325. A house is not a home without a cat - photograph

324. Vietnamese French Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Mushrooms - Recipe

Vietnamese French Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Mushrooms

A few days ago, Mr. KC and I went out for dinner with friends. We ate at a neighbourhood restaurant which serves good, tasty food. Mr. KC chose the braised short ribs.

After a few bites, he pronounced that it was good but my version was better. I suppose he still had the taste memory because I served braised short ribs for dinner on the night before.

Well, I can't take the credit for it because my version was Wandering Chopsticks' Vietnamese French Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine and Mushrooms.

This was one of the many recipes that I had bookmarked from her blog. Since we had half a bottle of red wine, a large bag of mushrooms and her blog is Blog of the Month for Tried and Tasted, it was a good time to cook with her. Plus, Famous Foods had a special on short ribs.

Wandering Chopsticks' Vietnamese/French braised short ribs were wonderful. I wish I had doubled the recipe.

Mr. KC's restaurant short ribs cost #24.95. My whole pot of braised short ribs cost about the same price. We had a meal for the two of us plus I froze the rest for two more meals. Try it. You'll love it. Home cooking is the best cooking!

I sliced the vegetables with a mandoline instead of dicing them as WC recommended. Other than that, I followed her recipe. Except that I used half a bottle of red wine instead of a cup.

I think it is WC's use of the curry paste and fish sauce that imparts that wonderful flavour to the sauce. The sauce doesn't taste of curry or fish sauce but all blends together to form a rich, delicious taste. The word "umami" can be applied to this dish!


I am sending this recipe to Trupti's Food Corner. Trupti is the host for Tried and Tasted this month. T&T is the brainchild of the lovely Zlamushka, of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.

This month, I am cooking recipes by Wandering Chopsticks whose fabulous blog is featured as Blog of the Month.

Rated 10 out of 10 by Mr. KC.

323. Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mixed Frozen Vegetables, and Eggs - Recipe

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mixed Frozen Vegetables, and Eggs

What do I make when I need a quick meal/snack? Make a sandwich? No, I cook fried rice. I usually have cold rice in the fridge and some bits of meat. Eggs and frozen vegetables are always on hand for me to whip up a plate of fried rice. Fried rice is Mr. KC's favourite meal.

When I saw Wandering Chopstick's posts on fried rice I LOL! We cook the same food!

She makes Fried Rice with Bacon, Corn, Eggs and Green Onions. I've made something similar, Bacon Fried Rice.

Her Yang Chow Fried Rice looks fabulous. I've made Beijing Fried Rice which is a pared down version of YC Fried Rice. I also make Fried Rice with Spam though I've never added Kimchi to it. Will have to try that one soon!

WC's Pineapple Fried Rice is another must try soon and I'm so envious of her pineapple-shaped serving dish.

Fried Rice with Chinese Sausage, Mixed Frozen Vegetables, and Eggs is the all-time favourite in our house. I don't think I'm ever without Chinese sausages. I restock when I'm down to about half a package. One never has to worry about what to cook if there are Chinese sausages in the fridge. I make this fried rice exactly the way Wandering Chopsticks does.

Here is her recipe. Try it, you'll love it!

I am sending this recipe to Trupti's Food Corner. Trupti is the host for Tried and Tasted this month. T&T is the brainchild of the lovely Zlamushka, of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.

This month, I am cooking recipes by Wandering Chopsticks whose fabulous blog is featured as Blog of the Month.

322. Vietnamese dessert soup with corn and tapioca pearls, Che Bap - Recipe

Vietnamese dessert soup with corn and tapioca pearls, Che Bap

Wandering Chopsticks, the fabulous blog from Southern California, is the Blog of the Month for Tried and Tasted.

T&T is the brainchild of the lovely Zlamushka, of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. Bloggers choose a recipe from the Blog of the Month and post about it.

I bookmarked many tempting recipes and the problem was finding the time to make and post as many as I could. Her Che Bap, Vietnamese dessert soup with corn and tapioca pearls is a winner. Everyone loved it. It is the perfect way to end a meal.

Do try it. Follow her step-by-step instructions here.

By the way, baby Pablo wishes you Happy Halloween! What a sweetheart! Isn't his pumpkin outfit sooo cute?

I am sending this recipe to Trupti's Food Corner. Trupti is the host for Tried and Tasted this month.

321. Peruvian chicken soup, Aguadito de pollo - Recipe

Peruvian chicken soup, Aguadito de pollo

Chicken soup is the classic comfort food. In most cultures, chicken soup is a clear broth made from an old hen. It is served with bits of chicken meat, chopped vegetables, rice, noodles or dumplings.

It is probably every (non-vegetarian) Mom's idea of the best medicine to cure a cold. So with a possible pandemic looming, what better way to "build up the constitution" as my Mom would have said, than to eat lots of chicken soup.

I found a fabulous, different take on chicken soup in Wandering Chopsticks' blog - Peruvian chicken soup, Aguadito de pollo. This soup is a cilantro lover's dream soup. Cilantro and green peas are the main vegetables in Peruvian chicken soup.


My Aguadito de pollo is based loosely on Wandering Chopsticks' recipe.

I used a quart of turkey broth made from the leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Also, WC pureed the cilantro, onions and garlic in the food processor. I minced the garlic in a press and chopped the cilantro and onions with a knife (I'm too lazy to bring the Robot Coupe out to puree a few ingredients. Too many parts to wash).

Aguadito means "watery" and but my soup turned out to be a thick, green congee. Perfect! My favourite food teamed with my favourite herb. Soup heaven indeed!

Green congee

Here is how I made the soup:

Ingredients (for 4 bowls of soup):

A quart of turkey broth
Half a cup of cooked chicken meat, chopped (from the Vietnamese steamed chicken)
A cup cooked rice
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
A small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil
A bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
Half a cup of frozen peas
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Bring the turkey broth to a boil in a large saucepan.
2. Add the rice and potatoes to the stock and simmer until the potatoes are soft.
3. Heat a small frying pan on low and add some olive olive. Add the onion and garlic. Sweat the vegetables. Don't brown them.
4. Add them to the pot and simmer for another ten minutes.
5. When you are ready to serve the soup, add the frozen peas and cooked chicken pieces to the soup. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
6. Take the soup off the heat and add the chopped cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Dish up.
   

I am sending this recipe to Trupti's Food Corner. Trupti is the host for Tried and Tasted this month. T&T is the brainchild of the lovely Zlamushka, of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.

This month, I am cooking recipes by Wandering Chopsticks whose fabulous blog is featured as Blog of the Month.



My Aguadito de pollo is going to the wonderful Deb of Kahakai Kitchen in Hawaii. Deb hosts a weekly food blogging event called Souper Sundays.

Souper Sundays just celebrated its first anniversary. It is now open to salads and sandwiches too. Congratulations to Deb for hosting a great year of delicious soups.

320. Vietnamese steamed chicken, Ga Hap - Recipe

Vietnamese steamed chicken, Ga Hap

One of the things I find food blogging so enjoyable is that there is always something to learn. I have an electric steamer and use it for steaming vegetables and buns. It never occurred to me to steam a whole chicken in it.

I suppose, had I thought about it, I'd probably think a whole chicken would be too big for the steaming tray. But, it can be done. Wandering Chopsticks steams an entire chicken in an electric steamer.

Her Vietnamese chicken is similar to a steamed chicken my Mom used to make. It was called 油鷄 or oil chicken in our house. The chicken was steamed in a very large, wide cooking pot. I even bought a covered canner to steam chicken but gave up because it was just too troublesome. So I cook white cut chicken instead.

I just had to try WC's method and bought a small chicken that was slightly under three pounds. I tell you, this is a brilliant idea. The chicken was cooked perfectly in the electric steamer.

Every beginner or non-cook should make Wandering Chopstick's steamed chicken. Even the person who says "I can't cook, I even burn water!" could make this dish. All you need is a chicken, some salt and a steamer.

If you don't have an electric steamer, I suggest looking for one at garage sales, thrift shops or freecycle. Electric steamers don't seem to have caught on and there is usually a good selection at thrift shops. I bought a Rival steamer for three dollars. In Kitsilano, there is an empty lot at 4th and MacDonald where people leave things for freecycle. I saw a brand new one left there for the taking.

Easy peasy. Put a salted chicken in the electric steamer and it cooks itself.

Smooth, delicious steamed chicken.

Nuoc mam gung, Vietnamese ginger fish sauce. This tasty, spicy, garlicy sauce doesn't require any cooking!

It can be eaten plain with Nuoc mam gung (Vietnamese ginger fish sauce).

Use the steamed chicken for chicken salad, chicken sandwiches, chicken soup, etc.

I am sending this recipe to Trupti's Food Corner.

Trupti is hosting Tried and Tasted this month. T&T is the brainchild of the lovely Zlamushka, of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.

This month, I am cooking recipes by Wandering Chopsticks whose fabulous blog is featured as Blog of the Month.

Steamed chicken is South Beach diet-friendly!

319. Su Su Xao Tom (Vietnamese Chayote Squash Sautéed with Shrimp) - Recipe

Su Su Xao Tom (Chayote Squash Sautéed with Shrimp)

Tried and Tasted is a monthly, food blogging event created by the wonderful Zlamushka, of Zlamuska's Spicy Kitchen.

In July, I hosted Tried and Tasted and had a great time. I met so many great food bloggers. The one I remember well is Pooja Sejar, of Experiments in my Kitchen, who cooked five of Meena's dishes. No mean feat when she was packing to move from Africa to India!

The host has the pleasure of nominating a blog for blog of the month. I nominated the fabulous blog from Southern California, Wandering Chopsticks and here we are in October cooking along with Wandering Chopsticks.

Wandering Chopsticks has to be the "go to site" for restaurant reviews in the LA area and also California. She is a great cook and shares her recipes for American, Chinese, the cuisines of many countries. Her forte is Vietnamese food.

She writes about her extended family and their many celebrations. These happy occasions are centred around fabulous meals and she shows us the many banquets they enjoy . She also has tips on how to start a food blog. There are many other interesting things but I'm stopping here. You'll just have to read her blog and I promise you, you'll be hooked!

I bookmarked many of her recipes and Su Su Xao Tom is the first one I cooked for T&T. I too had been given many chayotes and was looking for ways to cook this vegetable.

Chayote

It is a simple, easy and delicious dish. A couple of chayotes are peeled and sliced thinly. They are stir fried with some shrimps and the only flavouring is garlic, salt and pepper and oyster sauce. The only thing I changed was that I added some chopped cilantro

Here is WC's recipe.

This dish is South Beach diet-friendly.

I am sending my recipe to Trupti of Trupti´s Food Corner who is hosting this month's Tried and Tasted.

There is still time to join this event. Here are the rules :

1. Cook any recipe(s) from Wandering Chopsticks and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post :-)
2. There is no time-frame for the original recipe. It can be as old as my grand-mother or as fresh as a mung bean sprout.
3. Link your post to HERE and to the original post. Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright fuss. Feel free to use this wonderful logo made by Ksenia of Tales of A Spoon.
   
4. Send an e-mail to Trupti at RecipeCenter@gmail.com with your name, your post URL as well as the original URL and a picture (any size).
5. Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate. Simply e-mail Trupti with your experience of what you cooked and please include a picture.
6. Deadline is the Oct 31st and the round up will be posted within a week.