Chico's Spicy Chicken with Eggplant and Bell Peppers

If you're not into cooking that much but would like to eat something homemade that's quick and easy, then you must try this recipe. This Thai-inspired dish is hot and is as yummy as it looks on the picture. The chicken stays plump and juicy, the veggies are vibrant and crunchy, and the sauce is simply spicy and succulent. Plus it looks damn great, people will think you spent hours cooking this gourmet stir-fry. It's incredibly easy and fast to make that anyone can cook it. It's great for people on the go with hectic schedules or busy jobs. Proof - my brother Chi (aka Chico), who loves frozen ready-made meals, who enjoys eating out and taking out, who seldom enjoys cooking or rarely gets excited about food...made this delicious and colourful dish, all by himself and before my very own teary eyes. Tears of joy, of course. *
*As the dish came together, I could already smell the heavenly fragrance simmering from the stir-fried chicken and eggplants. My stomach was growling like a lion. I was ready to devour the entire plate.

It's 15 minutes of preparation and 10 minutes of cooking.

Recipe "au pif":
3/4 lb chicken breast, cut in thin 2 inch slices
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 asian eggplants (or baby eggplants) cut diagonally in thin slices
1 red bell pepper, julienned
2 red hot chillies, thinly sliced
3-4 tbsp of soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp of oyster sauce
handful of basil leaves to garnish
Oil for stir frying*
Mix chicken with soya sauce, oyster sauce and garlic, with your hands. Leave it to marinate for minimum 30 minutes (the longer the better - more flavour)
*
Heat oil in 12 inch wok (or large skillet) on high heat. Add in the chicken and you should hear that sizzzzzling.... and stir-fry until half cooked (should still see a little bit of pink in the center of the chicken), for about 2 minutes.
*
Add in the sliced eggplants and stir. Lower the heat to medium-high. Cover for about 3-4 minutes.
*
Remove lid and add in the red bell peppers and the chillies, stir for about 2 minutes. Cover for another 2-3 minutes.*
Chicken should not be overcooked but tender and juicy, eggplants well cooked and red bell peppers are vibrant red and crunchy. Covering the wok should have created juice from the eggplants and the red bell peppers.*
Garnish with basil.*
Serve with steamed Jasmine rice.*
Serves 4 people.
*You'll not only impress your guests but yourself too, especially if you consider yourself a novice in the kitchen.

Making Your Own Home-Style Thai Curry Paste

Making your own curry paste, whether it be Indian or Thai, is well worth the effort. The last time I made my first homemade Indian curry paste, I decided to do a little bit more research to find out more on preparing fresh Thai curry paste.

I would recommend this inspiring book called The Big Book of Thai Curries, from Vatcharin Bhumichitr. It's an enjoyable read and the photography is stunning. Most importantly, the author pleasantly describes the origin and the role of each herb and spice in the paste that it impels a true beginner at curry paste-making , like my good self, to make her/his own paste and reproduce the balance of flavours exactly as the author makes it. And then, you can adjust as necessary to suit your own taste. Also good to know, these freshly made pastes can be frozen - they may lose a little flavour but they will still taste better than shop-bought ones.

There is no comparison between a fresh homemade curry paste and a pre-made one bought from the store. To this day, I truly think that pre-made thai curry pastes are overly salty and are lacking in character, and in most cases have zero aroma. In fact, fresh curry pastes are known for their strong pungent smell and intense flavour.

Thai curries are uniquely light and refreshing because they are based on fresh ingredients. They also have very distinctive colours and are determined by the colour of their ingredients, mostly the chillies and the curry pastes, hence the famous red, green and yellow varieties.

Some of the most commonly used herbs and spices in a Thai curry paste, clockwise from bottom center:

coarse salt

shrimp paste

cardamon pods

nutmeg

white peppercorns

lemongrass stalk

scallion stalk

fresh red chillies

garlic cloves

galangal (same family as ginger, but more intense in flavour and aroma)

coriander roots

**

Although, every one of the curry paste recipe in the book makes roughly 15-20 tablespoons of paste, I like to prepare just enough for the recipe I'll be using it for, as I prefer my pastes to be very fresh. For this recipe, I used scallions instead of shallots (I ran out of them...but they worked well for me) and less chillies - unlike many Vietnamese, I have a low tolerance for fiery hot and highly spicy foods.

**

Recipe "au pif":

3-4 small dried red chillies (fresh ones can also be used - both found in local asian grocery stores)

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 tsp finely chopped galangal, toasted

1 lemongrass stalk, finely chopped

1/2 tsp shrimp paste (found in local asian grocery stores)

2 whole cardamon pods, toasted (husks removed and seed scraped out - found in spices section of local asian or arabic grocery stores)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp white peppercorn, toasted until brown

1 shallot or 1 stalk scallions, finely chopped

3 coriander roots, finely chopped

**

Golden rule to preparing a great Thai curry paste:

The preparation of the curry pastes is the same for each curry. The ingredients should be ground using a pestle and mortar. Start with the hardest ingredient and then add the other ingredients one at a time. It is recommended to start with the chillies and the sea salt - the coarse sea salt helps to cut through the chilli skin. As you add each ingredient, check the aroma of the paste to see how the new ingredient is balancing previous ones. This will ensure that you don't add too much or too little of any ingredient. You are aiming for a harmonious blend with no one flavour dominating.

**

Pound and grind until you reach the desired texture.

**

Any leftover paste will keep in the fridge for two or three days. The best way to keep it fresh is to wrap it in clingfilm and place it in an airtight container.

****

Makes roughly 2 tablespoons of paste.

You're now ready to make your first homemade Thai curry, with meats, poultry, vegetables or fish!

Crispy Sticky Rice Galette (Banh chung xanh)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

(Chuc Mung Nam Moi !)

Vietnamese Tet is the most important Vietnamese holiday of the year. Tet celebrates the beginning of the Lunar New Year which usually falls at the end of January or beginning of February. During these festive times, a variety of activities, foods and performances are offered and organized by Montreal's small Vietnamese community, at the Montreal Hippodrome. They often include Vietnamese entertainers/singers, Vietnamese folk dancing, fire crackers, drumming, dragon dancing and martial arts exhibitions. The festivals usually last the weekend of the lunar New Year Day and is both a time for Vietnamese to reaffirm their culture as well as reach out to the surrounding community.

Most importantly, most Vietnameses, like myself, like to attend this event to celebrate the year of the Rat and to gather around the food kiosks to admire the delectables that are specially prepared for this festive event. The organizers who cook for the festival take a few days off because of the lengthy preparation that is required to prepare certain foods. Some of them are well listed and illustrated in Andrea Nguyen's food blog, Viet World Kitchen.

• Banh chung xanh - Sticky rice cake filled with pork and mung bean
• Thit mo - Luxurious fatty meats
• Dua hanh - Pickled shallots

They're typical and authentic Vietnamese food that I love. But one of my favorites (I have more than one) is the Banh chung xanh - Sticky rice cake filled with pork and mung bean. It is incredibly time-consuming to make, for people on the go like me, but it is worthwhile if you find a weekend to make it. There is nothing better than a homemade sticky rice cake, freshly prepared in your own kitchen. If you are interested in getting the recipe for this wonderful rice cake, Andrea has it down pat. Her explanations and instructions are clear and fully illustrated here.

Banh chung xanh (Sticky rice cake filled with pork and mung bean)

The way I like my sticky rice cake is nice and crispy. Even if homemade food is always the best, you can find very good sticky rice cakes in your local asian grocery store, especially during New Year's. So you better hurry up and get some before they all vanish. You just have to know which store or know a Vietnamese who could refer you to a good place. Often, Vietnamese families make these homemade sticky rice cakes in their own kitchens and sell them to friends of friends, and even total strangers.

To make a crispy sticky rice cake galette, I buy my sticky rice cake at a reputable Montreal asian grocery store. I like to leave it at room temperature for about an hour just before frying it so that it's more malleable when trying to shape it like a galette. Once again, it's a fast and easy recipe that will make your mouth water.

Recipe "au pif":
1 sticky rice cake (Banh chung xanh)
3 tbsp of oil (canola or vegetable)

On medium-high heat, heat oil in a large skillet.

Cut the sticky rice cake into wedges (using unflavoured dental floss).

Add in the sticky rice cakes to the hot skillet and gently start mashing, with a large spoon and spatula, the wedges down flat. Continue this process until your sticky rice cake is completely flat like a galette (or pancake). Let it brown for about 6-7 minutes. Flip over with a large spatula, or slide the galette onto a large plate; flip over the skillet over the plate, and flip once more the plate over the skillet so that the galette falls back into the skillet. Let it brown for another 6 minutes.

Serve warm with a dipping sauce made of fish sauce and a few slices of red hot chilis.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Chuc Mung Nam Moi !)

Vietnamese Stir-fried Beef with Kai-Lan Veggies (Chinese Broccoli)

You know you've made a great stir-fry when the vegetables are colourful and crispy and the beef is tender and juicy. Oh my, just looking at the picture, my mouth just waters. Stir Fries are my mother's best dishes. She's mastered everything about it, from cutting the meat to the right thickness to determining the right cooking time so that the veggies burst with freshness and flavour and the meat always turns out juicy.

I learned so much from watching and helping my mother cook that I copied...I mean...took on some of her techniques, which I now have down pat, also thanks to a sexy and sharp kitchen knife and a fine titanium wok, which I now own so proudly. As I had pointed out in an earlier post, if you have the proper tools (and good music playing), cooking is so easy and fun. I believe that cooking great food ignites our inner creativity. With that re-awakened inner creativity, you can excel in almost anything you wish to undertake.

Recipe "au pif":
1 lb beef flanc steak, thinly sliced (the thinner the better, approx. 1mm)
1 lb coarsely chopped Kai-lan (aka Chinese broccoli, found in most local asian grocery stores)
a pinch of coarse seal salt (about 3/4 tsp)
1 tbsp fish sauce (Nuoc mam)
1 garlic clove, minced
some pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil (or vegetable)

Season the beef with the salt, pepper and garlic. Mix well with your hands and let marinate for about 30 minutes, covered with plastic film, in fridge.

Heat canola/vegetable oil in wok on high heat. Wok should be very hot. If you have a good wok, it shouldn't take more than 1 minute for it to be smoking hot.

Throw in the steak slices (at this point you should hear loud sizzling) and stir constantly for only 2 minutes. Remove beef from wok and put aside. The beef should be pink in the middle indicating that it's been cooked medium-rare.

Add the sesame oil in the hot wok and throw in the Chinese Broccoli (Kai Lan), quickly stir and add in the fish sauce. You should still hear that loud sizzling. Stir for about 2-3 minutes until the broccoli has released it juice.

Lay the crispy broccoli on a serving plate, pour the juice in. Place the beef on top of the broccoli.

Serves 4 people.

Serve warm with steamed Jasmine white rice.

5-Minute Mac & Cheese for Snow Storm Moments

Not exactly an asian dish, but after making it through our third big snow storm of the year, one can only think of preparing a fast and gratifying meal. I think I just spent 2 hours shoveling about 2 feet of snow off of our balcony and helping out a couple of friends clearing out their driveway. Solidarity comes in full force during these Montreal snowy times. Believe it or not, I don't mind shoveling snow this year, especially when I've been slacking off so much lately, and it's a great way to workout in the fresh outdoors. The crisp and frigid air makes my cheeks turn rosy, giving me a healthy glow which appeases my guilty conscience about my lack of physical exercises.

After my strenuous snow-shoveling drill, my body was aching and screaming for carbohydrates. There is nothing more fulfilling than a nice bowl of pasta, like Mac & Cheese...especially when it takes only 5 minutes to make. And of course, I'm not referring to Kraft Mac & Cheese, but a real homemade Mac & Cheese recipe. It's incredibly easy and simple to make that I can literally prepare it with my eyes closed. Plus, the fact that it's all about fresh ingredients, there is no guilty conscience to hang on to. And unlike other recipes I've tried where the pasta turned out lumpy and dry, this one's really creamy.

Recipe "au pif":
2 1/2 - 3 cups of pasta of your choice (macaroni, spaghetti..etc.)
1/2 cup of heavy cream (I prefer using Country Style 15% cream, which has the rich texture of regular 35% heavy cream, but with less fat)
1 cup of cheese of your choice (cheddar, gorgonzola, swiss...even Velveeta is great!)
1 tsp coarse sea salt (optional)
1 cup boiling water for every cup of pasta
Chopped parsley (optional)

Boil pasta in water and salt until Al Dente (cooked firm, not hard). Drain water and let the pasta relax for a couple of minutes.

Slowly heat the cream on medium-high heat in a medium-sized pan. Add in the cheese, stir until all melted and velvety.

Add in the pasta and stir well so that the pasta is covered entirely with the cheese sauce.

Garnish with parsley.

Makes 2 servings for hard-working snow-shovelers.

Serve warm and devour!