SHISH TAOUK (CHICKEN KEBAB)

From “The New Book of Middle Eastern Food” by Claudia Roden
Lebanese

Y: 4

4 boned and skinned chicken quarters or breast

4 T extra virgin olive oil

2-4 clove garlic crushed

Juice of ½ lemon (I used chopped preserved lemons)

S&P to taste

Optional Garnishes

4 T chopped flat leaf parsley

1 lemon quartered

1 medium red onions finely sliced

2 t sumac

Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces.
Mix oil, garlic, lemon juice, S&P and marinate chicken for ½ hour or longer.
Thread onto skewers and grill or broil until lightly browned, turning skewers over once and brushing with the marinade.
Serve on bed of parsley w/ lemon wedges and sliced onions. Sprinkle with sumac.

Variations:

Turkish Shish Taouk = puree following ingredients as marinade
1 onion, 4 T olive oil, 1 t cinnamon and S&P.

Moroccan= ¼ t ginger, 1 t paprika, a good pinch of ground chili pepper, salt mixed w/ 4 T olive oil. Served with chopped cilantro.

Iranian= 4 T melted butter mixed w/ ¼ t saffron , juice of ½ lemon and salt.

PORK SATAY- DARING COOKS CHALLENGE FOR JANUARY 2010

Wow! I thought i couldn't make this months challenge due to weather, job schedule etc..etc.. who am i kidding, not a chance, i want to give my 2 cents on Cuppy's challenge. So this was a photofinish, we just had this for our lunch today, but my pork had been marinating overnight.

Forget the -0 degree weather and the snow, i decided to brave the weather and grilled my satay in lieu of the oven broil! I admit, it was a bit weird and funny grilling on a snowy winter day=;).

This months challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious . Satay! Thanks for this challenge Cuppy I love satay, sate, bbq however it's called. This kind of food is ubiqitous in Asian countries, you'll see satay/bbq booths in every street corner in majority or i'd say all Asian countries.

As i was skiming through the recipe i immediately noticed that it wasn't an authentic Thai Satay recipe, but as i perused Cuppys' message she mentioned that her recipe is a Thai inspired dish which then made sense. Authentic or not this recipe is worth the grilling on a snowy day. I followed the recipe closely with a little bit of tweaking on the acid ingredient. I used lime instead of lemon just because i know that lime is used more than lemon in Asia. I deliberately didn't add fish sauce/patis just so i can compare a satay recipe sans the fish sauce and my satay recipe w/c calls for fish sauce. Really, this is great as well! I'm definitely using this recipe again, this time w/ chicken.

I opted to use porkbelly. I took out the skin w/c i saved, to be made into chicharon later. I love the marbling of the porkbelly, it'll help keep the satay moist and more flavorful for sure.

Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce


Satay Marinade

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)- I only used the juice

2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)- 2  lime and zest

1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)- I used cilantro roots

1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)

1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)

2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)

1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:

1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.

2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.

3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.


Faster (cheaper!) marinade:

2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (1 oz or 30 mls)

2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)

1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 tsp ginger powder (5 mls)

1 tsp garlic powder (5 mls)

1 tsp cayenne pepper (5 mls)

Directions:

1b. Mix well.

2b. Cut pork into 1 inch thick strips (2-2.5 cm thick), any length.

3b. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Cooking Directions (continued):

4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.

5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*

6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.

Peanut Sauce:

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)

4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)

1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)

1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)

1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)

1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)



1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.

2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.

3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Pepper Dip (optional)

4 Tbsp soy sauce (2 oz or 60 mls)

1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)

1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)

1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)

Mix well. Serve chilled or room temperature.

Tamarind Dip (optional)

4 Tbsp tamarind paste (helpful link below) (2 oz or 60 mls)

1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 finely chopped green onion (scallion)

1 tsp brown or white sugar, or to taste (about 5 mls)

 

Braved the -0 degrees and snow just because i want my Pork Satay grilled=;)

Fresh grilled Pork Satay on a Snowy day!

Lovely!

I made 2 dips, the peanut sauce dip w/ Thai bird chili and ground peanuts for texture

and the pepper soy sauce dip

I prefer the peanut sauce for this dish.

Served the pork satay w/ white rice, w/ the 2 sauces, Shrimp chips and some braised Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli)

This is a great tool to extract ginger juice.

Braised Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli) with Hoisin Sauce

Shrimp Chips - these are always served w/ your soup in every Thai Restaurant.

Again, Khob Khun Ka, Cuppy! Sawasdee!

PINOY BBQ (Filipino BBQ)

Pinoys (Filipinos) love their bbq anytime of the day. This could be served for breakfast or brunch served with sinangag (garlic fried rice) and a side of sunny side up eggs. For lunch this will be served with steamed white rice with a side of atchara (pickled vegetables). Dinner, it'll be most likely served w/ a vegetable salad such as kinilaw na talong at kamatis (Grilled eggplant with tomato salad) and ofcourse steamed white rice. This is also eaten as snacks and great w/ beer.

BBQ stands are ubiqitous in every street corner in the Philippines, one would wonder how are they able to sell their bbq. I remember back then...i went on a mission to taste all the bbqs one stand at a time and see which ones had the best bbq. And the conclusion?..Oh well, let's just say, i've yet to try a Pinoy BBQ that i don't like. You probably will ask what makes this BBQ, Pinoy/Filipino? what's the difference? It's the sweetness and the use of a "not so secret" ingredients. You'll see as you read the ingredients.

I make my marinade from scratch but lately i've been using Mama Sita's BBQ sauce mix, it saves me time and it's delicious as well. So, the next time you visit your Asian market, buy the mix and give it a try.



Ingedients:2-3 lbs. pork butt
Bamboo skewers or any kind of skewers


Ingredients for For Marinade:

1 C soy sauce
1 C 7-up or sprite (the not so secret ingredient)
6 calamansi * or 2 lemons (fresh lemon juice is best)*
1 whole garlic (minced)
3 T brown sugar (estimate only)
1 t freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of salt

*If you can't buy fresh calamansi you can buy frozen calamansi at any Asian store. Lemons can be used as a substitute but flavor profile will not be as authentic.


Ingredients For Basting:

Canola oil
Banana Ketchup (available at Asian stores, one of the not so secret ingredient)
soy sauce



1. If you will be using bamboo skewers, they need to be soaked for an hour to avoid burning while on the grill.

2. Cut pork in bite size cubes.

3. Combine and mix all the marinade ingredients. Taste and adjustments if needed .

4. Marinate the pork overnight or at least 2 hours.

5. Mix the basting ingredients and set it aside.

6. Skewer the meat, then start grilling.

7. Basting the meat every few minutes until cooked.

I served the bbq with steamed rice, eggplant tomato salad and soy sauce vinegar dipping sauce.

HOMEMADE MISO SOUP AND JAPANESE BBQ

So, flu bug got me first guess i don't need my flu shot now! These was what i fixed/cooked the day i felt better. I was craving for miso soup, nope not those from the packets/sachets..i wanted to make it from scratch. The chicken bbq was a last minute decision just because i wanted to use up all the miso paste and i had chicken wings in the freezer. The ingredients i used for these recipes are staple in my pantry.

Miso soup is easy to make. There are 2 main ingredients to a basic miso soup. Then a lot of garnish you can add to the basic miso soup. For my family we like to add soft tofu and scallions sometimes enoki mushroom.
Miso soup is not only easy to make but healthy as well not to mention inexpensive...really!! seriously!! take note on the prices of the items and a little goes a long way.

1. DASHI (Dashi) for this recipe, dashi is made w/ kelp sometimes called kombu or konbu (Kelp) and bonito flakes (Katsuobushi)
2. MISO PASTE (Miso)

THE LAST TIME I CHECKED OUR REGULAR GROCERY STORES..THE INGREDIENTS ARE READILY AVAILABLE.YOU MAY SUBSTITUTE DASHI STOCK W/ CHICKEN STOCK BUT IT'LL NOT TASTE THE SAME

KELP (KONBU/KOMBU)

BONITO FLAKES (ABOUT $2.50-5/PACK)

ABOUT $1.50

MISO INGREDIENTS

HOW TO MAKE DASHI STOCK:
1. Wipe a strip of kelp w/ damp paper towel. Add the strip to a pot of cold H2O (5 cups).
2. Bring to a simmer over low heat, about 15-20 minutes allowing the kelp to infuse.
3. Remove kelp as soon as water reaches boiling point. Set kelp aside for the seaweed salad.
4. Add a packet of bonito flakes to the water for few minutes.
5. Remove and let flakes steep for 2 minutes, strain them out of the broth.

HOW TO MAKE MISO SOUP:
1. Whisk and mix 1/4 cup of dashi stock and miso paste until a smooth, creamy paste is achieved.
2. Add and whisk the mixture into the dashi stock and return to a simmer.
3. Add in diced tofu let simmer for 2 more minutes.
4. Garnish with scallions. Other garnish options: chives, onions, mushrooms, chopped spinach and a lot more....

The entire process takes about 25 to 30 minutes from the dashi stock to miso soup. The stock could be made in advance and refrigerate for 3 days or freeze until the next use. Miso soup can be kept in the ref for 3 days...but in my house the soup will not even see the ref=:)

KELP (SEAWEED SALAD)
Slice the following thinly: sweet onions and kelps. Mince garlic and ginger. Mix everything w/ spicy vinegar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

JAPANESE CHICKEN BBQ INGREDIENTS ( ANY KIND OF BEER CAN BE USED..I HAPPEN TO HAVE JAPANESE BEER IN THE HOUSE)

HOW TO MAKE JAPANESE BBQIngredients:
1 cup miso paste
1 cup beer
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar2 t sesame oil
1/8 t cayenne pepper (add more if you want it hot)
2 lbs. chicken (breast, wings or thighs w/c ever you like).

1. In a bowl, combine miso paste, beer, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and cayenne pepper.
2. Stir until the miso and sugar are dissolved. I usually set aside about a cup or so of the marinade (bring it to a boil) and use them to glaze the chicken right before serving.
3. Marinate chicken for at least and hour.
4. Preheat oven to 375 F. This could also be grilled.
5. Arrange chicken including the marinade on a baking pan and bake. Check chicken after 10 minutes and turn each pieces. Return to the oven to bake until tender and cooked

JAPANESE CHICKEN BBQ SERVED W/ STEAMED WHITE RICE

AND THE ENTIRE MEAL!!!
HOMEMADE MISO SOUP, SEAWEED SALAD AND JAPANESE CHICKEN BBQ.