Lentil Stew (Bolivia)

Note: The lazy way is to put everything EXCEPT lentils into the blender and pulse it a few times pour the whole mix into the pot with lentils and let it cook for 1 hour until soft.

Prep time: 1 hour
leftovers: this is your 5 min meal where you heat and add to rice, taco, crepe, pita bread filling etc be creative.



Lentil Stew

* 1 large onion, chopped finely
* 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
* 1 bell pepper, chopped finely
* 4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped (divided)
* 1/2 bunch cilantro,finely chopped
* 1 cup dried lentils
* 1 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
* salt, pepper
* water
Sofrito or Recaito (as directed on bottle)
chicken bouillion or sazon goya to taste.
1/2 a turkey leg cut in big chunks (remove after everythign's cooked)
optional:
* 1 teaspoon smoked dried hot pepper, ground
(chipotles for a very spicy meal, or Chile Ancho for a milder aji)

Sarsa(salsa)

* 1 medium tomato, julienned
* 1/2 sweet onion, sliced thin
* 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
* 1 lime, juice of
* salt

** I personally like store bought salsa.

Directions

Sarsa (salsa)
Mix ingredients, and set aside, The longer it sits, the more the lime juice infuses everything with flavor

To cook the lentils:.
Put lentils and turkey leg in a saucepan, cover with water.

Add salt, 1/2 garlic clove and oil. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Drain and remove the garlic. Set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.

Fry the garlic and the parsley on medium heat until the garlic is golden. Add the chopped onion until the onions become shiny (this means they're cooked but not yet golden).

Add the ground hot pepper and a splash of water. Let it cook for 1 minute. Keep stirring. Add the chopped tomatoes, 1/4 cup of water, salt and pepper.

Cover and cook 25 mintues at low-medium heat.

Add lentils and mix with sauce.
Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Serve with white or brown rice and top with 1-2 spoons of sarsa(salsa).

*Vegetarian recipe just skip the meat. The original recipe did not have of turkey that I discovered one day after I accidentally put a big piece of turkey into the wrong pot thinking it was the soup pot so at dinner time this stew was the tastiest dish and no doubt the turkey leg helped.

Chinese Beef Vegetable Stew Soup

Serving: 12
Prep Time: 3 hours
Precooked time: 2-5 mins

"Law Sung Tong " aka mix veggy soup. This soup was my favorite as a kid when my mom made it and we'd all get drafted to help with the peeling, dicing and such then be rewarded with a very tasty stew at the end. This is one of the few dishes that I am very good at.

Chinese Beef Vegetable Stew Soup

3 tomatoes (cut in chunks)
1/2 bunch of celery (cut in chunks)
3-4 potatoes (cut in chunks)
3-4 carrots (cut in chunks)
1 whole ox tail
1/2 turkey leg
1/3 bunch of Cilantro (diced)
1 onion (cut in chunks)
12 cups of water
1 chicken boullion cube

Start the ox tail, turkey leg cooking in low heat for 1-1.5 hour you're making a soup base before we add the rest of the ingredients because we dont want all the veggies to disintegrate before the flavor from the meats are out. Then add the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking in low heat for 1-1.5 hours. Serve hot

*subsitutions: if no oxtail then any beef will do, and if no beef sub in 2 turkey legs, or 1/2 a chicken

How to Steam Food

Steamed food is fast, easy and oil free. This does require that you have the right equiptment or knowing what you can use to subsitute. Basically you need a pot thats big enough to hold water, steamer rack and a bowl or plate. Add water until it is about 1/3 full potwise. leave 2-3 inches of clearance between water level and the edge of your bowl this is to account for water boiling up which you do not want in your food less you get soup.

steamer rack
pot

or electric steamer

French Crepes Recipe: 5-10 mins

Today's meal was french crepe both as main course and dessert. You can fill it literally with anything you want as long as it is small and can be rolled up. I ate french crepe for 3 days in a row for my lunch, and midnight snack because it was so good. Oh and cooking time is under 5 mins if you make these crepes ahead of schedule and you can eat these cold straight out of the fridge.

RECIPE: French Crepe (Basic)
Tip: make double the amount and refrigerate so you can make this same dish in under 5 mins aka the time it takes to fill

Precooked Crepes: 2-5 mins Cook from Scratch: 30 mins
Serving Size: 12

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon white sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3 eggs
* 2 cups milk
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Low Fat / Sodium VERSION:
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* a pinch of white sugar
* a pinch of salt
* 1 egg
* 1 cup skim milk
* 1 cup water
* 1 tablespoons margarine, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

I'm lazy so I go light on salt & sugar so I use the same crepe batter for main course and dessert. inevitably you'll eat more of one type and therefore run out so its better to have a general crepe base than a sweet or salty base.

Savory Filling: anything goes from gourmet to spam. Here's what I ate for the last 3 days.
curry chicken with potatoes & carrots, ham & cheese, shrimp salad with lettuce, mint, tomato, peanut sauce.

Dessert Filling: Nutella, peanut butter, jelly, jam with fresh fruit, whipped cream, smores type
if making dessert crepes you can flavor your batter with more sugar and add in syrups like chocolate, strawberry etc or your favorite liquore.

Recipe: Vietnamese Noodles with Grilled Shrimp

Today's "Brunch" was Noodles with grilled shrimp, garnished with celery bits, carrot shreds and peanut sauce. I came up with this idea while staring at the fridge for what to eat .. either something fast and boring or something fast exotic and tasty. I was limited as to what i had in my fridge there's no way i'm going food shopping just to make brunch so at worst i'll eat oatmeal to keep my stomach quiet.

RECIPE: Vietnamese Noodles with Grilled Shrimp
Noodles with grilled shrimp, garnished with celery bits, carrot shreds and peanut sauce. (prep time 10 mins)

1/2 pack of *Instant noodles
1/2 stick of carrots shredded (used potato peeler)
1/3 stick of celery cut in very thin slices
1 thin slice of onion (coulda skipped)
5 pieces of shrimp grilled and sliced in 1/2 (can sub in any meat)
*Soup - add soup and you get soup noodles otherwise it's noodles with sauce.

Cook noodles only until "Al Dente" - firm to the bite. Drain put in your bowl. *shrimp: wash, peel, devein, grill until just cooked. Then add all the other ingredients on top and lastly spoon some peanut sauce & soy sauce on top of it. put as much or little as you wish. Noodles you can use 1 full pack or more depending on how much you can eat. Anything past 1 pack you need to up the ingredients. which is fast.. becareful not to overcook that's what ruins the flavor and texture

RECIPE: Peanut Sauce (from http://www.chow.com)
* 1/2 cup natural-style creamy peanut butter
* 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1 small garlic clove, mashed to a paste
* 1 teaspoon chile-garlic paste
* 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
* Juice of 1 lime
* 1/4 cup water

What's in a name? Cocowabi

Name: Cocowabi
Translation: Japanese: "chocolate beauty"
Reason: I wanted a unique name that invoked images of food and I think this works! coco summons up yummy chocolate and wabi well it sounds cute. so cute chocolate.

The Cocowabi blog was born after I deleted the 10th food related post in my other blog and it was filling up my off topic lables. I think gamer type food is unique in that it has to meet a few criterias before you call it gamer food. So on that topic I will share my recipes one a day

GAMER FOOD:
spillproof, bite sized, boneless, nongreasy, nondrippy, anything eatable single handed or spooned.

GAMER DRINKS:
anything in a spill proof container.

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Daifuku

while this is not part of my 5 min recipes I included this recipe because this image is my blog's welcome page. It is only fair to give you the recipe in case you ever wanted to make some for yourself. Ah no I am not the author of this yummy recipe. Original link: http://theanimeblog.com/japanese-culture-links/chocolate-covered-cherry-daifuku/

Time: 1.5 hours
Chocolate-Covered Cherry Daifuku

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups mochiko
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 Tbl. plus 1 tsp corn syrup
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• red food coloring
• potato, corn or wheat starch for dusting
• 10 maraschino cherries, rinsed and patted dry
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 squares unsweetened chocolate, minced

Directions

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate on high in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir the mixture and return to microwave for an additional 30 seconds. Mix again. Repeat the steps until the chocolate is melted.
2. Dip the cherries in the melted chocolate and coat them well. Drop them onto a plate lined with wax paper and put them in the freezer for 20 minutes.
3. After the cherries have been in the freezer for 15 minutes, make the mochi by whisking together the mochiko, sugar, water, 1 Tbl. corn syrup and extract. Remove 1/2 cup of the mochiko mixture and tint it a desired shade of red or pink with the food coloring. Set aside.
4. Dust a clean work surface liberally with starch. Keep a bowl filled with starch handy for dusting your hands and any utensils used. Place the tsp. of corn syrup in a small bowl and keep it nearby.
5. In a medium saucepan, cook the uncolored mochiko mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Spoon some of the cooked mochi onto the dusted work surface. With either a well dusted rolling pin or with well dusted hands, carefully roll or pat the hot mochi to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness, depending on your preference. Cut out circles two and half times as big as the chocolate cherries.
6. Place a well chilled chocolate cherry in the center of each of the mochi circles. Quickly wrap the mochi circle around the cherry, pinching the bottom to seal it. If you’ve having problems smoothing or sealing the bottom, use a tiny bit of warm water to seal up the mochi. Place the finished mochi on plate dusted with starch. If the mochi cools too much when you’re working with it, heat it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.
7. For the hearts, repeat Step 5 with the pink mochi, but cut out hearts instead of circles.
8. To decorate the mochi, you can:

• Attach the hearts to the finished mochi with a dab of corn syrup.
• Coat the finished mochi in the leftover chocolate.
• Wrap some cherries in pink mochi and make white hearts for contrast.
• Drizzle some chocolate over the finished mochi.
• Sprinkle colored sugar onto the warm mochi then form the balls.

Makes 10 Bon Bon-sized Daifuku

Original link at: http://theanimeblog.com/japanese-culture-links/chocolate-covered-cherry-daifuku/