This month: Woks, Weird Rice, and some Kid Stuff.
(If you would like to be on or off of this monthly cooking thread ping-list, please send a private message)
-JT
Forget the whole Wok thing unless you have the monster BTU’s the resturants have. That is a big part of the results.
I have seen the black rice at a small local shop. I have this revulsion to foods outside of the color we expect.....like purple potatoes & carrots. Your description of black rice makes it sound so delicious that I am going to see if I can get some when we go to town tomorrow. Thanks!
This is one of my favorite ways to have rice. It was always considered a treat growing up. I either make them like this or with just tomato sauce and mozarella. This is most similar to my recipe.
Arancini di Riso
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked arborio rice
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup Italian tomato sauce
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 egg whites
1-1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
Oil for deep-fat frying
Directions
1. Cook rice according to package directions. Cool slightly. Stir in the egg yolk, cheese and butter. Cover and refrigerate until cooled.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomato sauce, peas, salt and pepper.
3. Shape rice mixture into 11 patties. Place one heaping tablespoonful of meat filling in the center of each patty. Shape rice around filling, forming a ball.
4. Place egg whites and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Dip rice balls in egg whites, then roll in bread crumbs. In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat oil to 375°. Fry rice balls, a few at a time, for 1-2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/arancini-di-riso/
Our dinner This evening, includes carrots that we grew in our garden. Some of them are funny looking. Lucky thing we have a rabbit. He will gladly eat any carrots that we don’t want.
I love stir fried foods. I am still trying to learn some of those Ancient Chinese Secrets for creating that particular flavor. I don’t have a Wok yet, just a large, deep skillet with a glass dome cover.
Once in a while, I make something stir fried that tastes quite nice, except usually, it’s too greasy.
I’ll eat some of it anyway, but my stomach gets even later on.
How much oil do you generally use in an average sized Wok or skillet? OR do you simply spray some oil on as needed?
The baking section of the stores I have been in has been bare for months now, along with the TP.
You’d think that people were done hoarding the stuff by now.
I made Hot and Sour Soup a couple days ago, my first attempt. It turned out very good. I have had my share from various establishments in So Cal. and my very Hot and Sour opinionated Wife thought it was excellent, she won’t touch the stuff otherwise.
I found the recipe at The Wok’s for Life website. This first batch was pricey as I didn’t have much of the ingredients but I now have enough extra dried mushrooms, Dried Lily flowers and dark Soy sauce for two or more batches.
DAWN POWER WASH -new dish washing soap
Cleaning after cooking. Still searching the shelves for this new DW liquid. Have any found this on their grocery shelves, and if so, what do you think of it? Where did you find it? Walmart or another super market?
The last new product DAWN introduced, power de-greaser, was suburb in removing the grease, making clean up a breeze.
While searching for more information on Dawn power wash, this life hack was found to assist in stretching this higher cost soap and saving a few cents. It might be of interest to some.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc83Mcac0KY
I went into a panic a couple weeks ago when nothing I needed was in stock at either of the nearest grocery stores a few towns over. I ended up ordering for curbside pick up and requesting every size of every brand of every variety just to get anything. I ended up with too much sugar and flour products but at least I have something and that will last.
Opened the self rising flour first since it has a shorter shelf life than AP.
LC has gone out the window since I’ve nixed any fresh produce that can’t be cooked, peeled or washed well. Can’t get much fresh produce at the store anyway. Squash is practically nonexistant. Got some tiny little old limp wrinkled calabacitas (zuke related) that should have been tossed in the dumpster rather than sold. That was all they had and they were limited to 4. One chayote squash was rotten, too. Not happy with the order at all. Looks like they have zukes today (no calabcitas) but a limit of 2 and a limit of 4 for crookneck. But they said those were in stock when I ordered them two weeks ago but they were cancelled. Who brings home just 2? No other squashes available.
It took a massive order from two stores just to get a small percent of what I wanted. Most of what I got was from playing the get every size and be thankful no matter what it was. Like I got Bisquick, which I absolutely hate but better than no flour product whatsoever. Or settling for spaghetti noodles rather than elbow for mac n cheese.
Can’t get any fresh meat package larger than 1 lb. and the price is ridiculous. Of course, limited to 4 packages, period. No disinfectants whatsoever since Feb. or first of March. No cat treats (guess it all came from China no matter what the package said). Only flavor of canned cat food is chicken. And that’s the better grocers a few towns away. I haven’t even tried our normally Venezuelan style empty shelf store.
I got rid of a wok decades ago. It took up too much cabinet space when a skillet works just as well.
Thousands of years ago in ancient China, black rice was known as Forbidden Rice and reserved only for the nobles, due to its potential health benefits. The common people were not allowed to grow or consume this black rice, which led to its unique name that it still carries with it today.
The Forbidden City-—once the home of emperors——is a huge tourist destination today.
Health Benefits of Black Rice
Black Rice contains a class of flavonoid antioxidants called anthocyanins which is also found in blueberries and other purple foods.
A study presented by the American Chemical Society, in Boston, shows that a spoonful of black rice bran or 10 spoonfuls of cooked black rice contains the same amount of antioxidants as a spoonful of fresh blueberries.
It is also a rich source of zinc, copper, and iron, and is a significant source of dietary fibre.
This looks so good, I just had to add it. I know I’m going to try this with cream cheese and strawberries and also cream cheese and mini chocolate chips as well.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Babka
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Dough
1/3 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon sugar divided
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 packet of active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup warm milk (at about 100 degrees)
10 tablespoons soft, unsalted butter, cubed
1 teaspoon vanilla
Ingredients for Blueberry Preserves
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups blueberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Ingredients for Cream Cheese Filling
Half a cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
Ingredients for Sugar Syrup
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
Optional
Crushed Nuts
Directions
1. In a bowl, mix flour, salt, and sugar using a whisk. Warm the milk until it reads about 100 degrees, pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer together with a teaspoon of sugar, and add the dry yeast. Stir with a dough hook and let it rest for five minutes until you notice a foam is forming on the top.
2. Add vanilla, eggs, salt, sugar, and flour to the yeast mixture and mix. After making sure the ingredients are well combined, you switch from low speed to medium speed and continue mixing for five more minutes to get a smooth dough.
3. Gradually add the softened butter and mix on medium speed until it’s well blended, which should take about four minutes. In the end, you should get a sticky dough.
4. Use plastic wrap to cover the dough and put it somewhere warm so that it can rise until doubled in size. This usually takes 60 to 90 minutes. Another option is to let it stay overnight.
5. In the meantime, make the blueberry preserves. Mix all ingredients, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes on medium heat. Stir until you get a thick mixture, and use the back of the spoon to crush some blueberries. Store it in the fridge while the dough rises.
6. You can also make the cream cheese filling and the sugar syrup while waiting for the dough to rise. To make the filling, mix the sugar and cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
7. To make the sugar syrup, pour the water into a small saucepan and add the sugar while constantly stirring. Cook on medium until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool.
8. Once your dough becomes double in size, punch it down and put it onto a floured surface. Cut the dough into two halves.
9. Roll one half of the dough into 12×16 inch rectangle. Take half of the sweetened cream cheese and spread it onto the dough rectangle making sure you leave a small border on a long edge.
10. Spread half of the blueberry preserves in the same manner.
11. Roll up the dough into a long log starting with the long side without a border. Then, slice half lengthwise making sure the layers are exposed.
12. Finally, twist the two halves around each other to form a braided loaf so that the end of one of the halves is pressed over the top of the other.
13. Do the same thing with the other half of the dough.
14. You need 9×5 loaf pan and parchment paper so you can line it while leaving an overhang on the long sides. Place the braided loaf into the pan. You can squeeze the ends slightly if needed.
15. Use plastic wrap to cover it and put it somewhere warm for an hour so that the dough can rise.
16. Bake at 350°F until golden brown or for about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the two loaves with the sugar syrup.
17. Let your babka cool in the loaf pan for a few minutes before transferring it to a wire rack using the parchment paper.
18. Serve and enjoy!
https://recipefairy.com/blueberry-cream-cheese-babka/
Hey we got some black rice last week and had a meal. It is delicious. Pricey - 4.69 a pound. It had a nice almost nutty flavor. I found a website with 18 recipes for black rice. Looked very versatile. I melted butter and a little oil, sauteed finely minced onion and celery and sauteed the rice in the oil, kind of like making rice a roni. After a while I added chicken bone broth for liquid. There was some leftovers so tonight I sauteed half a chicken breast and the added the leftover rice to warm through. Threw a sliced cherry tomato on top. I appreciate finding out about it. Not an everyday rice but we will definitely have more in the future. Thanks!