Boba Thai Tea Pops

It’s popsicles time!

It doesn’t matter what kind, the healthier version with fruit or the creamier and sweeter version loaded with cream and sugar.   I believe there is no one could deny an ice cold Popsicle when the weather has become brutally hot like this.

I am a sucker for a good ice cold pops!   And forget the calories counting for this one.

Let’s start making popsicles for this summer with the high calories and sweetest Thai Tea popsicles.   If you like to drink the oooh-sooo-sweeet Thai ice tea, with or without boba, this Thai tea pops would not disappoint you, especially when having it after a long hot day, and especially after having spicy food like my last post – Yum Moo Yor! 

 
What you need: can be made up to 12 2-oz size, but I only made 8

6 cups filtered water
3 tbsp. Thai tea mix (I used Pantai brand)
1/4 cup sweet condensed milk (more or less as you desired)
1/2 cup black boba tapioca pearls – optional

How to:

- Brew the tea with your normal coffee maker
- Stir in sweet condensed milk and let it cool
- Cook the tapioca pearl according to the package - Fill 1-2 tablespoons of cooked tapioca pearl into the Popsicle molds, follow by the cooled tea. Place the Popsicle sticks to each one and freeze them in the freezer for at least 6-8 hours or overnight

Enjoy!

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Yum Moo Yor / Vietnamese Pork Loaf Spicy Salad

I have a bad habit, and I need to confess. I love to eat………. too much! 


Here’s another popular Thai spicy salad dish I like to eat, especially when a group of friends get together for the evening chat and some drinks.    It’s almost like a must-have dish, along with Yum Woon Sen, to get the party started.    Oh geeez…now I’m feeling homesick!


When it comes to Thai salad, or “yum” (the word says it all…yummmm!!!), it usually makes with spicy dressing that include these basic ingredients – fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, garlic and Thai chili.   The level of spiciness, of course, depends on how each person is preferred. Just like other Thai salad, the dressing is based on these flavors – salty, sweet, sour, and spicy.   That’s it. If you feel uncomfortable using fish sauce, sea salt can absolutely be substituted.  

 Vietnamese steamed pork loaf, or Moo-Yor as Thais called it, can be purchased at most Asian supermarkets.  And the name already tells the hint of its origin, Vietnam.  Since Thailand and Vietnam are neighbor countries, Thai people have come to love this tasty pork loaf and incorporated it in many dishes such as this one.   The pork loaf is basically seasoned finely ground pork usually wrapped tightly with layers of banana leaf and then steamed.   Finely sliced and cooked pork skins are sometimes mixed into the pork loaf for the texture. And oh, you should know how much I love pork skins in my food. It give a “bite and texture” that makes the food so much more fun to eat.  Seriously!
The pork loaf is already cooked and ready to eat when bought from store. It’s widely used in noodle soup by slicing into strips along with other meats or meatballs.

What you need:   for 2-4 people

For salad:
8 oz. Cooked Vietnamese pork loaf, quartered and thinly sliced
1/2 cup white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
1/4 cup celery leaves or cilantro leaves, chopped
2 medium Persian cucumber, cut half lengthwise and sliced
1 large tomato, cut into wedge
5 small yellow vine tomatoes, halved – optional

 

For dressing:
5-7 Thai red chili, crushed or use 2-3 tbsp. Asian chili garlic sauce (depends on your preferred spiciness)
3 cloves garlic, finely minced or crushed together with chili
4 tbsp. fish sauce
4 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. sugar

How to:

- fill water in the medium pot to boil, and add cooked Vietnamese pork loaf just to heat through for just 30 seconds.
- combine the entire ingredients for the salad in a large bowl
- in another medium bowl, whisk together the entire ingredients for the dressing until the sugar is dissolved and pour the dressing into the salad bowl and gently toss together to mix well. 
- the salad can be serve immediately; however, if lets it sit for 5 minutes or longer in the fridge until it’s ready to be served, it will definitely taste a lot better.

Enjoy!

 

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Blueberry Crumb Bars

 

 

The weather in L.A. is getting hotter and hotter, and turning on the oven would be the least thing to do because it can heat up the whole house like a furnace. Bad idea.    However, I have a few good reasons to turn on the oven to bake this sweet treat.  

First, waking up in the morning the hubby was telling me that last night he dreamt about a gorgeous blueberry pie he saw at the buffet restaurant. What I could hear from him was…”I’ve been thinking about blueberry pie. Can you make me one?!?” Second, the morning’s weather was kind of a little strange. The morning was gloomy and cool like the rain has just passed when compared to the yesterday’s weather. And the sun hadn’t shown up even it was already nine o’clock! Third, I had not made any thing in the oven for a while since the hot summer weather has become a giant oven on earth, and I thought of today as a perfect opportunity to bake something easy and quick before the sun has realized that it has to show up to torment people as it supposed to do in the summer.

  
These blueberry bars turned out as delightful as I had hoped for, and the hubby was, of course, very happy about it even though it was not the blueberry pie he dreamt about. Maybe next time!

What you need:   make 9 - 16 bars depends on how you cut it

For crust:

1 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. sugar
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed

For filling:

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup sugar
1 small lemon juice + zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
3 tbsp. cornstarch

For crumb topping:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup roll oats
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon powder

How to:

 

- Preheat the oven to 350’F and grease the 8x8 pan with butter or cooking spray, set aside.   I also used a piece of aluminum foil over the pan which I forgot to grease the pan first!  Not good!
- Combine blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and zest, salt, and vanilla in the medium pan over medium heat and cook until the sugar is dissolved, ant then add cornstarch and stir. The filling will turn thick, take off the heat and let it cool
- In a mixing bowl, prepare the base crust by using the pastry cutter cut butter cubes into flour until it form crumbs.  Press the based flour into the bottom of the greased pan evenly and bake for 12 minutes.
- Make the crumb topping the same way of making the base, and set aside
- When the based is done, tale it out from the oven, fill in the filling, spread evenly with the crumb topping, put it back to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until it’s bubbly and the crumb topping turn golden brown
- When it’s done, let it complete cool down for at least 4 hours before cutting in to squares

Enjoy!

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