Spicy Crispy Beef

 

Spicy Crispy Beef

 

Today while I was sitting at my desk reconciling an account and looking for 20 cents, I got an idea for dinner, weird right?  Probably why I couldn’t find the 20 cents, my mind was elsewhere.  Anyways I remembered one time a long, long time ago I went to a Thai restaurant in DC with a friend and we ordered Crispy Beef with Green Beans, very yummy.  

I needed a few things, like rice wine and chile paste, so I ran over to the Asian market.  This place is huge and has every single Asian item you can think of, it is interesting shopping there, especially since I can barely make out the labels.    

Well the Spicy Crispy Beef was a hit, I loved it, hubby loved it and our friends that we invited over loved it.  This gets a super delicious! 

Spicy Crispy Beef

• 1/4 tablespoon salt
• black pepper
• 12 ounces flank steak, thinly sliced
• 1 quart oil for frying
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon rice wine
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 7 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon chile paste
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger root
• 1/4 tsp crush red pepper
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup sliced onion
• 1/2 cup of fresh green beans

Heat oil in frying pan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine salt and pepper together. Mix thoroughly. Toss the steak slices.  Deep fry the steak slices until fulling cooked and crisped. Remove from oil, and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, combine the soy sauce, rice vinegar, rice wine and honey. Add sugar, chili paste, crushed red pepper, water, and ginger. Mix well and set aside.

Heat a wok or deep frying pan over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and quickly saute the onion, garlic and green beans for 30 seconds. Add the sauce mixture, and cook another 30 seconds. Finally, add the strips of fried steak and toss, coat with sauce, cook for additional 5 mins.

 

 

Peanut Butter and Turkey Burger?

Peanut Butter Turkey Burger

Yeah you read it right a Peanut Butter Turkey Burger.  I found the recipe on A Good Appetite and like she said don’t let the PB scare you, this is a gooooood burger.  If you like Asian cuisine you will like this burger, just think of an Asian dish with peanuts & ginger in it, it’s a very similar taste to that.

Mango Upside-Down Cake

 

Mango Upside-Down Cake

Today was a beautiful day in Tulsa, OK.  It had finally warmed up and we had beautiful sunny skies.  We decided to invite some friends to grill out and I wanted to make something sweet.  I still had a mango sitting on the counter, so I pulled out my Cooking Light cookbook that I got from the Goodwill for $2.50 and searched under mango.  I found this recipe and I had everything but the crystallized ginger, so I ran over to the store to pick some up.  I found it in the produce section where they keep the dry fruit and nuts.

 

This cake turned out delicious!  The sugar and crystallized ginger gave it this great crispy edge.  I encourage you….like always to try it out.  It was yummy deliciousness.

 

Mango Upside-Down Cake  8 Servings

• 1 Tbs butter or stick margarine, melted
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 Tbs chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 cup sliced peeled mango (about 1 medium)
• 2/3 cup gradulated sugar
• 5 Tbs of butter or margarine, softened
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup of milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.  Coat bottom of a 9 inch round cake pan with 1 Tbs melted butter.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and ginger.  Arrange mango slices spokelike over brown sugar mixture; set aside.

3.  Beat granulated sugar and 5 Tbs of butter at medium speed of a mixet until well-blended.  Add egg whites and vanilla, beating until will blended.  Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Add flour mixture to surgar mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

4.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Cool in pan 5 minutes on wire rack. Loosen cake from sides of pan.  Place a plate upside down on the top of the cake.  Invert onto plate, let cool and serve.

 

 

 

 

 

Pho Soup

I know it has been forever! I have been a little occupied with the move and getting settled it. We have been in Tulsa for a month now and we are liking it very much. Before we left Lakeland, FL my hubby and I went to our favorite sushi joint Gosh! Asian Bistro. Of course we usually went there for sushi, but this particular night my hubby tried something new.  We were sitting at the sushi bar and the lady next to us was served this HUGE bowl of soup, my hubby being a big fan of soup asked what it was, it was Pho Soup. 

This was some tasty soup.  When we arrived in Tulsa Hubby kept saying he wished we could find someone who made Pho Soup. Then we discovered this HUGH Asian market here in Tulsa and I decided that I could find a Pho Soup recipe and attempt it myself.  I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com and made some adjustments which are in blue.

Pho Bo (Hanoi Beef Chicken Noodle Soup)

Pho Soup

• 6 cups beef chicken broth
• 1 (1/4-inch thick) slice ginger
• 2 whole star anise*
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 1/4 pound piece boneless beef sirloin, trimmed of any fat
• 1 skinless boneless chicken breast
• 12 medium divined peeled raw shrimp
• 3 ounces dried flat rice noodles*
• 1/4 cup Asian fish sauce*
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
• 1/8 cup minced scallions
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro sprigs, washed and finely chopped
• 1 small thin fresh red or green Asian chilie, sliced very thin
• 1/2 cup fresh thai basil leaves
• Lime wedges for garnish
  *Available at Asian Markets

Directions
In a 2 quart saucepan bring broth, ginger, star anise, and cinnamon to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

With a very sharp knife cut sirloin across the grain into very thin slices.

In a large bowl soak noodles in hot water to cover 15 minutes, or until softened and pliable.

While noodles are soaking, bring a kettle of salted water to a boil for noodles. Drain noodles in a colander and cook in boiling water, stirring 45 seconds, or until tender. Drain noodles in a colander. Set aside.

Strain broth into saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in fish sauce, salt and pepper. Add sirloin and sprouts and cook 30 to 45 seconds, or until sirloin changes color. Skim any froth from soup.

To serve, divide noodles into 4 bowls. Ladle soup over noodles. Sprinkle scallion greens, cilantro, chilies and basil over soup and serve with lime wedges

I made this soup for the first time for some friends that we had over.  It went over very well and it was very filling.  Just an FYI when I went to the Asian Market there where like 100 different fish sauces and I took a lucky guess when I picked mine.  I worked out perfectly I got Huong Vi Que Nha / Mam Sac Xay……I don’t know what it means but it is gray in color and the fish is pureed.  Warning the sauce , which is more like a paste, does not have a pleasant smell to it, but it is a must have.   Believe me give this a try it is a great soup to curl up with on a cold day.