CRISPY KATAIFI WRAPPED SHRIMP

 What is Kataifi? They are shredded phyllo (filo) dough . Commonly used for sweets, like Ekmek Kataifi , a Greek Custard dessert which is one of my favorite dessert.

I bought the Athens brand of shredded phyllo dough for my ekmek and was glad to see that the box had a recipe for kataifi wrapped shrimp. I then divided the phyllo so i can make both.

This dough look like vermicelli. Since i have worked and fried vermicelli for my Crispy Noodles , I thought I could handle it. Well it was quite a challenge.  I posted a picture of how my first shrimp looked like.  It takes practice, patience and a little of your twist and quick movement of your wrist. You'll see what i mean. But over all they are worth it.

And of course me being me, i made my own version making the Athens recipe as my inspiration.

Ingredients ( Measurements are estimate)
Serves : 2 (we love shrimps)

Athens brand Kataifi (thawed)
10 pieces large size shrimps ( cleaned, deveined, tails on)
Lemon juice and zest of one lemon
2 T Sesame Oil ( 1 T for the marinade and 1 T for the cabbage)
2 T Cajun seasoning
1 t Hungarian Paprika
2 C shredded cabbage
2 cloves minced garlic
Canola oil for frying.
Bamboo skewers
Kochu Jang (Korean Hot Sauce)

Marinate shrimps with the lemon juice, zest, sesame oil, Cajun seasoning and Hungarian paprika.
Marinate inside the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Quickly saute' cabbage w/ garlic, sesame oil and S&P. Making sure the cabbage is cooked but still have the crunch. Set it aside.

Thread the shrimps onto the skewers.
Unroll and cut strands of kataifi. (Pls. check pictures below)
Roll and wrap each skewered shrimps leaving the tails unwrapped.

Deep fry the shrimps in a 350 degrees F oil, one at a time until they turn golden brown and crispy. You have to baby sit each shrimp, they cook fast.
Remove and set on a cookie rack to drain excess oil. (This is to avoid the bottom part to turn soggy)

Served with the shredded cabbage and  Kochu Jang (Korean hot sauce).
You may use different sauce like soy sauce,  Sriracha, sweet and sour sauce or tempura sauce why not.

WHAT I SHOULD DO THE NEXT TIME I MAKE THIS.
1. Make an egg flour batter and mix the marinade ingredients. The batter will help adhere the strands of kataifi around the shrimps. I believe this will make frying easier.

2. Work on a wider chopping board or those thin plastic chopping board for easy clean up (That's what i used)

So worth making these. Not only do they look pretty they are really good. The crunch of the kataifi , the sweet taste and tenderness of the shrimp, the heat from the cajun seasoning and the sauce....... perfect combination. Great for parties and holidays.

I served them w/ shredded cabbage and Kochu Jang ( Korean Hot Sauce)

Skewered the shrimps with bamboo sticks to prevent them from curling when cooked. Marinated the shrimp with lemon juice, Hungarian Paprika, Cajun seasoning and Sesame oil. Yes, i saved the shrimp heads and wrapped them with kataifi as well. 

Athens Brand Kataifi. (Shredded Phyllo Dough)

After some research, i learned that you can make your own kataifi by thinly slicing phyllo dough sheets. That is if you can't buy them.

Prepared and lined up my kataifi.. Cut and spread few strands of kataifi.

Rolling.

Rolled . Leave the tails uncovered

This is what i meant. 

The bottom shrimp was my first, the kataifi floated leaving a few around the shrimp. 

The middle one, i figured to anchor them down, looked better but i was not satisfied. 

On my third attempt i quickly lifted and rolled it around while frying to make sure the kataifi strands will wrap around the shrimp. 

Finally, they look perfect to me, just like the picture on the box ;)

I am making these again..that's for sure!!! I'm also thinking of making a similar version by using vermicilli. 

Kataifi Wrapped Shrimp served with Shredded Cabbage and Korean Hot Sauce.

A must try dish.

FILIPINO CHICHARON BABOY (Filipino Pork Rind Cracklings) Kulinarya Cooking Challenge

This month's Kulinarya Cooking Club's Challenge is inspired by the colors of the Philippine Flag. It's actually a challenge for the month of August and September. Hosted by Oggi, Chef by day, Boyet and Ray . 

Thanks for the a great challenge guys.

Required for the challenge:
- Must use and show Red, White, Blue and Yellow on your dish from plate to the garnish
-You may include the color of your garnish for as long as it is edible.

For this challenge i thought of Chicharon . I like my chicharon w/ substance, not a big fan of those "airy chicharon" . For me chicharon means Pork skin with fat and meat,  deep fried until it puffs up and become crispy and crunchy. Chicharon is another Filipino favorite pulutan (appetizer) served with cold San Miguel beer or chilled soda. But i personally like this w/ steamed rice. Like bbq, chicharon are ubiquitous in every street corners. Sold in plastic bags w/ vinegar as the dip.


This is one of my no reicpe recipe. It's the method and the process that's very important in order to have a crispy, crunchy chicharon.


Ingredients:


Pork skin with little fat and meat
water
garlic
salt (rock salt or kosher salt. Depends on how many lbs. of pork you are using, about 1/2 tsp per lbs.)
peppercorns (6 pieces)
bay leaf (3 leaves)


Place all dry  ingredients in a heavy pot adding water until the pork is covered about an inch high.


Bring to a boil until pork skin is tender ( about an hour).


Remove the pork and drain really well.


Cut into bite size and let these air dry or put in the fridge uncovered over night or so.


(IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE PORK SKINS ARE DRIED. THIS WILL ELIMINATE OR LESSEN THE SPLATTER DURING DEEP FRYING AND WILL MAKE THE SKINS PUFF )


After drying the pork skins overnight you are ready to deep fry them.


Heat up oil and fry the pork skin pieces in batches and cook until light golden brown and puffed up.


Carefully take the chicharon using "spider" or slotted spoon.


Make your dip. There are a lot of choices to go along the chicharon. Traditionally, coconut or sugar cane vinegar is the dip. You can do that or vinegar w/ little of soy sauce and chili w/c is what i have.


Serve with chilled beer -San Miguel or Stella ;) or plain chilled soda.


Like i said i prefer my chciharon w/ rice.


To my KCC members , after reading the challenge i think i missed one color ;). Well, i do have the colors alright, but technically i'm missing the white w/c was supposed to be in the plate, my white steamed rice. Pls.....pretend it's in there ;) . Thanks, for this challenge, this was clever ;p

STUFFED MUSHROOMS - ASIAN STYLE

September is National Mushroom Month! Who makes up this things anyways? not that i'm complaining...i actually love the idea.

So in honor of the National Mushroom Month, i challenged myself to come up with my own recipe for stuffed mushrooms. I thought of an Asian theme, ha! surprise, surprise! lol! I had some Chinese sausage in the fridge and spinach , so that became my main ingredient for the filling.

Husband and I both love, love these stuffed mushrooms that's why i'm sharing it! You can absolutely substitute Chinese sausage for other variety of sausage such as Polish sausages or Mexican sausages.

These are great as appetizer but if you know us better, it was our dinner served with steamed white rice. Yum!!!!

Ingredients:

1 dozen of medium to large button mushrooms (they are in season so you should be able to buy the large ones)
4 pieces of Chinese sausage-lop cheung f :(chopped- you can use the food processor)
1/2 C Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 C Chicharon (Pork rinds/ cracklings) crushed
1/2 cup fresh spinach (cleaned and chopped)
2 T soy sauce ( start w/ 2 T and add more if needed)
2 T unsalted butter
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 small sweet onions (chopped)
water if necessary

*** Salt and pepper aren't necessary, the Chinese sausage has enough of those.

1. Clean / wipe mushrooms w/ damped towel. Take out the stems, chop and these will be part of the filling.

2. On a hot pan, saute the sausage. Stir to brown the sausage, gradually rendering the fat.

3. Stir in the garlic and onions, saute until onions are cooked. Add the chopped mushrooms, stir until mushroom stems are cooked and all mixture are incorporated.

4. Add in 2 T soy sauce, taste and add more if needed. The sausages are already seasoned that's why soy sauce should be added little by little. Add little water if you think the filling is too dry.

5. Remove from heat, fold in the chopped spinach and let cool. Right before stuffing add the panko bread crumbs.

6. Put diced butter in the mushroom cups before adding the filling. This will make mushrooms moist.

7. Stuff all mushroom cups then top with crushed chicharon

8. Bake at 360 degrees F for 45 minutes or until mushrooms are cooked.

9. Drizzle w/ sriracha or soy sauce. Enjoy!!!

Like i mentioned...we served this w/ rice!

Chinese Sausages

Ready for the oven!

Very flavorful.  

Yummy with sriracha!

Love the crunchy texture of the chicharon,

POTSTICKERS (GYOZA/CHINESE DUMPLINGS)

Y: 1 pack of wonton wrapper about 50 pcs.

Filling:

4 C Napa cabbage (sliced thin)

1 ½ t salt

1 lb ground pork

1/2 lb fresh shrimps (cleaned and minced)

2 to 3 stalks of green scallions (minced)

2 pieces of wood ears mushrooms /black fungus (optional)

1/4 t white pepper

2 ½ T soy sauce

1 ½ T freshly grated ginger

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/2 t sesame oil

Oil and water for cooking

Slurry to seal the edges of the wonton wrappers:

2 T cornstarch

4 T water


Dipping Sauce:

1/2 C soy sauce

2 T rice wine vinegar

Dash of sesame oil

Chili oil to taste

Scallions minced to garnish


Procedure:

For the Dipping Sauce – Combine all ingredients in bowl. Set aside, can also be refrigerated for a week.


For the Slurry – Mix and stir cornstarch and water. Microwave for few seconds until you achieve a paste consistency.

For the Pot stickers:

1. Rehydrate/soak wood ears in luke warm water until tender, then chop.

2. Toss cabbage and salt. Squeeze out the liquid from the cabbage.

3. Combine the cabbage and all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

4. Fry a teaspoon of the filling to check and adjust the seasoning.

5. Refrigerate until cold about 30 minutes. It’s easier to wrap the filling when cold.

6. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of the wonton wrapper. Use enough of the mixture to fill out the wrapper completely without overstuffing it. Make sure to keep the edges clean giving you room to enclose the filling w/ the wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper with slurry.

7. Fold the bottom half of the wrapper to meet the top half that you moistened in the previous step and seal. At this point you will have the option to make a pleated or simple pot stickers.

8. Grease bottom of a nonstick pan with oil. Add the pot stickers by batches to the hot pan, laying them flat and being sure not to crowd. Place pan over medium high heat and cook for 4-5 minutes without moving. You want the sides to become golden brown.

9. Pour about 3 T of water and cover the pan for another 10 minutes. This is to steam the pot stickers.

9. Serve with the Dipping Sauce. These are delicious served hot!

I grind my own meat as much as possible.

Mis en place

A spoonful of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wonton wrapper with slurry.

Make the pleats on one side of the wrapper.

It should look like this.

I always make a lot, freeze them for later use. Place the potstickers on a sheet pan and place in the freezer.  Once the potstickers are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag. The potstickers can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Cook the potstickers without thawing.



CHIPOTLE HONEY ROASTED PEANUTS

I have been blessed with wonderful cyber friends who i've known for years, thanks to cyberworld. How close and good friends we've become? If meeting with each other, texting/talking over the phone for hours, sharing our ups and downs, receiving care packages, cards and more from each other will not count, then i don't know how else to describe what a good and wonderful cyber friends i have.

Received a bday package from VERONICA and in the package is this addicting peanuts among other yummy stuff. This is so good that i could finish a pound of these in one seating, i kid you not=;) I know, i know it's not good but hey...

So i have to ask for the recipe, click her name for her version. The only thing i changed was the kind of peanuts. Her reicpe calls for peeled while i used the unpeeled because it was what i had. But really, there's no difference they are both as good.



INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle chile powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound skinless peanuts (i used with skin)



DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Stir together the sugar, chipotle powder, chili powder, and garlic powder in a small bowl; set aside.

Stir together the butter, honey, and kosher salt in a large saucepan over medium heat until the butter has melted, and the mixture is bubbly. Stir in the peanuts until well coated, then pour out into a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Bake in preheated oven until the nuts are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Stir the mixture 2 or 3 times to ensure even cooking. Once done, scrape the peanuts into a large metal bowl, and sprinkle with the spice mixture. Toss the peanuts to evenly coat with the spice mixture. Allow the peanuts to cool to room temperature, tossing every few minutes so the nuts do not stick together.

GUACAMOLE

Recipe from "THE COMPLETE MEXICAN, SOUTH AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN COOKBOOK"

Y: 8
Ingredients:
4 medium tomatoes (concasse')
4 ripe avocados,  preferably fuerte/Florida avocado (Green)
juice of 1 medium lime
1/2 small sweet onion
2 garlic cloves
small bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
3 fres red chiles
salt
tortilla chips, to serve

1. How to make tomato concasse'-
  - Cut a cross in the base of each tomato. Place the tomatoes in a heatproof bowl and pour over boiling water to cover.
  -Leave the tomatoes in the water for 3 min. then lift them out using a slotted spoon and plunge them into a bowl of cold water. Drain. The skins will have begun to peel back from the crosses. Remove the skins completely. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the seeds w/ a teaspoon, then chop the flesh rougly and set it aside.

2. Cut the avocados in half, then remove the pits. Scoop the flesh out of the shells and place it in a food processor or blender. Process until almost smooth, then scrape into a bowl and stir in the lime juice.

3. Chop the onion finely, then crush the garlic, Add both to the avocado and mix well. Stir in the cilantro.

4. Remove stalks from the chiles, slit them, and scrape out the seeds with a small sharp knife. Chop the ciles finely and add them to the avocado mixture with the chopped tomatoes. Mix well.

5. Check the seasoning and add salt to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour before serving as a dip with tortilla chips.

**If it is well covered, guacamole will keep in the ref for 2-3 days.

I love these new scoop shaped chips..perfect for this kind of dips!

No more double dipping!!! I serve it this way, the guest will have a choice of plain guacamole or a combination of the queso dip check recipe HERE

CRISPY MUSHROOMS AND JALAPENOS

Easy Peasy Appetizer II

Ingredients:
Button mushrooms
Jalapeno (top part of the stuffed jalapeno)
Panko bread crumbs
Italian breadcrumbs (seasoned)
Ranch dressing
eggs
flour

1. Prepare the breading station.
1st bowl- flour seasoned w/ S&P
2nd bowl - 2 eggs beaten w/ little milk or water
3rd bowl - combination of panko and Italian breadcrumbs

2. Deep mushrooms and jalapeno into the breading station from 1st to 3rd bowl.

3. Deep fry. Drain oil.

4. Serve w/ ranch or any other dipping/dressing sauce you want.

ENJOY!!!!

STUFFED JALAPENOS

Easy Peasy appetizer!

Ingredients:
Jalapenos
bacon
cheese ( i used muenster cheese)

Cut the top part of the jalapeno (save them for another appetizer) then take out seeds.



Cut cheese enough to fit inside the peppers. Cut bacon lenghtwise then wrap the stuffed jalapeno securing both ends of bacon w/ toothpick to prevent shrinkage.






Bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until bacon is cooked.

ENJOY!!!!

Rolled Prosciutto and Sole (Rotolini di sogliola prosciutto e alloro

Got the inspiration from my flickr contact saledolce. Saledolce originally posted the recipe in Italian and asked a great favor to translate the recipe into English so i can make it. I did a little tweaking to the recipe, I added some lemon juice, used shallots. This was a hit in my family. We all liked this dish and will definitely make it again.

Thanks again, Saledolce.

Lay some prosciutto slices on a flat board then lay strips of sole on each prosciutto, season with S&P and add 2 to 3 cubes of butter then roll.

Insert little sprigs of fresh rosemary.

Serve warm with the white sauce.

This is the wine i used for the sauce and ofcourse served this chilled w/ the rolled sole and prosciutto.

Ingredients:

4 sole fillets (each fillets sliced into 3 strips)

12 prosciutto slices (I used thin slices of prosciutto de Parma)

small sprigs of rosemary for each rolled prosciutto



Sauce Ingredients:

1 laurel leaves

1 medium shallots

1 clove garlic minced

4 sprigs of parley chopped and some for garnish

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 Tablespoon flour

2 Tablespoon butter

olive oil

salt and pepper



Place a strip of sole on a slice of prosciutto, season with a pinch S&P and butter then roll.
Continue the same process until all the sole are wrapped and rolled w/ prosciutto. Insert small sprigs of rosemary into each rolls. Place the rolled sole on a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until the sole turns white.

While the rolls are baking, prepare the sauce. Make a roux. In a pan, melt the butter, olive oil, over very low heat. Add the shallots, garlic, laurel leaves and chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper. Gradually sprinkle the hot melted butter and oil with flour and immediately begin stirring. Stir the mixture constantly until it reaches the desired color, for this dish a blonde roux (white roux). Add the wine and juice of a half small lemon, keep stirring until the wine and juice are incorporated into the roux. Taste and adjust the seasoning at this point.



Serve the rolled sole warm with the sauce.