Cooking Thread~ Recipes & Things

Instead of making icing, make chocolate fudge, and ice the cake with it while the fudge is liquid; put it in the fridge to set. Liquid fudge won't go on as thick as a good icing will, but once it firms up it'll have an appropriate texture, and be quite delicious with even a thin layer. On a chocolate cake, put some cherry filling in the middle for a counterpart to the double chocolate of cake + fudge.

 

Easy Tilapia and Scallop stew
originally from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/tilapia-seafood-stew.html

1 lb Tilapia
1 lb tiny scallops farmed in China
28oz can of diced tomatoes
4 tbsp diced garlic from jar
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk of celery, chopped
salt and pepper shakers
1 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1 cup white wine
olive oil
dried oregano
dried chives
baguette of some sort (ciabatta is actually better than most for this)

Original recipe called for mussels; I think it's better with scallops, even cheap ones. I'd rather put a little more wine in than water, and am partial to red pepper flakes.

Set the oven to broil so it warms up.

Chop up the onion and celery, and dry the jarred diced garlic in paper towels. Or dice four cloves of garlic, that works too. Heat a pot on medium heat until water flicked on it beads and bubbles. Put two or three tablespoons of olive oil in the pot, pour in the chopped veggies and garlic, stir them around for about five minutes so they soften.

Shake salt and black pepper over the stew, and add the red pepper flakes. Pour in the can of diced tomatoes and stir until mixed. Cook for another ten minutes or so, stirring regularly.

While the stew is cooking, slice the baguette into nice fat slices and put them on a baking pan. Put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small bowl, shake some oregano and chives into the bowl and mix it up. Use a brush to brush the mixture onto the top of the slices in the baking pan.

Add the wine, parsley, and scallops to the stew. Stir it a bit, then add the Tilapia, and push it down into the mix so it's fully surrounded by hot liquid. Put the top on and let it cook for five or ten minutes.

Put the pan of oiled bread into the oven, set a timer for three or four minutes. If it is left in much longer than that it will be charred past edibility.

Take the bread out and let it cool somewhere. Take the cover off the stew and attempt to break the fish up with a spatula or shallow spoon, if it's done it will break up easily. Break the fish into little bits.

Serve the stew in a bowl or deep plate, with the bread on the side, for eating and sopping up the stew broth.

 

http://barbecuebible.com/recipe/tea-smoked-duck-with-hoisin-barbecue-sauce/

TanaNari

 

Ingredients you’ll need:
Tanuki Stew
1 brined tanuki, cut into pieces (brine recipe here)
1 cup carrots
1 large onion, diced
1 tart apple, diced
1 ½ cups mushrooms
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 bottle stout beer
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1-2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 sprigs rosemary
10 sprigs thyme
small bunch parsley

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/ca...e-brined-bandit-and-sweet-potato-hash#page-13

 

Cooking is a hobby of mine.

Let's start with something sweet and simple.

Kompot

You'll need:
A Large Pot
A small knife
Some bowls? For organisation.
Large spoon or ladle

Ingredients:
Fruit! Just... Fruit. This part is to taste. Traditional options include apples, plums, etc. Fresh and frozen both work. Whatever you have on hand. Don't skimp - maybe a medium-sized bowl for each type, if you're using three different fruits?
Berries and other similar ingredients are an option, as well.
Stay away from things like raspberries or blackberries, though, the seeds are a problem.
Sugar - A large cup of it. Think a tall mug. This will probably be a few cups(measured).
Honey(Optional)
One Lemon

I'll recommend cherries, plums, and strawberries. From experience, this is a very tasty combination.

First step, pit the cherries and cut the plums into halves. Remove greens from strawberries, etc. You can cut them smaller, if you'd like, but halves will do. While you do this, put the pot on to boil. You'll want around 3 litres of water, but the recipe scales up just fine.
If you're using some other kind of fruit, prepare with common sense. Cut out apple cores, and you're going to want to slice those a bit smaller than you would plums. That sort of thing. Don't be afraid of making mistakes at this stage, the worst you can do is get seeds or pits in the pot.

Once your water is boiling, add the fruit. Set a time for 30 minutes, and start that up once the water's back up to a nice boil. Lower the heat a bit.
You'll need to give it some attention during this stage. Shuffle the fruit around, keep it moving.

About ten minutes in, you'll see the water is changing colours to match the fruit you used - this is good! Once it's dyed nice and clear, you'll add the sugar. It'll almost certainly seem to be too much, but that's okay. That's right.
If you're using honey, this is when you'd add that. Two large spoonfuls of honey is about right for 3 litres of water. The spoon would be one size up from a regular eating spoon, but not quite as large as a full-sized serving spoon. Eyeball it, and adjust to taste on later batches. Pausing the timer while you add the sugar and get the mix back up to a full boil wouldn't hurt.

Now, continue to shuffle the fruit around. Stir a bit! Make sure the sugar dissolves. Once that 30 minute timer is finished, take a look at your fruit. It should be soft, and the water should be - if you're using the recommended fruit, at least - a deep red in the pot. It may need a bit more time, depending on what you used for fruit. Feel free to give it a little extra time if you're unsure.

Remove from heat.

Now, add the juice from the lemon. Personally, I just cut the lemon in half, and really squeeze down on that thing over the pot. No need to juice it or anything, the main purpose of the lemon juice is to cut the sweetness of the sugar and fruit.
Don't skip this. The lemon juice makes a huge difference to the final result.

With the lemon added, you're done! The fruit should stay in the water - it's an important part of the recipe!
Kompot is both a delicious drink, and a handy snack!

Serve immediately, while still hot. Or don't! It's a cold winter, though, so it's nice to have a warm drink.
Kompot can easily be stored in jars for preservation - it will really last, if you can it properly, but just sticking it in a pitcher and throwing it in the fridge, it's not going to spoil any time soon. I would suggest seran wrap over the top, or something, if you expect it to be more than a couple of weeks, though.

 

Simple general purpose bread dough recipe.

As stated in the name, this is my recipe for general purpose bread, add more sugar to make a sweet bread. Add any filling for savory or sweet bread. I use this recipe for nearly all my homemade bread needs, tweaking here and there if needed for a specific purpose or another.

Dough:

500 grams All purpose flour

200 to 350 grams/ml of room temperature water

5 grams of salt

10 grams of sugar

20 to 50 grams/ml of oil, butter or fat, this is optional and I generally don't add it

5 grams of instant dry yeast

Procedure:

Mix the dry ingredients using your hands, a stand mixed with the dough attachment or a food processor with the cutting blade attachment. Add half of the water and the oil to the mix and knead or mix until it is absorbed. Add more water until it becomes an homogeneous dough that doesn't stick to your hands or mixing bowl. Once kneaded leave it to rest for half an hour, when rested cut and shape as desired. Giving it 45 to 60 minutes to rise again once shaped.

I generally make small balls of the size of golf balls to bake small buns, occasionally I shape for small rolls or a big loaf. Another use is shape small balls and then roll them open with a pastry pin, I then use a dry skillet to make pita style flatbread.

At the modeling point you can add some filling to the dough, like a piece of cheese, chocolate, sausage mix or anything firm, then seal it well and bake at 180 Celsius for 10 to 20 minutes.

Notes:

As I said this is my general dough, if I add some baking powder I can make steamed buns, it takes somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes to steam.

If you blend carrots, onions or herbs to the water and oil you can make a savory bread with whatever you blend to it. My favorite variant is to blend carrots, onions and a bullion cube to make a carrot bread. Those don't last here and are commonly eaten plain. Just adding dry herbs of your liking to the dough makes for a simple and tasty herb bread.

Creativity and practice are the limits when using this simple dough. As long as you keep the liquid ingredients under 60% weight from the flour and if needed add more flour, you can't really go wrong with it.

It is my go to recipe when I want to make bread quickly and without much fuzz.

Depending on how fast I want to make the bread I use a food processor to make the dough, it takes far less time than a stand mixer or by hand. You do need to knead it a bit after the dough is formed as the blades normally turn it into several small balls of dough with some larger clumps of smaller balls.

I hope that it helps and you enjoy if you make use of this recipe.

 

The following recipe is something that I don't know how to class it exactly. It is something that works as a marinade as well as a mirepoix base for many dishes if you saute it.

Ingredients:

1 large onion

4 large cloves of garlic, or more to taste

1 or 2 red chili peppers, up to your preference for spice level, I normally use milder hot peppers, it can also be used dried peppers either flakes or whole, seeds can also be removed

1/4 cup of vinegar, white, rice, apple or distilled, if you don't want the acidity you can replace it for water

Salt to taste

Optional ingredients:

Green onions/ scallions, garlic chives, parsley, coriander, ginger, bell peppers, sugar, carrots, and well I guess that anything that you like you can custom this basic recipe depending of what you want to use it for or just tailor it for your own personal mix.

How to prepare:

Chop the onion in medium to small chunks, no need to be accurate, same with any other large ingredient. Toss everything into a blender or food processor and blend. It can be as chunky or smooth as you desire, my personal choice is smoothish paste for marinating and a drier and slightly chunkier texture for using as a mirepoix.


Notes:

It is a rather flavorful mixture and a easy way to get some of the prepping done ahead of time for when you don't have time or just want something done quickly. When I first got the recipe it was meant to be made in a moderately large amount, around one or two average sized jars, to be stored in the fridge for use.

Given the amount of garlic, salt and pepper it stores well, with the added vinegar it lasts longer. Making a large batch and keeping stored for use for the next week or so of cooking. Of course depending of your mix it might not match Western dishes, as if you use more Western leaning ingredients it might not suit Asian dishes. The basic recipe with or without the vinegar can be used anywhere as it is just onions, garlic and peppers.

The amounts noted in this recipe are meant to produce a small amount of the mix, a test of the recipe that should last for three to five different dishes, maybe less if you are somewhat heavy handed on this seasoning. Once pleased with your personal mix making larger batches just require increasing the ingredients as needed.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe if you use it.

 

Quick carrot and daikon radish pickle.

I always liked daikon radishes and a since a few years back I have been trying, keyword trying, to make takuan radish pickles. I got something similar but not the same. Since for me takuan doesn't match food outside Japanese food, and I had a couple of radishes lying around I decided to make another pickle.

It is based on the one used in the bah min, or whatever it is spelled, sandwiches. It certainly helps to buff up a sandwich and is pretty tasty. However for the first week or so it stinks like crazy, you open it in the kitchen and someone in the other side of the house will know. Everyone in my family likes it even though we all bitch about the stink. After a while it does lose some of the potent smell, yet it remains nice and crunchy.

This pickle isn't a sweet pickle, the sugar is there to give a faint barely there hint of sweetness and to help cut the acidity of the vinegar.

Ingredients:

Carrot

Daikon radish, the amounts for these two is the same, some 500g of carrot gets another 500g of daikon

Vinegar, this one also changes with the amount of the roots, it should cover the vegetables, adding some water to cut back the bite a bit is ok. This time I used apple vinegar, but white or distilled also do the job, rice is the traditional but I rather use the more common apple or distilled

Salt

Sugar

Chili to taste or optional

A teaspoon of mustard optional, I make my own prepared mustard and I add it to give the pickle a bit more layers, but it isn't essential or traditional, feel free to not use it. My mustard is somewhere between Dijon style, yellow mustard and lightly coarse. I make it less tangy and a little sweeter as well.

How to prepare:

Wash the vegetables, peeling is optional, then slice them into matchsticks or thin batons. I go for wide matchstick not much bigger than a inch in length. Some people salt the roots after chopped to draw out moisture, if I have time and salt to spare I might do it, normally I don't.

Mix the vinegar with a level tablespoon of salt and two level tablespoons of sugar until both dissolve, if adding the mustard it can be done here. Add your chili, since I purchase a lot of dried chili flakes and they keep well I use that kind but fresh chopped chili is good as well. I used a small teaspoon worth of flakes, it wasn't horribly hot, but next time that I make it I will use half the amount. Or don't add the chili if you don't want the heat.

At this point taste the vinegar, adjust salt, sugar and acidity. It shouldn't be overly salty or sweet, the acidity is a bit trickier it shouldn't be drinking undiluted vinegar bad, just a bit below that. I go mostly by taste, remembering that this is a pickling brine. Put the vegetables on a jar of your preference, something airtight because it will stink up if it isn't, opening your fridge to the pungent smell of pickled radish isn't pleasant.

Add the brine to the jar or jars until it cover the vegetables, close the jars and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes, after the rest taste the pickle, it is good to eat then and there but giving it 30 minutes is my advise. This taste test is to check for seasoning and tartness, adjust if needed or desired, close and give another 30 minutes.

Store in the fridge, since is a pickle it lasts a long time and I never really measured it, my newest batch was made two Sundays ago and I finished it today, still good and crispy. The extra time will let the chili infuse more into the brine and vegetables, if you don't do any adjustments for seasoning after mixing the original brine for a day after the full day the pickle should be at the level that the brine won't do more than preserve the vegetables.

If you find it to be too salty, sweet, bland or acid you can add water/vinegar, salt or sugar until you like the result. Or you don't and just adjust the recipe to correct the unbalance in your next batch. Personal preference weights a lot here.


Notes:

As mentioned earlier, I mostly use this to add more stuffing into a sandwich, since it is pretty strong the ingredients of the sandwich might get pushed back unless they too are strong in flavor depending on how much pickle you add. They shouldn't be bad to eat alongside steamed rice as a sidedish, it will certainly cut through rich and fatty dishes. They also go a long way in a salad, because it is a pickle will also help seasoning the salad, so take it in consideration when dressing the salad.

Once again I hope that you like this recipe. I admit that I am writing these recipes a bit confusingly, but these are very basic recipes and my additions of possible changes to it are the ones that I use, then you consider personal tastes that need to be accounted for. If you think that I should try to make these recipes cleaner in a cookbook kind of way please let me know.

 

Try this recipe for the Korean variant. It's essentially the same thing except maybe a little less sweet and more on the sour, and the recipe for this one uses ingredients that would be easier to find in western countries. http://www.marecipes.com/danmuji/

 

I am not that well versed with alcohol, but it depends on which spirits you intend to use. Like what kinds of liquor you plan on buying to use or have at hand.

A Brazilian Caipirinha can be made with white rum, lime wedges, ice and sugar. It is fairly cheap, the rum can be replaced by vodka, and yes it is a very common and 'traditional' replacement.

To make you cut the lime in wedges, squeeze on a whisky glass, throw the wedges in as well, add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and mash the mix with a mortar or any utensil that can be used as such. You want to bruise the lime and mix the juice sugar. Add ice to fill the glass and them pour the spirit in leaving half a inch or so to the top empty, stir gently and it is done. You can decorate the glass with a slice or wedge of lime.

Instead of lime you can use other citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit, kiwi and so on. I didn't add accurate measurements because it is mostly to taste.

Another common cocktail would be the old rum and coke, I am unfamiliar with the measures for it.

There is one that I am not that familiar with but it requires one part spirit, one part fruit syrup and four parts of orange juice. You pour the alcohol first, then with a spoon gently pour the syrup to not mix with the alcohol, then gently pour the juice again using the spoon to try and prevent the liquids from mixing. Use a tall glass for this one.

These are the ones that I know on the top of my head, I don't drink much so I can't be of much help. There is this youtube channel called Tipsy Bartender, it is focused quite heavily on college style cocktails and some of the videos that he posted were about budget cocktail making and alcohol purchase. He actually made a video or two where he buys a party worth of drinks to make cocktails for 20 bucks.

Here is the links:

The channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaDY8WjYWy36bnt0RVzSklw

20 bucks budget

College party for 100 bucks

I hope that this helps.

 

Here come a rather new but now favorite of mine Chili/hot oil. One youtube channel that I follow posted this recipe a while back and after some time with it nagging me I decided to try out to see if it was any good. Well I got hooked to hot oil. I am not fond of overly spicy foods, but the oil does add a lot of flavor to the dishes where it is used. I am not pretty much using it to nearly every Asian or Asian style dish that I make, on my own share of course.

This one recipe is why I began purchasing chili flakes on bulk frequently, I don't buy more than 200 grams and that last me a long, long while, with not all of it used for hot oil.

Basic recipe:

500 ml of neutral vegetable oil, I use soy bean oil but canola, sunflower or any other flavorless cooking oil will do

20 to 50 g of chili flakes, you can use fresh chili if you like or increase the amount of chili if you want it spicier, I mostly eyeball it, remove the seeds of the fresh ones if you want to make it less potent

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of sugar 'optional'

50 ml of toasted sesame seed oil

My additional stuff that is mandatory to my personal recipe:

10 cloves of crushed garlic, or more

2 bunches of chopped green onions, or more

1 inch of thinly chopped ginger, or a bit less, I know, I love garlic but I am not that keen on ginger as it can take over everything else

2 tablespoons of sesame seeds, black or white or both

1 whole thinly chopped leek, or more, this one is rare since leeks are pricy here

A pinch of MSG, I know that some people don't like it, but I have no issues with it and neither do my family, MSG is pretty normal here in Brazil so no one really bats an eyelash to it

My normal batch use everything save the leek as I don't buy it often, I also make at the very least 500 ml of it per batch, if not more when I have some extra oil lying around or I buy a full bottle just for it. In Brazil cooking oil comes in 1L bottles, so we normally only get one bottle when we do the grocery when needed. I wish that we had the gallon bottles here, especially for cheap, same with vinegar.

Hot oil when kept in a closed container lasts for quite a while, the solids are soaking in oil and have no water so it won't spoil. And said solids are the best part of it for me. I put it on my steamed rice, ramen noodles, on butter to make it fancier, the possibilities are endless. I normally run out of solids before I am through with the oil itself. You can strain out the solids after two or three days after the oil is made if you wish to bottle just the oil, I sometimes strain the solids and the dryish solids can get mixed to some butter as I mentioned before, a tablespoon goes a long way with butter. Most of it gets eaten with rice or noodles.

How to prepare:

Place all the solids inside a large bowl or pot, it must be large and tall since you will pour the hot (temperature wise) oil over the mixture and it will froth and fry, I made a massive mess and waste once when I forgot about it and tossed the solids on the oil pan, it spilled over and it was a pain to clean.

Heat the oil on a tall sauce pan or a tall milk pan, some sources says to heat the oil to the smoke point, I don't. I heat the oil until the point where bubbles forms when I place a chopstick inside the oil. Pour the oil over the pepper and other solids in small amounts, it will fry, be careful to not breath the vapors. It is loaded with the spicy compound and can be very irritating and cough inducing. Keep pouring until you poured all the oil.

I normally stir the mixture a bit, maybe it prevents it from burning or it does nothing. I taste the oil carefully, adding extra salt or sugar if needed, or a bit more of pepper flakes or any of the garlic family listed above. Once I am pleased with the taste I let it cool down to room temperature and add the sesame seed oil. After the sesame seed oil is added and mixed in I recommend that you bottle or jar it immediately.

Sesame seed oil is fragrant but loses its taste and scent overtime, therefore it should be stored sealed well. The oil also adds extra flavor to the mixture, but it isn't mandatory, it tastes good without the sesame seed oil. Plus if you add the sesame seeds, which will toast in the frying, you will get some of the fragrance there without the need of the sesame oil.

This recipe doesn't really have a clear best use by date, it does last for a long while as I have a bottle of oil that is at least 2 months old and still as good as it was when I made it. For how long it lasts? Well, it depends of how much you use it. My brother is a fuck up who pretty much drinks any sauces and condiments, the oil bottle that I mentioned would be gone in a couple of days if I didn't keep in my room. I use it a lot, frequently and not in amount of oil used, and I am just a two thirds of the way down the 1L bottle.

As long you keep the hot oil inside a closed container and away from light and heat it should last at least two months with no signs of spoilage or losing flavor. Inside a PET bottle with a tight lid or a good mason or similar jar. I suppose that it can be refrigerated as well.

I hope that you all enjoy this recipe, I know that I do.

My next recipe might be one for a vinegar based garlic sauce that I like.

 

Garlic sauce, possibly with herbs

As I mentioned in the hot oil post I am very, very fond of garlic. Here in Brazil we can find garlic sauce in the supermarkets/grocery stores. My favorite brand is a bit pricy so I decided to make my own version of it. Sadly I can't get the sauce to become a perfectly homogeneous mix, it decants when left alone for a while so it needs a good shake before using. Other than that it is very close to my favorite store bought brand.

Ingredients:

1 cup of vinegar, I often use distilled white for this, as long it is not red wine or balsamic you can use any other for this

1/4 cup op water, to cut a bit the acid and the garlic, as well counter the simmer and boil that will come later

4 to 10 cloves of garlic, large ones, use as many as you like

1/2 to 1 tablespoon of fine herbs or herb de provence, dried ones, this recipe might not work with fresh, however the herbs are optional, plain garlic sauce is common, my favorite is the one with herbs. Heck, if you want you can replace the herbs for a small fresh chili, chili flakes or dried chili in small amounts to make garlic sauce with pepper, which is another common variation.

1/2 to 1 tablespoon of sugar

1/2 to 1 tablespoon of salt


Directions:

Coarsely chop the peeled garlic cloves and toss it in a blender with everything else and blende well. The best texture is smooth with just some flakes of herbs. If you use dried chili flakes add them after blending, fresh ones can be added before blending.

Pour the mix on a saucepan and bring it to a simmer, the objective is to remove any excessive rawness from the garlic. The sauce needs the bite of raw garlic so don't overcook it, you just want to take out the edge. At this point taste for salt, it shouldn't be salty, but seasoned enough that when used it doesn't remove the seasoning of what is being used on.

Don't boil the sauce or reduce it, once the raw edge is gone let it cool down and then bottle it. Since is a vinegar based condiment/sauce it won't spoil.

Notes:

This sauce/condiment is used as a table sauce or condiment. Often to add extra flavor to a sandwich, savory pastry or adding to a meat in your meal. I normally use it to add some extra to sandwiches. Sometimes I use it as a base for a quick marinade as it has garlic and herbs on it. Another common use for me is to mix some of the sauce to some butter or margarine to make garlic bread or toast.

Admittedly this sauce isn't from everyone, not everyone wants extra garlic on whatever they are eating. Here in Brazil we have these savory foods that are meant for a quick snack or meal, so we use many sauces to add to said foodstuffs and this garlic sauce is one of those.

Still this sauce makes for a good pantry/fridge stock, as you can use it to make garlic butter or a quick marinade with it on a pinch when you don't have the time or just feel too lazy to make everything from scratch. If I figure how to prevent it from separating I will add the information here in a new note.

As usual I hope that you enjoy this recipe if you decide to try it out.

 

Salt and garlic paste.

Here in Brazil we have this seasoning that is sold to be used in place of garlic and some of the salt when you are cooking things such as rice, beans, meat and pasta sauces. We call it salho, a combination of the wolds sal and alho, salt and garlic. It is a very common seasoning/spice to use when cooking.

I was taught by my relatives when young to use some, like a small pinch or so, to season some butter when making panini like toast out of old bread. It gives it loads of extra flavor and makes something that could be a tad boring into something extra tasty.

As I said before, the main use for this is to be used kind like a sofrito or similar mixes when cooking. The most common use is to fry some with oil when you are cooking rice, stir fry the rice on the seasoned oil for a bit before adding the water and cooking it and you have a lightly seasoned rice. BTW here we fry some garlic and maybe onions to our white rice to add some extra flavor.

Ingredients

Garlic, I would say ten or fifteen large cloves, but it is mostly up to how much you want to make

Salt, this one is added not as much to taste but to give the consistency that you want to the paste, you want something close to damp sand, so it might take a lot of salt based on how much garlic and oil you use

Oil, this one is not much, just enough to help the garlic and the initial dose of salt to blend well, most of the liquid of this recipe comes from the garlic or other ingredients added to it

Optional ingredients:

Red chili of your choice, here we use a type called malagueta or dedo de moça when making, malagueta is a very hot one while the other is milder. I suppose that a jalapeno will do the trick or a thai chili. Remove the seeds if you feel like it, and BTW this is the one recipe that I don't use dried flakes.

Onion, one small, a half or so of a larger one unless you are making a large batch

Dried herbs of your preference

Fresh herbs of your preference

Freshly ground black pepper

The mandatory ingredients make the basic version of Salho, it is just that, salt and garlic already mashed and ready to use. Another popular variation is the 'Tempeiro Completo' where black pepper, green onions and parsley are added to the mix. This Complete one have another variant as Spicy where you add the chili to the blend.

There is also the Spicy Salho where just the chili is added to it. I would say that one large chili pepper is enough for a half kilo batch unless you want it extra spicy as this seasoning is just a base to be built on rather than the only seasoning needed in a recipe.

How to prepare:

Peel the garlic if isn't already peeled, add it to a food processor with a tablespoon of salt and another tablespoon of oil, with any of the extra ingredients. Blend until it becomes a paste, add more salt until you reach the desired consistency. Store in a jar with a good lid. It doesn't requires refrigeration but it also doesn't affect it if you do.

Notes

This is a more than a flavored salt, as I said before this is cooking ingredient. It it not meant to be used as salt in salads or in popcorn. You toss this in a pan with oil to season something. It can be used in marinades or to season meats before grilling said meats. It can be mixed to butter to be used when making toasts using a over or a skillet.

My personal favorite is the Complete mix with mild spice. As I said I most often use it when making toast with a skillet, but I also use as a rub for beef or pork, or as part of a marinade and to season rice or beans.

As I am currently pickling some garlic, the salt that I am using to draw moisture of said garlic becomes similar to this recipe, it does lack the garlic solids that this one does. But it is still a viable replacement or just adding to this recipe.

The reason for the Complete to be called complete is that in most regions of Brazil the main ingredients for seasoning food are salt, garlic, onions, parsley, black pepper and green onions, with coriander added in other regions. So in theory you don't need any of the aforementioned spices and herbs when using it.

Salho doesn't last long here in my house as it gets used in a flash when I purchase or make it. Since it spares one from peeling and crushing garlic, generally saving time and effort.

Beyond the basics I didn't name any herbs or spices as you can make your own personal blend suited to your preferences and those of your family.

As usual I hope that you like this recipe if you make it.

 

Bread pudding.

To break the monotony of sauces, condiments and seasonings I decided to post this recipe. It does help that I decided to make it today. I am aware that in the UK and the US the definition of pudding is different from each other as well from the Brazilian take on it. My particular take is somewhere between a flan a cake.

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 liter of milk

1 tablespoon of vanilla, extract or essence whichever you have access to

10 bread rolls, here in Brazil the default bread is based on the French baguette and somewhere between 5 to 7 inches long, I suppose that larger loafs can be used although I am unsure of the amounts, same with white sliced bread. Oh yeah, the bread must be stale, not moldy, just old and dry. Fresh can be used but this recipe is meant to use leftover bread

1 cup of sugar, adjust to taste based on your preference

Directions:

You can take to directions here, one you place the bread on a large pot and pour the milk over it and then let it soak, or you can blend the eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk and then pour the mix on the bread to soak. Once the bread is falling apart and soggy blend everything until smooth on a blender.

Place the mix on a cake tin, here in Brazil we have one that has a hole in the middle, it is tall and the final product is a round and tall cake. It is also good for puddings as the 'hole' let heat pass through it and cooks the center area. But a regular baking pan will do the job if you don't have one of those, it will take longer for the mix to set. Fill the tin and then cover it with aluminum foil, place the tin on a baking pan with water and bake.

I don't have a accurate time, I just poke the mix with a skewer and when it comes clean it is done. Give 15 minutes and test for doneness every 5 or so minutes.

You could bake without the foil, but it might burn the top or get too brown. Some people remove it from the tin and pour a simple caramel sauce over it before serving, others just sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top, I personally don't do either, I eat mine plain. I make it sweet enough that it doesn't require anything else.

I hope that you enjoy this recipe, the measurements are just guidelines, you can increase them as needed. The eggs are the most important thing as it sets and makes the pudding get its 'firm' texture when ready, it is like a firm flan.

 

Ice candy/Ice lollies/Popsicle without a stick

Here in Brazil we have this frozen treat that has many names, I know it as Chup-chup, but is also known as brazinha and sacole. It is wonderful in the summer and in other hot days. When young when I had some pocket money I would buy one outside my school or when I lived with my father on the way back from school. It was cheap, 25 cents each. After a certain point that I can't remember I couldn't find anyplace that sold it. One my mother's boyfriend's mother used to make them and when we visit we could have some.

Fast forward several years, around 6 years ago, I learned how to make ice cream at home using some purposely made ingredients. I decided to make this ice cream treat that was sold in a thick plastic bag. I failed to bag the ice cream into these ice candy bags that I bought in a store near where I lived then. After putting the ice cream in the tub that we had lying around from past ice creams I was hit with the idea of making the ice candy.

So I went online and looked for recipes, by then I didn't find that many and they didn't agree in some ingredients. After all it is all home made, as the stuff that I used to buy as a kid. Therefore I had to pick and choose methods until I got my own personal recipe, we ate a lot of ice candy during those weeks of trial. No one complained and we all liked it. I was and still am very picky over it, I didn't like one recipe I wouldn't repeat it. It was how I decided to not use fresh fruits. The lime one, my favorite flavor, felt like there was something sticking on my throat, as it did when I bought them as a kid.

Settled in using instant juice powers I went to the large grocery store that was also very near my place back then and purchased several flavors of different brands until I found what I thought that were the best. Funnily enough, I used three different brands as one brand had a better specific flavor than the others.

The fruit flavors were water based, very refreshing and in some cases felt like biting on a piece of the chilled fruit. The there were the milk based flavors, the always popular here in Brazil coconut, another favorite peanut, then the newer favorites of sweet condensed milk and one based of a very famous petit suisse/yogurt like strawberry flavored product. These last two ones often sold out.

After my experiments I began selling the candies in local anime conventions, for a while it went very well, then I moved to another place and couldn't sell them anymore. Some days I would make between 100 to 150 bucks. My first time selling the ice candies had me selling out my entire of stock of 150 candies in the first day of the event, I had to make another batch of 150 to sell in the second day and I almost sold it out as well.

I had a couple more events where I sold out, a few where I didn't and saw which flavors always sold out. Anyway, after I moved I had a lot of leftover ingredient stock. To not lose it I had to make the candy for my family to enjoy. Nowadays I make them on the occasion, the fridge here is small and freezer doesn't have much space in it for me to make it regularly. So I can't try selling it in my current place, it is a closed community and it has plenty of kids, alas there is no space and my attempt of making here to sell ended not being worth the effort.

Now I will cut this backstory and go to the part that most of you are likely waiting for, the recipe itself.

Ingredients: This is for a single flavor batch, it makes around 15 to 23 candies depending of the size of the bags

Water based flavors

1 and 1/2 liters of water

2 envelops/sachets of instant juice power, Tang is a good one for this, use more sachets if needed, you need 2 liters worth of instant powder

200 grams of regular granulated sugar, I never used any other sugar for this recipe nor other sweeteners, if you desired a diet/light option you will need to experiment


Milk based flavors

1 liter of milk, I use full fat but skimmed or low fat can be used

500ml of water, in order to keep the price low I use this amount of water, however you can replace it with milk

100 grams of grated coconut or unsalted roasted peanuts, I suppose that other nuts can be used although I never used anything save the listed two

250 grams of sugar, as the coconut and peanuts aren't sweetened you need the extra sugar

Specialty milk flavors

The sweet condensed milk flavor and the danoninho flavor require unique ingredients, the danoninho requires 2,5 grams of citric acid added to the strawberry Tang to give the right flavor. The condensed milk flavor I use flavoring powder for ice cream making. Here in Brazil we have these flavorings and other ingredients to make ice cream that are used in the professional level that we can purchase to make nearly professional level ice cream at home.

I omitted from the recipe a ingredient that I don't know the name in English or even if it is sold outside South America, we call it Liga Neutra. its job is to prevent larger ice crystal from forming on ice cream and Popsicles. It can be removed without extreme differences, I just prefer using it to make the candy softer when biting into.

The flavoring powder was something that I found later when making the ice candies, one sweet condensed milk Popsicle that I had one day from a local big name brand had it listed as 'powdered sweet condense milk' and I decided to make that flavor for my own ice candies. So I purchased the flavoring, the taste was the same from the ice pop that I had and I knew that I was in the right track.

Anyway, if you can find the powdered ice cream flavorings I advise using it. If not, well I suppose that you can use regular sweet condensed milk, cut back a bit of the sugar and test the recipe out.

Because one can of the SCM costs around 5 bucks a piece I used the much cheaper flavoring, I still use it when making it for my own consumption, so it isn't something there just to cut costs down for increased profits.


Directions

Water base

In a large bowl, jar, jug or cooking pot, add all the ingredients. With a immersion blender mix everything until the sugar and powdered juice are fully dissolved. With a funnel and a measuring cup fill the ice candy bags and close the bags. The bags that I use are the common, everyday and cheap kind, the traditional kind for the candy here. It requires to tie the end to close it, it takes some practice and nails of small length to tie easily. God knows that doing so after I trim my nails is a pain.

Put in your freezer overnight and they are ready to enjoy the next day.


Milk base

Alright, this one is tricky and far more time consuming. For the coconut and peanut flavors you just have to put everything on the listed vessels and blend with the immersion blender, or blend everything on a regular blender. The peanuts won't fully blend and you will have some small pieces left over, that is OK and very much desired. The coconut won't disappear either and again this is OK. You want to feel the bits of coconut or peanut when you eat the candy.

This is where the similarities to the water base end.

After blending you place the mixture on a jar or jug with lids and store the mixture in the refrigerator for at the very least 2 days. I leave my mixture resting for a full week, back in the day I liked knowing about conventions ahead of time because of these two flavors. The time resting allow the sweet milk to draw out the flavors from the coconut or peanuts, and it also allowed the coconut or peanut pieces to soak in the sweet milk. I believe that the extra time allows for a much tastier final product.

However you can instead cook the mix to try to speed up the soaking process. You do need to add some extra water or milk after it cools down to counter evaporation. I sometimes did the cook of the mix and even then left it resting for a week to get even more flavor. Some recipes of the cooked style ask for somewhere between 3 tablespoons to 1 cup of cornstarch to make a thin porridge out of it before bagging and freezing. Personally I tried it out and saw no real change to the final result. Maybe it gets some creaminess or richness, or just stomach filling property. I am listing this as a option for you to decide on. My personal recipe is that, personal, you might find that you prefer to change something to better suit your tastes.

Back to the guide, after the resting period or cooking, let the mix reach room temperature and bag them for freezing.


Notes:

My listed amounts as mentioned before make around 20 units when I use a 10 cm by 2 cm bag, averaging around 21 units. The amount varies based on how much you fill each bag as well the capacity of said bags.

When I sold these candies I sold them for 1 buck, the cost back then for each candy was around 20 cents. It yields a good amount of profit, but since you likely doesn't consider the water, power and personal labor costs, the profit might be somewhat smaller. If you make these to sell your profit might not be the same, as well the costs. Based on where you live and how much you pay for the ingredients.

Fresh fruits can be used to make these candies. As I mentioned before, I found that the fresh fruit left a bitter taste in my mouth as well the feeling of mucus left clinging on my throat. Still if you want to make them with fresh fruit do try and find out if you find issues on it or not. Depending on how soon you will eat through a batch some of those effects might not show up. After all this recipe allows you to make a much healthier snack for yourself and your family, since you will know what is in there as well how much sugar is in it. Not counting no preservatives and stuff, outside the ones in the instant juice if you use it.

A somewhat popular flavor is cookie, we have a type of cookie called "Maizena", that is blended in place of the coconut or peanut to make this flavor. So you can try making a cookie flavored one as long you don't use a sandwich style cookie like Oreo and the like.

I also used concentrated fruit syrup to flavors some recipes, black currant was the one that I used the most. You do need the listed sugar when using even the sweetened syrup as the freezing process makes the mix taste less sweet, plus the sugar helps making the candy feel less like ice and softer.

For anyone curious, my list of main flavors was:

Orange, apple, pineapple, lime, guarana, danoninho/strawberry, coconut, peanut and sweet condensed milk.

Some flavors were tested and removed before I kept that list of flavors, sometimes I made for personal consumptions:

Cookie, tangerine, black currant and chocolate.

You can use this recipe to make regular Popsicles/ice pops if you have the mold for it.


I hope that you like this recipe if you use it. My family and I do like it. And if you decide to make it to sell I wish you good luck and I hope that it helps you to bring in some money.

 

Huh. First time seeing this thread.

Well, I already see a few things I'd like to try. Yeay... so I might as well share my most popular single recipe.

What you need: An oven, a stove, a small frying pan, a cooking/baking pan with a flat bottom and raised sides, butternut squash, mirin, cooking sake, powdered ginger, and toasted sesame seeds. I won't give exact quantities since they depend on the size and shape of the pan.

Preheat the oven -- 350-400 degrees works reasonably well.

Place the frying pan on the stove. Add 2/3 cup mirin and 1/3 cup cooking sake. Spoon in 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of ginger (to taste). You may need to double this depending on your cooking pan (see below). Heat to cook off the alcohol and stir in the ginger until the ginger powder is distributed through the mixture. Turn off the heat.

Cut butternut squash into French-fry-esque strips. The "top handle" of the squash is the best part for this; the hollow at the bottom makes that part rather tricky to work with. Cover the pan as thoroughly as you can with these -- but do not double-layer. Leave as little space between them as you can get away with without the "fries" actually touching. Pour the sauce over them. If the "fries" start floating, you've added too much. If more than the very tops of them are sticking through the mixture, you've added too little.

Bake. Check periodically -- the sauce should start to bubble; when the sauce has thickened to the point that the bubbling slows down (they should take a moment to pop), remove from the oven. If the sauce has started to brown or blacken, it's getting overdone, but should still be salvageable unless it's actively burnt.

Scrape from the pan with a spatula and place in a serving dish. Garnish with sesame seeds. Serve as soon as you can get away with doing.

Edit: So you know what you're getting, the mirin/sake mixture cooks down into a sweet-and-tangy glaze. Be forewarned, however, that it doesn't refrigerate well: The glaze hardens and it becomes a giant pain to clean up from.

 

Once again I am back to seasoning and spices recipes. This recipe is one that I learned somewhere last year and use it extensively. Although I only made it three or so times, as I keep the batches somewhat large and when using it it doesn't require that many shakes or large amounts.

Herb Salt

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of salt, I use regular table salt, which here is refined sea salt, but use whichever you prefer as long it is pure salt

2 to 4 tablespoons of dried herbs. I use a fine herb mixture that I purchase on this wholefood store that sells stuff on bulk, I don't know the exact herbs on the mix since I buy it in bulk and they don't have its ingredient list. I do add a pinch or two of dried oregano in addition to the mix. So use any number of your preferred dried herbs or mixes.

Optional

1 tablespoon of onion powder

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

Cayenne or other powdered pepper to taste

MSG to taste

This mixture makes it more than a herb salt and tastes similar to this commercial seasoning powder sold here in Brazil called Fondor. I like the flavor so I make with these since I accidentally discovered this in my second batch. My first batch was just salt and herbs, I added the powders because I needed to use them as they were turning solid in the pantry.


Directions

Put everything into a blender and blend well. Shake the blender and scrape out the sides of the blender as often as needed. The final result should be a very, very fine powder. Store in a jar with a tight lid or a shaker with closing lids so it lasts longer without losing its flavor, fragrance or pulling in moisture.


Notes:

I use this herb salt to add extra flavor to soups, sauces, to season popcorn, to flavor toasts (panini style or not), season chicken and pork (beef is pricy recently so I haven't used it on beef yet) and to marinades.

Depending on how much salt you add or how much herbs you add, this herb salt won't be salt food that much and will require some extra salt. I personally prefer it being underseasoned than over. I suppose that you can remove the salt from this, I never tried, given the amount of the final product it isn't that much salt given how little you use. Reducing to 1 tablespoon of salt should be ok. As it should adding more salt if you decide to make a even larger batch. This recipe easily filled a 100 grams shaker and I had some leftover to fill said shaker later.

My current batch is just now starting to get really low and I made it several months ago, I think that was somewhere near September or so, give or take a few weeks. With daily use this recipe should last at least one and a half month, using it to season everything.

As usual this seasoning recipe leans heavily on your personal preferences, once you find the herb mix that you like, finished working the ratios and what optional stuff to add it will be your personal herb salt recipe.

I always send some to my grandmother when I make a new batch, so you can give out some if you feel that you made too much or just want to share the wealth. It makes for a nice informal gift to people that you are close with, one of those 'I just felt like giving you this' or 'I made this and I think that is delicious and I want to give you this' kind of gifts.

I hope that you like this recipe if you give it a try.

 

A few years, wait...damn it I am old... Correction, several years back, I took one cooking class and learned this awesome salad recipe that for a couple years after said class it was my main specialty dish for family special meals. Most of the cooks in my family, my grandmother, mother and myself, have a recipe or another that is kind of a signature that we make for special meals for holidays, birthdays and other similar dates.

Everyone in the family loved this salad, I loved it when I first tasted in the day that we made it in class. Technically my recipe isn't the same from the class as I replaced pork and cashew nuts for chicken breast and peanuts because they were cheaper. The core of the recipe is the same, and the main star of this salad is the sauce. It is a yogurt and mayo base sauce with red berry jam and a bit of curry powder, it is delicious.

So here is my signature chicken salad with red berry and curry sauce:

Ingredients:

Salad

Two heads of lettuce, I use two different kinds, never iceberg though, still one head of lettuce can be replaced by another salad leaf of your preference

1 cup of roasted, salted and preferable skinless peanuts, cashew nuts can be used here

Sun dried tomatoes in oil, a can or jar, add as much as you like

Chopped or torn mussarela cheese, the original recipe used fresh, but I use regular chopped in small cubes or coarsely grated, add to taste

1 pound or so of chopped bacon

1 to 2 pounds of chicken breast, filleted and grilled with salt and pepper

2 large onions chopped in thin ribbons, fried in the the bacon and chicken grease

2 large cloves of garlic, fried with the onions

1/2 pound of raisins, I never used other dried fruits or berries, so replacements are up to you here

1 package of matchstick fried potatoes, or a pack or two of regular potato chips these need to be crunched over the salad and do not use flavored ones, the regular just salt seasoned one

Plenty of croutons


Sauce

1 cup of good quality mayo

1 cup of yogurt, I use full fat, I never used cream or cream cheese so I don't know if it will work as a replacement

3 tablespoons to half a 200 grams of jam, any red berry jam will work here, I normally use mulberry jam or mixed red berries jam, but I used strawberry jam in the past as well. The amount is up to taste, it is a savory and sweet sauce, you have to find the balance yourself, as brands of jam have different sweetness levels.

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Curry powder to taste, the curry flavor must be a hint and just barely background. It must not take over the other flavors, it should make you say 'Hm there is a bit of curry here' and not overtake everything or be spicy.


Directions:

Start by frying the bacon until crispy and you rendered out all the fat from it, remove the bacon from the grease and save the grease, use the bacon grease to fry/grill the chicken using the same pan until you are done with the chicken. Then fry the onions and garlic in the pan with any leftover grease, if there is any. They should be a deep golden color when ready.

Now that the frying is done let's get to the sauce, add the mayo and yogurt to a bowl and mix them, add the salt and pepper, then mix. Add 1 tablespoon of jam and a modest pinch of curry powder to it and mix well. Taste and adjust until you reach the balance mentioned before. It should be savory enough to season the salad but sweet enough that the sweetness hits first, then the curry taste comes.

Tear the lettuce and any other salad leaves with your hands into a large bowl. It is a rustic salad, you want uneven pieces, tear them to your heart's content. Add the drained sun dried tomatoes, chop them in strips or halves, be as generous as you like with them. Add the bacon, chopped chicken, onions, raisins and nuts, mix everything as these ingredients won't get soggy. Before serving add the croutons and the potato chips, mix again with two or three tablespoons of the sauce.

Serve with a bowl of the sauce so each person can add more sauce to their portions, extra potatoes, croutons, peanuts and bacon bowls for extra crunchy customization is advised but not mandatory. The extra sauce is.


Notes

Add the items that get soggy just before serving and as advised you can even keep them separated so each person can add them to their portions. Maybe the dried fruit can be kept separated as well as some might not like raisins, even though they are integral to the recipe.

This is a very filling salad, essentially a complete meal in and out itself. Between the chicken, bacon, carbs and vegetables it can really fill you up, it is likely why I ended no longer making it for the special day meals. We ate the salad and had room for nothing else.

Anyway, it is one of my favorite recipes and I hope that you like it if you give it a try.

 

Been trying out this simple potato salad recipe. Hope you guys enjoy.

Tools
Medium-size saucepan
Large mixing bowl
Tablespoon
Teaspoon
Spatula
Knife
Chopping board

Ingredients
2-3 potatoes
1 carrot
1 chicken breast
3-4 eggs
Mayo
English/grainy/whatever mustard of choice
Salt and pepper to taste

Steps
1. Boil the potatoes. 20 minutes should do the trick. To test, stick a knife into the potato, and it should slide right off with no stickiness. When they're done, drain, let cool and chop into small cubes. Place in the mixing bowl.
2. Peel the carrot, then continue peeling it into thin strands. Shock in cold water, drain and add to the potatoes.
3. For the chicken breast, I personally like to bake it in the oven with just oil, salt and pepper. But you can boil it, grill it; just so long as the chicken is fully cooked. After that, chop it up into cubes around the same size as your potatoes and add to the bowl.
4. The eggs are simple. Boil for 8 minutes and chop into quarters/slices/cubes/etc. I personally go with cubes. Add them to the bowl.
5. Now, with all your ingredients prepped, we can move on to the dressing. Basically, mix 1 tablespoon pf mayo and 1 teaspoon of mustard in until you are happy with the taste. I usually go with 2-3 tablespoons of mayo to 1 teaspoon of mustard. Remember, it's a dressing, so try not to overdo it.

And done. Once again, hope you enjoy.

 

Rice milk.

A few years ago I somehow developed a rather mild lactose intolerance. I never let that stop me from drinking milk and yogurt based drinks, I accept the gas and not that severe runs that I get from it as the price to pay for enjoying milk based drinks. Cheese, butter and other dairy products do nothing. It also takes at least 3 cups for me to get the full effects and those usually take a couple hours or more to show.

Since milk have also gotten rather pricy I decided to make alternative milks in order to drink or use, the intolerance has little to do with it since I will continue to drink milk, we don't buy much here since as I said it is pricy and I love me some banana smoothies.

I haven't used this milk for baking and cooking yet, just to drink. So I have no idea of how well you can cook with it, nevertheless it is fairly easy to make and cheap, a little rice can go a rather long way and you can use the solids leftover from squeezing out the milk to make rice cereal, add to cakes, cookies or even stews.


Ingredients:

1 cup of cooked rice, preferable without seasoning at all, no salt, onions or garlic, or whatever else you season your rice

4 cups of water, this is the ratio that I use, but sometimes I use a little less water for a stronger milk, the rule is 1 part rice to 4 of water

Vanilla extract or essence to taste, optional

Sugar to taste

A pinch of salt, just to enhance the flavor


Directions:

Blend everything on a blender, give at least two minutes. Strain with thin sieve first to remove the larger solids, then strain through a cloth to remove the smaller ones. Squeeze as much liquid out of the solids as you can. Repeat until all the mix is over.


Notes:

I have no idea of how long it lasts in the fridge as I don't let it sit there, you can sweeten the milk after it is done if you rather keep it plain before use. As I mentioned before, the solids can be used to give more nutrition to baked goods, cakes and breads are the top two in my mind. If well dried I believe that it can also be used as a filler to meatballs, meatloaves and other dishes where you mix ground meat.

The solids are still nutritious as you are unlikely to get everything from it with the blending process so get as much of it as you can or want.

With some extra cooking with regular milk or maybe even rice milk you can make rice cereal porridge that most use to feed babies with, it can be eaten by adults and is a good way to use the solids. It isn't my favorite way of using it, I am more of a oat porridge guy.

 

Tatsuta-age, AKA a subtype of karaage fried chicken.

A couple of weeks ago I was stuck with the idea of making tatsuta-age, it took me a few days to get out of my ass and making it. It is a bit labor intensive but it is very tasty and easy to make. Obviously tastes really good.


Ingredients

Three boneless, skinless sets of chicken thighs and drumsticks cut into one inch cubes

4 large cloves of garlic, crushed or grated

1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated finely, I don't remove the fibers but you can use only the juice

1/2 to 1 cup of soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste, I add a couple shakes of my favorite red chili power, MSG and a pinch of sugar, so add any extra seasoning of your preference if you so desire

Corn/potato starch as much needed

Directions:

In a large enough bowl mix the chicken and everything save the starch, tatsuta-age's differential from traditional karaage fried chicken is the marinade and the marination time, recently most people make tatsuta-age and call it karaage. Back to the recipe, I like making enough marinade to cover the chicken adding more soy if needed, however it is not necessary. Use a ziplock bag to store the chicken with the marinade to ensure that the liquid covers the chicken and no piece gets left out of the marinade. Leave marinating for at least 2 hours, I leave my marinating meats overnight whenever I can. Shorter marination time might not be as effective.

After the set time drain as much liquid as possible, if all goes well the chicken absorbed most if not all of it, if not store the marinade in the freezer for use in another batch, or toss it your call. In a bowl add 4 tablespoons of starch to the chicken and mix. The starch will absorb the moisture and stick to the chicken pieces. Add more starch until you get the surface of the chicken kind of dryish. In another bowl add some more starch to coat the pieces immediately before frying them. This last part is optional but I like the extra crispiness that it gives.

Heat a pot with oil to fry the chicken in, shake the excess starch before frying, fry for at least 5 minutes turning every minute or so in the oil. Let it fry until a nice golden brown color, paying attention after the 5 minutes mark. Don't crowd the pot, after removing from the oil let it drain on a rack or sieve.


Note:

I like eating this with steamed white rice, a sweet and spicy cucumber salad and some hot oil. The chicken stays crunchy for a lot of time so even cold it is good and crunchy. It is also very juicy thanks to the marinade. It can be eaten alone or as something to munch on when drinking. The chicken has a wonderful taste thanks to the marinade, the ginger can be the main flavor on the recipe so use as much or as little as you like, ginger is after all a strong flavor. The garlic also comes through without being too over the top.

This recipe is great as the chicken gets a really strong flavor, so you can stretch a few pieces of chicken with far more rice than normal because it is so juicy and flavorful. After all part of Japanese style is that the rice is the main food and everything else is to flavor the rice. Okay, I am exaggerating on the everything but rice being side dishes, but a piece of chicken can easily stretch on two bites, each bite being good for one or two morsels of rice.

 

Shichimi togarashi

Shichimi togarashi can be translated into seven spices mix/pepper. Here in Brazil shichimi is hard to find and really pricy for a small shaker with less than 50 grams of the stuff. It can be used in any Japanese noodles such as ramen and soba to give the soup/broth some extra flavor as you eat it. Since it is pricy and hard to find my family use it sparingly and I hardly ever use it when not in my grandparents place, where our small stock is kept on the freezer to remain aromatic longer.

Last year I decided to try making this myself because I wanted more variety on my noodles. Substitutions were made for ingredients that I didn't have at hand or couldn't buy at all, one ingredient ended not added to the recipe because I didn't have any to use. Regardless of those issues the end result tasted very similar to the bought stuff. Not as close as it could be because shansho peppers can't be found here, neither could shichuan peppercorns.

I am using this spice mix for more than flavoring my noodles, it makes for a really good marinade ingredient, so far I used on chicken several times and pork a couple of times. It made them very tasty.


Ingredients:

1 TBSP Chili flakes
1 TSP Sansho pepper or sichuan pepper, I used black peppercorns because as said before I couldn't find the other two
1 TSP Orange or Mandarine zest, I used orange zest that I dried myself, I plan on using mandarin next time when I manage to save some peel to dry
1 TSP Nori seaweed, I skipped this one because I couldn't buy any, too pricy. Still you need it to be shredded or cut in very small strips or cubes
1 TBSP Sesame seeds, toasted white ones
1 TSP Ginger powder
1 TSP Hemp seeds, I didn't use these, instead I used toasted black sesame seeds


Directions:

Using a coffee or spice grinder grind the chili flakes, citrus peel/zest, and if you desire half of the measure of both sesame seeds, until you get a fine powder. Once those are powdered place the contents on a jar and add the remainder ingredients, close the lid and shake well until it combines as well as possible. The whole seeds and nori won't mix into the powder so stir before using to ensure that you get everything when using.


Notes:

You can make more of this mix if you desire by increasing the amounts as long you keep the proportions the same as shown here. You can also weight the amounts that I mentioned here to be more precise when scaling up the recipe, or scaling down. I plan on making larger batches later on. I made it back in October or so last year, but it is still good today. Still very flavorful and aromatic, a little go a long way when adding to noodles.

On marinades it also goes a long way, I just seasoned a little over half pound of chicken breast with one teaspoon of the mix, one third cup soy sauce and a teaspoon of salt, and the marinade flavored the chicken well and the leftover marinade was still strong enough to season two medium onions that I caramelized using it.

This is normally a finishing spice, normally not used when actively cooking, it is my personal twist to use as marinade.

I hope that you like the recipe if you do give it a try.