Kitchen Fun

Spicy Shrimp Laap (Laab/Lap)

2011-03-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

Laap (Laab, Lap) Lao is the national food dish of Laos. It is like a salad dish with meat and Thai Lao herbs tossed together. You can make Laap, fish, and shrimp; however, this is a time-consuming dish as it requires a lot of chopping. Some of the traditional ways to make laap could be found on youtube as the one below:

Even though it tastes authentic but for many people, it's too hard to make and require much time to clean up (just watch the video and you'll see). Last week, a friend of mine show me how to make a quicker version of shrimp laap which takes around 10 minutes.

All ingredients that you may need are:

Shrimp (1.5-2lbs)
Green Onions (4-5 bunches)
5 fresh limes
Fresh Red Chili Peppers (depending on how much spicy you prefer)
Cilantro (1 bunch) - well - chopped
2 table spoons of Laap seasoning mix (could be found in any Asian store)

Laap Seasoning mix

First, star to boil and peel the shrimps:

Chop the green onions, shrimp cilantro and mix them in a big bowl:

Chopping the ingredients


Mixing the ingredients

Start cutting the limes and sqeeze their fresh juice into the mixture (Lime has a lot of benefits):

Cutting the limes


Squeezing the juice into the mixture

For real laap, there is chooped lime leaf, however, we can't find them here so here you go:


Save the lime skin


Peel the lime skin off

Mince them really well and add to the mixture !!!!!

Add the red chili peper and mix all of them up with laap spices and 2 table spoons of Vietnamese fish sauce. This dish must be spicy, otherwise it would be tastless:

adjust the taste with some salt and sugar and then enjoy it!!!!! You may serve it with some sticky rice and hot tea as it'll be so spicy!!!

Serving laap on a plate

GOOD LUCK!!!!

A big 'Thank' to Rimi and Chue for sharing this recipe!!!

Rimi and Chue in Kitchen

Posing with a piece of lime skin

Some Benefits of Lime/Lemon in Cooking & Bo Tai Chanh

2011-02-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

Lime plays as an important spices in Vietnamese dishes for it enhances the freshness of food while bringing health benefits. Any Vietnamese noodle dish/soup main course (such as Pho or Bun Bo Hue, ...) is always served with a small plate of limes and red peppers. Especially in the Southern area of Vietnam, we squeeze lime in many main courses.

The nutritional benefits of limes do not differ very much from those of lemons. They are both excellent sources of vitamin C, B6, potassium, folic acid, flavonoids and the outstanding phytochemical, limonene.

There are different many resources and information of the uses of limes/lemons if you google it. For example, from juicing-for-health.com many of lime/lemon health benefits are listed:

Asthma: Take a tablespoon of lemon juice at least one hour before each meal to relieve asthma.
Burning soles/feet: Rub a sliced lemon over the burning sole/foot/heel to relieve from pain and for toxin elimination through the pores of the feet.
Cholera: The potent anti-viral properties in lime/lemon can kill cholera bacilli within a very short period of time. Drink one part juice and one part water regularly, especially during an epidemic.
Cold: The anti-viral properties in lime/lemon fight infections and halt the progress of a cold. Take the juice of two lemons in half a liter of hot water and add raw honey to taste. Sip it slowly before bedtime.
Constipation: Drink a glass of warm water every morning with some lime/lemon juice with raw honey. Stir in a pinch of cinnamon powder. This will help your body to detoxify and relieve constipation.
Digestion: Lime/lemon juice have amazing digestive qualities that are very similar to our digestive enzymes. Thus it is effectively helps with digestion and relieve bloating and belching.
Feet, tired: After a long day on your feet, soak your feet in very warm water containing lime/lemon juice to enjoy the cooling, astringent feeling. This will also help promote deep sleep due to the relaxing action on the foot nerves.
Gums, swollen: Drink a glass of diluted fresh lime juice with a pinch of sea salt to relieve the pain of swollen gums. Use the albedo (the white matter under the peel) from the squeezed lime and rub on the gums.
Heartburn: Add two teaspoon of concentrated lime/lemon juice into a glass of warm water and drink to relieve heartburn.
Inflammatory disorders: Even though lime/lemon juice are sour and taste acidic, it is actually very alkalinizing in the body and is highly effective in the treatment of inflammatory disorders like rheumatism, arthritis, sciatica, etc. It also prevents the deposit of uric acid in the tissues, thus reducing the risks of gout.
Skin, dry: Rub the peel of a lemon on dry or scaly skin to restore softness and add moisture to the skin.
Sore throat: Mix one part lemon juice with one part water. Gargle frequently and feel its soothing effect on the throat. You may also add in a pinch of sea salt for added effect.

Can lime/lemon help with diet ( or help you burn fat?)

No, but it helps reduce fat storage!

I may trust what they say on the internet about the benefits of lime to reduce fat; however, I myself can't drink a glass of lime/lemon juice mixed with water without any sugar added. It's nasty!!!

However, It's true that Limes/Lemons have high levels of citric acid, and according to Totally Explained.com, citric acid is an important component of the Citric Acid Cycle (Kreb's Cycle), during which citric acid is involved in the breakdown of fats--as well as carbohydrates and proteins--into carbon dioxide and water.

Today, I'll show you an quickly and easily-made dish in Vietnam to make use of the freshness of lime juice but very tasty!

Bo Tai Chanh - Rare Beef Marinated in Lime Sauce

(Sorry I'm lazy with the translation, so this recipe is my modified version from foodgeeks.com)

SERVINGS

5 to 10 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. beef tenderloin or eye of round, sliced paper-thin against the grain

Vietnamese crab cracker (1/2 box - deep fried in hot pan)

You may add some cooked shrimp to add the red color for decoration

Dressing
3 limes
1/4 cup good fish sauce (nuoc mam)
3 tbsp. white sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 piece ginger, grated
1 dash dried chiles or 1 thai bird chile, chopped fine (suit to taste)

Garnishes
Crushed roasted peanuts or cashews
Cilantro, chopped
Basil, shredded
Mint, shredded
Scallions, chopped or shallots, minced
Fried garlic bits
Drizzle of lime juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix dressing ingredients until sugar is well-dissolved. Let stand for at least 10 minutes, up to overnight.

2. Add raw beef and 3/4 of dressing to a bowl and ensure all slices are in contact with dressing. Let stand about 10-15 minutes. (if you can't stand the taste of raw beef, then quickly stir fry them in a hot pan with 1-2 spoon of olive oil)

3. Drain beef and arrange on a chilled platter. Drizzle with remaining dressing, then sprinkle with garnishes of your choice, I recommend all of them. Serve immediately on the crackers.

served with shrimp crackers!!!

This dish goes really well with some beer or wine as an appetizer!!!

Good Luck!

And try using fresh lime/lemon juice in cooking...

again,

I said 'FRESH' !!!

Hot-Pan Buttered Meat Spring Rolls (Bo Lan Bo) for a Snow Day

2011-02-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

It's been snowing for the last two days in Minneapolis, and all Minneapolis and Bloomington campuses are closed, including Augsburg. One of my classes tomorrow is also cancelled giving me more time to write about one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes in the chilling weather of Minneapolis winters: Hot-Pan Buttered Meat Rolls (or Bo Lan Bo in Vietnamese):

This dish is rather easy to prepare because there is no cooking involved until serving time (more like a Vietnamese hot pot), but required a lot of chopping. All of the ingredients that you may need is:

Beef (a tender type) 1-2 lbs, thin-sliced
Shallots, Garlics, Gingers, Jalapenos (well-chopped)

Vietnamese rice-noodles (boiled then washedwith cold water twice)

Shrimps (medium/large size for ones who likes seafood)-peeled but leave the tails for decorations

Vegetables (salad-any preferred type, mint, cilantro), butter (2 bars), Vietnamese Spring Roll wrappers.

Prepare the dipping sauce

There are multiple types of sauce could be used for this dish depending on your tastes. The original one has a bit stronger smell even reek for one to tolerate: Mam Nem or (Fermented Anchovy Dip):

Fermented Anchovy Dip Recipe (Mam Nem)
Ingredients :
2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons 1 clove 1 1 stalk 1 teaspoon 125 ml	Fermented anchovy paste Pineapple, finely crushed Garlic, peeled and finely chopped Red chili, seeded and finely chopped Lemon grass, bulbous portion only, finely chopped Sugar Water
Method : Combine ingredients and mix well. Bring to the boil stirring then allow to cool. Serve as a dipping sauce.

For ones that can't tolerate the strong exotic taste of this sauce, replace it with just some basic Hoisin Sauce cooked with some water and peanut chunks (add a half spoon of Vietnamese Sriracha Chilli sauce if you want to make it spicy).

Serving

First, present all the ingredients on your a dinning table with an electric hot pot in the middle of the table. Don't forget a big bowl of warm water for them to soften the spring roll wrappers.

When the guests are seated, start to melt the butter and start adding the mixture of Shallots, Garlic and Gingers to create a tasty aroma. Then ask your guests to help them self frying any meat ingredients that they prefer (the salad and vegetable remain fresh).

Start rolling the spring rolls with different ingredients and get ready to eat and enjoy a Spring Roll Night!!!!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

Fry Healthier

2011-02-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

Stir fried, Deep fried... basically any food that fried tastes delicious. However, in order to make them a bit healthier (less oil) but tastier, there are some simple tricks that one should know. Here are some tricks that I've been collecting, try applying them and let me know if they work for you as well.

Stir Fry

Marinate meat/seafood with soy sauce/fish sauce/simply sea salt, black pepper, chopped garlic/onion and a few table spoon(s) of olive oil for a tastier aroma, making the meat tender. To make the meat even more tender, add some pineapple juice at the end of the cooking.
To reduce the fishy taste of seafood or any fish product, add some white wine/ rice wine into the marinating mixture or at the end of the stir fry process.

Deep the vegetable mixture into boiled water for 10-15 seconds before using it as one wouldn't need as much oil to cook them.

Fry vegetable and meat/seafood separately and then mix them together to make sure that they are rightly cooked ( not some gets cooked and others are overcooked).
Corn/Potato Starch in the sauce: This is the trick of many Asian restaurants to make their stir-fry sauce thicker. Use a table spoon corn/potato starch mixed with about 1/2-3/4 cup of cold water and add to the stir fry at the end of the cooking and maintain the fire for about 1 min, the sauce will get thicker and tastier.

2. Deep Fry

Add some sea salt into the oil pan in order to reduce the chance of hot oil shooting at you.
Deep ingredients into scrambled egg or frying flour to make the food crispier and tastier.

The ingredients must be completely deepened into the hot oil, they would absorb less oil.
Set the food on paper towels after fried.
For larger size ingredients such as chicken thighs, whole fish, etc., use a fork or a knife to make some deep cuts on the food to reduce the cooking time and avoid their insides being uncooked.
Don't reuse cooking oil! It's nasty for your health.

Good luck with making a healthier stir fried/ deep fried dish. Let me know if you have/come up with a new trick.