Spicy Asian Green Beans

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound green beans ends cut and cut into 3-6″ pieces
  • 3 tablespoons of oil
  • 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
  • 2 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of Siaoxing Cooking Wine
  • 4 cloves of garlic finely minced
  • 2 tablespoons ginger finely minced
  • 1 tablespoon of Black Bean sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions

Bring enough water to cook beans to a boil. Add beans in for about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside to drain. Heat oil in a frying pan and add garlic and fry for about 1 minute till fragrant. Add in pepper, ginger, and green beans fry for about 2 minutes. Add in black Soy Sauce (Can be regular Soy Sauce also), Black Bean sauce and about 2 tablespoons of water. Stir and cook for an addition 2 minutes. Remove from pan and serve.

Lemongrass Pork

Ingredients

For the Sauce:

  • 2 TBLS Fish Sauce 
  • 2 TBLS Soy Sauce
  • 2 TBLS Distilled Rice Vinegar

For the Lemongrass Pork Stir-fry:

  • 1 pound Ground Pork
  • ½ TSP Kosher Salt
  • 2 TBLS Canola Oil
  • 1 Onion – thinly sliced
  • 2 Lemongrass stalks finely minced
  • Ginger 2 TBLS minced
  • 6 Thai Chilies choped roughly
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper sliced
  • 9 Garlic cloves – minced
  • 4 TSP Brown Sugar, or more to taste
  • 4 TSP Corn Starch + ½ cup Water
  • 1 TBLS freshly squeezed Lime Juice
  • 1 TSP freshly cracked Black Pepper, to taste
  • 1 TSP Crushed Red Pepper Chili Flakes, to taste
  • 2–3 TBLS chopped fresh Cilantro

Directions

Add pork to pan frying and crumbling till browned. Set aside and remove extra fat from pan. Add oil to pan along with onion, garlic, peppers, lemongrass and fry on high heat for about 2 minutes. Add pork back in and stir till mixed. add in rest of ingredients stir and lastly add in corn starch & water. Cook an addition 2 minutes stiring around till sauce coats everything. Serve over rice, topping with cilantro and a wedge of lime on the side.

Tabasco Smoker Hot Sauce

Ingredients

  • 7 Tabasco peppers seeds removed
  • 3 1/2″ onion slices
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 oz vinegar
  • 3 oz water
  • 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp cumin
  • 1/16 tsp Xanthum Gum (Optional, used to thicken)

Directions

Add ingredients into pan and boil for 5 minutes. Put into blender and blend till smooth. Xanthum Gum is optional it is just for additional thickness

Vinegar BBQ sauce

Ingredients

  • 1/8 cup white vinegar
  • 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/8 cup water
  • 2 tbsp ketchup
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground mustard
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

Add ingredients into pan heat and stir to boiling. Boil for a few minutes, then serve. Makes a very tangy BBQ sauce

Taco Bell “Hot” Hot Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

  • 6 oz Tomato Paste
  • 3 Cups filtered Water
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
  • 1 ½ tablespoon Chili Powder (I used New Mexico Red powder)
  • 2 ½ teaspoon Salt
  • ½ teaspoon Xanthan Gum (Can substitute Corn Starch)
  • 2 teaspoon White Vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
  • ½ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

Directions

Add tomato paste to pan, add 1/2 cup of the water and mix till incorporated, then add another 1/2 cup and do the same till all but a little of the water is left (save about 3 tablespoons). Now add all the rest of the ingredients with the Xanthan Gum or Cornstarch and use the water left to mix in with it to avoid clumping then add it in. Mix everything till evenly incorporated. Heat to hot and steaming to pasteurize and this will also meld the spice flavors together. Add into Jars and keep in the refrigerator.

Note

Most of this recipe was take from Hot Rod’s Recipes and slightly adjusted. Thanks to him for a great recipe to start with. https://www.hotrodsrecipes.com/copycat-taco-bell-hot-sauce

Instant Pot Refried Black Beans

This recipe can be scaled up as needed. This recipe makes about 4 side dish servings. For more punch to the flavor, taste and add some additional garlic powder to you liking.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of black beans soaked in water overnight
  • 4 large cloves of garlic minced
  • 1 tsp ginger minced
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 3/4 cup of water

Directions

Set Instant Pot to sauté settings, add olive oil, garlic, and ginger. Saute for 1-2 minutes, then add rest of ingredients except salt along with water. Pressure cook on high for 55 mins and let pressure reduce naturally without venting. When depressurized, add in 1 tsp of salt and use stick blender to blend till at the desired consistency. Taste and add more salt to taste. These can be eaten with tortillas, made into tostadas or used as a side dish.

Instant Pot Chipotle Chicken

Wanted something quick to make with chicken thighs looked around several recipes and came up with this.

Ingredients

  • 1 small onion rough chipped
  • 3 cloves garlic smashed
  • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce + 1 tsp of the adobo sauce from the can
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons oregano
  • 1 bay leaf 
  • 1 tsp chicken bullion
  • 1 cup water
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 lbs chicken thighs (fat trimmed)

Directions

Add all ingredients into Instant Pot. Add chicken and mix around and submerge chicken in liquid as much as possible. Cook on high pressure for 10 mins. Let pressure naturally release. Chop and add on top of rice with salsa. Enjoy

Chinese Green Onion Pancakes

This is an incredibly simple recipe and easy to make but is enjoyable and satisfying to eat. I first tasted this in a visit to China and wanted to try to reproduce it. Here is the recipe that I have come up with for 3 pancakes, enjoy.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of All Purpose Flour or Bread Flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup of boiling water
  • 4 green onions sliced into rings
  • 3 tablespoons of oil or butter for frying

Directions

Put Flour and Salt into a bowl and mix dry ingredients. Add boiling water and stir and mix together with fork till dough comes together. Separate into 3 balls and let rest for 30 mins. Roll out balls into disks and sprinkle 1/3 of the green onions on each. Roll up into a cigar shape with onions inside, then coil up cigar into a disk. Then roll out into a pancake and fry each pancake in 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat till browned and cooked.

Spicy Garlic Bok Choy

  1. 1 pound bok choy
  2. 1 tablespoon oil 
  3. 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  4. ¼ cup water
  5. 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
  6. 2 cloves garlic, minced
  7. 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (For Vegetarian/Vegan substiture Hoisin Sauce)
  8. 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  9. 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
  10. 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  11. 1/2 tsp of corn starch

Directions (Ready in less than 10 mins)

Mix ingredients 3-11 in a bowl. Cut stems off, slice up, and put asside. Cut up leaves. Heat pan and add oil, I used avocado oil since it is healthy and good for high temp. Add stems and fry for a couple of minutes. Add in leaves and fry till wilted. Put aside and pour sauce mixed together in bowl earlier into hot pan. Cook for about 2 minutes and pour over bok choy, then serve.

Roasted Green Chili Serrano Hot Sauce

I wanted to make a somewhat spicy sauce with a somewhat thicker consistency an a nice roasted flavor. I like Salsa Verde and wanted to make something similar but a spicy version. So I used Serrano peppers to bring some heat and Anaheim to tame it a little and provide the specific flavor that chilis have and thicken it a little. It doesn’t have that much salt so it is healthier than most store bought sauces. The rest of the ingredients give the Salsa Verde flavor. It makes about a pint of sauce and it came out pretty good. This is a little bit spicy, if you want to have it more spicy, you can add more Serrano peppers till you get it the way you want it. I am doing a fermented version of this with a little ginger added and want to see the flavor difference with the fermentation. If it comes out good I will post it later. Here is the unfermented sauce recipe.

Ingredients

  • 4 Serrano Peppers w/stems removed
  • 2 Anaheim Peppers very slightly spicy (Like a spicy bell pepper)
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 2 small to medium sized tomatillos
  • 1/2 of a medium size yellow onion
  • 1/8 to 1/4 cup water depending on desired consistency
  • 2 tablespoons of white vinegar.
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 7 sprigs of cilantro

Directions

Put peppers, garlic, tomatillos, and onion onto a baking sheet lined with foil and put under broiler on high till garlic and onion is slightly charred and peppers are well charred on all sides. Remove and let cool. Then put into a blender with salt, water, and vinegar. Add to blender and blend till it forms a paste and add water to adjust to correct consistency. Now add cilantro and blend a little more to chop us the cilantro into little bits. Adjust with any additional salt, water, or vinegar to taste. Serve and enjoy.