Recipes – From My Corner of the Universe

Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup

May 5, 2023

It’s been a while since I’ve made bitter melon soup. I can’t even remember the last time I made it but it was probably over a decade ago. This time I decided to follow this recipe on Youtube. I’m not a huge fan of the super bitterness of the bitter melon so to draw some of that bitterness out, after I removed the seeds, I soaked the melon in salt water for about ten minutes.

I didn’t have all the ingredients from the recipe so I used what I had on hand: lemongrass, garlic, scallions, cilantro, and mint. I had some Thai peppers on hand so I used a few of them for a touch of heat.

Everything was chopped up and mixed with ground beef before stuffing the melons which I’d cut into thirds. Whatever was leftover from the pork mix, I made into little meatballs. With the peppers, I simply cooked it with the soup.

The soup turned out pretty good. My high-schooler really liked the meatballs but didn’t care for the bitter melon. My husband and my other daughter didn’t care for the soup. I guess this is why I rarely made this dish.

There are many ways to cook bitter melon but I grew up eating it as a soup so it’s what I’m familiar with. Mom would also make it stir-fry, I believe. I’ll have to try stir-frying next time. Have you had bitter melon soup or stir-fried? What did you think?

Homemade Lemon Blueberry Cake

April 6, 2023

A few weeks back, I made a lemon blueberry cake. After buying blueberries from Costco and no one eating them I decided to make a cake with them because I didn’t want them to go bad and have to toss them away. I followed a recipe on Youtube, here. It looked easy enough to make and the outcome was delicious.

I had made the cake in the evening so the photos made the cake look darker than it really was. I used a cake pan and then transferred it onto a cake stand. There was subtle sweetness to it because it only required one cup of sugar. Also, because I didn’t have sour cream on hand I used plain Greek yogurt because that’s what I had.

A week later, I decided to make the cake again but this time I made it in a pie pan. I used blueberry Greek yogurt instead of plain Greek yogurt or sour cream and it turned tasty as well.

Husband and I started eating the cake before I remembered to take a photo.

Doesn’t that look so good?

Tom Yum Soup

April 17, 2021

I once tried a home hot pot and loved it so much that I decided to just make it over stove top. My favorite was the Tom Yum. I buy the paste and add some lime leaves, galanga slices (if I don’t have it fresh/frozen, I use the powder), lemon grass, whatever veggies I have on hand, and beef or chicken stock. Instead of vermicelli noodles, I use udon. I’ve tried it with rice noodles as well but I prefer the udon. As far as veggies goes, I often make it with broccoli and green beans. I also like it with shredded cabbage and/or bok choy but husband doesn’t like either so I don’t tend to use them unless it’s only me eating it.

I’ve made seafood versions with shrimp, crab meat, and tilapia. In this version, I used sea bass. I’ve also tried it with thin slices of red meat and that wasn’t bad. My my favorite is just with tilapia.

I love this soup because it’s easy and quick to make, and it tastes great, especially on cold wintry days.

Scallion Pepper Sauce

March 25, 2020

My mother gave me a handful of scallions from her garden and I decided to make scallion pepper sauce with it.

These were so pretty I just wanted to look at them all day, however, I didn’t want them to go bad so I had to do something quick with them. I also couldn’t think of anything else to make with them since I don’t have a lot of food in my fridge at the moment. With hot pepper sauce, I could freeze it for later.

I had an extra bag of frozen Thai peppers in the freezer and some leftover cilantro from pho last week so they went into the mix. If I didn’t have frozen peppers, I would have used dried peppers.

I chopped everything up.

And used a mortal and pestle to mash it all up. I also added salt, fish sauce, and lime juice.

This made about a cup and a half.

I put most of it in a container to freeze for later and put a little aside for the next few days.

But, my daughter and her boyfriend stopped by and her boyfriend loved it so I sent him off with a little bit. I told him he could always come back for more.

Homemade Pho

March 17, 2020

Eating up what’s in the pantry so I could make room for other dry and canned products. I’ve had these pho noodles for about six months and because herbs don’t last very long, I figured I could use up the herbs this way.

This pho is really easy to make. I pretty much boil any kind of beef (normally, I’ll use ox tail but they were out) then add beef broth and a few shakes of star anise powder along with some salt and pepper. If I have lemongrass, I’ll cut some up and throw it in there. That’s pretty much it. This is how my youngest likes her pho (with no herbs or hot sauce). She says I make the best homemade pho. She also says, I make the best kapoon, spaghetti, baked breaded chicken, baked salmon, scrambled eggs, etc.

Dumplings with Chili Sauce

June 27, 2019

I’ve been wanting to try dumplings with a really hot chili sauce for some time now all because of the food pics on Instagram. Earlier this week, I bought frozen veggie and chicken dumplings from the grocery store to try it out with the chili sauce I made following a recipe I Googled. It was pretty easy to make: combine dried crushed hot peppers and non-aromatic oil in a pan over medium heat for a few minutes. Let cool completely and jar. I had the dumplings with the chili oil and a bit of soy sauce (pictured). It was really tasty. Today, I made more and added dried shallots. It was even better. I’d say, this is one of the simplest and quickest tasty food ever.

Quick N Easy Asian Chicken Salad AKA Laab

August 22, 2014

In the past I’ve posted about laab before but it’s one of my favorite asian dishes so I thought I’d take new photos and share my process a little differently.

Laab is a spicy chicken, beef, pork, or fish dish usually eaten with lettuce and/or rice. The main spices used to create the flavor are: hot peppers, lemon grass, ginger, galanga, and roasted uncooked white rice. It can be time consuming chopping and roasting the rice and all and sometimes I don’t mind doing that but when I’m short on time or I’m just craving laab way too much, I reach for the seasoning mix. You can buy this mix at pretty much any Asian market.

Fresh ingredients. Top clockwise: chopped mint leaves, chopped cilantro, thinly sliced shallots, chopped scallions and limes. I tend to add more lime juice in mine than necessary. One lime should be enough for 1 lb. of meat but I used two.

Boiled chicken. Allow the cooked chicken to cool a little before chopping it up to small pieces. You can also use ground chicken (or other ground meats) and sautee in a pan with a bit of vegetable oil. I prefer it boiled because it’s healthier and less oily.

Use a pestle to mash it. I do it directly in the bowl where all the ingredients will go in.

Add the laab mix, the herbs, squeeze in the lime juices, and add a teaspoon or two of fish sauce (not shown). I also add a tablespoon of reserved chicken broth so that it’s not too dry.

Mix well and done.

This is a very spicy salad so have it with a large glass of water.

Cuban Chicken

April 2, 2014

I tried my hands at making Cuban chicken and it turned out pretty good. I first had it during the family cruise last year to the Bahamas and totally fell in love with it. I found a recipe online but it required way too many ingredients and I remembered the flavors to be very simple yet very delicious.

It was simple to make. For the spices, I basically used cumin, paprika, cayenne (for heat so just a pinch or two), black pepper, bay leaf, and salt. I’ll tweak it some more before sharing a recipe. If you want the recipe I found online (and have not tried yet), it is here.

Scallions, Tomatoes, and Thai Pepper Sauce

April 12, 2012

I ended up making that pepper sauce mentioned, here. Growing up we always had some type of pepper sauce to dip in with our food and as I got older it’s just become a norm. The pepper sauce in the photo is made of all fresh ingredients. I made quite a lot and it’s lasted me a whole week. I even gave some to my sister when she came over and she loved it!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 Large tomatoes
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
10 – 20 Thai peppers
1 Cup chopped scallions
1/2 Cup water
Juice from one lime
Fish sauce
Sugar
Salt

Directions:

Boil the tomatoes and Thai peppers together for about 5 minutes. Drain and let cool.
Peel the skin off the tomatoes and remove any hard parts. Cut the tomatoes into small cubes. Remove the stems from the peppers and give it a rough chop.

Using a mortar and pestle, mash the peppers, garlic, and scallions together with a little
salt until well blended. Scoop into a bowl. Next, mash the tomatoes until you get the consistency you like. Then, pour it into the bowl with the peppers, garlic, and scallions. Stir to mix all the ingredients. Add the water, lime juice, a little bit of fish sauce, and a
pinch or two of sugar. Stir and you’re done.

You can use a blender in place of a mortar and pestle. Instead of 1 cup scallions, you can reduce it to about 1/4 and add 1/4 chopped cilantro and 1/4 mint (-/+ as you like). You can also make this sauce without tomatoes.

You can also download it in PDF format, here.

Fawm Kauv: Steamed Rice Rolls

June 4, 2011

I was craving some steamed rice rolls stuffed with herbs and ground chicken the other day so I made a huge batch and ate them all in two days!

I always eat fawm kauv dipped in a spicy Thai pepper sauce made with garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, salt, sugar, a little water, and of course, fresh Thai peppers.