Bird's Nest

The bird's nest.

It's made from potatoes and it was the base of salads back during the restaurant days.

Wow, the restaurant days seem like so long ago. Almost another life time ago. Literally.

What's great about the bird's nest is that it's fun, crunchy, visually interesting and best of all-

it's SO yummy!  It's great to put a salad or even rice into. You can simply use it as an edible bowl.

                        

All you need is one large potato, corn starch, a small metal strainer with a handle that

will fit into a sauce pan or deep fryer of oil and one egg.

Take your potato, peel it, wash it and shred it. (you can use a mandoline or box shredder)

After you shred it- you have to wash it to get all the starch out. 

(You should rinse it at least 3-5 times) You'll see a little bit of light brown water come out.

Once you wash it, shake your strainer a little to get the excess water out.

Next, lightly coat your potatoes with cornstarch- enough that they coated.

Lastly, take your egg and either brush it onto the potatoes or mix the potato in the egg.

(The egg will basically help keep the potato together in your little metal strainer to fry in)

Take the potatoes and shape them into the little strainer like a bird's nest.

Once your oil it hot... you can deep fry them. 

When they are a golden brown they are ready.  Place your salad or any side dish in there!

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Cilantro Lime Rice

It's been a while since I have had a new post...
cooking classes have been quite busy but I always enjoy sharing food.

Today it's cilantro lime rice.... so easy, so delicious,
so easy to eat and enjoy!

It's always great to season your food with fresh
or dry herbs or seasonings.

One of many ways to flavor your fluffy rice or pasta
is to add the juice of half a lime, a handful of cilantro
chopped up and I also
like to add a TBSP of butter.

The aroma of the lime and cilantro is delightful and makes
your rice even healthier and more flavorful.
You can have cilantro lime rice as a side dish, on your tacos, burritos,
on a salad, with a burger or simply by itself.

This simple rice is simply rice---lime---cilantro---butter (optional)

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Thai Tea --- DIY

Thai Tea..... Yuh-Uhm.

Thai tea is traditionally made from brewing red tea leaves. 

Unfortunately red tea leaves are not the easiest to come across.... 

so the next best thing is to use black tea.

You will notice most Thai or Vietnamese restaurants' Thai tea has a reddish hue--

for they import red tea in from Asia.

You can very easily brew some Thai tea at home though!

recipe and procedure:  

Boil a pot of water (kettle) and about 8-10 black tea bags.

I know you are in a hurry to boil some BUT... make sure you take the paper off the tea bags.

You can use any brand of black tea as well.

Add a handful of star anise. (maybe about 8-10 stars).

Star anise looks like this if you've never seen it before.

Once the black tea bags and star anise have an awesome par-tay boiling and bubbling away--

let it sit and chill for a little while.

The only other thing to add is the 5 or so heaping TBSP of sweet condensed milk

and my secret (not so much a secret anymore)  is to add a splash of hazelnut coffee creamer.

(a splash is about 3 TBSP in this case of making a whole kettle/pot full)

This Thai tea is really rich and awesome in taste!  The star anise gives it that licorice like taste.

(It's similar to a Chai tea but different at the same time)   Chai tea has more goodies in it.

As the warmer weather is upon us--- chilling this tea is best.

A tip for icing this tea without making it too diluted is to make some black tea ice cubes.

(prior to adding the sweet condensed milk and creamer... add some black tea/star anise blend

in ice cube trays.  

If your ice isn't ready... use plain ice and you will have tea ice cubes for your next batch!

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Mixed Mushroom Salad

Although growing up I didn't favor mushrooms too much, I do enjoy all sorts now.

I made a mixed sauteed mushroom salad the other night and it was Balsamic, full-flavored

and herbaceous.

                            

I diced 1 medium sized onion and grated in 2 garlic cloves and sauteed them in some butter.

While they were heating up in the pan on medium high--

I washed and sliced up some shiitake mushrooms, baby portabellas, 

one pack of enoki mushrooms and some oyster mushrooms.

There is a myth that you shouldn't wash mushrooms. Again, there is a myth.

If I'm using them right away-- I usually give a quick rinse and squeeze them

in a clean kitchen towel or a paper towel.  If you are going to not use them

right away-- I do not recommend washing them. It is better to store them in

the refrigerator unwashed. They will last longer and not be water logged. 

I simply added the marvelous mushrooms into the pan once the onions had caramelized.

I added about a TBSP of Balsamic Vinegar along with chopped up herbaceous thyme.

I had some fresh figs on hand that were rich in their ripeness so I simply cut them in half 

and added them to the mixed mushroom salad. The mixed sauteed mushrooms

were put on top of a bed of sliced romaine lettuce. The salad was not heavy even though

I used a spoonful of butter to saute the mushrooms. The blend of garlic, butter, balsamic 

vinegar and thyme gave the mushrooms a seasoned and flavorful taste that you don't

even need salad dressing to put on the lettuce.

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Gifts for GRADUATES!

Graduation time is right around the corner!  

Remember those days away from home sweet home, those late nights, 

gulping caffeine-infused energy drinks, sleeping all day-staying up all night, 

random drives to 24 hr open stores for no reason, late night junk food galore,

cold pizza and fries the next day and oh yeah the classes!  haha.

As those hard-working graduates graduate... it's also time for many of us

to start thinking (if we haven't already) of what to get those graduates!

You want to get something extra special for them that they will 

ALWAYS remember even years down the road, don't you? 

Why not make it simple and purchase an activity you can enjoy together!

An In-Home Cooking activity!   

Maybe that graduate has a favorite food entree or cuisine that you as a group can

have fun making together and of course eating as well!!!  Good times. Good times.

My sous chef can take pictures from start to finish while you, the graduate and your

friends/family get your "fun-on" and "laughter-on" making and cooking delicious food.

We can also take your pictures and make it into a poster collage for the 

graduating person as well.  

This special "Graduate Price" will be offered from April 26th - May 25th, 2013.

Please keep in mind that this is a type of gift where you pre-purchase through Paypal.

(blue "P" on top right of page is the Paypal button link)

We'll mail you a card (greeting card style) so that you 

can write a message and present it to your graduate.... simply when they graduate or earlier.

Then you can choose a date/menu and get your "cook-on"!

The April 26th - May 25th time is just the promotional time when the graduate deal

will be offered... the class activity itself will take place most likely after May 25th.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The discounted Graduate Price is $50 for the class 

plus $15 per person for the ingredients. The food basically. 

So whether there are 3, 4, 7, 10 in your group- It will be $50. times $15 per person.

Just in case you didn't get that... 

for a group of 4 it would be $50 + $15X4 = grand total of $110.

the breakdown of that is $27.50 per person. Not too shabby!?!

For more info of the class itself... you can click the class link.

www.letscultivatefood.com/p/cooking-classes.html

Lastly, to purchase/order the Graduate Gift you can simply click "FORM"

to see what menus are available (custom ones available as well)

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

HOT POT at home!

One of the first times I had a hot pot meal served in a restaurant was in Chinatown, Chicago.

It was more of a soup where you picked and chose items off of a list and then cooked the 

items in the broth yourself. 

Another take on a hot pot dish is to make a healthy stir-fry. 

You simply take any veggies you and your friends or family would enjoy smelling and 

hearing the sizzle of.  This specific hot pot stir-fry was all veggies and bulgogi in the center.

In this particular hot pot made at home- we added:
~button mushrooms (sliced about 1/2 a pack)
~wooden ear mushrooms
~scallions (sliced long and diagonal)
~enoki mushrooms (1-2 packs)
~napa cabbage (1/4 head of medium size or 1 small)
~2 carrots cut in jumbo match-stick
~1 red bell pepper
~ vermicelli noodles

You simply add the veggies all around an electric skillet type of equipment and place the
bulgogi (click to see marinade for bulgogi) in the center (already marinaded)
You can pour about a cup of beef or veggie broth or simply water to get it started!

Simply turn your skillet on 350 degrees/medium high/ #4... depending on your device
the temperature setting will be different and that's it!
If you are just using water rather than a broth... I would add a sprinkle of salt over the veggies
or you can add 1-2 TBSP of soy sauce mixed in with the water.

Serving with rice is optional but definitely recommended!  YUM!

Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food

Black Bean Sauce with Noodles "Jajangmyun"

Ja-jang-myun is a Korean noodle dish.
Traditionally, it consists of wheat noodles that are topped with a delicious,
thick, condensed, salty and gratifying sauce.

"Myun" is noodle in Korean and the "jajang" translates to "fried sauce"
This noodle dish originated from the Shandong region in China years beyond years ago.
The dish immigrated to Korea and is an extremely popular dish in Korea-
so popular that it also immigrated to the United States.
You can order Jajangmyun in many Korea-town areas throughout many different cities.

The Chinese and Korean Jajangmyun are very similar but the Korean version uses
a lot more onions and has caramel in the sauce.
These days, the black bean sauce is already made and in jars where you can simply
scoop out the black bean paste rather than pressing and fermenting the beans yourself.

Jajangmyun is always accompanied with pickled radish (yellow-it is dyed) and often with
a little bowl of largely diced raw onions and a scoop of raw black bean paste.

I made a really quick version of Jajangmyun the other night.
The sauce is always made from pork which gives the sauce that heavy but flavorful taste.
The other veggies in the sauce are :

ingredients:
~1 potato (I substituted 2 small sweet potatoes)
~1 large diced onion
~pork chunk  (I substituted beef)
~2 carrots diced
~1 zucchini diced
~2-3 fresh cloves of garlic minced or 1 teas of garlic powder
~potato or corn starch (1 teas) - to thicken the sauce (mix equal parts of luke warm water)
~3 heaping TBSP of black bean paste
~pack of dried or fresh wheat or flour noodles (can use whole grain to make super healthy)
~ cucumber- julienne or matchstick cuts for garnish

I decided to cut some carrots like a flower for a garnish.

I started with sauteing the onions first --
(cooking them for a while starts to caramelize them making them sweeter)
I then added the beef cubes and once the beef was cooked-
I added the potatoes, carrots and lastly the zucchini.
(You don't need to add any oil because the fat from the meat is more than enough oil)

When everyone in the hot tub(saute or frying pan) has cooked down...
you can spoon in your black bean paste.
Lastly, you can add in your 1:1 ratio of warm water and corn starch.
You want to make the thickener in a separate little bowl rather than just tossing it in the pan
simply because otherwise- it will clump in your sauce and not do its job.

It's a shame the plated image came out blurry. By using beef instead of pork made the sauce
a lot lighter in taste which was nice because often after eating Jajangmyun- you feel very heavy
from the pork fat.  It was a good, tasty and yummy bowl of Jajangmyun!


Zestfully, Let's Cultivate Food