Gorgeous Green Lemonade with Gingered Syrup

The August's heat in L.A. has been so brutally hot for the past few days.   It’s humid. It’s sticky hot. And it’s reminding me a lot of the weather in Thailand.     The unbelievably heat is so intense that I can get a tan instantly just by walking out to the patio for only less than a mere minutes.   And forget about the cooking.   Who would want to cook with the sizzling weather like this?    I’ve even lost my appetite to make something to eat.   Only thing I can think of right now in the mid-afternoon is a cool refreshing drink like lemonade.     However, to make lemonade more fun to drink, I’ve blended a handful of baby spinach to give a lemonade a gorgeous green color with the stimulating hint of ginger that makes the drink even more interesting.   

What can I say? I’m just having a love affair with ginger!  

 

Even though it’s just a lemonade with a green color, but I feel very sophisticated drinking this lovely lemonade.

Add rum and crushed mint…and you will have a lovely green mojito!    Agree? 

 

 

 

 

 

What you need:

1 handful baby spinach
6 cups filtered water
1 1/4 cups fresh squeeze lemon juice
3/4 cup simple gingered syrup - *see notes below
1 lemon sliced

How to:

- Blend baby spinach with 1 cup of water in the blender for one minute until it turns very fine, then strain the juice through the fine sieve and scoop out the foam on top.
- Transfer the spinach juice into the pitcher and add another 5 cups of wat
- Stir in lemon juice and the syrup into the spinach water to mix well
- Add sliced lemon and keep it chill in the fridge until ready to serve

* make gingered syrup by use 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar and 5 or 6 thin sliced of fresh ginger. Bring them to a boil just until the sugar is dissolved, take off the heat and let it sit to cool down. For better stronger flavor, leave it overnight.

 

 

 

Enjoy and stay cool!

 

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Pork Raad Nah with Crispy Noodle

The other day the hubby and I went to lunch at Thai restaurant, and the hubby wanted to order Raad Nah (Thai style noodle with gravy), which he did. He said that he liked the dish and was wondering if I could make it at home. Of course, I can make it at home. It is one of the easiest dishes anyone could make as long as you have all the not-so-required ingredients at home.

Thai Radd Nah with gravy usually uses fresh wide rice noodle which is the same type of noodle for making Pad See Ew. The noodles can easily be found at any Asian markets around L.A. However, don’t sweat small stuff. Any kind of noodle like rice noodle, egg noodle, instant noodle, spaghetti, linguini, or angel hair pasta can also be used to make this dish as well. The only thing you will be missed if you did not use the rice noodle is the aroma and the smoky flavor since the noodle has be cooked with dark soy sauce first before eaten with the gravy. Why I have to be specific with only rice noodle? You might ask. Because other types of noodles would not have the same result when cooked with dark soy sauce first. The smoky flavor that is.

 

But like I said – don’t sweat small stuff – because the gravy is the most important part of the dish anyway. And noodles without gravy wouldn’t be Raad Nah, would it?  

So, today I use fresh egg noodles which I’ve turned them to crispy noodle by frying them first. You don’t have to, but the crispy fried noodle makes the dish tastier, and it just simply replace the missing smoky flavor of rice noodles with soy sauce. 

   

 

As for the gravy, there is nothing difficult about that and don’t let the long list in the ingredients fool you, especially, the fermented soy bean that might sound odd. Fermented soy bean is very important to the dish, however. I’d say it is required but not necessary. It’s salty with smoky flavor that lends a distinctive flavor to the dish. But if you can find it, just skip it. It’s not a big deal but just less authentic, that’s all! Thai Raad Nah normally use Gailan or Chinese broccoli only for the dish, but you can use any vegetable you like as well as any kind of meat that you prefer.

Step 1. Fry noodles

4 oz. fresh egg noodle
1-2 cups vegetable oil for frying

: add vegetable oil in a deep frying pan and set over medium-low heat
: when the oil gets hot, fry the noodle into 3-4 batches, about one little handful at a time, and set them on the paper towel to absorb the excess oil, and set aside.

Fermented Soy Bean

 

 

marinade pork with oyster sauce 



Step 2. Make the gravy

16 oz. pork meat, sliced
1 cup washed snow peas
1 cup sliced shitake mushroom
1 cup sliced carrot
3 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. light soy sauce
1/2 tbsp. fermented soy bean - optional
1/2 tbsp. sugar
2 cups chicken broth or water
Ground white pepper
2 tbsp. vegetable/canola oil
3 tbsp. corn starch
3 tbsp. water

***Optional condiments to serve with as needed: dried red chili flakes, vinegar, fish sauce, and sugar

How to:

- marinade the pork meat with oyster sauce for at least 10-15 minutes
- stir 3 tablespoon of water with corn starch and set aside.
- add the oil into the sauté pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add garlic and stir until it fragrant, and then add pork meat and mushroom and cook for 5 minutes
- add 2 cups of chicken broth or water into to sauté pan followed by carrot and snow peas and seasoning with sugar, light soy sauce, and fermented soy bean (if used). Let it cook for another 12-15 minutes.
- when it’s thoroughly cooked, turn off the heat and ladle the gravy over the crispy fried noodle with a sprinkle of ground white pepper along with additional condiments as needed

Enjoy!

 

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Popovers and Honey-Cinnamon Fig Jam





Year after year, the three fig trees in my back yard keep producing tremendous load of figs. And the past few weeks, the hubby and I have been picking and giving them to friends and neighbors. Still, the figs just keep ripening more and more every day. And those who enjoy figs the most are birds and bugs.  

One early morning I woke up with the intention of just picking some figs for friends. But after two hours, I have ended up with 23 pounds of figs! OMG! What did I do with those figs? Easy answer. I made jam, lots of jam! I had made fig jam last year with Celeste figs. The jam paired perfectly on fresh toasted English muffins with the hint of honey and cinnamon that I’ve added into the fig jam. This time I decided to make fig jam with the same recipe but with the Italian black figs this time.
























The Italian black figs gave the jam with a beautiful velvet red color but less sweet than the Celeste figs; however, it tasted wonderfully with these little lemony zesty popovers. The popovers are very easy to make.   I baked them in the regular muffin pan because I don't have a traditional popover pan which is deeper and gives the popovers more effectively in its heights.   They may also take sometimes to bake – with the rule of no peaking – but it worth the wait, especially, when having them fresh from the oven with a good jam

 
Popovers:

What you need:  makes 12 popovers

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk – room temperature
2 eggs – room temperature
2 tbsp. melted butter – cooled
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest

How to:
- Preheat the oven to 400’ F
- blend the entire ingredients in the blender just until they smooth
- fill the muffin pan about 3/4 in each and bake for 35 minutes until they turn light golden with no peaking or opening the oven to check
- serve immediately with fig jam (or your own favorite jam)

 

Honey-Cinnamon Fig Jam

What you need:

4 cups fresh Italian black figs, chopped
1 cups sugar
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp lemon juice + zest
1 tsp ground cinnamon

How To: 

 - Combine everything in the medium pan over medium heat.
- Cook until the sugar is melted, then low the heat down to simmer for another 30-40 minutes or until the fruit is softened and the liquid is thickened. Stir occasionally to prevent burn in the bottom.
- Fill the jam into the sterilized jars and keep in the refrigerator



Enjoy!

 

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