Jap Chae (Korean Glass Noodles)

I love eating Korean BBQ. But my family doesn't always like going to Korean BBQ restaurants because they 1) don't always like waiting for their food to cook, and 2) they don't like leaving the restaurant smelling like their meal. So I've learned to bring Korean BBQ home by making my own Korean dishes. Other than the actual BBQ itself, I also love eating the noodles they serve the food with. I never knew what the noodle dish was called but I've been dying to try to make it at home. So I did a search online and found this recipe. Jap Chae, so that's what its called!

Its my mother-in-law's birthday today and we're hosting the lunch at our house. Everyone is bringing a dish, and I decided to make my Korean BBQ Short Ribs and I thought making Jap Chae would go perfectly with it. This noodle dish tastes exactly like what they serve at the restaurants and it was so good! And easy too. Everyone liked it, even our nephew's girlfriend who happens to be Korean. Its a really light dish. I'm definitely going to make this again.

1/2 lb. dried Korean sweet potato noodle

2 1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1 Tbsp. cooking oil

3/4 cup thinly sliced onions

2 medium carrots, julienned

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 stalks green onions, cut into 1" pieces

1/2 cup sliced mushooms (shitaake or wood ear)

1/2 lb. spinach, washed and drained

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 tsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

1) Cook noodles in a pot of boiling water for 5 minute. Drain under running water. Toss with 1 tsp. sesame oil to prevent from sticking. Cut noodles to smaller pieces with kitchen sheers. Set aside.

2) In a small bowl, mix soy sauce and sugar together. Set aside.

3) Heat vegetable oil in a hot wok or large skillet. Fry onions and carrots until softened, about a minute. Add garlic, green onions and mushrooms and cook for another minute. Add spinach, soy sauce mixture and noodles. Sautee for 2-3 minutes until noodles have cooked through. Turn of the heat and toss in sesame seeds and the remaining 1 1/2 tsp. sesame oil. Serve warm or cold.

Guava Jelly

Hubby and I always love taking back some Guava Jelly from Hawaii. We haven't been to a Hawaii in a while and I MISS not only Hawaii but Guava Jelly. Our neighbor has a guava tree and when the guavas are really ripe, our backyard smells of sweet guava that reminds me of guava jelly. I've always been tempted to just climb over and pick some sweet guava so I can make guava jellym but never get the nerve to do it. Well, yesterday, one of my co workers brought some guavas from her tree. Score! I can now finally make some. So off I went to look for a guava jelly recipe and found this one. I got home from a party today to the smell of guava in my house. The guavas I got yesterday were starting to over ripen, so I figured now was finally the time to make it. It came out pretty good. The recipe didn't really call for exact measurements, so I've modified the recipe a bit with my measurements. This'll definitely tie me over until our next trip to Hawaii.

4 1/2 cups quartered, ripe guavas

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. lemon juice

1) Boil guavas in 8 cups of water until softened. Remove guavas from the water. Push softened guavas through a sieve (you may have to mash it through with a spoon. You'll end up with approximately 2 cups of puree).

2) Mix guava puree with sugar and lemon juice. Return guava mixture to heat and cook until temperature of the mixture reaches 220-225 deg. F using a candy thermometer.

3) Pour guava mixture in a prepared mason jar. Skim off the foam that forms on the top. Cover and cool.

Oven Baked Zucchini Chips

This recipe popped up on my reader today from Telly's Tasty Tidbits. I had some leftover zucchinis from my diet last week that I wanted to use up, so this recipe came up at the right time. I LOVE zucchinis and I'm so glad I made these because they were so yummy! My daughter loved these too. This is a great way to sneak in some veggies for her because she hates veggies. Thank you so much for this recipe! I'll definitely be making this again.

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 grated parmesan cheese (I used shredded parmesan on this one)
1/4 tsp. seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
a pinch of black pepper
2 Tbsp. water
1 egg, beaten
2 small zucchinis, thinly sliced
cooking spray

1) Preheat oven to 425 deg. F. Grease 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. Set aside.

2) In a medium bowl, combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, seasoned salt, garlic powder and black pepper.

3) In another bowl, whisk together egg and water. Dip zucchini slices in egg mixture and dredge in the breadcrumb mixture. In a single layer, place zucchini slices on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 20 minutes or until browned and crisp.

Mango Kulfi (Indian Mango Ice Cream)

I love any kind of mango ice cream. Even Indian Mango Ice Cream (aka Mango Kulfi). My first taste of Mango Kulfi was years ago when I was first introduced to Indian food. I haven't had it in a while, and was craving it. So I decided to search for a recipe I can use and found this one.

It was pretty easy to make and required little ingredients. This recipe calls for cardamom, which is quite expensive and I can probably do without in the recipe. But in order to have that indian flair, cardamom does the trick. It came out quite tasty and light. I'll definitely make this again, probably with less or no cardamom.

3-4 fresh mangos, pureed

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

2 cups heavy whipping cream

chopped pistachios, for garnish

1) In a large bowl, combine condensed milk and cardamom. Set aside.

2) In another bowl, beat whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. Gently fold whipped cream into condensed milk, making sure not to over-mix. Gently fold in mango puree until well incorporated.

You can now either freeze mixture in a container as-is, or continue to run it through an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Freeze in freezer for at least 6 hours before serving. Top with chopped pistachios for garnish.

Sea Scallops with Saffron Aoli

Happy 7th anniversary to me and hubby. As I've said on my posts yesterday, hubby is out at work and school the whole day. So we celebrated our anniversary by going out to lunch yesterday. Today, I wanted to have a nice dinner waiting for him when he got home.

I watched Claire Robinson make this on the Food Network and wanted to make this for our special day. Hubby loves scallops, so I thought he would really enjoy this. It was a really easy, yet elegant, dish to make. But I didn't realize how costly saffron can be. The lady at the checkout stand asked me what I was using it for and I told her that I was trying it out on a new recipe I found. She went on and said she hopes it turns out well because saffron was quite expensive. lol. I have never used saffron before, but I hope to find other great recipes to use with it.

The scallops came out quite delicious and hubby really enjoyed it. This 7th anniversary is a little more nostalgic for me than the other anniversaries we've celebrated. So I wanted to make this dinner memorable as well.

1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tsp. orange zest

a pinch of saffron threads

1/2 cup mayonnaise

salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

12-16 large sea scallops

black pepper

1) Combine orange and saffron in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for about 1 minute until orange juice is infused with saffron. Stir in orange zest and remove from heat to cool.

2) Mix orange mixture with mayonnaise in a small bowl until combined. Season with salt and set aside while you cook the scallops.

3) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pat scallops dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. When the oil is rippling, and scallops and sear, turning only once, until golden brown but still opaque in the center, about 2-3 minutes each side. Remove scallops from skillet and serve with aoli sauce drizzled over them.

Green Goddess Rice

I served the Sea Scallops with Saffron Aoli with a side of this rice dish the way Claire Robinson from the Food Network also did. The sauce came out quite tangy. I may lessen the lemon juice it requires next time. Otherwise, the flavors meshed well.

1 1/2 cup basmati rice (I used long grain white rice)

salt

1 small avocado, peeled and seeded

1 cup fresh basil

juice of 1 lemon

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup water

black pepper

1) In a medium sauce pan, bring rice, pinch of salt and 5 cups of water to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer, stir, cover and cook until liquid is absorbed, about 18 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered for 10 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, put avocado, basil, lemon juice, olive oil and water in the blender and puree. Season with salt and pepper. Add more water and puree until the mixture reaches the consistency of sour cream.

3) Fluff rice with a fork and gently fold in green dressing into warm rice. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve immediately.

Ube Cake

I asked hubby what kind of cake he wanted me to make. I had him choose from either a Custard Cake or Ube Cake. Both of which are new recipes that I found and that I'll be trying for the first time. He chose ube cake.

I found this recipe from allrecipes.com. Actually, it was the only recipe I really found online. It received mixed reviews and I can see why. The cake was a little dry and the frosting was quite runny. Nevertheless, I wanted to give it a try so I can figure out how I can tweek it for next time.

Its suppose to be a 2-layer cake, but because I wasn't too happy with the frosting, I decided to use 1 layer for this particular frosting and the other layer will be used later when I try a different frosting. Maybe a swiss meringue type of frosting. We'll see. The flavors of this cake was quite good. The consistency wasn't as good. Hubby enjoyed it otherwise

2 1/2 cups cake flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 cup grated ube (purple yam)

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup light corn syrup

7 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

7 egg whites

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 cup sugar

6 drops red food coloring

6 drops blue food coloring

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 sticks butter, softened

purple food coloring

1) Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Line 2 - 9 inch pans with parchment/wax paper.

2) In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside

3) In a large bowl, combine milk and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add ube and blend until smooth. Blend in corn syrup, egg yolks, and oil. Beat in flour mixture until smooth. Set aside.

4) In a separate large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until it starts to foam. Gradually add sugar and red & blue food coloring, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in 1/3 egg whites into ube batter. Then fold in the remaining egg whites and continue folding until no streaks remain. Pour batter into prepared pans.

5) Bake for 35-45 minutes until the center of the cake bounces back when lightly touched. Cool completely before frosting.

6) To make the frosting, beat butter until it becomes light in color and fluffy. Beat in condensed milk and purple food coloring and blend until smooth. Continue adding food coloring until you reach the desired shade. If the frosting is too soft or wet, refrigerate until it hardens enough to frost the cake.

Chicken Enchilada Dip Roll-ups

Its the eve of our 7th anniversary. Unfortunately, hubby has to be in class all evening tomorrow. Which means I'll be without him for our anniversary. I plan on waiting up and having a nice dinner set out for him when he gets home. But being at work and school all day, I'm sure he'll be very hungry before coming home. I normally pack him a sandwich on these nights when he's out all day and evening. But it being our anniversary, I wanted to send him off to school with something different.

I've bookmarked this recipe for a while from Sing for your Supper... which I thought hubby would really appreciate. Hubby and I love enchiladas and I think this is an awesome twist to one of our favorite Mexican dishes. This was originally a dip recipe, but it can be used to spread on a tortilla and then rolled-up to make a nice appetizer.

2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 1/3 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

1 tsp. minced garlic or garlic powder

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

cayenne pepper to taste

salt taste

3 boneless, skinless chicken, chopped or shredded

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

10 oz can diced tomato with green chilies

1) Mix cheeses together until well blended. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2) Spread dip on a flour tortilla and roll. Cut into 1-2 inch thickness. Serve.