Braised Duck Leg with Egg Noodles

At home we enjoy eating duck, it's more flavorful than chicken and it's hard to miss. Duck legs can easily be found in most Asian stores.  After cleaning, I brown the duck legs in a pan, without any oil, as the duck skin will sweat. When all the duck legs are evenly golden, drain off the fat. To add a splash of soy sauce, Chinese wine, Chinese vinegar, brown sugar, a piece of ginger, and braise over slow heat until tender (about 40 mn.). Meanwhile, boil some water and blanch the egg noodles as per package instructions till al dente and drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. Fry some minced shallots in a little oil till golden, not brown, and mix with the noodles. I usually serve this dish with blanched Chinese vegetable like pak choy, choy sum or broccoli. It's a simple and satisfying meal.

Lamb Shank Couscous

We love couscous, it's nutritious and less starchy than rice.  I like to make all kinds of couscous, vegetarian, chicken or lamb.  Today I found nice lamb shanks at the supermarket, which is not a commonly found cut. So it's the perfect occasion to serve them with couscous.

The easiest way is to use a slow cooker. First put a pack of frozen vegetable at the bottom of the slow cooker, lay the lamb shanks on top, cover with a can of stewed tomatoes, chicken broth, spices such as cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, anis seed, cayenne pepper, a little salt, and cook on slow for about 3 hours, add a can of chickpeas, cook on slow for another 30 mn. The lamb shank meat should be really tender by then, if not cook a bit longer.

I serve the delicious lamb shanks with couscous (I usually get the instant kind that can be ready in 5 mn by adding a knob of butter and boiling water).

English High Tea

As a child, I loved reading Agatha Christie's mystery novels and was fascinated by the traditional English high tea described in some of her books.  When I traveled to London for the first time at age 11, my father took me to English high tea, and since then I have been hooked. It's difficult to find a nice place in LA serving high tea, so this week end we decide to laze around at home watching the Oscars and enjoying our own home made English high tea with assorted finger sandwishes, mini croissants filled with parma ham and Swiss cheese, mini savory pastries, scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, lemon bars... served with hot Earl Grey tea... This is the best indulgence!

Chicken Curry served with naan bread and coconut rice

It's a simple yet delicious dish - First I saute the chicken pieces in a little oil and set them aside.
Then in the same pan, I fry some minced garlic, sliced onions and sliced lemon grass in a little oil, over medium heat for about 3 minutes, then I add the Thai red curry paste (about 1 to 2 tablespoons), then put back the chicken in the pan, add quartered small potatoes, pour some chicken stock almost to cover the meat, season with salt, pepper, brown sugar, and cook till the chicken is tender, about 25 mn, add coconut milk, simmer for another 10 mn. Before serving, add a handful of fresh basil leaves.
Meanwhile fry some garlic and 1 cup raw rice in a little oil, then put in rice cooker with 1/2 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup chicken broth.

Mango Crumble Cake

I bought a case of mangos from Costco, and I like to enjoy eating them fresh, but after a few days, I decide to bake a cake using these mangos before they get too ripe. This is the recipe:

Cake Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tbsp. lemon peel
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 - 3 mangoes, peeled, and cubed
  

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, chilled

  Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a springform pan
• In medium bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat.
• Blend flour, baking powder, and lemon peel together.
• Add flour mixture alternately with milk into butter mixture and mix well.
• Spread batter in greased pan.
• Arrange mango cubes on top of batter

To make Topping:

• In a small bowl, combine flour and sugar.
• Using 2 knives or a pastry blender cut in butter until mixture resembles large crumbs.
• Sprinkle over mangoes.
• Bake for 40 - 45 minutes. Check with wooden toothpick to see if it is done (should come out clean - no batter on toothpick).
• Cool in pan on a wire rack.
• Makes about 16 servings. Tastes great served with whipped cream!

Vegetable dish and Thit Kho

My nephew has a craving for Thit Kho which is Vietnamese caramelized stewed pork and hard boiled eggs, so I'm making it for dinner tonight but totally forget to take a photo of the dish. In any case, I have made this dish before and you can see the picture from my blog entry of Nov 24, 2010.
I also prepare a claypot of assorted sauteed mushrooms (I use shitake, oyster mushroom, straw mushroom and wood ear) and sauteed vegetable, in a light soy/Chinese wine sauce.

Home baked bread

Since my sister gave me a bread machine for Christmas, I have been using it very often to bake wholesome bread using natural ingredients, wholewheat, honey, flaxseed etc.  I set the machine to finish baking in time for breakfast and it's a delight to wake up to the smell of fresh baked bread...