Easy Seared Ahi- Sesame Crusted

This is such an easy dinner that we have been making forever, so I was surprised that I hadn't shared this one before!

Frozen ahi tuna is pretty easy to find at the grocery store, ask at the fish counter they might have some there that is kept in the freezer. We usually buy a case from Costco online every January when it's on sale.  You get about 26 pieces and it comes to about $5 to $6 a piece. It thaws SO fast, that its a great last minute dinner idea.  We also make a homemade poke with it, which is pretty awesome for a lunch or an appetizer.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

2-4 pieces of frozen ahi tuna

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 cup Sesame seeds, toasted

1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil for cooking

In a ziploc bag, or a low dish, add the soy sauce and the sesame oil. Add the ahi to marinate for about 10 -15 minutes. If you marinate it much more than that, it will be overly strong.  I learned this the hard way.

Once marinated, drain the fish and dredge it in a plate of the sesame seeds.  

Add to a nonstick fry pan heated over medium heat.  Cook for 2-3 minutes per side.  Remember, ahi is best a bit under cooked, which is what my cooking times account for. If you want your fish well done, you will need to cook it more.  Don't use too high of heat, or your sesame seeds will burn.  Serve at once with some stir fried veggies and rice.

We love to serve it with this wasabi sauce.  I know this is NOT authentic and made with horseradish and sugars, but it is really good!

Eggroll Bowl

Easy and satisfying, this mixture is low carb and very healthy.  I used ground turkey (7% fat), but have also made this with lean ground pork too. Be sure to customize the recipe to use up veggies you might have on hand.  Don't like mushrooms? Substitute broccoli florets, celery or even diagonal cut pieces of asparagus instead. You don't have to buy the pre-shredded cabbage mixture (usually I would not), but in this case, it was just easy.  You could also add shredded napa cabbage too.  Mung bean sprouts would be delicious too.

We happily ate this when it was snowing outside, the perfect cozy, and healthy, meal!

This meal reminds me a bit of Mo Shu Pork, so it would be great with Hoisin sauce on a thin Chinese pancake.  Just something to think about...

Serves 3-4
Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork (or Turkey or beef)
2 tsp fresh ground ginger
2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
2-3 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 green onions
1 cup fresh mushrooms, diced
2 eggs
1 14oz bag of shredded cabbage
Salt and red pepper flakes,  if desired

First, in a well oiled sauce pan (use veg il and a couple drops of ssesame oil) over medium heat, add some well beaten eggs and swirl it about so it covers the large fry pan in a thin layer.  Cook until almost set and turn off heat.

Excuse the yucky looking cutting board below... I had chopped all the mushrooms on it before this egg "roll".

Roll the egg out of the pan into a roll shape, and cut into thin strips. 

In a dutch oven or a bigger saucepan, add the sesame oil and the turkey and cook over medium high heat.  Using a spatula chop up the turkey so that it cooks into small chunks as you cook it.  Add in the chopped ginger and the garlic, cook until the pink in the meat disappears.  Add in the chopped mushrooms and cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Add in the soy sauce, cabbage mix and the green onions.  Stir well, finally added the chopped cooked egg. Season with salt (or MSG- hey some people like it!).

Serve with sriracha and more soy sauce, as desired.

If you're not watching carbs, you could serve this over steamed rice.

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Cauliflower Fried Rice

A simple and healthy side dish, or even a main dish, if you like.

I start with raw cauliflower that is grated in the food processor, or by hand. Use the big grater attachment, you want some bigger pieces and not tiny bits.

First, get all your ingredients ready to go ahead of time, do not assemble as you go as you will end up with over cooked fried rice!

Serves about 4

Ingredients

• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup celery, small dice
• 1/2 cup carrots, small dic1/2 cup white onion, diced
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 4 cups fresh cauliflower, grated
• 1/2 cup Ham, small dice (optional)
• 1/2 cup Bacon, diced (optional)
• 1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
• 2-3 Tbsp soy sauce

Other optional items/substitutions

• 1/2 cup broccoli, very small florets
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced small

Over medium high heat in a large non-stick skillet, add the sesame oil, vegetable oil and bacon (if using), use it to saute the celery, carrots and carrots until they start to soften a bit and the bacon is cooked, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and heat until just soft, about another 2-3 minutes. I add the well beaten eggs to the veggies and mix to 'scramble'.  You can make the scrambled eggs big or small by stirring more, it's up to you.  Add the raw cauli rice, the ham (if using) then the green onions and peas.  Stir to "fry" the mixture, and adjust seasoning with soy sauce.  You can add salt and pepper, if desired.

Try not to over cook the cauliflower rice, as it will start to lose moisture and make your fried rice soggy.

You can serve along side some grilled meat or fish, or even a Chinese stir fry.

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Ground Pork Lettuce Wraps

What's a simple easy dinner to make with ingredients that you just may have on hand? I like to use this recipe for either ground pork or ground turkey or chicken.  I usually have the veggies on hand (lettuce, green onions, cilantro, onions and garlic). If you don't have Hoisin sauce and sesame oil, I highly recommend that invest in those! 

Serves 4-6 as a generous appetizer, or about 3 for a dinner

Ingredients

1/2 onion, minced

3 garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, small dice

3-4 green onions, sliced

1 lb. ground pork

1 tbsp ginger, grated

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup hoisin sauce (or oyster sauce)- could also substitute 1/4 cup soy sauce with 1-2 Tbsp white sugar

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

1-2 tsp Sriracha (optional) plus more for serving

Toasted sesame seeds

Chopped peanuts (optional)

Small Romaine lettuce, but butter lettuce or even cabbage leaves would work

Brown pork over medium high heat, when mostly cooked, drain off the fat.  Add the sesame oil, onions, garlic and ginger and cook until the onions start to wilt.  Add in chopped celery (you want this to be more crunchy when its done). Add in the hoisin or oyster sauce and taste. If you want it spicy, you may need to add in the Sriracha and/or the red pepper flakes. Add in cilantro (optional) and spoon into a serving bowl. Allow the mixture to cool a bit before serving into the lettuce.

Prep the mini romaine leaves into 'cups' or use cabbage leaf, or butter lettuce.  

Put soy sauce, sesame seeds, Sriracha and chopped peanuts on the table for each diner to customize their wrap.

I just brought the pork mixture to the table in a bowl and served the lettuce on a plate so that everyone could just make their own at the table.  Served with a little sriracha and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.  My hubby liked it with a drizzle of soy sauce.

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Vietnamese Caramelized Ground Pork Bowls

We'd bought some ground pork and were wondering what to do with it.

I Googled "ground pork" and made a match with this recipe, Original recipe .

We've made it about 3 or 4 times, trying to perfect and simplify the recipe.  It's very simple and delicious. This will be one that we make again and again.

Funny story, we took this in our groceries at a VRBO vacation we went on, and I premixed the sauce. Unfortunately, I felt so confident to make this recipe that I didn't consult the original recipe before making it. However, I use SIX bird's eye chilies.... please do not that. It was so hot, and yummy, so we ate it all up. However, we had tummy troubles for days, LOL!!!

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil

1/2 onion , finely diced

2 tsp ginger , grated or minced

2 garlic cloves , minced (2 tsp paste)

1-2 birds eye or Thai chili , finely chopped (or sub minced jalapeno)

20 oz.  ground pork

2  tbsp brown sugar (we used Swerve no carb brown sugar with success)

2 tbsp fish sauce

 

SERVING:

1 green onion stem, finely sliced

Steamed rice (or cauli rice!)

Sliced tomato, cucumber for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.

Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the ground pork and cook for 2 minutes or its fully cooked and no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.

Add the sugar and fish sauce. Stir, then leave it to cook without touching until all the juices cook out and the pork starts caramelizing - about 2 minutes. Then stir it and leave it again, without stirring, for around 30 seconds to get more caramelization.

YUM!

South Korea Adventure- Part 2

Our short 6 night trip to Korea was so packed full of fun and interesting sites and experience, I had to break it into two posts!  The first post was HERE and focused on a lot of the food experiences we had.  This post focuses on our visits to the beautiful palaces and shrines and also to the DMZ, also known as the border between South and North Korea. 

There are many palaces within the city of Seoul to explore.  Check their opening times and days, as they are often closed one day a week, so you may only be able to do a couple a day. Also, they are humongous and you will walk miles and miles in one day!

Changdeokgung Palace on a beautiful sunny 

Gates at Changdeokgung

Everyone on their cell phones at Changdeokgung Palace. Can you say SELFIE?

You can rent the traditional outfits while you are there, and we talked about it, but we were a little self conscious to be a 50 something year old woman in this beautiful dress that so many young girls were wearing. It totally would have been amazing photo opportunity though, so, I sorta wish we had done it.

Wonderful angles and roof lines at Changdeokgung

This place was huge! We kept wandering and wandering and had this back corner of the palace to ourselves

We walked forever on the grounds in a free walking tour.  They don't allow people to wander unattended at this palace. This is the Forbidden Garden at Changdeokgung.

Gyeongbokgung Palace (trying asking the taxi driver to take you here... LOL).

Outside the gates on our first attempt to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace - it's closed on certain days of the week, so plan ahead!  

Jongmyo Shrine- lots of ancestors behind those little doors!

Onto the DMZ, we hired a private car and driver for a tour to the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea.  He picked us up at our hotel at about 8am and we didn't return until well after 6pm. While this was the biggest expense we had on our trip (besides hotel), it was definitely a great investment.  He took us to Seoul's War museum and took us through the important historical background before taking us to the DMZ. We learned so much and had a much more emotional experience because of the care of our tour guide.

Nobody told us the North Korea was going to be beautiful!  This is looking from the observation center across the water towards North Korea. You could use telescopes to view the "fake" cities set up across the water. You could tell they were fake as there was absolutely no people or cars to be seen. We were able to view one lone cyclist riding down the road with our telescope. Very weird.

There were displays of all the countries that came to support South Korea, there were many from around the world honored by showing their uniforms of their armed forces.

I have to say, I cried when I read this quote:

"Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country 

they never knew and a people they never met"

What they don't tell you is how much equipment the Russians left in Korea for the North Koreans to use against South Korea.  They were severely at a disadvantage, as this chart shows what each side had on hand at the onset of the war.

Sad to stand in front of the plaque for all the people from Washington that perished in Korea, over 400 soldiers. It was a long corridor of plaques from all the US states, and countries from around the world. Each name honored.

This is the train station built on the railway that travels from South Korea to North Korea. It is the last stop in South Korea, but the train is unable to travel any farther north.. It is virtually new and unused. The map on the wall in the right of the photo shows that if North Korea was open to travel through, then travelers from South Korea could travel to Paris by train. Essentially South Korea is an island until North Korean relations improve.

The guards didn't seem to mind that we stole a little kiss.Okay, so they were mannequins.

After our trip to the DMZ, our wonderful driver took us to a modest neighborhood restaurant for duck BBQ. He told us that nowhere else in South Korea is duck common for grilling in the BBQ style. This tasted so delicious and look at how many little dishes of "stuff" you get" ? If you want more of anything, you just let them know. We had such a great day on this tour and spent over 10 hours with our driver. He was so wonderful with us, we couldn't have been happier with our private tour.

Onto something lighter now... one thing I wanted to do was to visit a Cat Cafe! LOL, go ahead and call me a crazy cat lady, I don't mind!

There was about 14 cats in the cafe, lots of them snoozing, can you imagine that?

You have to remove your shows and wear their cat slippers! How happy was I?

How about we end with a little piece of beautiful cake?  We went into a small chain cafe for a cup of afternoon coffee and how could we not get this to share?  We loved Korea so much, what a wonderful, exotic, friendly and comfortable place to visit. We are already planning our next trip!

Pork Kimchi Burger

I get that kimchi might not be everybody's favorite thing, but I always, always have been a fan, even back before it was cool! Thanks Mom for being different from every other suburban housewife in the 1970's! 

The inspiration for this came out of necessity, we were staying somewhere in a cabin far from home, and I had packed limited ingredients to use for the weekend to put dinner together for the two of us. I always love a challenge!  I had a package of ground pork that I had brought with us, but only had limited other things to work with (I should have planned better- LOL). In full disclosure, we did travel to the Safeway to pick up some kimchi after I shared my idea with my hubby (who insisted we go get it ASAP), but I used what I already had brought with me (hence the simple ingredients!) for the rest.

About two years ago, we were lucky enough to go to Korea, and boy oh boy, did we have a foodie's paradise adventure.  My hubby likes kimchi just as much as I do.  If you are interested, here's a couple travel posts that I wrote to remember the trip!
Korean Adventure, Part 1

Korean Adventure, Part 2- coming soon!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Burgers:

20 oz ground pork
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup kimchi, drained (save juice) and chopped fine
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp soy sauce

Kimchi Coleslaw:
4 cups green cabbage, shredded (about 1/2 small head)
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup kimchi, drained and chopped coarsely (or more, if desired- I used 1/2 cup)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2-3 Tbsp kimchi juice 
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp red pepper garlic paste (optional)

4 Buns

Mayo, if desired

Get two bowls out, one for meat mixture and one for your salad.

Chop your green onions finely, add 1/4 cup to each bowl.  Next, chop your kimchi, adding 1/4 cup to each bowl. Shred your cabbage (or use pre-packaged slaw cabbage mixture), add to the salad bowl. Add the vinegar, sesame oil and a bit of salt. Mix the slaw, let it sit and marinate for 30 minutes before serving.

In the meat bowl, add the ground pork to the bowl with green onions and kimchi that you put in there previously. Add in the pork, red pepper flakes, sesame oil and soy sauce. Make mixture of meat (I use latex gloves and mix by hand), shape into patties and grill for about 10 minutes until done.

Assemble the burgers by putting mayo on the buns, add the patty and a generous amount of slaw. Enjoy right away.

Buns, mayo, patties and slaw= Yum

Note- these are just as good served with a side of coleslaw and not on a bun. We found some Franz low carb buns that are delish, so it was great to have a burger!  

Here's the kimchi, ready for chopping.

Chop it pretty finely

Here it is ready for mixing with the cabbage.

I use latex gloves to mix the meat mixture, and shape the patties.

This is the chili garlic sauce I like

Here's my salad, all ready to go. Let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes before serving so the cabbage softens up a little bit.

Patties are all shaped and ready to go on the grill. I put them on wax paper, as it makes it easier to easily over turn onto the grill without deforming the patties by using a metal spatula.  Just my little trick.

Cook over medium high heat for about 10 minutes.  Try not to over cook, you want these to be juicy!