Cooking with Alison

Archive for the ‘Meat and Eggs’ Category

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Korean Lettuce Wraps with BBQ Beef or Pork

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Asian, Meat and Eggs on August 2, 2015 at pm

One of the hors d’oeuvres that I made for John’s housewarming was Korean BBQ beef in lettuce cups.  I used my Korean kalbi (BBQ short ribs) marinade on thin slices of prime rib, but lean pork would work well too (see the kalbi recipe here).  The sweet and savoury marinade contrasted nicely with the sour and spicy kimchi.  These were flavourful, easy to eat, easy to make, carbohydrate-free, and everyone’s favourite of the items that I made.  If you wanted to serve these as an entree for a sit down meal, serve the beef with white rice on the side and allow your guests to assemble their own lettuce wraps.

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Easy and Delicious Curry Chicken Recipe (Only 5 Ingredients)

In Indian, Meat and Eggs, Poultry on July 27, 2014 at am

First off, you should know that this recipe is, by no means, an authentic curry recipe from any part of the world.  However, it is addictively delicious and ridiculously easy to make.  I don’t normally post recipes that aren’t traditional or authentic, so believe me when I say that this recipe is worth sharing.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it instantly becomes one of your family favourite recipes.  It’s mild in heat, buttery, and slightly sweet.  My sister’s friend, Chelsea, introduced me to this recipe.  She made it for us and a large group of people at a ski chalet, once.  Every single person loved it.  I made it for John’s mom one day and she loved it too.  This is a great dish to make for a crowd.

The key to making this sauce more than just a sum of its 4 ingredients, is to use high quality and complex curry powder.  I’ve had the best success using Malaysian meat curry powder.  Otherwise, it will taste like a curried, honey dijon chicken dish.  But even the curried, honey dijon chicken tastes great, so use whatever you have on hand.  Note that if you use a yellow curry powder, the colour of your sauce will be more yellow than mine.  Ideally, you want the dijon mustard to be indiscernible, leaving your guests wondering what’s behind that addictive flavour.

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Chinese Pork Stomach Soup Recipe

In Asian, Meat and Eggs, Other Asian Foods on February 27, 2014 at am

Cooking with Alison’s Mom (Part 3)

Pork stomach soup is one of my favourite Chinese soups.  I just love the texture of pork stomach after it has been boiled in a peppery and clear soup.  It is chewy and surprisingly neutral in flavour.  The peppercorns in this soup make it especially warming during the cold winter months.  Chinese restaurants add a lot of different spices to their pork stomach soup, but I’ve always found that the best soups are made from a simple list of ingredients.  So here’s my favourite (and simple) recipe.  [On a side note, according to the teachings of Chinese medicine, this is a ‘hot’ soup.  The dried bean curd helps to reduce some of the ‘hotness’, but if you feel cold easily or if you have just given birth, omit the bean curd so that you can maximize the warming properties of this soup.  If you are cooking for someone who has just given birth, see my grandma’s Chinese Ginger Vinegar with Pig Trotters and Eggs recipe here.]

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Clay Pot Pea Sprouts, Chicken and Bean Curd Recipe

In Asian, Meat and Eggs, Other Asian Foods on February 21, 2014 at am

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This is a recreation of one of our favourite dishes from our favourite Chinese restaurant (see another recreation from that restaurant here).  It is an easy, one-pot meal that is cooked in a Chinese clay pot.  It is fresh tasting, light, and healthy.  If you aren’t able to find young pea shoot sprouts, you could substitute with baby bok choy, but believe me when I say that the dish just won’t be the same.

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What to Cook When Daikon Radish Goes on Sale for 9 Cents per Pound

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Asian, Dim Sum, How-To, Meat and Eggs, Other Asian Foods, Rice and Noodle Dishes, Soups on October 26, 2013 at am

When white daikon radish went on sale for only 9 cents per pound, I did what I had to do – I bought pounds and pounds and pounds of it, found different ways to cook it, and ate nothing but daikon radish for two weeks.  It was awesome!  🙂  So here is a list of dishes that you can make using white daikon radish.  Let me know if you can think of more items!

  • braised beef dishes (see recipes here and here)
  • Vietnamese beef noodle soup (pho tai) (see recipe here)
  • steamed cake (lo bak go) (see recipe here)
  • pickled condiment (see recipe here)
  • soup (see recipe here)
  • pan fried dish with beef

If you’ve never cooked daikon radish before, I should warn you that the cooking process releases an unpleasant odour.  But once the radish is fully cooked, the smell goes away, and the radish has a mild flavour.

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Malaysian Cincalok Dip and Steamed Pork Belly Recipe

In Asian, Meat and Eggs, Seafood on August 25, 2013 at am

I traveled to Malaysia for the first time in May 2013.  It was an amazing food experience and I am excited to share what I learned about Malaysian cuisine with you.  The best part of the trip was watching my dad enjoy nostalgic food from his childhood.  While souvenir shopping in a Malaysian grocery store, my dad spotted a bottle of cincalok and told me that when he was a child, his family’s servants would toss nets into the ocean during shrimp season to catch tiny shrimp for his mom to make cincalok from scratch.  After hearing that story, I had to bring some home.

Malaysian cincalok

Malaysian cincalok

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Chinese Salted Egg Recipe

In Meat and Eggs on May 11, 2012 at am

Cooking with Alison’s Grandma (Part 3 of 4)

During my last visit with my grandma, she showed me how easy it is to make your own Chinese salted eggs!  Chinese salted eggs are simple, delicious, cost-efficient side dishes.  Personally, I find them addictive.  They can be enjoyed as a side dish to compliment a plain bowl of white rice or congee, or they can be used to flavour many different Asian dishes; just to name a few: steamed egg dish, claypot rice, steamed minced pork, rice dumpling (joong/zhong zi), etc.  You can even add salted eggs to simple Chinese vegetable soups.  This recipe makes a very large amount, which is perfect for making a large batch of Chinese rice dumplings (joong / zhong zi).  Feel free to scale it down if you’re not making rice dumplings.  My family never has trouble finishing a batch.

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Delicious Bang Bang Chicken Recipe (bang bang ji)

In Meat and Eggs on April 24, 2012 at am

Bang bang chicken is a Chinese dish that originated in Szechuan.  I really hope that you’ll try this recipe because I love it for many reasons:

1.  The dipping sauce is delicious and addictive.  It’s very flavourful and the perfect compliment to the otherwise bland chicken and cucumbers.  My family and I can’t get enough of it.

2. This meal is cost effective to make, because you use chicken that has the skin on and bone in.

3.  It’s healthy.

4.  It’s easy to make.

5.  This recipe makes a lot, so you can feed a lot of people or use the leftovers for tortilla wraps or rice paper rolls (see my rice paper rolls recipe here).

6.  This can be served warm or cold, so it can be made in advance.

Traditionally, this is served alongside other dishes with white rice.  But if you wanted to turn this dish into a complete meal on its own, you could try this variation:  Toss together the shredded chicken, sauce, and thinly julienned cucumbers, along with added cilantro, thinly julienned carrots, and thinly sliced green onions, and serve on top of boiled and drained, thin vermicelli rice noodles.

Update:  I made this for my dad’s company pot luck and people from all different backgrounds loved it, even the two pickiest eaters there.

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How to Boil or Poach Chicken

In How-To, Meat and Eggs, Poultry on April 19, 2012 at pm

Cooking chicken by boiling or poaching is easy and great for making healthy, oil-free, meals.  It may sound bland, but this results in deliciously moist meat and a pot of chicken stock.  When boiling or poaching chicken, you want to use meat that still has the skin on and the bone in, so you can purchase cheaper cuts of meat and save money while eating healthy.  You can boil a whole chicken or pieces of chicken.  Shred the cooked meat and use it in salads, sandwiches, wraps, soup or, my favourite, bang bang chicken (recipe here).  Another healthy and simple way to cook chicken is by steaming (see recipe here).

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Momofuku Chicken Wings with Vinaigrette Recipe

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Meat and Eggs on September 1, 2011 at am

This is a very easy and delicious recipe that comes from the famous momofuku restaurant’s cookbook by David Chang.  I made this for Krystal and Ed as a late night snack the last time they visited,  and they were still talking about these wings a few days after they had gone home.  I usually prefer deep fried chicken wings over oven-baked wings, but this vinaigrette was so good, that I didn’t miss the deep fried at all.

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Kalbi Recipe (Korean BBQ beef short ribs)

In Meat and Eggs on August 8, 2011 at am

One of my favourite Korean foods is kalbi/galbi (BBQ beef short ribs).  Luckily, these are incredibly easy to make at home, but it might take a few tries to master the timing for the perfect doneness, because these can be tough and too chewy if they are overcooked or undercooked (a tiny bit of pink is perfect in my opinion).  These are best cooked over a charcoal BBQ, but any grill or cast iron pan will work too.  Every home and restaurant makes their kalbi slightly differently (some even using Coke and/or Sprite)  so adjust the sweetness and saltiness to your taste.  This is best served with Japanese rice (sticky rice) and kimchi.  The side shown above is chap chae, a Korean glass noodle dish (recipe here).  For John’s house warming party, I made thinly sliced prime rib using this recipe and served them in lettuce wraps with kimchi.  They were one of the party favourites.

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Mango and Chicken Stir Fry

In Meat and Eggs on June 11, 2011 at am

My favourite mango chicken dish is surprisingly simple and is served at the restaurant, Magic Wok in Markham, ON.  They stir fry pieces of chicken with slices of fresh mango and ginger and serve it in a delicious basket made from deep fried shredded taro.  I’m on the look out for the properly shaped Chinese wire basket/strainers so that I may recreate this restaurant style dish at home.  In the meantime, I make a homestyle chicken and mango stir fry with bell peppers for added crunch and colour.  Feel free to use whatever vegetables you happen to have on hand.


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