Category Archives: Asian

Bacon Fried Rice

Asian, Bacon, Chinese, Events, Game Day, Kids, Nueske's, Pork, Rice, Sides

One of my kids favorite recipes is fried rice. I think that even at a very early age, my father-in-law had served it up for breakfast to him while they watched him while we were at work. Yes, I’m talking like two years old or something of that nature. Let’s just say he was young. But at that age, that food stuck in his head, that’s what fried rice can do to someone. Since then, he has come a long way in terms of exploring food. He is big into smoked meats such as ribs, brisket, and chicken, and lots of other things. Let’s just say he is no longer a chicken tender and french fry kid. With that said, one of his favorite dishes is bacon fried rice, so much that he makes requests for it. I’m down with that because this is a great opportunity to get vegetables into this rice, along with eggs (that he hates), that he devours it all up. That is called winning.

Bacon Fried Rice

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of Jasmine, or long grain rice
  • 2 cups of water
  • 5 slices of Nueske’s Bacon, diced
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 whole carrots, diced
  • 1 large shallot, diced
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 whole eggs, beaten
  • 1 tbsp Red Boat Fish Sauce or Three Crabs Fish Sauce
  • 1/2 tbsp cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 cup of soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup of frozen peas
  • 1 tbsp chili oil, optional
  • additional water

Start by making your rice. I use a rice cooker, and to that I add the rice to the rice pot, and rinse several times in cold water until the runs clear. Drain and add equal parts of water. Cover, and turn on the rice cooker until it is finished. I love the rice cooker.

Now I do this the same day, and the trick to making fried rice the same day is to make sure the rice gets dry. I accomplish this by removing the cooked rice onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, fanning it out, and letting it sit on the counter for several hours. Otherwise, let the rice cool, store in the refrigerator and use the following day.

Make sure you have prepared the remaining ingredients.

Heat a large wok on medium heat. Add in the diced bacon, and cooked until slightly crisp. Keep the bacon fat in the wok, along with the bacon. Next toss in the garlic and shallot and cook for about 40 seconds or so. Add in about two tablespoons of butter and your chili oil. Stir, then toss in the carrots.  Add in about 2 tablespoons of water. Stir.

How to make bacon fried rice

Turn up the heat.

Add in the beaten eggs, and stir, ensuring the the eggs are thinned out and cooked. Using your spatula, break up the eggs into pieces.

Toss in your rice, and begin breaking that up, using your spatula, and scraping underneath the rice in the wok. Use your wok master skills and wok like you mean it. Toss in the fish sauce, cracked black pepper, and soy sauce. Keep woking, aggressively under high heat until you get a nice light crust on the rice.

Serve immediately.

The result is an awesome bacon fried rice. You get the great smokiness from the bacon, and when everything is mixed together, well, let’s just say it’s awesome, and perfect for breakfast as well. Hope you enjoy!

Chinese Fried Red Chili Sauce

Asian, Beans, Chinese, Ethnic, Sauce

I visit the Asian markets probably about twice a month. I often pick up green papaya for making som tam, maybe some dumplings, or siapao, and a couple of condiments. One of my favorite condiments is this Chinese fried red chili sauce. It’s basically a lot of red chili flakes, garlic, ginger, and fermented black beans that is slow cooked in a bunch of oil. It’s flipping amazing. I put it on everything, and I mean everything. It’s almost as addicting as Sriracha, but more mellow. It stores great as well which makes it even better. As I ran out, my buddy sent me a recipe that I tweaked ever so slightly, and it was just as good, if not better.

Chinese Red Chili Sauce

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of Chinese black fermented beans
  • 6 cloves garlic, grated into a paste
  • 2 tbsp ginger, grated into a paste
  • 1 cup red chili flakes
  • 2 tbsp dark sesame oil
  • 2 cups peanut oil
  • 1 tbsp salt

Start by adding the fermented black beans, and any remaining garlic ends into a food processor. Pulse until it is nice and fine.

How to make Chinese Fried Red Chili Sauce

Add the oil to a saucepan on medium-low heat. Add in the ginger, garlic, and fermented beans, along with the red chili flakes. Give a good stir, and cook for about 30 minutes, making sure the oil mixture stays at about 225 degrees. Once cooked at that temperature for 25 minutes, remove from the heat and let cool.

Once cooled, stored in a sealed tight container.

Chinese Fried Red Chili Sauce

Again, the sauce is awesome. It is perfect in every way. It’s not to spicy which is why it goes great with pretty much everything. I put it on my eggs in the morning, kebabs, rice, pasta, and well, you get the idea. Give this one a shot, I’m certain you will love it as much as I do.

Son-in-Law Eggs

Appetizers, Asian, Breakfast, Ethnic, Events, Game Day, Sauce, Sides, Snack

I’ve told you before, but I will mention it again, I am a big fan of hard boiled eggs. They are so simple to make and provide a quick energy boost when you have a busy schedule. I have been hooked on the 8 minute eggs, but then again I am always thinking of other creative ideas such as these Son-in-Law eggs. If you have never heard of Son-in-Law eggs, don’t worry, that’s why I am here to tell you about them, and after you make them, you can thank me. Trust me, these are wickedly awesome.

I’m not too sure of the naming of this recipe, but it probably has something to do with having a man’s mother-in-law inflict a bit of fear into the man, that if you do not treat her daughter with respect and love, well, she will indeed inflect some fear into you and well, you probably get the point. But there is something beyond this, and something so amazing about the combination of flavor and texture that really makes this dish shine.

Son-in-Law Eggs Recipe

This is a perfect use of hard boiled eggs, and believe it or not, the eggs are deep fried. Yep, deep fried. Who would have thought?

The sauce has this great sourness and spice that when paired with the creamy deep fried egg and shallots, just blows ones mind. Again, trust me. You will probably want to use the sauce on things like fried chicken or fish. It’s awesome.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 3 whole eggs, cooked to your hard boil liking (I go with 8 minutes for a creamy, yet set yolk)
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp palm sugar (you could use light brown sugar as well)
  • 4 tbsp tamarind sauce
  • 1 clove garlic, grated
  • 1 Thai chili pepper, smashed
  • 1 pinch of chili flakes
  • 3 cups of cooking oil for deep frying
  • 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
  • 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Start by making your sauce.

Add the one tablespoon of cooking oil to a small pot. Bring to medium heat, then add in your garlic. Cook for about a minute, then toss in the fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind, and chili pepper. Cook for a couple of minutes, then remove from the heat and set it to the side.

Peel your hard boiled eggs.

How to make Son-in-Law Eggs

Heat another pot with the cooking oil on medium heat. After a few minutes, add in the thinly sliced shallots, and cook for about 5 minutes or so, until they are lightly browned and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and set them on to some paper towel to drain.

Bring the oil back to about 350 degrees, then carefully add the peeled hard boiled eggs. Cook for about 8 minutes or so, until they are lightly browned. You can go longer if you want, but I always think they are going to explode. Once lightly browned, remove with the slotted spoon and let them drain on the paper towel, lightly patting.

Slice the eggs in half and add them to a serving plate. Shower the eggs with the fried shallots, then pour the sauce over the eggs. Shower with fresh cilantro and dig in. Feel free to serve with cooked jasmine rice if you desire.

Again, the flavor combination is out of this world. Thai food at it’s best in terms of texture, and flavor. Hope you enjoy!

 

Larb Quesadillas

Appetizers, Asian, Cheese, Game Day, Pork, Snack

I’m a huge fan of larb. Often referred to as laab, larb, laap, or lahp, it is a minced meat dish that can utilize chicken, pork, beef, or heck, even shrimp for all I know. The real key to larb is the combination of the ingredients that really make this dish shine. You get fresh herbs, toasted rice, and shallots, chilies, and lime that when brought together gets you wanting more, and more. Larb could possibly be one of my favorite dishes to eat along with Thai sticky rice.  My kids are a big fans of larb as well, and when I make it for them, I typically leave out the fresh chilies and serve them on the side. This past week I made a fairly big batch of larb and had plenty of leftovers. That’s when it came to me, well it came to me as I was looking at the leftover larb and grated cheddar cheese in the refrigerator that I would make a larb quesadilla. It was awesome.

Larb Quesadilla

Get started by making your favorite larb.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 lb of ground chicken
  • 2 shallots, minced (approximately 3 tbsp)
  • 1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves, chopped
  • 1/3 cup of toasted rice powder
  • 2-5 Thai chile peppers, minced
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1/2 tbsp palm sugar, or regular sugar
  • 1/2 cup roasted peanuts (optional)
  • 1 whole lime, juiced
  • 2 flour tortillas
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Begin by adding the oil to a large skillet and warm it to a medium, high heat. Once the oil is heated, add the ground chicken and begin cooking until it is fully cooked. This is will take about 10 to 15 minutes.

During this time, prepare the remaining ingredients. If you have never toasted rice before, add about 1/2 cup of rice to a dry skillet. Bring it to medium heat, and give it a good shake about every 2-3 minutes. Your goal is to brown the rice, and once brown, add it to a coffee grinder to make into a course powder.

Once the chicken is fully cooked, make sure you break it all up with a wooden spoon as you do not want any clumps. Drain off any excess water from the chicken, then add the chicken to a mixing bowl.

Add in all of the remaining ingredients, and give it a good mix. If you are serving kids, I would suggest removing the chile peppers from this recipe, or divide the mixture before adding the chile peppers. I would recommend 1-2 chile peppers for the mild at heart, and 3-4 chile peppers for those that love the heat. Regardless if it is one chile or four, the balance is perfect.

How to make a larb quesadilla

To make the quesadilla, add a flour tortilla to the bottom of a skillet, and keep on medium heat.

Add 1/2 cup of the cheddar cheese to the tortilla. Add about 1 cup of the larb on top of the cheese. Top with remaining cheese, and place the second tortilla on top. Lightly press. Cook for a few minutes, or until the tortilla lightly chars. You should be able to smell it, if not, lift with a spatula to check. Flip over, and cook on the remaining side, for another few minutes.

Remove, and slice, or eat whole, you’re call.

This larb quesadilla was was ridiculously good. It had everything you love in a classic quesadilla, but elevated with great Thai flavors. Give this one a shot, and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy!

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Larb Quesadillas
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 1 lb of ground chicken
  • 2 shallots, minced (approximately 3 tbsp)
  • ½ cup of fresh mint leaves, chopped
  • ⅓ cup of toasted rice powder
  • 2-5 Thai chile peppers, minced
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • ½ tbsp palm sugar, or regular sugar
  • ½ cup roasted peanuts (optional)
  • 1 whole lime, juiced
  • 2 flour tortillas
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
  1. Begin by adding the oil to a large skillet and warm it to a medium, high heat. Once the oil is heated, add the ground chicken and begin cooking until it is fully cooked. This is will take about 10 to 15 minutes.
  2. During this time, prepare the remaining ingredients. If you have never toasted rice before, add about ½ cup of rice to a dry skillet. Bring it to medium heat, and give it a good shake about every 2-3 minutes. Your goal is to brown the rice, and once brown, add it to a coffee grinder to make into a course powder.
  3. Once the chicken is fully cooked, make sure you break it all up with a wooden spoon as you do not want any clumps. Drain off any excess water from the chicken, then add the chicken to a mixing bowl.
  4. Add in all of the remaining ingredients, and give it a good mix. If you are serving kids, I would suggest removing the chile peppers from this recipe, or divide the mixture before adding the chile peppers. I would recommend 1-2 chile peppers for the mild at heart, and 3-4 chile peppers for those that love the heat. Regardless if it is one chile or four, the balance is perfect.
  5. To make the quesadilla, add a flour tortilla to the bottom of a skillet, and keep on medium heat.
  6. Add ½ cup of the cheddar cheese to the tortilla. Add about 1 cup of the larb on top of the cheese. Top with remaining cheese, and place the second tortilla on top. Lightly press. Cook for a few minutes, or until the tortilla lightly chars. You should be able to smell it, if not, lift with a spatula to check. Flip over, and cook on the remaining side, for another few minutes.
  7. Remove, and slice, or eat whole, you’re call.