Month: February 2016

Lotus Land a Must See Restaurant in Shanghai

Published on by richbLeave a comment

LotusLandIndianRestPhoto copy

I love Indian food in the U.S. but this is so far better than I have tasted here. The not really Indian Manchurian vegetable balls are awesome. The grilled mutton, the Chicken Vindaloo, the Chicken and Lamb Tika are my favorites. I have been to this place over 10 times and it has always been great. The price is a little high, I would end up spending about 20-30 USD when the exchange rate was about 6 yuan to the dollar, but in my opinion it is well worth it. It is in an artsy area in some corridors off the street. If I go to Shanghai, I will definitely try to go here several times.  The address is: Luwan District Taikang Road 274, Tianzifang 12 Building 2 Floor, Shanghai China. I took the Shanghai subway to the Dapuqiao Subway station and left the subway at exit #1 and it was across the road, you have to go down the alley where the small art and craft stores are. Here is the google maps link: Lotus land map link

 

Firey Siracha Citrus Chicken

Published on by richbLeave a comment

20160207_130422

I have liked and used Siracha sauce for many years, but recently it’s popularity has exploded. I experimented around and came up with this chicken recipe. It is a firey citrus flavor that tastes great. Let me know what you think.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 3 tblsp siracha (More for extra spicy)
  • 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
  • 4 Chicken Breasts

Directions

Add first 6 ingredients together in a bowl and mix.  Inject it into the chicken breast with a food syringe to get the flavor in the center and brush the skin with some marinade. Set the rest aside for a sauce to serve with the chicken to spoon on. You can grill the chicken breast on the Grill or bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minues.

Recipe From: http://gastronomy.ddns.net

 

Raita

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I love to eat this with kebobs or spicy Indian dishes, it goes great as a side sauce.

Ingredients

Directions

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix with a spoon until well mixed. Put in refrigerator an let set for about 30 minutes or more to let flavors meld. Serve on the side with Mediterranean or Indian food.

Recipe from http://gastronomy.ddns.net

 

Flavorful Chicken Kebobs

Published on by richbLeave a comment
ChickenKebob1
Chicken Kebob from Gastronomy

These chicken kabobs are great. They have good flavor and the yogurt helps tenderize the chicken. Cook them on a very hot grill so they get a nice char but don’t get too dried out. You have to try these. They taste great and are really easy to make.

Ingredients:

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Let marinade for at least 3 hours. Put chicken onto skewers and grill till chicken done through. Good sides are rice and/or humus w/toasted pita bread and raita on the side.

Recipe from: http://gastronomy.ddns.net

Make your own Butter in 5 minutes

Published on by richbLeave a comment

It is really easy to make you own fresh butter. It has a fresher taste than store bought butter and it really doesn’t cost too much more. What I did was buy 1 quart of heavy cream at Sam’s Club, which cost about $3.99. I poured about 1/3 of the heavy cream into a small food processor with the chopping blade in. I turned on the food processor for about 3-4 minutes and the butter formed a clump. I poured off the liquid (which is butter milk). You can use it as you would regular milk. I drank some and it tastes like whole milk to me. Then I used a rubber spatula to press the butter to squeeze the butter milk from any pockets in the butter.  You can add salt to the butter to draw out more of the butter flavor if you’d like. You just sprinkle a pinch of salt on the butter and knead it in with the spatula. It made about 2/3 stick of butter for me with the amount of heavy cream I used. You can use it on toast or on a muffin or anywhere butter is one of the main flavors and you will notice the freshness.

Parmesan Garlic Fries

Published on by richbLeave a comment

20160225_152630

Found this recipe on the internet, however the original recipe was way too salty. I halved the amount of salt and they still were a little salty. Here is the final adjusted recipe.

Ingredients

  • 5 regular sized Russet potatoes cut into wedges
  • 3 tbsp Olive oil
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning blend
  • 1/2 tsp salt (Can sprinkle more on when taken out of oven if not salty enough)
  • 2 tsp Garlic powder
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix garlic powder, salt, and italian seasoning together in a small bowl. Add oilve oil and potatoes into a large bowl, then toss till coated. Now add in other ingredients and toss again till coated. Put on a foil lined cookie sheet and sprinkle some of the parmesan cheese over each of the fries. Put in oven for 30 minutes. Remove and serve. Original recipe says ranch dressing can be used for a dipping sauce. I tried it and it does go well.

Deviled Eggs the Perfect Hors D’oeuvres

Published on by richbLeave a comment
CI-0103 Classic Deviled Eggs
Classic Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are simple to make, taste great, come in the perfect size for Hors D’oeuvres and can have many variations. At your next party or gathering these can be one of your go to dishes. You can start out by cooking the perfect eggs (See my article on “The Art of Making a Hard Boiled Egg” from 2/24/16) or you can choose to go with a short cut, like buying the hard boiled eggs pre-cooked and removed from their shells (Costco sells them: Costco Hard Boiled Eggs).  After you cook the eggs you can follow one of the recipes below:

Classic Deviled Eggs:

Cook and remove eggs from the shell. Next cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks and put in a bowl. Add 1/2 tsp mayo to 1/8 tsp of mustard for each egg yoke. Mix with a fork or blender for larger batches. Spoon the mixture back into each half of the egg or use a piping bag for a fancier look, then sprinkle with paprika or smoked paprika and serve. If you like it a little more tangy, you can add 1/8 tsp white vinegar per egg.

Or you can go with the many variations:

  1. Bacon/Cheddar: Use the above recipe, but add shredded cheddar to the yoke when mixing and top with bacon. Or cut bacon into bits and mix in with the yoke.
  2. Spicy: Add minced jalapeno and cheddar to the yoke when mixing.
  3. Topped: Top the classic recipe with pepperoni, ham, chives, bacon, etc.
  4. Buffalo: Add Frank’s Hot Sauce (Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce, 5 oz) in place of mustard and drizzle with ranch dressing.
  5. Or come up with your own topping or variation.

However you make them it is hard to go wrong with this delicious snack.

 

The Art of Making a Hard Boiled Egg

Published on by richbLeave a comment

hard-boiled-egg

Although Making a hard is a simple process, getting it cooked just right makes a difference on how it tastes. A hard boiled egg tastes best when the yoke is just cooked through, but not over cooked and the yoke has a creamy consistency that you will notice when you eat it. Secondly there is the matter of being able to peel the egg without the shell sticking. These are two things that I will discuss here. Cooking the eggs is a simple matter of putting the eggs in a pan and adding room temperature water until the eggs are covered by 1/2″ to 1″ of water, bringing the water in the pan with the eggs in it to a boil over medium high to high heat. Then turning off the heat and letting the eggs set in the water till it has cooled. When the eggs are over cooked they start getting a black color on the outside of the yoke and the texture of the yoke is much less creamy (See picture above for a egg cooked correctly). Altitude can be a factor which you will need to adjust for. I am at 1200ft Above Seal Level and when I cook the eggs I just bring the water to a boil. Not a full rolling boil, but just so the bubbles are rippling the surface, and not just little bubbles coming up. Then I leave the pan on the burner and shut it off and remove the eggs when they are fully cooled and eat them or put them in the fridge for later. That describes the cooking process, now to get the shells to not stick to the egg white. I find that after eggs have set in the refrigerator for 1.5 to 2 weeks before cooking them, they stick less, very fresh eggs have a lot of problems with the shells sticking. You know when the egg is fresh, the insides fully fill the shell, aged eggs have a small air pocket in the shell. The second thing I do to reduce the sticking is put about 1 tsp of salt in the water being used to boil the eggs. Then when I peel the eggs, I tap them with my finger and crack the shell all around into small pieces and then lightly squeeze the egg on all sides to loosen the shell from the white. Then I remove the peel from the egg. Now when it comes to eating them, lots of people like them with some salt or pepper or both. I like to cut them in half and take a little bit (maybe a 1/4 tsp) of spicy brown mustard and put on them. Hope you try making the eggs this way, I am sure you will enjoy the finished product.

 

Chino Bandido, A Chinese, Mexican, Jamacan, Cuban Fusion resturant

Published on by richbLeave a comment

ChinoBandidologo31

Chino Bandido is a great restaurant. It is not fancy at all (The tables are fold up tables and the chairs are not fancy either) but the restaurant focuses on great tasting and original food. They have somewhat of a complicated ordering sheet which they have you fill out but only after they give you free samples of the menu items and train you how to fill it out. Their menu consists of menu items which can be served “Strait Up”,  or in a Burrito or Quesadilla. They have a combo that is two menu items served as you choose with your selection or rice and beans (There are more than one type of each). They also offer a single item bowl which is just one menu item and rice. Some of the menu items are Emerald Chicken, Jerk Chicken, Pollo Diablo, Jen Red Pork, Jade Rd Chicken, Egg Foo Young and more which you can see on their website.  My Favorite is a combo with the Emerald Chicken in a Quesadilla and the Pollo Diablo “Strait Up” along with white rice and black refried beans. Another popular fusion menu item is the Jerk Fried Chicken which can replace the white rice for a little extra charge. The combo with a drink will fill you up and it will end up costing about $10. It is located in Phoenix at 15414 N. 19th Ave. They used to have a location in Chandler close to me but it was shut down more than a year ago 🙁 . Here is a link to their website (Chinbandido.com ). This is a must for out of town visitors.

If you are curious about the name, I talked with the owners before, who are a very nice friendly couple and they told me the name came from the husband, who dated his wife’s sister before actually ending up with his wife. The two women are both Chinese, so he ended up being called the Chino Bandido (Spanish for the Chinese Bandit).

Article from: gastronomy.ddns.net

Awesome Grilled Chicken Breast

Published on by richbLeave a comment

This is the most flavorful grilled boneless skinless chicken breast I have eaten. People who have tried them have said this is better than I can get in most restaurants. One trick is to make sure and slice the chicken breast in half or thirds long wise to make them thinner so the marinade soaks in properly.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons Coarse ground prepared mustard
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 lime juiced
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • ground pepper
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 bnls sknls chicken breasts sliced into half or thirds.

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and marinate for about 8 hours can do as little as 2 hours. Grill till it has a slight char, serve and enjoy

Recipe from http://gastronomy.ddns.net