I love strawberry gin and tonics but don’t like an overly gin-y flavor. Here’s a strawberry tonic with a little tiny bit of a twist.
With quarantine, my K BBQ craving has reached exponential heights. Unless you feel like living dangerously, I would do this outside - somewhere with a lot of ventilation.
Flavors: brothy, pho-y
So a LONG time ago I wrote a recipe for crock pot pho. Super good, super easy. The recipe was poorly written, which may have been a little frustrating for readers. Also- it took a LONG time to make. Like 8 hours. Forever.
Anywho- today, I have a recipe for Instant Pot pho ga / chicken pho. WAY Faster. 1.5 hrs and you have a BOMB pho ga. If you don’t know what an Instant Pot is- HELLO - where have you been the past 5 Black Fridays.
I love love loved Thai tea. Every time I had a long night of studying to do in college, I would grab a friend to split a pad Thai & some Thai tea. Those were the days. But after college, I started becoming wary about hidden chemicals in my food- excess sodium in my pho, etc. I started wondering what made Thai tea have this fluorescent orange color. Spoiler alert: at a lot of restaurants, it's food coloring (yay). Also, secret ingredient #2 is sugar. A lot of sugar.
This is a recipe for when you’ve been eating WAY. Too. Many. Noodles. It has the bomb flavors of a lemony shrimp dish but with no pasta. For this recipe, you need a spiralizer. This one’s currently a great deal on Amazon.
One day, I realized I was addicted to poke. I would get it at least once a week. After a visit to Ijji sushi, I started questioning the quality of the fish at poke places. Thinking about it made me feel slightly icky. Paired with the intense bloating from the high sodium poke sauces, I decided to make my own poke bowl at home.
The ingredient list looks intimidating, but I promise it's not hard to make. You can add & leave out ingredients as you please.
I talk a big game about biryani, but I've never posted a recipe. Until now.
What is Biryani?
It's a curry infused rice dish. Think of fruit infused water, but better- and spicier.
Flavors: Umami, sesame, miso
Can we agree that homemade broth is better? But it takes SO MUCH TIME. I want to the effort of boxed broth with the taste of homemade broth. Is that possible? Kind of- sort of. By using a Dutch Oven, you can spruce up a “meh” broth pretty quickly. The Dutch Oven locks in moisture during cooking and can maintain high heat at lower temperatures.
This is no 8 hr broth, but it’s still bomb & takes 1/8 of the time.
I've stopped going to my favorite Japanese Hot Pot place in San Francisco (Shabu House) because I discovered they use MSG in their broth. And I found out in the most distressing way.
Me: This hot pot is especially salty today. Do you think they use MSG?
Friend: No- of course not- I wouldn't come here if they used MSG.
Me: Excuse me (to waitress)- is there MSG in this?
Waitress: (nods fervently)
I try to shy away from fried foods because once I start, I can't stop. Recently, when getting bubble tea, I decided to get some popcorn chicken. Big mistake. Over the next week, this chicken began invading my thoughts. How can I make it less unhealthy? Is it possible to bake the chicken and imitate the crispiness of deep fried chicken? So after trial and error, here's my recipe for Taiwanese popcorn chicken that tastes just as good as the real thing, but without all that oil!
In cold weather, I often crave pho, ramen, hot pot, and other soups, but I always regret purchasing it at restaurants. Per @jennalyner's request, here's a Pho Ga recipe that won't cause hypertension...
Hey- a lot of boba places have been serving strawberry horchata... also, I miss Texas. Let me know if you have other bomb horchata recipes.
I love the tomato mixture on bruschetta. I could care less about the bread that holds it together. Alas, the bread is merely a vehicle for the tomato mixture.
Bread : Bruschetta :: Chips : Salsa
Have I clarified? No? I thought I was being so clever.
Let me warn you- making your own boba is quite a dangerous feat. It'll allow you to consume copious amounts of boba whenever you want. Most people cannot properly manage their boba intake (me).
Ooh, girl, it's something gluten-free that doesn't taste like poo. If you've tried gluten free pastries, they taste yucky.
Let's be honest: when a package has "gluten-free" written on it, it makes me want to walk in the other direction. When I finally find a gluten-free product that isn't super high in sodium & sugar, I'm ecstatic. My Celiac friends can enjoy the pleasure of gooey, bready food!
Venice Bakery's Seasoned pizza crust is has a buttery deliciousness to it - even though it's vegan. They sell it at Sprouts Farmer's Market.
Live crabs freak me out a little bit. The thought of capturing crabs, gutting them, and getting their meat was slightly nauseating to me... until I realized I could make delicious ceviche tacos!
So technically, ceviche is seafood cured with citrus, like lemon juice. The crabs we will be preparing are boiled, but the end result will still have the tangy taste of ceviche.
I love tangy/sweet taste of Thai Papaya salad. It's so refreshing and summer-y. And it's healthy (minus the brown sugar).
Unfortunately,
Well - good news. It's VERY easy to make and it's inexpensive. AND 1 papaya makes a shitton of salad, so you can eat to your heart's content.
Charcuterie platters spruce up a party and say, "Hey, I'm a fancy pants.." Trying something different: Taking food photos is EXHAUSTING, so I decided to make a low-medium quality video with strange music.
Reviews for this video have been, "That bg music tho." Enjoy.
Don't tell me the seedy title scare you. This eggplant parm is amazing - and a good sauce makes it so much better.
Ways you can make this super healthy: don't make the angel hair pasta, don't add mozzarella, don't bread your eggplant, and go light on the Parmesan.
Poached eggs. Admittedly, I'm obsessed. But poached eggs on bread are just bleh.
Alternative Titles for this Post:
OH yeah- if you want to learn how to make poached eggs, click here! For your health, I recommend forgoing the hollandaise sauce.
Sometimes I just don't want to add the 4 cups of sugar that a recipe asks for. This is the art of modifying recipes.
Here are some rules you must abide by...
Rule #1: You need to know what you can & cannot substitute.
After New Zealand (eating Eggs Benedict every single day for a week), I had to make it. Also, I have become OBSESSED with poached eggs. (Why would you eat eggs any other way?)
Why veggie eggs benny? Because! Roasted tom-ah-toes!
If you're like me, espresso > coffee. To non-coffee snobs, there is a difference between an iced latte and iced coffee.
Most of us don't have an espresso machine, but we crave for that strong, bold flavor that we'll never get from plain black coffee. I mean I guess you can, but the coffee will end up tasting burnt. New Orleans Style coffee is a good alternative to espresso.
New Orleans style coffee is what it is because of the chicory, which gives it a bitter flavor (the more you know).
(I know). Another Sideboard-related post. Despite my negative experience I detailed in my last post, I still go back for their food.
Whole Foods charges out the NOSE for hummus. Fight the man. Make it yourself.
I'm a huge fan of chilled Asian salads with noodles, and I love the tangy, sweet flavors of Pad Thai. Despite the fact there are no leafy greens in this dish, here is an easy recipe for a Vegan Pad Thai salad.
Breakfast tacos are an integral part of a Texans cuisine. You can find them in coffee shops, food trailers, and likely your local grocery stores. This is a vegan breakfast taco recipe that combines the hippie culture of Austin with the cilantro/lime-y taste of Tex Mex.