Ginger-Chicken Egg Drop Soup

Another recipe from Goodbites (like the "Chicken Cobbler with Cheesy Biscuits"). Pretty easy, very healthy, and fast (although I would use my own chicken, so roasting the bird the day ahead may require a bit more planning - but it tastes so much better!).

If you are not a big fan of ginger, I would cut back on that here. Nothing wrong with going with a stripped down egg-drop soup. We like it (although the girls are currently in a "no soup" phase) this way. Definitely worth a try.

Don't let the Campbell's chicken broth deter you - any good broth will work here. Campbell's is just product placement, eh?

Mo' Better Drunken Noodles

We had leftover duck, a block of frozen tofu, and an urge to eat something that would drive away the cloudy blues. This mod of a Thai recipe (somewhere between Drunken Noodles and Pad See Ew) took advantage of what we had as fridge leftovers and the produce that our local grocery would stock that wasn't wilted nasty.

We liked it - the fried tofu is awesome - the girls liked it. And it only took 25 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb of extra firm or firm tofu, frozen and thawed, drained
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 inch of ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 hot Thai pepper or 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 6 scallions, chopped
• 8 ounces of cooked chicken, duck breast, pork or beef, sliced
• 1 lb of bok choy or napa cabbage, sliced thinly
• 2 carrots, cut thickly on the bias
• 1/2 cup of cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup of basil leaves, chopped
• Lime juice to taste

STIR-FRY SAUCE:

• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce or substitute 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. Thai chili sauce OR 1/2 tsp crushed dried red chilies

Steps:

1. Cook 8 ounces of noodles (wide rice or wide egg noodles) until al dente - cool off with cold running water and set aside.
2. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste for balance - it should be sweet, sour, spicy and hot simultaneously.
3. Fry the tofu in 1/2 inch of canola or peanut oil until crusty and golden. Drain on towels and set aside.
4. Set up a wok with 3 TBSP of oil and stir fry the garlic, ginger, and red pepper. Let it fry for 1 minute.
5. Add the bok choy (or cabbage), meat, and carrots. Stir fry for 3 minutes.
6. Add the sauce to the wok and stir for 1 more minute.
7. Remove from wok and add to a bowl with noodles. Add cilantro and basil.
8. Toss to coat evenly. Taste test and add more hot pepper flakes if you are brave!

Corning Your Own Corned Beef

OK, I never had corned beef often as a kid - maybe once a year (hey, we weren't Irish-Americans). Had my share of boiled red cabbage though :D

Anyway, two years ago, Carol had this one week course development job that we scheduled for the week of my Spring Break so I cared for the kids and she pulled 14 hr days working. Ugh. But my end of the deal was a never-ending supply of food, tea, and snacks. Luckily St. Patrick's Day fell on the week, so the kids and me made corned beef, cabbage, soda bread with hand-made butter, and something chocolate-y for dessert.

We bought the corned beef from Eagle Bridge Custom Meats (now USDA certified) and it was fantastic - moist and well-spiced and the same price as that nasty stuff from the big grocery store. This year, we are making our corned beef from our portion of a quarter cow named Burgess from the Masons' at Long-Lesson Farm (here in Johnsonville).

from Simply Recipes, fab recipes and photog!

This is from Alton Brown's excellent recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 quarts water
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons saltpeter
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into several pieces
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 8 whole cloves
• 8 whole allspice berries
• 12 whole juniper berries
• 2 bay leaves, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 pounds ice
• 1 (4 to 5 pound) beef brisket, trimmed
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped

Steps

1. Place the water into a large pot along with salt, sugar, saltpeter, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds, peppercorns, cloves, allspice, juniper berries, bay leaves and ginger.
2. Dissolve the salt and sugar on high heat, stirring often.
3. Cool using either ice or refrigeration until the temp is less than 45 F
4. Once the brine is cooled, place the brisket in a 2-gallon zip top bag and add the brine. Seal and lay flat inside a container, cover and place in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
5. Check daily to make sure the beef is completely submerged and mix the brine.
6. After the 7-10 days, remove from the brine and rinse well under cool water.
7. Place the brisket into a pot just large enough to hold the meat, add the onion, carrot and celery and cover with water plus 1 more inch.
8. Set over high heat and bring to a boil.
9. Reduce the heat to low, cover and gently simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until the meat is fork tender.
10. Remove from the pot and thinly slice across the grain. Enjoy with boiled cabbage, soda bread, and easy hand-made butter!

Eating Thai Food @ Land Thai (NYC)

It is a sad thing to say it, but there is some crappy Thai food out there. I love the fresh tastes of Thai food - galangal (a perfume-y cousin to ginger), cilantro, lemongrass, fresh seafood, wok-ked beans or greens, and of course hot red peppers. Aah.

Up here in upstate, there isn't much to Thai food (of course, according to the first item from this episode from NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", there isn't much of anything in Albany).

But when we went to NYC, we decided to go looking for something good to eat. Something we couldn't find here. And that rules out pizza and Italian.

We cruised the NY Magazine's restaurant excellent search engine (sort by neighborhood and cuisine) and settled on "Land Thai Kitchen" on the Upper West Side. It was fabulous, fast and fresh and spicy (although the waitress specifically asked if we wanted the kids' salad to be mild instead! Awesome = 25% tip!).

Things we would like to note:

1. Restaurants are smaller (quite the discussion with the 7-yr old about real estate values and the size of city lots). Land Thai is literally 10 feet wide, elbow-to-elbow.
2. Really good food doesn't need to be hard to make - the ingredients here were fresh and not cooked to destruction. Texture choices - yum!
3. Even kids will eat spicy food if it is good.

Things we would like to eat again (I linked to blog recipes that look close)

1. Drunken Chicken Noodles - (above) spicy hot and yummy, this one used wide noodles.
2. Esan Roasted Chicken - (E-san is (as far as I can tell) a commercial version of Nam Jim Jeaw sauce) and this was a dinner which the kids loved and it came with a side of Green Papaya Salad (oh, to die for)
3. Chicken Galangal Soup - delicious broth with big oyster mushrooms in it.

Great recipes for more Thai over here at RasaMalaysia!