collection of international recipes

Easy Recipes: Egg Fried Rice

2010-11-17T09:03:00.000-08:00

I previously wrote about some easy recipes for lazy students who've never cooked for themselves, and today I'd like to continue in that series with a really tasty yet authentic recipe for Chinese Egg Fried Rice. My wife, being Chinese, makes this all time. And I love it!
Traditionally, egg fried rice is a dish designed to use up left-overs - you wouldn't cook up a batch of fresh rice just to make it, for instance. In Asian families, it's quite normal to have the rice cooker in constant use, so there is always warm rice on hand - which also inevitably means that sometimes the rice won't be that nice to eat on it's own, so that why egg fried was invented.
It's a simple recipe with a lot of room for customizing, with whatever meat and veg was left from last nights dinner - so don't feel like you have to stick to it rigidly.
Main Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons of Sesame oil
- 300g of any regular or long grain white rice
- 2 teaspoons of salt, and 2 of pepper
- 1 spring onion
- 1 tablespoon of Soy sauce

Other things you might want to add:
- 100g Ham, Bacon, or Beef
- 100g Peas (frozen is fine)
- 100g bean sprouts
- Red or green pepper
- Really, whatever is left in the fridge!

Instructions:
I'm going to assume your rice is already cooked, and either sitting in a container in the fridge, or still warm in the rice cooker. Either is fine to work with.
Start by lightly beating the eggs, but not too much. My wife always fries the egg first, so pour a single teaspoon of Sesame oil into a pan and fry the eggs as if to scramble them. Don't cook them too much though, just so they solidify - you don't want them brown. Take them out and throw them back in the bowl for the time being.
At this point, how you make it will depend on what your ingredients are. Whatever you are using though, chop it up small. A really big Chinese cleaver helps this to go a little quicker! If you have uncooked meat, or fresh vegetables, then go ahead and fry them now. If everything you're putting in it is leftovers from last night, then you're probably good to move straight on.
This final step is probably the most difficult, so listen carefully! Throw everything in the fry pan with a little oil, and fry it. I know, it's difficult...
Constantly stir it, season with salt and pepper, and use your spatula to break up any clumps of egg or rice - mix it all up good! How long you cook it for is a matter of personal preference. Personally, I like to burn it a little on the bottom to get some nice crunchy bits, but whatever whets your whistle.

By James A Bruce

Banana Cake Recipes

2010-11-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Here are two great banana cakes. Both are made from scratch. They are both very moist and delicious.
Hummingbird Cake

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple
2 cups chopped nuts
2 cups chopped ripe bananas

Put the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, oil and stir until moist. Do not beat. Add vanilla, pineapple, nuts and bananas. Pour into 4 well greased 9 inch pans. Bake 25 - 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Frost this cake with cream cheese frosting. The recipe is below.
Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 stick butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 box powdered sugar

Mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar. Frost and serve.
This is a very popular cake at my office.
Next is a big family favorite.
Tropical Banana Cake

2 1/2 cup sifted cake flour
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/4 cup mashed bananas
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together into a large bowl flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Add shortening, bananas and 1/3 cup buttermilk. Stir to dampen flour. Beat with electric mixer 2 minutes. Add remaining buttermilk, eggs and vanilla. Beat 2 minutes. Pour into 2 paper-lined 9-inch pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Now while our cake is cooling, we move on to the frosting.
Lemon-Banana Frosting

2/3 cup butter or margarine
4 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoon mashed banana
2 tablespoon lemon juice

Cream butter and sugar. Add banana and lemon juice. Blend until smooth and frost your cake. Do not serve this cake right after you have finished frosting. It will be too sweet. This cake needs to be refrigerated for at least 24 hours before serving. Then, it is fabulous and ready for company!

By Glenda Altman

Best Sushi Recipe - What to Prepare and How to Do It

2010-11-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

Do you want to have a try of your own cooked sushi in the convenience of your home? Try this. Sushi is the most famous Japanese food in the world and a favorite of the natives itself, too. They also prepare this kind of food when there is something special. So, what is a sushi? What are they things needed to make it?
Sushi is a vinegar rice, with many different ingredients including rice. It is artfully designed and with variations in its cooking style. The different types in making a sushi is Nigirizushi, Makizushi, Oshizushi, Inarizushi, Chirashizushi, Narezushi. There are many kinds of sushi but let us try to learn Makizushi. So, the materials needed are: Fukin (kitchen cloth), Hangiri (rice barrel), Hocho (kitchen knives), Makisu (bamboo rolling mat), Ryoribashi (cooking chopsticks), Shamoji (wooden rice paddle), Makiyakinabe (rectangular omelette pan).
Ingredients:

Sushi rice - short grained rice to be combined with rice vinegar, sugar, salt and sometimes, sake or kombu
Nori - black seaweed
Tuna fish and seafoods
Mixtures and fillers - Pickled daikon radishi, pickled vegetables (tsukemono), fermented soybeans (natto) in natto maki, avocado, cucumber in kappa maki, asparagus, yam, pickled ume (umeboshi), gourd, burdock, and sweet corn with mayonnaise.
Flavoring - Wasabi or soy sauce

Steps on how to make a Makizushi:
1. Place the Makisu on your preparation table.
2. Put a Nori on top of the Makisu.
3. Put some rice on top of the Nori and spread the rice evenly.
5. Leave a space on the top and bottom of the Nori, probably an inch.
6. Put some toppings, you could choose anything you like as long as the seafood would be compatible to each other and also put Wasabi on it.
7. Slowly, lift the Makisu and see to it that the Nori should be steady so that it will not be damaged. Make sure both of the sides are with the same size or should be even.
8. Roll the Makisu upward.
9. Place both index fingers on the sides of Makisu and shape the makizushi into a square.
10. Cut the makizushi twice with a very sharp knife.
11. Put them together and cut them into pieces.
12. Finished!
If you cannot find the things that are needed before making a sushi, you can find other means for that. Be resourceful because this recipe would bring you to the Oriental and feel like you are in Japan. Experience the adventure in making your own dish with the feel of the Oriental.

Make Chocolate Cake

2010-11-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

This is a very good chocolate cake recipe that is healthy and you won't have to hear that same old advice from your doctor as to why shouldn't you eat chocolate cake!

Ingredients to make a chocolate cake:
1 cup soy milk
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 egg whites (large), at room temperature
Preparation on how to make a chocolate cake:
1. Heat up oven to 350 degrees. Spread out two 9-inch round cake pans or one 9x13x2-inch pan with vegetable oil cooking spray and sprinkle with whole-wheat flour.
2.Heat the soymilk in a medium size saucepan until its hardly boiled. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa until thickened and almost smooth (some tiny lumps will remain). Let stand 2 to 3 minutes to cool slightly. Whisk in the applesauce and vanilla extract.
3.Mix the flour, 1-1/4 cups of the raw sugar, the baking powder, soda, and sea salt in a large bowl.
4.Beat the egg whites in a medium size bowl with an electric mixer until thick and foamy. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of raw sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form when the beaters are lifted.
5.Pour the cocoa mixture over the whole-wheat flour. Stir just until blended.
6.With a rubber spatula, gently stir about a quarter of the egg whites into the whole-wheat flour mixture. Fold in the remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain. Pour into the prepared pan or pans.
7.Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely. Garnish with your favorite fresh fruit.
VANILLA FROSTING
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2-teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4-cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-cup instant nonfat dry milk powder
1.In a bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating, adding the honey and vanilla.
2.Gradually add the nonfat dry milk powder, beating constantly, until the frosting is a good spreading consistency.
It's not so hard to make a chocolate cake! Enjoy!

By Krissy Leighton

How to Make the Best Curry Soup Recipes

2010-11-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

Curry soup can be gentle and aromatic or it can be spicy and piquant. Perhaps you want to make curried pumpkin soup or a curried fish soup. There are various ways to make curry soup recipes and lots of different spices you can use.
You might like to add a touch of curry flavor by adding some curry powder to an existing soup recipe or you might like to use a clever combination of spices to add a more complex curry flavor. Curry powder is a great ingredient to keep in the kitchen cupboard because you can use it to jazz up all kinds of tasty recipes and add an Asian flavor.
Curried Vegetable Soups
Vegetables soups are especially good with curry flavors because they can be a bit bland. You can sweeten vegetable soups, adding sugar and cream. This would work well with a canned pumpkin soup recipe, for example, because pumpkin can be used in both sweet and savory recipes. You can also make sweet carrot orPrivacy Information yam soup, adding orange juice, ginger and a little sugar. Curry powder adds flavor to any of these.
Other vegetables are better kept savory. A broccoli or turnip based soup would be good with savory curry flavors. Some vegetables have a strong flavor and others are very mellow, which is why there are different curry soup recipes for different vegetables.
How to Make Curried Tomato and Corn Soup
This is a chicken stock based soup recipe and the combination of dill, curry powder, and cayenne pepper adds a flavorful spiciness without overpowering the other flavors. Halve the amount of cayenne pepper if you want a milder taste. Corn and tomatoes have a naturally sweet flavor and this is a wonderfully warming soup.
Leaving the soup to stand at room temperature for a couple of hours and then heating it through again is optional but it does improve and enhance the flavor. This soup recipe makes enough for four servings.
What you will need:

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon curry powder
5 oz frozen corn kernels
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes in juice
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dill weed

How to make it:Melt the butter, then add the flour and whisk for a minute. Add the milk and keep whisking the mixture over a medium heat until it is thick. Add the cayenne pepper and curry powder and stir. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, then the corn and dill.
Heat the soup to a simmer and cook it for ten minutes. Let the soup stand at room temperature for two hours, then gently warm it up and serve hot with some warm, crusty bread for dipping.

How to Cook Salmon Steaks

2010-11-11T09:32:00.000-08:00

If you ask most salmon-loving people how to cook a salmon steak, there is just one answer: grill it. However, how to grill a salmon steak depends on one's cooking preferences, though many a griller (especially in the Northwest) swear by cedar plank grilling.
To prepare the plank, soak it in water for 10 minutes or more (this will ensure that it doesn't burn on the BBQ). Put a large piece of aluminum foil on the counter, put the cedar plank on the foil, put the salmon on the cedar plank. Season the salmon with your favorite seasoning. Lemon pepper is good, as is fresh dill and rosemary. Lemon slices also are an excellent addition. Fold the foil over the plank and the salmon so that everything is covered with foil. Flip the plank over and poke some small holes in the foil. You only do this on the side that has the cedar under the foil. 10 holes about the size of a pea will suffice.
How to cook salmon steaks seems to be a no-brainer (grill it) but timing is more based on preference. Some would say it is better to cook salmon too short of time than too long, as to avoid drying out the steak. Put the salmon on the grill with the hole side up first. Cook on this side for 4-5 minutes depending on how hot the grill is. Flip the salmon over and cook with the hole side down. You can cook a lot longer on this side because the heat travels through the cedar plank and then into the salmon. You could cook this side for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the heat of the fire and size of fish. You can open the foil and cut into the fish to ensure that it is ready. You want the center to be almost uncooked because it will cook a little when you take it off the grill. Leave it on the plank until ready to serve.
Many cooks believe salmon is better undercooked than over cooked, but once again, how to cook salmon steaks depends on personal preference-through grilling seems to be the unanimous method for cooking the perfect salmon steak.

( By Allie Moxley )

How to make puding

2010-11-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

Making Sweet and Sour Pudding is not difficult. Basically, you just need boiled water, agar-agar powder and sugar. The pudding is great when it served chilled. Pudding sauce is needed to enrich the flavour. Usually, the sauce is made from milk, sugar and vanilla. Following is the recipe and how to make the delicious sweet sour pudding.
Making Sweet and Sour pudding is a bit different. It is easier than making caramel pudding which needs to make caramel first. The process is including eggs beaten then add sweetened milk and water. Add vanilla if necessary and after that, pour the liquid into baking pan for baking process. Making sweet and sour pudding just needs a boiling water and some ingredients.
Ingredients:
* 1 pack agar-agar powder
* 1 each Sunkist oranges
* 1 each lemon fruit
* Sugar to taste
* 400 ml water
* 250 ml UHT milk
Pudding Sauce
* 1 piece of egg yolk
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 150 ml water
Cooking Method:
To make pudding.
1. Use the orange flesh by separate it from the skin. Use the blender or manually squeeze and take the lemon juice only.
2. Boil water, add agar-agar, milk, lemon juice, sugar and Sunkist orange juice stir constantly just before start to boil.
3. Pour into molds after boiling. To make the pudding looks beautiful, you might use various molds.
To make pudding sauce.
1. In small bowl, put cornstarch and add water, stir. Bring the liquid to boil, add sugar, egg yolk and milk powder. Stir continually until slightly thickened.
2. Remove from heat.

(By Yayat Sudrajat)

Chunky Italian Pasta Sauce

2010-11-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Chunky Italian pasta sauce, a great sauce to add to any kind of pasta you wish to eat. This is a simple way to delight your taste buds with a sensational sauce for pasta. The sauce should be ready in 30-35 minutes.

How to make chunky Italian Pasta sauce

Ingredients:
2 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 2 carrots, 3 celery stalks, a small handful of fresh basil leaves, sunflower or olive oil, 400g can chopped tomatoes, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano and 1or 2 teaspoons of artificial sweetener.

Method:
First of all, peel and roughly chop both the onions, then you should peel and cut the carrots into half an inch or 1 cm cubes, after this cut the celery into chunks, chop the basil leaves but reserve a few leaves for garnish.
Secondly spray a frying pan with the sunflower or olive oil and then add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Now stir-fry this for 2 to 3 minutes. No longer than this because you will be adding more ingredients to the sauce and they will all cook together.
After the 3 minutes add in the tomatoes, oregano and sweetener then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes stirring often. Now this is where you prepare your pasta I don't need to tell you how to cook pasta its very simple boil for 20 minutes done
Finally remove the sauce from the heat, and then scatter the chopped basil leaves over the sauce. Serve the meal with the remaining basil leaves on top of the meal.
(By Debra cousins)

Italian Meatball Recipe

2010-11-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

Meatballs are one of the most popular Italian dishes. They can be made with beef or pork, or a mixture of the two, and they are often served in a rich, tomato-based sauce. Meatballs are a delightful entree and they go well with a side salad and perhaps some Italian bread.
The following recipe serves ten people and it is so easy to make. This is an authentic Italian recipe and you will see that you do not need any kitchen appliances or gadgets. The tomatoes are squashed with your hands. The meat mixture is combined using your hands and the meat balls themselves are shaped with your hands. This is a very hands-on recipe and being able to feel the food as you prepare it adds something special to the cooking experience.
Not all meatballs are cooked in a sauce and you can fry meatballs and serve them with a sauce on the side if you like but the following recipe combines one of the best sauces with the best meat recipe for an outstanding result.
The meatballs cook slowly for three hours in the sauce, to let them cook slowly and stay succulent and to let the ingredients in the sauce blend well and maximize their flavors. If you are more familiar with canned, readymade meatballs that homemade ones, this recipe will take your breath away. You can get good meat balls in an Italian restaurant but why pay those prices when you can make the exact same dish in the comfort of your own kitchen?
What you will need:

1 egg
1 lb ground beef
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the sauce:

2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 cans tomato puree, 28 oz each
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon basil
28 oz can peeled plum tomatoes
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 diced onion
6 cloves
1/4 cup grated mozzarella

How to make them:First make the sauce. Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil. Put the plum tomatoes in a big bowl and squash them with your hands. Combine the egg, ground beef, garlic powder, parmesan, pepper, milk, oregano, breadcrumbs, parsley, and salt in a big bowl using your hands.
Roll the mixture into golf ball sized balls. The meat needs to be firmly packed so they will hold their shape but not compressed, so that they will have a good texture. Add all the sauce ingredients to a big pot and drop in the meat balls. Simmer the mixture for three hours or until the meatballs are cooked and the sauce is aromatic and flavorful.
(By KC Kudra )