You’re probably wondering what you’re looking at. Well, if you’re wondering—and hungry for it—it’s from Bop ‘n Grill. It’s their Spam ‘n Eggs Bop: their rice bowl meal with kimchi, Spam, and a fried egg. And of course, knowing me, I took it up to the next level—by adding a hamburger patty. It took me back to how I had my lunches made back in the Philippines when I was a kid. See back there, hamburger patties weren’t meant for buns—it was meant for rice. And with a fried egg and slices of Spam, you were set for the rest of the day. It’s good to know that places here still honor this unique eat.
If you want to be a confident Asian cook, you need to have a basic fried rice recipe. And I’m slowly starting to really hone down what my personal fried rice recipe should be like. Here’s one that I think is a step towards RJ signature status! It’s quick and easy to make, and easily customizable to whatever I can find in my kitchen. Enjoy!
Japanese Style Rice
Serves 2-3Jasmine rice - cooked regularly, but I like mixing it with half long-grain rice to its a good blend of textures.
Diced carrots, onions, garlic, red bell pepper - sauté on butter and olive oil. Once the carrots soften and the vegetables cook, add your cooked rice and mix well. Make sure they get well coated with the oil and the vegetables are combined well with rice.
Soy sauce - two swirls around your pan should do it.
Mirin (Japanese sweet sauce) - one swirl around the pan.
Salt & Pepper - mix and combine it all well!
Sesame oil - turn off the fire and drizzle the sesame oil (simply for flavor) and give it one last mix.
Black toasted sesame seeds & chopped chives - toppings to make it pretty!
If you want to add a protein, you can add an egg and scramble it well with the rice, or add tofu/meat with the sauteing step.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! Here’s a green recipe thats not Irish at all, but it should definitely be the perfect drinking snack to crunch and munch on!
Fried Tortellini with Pesto Mayo
I used Spinach Tortellinis from Trader Joe’s that were already packaged and made. I coated it with flour and grated Parmesan for taste. Then, send them to your deep fryer!
The Pesto Mayo is simple a mixture of bottled pesto Genoese, mayonnaise, a squirt of Dijon mustard, a few drops of olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder.
If this doesn’t help soak up the Guinness, I don’t know what will! So enjoy the drinks and the food today!
My aunt has been living with my parents for the past few months. A quick note about this particular aunt: she apparently owns all of the family recipes from my grandmother and just dishes them out whenever she can. So when I went home to visit, she pulled these out: puto pao.
If you’re familiar with Filipino food, think of it as siopao in puto form—a Chinese spongey meat bun shaped like cupcakes. She makes these all from scratch—from the sweet meat mixture inside, boiling egg yolks for the filling, making the flour mixture for the cake, cutting little cheese squares for the top, and then finally steaming them. The result is this super spongey and filling bite, that’s apparently steeped in family history! My dad told me their mother—my grandmother—used to make these from scratch and then sold them in their little food store.
It’s good to know the food gene is still influential now, and I will one day learn this recipe and hopefully teach a new generation how to make it too!
Hey guys! Here’s an awesome cooking series I discovered: it’s called Cooking With Dog—and no it’s not what you think! Francis, a poodle who has a thick Japanese accent speaking in a French accent (yeah, that’s possible) teaches you—along with Chef—how to cook traditional Japanese dishes in your kitchen! It’s my favorite cooking series, and I spent DAYS just watching the episodes. Here’s one I’ve put into action—the oyakodon!
A chicken and onion rice bowl. It’s a quick thing you can whip up when you are craving for something filling. Be sure to watch the series, and know I’ll probably try some of their recipes too! Oishi!
Cooking With Dog Series: http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog
CWD’s Oyakodon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMJY29QMewQ
Hey guys, here’s a quick post about an awesome restaurant I found: Cité Chicago. Thanks to Groupon (and my 2 year anniversary), I was able to enjoy the French cuisine on the very top floor of the Lake Point Tower (the weirdly-shaped black building by the Lake Shore? Yeah!).
We enjoyed their Escargot Francois which, if you’ve never had Escargot before, was an awesome appetizer. The rich flavor of the sauce it’s cooked in really warms up your palate for the rest of the dinner.
For our main dishes, we got their Fruit de Mer Risotto and Duck a l’Orange. The seafood risotto tasted like it came straight out of the ocean - the risotto was creamy, and that giant scallop, crab, and blue crab were the perfect complement. The duck was something I really wanted - it’s a classic duck dish I have always wanted to try, and I’m glad I did! The orange reduction was really good with the tender duck breast.
Sometimes, we like to get classy with our dinners. And Cité definitely gave us a meal we won’t forget!
