Blackberry-Mint Lemonade

Just as last post I was talking about how much of blackberries I have and I will be posting some recipes cooking with blackberry. However, if I don’t have any ideas, no time, too busy, or just lazy, I might have to pack them up and freeze them, again, yes again! I still have some frozen berries in my freezer! 

So, this blackberry-mint lemonade was just my last minutes idea since my original idea was to just make lemonade, so, I thought, let’s put some berries…and mints! Yeah! Here it is…the prettiest pink lemonade I’ve ever made! It’s so good and so refreshing that I will definitely make it again and again and again and again!

This recipe makes 1 big pitcher:

4 cups filtered water

1/2 cup fresh blackberry

1 cup sugar

1cup water

1/2 cup fresh squeeze lemon juice

5 sprigs fresh mint or about 1/2 cup mint leaves

1 medium lemon thinly sliced

- over the medium-low heat, add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a small saucepan to make simple syrup, as soon as the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat

- add the berries and some of mint leaves into the warm syrup and use a the back of spoon to mashing the berries and mints and let the mixture stand for a few minutes to blend the flavor

- pour the berry mixture through a fine sieve directly into a pitcher, and discard the seeds

- add lemon juice and 4 cups of filtered water, add the rest of mint leaves and lemon slices into a pitcher, stir well, and chill

- serve over ice cube or crushed ice as you desired… with the additional garnish with a few berries, mint leaf, and lemon slice!

Enjoy!

^__^

Blackberry Mousse

This time of every year by the end of May, my blackberries, I planted in the back yard years ago, are gradually ripened almost at the same time.  The hubby and I’ve been picking them just about every day which he loves to eat them with the cereal in the morning or just eat them fresh, he does that while he’s picking them… no wash and he doesn’t really care!  And I love making the blackberry smoothie with non-fat yogurt and a liltle bit of honey….hmm… talking about my body is now loaded with super-healthy antioxidant I get from the berries make me feel really… really good!     ~__^

Oh well, since there will be plenty of blackberries, I will have to do something with them, right?  And you will see that I will probably be posting a few dessert recipes that I’ve come up with the blackberries I have.    So, let’s start with blackberry moose - a luxurious dessert that is so light and so easy to make.    

But first, let’s make the sauce.

Blackberry sauce:   make about 2 1/2cups

3 cups fresh blackberries

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 orange- fresh squeeze- juice + zest

- Add everything in the medium saucepan over medium heat and cook and keep stirring for about 20 minutes or until all the blackberries are broken down into small bit

- pour the warm berries through a fine sieve using a spatula to push all the liquid out, discard the seeds

 -pour the sauce into a clean jar and chill in the refrigerator

The mousse:   

3/4 cup blackberry sauce (recipe above)

1 small package (2 tsp) unflavored gelatin

3 tbsp cold water

1 large egg white

¾ cup heavy cream

- dissolve the gelatin with water and then mix it with the blackberry sauce, set aside

- with the electric mixture, beat the egg white until firm peaks form, and fold in the blackberry sauce using spatula until no streaks of white remain

- in another bowl, beat the heavy cream until softly whipped and then fold in the berry mixture

- divide the mousse among dessert glasses and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours  

- pour the blackberry sauce on the top of the mousse and garnish with a few fresh blackberries before serving… 

Enjoy!

^___^

Tom Kha Goong / Thai Coconut Soup with Shrimp

I remembered very well the first day I came to the States, Tom Kha Gai soup was my first dish I made for my new family and friends.  I made Tom Kha Gai (chicken) in a big pot and it’s sold out quick!  

Tom Kha is normally made with Gai or chicken meat and sometime with shrimp but pork or beef is rarely used. In Thailand we usually use chicken that skins and bones are still attached. The skin-on and bone-in chicken gives the dish tremendous flavor than just chicken breast that sometime the meat becomes too dry after cooking. Why call it Tom Kha, you might ask. Because we use a lot of Galangal or Kha in the soup as it is the main ingredient. If you don’t use Galangal for this kind of soup, you might have to call it something else, seriously! Fresh Galangal is available mostly at Asian supermarkets, but I found that buying a glass jar of Galangal in brine water seems very convenience and it tastes great… like fresh…and…a lot cheaper! As for lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf, please use fresh only because the fresh herbs when infused with boiling water is much better taste than dried herbs, trust me.

Interestingly, this soup can only be seasoned with the salty fish sauce and the sour form lime juice, lots of lime juice!    But you can use salt if you think fish sauce is too fishy… but never ever think of using soy sauce because it will not turn out the way it is supposed to be.   Since the coconut milk already contains a natural sweet in itself, sugar is not necessary.    The finished broth from this soup is so uniquely light and flavorful with the infusion of those herbs and a little kick of spice from fresh chili added in the broth will make you want to make this soup more often, I swear!

Now, let’s learn some Thais.  Tom = bring water to boil, Kha = Galangal, Gai = chicken, and this time I used Goong = shrimp.   And this one I made called Tom Kha Goong!   Isn’t that fun?  

 What you need:

3 cup vegetable or chicken broth

1 can(13.5 oz.) Coconut milk

1 lb fresh shrimps, cleaned and deveined  ( or chicken)

2 cup Oyster mushroom or any mushroom you like

1/4 cup young galangal finely sliced 

5 leaves Kaffir lime leaf, torn or roughly chopped

2 stalks Lemongrass cut diagonally about 1-in size

5-6 Thai red chilies, slightly smashed /slit open/sliced

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

3-4 tbsp fish sauce (or salt)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

*carrot is optional. I just used them for color!

How to:

- in a medium pot, add vegetable or chicken broth over medium heat, when it slightly boiling, add coconut milk

- add kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal and chilies into the pot to infuse the aroma of the herbs

- add mushroom and shrimp, let it cook for 7-10 minutes or until the shrimp is just poached, try not to overcooked

- turn off the heat, season to taste with fish sauce and lime juice, and chopped cilantro

- serve hot by itself as a first course, or with steamed Jasmine rice as the main entree, or add angel hair pasta noodle or rice noodle for noodle soup, which I have tried and it was very good.

Enjoy!

^__^