Tag: food

Taco Bell “Hot” Hot Sauce Recipe

Published on by richbLeave a comment

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

Chinese Green Onion Pancakes

Published on by richbLeave a comment

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

Published on by richbLeave a comment
  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.

Spicy Kung Pao Vegetables

Published on by richbLeave a comment

For times when you want a healthy vegetarian/vegan meal with lots of flavor, this is a great meal. You can add tofu if you want to add protein. Eggplant can be added in as an additional vegetable also and you can leave others out or change the proportions.

Ingredients

  • Veggies
    • 1/4 head of cabbage roughly chopped
    • 1 yellow onion chopped into byte sized pieces
    • 2 carrots sliced crosswise thinly
    • 4 green onions white sliced thinly green ends sliced 1/2″ slices
    • 1 cup of broccoli florets
    • 1 green or red bell pepper chopped into byte sized pieces
    • 2 stalks of celery cut into 1/4″ slices
  • Sauce
    • 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
    • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
    • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
    • 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
    • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
    • 1/2 cup of water
    • 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
    • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
    • 1 tablespoons minced ginger
    • 2 tablespoons of corn starch
    • 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
  • Other Ingredients
    • Rice or noodles to serve with
    • Canola Oil for stir frying
    • Chopped Peanuts for topping (optional)

Directions

Cook rice to serve Kung Pao Veggies over. Chop veggies as directed. Blanch or microwave the carrots and broccoli  first to even out the cooking time for all the veggies. Combine sauce ingredients into a bowl and mix. Stir fry vegetables till done about 3-4 minutes then pour sauce into hot pan with veggies and let cook for 3-4 minutes to thicken and coat the veggies. Serve over rice or noodles and sprinkle chopped peanuts if desired.

Incredible Garlic Dill Pickles

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I like fresh, crunchy pickles and with a little less salt, so I made them myself and they came out great. These are balanced in flavor, if you want a stronger garlic flavor add more garlic.

Ingredients

  • 3 regular cucumbers sliced or cut into spears.
  • 1 3/4 cups white vinegar
  • 1 3/4 cups water
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons pickling salt
  • 3 teaspoons dill seeds
  • 4 – 6 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tsp whole mustard seed
  • 4 cayenne peppers stems removed and sliced in half
  • 1/2 tsp sugar

Directions

Put vinegar, water, dill seed, sugar and salt into pan and heat till steaming and heat till starting to steam and salt and sugar are dissolved. Remove from heat and add garlic, mustard, and peppers. Let cool slightly for about 10 minutes, then pour over cucumbers stuffed into jars evenly dividing the non liquid contents. Put lids on and let cool till room temp, then let it set in the refridgerator for at least 1 day.

Spicy BBQ sauce

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I occasionally make BBQ sauce, this time I was going to make a batch of BBQ beans. I like a spicy,  vinegary sauce and that’s what this sauce is. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
  • 2 teaspoons of white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp prepared mustard
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Directions

Add water to pan on low heat, then add tomato paste and mustard and stir till combined. Add in rest of ingredients and and leave on heat for about 15 minutes. Adjust by adding any additional salt at end if needed.

 

Red Chilli Beef Tacos/Burritos Recipe

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I have had some really good red chili beef tacos at restaurants. They can be pretty expensive so I decided to make some myself. It turned out great and everyone really likes it. The added bonus is you can make enough for 12 large servings for a little more than the price of one meal of this at a restaurant.

Ingredients

  • 3-5 pound Cross Rib Roast
  • 2 level tablespoons of chili powder
  • 1 level tablespoon of chipotle chili powder
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons of New Mexico chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon of salt (More can be added later if needed)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon oregano
  • 1/2 of a large onion sliced thin
  • 4 large cloves garlic chopped
  • Tortillas for tacos or burritos
  • Fresh chopped cilantro and diced onion for topping

Directions

Cut Cross Rib Roast into about 3-4 inch chunks. Mix the next 6 ingredients in a bowl and coat the chunks of roast, and pour any remaining in the crock pot over the meat.  Sprinkle the onions and garlic over the meat chunks and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours till the meat easily shreds. Shred the meat and serve in a burrito or taco with the fresh onion and cilantro.

Healthy Spicy Chicken Chili

Published on by richbLeave a comment

Ingredients

  • 1 lb gound Chicken
  • 1/2 onion chopped finely (chop a little more for topping if desired)
  • 1 ripe tomato chopped finely
  • 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
  • 1/2 cup cooked kidney beans
  • 3 tablespoons of chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon of cumin powder
  • 3 large galic cloves chopped finely
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tablespoons of hot roasted hatch chilis
  • 1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Shredded Cheese, and chopped cilantro for topping if desired.

Directions

Add olive oil to pan along with garlic and onions and lightly fry for about 5 minutes, don’t brown. Add in ground chicken and chili powder and cook and crumble with a spoon.  Add in rest of ingredients and cook for about 45 minutes till flavors blend. Top with cheese, onion, and cilantro.

For Vegetarian or vegan, use meat substitute and leave cheese out.

Red Chili Beef Tamales

Published on by richbLeave a comment

These tamales taste really good. I have tried to make it easier and less time consuming to make, but made sure they still have a great flavor. Of course you could go the long route like making your own chilli sauce and spend considerably more time, I have done this before, and the would taste even better. But these are definitely a big step up from store bought ones. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

  • Meat
    • 1 3lb beef rump roast
    • 2 cups of water (to cook the meat in)
    • 2 16 oz cans of good enchilada sauce
    • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
    • 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
  • Masa
    • 3 cups of Masa Mix
    • 1 cup of vegetable shortening
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 1/2 cup of the Beef cooking liquid
    • about 1 cup of water (add to masa while mixing till forms a dough consistancy)
  • Corn Husks

Directions

Cook the roast till falling apart (6-8 hours in a crock pot or 1 1/2 hours in a pressure cooker). When roast is nearing cooking completion take cans of enchilada sauce and heat in a pan and add in the garlic and chili powder and simmer for about 15 minutes to combine the flavors. Also soak the corn husks till pliable.  Remove meat and cut into chunks and shred. Now add enchilada sauce and mix. Add all the Masa ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer till combined. Take the masa mixture and spread over a corn husk and then add about 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture to it and roll the coated corn husk around the meat so it surrounds it. Fold the end of the tortilla up and set on a plate so it doesn’t unravel. Continue to repeat all tamales are done. Now stack as many as will fit into a steamer leaving enough room between for steam to flow around all of them and steam for about 20 minutes till the masa is firm. Let cool enough to eat. You can refrigerate or freeze the extra and microwave later.

Chicken Makhani (Healthy Version)

Published on by richbLeave a comment

I tried to come up with a healthier version of Chicken Makhani since this dish is usually loaded with a lot of fat. I used whole milk instead of cream and used lower fat yoghurt, and use boneless skinless chicken breast. However I did use butter to help add in some richness, but it is still much lower in fat and tastes great.

Ingredients

  • 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1/2 cup low fat yogurt
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon red chili powder (cayenne pepper)
  • 1/4 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 onion chopped coursely
  • 1″ piece of ginger sliced across the fibers
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 Serrano pepper stem cut off
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Add yogurt into a bowl and mix in garam masala and when mixed evenly add chicken and stir to coat the chicken. Cover and put into the refrigerator for 1 hour to marinate. Add onion, garlic, serrano pepper, and ginger to a food processor and process till it becomes a paste. Heat pan till hot and add olive oil and chicken. Brown chicken, but do not cook all the way through then set aside in a bowl. Add the paste from the food processor to the pan and fry till most of the liquid has evaporated. Now add chicken, cayenne pepper, cumin, tomato sauce, butter, and milk to pan and cook uncovered for about 5 – 7 more minutes till the chicken is fully cooked. I served with brown rice to keep it healthy all around.