Spicy Tomato Shrimp Stir Fry

This is another dish that I miss from home. My grandma used to make this dish with jumbo shrimps, but I’m using vegetarian shrimps instead. You can also use cubed firm tofu instead. This dish can be eaten with rice, pasta or couscous. 

Ingredients

8 to 10 pieces of medium to big size vegetarian shrimps, OR

2 cups firm tofu, cubed

4 big cloves of garlic (more if desired), chopped 

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded, cut to 1″ X 1″ pieces

1 jalapeno peppers (more if desired), sliced, OR

1 long red pepper (more if desired), sliced

2 roma tomatoes, quartered

1 handful of white mushrooms, quartered

1/3 cup ketchup

2 T chili sauce (Maggi or Sriracha)

2 T sugar

Salt / Soy Sauce to taste

Method

1. Place cubed tofu or shrimps on paper towels to soak up excess water.
2. Cook half the amount of chopped garlic and tofu or shrimps in 2 T oil until semi-browned. Remove from wok and place on paper towel to drain excess oil.
3. Using the remaining oil in the wok, saute the remaining chopped garlic, green pepper, jalapeno or red pepper and tomatoes for about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and the cooked shrimps or tofu to the wok.
4. Pour ketchup, chili sauce and sugar to the vegetables in the wok. Turn the heat down. Season with salt and/or soy sauce or perhaps maybe more sugar if the ketchup or tomatoes are sour.
5. Remove from heat and devour immediately.

 

 

Ginger Matcha

I was inspired to make my own ginger matcha after trying it once at Taloola’s Cafe in Walkerville. I have plenty of Ten Ren’s green tea powder from a few years ago that I never got around to using. I grated some fresh ginger, poured hot water into a jar and a teaspoon of ginger powder. I sweetened the tea with some palm sugar (gula melaka) and it reminded me of the ginger tea from Bali. This tea warmed my belly up as I watched little early spring flurries float in the sky.

Velvety Brocolli and Feta Pasta

Cooking is one thing that Andy and I  love to do together. Although he’s is constantly asking me for directions, we work amazingly well together in our small kitchen. He has gotten used to following my instructions and online recipes to prepare the necessary ingredients for our meals while waiting for me to get home. Today, I can’t help but to realize how blessed I am to have him in my life. Our wedding anniversary is in about 6 weeks and it has been a great year living together thus far. Here’s what we cooked up together this lovely Sunday evening.

I chanced upon this simple and healthy recipe while browsing on one of my favourite daily reads, ApartmentTherapy.com. Their sister site is called The Kitchn, and I love reading it for simple and inspiring ideas in and out of the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 pound broccoli
• 2 tablespoons water
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• 1/2 small onion or two shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup chopped flat parsley
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup feta cheese (low-fat if you want to be good) - divided
• 1/4 cup water

Method

1. Cut the broccoli into small florets and steam on the stove or in the microwave with the 2 tablespoons of water. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large sauté pan. Cook the onion and garlic until it just begins to soften then add the broccoli. Cook for several minutes or until the onion turns translucent. Add the parsley and cook until it’s well wilted. Pour in the lemon juice and simmer for about two minutes.
3. Transfer to a blender and add 1/4 cup of the feta cheese and the 1/4 cup water. Puree until smooth, adding a drizzle of olive oil and a little more water if it sticks and turns to a lump. Puree until as smooth or chunky as you prefer.w
4. Taste and add any necessary additional salt and pepper. Serve with a good ridged pasta. (I used wholewheat penne instead).
5. Garnish with extra crumbled feta and lemon zest.

Source

At last! Fresh and cheap produce from the market …

Andy and I used to have a set circuit established to get our week’s worth of food on every Saturday morning when we lived on the State side. Since moving to Windsor, we have yet to find the replacement for that Saturday morning ritual… that is until yesterday. We do not really fancy the big grocery chain stores, so we had decided to check out a farmer’s market near us. After all, we always see a full parking lot whenever we drive by.

As soon as we entered the Joseph’s Farm Market located on Tecumseh Rd. West and California Ave., I was esctatic. Mountains of fresh produce and fresh bread from local bakeries greeted us. I checked the price signs and I was nodding my head incessantly. Believe it or not, it had been a challenge to find good looking fresh okra in this town without paying over $2 a pound. Okras here were fresh, firm and cheap at 99 cents a pound. White mushrooms were abundant and they were the same HUGE ones that we used to get from Joe Randazzo’s Farm Market in Warren/Dearborn. There were also plenty of fresh ginger root to pick from.

Parking at Joseph’s was a bit challenging. There weren’t many spots available for the amount of cars that were trying to get in. Now we know why people flock here. As we delight on the fact that we have found a close replacement for Joe Randazzo’s, we gingerly squeezed our way through determined patrons who obviously knew what they wanted to get from this place. We looked like indecisive, lost Chinese kids who are separated from their parents.

After about 30 minutes of shopping in merry-go-round fashion, we left this place with 2 stuffed bags of groceries for only $24 plus. They do not have paper bags, so we were glad that we had brought our own shopping bags. Meanwhile, the line of cars to get into this place was overflowing to the main street.

As spring is around the corner, I had wanted to start planting some flowers and herbs. Josephs’s did not sell any so I had Andy bring me to a place that was supposed to be near Windsor Crossings Outlet Mall. That place does not seem to exist and an attempt to find out from a nearby convenience store was unfruitful.

We stopped at Fred’s Farm Fresh Fruits and Vegetables on Huron Church Line on the way home. I was delighted to see that they sell fresh flowers and potted plants. The fruits, vegetables and flowers were neatly arranged in the store. This place reminded me of Westborn Market in Michigan. While the items were fresh and clean, they were a tad pricier than Joseph’s. They do have more variety than in comparison, but I will keep this place in mind if I needed something that Joseph’s didn’t have.

We strolled into their greenhouse annex and didn’t find many plants for sale. But they did have potted herbs for sale, along with mini pots of basil. This is too easy, I thought. I was going to plant several types of herbs from scratch but since the work has been done for me, I thought “why not”. For $9.99 the herb plants are grown in a ready for use. I think the basil plant was $1.99, not sure though. I also bought some cut alstromeria flowers for my praying altar. They are so showy, I love it!

Although we have been to Windsor’s Market Square, we found it to be quite far from where we live. We still miss going to Detroit’s Eastern Market. We have yet to find anywhere in Windsor that come close to what Eastern Market has to offer. Perhaps when summer rolls around, we will check out downtown Windsor’s farmer’s market. Apparently it is right downtown and it is in the parking garage. It could be as much fun as going to Eastern Market with it’s open-air concept and local delis within it’s vicinity. We shall see

Portobello, Broccoli and Pepper Melt

Dinner was really successful today. My co-worker Janet sent me this recipe on Thursday and I thought that it would be a great opportunity to use up my supply of Gouda cheese that we got from Wisconsin. This is a very simple knife-and-fork open face sandwich. I’m not sure where she got this recipe from, but I saw several copies of it online, include Martha Stewart’s.

Broiling helps to caramelize the vegetables, melt the gouda, and toast the bread.

We also paired this sandwich with Ontario Inniskillin’s 2006 Late Harvest Reisling wine, which is on the sweet side. It was excellent! It helped to bring out the sweetness of the broiled brocolli and peppers.

Ingredients

• 1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets (minus the stalks - see note)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 4 portobello mushrooms (stems removed), sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 2 red bell peppers (ribs and seeds removed), sliced 1/2 inch thick - see note)
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed through a press
• 4 thick slices country bread (see note)
• 4 ounces Gouda cheese, thinly sliced

Method

1. Heat broiler, with rack set 4 inches from heat. On a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, toss broccoli with oil; season with salt and pepper. Broil, tossing once or twice, until broccoli begins to char, 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and bell peppers to sheet; season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Broil, tossing once or twice, until vegetables are tender, 8 to 10 minutes more; set aside.
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Place bread on a work surface. Dividing evenly, spread with mayonnaise mixture, and top with vegetables, then cheese. Place on baking sheet, and broil until cheese is melted and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.

Note: I removed the skins of the stalks, sliced them and keep them for stir fries later. I also used orange bell peppers instead since they were cheap at the market. Flavour wise, it’s about the same as red pepper anyway. I used Calabrese bread instead of country bread. It’s thin and chewy and yummy

Zesty Cuban Mojito Jambalaya

This is a quick and easy one using Trader Joe’s Cuban Mojito pre-made simmer sauce. I added leftover white+brown jasmine rice, a can of black beans, diced tomatoes and some spinach to the sauce, cooked over the stove top just enough to simmer. This allow the sauce to be absorbed into the leftover rice.

I then sprinkled some lemon rind zest, grated romano cheese and juice from a lemon wedge prior to chowing down. Very lemony!! Tastes like summer in my mouth already!!