hoisin beef tacos with sweet & sour slaw

One of the most important aspects of street food is that it has to be easy. Fast and easy.

This idea came from some of my friends who were gushing about a local food truck. I've never eaten at said food truck, but apparently they have a hoisin pork taco topped with an Asian slaw. Sounds easy enough! Since I already had the shredded beef on hand, I went ahead and made it with beef instead of pork (although pork would probably be less expensive and also super tasty).

I went with the most basic of basic Asian slaws out there to make it fast and easy. It's just a little shredded cabbage and carrot with a sweet and sour dressing. If you want to get a little more fancy, you could add green onions, chopped peanuts, and maybe some pineapple or fresh ginger. As it is, though, it's got all of the crunch, sweet, and sour that this taco needs to make you want that second, third... or fourth taco.

Speaking of, I priced these per taco because it's hard to estimate a serving with these. I could eat anywhere from one to three, depending on the situation. So, I'll just let you make that call.

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banh mi bowls

Oh the mighty banh mi. It's one of my favorite foods in the entire world. It's truly the perfect sandwich. If you're unfamiliar with banh mi (Vietnamese submarine sandwich), check out this excellent little write up Viet World Kitchen for a little history and explanation as to why they're so freaking amazing.

This is (obviously) not a traditional banh mi recipe. I was feelin' a little creative, so I decided to try putting all of the flavors of banh mi into a bowl... because I love anything in "bowl" form. Of course, if you wanted, you could just stuff all of these ingredients into a baguette (or even better yet, a Vietnamese baguette) and make a real banh mi. I have a picture of that version at the end of the post.

Banh mi can be filled with any sort of meat (cold cuts, char siu, liver pate, chicken, meatballs, whatever), but I decided to use the yummy meatballs that are in my Teriyaki Meatball Bowls. I made a couple small changes to the meatballs to account for the fact that they're not drenched in teriyaki sauce, but you could drench them in teriyaki sauce and still put them on the banh mi!

Also, I didn't have any daikon (radish), so I added some onion to my pickled carrots. I know, I know... not traditional, but "tastes good" trumps "traditional" in my book.

You'll want to add some sort of sauce to the bowls for moisture, but I didn't add that into the price because A) I don't know what kind you want to use and B) I don't know how much you'll want to use. Here are some suggestions: sriracha, soy sauce, sriracha-mayo, or teriyaki sauce. If you are making an actual banh mi sandwich, make sure to slather the bread with mayo and a sprinkle of soy sauce because that's just how it's done.

Okay, let's go already!

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chicken in peanut sauce

2013 is going to be GREAT, I can feel it!

This is the first recipe of the year and I already know that it's going to go on next year's "best of" list! It's SO good and SO easy. Peanut and coconut combine to make an incredibly luxurious and creamy sauce for the chicken, which is then sassed up with just a little soy sauce, brown sugar, lime, and sriracha! If you don't have sriracha, you can just add a pinch of red pepper flakes... or just leave it out for a mild version.

Of course this "luxurious" sauce is a little high on the fat content, so make sure to serve this up with a side of some yummy vegetables, like this Crunchy Asian Salad. And, if you can find it, serve it over brown jasmine rice for some added fiber.

Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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dragon noodles

Ooooh lawdie. This is my new favorite quick fix! It takes about 15 minutes, is totally rich, flavorful, and SUPER SPICY. Like, "burn a hole through your stomach" spicy. Call me crazy, but sometimes I want that. No, I crave that.

So, this one goes out to all of you heat seekers!

The simple sauce for this recipe uses only pantry staples and perfectly balances sweet, salty, and spicy. The richness of the butter helps smooth everything out, cilantro adds a fresh note, and the green onions lend a savory back note. It all just works and it happens to be incredibly simple. That's what I'm talkin' about.

I made a small two serving batch because I just wanted something quick and easy. You could easily scale this up, if needed. If you want a heartier dish, try using two eggs rather than just one. Also, I used two tablespoons of butter, which made for a very rich and delicious sauce, but I suspect that it would still be amazing if you cut the butter in half.

If you can't find the same noodles that I used, don't fret. You could make this with ramen type noodles or even regular linguine. The noodles are just the vehicle for all of the other yummy ingredients!

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quick sweet & sour stir fry

Frozen vegetables have their pros and cons. They're quick, convenient, and they can be quite cost effective (can be), but they are always limp upon reheating.

For that reason I really don't like to use frozen vegetables for stir fry. But you know what? Some nights having something to eat in 15 minutes is way more of a priority than having crisp vegetables. I know you've been there. So on nights like that this is a quick way to spruce them up for just a few pennies more. It's every bit as good as those frozen veggies that come already in sauce, but half the price.

The main reason I wanted to share this recipe is because I wanted to demonstrate how easy a basic sweet and sour sauce is. You can use this same sauce on any type of stir fry - chicken, pork, tofu, eggplant, whatever. Sweet and sour sauce only requires a few basic ingredients and literally takes seconds to mix together. Plus, you can customize it with spices like red pepper flakes, ginger (as I did here), or even black pepper. So put that jar of sweet and sour sauce back on the grocery store shelf. You don't need it.

I served this along side my Thai Turkey Meatloaf and it was PERFECT.

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thai turkey meatloaf

Meatloaf isn't pretty. Let's just get that out on the table. It's so ugly, in fact, that I couldn't stop giggling while taking these pictures. All I could think about were those silly post cards with retro pictures of jello molds and other hideous foods from the 1950s. But you know what? After one bite you forget allll about what it looks like. Even the smell is enough to change your mind. This loaf is insane (in a good way).

If you're not into loaves of meat, I found that this mix makes a pretty excellent Thai turkey burger as well. To taste test the seasoning I had to cook a small dollop in a skillet and it turned into a little mini turkey burger. Quite delicious. Pop one of those onto a Hawaiian roll and you're golden. Or, you can do it in meatball form.

I covered my mouth-wateringly delicious (yet ugly) meatloaf with a spicy Sriracha glaze. If you don't like spicy, you can use a jar of sweet chili sauce (not spicy as the name may imply) or even a sweet and sour sauce. But, you know, I had to have my sriracha!

Oh, and this makes a pretty big loaf. It can easily be halved if needed.

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chicken yakisoba

Let me first say that I'm sure this is not authentic yakisoba. I've never eaten yakisoba on the streets of Japan, but I have seen Mark Bittman make this yakisoba on his show, The Minimalist, and I knew I had to make some.

It looked easy, it had tons of vegetables, and the sauce looked like an interesting combination of salty, sweet, tangy, and spicy. I've grown tired of my usual teriyaki sauce that I use on most of Asian dishes, so this was a nice deviation. The sauce contains worcestershire and ketchup, which truly does offer a unique flavor. I used a whole tablespoon of sriracha in my sauce, but as you may know by now, I like things spicy. If you're not into spicy, you can leave that out all together or just add a dash or two of sriracha or any hot sauce. I suggest using at least a little because it does add some flavor and if you use just a bit, the heat won't even be detectable.

I will admit that I may have overcooked my vegetables and noodles, but guess what? It was still so freaking delicious that I couldn't wait until I was finished photographing to eat a bowl. You gotta try this stuff!

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crunchy asian salad

I loved eating the teriyaki meatball bowls all week but they desperately need a vegetable side to balance things out. So, I whipped up a quick Asian salad and coated it in the yummy sesame ginger dressing. It was just perfect. The crunchiness of the the cabbage, carrots, and peanuts was such a perfect contrast to the meatballs and rice.

The number of servings that you'll get out of this recipe will vary greatly depending on the size of your red cabbage. So, I didn't even measure servings but it looked like somewhere between 6 or 8 servings. You may get more, but I doubt you'd get less because my head of cabbage was one of the smallest I've ever seen. Also, I only used about 2/3 of the sesame dressing, so the recipe allows for more if you need it.

Pretty food is so... pretty.

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sesame ginger dressing

Okay, okay, okay... so this isn't exactly the most inexpensive dressing in the world, but it sure does taste like the most expensive one! This stuff is hella good and it's all fresh so I know that it's worth the few extra pennies to many of you. Plus, I over paid for my ginger (and half ended up being rotten inside - grrr!).

This makes about 1.25 cups and I figured you'd want about 1/4 cup per serving. That means there are about five servings per batch, which is probably a good thing because you don't want to keep this dressing fore more than about a week in your refrigerator. It's got fresh ingredients, remember? But I'd be surprised if it lasts you that long. It's so good that I kept slurping it off a spoon. I was... uh... taste testing it. Yeah.

Instead of adding actual sesame seeds to this, I used tahini, which is pureed sesame seeds. Tahini not only gives a great sesame flavor but it acts as an emulsifier and helps keep the dressing from separating. I found that it separated a little after a long while but all it needed was a quick swirl to remix everything.

The small amount of toasted sesame oil also provided a lot of flavor. If you don't have this magical ingredient, I highly suggest it. You only needs a touch to amp up the flavor a lot. You can buy toasted sesame oil in most grocery stores in the Asian section. It might not always say "toasted" but you can tell it is because of the dark brown color.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a great salad recipe to use the dressing on!

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teriyaki meatball bowls

I don't know what it is with me and meatballs lately... but here we go again!

These are ridiculously easy and when you serve them over a bowl of hot jasmine rice, they're pure heaven. The ingredient list might look long, but don't let that scare you. They're EASY. Many of the ingredients are just listed twice - once for the meatballs and then again for the glaze.

I used ground pork for this recipe but you could certainly use ground turkey or chicken instead. The bulk of the flavor comes in the potent teriyaki glaze that coats the meatballs. You can also make these into an appetizer by skewering them on a toothpick with a chunk of pineapple.

So, are y'all ready to party teriyaki meatball style? Lets get started!

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thai chicken pizza

Due to poor planning on my part, I only came out of this weekend with one recipe to post... but boy, oh boy, is it a GOOD one!! These little individual Thai chicken pizzas on homemade naan bread are just heavenly. ...to say the least.

I made my pizzas on homemade naan, but if you don't want to make a batch, you can always use store bought naan or even pita bread. But if you haven't tried this naan recipe yet, you definitely should. It's soft, light, fluffy, and full of flavor.

I tried to keep it simple with the ingredients and toppings because, if you ask me, there's nothing worse about making homemade pizzas than to have them be really complicated. If you want to go a step or two further and try some more toppings, try pineapple, jalapeno, Thai basil, or green onion. If you want an extra special peanut sauce for the base (instead of the super quick version that I made here), check out this peanut sauce recipe.

Lastly, I have all of the ingredients/toppings for these pizzas stored in individual containers in my fridge. This way, I can quickly top and cook a pizza "to order" and have them hot and fresh! These pizzas are so easy and delicious! I will be making them again!

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coconut rice (take 2)

Okay, I'll admit, this recipe is a re-post. Savory coconut rice is one of the first recipes I made for the blog and it has been a staple in my house ever since. I wanted to repost the recipe for three reasons: 1) because it was part of this week's complete meal plan (will be posted tomorrow), 2) the first version was posted before I started doing step-by-step photo instructions, and 3) it's just so so so good that I don't want any new followers to miss it.

Seriously, when your coworkers all "oooh" and "ahhh" over the smell coming out of the microwave, you know you've got something seriously good. Not only is it seriously good, but it's seriously easy. If you have trouble getting rice to come out right on the stove top, invest in a rice cooker. They're fool proof, you'll use it a lot, and they're very inexpensive.

I usually use light coconut milk to make my coconut rice, but the store only had regular this time around. I have to admit, I prefer the light coconut milk. The light coconut milk gives all of the flavor without the oily residue.

Oh, and if you're wondering, this rice is not sweet. I know it's hard to disconnect coconut with sweetness, but coconut milk by itself is not at all sweet. It's just really creamy and good!

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vegetable egg rolls

Okay, I might just have to make egg rolls all the time. They were so much easier than expected! And, because I decided to bake mine, they're pretty freakin' healthy. And, wow, super inexepensive! Just over 50 cents for two rolls? Yes please. Win, win, win!

Baking egg rolls definitely creates a different texture than frying, but I still liked them A LOT. It's more of a "crunch" than a "crisp" when you bite in... But, if you wanted to fry these, they would be every bit as easy and probably even more delicious. If you don't have a deep fryer, a couple inches of vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed skillet would probably do the trick. ...I just have an irrational fear of frying things. I guess I've been badly burned one too many times and I know that one day it's going to splatter on my face and that'll be the end of me.

I also experimented with freezing the egg rolls uncooked. After freezing I put them straight into a hot oven without thawing. The texture was a little less than great but they were still delicious all the same. I will be freezing some the next time I make them. More about that in the photos at the bottom of the post.

There are a lot of step by step photos with this post, but don't be mislead. It's an easy process... I just wanted to catch every little step because most of this is hard to describe in words!

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easy egg drop soup

I always want something light after the gluttony of holiday meals, so this week I cooked up some easy Asian food. This egg drop soup comes together in just a few minutes and has endless possibilities. I added mushrooms and spinach to try to sneak in some veggies, but if you just want a plain, brothy soup, you can leave them out. If you want something heartier, you could even add some noodles.

It's been a cold, rainy day and this soup is just what I needed to warm me up inside and out! Plus, it's so easy that I was able to whip it up without exhausting myself, despite being under the weather!

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ginger scallion soba salad

I was really in the mood for something light and fresh this week. Who knows, maybe it's a last hoorah of summer cravings before fall sets in with all of its hearty soups and stews.

This salad is super light and fresh, and really lets the flavor of the vegetables shine through. If you're looking for something with a real flavor punch, this isn't the salad for you. Check out garlic noodles or peanut soba stir fry if you want something bold enough to stand on its own as a meal. This ginger scallion soba noodle salad is the perfect side to a bold main dish, like the teriyaki salmon with sraracha mayo.

Despite being really light and fresh, this salad is a serious hunger squasher! Soba noodles are made of buckwheat so they've got tons of fiber and protein to fill you up. Add to that some edamame (soy beans) and one bowl will fill your tummy up and make you happy really fast. Just one bowl of this with a piece of salmon has left me feeling really full (and healthy) every day this week!

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teriyaki salmon w/ sriracha mayo

One of my wonderful readers recently asked for more fish recipes. I fully intended on doing cod or some other type of fish that I had never cooked before, but when I got to the store and saw this pretty, fatty salmon, my mouth started to water. ...but I'll be doing more fish in the future, so stay tuned.

This recipe is, of course, pretty pricey, but its worth every penny. This is the best salmon I've ever made and it was incredibly easy. The best part about this dish is that you can cook it any way you want. I opted for a skillet but you could also use a George Foreman grill, an outdoor grill, or bake it in the oven (like I did last time). Whatever you do, make sure to oil your surface well so that your fish comes off in one piece. It's deliciously delicate and the teriyaki sauce is sticky!

I decided to whip up a quick sriracha mayo because I thought the spicy, creamy mixture would pair perfectly with the sticky sweetness of the teriyaki. Right I was. Plus, sriracha mayo is good on just about everything under the sun so it's no biggy if there is extra.

Pair this salmon with some savory coconut rice, garlic noodles, or (not)fried rice and you'll have a gourmet meal for at least half the price that you'd pay in a restaurant.

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chicken adobo

I first became interested in chicken adobo when I saw a recipe for it using a slow cooker. It looked delicious but completely different than the adobo that I was familiar with. I thought adobo was that rich, spicy, reddish-brown mexican sauce that comes with chipotle peppers. The recipe I saw didn't even involve any chile peppers.

So, I started doing some research. Turns out Filipino adobo is a completely different beast than Mexican or Spanish adobo. This adobo is a tangy, salty mix of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and spices that is used to marinate and stew meat.

After looking at a plethora of adobo recipes, I decided that I didn't even need a slow cooker. Not only was it easy but it only required a few ingredients that I already had in my pantry. The result was super tender, juicy, tangy chicken that can be served over rice or cellophane noodles. YUM!

I used bone in drumsticks and thighs for this recipe but you could really use any cut of chicken you'd like (or beef or pork for that matter). I removed the skin off of the thighs but left it on the drumsticks just because I didn't know which I'd prefer. The skin on was definitely better. It crisps up nicely in the last step and keeps the meat nice and moist.

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kung pao chicken

I'm really not sure how authentic this recipe is but I'm calling it kung pao chicken because it's spicy and it has peanuts. That's good enough for me. Ha!

Okay, aside from that, it's really super delicious... and easy. Well, easy if you're not trying to figure out how to use your new mandoline like I was. I spent a good half hour just trying to assemble the correct blades, another 15 minutes or so trying to use it and then another 30 minutes trying to disassemble, clean, and then fold up the mandoline for storage. I got some beautifully thin carrot strips but it wasn't worth an hour of my day and almost slicing my thumb wide open. Nope. Next time I'm just going to stick to a knife. *sigh* Lesson learned.

Because I get this question every time: Buy your chicken in large family sized packs to get a super low price. When you get it home, divide it up into 1-2 lb. portions and freeze for later use. I just pop two breasts into quart size ziplock bags, label them, and toss them in the freezer. It's really nice to have the meat on hand the next time you're ready to cook and it's at least a dollar less per pound when purchased in bulk (usually a 5 lb. package). Sometimes, when they are approaching their "sell by" date, they'll be even more deeply discounted and as long as you freeze them that day, they're completely safe. Even Whole Foods sells "Family Packs" of chicken for a lower price per pound.


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peanut soba stir fry

I'm SO EXCITED about this one... this is one of those recipes that turned out so good that I couldn't keep out of it while I was shooting photos. I kept stuffing in mouthfuls in between shots!

I wanted to make a stir fry this week because they're just so quick, easy and packed with goodness. This is one of those cases where it was actually less expensive to buy the frozen, pre-chopped mix of vegetables than to buy each vegetable fresh. Red peppers alone were $2.50 each and I got a whole bag of vegetables for $1.94. Plus, this way I won't have tons of left overs. Frozen vegetables are a wonderful asset to those eating on a budget. They don't go bad quickly in the refrigerator, there are a ton of varieties and most don't contain any added salt or preservatives (check the label to be sure). Sure, the frozen weren't as crunchy as fresh would have been but the dish was so good over all that I didn't care.

I added soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) to the stir fry for bulk and fiber. I paid $3.94 for 8 oz. of soba noodles and I'm quite sure they can be purchased for far less else where, probably even at Whole Foods. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to drive across town that day. Check ethnic markets for an even lower price. Oh, AND my hoisin sauce was organic so I'm sure you could get that for less too. Moral of the story: you can probably make this recipe for a few dollars less than I did.


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coconut chicken soup

Oh, I've been wanting to make this soup for such a long long time! There are few things that I like more than coconut milk so I just knew this was going to be good. ...and there was no "lite" in my coconut milk this time, folks. It was full fat, creamy coconut goodness!

I was really pleased with how simple this soup was to prepare. You pretty much just throw everything in a pot and heat it up. How "soup"er easy!

This recipe is basically an Americanized version of Tom Kha Gai. Tom Kha Gai doesn't require many ingredients but there are some that can be hard to find if you don't have an Asian market near by. So, here are the ingredient substitutions that I made:

• ginger in place of galangal
• lime peel in place of keffir (lime) leaves
• red pepper flakes in place of red bird's eye chilis

I know the soup is probably 100 times better with the original ingredients but it still tasted fantastic with the substitutions and I know these ingredients are more realistic for most of you. If you have a chance to get the good stuff, by all means do! I did not make a substitution for the lemongrass because it is a major player in the flavor and there really is nothing like it. Check the produce section of your grocery store near the fresh herbs. Sometimes you can get it minced up in a tube, which will also work.

A word of warning about the fish sauce... if you're not familiar or acclimated to it, go easy or don't use it at all. And by all means, DO NOT SNIFF THE BOTTLE or else that's all you'll be able to taste in the final soup and you won't be happy. Just speaking from experience. The fish sauce gives the soup a deep, savory, salty, umami flavor. Prior to adding the fish sauce, the broth tasted really light and fresh - more like coconut milk. Honestly, I liked the broth both before and after the fish sauce. Two totally different beasts but both good.

Because I live in the south and we put rice in anything remotely liquidy, I also cooked up a batch of jasmine rice and served the soup over it. The soup was good by itself but once I added the fragrant jasmine rice, it went from good to HEAVENLY. So, give that a thought.


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