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour or until it doubles its size.

Punch down to remove air, divide into a small ball sizes. Place in a parchment line cookie sheet, let rise for another hour. Mix Italian and olive oil in bowl, brush on top of the dough. Bake for 25- 30 minutes in 190°C (375°F).

This could be serve with hot tomato soup :)

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Vietnamese Vegetarian Stir-Fried Vermicelli

Previously I made Vegetarian Spring Roll,  this time I thought of wrapping the noodles in Vietnamese Spring Roll Wrapper.  I made this for my Buddhist classmate last Thursday. What a relief, I don't need to bring plates and chopsticks. I'm glad he likes it, even some others tried it:)

1 box tofu, julienne

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 shallots, chopped

1/2 carrot, julienne
3 mushroom, julienne

bunch of beans sprout

some vermicelli, soak in cold water

light soy sauce and pepper to taste

olive oil

Vietnamese wrapper

Heat oil, fry the tofu until golden brown. Set aside. In the name pan, saute garlic and onion until cook. Add carrots and mushroom, season with soy sauce and pepper. Add tofu and beansprout, and vermicelli and keep mixing until all the ingredients are combined.

Quickly dip the wrapper in water, place on a plate (flat). Add 2 spoonful of mixture, fold one side of the wrapper. Then fold left and right sides, roll forward to wrap the mixture. Ready to eat!

I tried frying it and here's the outcome. I won't recommend frying, the noodles absorbed so much oil.

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Weekend Food Tour: Munching Around Ishigaki

When I think of Japan, I thought of sushi, sashimi, teipanyaki, and so on. But I never thought in Ishigaki, the famous food is beef. Our tourist guide insisted us to try this Beef Noodles. Well, the taste of the beef is so strong for me. Luckily, we don't have much Japanese Yen upon arrival, and the restaurant is not accepting credit card. Otherwise, we'll order two bowls :)

At least I enjoyed this sashimi included in a set order, the freshest tuna I've ever tried.

Own products of the island

That's an expensive beef noodles :)

Interesting, so I tried it.. just an ordinary ice cream :)

Since there's typhoon, we didn't have much time to buy some more stuff.

I've noticed that every corner of the building/residential  

has Vending Machine.

Actually, we didn't explore some food since we're not hungry.

(all day, we had free food in the cruise)

Our Weekend Memoirs

Chicken and Broccoli Conchiglie in Cream Sauce

I'm not into cream sauce but it doesn't mean I don't eat. Once in a while I make them if there's party or potluck. I prepared this for friends plus I still have sauce kept in my pantry. Just prepare the following:

1pack conchiglie (or any pasta)

3 boneless chicken breast, cubed

1 bottle of cheesy cream sauce

1 head broccoli, cut in small pieces

1 large tomato, chopped

salt and pepper

olive oil

Heat oil, lightly brown the chicken. Stir in the Cream Sauce and tomato. Cover and simmer stirring occasionally until  the chicken is totally cooked. Add broccoli, adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper) continue simmering until the brocolli is cooked.

Cook conchiglie as directed.

Serve the pasta with the sauce on top. If desired, garnish with bacon or chopped fresh basil.

I served it by tossing the sauce. The same with what I did in Tomato and Cheese Spaghetti, I add all the cream sauce and baked it with mozzarella cheese on top. I brought it in our Italian Potluck.

Yummy Sunday

Tomato and Cheese Spaghetti

A very simple to prepare, it has no exact recipe. I bought the tomato and cheese sauce in the Philippines the last time I was there. It's new to me, so I grabbed and try it although I added fresh tomato, onion, and garlic + 250g ground beef, salt and pepper, and Italian seasoning.

Heat olive oil in a pan,  saute garlic and onion until soft. Add the ground beef and continue sauteing until cook. Stir in sauce and tomato, add salt and pepper, and Italian seasoning. Simmer covered, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta as per direction in the package.

Serve with the sauce on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. I also added cherry tomatoes.

 I mixed all the sauce with pasta. Add some mozzarella cheese on top and baked it for 10 minutes or until the cheese melted. I brought this in our Italian Potluck along with Wheat Bruschetta,Conchiglie in Cream Sauce, and  Peaches and Cream Cheese Cake.

Luscious Saturday
Saturday Swap

Menu Guide: Taste of Italian

Taste of Italian

Here's a simple menu I made for my birthday treat for friends. I thought of bringing Italian Food since it's easy to prepare ahead of time, plus walking 5 - 8  minutes to church will be very convenient since there's nothing to worry if the food will spill or not. Anyways, here they are and just click the links for their recipes.



Peaches and Cream Cheese Cake

I prepared our Peaches and Cream Cheese Cake  the night before Sunday, the easiest no-bake dessert.

Toasted Tomato and Cheese Bruschetta

This is supposedly fresh, as I've said it's not convenient to bring so I decided to toast them so the cheese and tomato will be intact to the bread. The toasted bread I used was made of whole wheat flour from scratch in my Another Wheat Bread post.

Simple Tomato and Cheese Spaghetti

I made this for those who doesn't like creamy sauce.

Chicken and Broccoli Conchiglie in Cream Sauce
I made this for the very first time,
and I also added broccoli from original recipe.

Now I'm ready to bring the food in a convenient way.

cheese cake had gelatin, toasted bruschetta, baked spaghetti and conchiglie

Recipes for the Pasta will be posted soon...

Menu Guide

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Saturday's Party - featured

Toasted Tomato and Cheese Bruschetta

I thought of bringing  Tomato Bruschetta in our potluck last Sunday, but it's not convenient for me to bring wet stuff plus the fresh tomato should be chilled. I just added mozarella cheese and toasted them. This is just a simple recipe, but I like to share since I made the Wheat French Bread from scratch.

12 pieces toasted French bread
8 pieces cherry tomatoes, sliced
handful of mozarella cheese
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
8 leaves fresh basil, chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper

In a bowl, mix cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well and marinate for at least 10 minutes. Place mozarella cheese on the bread, arrange some tomato mixture, then mozarella cheese. Place in an oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.

I served this along with pasta.

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Cookies Greetings from Salome



Yes, today is my Natal Day and
I would like to thank the Lord
for this Gift of Life :)

Many, many thanks to all the birthday greetings,

here and  my other pages. :)

Another Wheat Bread



Happy National Baking Week UK!
 

Actually, this bread supposed to be French Bread but I used mix of wheat flour and cake flour. The cake flour I bought is a bit sweeter (it's in Chinese character :), that's why the taste of this bread is somewhat like honey wheat bread. This time, it's not that heavy like the first time I baked Almost Whole Wheat Bread.  I made Roasted Tomato and Cheese Bruschetta for our potluck yesterday using this bread.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 cups wheat flour
1 cup cake flour
2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup cold water

1. In a bowl mixer, mix warm water and yeast, let it stand for 5 minutes to bloom.
2. In another bowl, combine evenly 2 cups  flour, cake flour, and sea salt.
3. Add the flour mixture into the yeast,  add cold water and mix for 2 minutes.
4. Add the remaining flour at a time.
5. Knead for 5 minutes or more until the dough comes to together into a dough hook.
6. Place in a bowl, dust with flour (not to stick) cover with plastic until it double its size. Let it set in a warm place.

Punch down to remove air. Get a handful to form a loaf shape. Knead in a work surface, seam underside until the top surface is smooth. Place in a parchment cookie sheet. Cover a plastic not to dry out. Let it rise for an hour or more again to double its size.

Dust with flour and make a cut on top. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven for 210°C (about 410°F).

Happy Tuesday!
Better bread in the basket than a feather in your cap.
~ French Proverb

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Peaches and Cream Cheese Cake

Originally, this recipe is Blueberry Cheese Cake from my cookbook - Fall in Love with Baking. I made some variation using peaches (in can) instead of Fresh Blueberry Sauce. Sometimes, I just crave for something and I would want to make it in an instant. I prepared this a night before and brought it to our potluck party this afternoon. I used graham cracker for the cake base, and lessen the sugar added.

For the cake base

1 cup graham cracker, crushed ; 40g unsalted butter (room temperature)

For the cheese cake mixture

250g cream cheese (I used 1 pack); 20g sugar ; 1 teaspoon lemon juice

250ml cream (I used all purpose cream); 30g icing sugar

6 gelatin leaves (or powder); 1 can peaches

For the cake base, combine crushed graham cracker and butter. Press mixture on the bottom and halfway sides of the mold. Set aside.

Soak gelatin in water in two separate bowl (3 each) for 20-30 minutes. Squeeze the gelatin and melt it over warm syrup from the peaches.

In a bowl, beat cream cheese over warm water until smooth. Add sugar and lemon juice. Set aside.

In other bowl, whip all purpose cream and icing sugar until soft peaks form. Add whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and mix well. Pour melted gelatin, and mix until thick. Pour the mixture into mold.

Arrange the peaches on top. Pour the left-over gelatin over the peaches. Chill until set.

Happy Monday!

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