Egg Foo Young

One of our kids' favorite comfort foods is egg foo young. They love to get a big bowl of steamed rice, a couple patties of egg foo young and drip a little soy sauce over the whole thing and eat to their tummy's content. Egg foo young is SO simple to make at home, you don't have to wait until you go to your fave Chinese restaurant to have it...just whip up a batch at home! The only thing you'll need that you may need to get from an Asian market (unless your local supermarket has an ethnic food section) is Squid brand fish sauce. Of course you can use another brand if you want, but Squid is the best, trust me! It sounds weird but once it's in the food you won't notice it overly much and it's not fishy, it's salty. It's a necessity to Asian cooking! Here's what it looks like so you can find it in your store:

Our "usual" egg foo young recipe is simple--eggs, ground pork and green onions. But this is basically an Asian omelet and you can add any type of veggie you normally like in omelets. We also love to add chopped zucchini and minced garlic to ours. Vidalia onion, green pepper, mushrooms and broccoli are also great additions to this dish!

Makes 8 Servings

12 eggs

1 lb. ground pork

1 small bunch green onions, chopped

1/2 cup Squid fish sauce

corn oil

Directions:

Heat oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Whisk eggs, pork, scallions and fish sauce together until well combined. Pour enough of the egg mixture into the skilled to cover the bottom, about a cup to two cups, depending how thick you want your egg patties to be. Swirl skillet until fully covered with egg. Cook until lightly browned on the bottom and flip. Again, cook until lightly browned on the bottom. About 3-5 minutes per side. Remove to a paper towel lined dish to absorb the oil. Continue cooking until all the egg mixture has been used. Serve over steamed rice with soy sauce, if desired.

Hubs made this for dinner last night, it was a Sunday evening and we usually eat a big meal on Sunday afternoons after church, so Sunday evenings are usually "fend for yourself" days. He was craving this dish and the kids have been wanting it since they went to visit their grandma last week and had McD's nuggets instead of this dish, which they were expecting LOL. Silly kids, disappointed over McD's nuggets...I remember back in my day, we NEVER ate out, so McD's nuggets were a special treat and we'd never have been disappointed over that! Makes me happy to know they get more excited over home-cookin' than restaurant food though, I must say! So we scarfed this down last night and then ate the leftovers this morning for breakfast. Delish! Well, we are off to enjoy a couple days at Disney this week since we are running out of summer days...I'll be back in a few days with a new recipe to share! Have a great week!

Spicy Mayo

Around here we do sushi night pretty regularly. Whether it's homemade or takeout, we love sushi! Even my kids will tear up some sushi. They love California rolls, sweet potato rolls and of course, chicken rolls. We let them try anything that doesn't have raw in it. And if the idea of eating raw fish wigs you out, there's plenty out there that's cooked! In fact, I think the scales may even tip in favor of more cooked vs raw sushi here in the States. If you're not a seafood person, you'd be surprised to know that raw fish actually doesn't taste "fishy" at all. It's the cooking process that brings out the oils in the seafood that give it that "fishy" flavor. 

This is one of the kiddos' favorite rolls that we make here at home: imitation crab meat, chicken tenders, scallions, cucumbers and cream cheese, all rolled up in sushi rice and nori and then battered and fried before slicing it up...mmm.

Personally, I love seafood...comes from being raised on it from the time I could eat solid food. My grandparents used to live right on the St. John's River here in Florida, and we would catch fresh seafood every single day to eat...crabs, shrimp, fish....mmmm, it was delicious. Nana S. would put it all in a big pot with salt, garlic powder and some seasoning like Old Bay or Lawry's seasoned salt and serve it up with melted butter and we'd devour it all. Anyway, as usual, I'm going off on a rabbit trail. My point today is to share with you my recipe for Spicy Mayo...a necessity when eating sushi, in my opinion, but it's also delicious on salads, with grilled fish or chicken, steak, baked potatoes...well practically anything other than dessert, really. Love me some Spicy Mayo!

Makes About 1 Cup

1 cup mayonnaise

1-2 tablespoons sriracha sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:

Whisk everything together briskly until well combined. Taste and add extra sriracha if you want it spicier. 

     I usually taste and add a dash of this or that from the ingredient list until I get it exactly how I want it...we like to put ours in a squeeze bottle like you see above so we can squeeze it directly onto each bite of sushi. A mouthful of heaven! :)

Crab Rangoons

Makes 6 Servings

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3-4 green onions, chopped
2 cups chopped, cooked shrimp or crab meat--can be canned or fresh, imitation is ok too
Dash salt
12 egg roll wrappers (or wonton wrappers)
Egg wash

Directions:

Combine all filling ingredients and mix well...taste test to make sure it has enough salt. Arrange the egg roll wrappers in a "diamond" shape so the point is facing you. Place two tablespoons of filling in the bottom 1/3 of the triangle, then wrap like a burrito...roll over the filling, bring in the sides, then continue rolling until closed nicely. (Google has lots of egg roll wrapping illustrations if you need them.) Use a brush or your fingers to brush the egg wash onto the tip/corner of the wrap to seal it and ensure it doesn't open up during frying. Fry in hot oil until golden brown. Makes six servings of two rolls each. If you prefer to bake, you can use wonton wrappers instead--those bake very well. The thin spring roll wrappers that we use from the Asian grocery do not bake well, but get very chewy. If you purchase an egg roll or wonton wrapper from a regular grocery store like Publix, then you will be fine to bake them. You can wrap as directed and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or you can line muffin tins with the wrappers and fill with the filling, then bake at 350 for 20 minutes. (This is definitely the easier, healthier route!)



We have tried to mimic the Crab Rangoons from the Chinese takeout restaurants several times and this is the closest we have gotten! The mayonnaise helps keep the cream cheese creamy and smooth without drying out and adding a bit of salt helps with the flavor. We like to make these for a snack or as an appetizer for a party. I like using the wonton wrappers and baking them in muffin tins--super easy and much healthier than frying.

Potstickers

Makes 3 Dozen

1/4 pound ground pork
1/2 pound uncooked shrimp, shelled, deveined, and finely chopped
1 egg white
1/4 cup minced water chestnuts
1/2 stalk celery, minced
2-4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon chili oil, optional
Dash ground pepper
36 wonton or potsticker wrappers
3 tablespoons cooking oil
2/3 cup chicken broth

Sauce:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1/2 teaspoon chili oil

Directions:

In a large bowl toss in the pork, shrimp, egg white, water chestnuts, celery, ginger, sugar, salt, chili oil, and sesame oil. Season with a little pepper and mix and stir until well combined--I usually put on some non-latex plastic gloves and mix it with my hands. Put a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of a wrapper. Brush around the edges with water. Fold the wrappers in half over the filling, pinching the edges together, forming a triangle. Fold the corners over towards the center, moistening with a little water to seal. Make sure to seal well so the filling doesn't ooze out. Repeat until all the filling has been finished. Set your oven to the “warm” setting, or 170 degrees. Heat a large skillet over medium-high. Add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of your skillet. When the oil is hot, add as many dumplings as can fit well without being overly crammed together. Cook until the bottoms are golden and crisp, about 4 minutes. Add some of the chicken broth; enough for about half an inch of broth in the pan. Reduce the heat to medium, cover, and cook until the liquid is absorbed, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer the cooked dumplings to a casserole dish or cookie sheet and put them in the oven to keep warm. Repeat, steps, until all potstickers are cooked. Serve the dumplings with soy sauce or make the sauce above by mixing all ingredients for the sauce in a pan and simmer over medium heat for a minute or two until the sugar dissolves.




This is easy and delicious, although a bit time-consuming. The worst part is the wrapping, which takes awhile, but it is TOTALLY worth it. We like to make some with just shrimp too and have a big smorgasborg of potstickers. :)

Banh Trang Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Makes 6-8 Servings

Rice paper (banh trang)

Rice vermicelli noodles 

Lettuce leaves, sliced into strips
Cooked shrimp
1 can pineapple chunks or slices, drained
3 lbs boneless pork ribs
3-4 green onions, cut into 4" sections
6-12 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons  sugar

1-2 tablespoons fish sauce  (We use the squid brand...do not be afraid! It mostly tastes like salt. The smell is the worst part, but once it's cooked into food, it doesn't taste how it smells.)

2 tablespoons oil

Hoisin Sauce 
Sriracha pepper sauce 

Ground peanuts

Directions:

Put noodles in a large bowl and pour boiling water just until covered. Let sit for several minutes, until soft.

Stir in sugar and fish sauce into beaten eggs. In a large skillet heat oil. Pour eggs in and cook until scrambled and cooked through. Remove to a plate and cut into 3-4" strips.

Place pork roast into a large pot and cover with water. Heat to boiling and allow to boil until meat is cooked through, about 20 minutes depending on the size and cut of your meat. Remove from heat and cut into 3-4" strips.

Fill large shallow pan with warm water--make sure the pan is large enough to hold a rice paper sheet in.  Slide a rice paper sheet into the water, pressing it down until it sinks and remains covered with water. Let it sit for maybe 5 seconds and pull it out. It will be more flexible than when you put it in, but not soft yet--it will continue to soften as you fill it. Make sure there are still a couple stiff spots. The paper will soak in additional water during assembly and will soften. If the paper is completely soft when you remove it, it won't retain it's shape as well and will often stick together and tear.

Lay the sheet on your plate or platter. We put all the ingredients and water on the table and just have a big assembly line. But sometimes we prepare them all ahead of time to make it easier on people, especially if we have guests or are super hungry.

Now it's time to layer and wrap! Put a slice of lettuce in the center of the paper on the left side--it should cover about 2 inches by 4 inches, so you may need a couple slices, depending on how you cut your lettuce. Then layer about 1/4 cup or so of the cooked vermicelli noodles. Then layer shrimp, pineapple, pork, green onions and eggs on op of these and put your hoisin, sriracha and ground peanuts on top. It takes a couple tries to figure out exactly how much filling to put in so it isn't too full or too empty, but once you get the hang of it, it's much easier.

Pull up the ends tightly and then start rolling from the left side, like a burrito. The paper will stick together and make a seal, keeping all the ingredients inside.

Serve with bowls of additional hoisin and sriracha and dip in as you eat.



This looks and sounds complicated, I know, but trust me when I say it really isn't! The hardest part is all the slicing and preparing, but once you've got all your filling ingredients prepared and ready, all you've got to do is assemble and eat. We can usually get this meal on the table in under an hour and it is a family favorite. Most of the ingredients you can find right in your grocery store, in the ethnic food section. The rice paper, vermicelli noodles and fish sauce may need to be purchased in an Asian market if you can't find them in your grocery store, however all of our local Publix markets carry these items. Enjoy. :)