Feb 08: Chili Prawns?

If you've every watched Iron Chef, then you'll be familiar with Chef Chen Kenichi. His signature dish is Chili Prawns. The judges describe the dish as extraordinary - spicy, sweet and garlicky. One of the few dishes from the show that I would want to try.

Also, a local restaurant makes "sweet chili prawns". I don't know if it's similar to chili prawns, but it's a delicious dish too.

Here's my improvised attempt to make a chili prawns dish.

Chili Prawns (Take One)

~Mix and let marinade about 15 minutes before cooking.
1/2 Shrimp, shelled and deveined (used 51/60 shrimp)
2 T Corn Starch
1 T Wine
2 t Soy Sauce
Dash of garlic powder.



~ Sauce Ingredients
1/4 C Chicken Stock (or water)
2 T Ketchup
1 t Chili Sauce
1/2 t Sugar
1 Green Onion, Chopped
1 Clove Garlic, Minced
1 T Vinegar


1. Heat the wok (or a saute pan) until hot!
Use about 1 to 2 T oil and add shrimp in a single layer... Cook about 1 minute.


2. Flip shrimp and add the garlic and green onion.
After another minute add the sauce ingredients and cook until boiling.
Use vinegar to taste.

Note: It is typical to cook the shrimp about 80%, remove from the wok to cook the sauce. When the sauce is boiling, the shrimp is added back to finish cooking.... about another minutes or two. I chose not to do that since I didn't want wash more dishes.


The finished dish... The shrimp had enough cornstarch where I didn't need to add more to thicken the sauce.


The dish turned out nicely.

With a hot pan, the dish was cooked in about 7 to 10 minutes... Maybe a little quicker if I had my act together.

Dish notes:
Spicy - I thought this dish would be a bit mild, but surprisingly had a little heat. 1 tsp of chili sauce is a nice level.
Garlic - needs more.
Sugar/Sweetness - needs more... maybe 1 tsp.
Shrimp - Almost overcooked... tender, but on the cusp of being rubbery. Will have to "twice cook" the shrimp as mentioned in my note above.
Sesame oil - add a few drops for next trial.
Sour - Needs just a touch more acidity.
Corn starch - can get by with 1 T instead of 2 T

Oct 12: Beef Chili

What to do with the remainder of the beef bottom round roast? Hmmm....
Beef stew?
Roast beef?
Chili! I have a pantry full of dried chiles that should be used.
Okay... Chili it is!

There are a couple ways to make chili with dried chiles.
1. Soak the chiles and make a mash.
2. Toast and grind to make a chili powder.

I've tried the soak method and was not thrilled with the results.

This time I'll grind my own chili powder.

The Chiles
From top down...
2 New Mexico Chiles
1 Guajillo
1 California Chile
1 Ancho


The chilies were stemmed and seeded.
Cut into smaller pieces and toasted under the broiler with 1 tsp of cumin seeds.
Total toasting time was about 1 minutes. Remember to give the pan a shake to move stuff around.

I was worried that the toasting chiles would be eye-watering noxious, but the chiles gave off a sweet, toasty, raisiny aroma.


The toasted pieces went into a coffee grinder to form the powder.


Chili
The fixins'
3 lbs Beef Bottom Round Roast, trim off fat cap and cube (about 4 or 5 cups)
1/2 Onion, coarse chop
2 Garlic cloves, coarse chop
1/2 C Grape Tomatoes, halved
1 Celery Stalk, coarse chopped (Next time I'll leave it out).
2T Chili Powder
1/2 C Chicken Stock (That's just what I had)
1/2 tsp Oregano, dried
1/2 tsp Basil, dried
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown the beef... To flour or not to flour. I decided not to flour. I wanted to save time.



Add veggies and chicken stock. I got bored with browning the beef so I just browned one side and tossed in the rest of the ingredients. :-)



Add the chili powder, oregano, basil, bay leaf and stock... Cover and simmer for about 2 hours.


The finished chili.


Chili up!
I tried toasting a taco shell in the oven... which fell through the grate and caught fire. lol!
I have pita bread instead.
The chili topped with onions and cheese.


Flavor... Not bad. Not extremely hot, but has a mild chili flavor. I think the cumin adds the flavor.

Beef still has some texture, not dry and stringy.

Where's the beans?
I didn't have any in the house.

Overall, I think it's a success for an improvised recipe.