Cooking in small space II - Farmers Market Fried Rice

It has been awhile since I posted. Work has been very busy. I am still living in an extended stay hotel. The good news is, I will be moving into a place in 2 weeks! I will have a petite full kitchen and all my tools back!

I am enjoying the farmers market here in CA greatly. It's so exciting to have the large variety of fresh vegetable and fruit! I think I can get used to living in Southern California! I was at the market and picked up a few things. I also happened to have some leftover rice. Here is a variation to the classic fried rice.

Farmers Market Fried Rice

1/2 cup radish - I am using a French breakfast radish, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1/2 " piece
2 small carrot - I am in love with the red carrot, I love the color, so I decided not to peel it, just cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1/2" pieces
1/4 cup chives - chopped
1 cup roughly chopped dandelion green

1 cup cooking rice - overnight leftover is best for fried rice.
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp shoyu
1 tbsp sesame oil
Furikaka rice topping - optional. Skip the topping if you would like to keep the rice vegan/vegetarian.
Directions
In a frying pan - heat the oil over med high heat, add garlic and saute until fragrant.

Toss in carrot and chives - cooking for 3-4 mins over medium heat.

Add radish, cooking for additiona 2-3 mins.

Add rice, separate the rice and mix well.

Add shoyu. Cook till the rice is hot and vegetable is still slightly crunchy

Toss in the green, mix well. Once the green wilt, drizzle with sesame oil

Plate the rice. If prefer, sprinkle furikake of your choice.

Serve: 2

Enjoy

Aloha.

Cooking in small space I- Simple Asian style panfried red snapper in ginger, green onion shoyu sauce

It has been awhile since I posted that. My life is currently in transition. I was offered an opportunity in CA that I cannot refused. I am very excited with this career move, however this position also means a big change and transition in my life. Unaware to myself, I lived in Minneapolis on and off for the last 25 years - 24 winters to the exact. I am now moving to Southern Cali. I had three and a half weeks to pack up my house, take my car across the country to California. Mr. Wonderful drove with me. I should say - he drove. We checked in a "Corporate Housing" last week. I have 72 days transition housing. During this time, the moving company will move my household into storage while I look for an apartment here.

We spent our first week checking out different areas and neighborhoods. We ate out or had take out all week. Mr Wonderful flew back to Minneapolis yesterday, so that he can get the house ready to sell. Meanwhile. I started working and I am enjoying the company, lots to learn.

If you have been reading my blog, you would know food and cooking are very big parts of my life. I need to do some cooking. I found a huge Whole Foods within 2 miles from here. We also ate at Kings Hawaiian bakery/diner twice. I joined Marukai last weekend, very excited with all the fresh fish I can now have. I love red snapper. I picked up a small package and it was only $4!!! It would be a lot more in Minneapolis! The best part - it's all cleaned, except there is a little bit of bone still attached. I also bought a bottle of Ono seasoning salt. It comes in handy in a very limited kitchen.

The biggest challenge here with cooking in this little studio I call home for the time being is lack of tools! There is not much to speak off. I have 1 little knife that you will see in the picture. 1 warped frying pan, a small cutting board. As a true believer that you can make a great meal out of any tools available with a little additional creativity and adjustment. Here is a very simple Asian style pan fried snapper.

By the way, I am going to start posting a series of Cooking in small space in the next few weeks! This will be fun!

Asian style pan fried red snapper in ginger, green onion and shoyu sauce

 2 small red snapper fillet - cleaned, scaled and boned, but leave the skin on
1 tsp Ono Hawaiian seasoning salt
1 green onion-cleaned.  Julienne the top 1/3 of the green part, chopped the rest.
1 1/2" piece of fresh ginger - cleaned, peeled and chopped. If you have a ginger grater, I would grate it instead.

1/2 tsp grated garlic from a jar
About 1/4 cup of shoyu
about 1/3 cup of water
1 tsp sugar (I used a packet from the coffee service)
Sesame oil
3-4 tbsp vegetable oil
Directions:
Dry the fish with paper towel. Sprinkle and rub with Ono salt on both side of the fish.

With skin side down, spread 1/2 of the chopped ginger, 1/2 of the chopped green onion and garlic on the fish. Let it stand for about 10 mins,

In a small bowl, mix shoyu, water with sugar. drizzle with a little sesame oil.

Heat a frying pan till hot.

Add oil once the pan is hot

Once the oil in hot. Pan fry the fish, skin side down first. for about 4 mins.

Swirl the frying pan to make sure the fish is in contact with the hot oil (since the pan is a bit warped)

Turn the fish. If it start of splatter, lightly cover the fish

Remove the fish once it's cooked for both side.

In the same pan, add the remaining ginger and green onion, cook for a few min on med heat

Pour in the sauce mixture, bring it to a boil.

Scrap the dripping from the pan for flavor (since I don't have any stock)

Sprinkle the rest of the green onion over the fish.

If I have a small strainer, I would strain the sauce.

Since I don't, using a smaller spoon, drizzle the hot sauce over the green onion and slightly "cook" it for more flavor.  Discard the remaining.

Top with some sesame oil.

 Serve with rice. Serve 2.

Enjoy

Aloha

Hawaiian Portuguese Bean soup - Mainland edition

Here is the almost real Portuguese bean soup. Why almost? It's missing the Portuguese sausage. Actually I deliberately do this, even I can pick up the sausage from United Noodles. This was the way I made it when the ingredient was not readily available in the Upper Midwest. Chorizo has been a great substitution. By adding 1 tsp of 5 spice, you get that Island flavor we so miss. I am using a cured chorizo here, it's a little smokier. You can find fresh  chorizo in the store and they are very similar to Portuguese sausage in texture. If you can get Portuguese sausage, just skip the 5 spice powder!

Another base ingredient here is ham hock, great flavor. However I am not a fan when it gets too smokey. I found a great meaty ham shank at Whole foods, it's not too smokey and without sodium nitrite. There is something magical with beans and ham hock. With such a great "marriage", I can't use canned beans in here. I know it takes a little time to cook with dried beans, this is well worth it. The beans are not going to be mushy and the meat on the ham shank is cooked thoroughly and tender. Worth every minute and energy!

Hawaiian Portuguese Bean Soup, Mainland style
1 package Chorizo - cured or fresh, or 1 Portuguese sausage if available. Sliced into 1" pieces.

1 tsp 5-spice powder - (not necessary is you are using Portuguese sausage)
1 ham shank or hock
3 cup mix dried dark red kidney beans and garbanzo beans (about 50/50)
1 large onion - chopped ( about 1/2" pieces)
2 carrots - cleaned, peeled and chopped (about 1/2" pieces)
2 stalk celery, cleaned and chopped (about 1/2" pieces)
2-3 tbsp chili powder (to taste)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can 20 oz diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
1 bunch of cilantro - excess stem removed and chopped.
3 bay leaves
1 cup macaroni
1/2 head cabbage, cleaned, core removed and cut into 1" pieces
Directions:
Fill a medium size pot  with water to about 1/2 full. Bring to boil. Add washed beans. Stir and let it sit for about an hour.

Place chorizo pieces in a dry fry pan, render the sausage over medium heat till the sausage starts to brown. Remove the meat from the pan. Leave 1 tbsp of the grease in the pan and remove the rest

Saute the carrot, celery and onion with the sausage fat.

Add 1 tsp 5 spice powder and toast the spice lightly with the vegetable till the vegetable soften.

Transfer the vegetable to a large dutch oven, add the bean and the liquid, fried sausage pieces and the ham shank.

Add chicken stock

Add tomatoes

Add tomato paste

Then chili powder

Add bay leaves, Bring the soup to a full boil, then lower heat to simmer. Cover and let it cook for about 2-3 hours till the beans are tender

Once the beans are tender, Remove the ham shank from the soup. Separate the meat and the shank bone. Cut up the piece into bite size piece.

Add cabbage and 1/2 the chopped cilantro to the soup

Return the ham meat to the soup

Add more stock or water as needed. Need to make sure there is enough liquid for the noodle to cook.

Add 1 cup of macaroni. Bring to a boil. Cover lower heat to simmer and let it cook for additional 30 mins. Please remember to stir the soup every now and then to make sure the noodle is not sticking to the bottom

When the noodle is tender, add remaining cilantro before serving. Safe a pinch-ful for garnish.

Serve 10-12 minimum. The soup freezes very well. Separate into smaller container. When reheating, you may need to add water, check seasoning.


Enjoy
Aloha

Vegan Hawaiian Portuguese Bean Soup

I know this may sound a little odd, how can Portuguese bean soup be vegan. Well, with a little creativity and a little trail and error, we can get have the comfort, the taste and and texture of the classic stew without meat.

Portuguese bean - (I love this article about the soup)  is a classic all in one bowl comfort food in Hawai'i.  Just like chili, everyone has their own secret spice and recipe. If you are not familiar with this thick soup, I would describe it as a hybrid of  Minestrone and chili. Just like everything else in Hawai'i, there is a little of different cultures in the soup.  It is usually a meat base soup, made with ham hock and Portuguese sausage. It is difficult to get Portuguese sausage on the mainland. I used to call it "contra-ban" and brought back the "goods" frozen from the Islands every year. We are very lucky that United Noodles carries it now. These is no vegetarian version of Portuguese sausage yet, I have to come up with a substitution. Once in awhile I would make a batch of Portuguese spice. I am using the spice mix I made in the soup here, however Chinese 5-spice is a great substitute. Actually some of the spices in Portuguese sausage is very similar to Chinese 5-spice.

As with the meat, I found a great soy chorizo at Trader Joe's, with the added spice, it tasted pretty close to the classic soup! I usually do not put cabbage in mine. As I mentioned every family/person has their version, experiment and make it your own!

Vegetarian Hawaiian Portuguese Bean Soup
1 package soy chorizo (casing removed as per direction)

1 med onion- chopped
2 carrots - cleaned, peeled and chopped
2 stalk celery - cleaned and chopped
1 15 oz can red kidney beans - drained
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans - drained
1 15 oz can diced tomato
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp 5 spice powder
1-2 tbsp chili powder (to taste)
1 tbsp tomato paste
2-3 bay leaves.
1 cup elbow macaroni
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup (about 1/3 of a bunch) cilantro - chopped
Direction
In a med size fry pan, heat a couple tbsp olive oil. Brown the soy chorizo

Add 5 spice powder, mix well

Add onion, carrot and celery, saute for 3-4 mins till the vegetable begin to soften. Transfer the vegetable mix to a 6 qt dutch oven or pot.

Add Kidney beans

Garbanzo beans

diced tomato

Then stock

Chili powder to your taste ( I like it spicier, as it is vegetarian)

1 Tbsp tomato paste.

Add macaroni

Finally bay leaves, bring the soup to a full boil, lower the heat to simmer, and let it cook for about 30-45 mins. Check and stir to make sure the noodle is not sticking to the bottom.

When the soup is ready, add chopped cilantro. It's ready to serve!

Serve 6-8.
Enjoy
Aloha