Ham,Potatoes and Broccoli soup

Christmas left over are always good to create new recipes.So for me ham was the perfect choice to make perfect soup with potatoes and broccoli. What is wonderful about this dish is, for a person that is not fond of ham like me, this recipe can make you like ham instantly.It is simple,creamy and very delicious.

Time 30 minutes

Yield: 6 people

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
3 cups diced potatoes
3 cups diced ham
1 cup broccoli
4 cups of water
2 table spoon butter
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pepper

6 table spoon butter
6 table spoon all purpose bleach flour
2 cups milk

Direction:

1. In a medium pot, melt 2 table spoon of butter in medium heat. Saute onions, celery, potatoes and broccoli for a minute. Add 4 cups of water, ham,broccoli, salt and pepper to the pot and cook for 15 minutes.

2. In a separate pan, in a medium heat, melt 6 table spoon of butter and add 6 tablespoon of flour to the pan. whisk and stir it for 2 minutes.Add 2 cups of milk slowly to the pan. Stir it all the time to avoid clump and  the final consistency should be very thick.

3. Add the stirred milk mixture to the pot and cook the soup until heated. Now you can serve it!

Shrimp Gumbo

Okay this is the food i cooked yesterday. I have never cooked gumbo before but some how i felt like the food i eat all the time," rice" and some curry looking food. Surprisingly it was very different in every way as it didn't use the normal spices i am used too, and its the first time i heard "file" powder, the key ingredients for the dish. It is the herb powder which is used to thicken the texture of the dish while cooking or before serving the food. I google some ingredients, and finally came up  with my own.After all cooking don't need to be exactly like it is written. My friend was asking the recipe, so now writing for her. .

Yield : 6 people

Time: 3 hours.

Ingredients:

Roux
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all purpose flour

1 pound kielbasa sausage (diced)
1 chicken breast (diced)
1 pound shrimp
1 finely chopped medium size onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup finely chopped bell peppers
2 tablespoon file powder
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon salt
8 cups water

Directions:

1. In the medium heat, cook the sausage in iron skillet until it turns brown. Remove the sausage in a bowl. In the same pan cook the chicken breast until it turns golden brown. After that remove it from the pan.

2. In the same pan prepare the roux by pouring the oil, pour the flour and whisk it constantly. Make sure the heat is in medium low in order to avoid burn. It should be constantly stirred until it reach dark brown. It takes around 30 minutes.

3. When the roux is dark brown enough, add chopped onion, bell pepper, and celery. Cook the vegetables until it becomes tender.

4.Meanwhile in a large pot boil 8 cups of water, pour the roux with vegetables to the pot. Add tomato sauce, file powder,black pepper and salt to the pot. Cook it in a medium heat for 15 minutes. Add chicken and sausage to the pot. Cook it for 30 minutes. At last add shrimp and cook it for 15 minutes. By the end the consistency of the gumbo should be thick.  Serve it with rice.Enjoy!

Shrimp and grits

It’s after a long time, I am updating my food blogs.  Some of my readers might have thought I am lost, well I am still here and still cooking actively at my small kitchen. Just don’t have enough time to write and post all those things. Well what else will be better than updating my blogs with my all-time favorite Southern Shrimp and grits with Cajun spice kicks.  I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Time: 20 minutes

Yield:4

Ingredients

Grits:

1 cup of finely coursed yellow corn grits

4 cups of water

4 tablespoon butter

4 ounces pepper jack cheese

1 ½ teaspoon of salt

Cajun Shrimp

1 Pound deveined shrimp

4 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoon Cajun spice

3 garlic cloves

1 fresh lime

1 teaspoon salt

Finely chopped cilantro for garnishment

Directions:

1.      1. In a pot bring 4 cups of water to boil. Pour 1 cup of grits, in the meantime add butter, salt and cheese and cooked it in the medium heat for 10 minutes.  Stir the grits regularly in order to avoid the clump. The consistency of the grits should be thick by the end.

2.    2. Heat the iron skillet in the medium heat; pour the butter that is melted in microwave. Saute the crushed garlic cloves but make sure not to burn it.  Pour the shrimp in the skillet, add Cajun spices, salt and cook it for 6 minutes.  Squeeze the fresh lime on top of the shrimp. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.

3.      3.Serve the cooked shrimp on top of the cooked grits. And wallah!!! PS: You can always adjust the spices according to your taste.
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Aloo Dum and puri

I realized that I hardly have any food in my blogs that I grew up eating with. Aloo dum and puri is a popular dish in Nepal. It is very interesting to find aloo dum varies according to the regions and country. Some with more spices and some with fewer spices. Staying in USA for a long time, my palate has changed to the liking of mild spices.  So if you want more or less heat, you can just adjust according to your taste. My son sure loved it, wants it for lunch tomorrow too! I hope you guys enjoy it!!!

 Time: 2 hours

Yield :4

Ingredients

5 medium size potatoes

2 big roma tomatoes

½ cup plain yogurt

4 whole red chili pepper

1 small onion (puree)

1 teaspoon of crushed garlic

1 teaspoon of fennel seed

1 teaspoon of anise seed

1 teaspoon of cumin seed

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon of cumin powder

1 teaspoon of coriander powder

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (adjust according to your palate)

 ½ teaspoon of salt (adjust according to your palate)

Puri:

2 cups whole wheat

1 cup water

1 table spoon of oil

Oil for deep frying

Directions:

1.       Boil the potatoes in water until it is soft in center. Peel and cut it into dices.

2.       Cut the roma tomatoes in small pieces, and cook it in a pan for 10 minutes with whole red chili peppers until it becomes tender. Blend it in a blender to make puree. In the meantime heat 3 table spoon of oil in the pan. Make it hot enough to add cumin, fennel and anise seeds. You will hear crack noise.

3.       Since the oil is very hot, it can burn onion and garlic easily, so lower the heat. Add onion puree and crushed garlic. Add the roma tomato puree, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt, red cayenne pepper and yogurt. Add the cubed tomatoes and simmer it in medium heat for 10 minutes.

4.       For puri, mix the whole wheat, water and one table spoon of oil properly. Make 12 small ball and roll it with a rolling pin to make roti.  Make sure the oil is hot and deep enough to make puri. Deep fry it in hot oil.

5.       Serve the hot aloo dum and puri. Enjoy!!

Buffalo Wings

I was supposed to post buffalo wing recipe for Superbowl weekend.  It’s been fun and busy start of the week, so finally am able to share my recipe with you guys. One of the most popular breaded fried chicken wings dipped in hot sauce you can find in this country. The name itself is confusing, for those who are not familiar with buffalo wing might be looking for real buffalo meat!  That is what I first thought about it when I was very new to this country. Since then I have been trying to make the perfect one in my small kitchen, I feel this one is better than any of the one you can find in restaurant. Most of the time I use my own judgment while frying the chicken. It all depends upon the size of the wings and the dish I used while frying. I was out of powdered garlic so instead used fresh garlic for breading the wings and substituted the garlic with sriracha sauce for the buffalo wing sauce.  This buffalo wing is finger licking yummy with blue cheese dressing!! It was crispy outside and moist inside.  I hope you guys enjoy it and any questions will be appreciated. And please adjust the heat for this recipe according to your taste bud. For me it was perfect.

Time: 2 hours

Yield: 4

Ingredients:

12 whole chicken wings (cut into 24 pieces)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoon of crushed garlic

Oil for deep frying

For Sauce:

1 cup Louisiana hot sauce

1 table spoon sriracha sauce

½ cup butter

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions: 

1.Heat the oil in heavy bottom pan until it becomes hot. The oil should be enough to dip the whole wings.

2.In a bowl mix chicken wings, flour, crushed garlic, cayenne powder, pepper and salt. Set it aside in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour. In the mean time for buffalo wing sauce, heat the mixture of Louisiana hot sauce, sriracha sauce, butter, black pepper and cayenne pepper in a pan.  Heat it until the butter is melted.

3.Fry the coated chicken wings for 10 to 12 minutes in high heat.  Remove the chicken out of the oil and mix it immediately with hot sauce in a bowl. Serve it with blue cheese dressing and celery. Enjoy!

Shrimp Linguine

Shrimp linguine!! This is the food I cooked for blog today.  I like simplicity of this food, no more over powering with heavy tomato sauce. The whole dish is extremely refreshing with the taste of fresh lemon zest and its juice.  It is very easy and quick to prepare. My son doesn’t even like shrimp, but today he seemed to like it and ate it all. This was surprising for me.I hope you guys will enjoy the dish!

Yield: 4

Time :25 minutes

 Ingrdients:

 pound pasta

1 pound shrimp

3 tablespoon of olive oil

3 big garlic cloves crushed

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

1 lemon zest

1 lemon juice

1 ½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of black pepper

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon dry chives ( I would recommend fresh)

Directions:

1. Bring the large pot full of water to boil.  Boil pasta according the direction in the package.Drain the pasta and save 1/2 cup of the drained water.

2. Heat the olive oil in heavy skillet pan over medium heat.  Cook the crushed garlic for 1 minute, add shrimp to it. Cook the shrimp for 5 minutes. Do not overcook the shrimp otherwise it becomes rubbery. Add the linguine, salt, pepper, lemon jest, lemon juice, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper to it. Toss to combine and turn off the heat. Add red pepper flakes, dry chives and  the drained water to it. Serve it immediately.

Simple oven roasted duck

Something unusual I have cooked today for blog.  I have always seen chef cooking duck in Food network but personally have never tried it before. Heard about it enough being greasy so I was always reluctant. For some reason this Christmas I really wanted to cook duck something different than ham but the one we looked in the store was too big and expensive for two of us.  This week we went to farmers market and found a perfect size for a small meal.  I guess I am just tired right now after a long night work and cooking.  I was too tired to research more about duck recipe, with simple way of cooking, in short my verdict after eating, it was real good I thought its better than a fried chicken.  It was too moist, not gamey and literally melted in the mouth. Even my friend thought its better than Turkey and my son did gobbled it up. I hope you guy enjoy this simple recipe too.

Yield: 4

Time: 2 and half hours

Ingredients:

5 pounds duck

1 orange

1 onion bulb

1 tea spoon salt

1 teas poon black pepper

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven for 375 degree

2.  Clean duck thoroughly inside and outside. Cut 1 orange and 1 onion bulb in half piece. Stuff it inside the duck. Sprinkle the duck with salt and pepper. Put the duck with breast facing on the  bottom of the baking pan. This avoids drying the duck breast. Cook it in 375 for 1 hour 45 minutes. Set aside for 15 minutes, and serve in with your favorite food.

Vietnamese Pho

Rainy day like this reminds me driving up to Buford highway with friends just to eat Pho.  It’s the Vietnamese signature dish made up of clear broth simmered for many hours. I was first introduced by my Vietnamese neighbors, since then have been trying cooking varieties of Pho recipes. Looking for some authentic ones, I guess I finally mastered J even though I am not Vietnamese.  The broth can be prepared any time before you eat as it is time consuming and rest of the ingredients can be put just before we eat. So I started cooking in the morning. The appealing part of the dish is veggies and noodles won’t go soggy nor is the meat stiff and overcooked.  For those who don’t eat beef, it can be substituted with chicken but the chicken must be cooked properly unlike beef. The dish is so good, comfy and warm. Yes I am eating as of writing now; I am going to pack later for work.

Time: 3 hours and 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

Pho noodles (14ounces)

Pho broth

4 pounds beef bottom roast thinly sliced

Garnishments

Pho broth

6 quarts of water

3 pounds pork neck bone with meat

2 onions cut and peeled in half

5 slices of fresh ginger

1 ½ tablespoon salt

4 cardamoms

1 teaspoon of fennel seeds

1 teaspoon of cloves

1 teaspoon of cumin

½ cup of fish sauce

Garnishment

Bean sprouts

Lemon wedges

Cilantro

Thai Basil

Chili pepper sliced

Chili paste sauce/ hoisin sauce/ sirachau sauce

Directions:

1.     For Pho broth, bring 6 quarts of water into a big pot to boiling. Add pork neck bones, onions cut in halves, ginger, fish sauce, cardamom, cloves, fennel seeds, cumin powder and fish sauce. Simmer in in medium heat for three hours.  Strain the stock and use broth only. It can be stored overnight or use immediately.

2.      Cook the pho noodles according to direction in the packet.

3.     For preparation of pho bowl. Put cooked pho noodles in a bowl, thinly sliced beef bottom roast and pour a hot pho broth on top of it. The hot broth will help to cook the meat. And garnish the bowl according to your needs. Enjoy!!!

Lamb chops with herbs and oven roasted brussels Sprouts

Hello friends!! It has been a year that I haven’t updated my food blogs. I am finally back!!Hopefully I will be able to continue sharing my recipes with you guys. I wish i can be a good writer and can manage some more time just to write. I am kind of craving for soupy dish for this rainy day instead I am cooking lamb chops with herbs and roasted Brussels sprouts. I need to finish the brussel sprouts sitting in my fridge for two weeks. Phew!  I have such a bad habit of piling all those veggies in fridge; thankfully it still looked good and fresh! To go with Brussel sprouts, I decided to cook lamb chops with fresh herbs. Those lamb chops came out real good; I love the aroma of kitchen with all those fresh herbs while cooking. Oh I am still eating oven roasted brussel sprouts while writing…

Yield :4 serving

Time Pork chops: 2 hrs 15 minutes

Brussel Sprouts: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

Pork Chops with herbs

2 pounds lamb chops

2 teaspoon fresh rosemary

2 teaspoon fresh thyme

2 teaspoon ground garlic cloves

2 table spoon olive oil

2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1.  In a bowl mix all the above ingredients. Rub it on both sides of lamb chops properly and marinate it for two hours in the fridge.

2.  Heat a pan in high heat, pan sear each side of lamb for 6 minutes. Take it out and let it rest for 4 minutes before serving.

Roasted brussel sprouts.

Ingredients:

1 pound brussel sprouts

3 table spoon olive oils

1 teaspoon of shredded parmesans cheese

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Pre heat the oven 400 degree. Cut the end of brussel sprouts. Mix it properly with olive oils, salt, black pepper and parmasean cheese.  Oven roasts it for 40 minutes tossing it couple of times while cooking.