Apr 06, 2010: Tofu Tuesday Hodge Podge

Today, is a hodge podge recipe... looking to make something quick and healthy plus I have frozen shrimp scampi in the freezer and leftover ham from Easter.

Tofu Hodge Podge
1 lbf Firm Tofu, cubed
3 Green Onions, sliced
1 Carrot, diagonal sliced
1/2 C Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Stalk of Celery, diced
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1 C Ham, mined
Frozen Shrimp Scampi
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Egg Noodles


As usual with firm tofu, I like to pan fry with salt and pepper to brown and crisp up the tofu.



Add the rest of the ingredients, give a quick mix and cover to cook.


Serve over noodles (or rice). Salt and pepper to taste.


Quick, simple and fairly good. It's not 3-Star Michelin, but it does hit the spot.

Feb 24: Gumbo for Mardi Gras

Today is Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) where it's the day before Lent. Well... I'm not religious. However, I do enjoy the food and the celebration in New Orleans.

Another dish that's representative of southern Louisiana is Gumbo. Gumbo is essentially a roux based stew. However, that is an understatement to the complex flavors that a properly cooked roux imparts to the dish.

Chicken, Sausage and Shrimp Gumbo

1 C Onion, chopped
1/2 C Celery, chopped
1/2 C Bell Pepper, chopped
2 Clove Garlic, minced
3/4 lb Okra, cut into rounds
5 T Butter
5T Flour
1 Bay Leaf
1/4 t Tarragon
1/2 t Cayenne
1/4 t Thyme
1/2 t Cajun Seasoning
1/2 lb Smoked Sausage, cut into rounds
1 Chicken Breast, cooked and shredded
1/2 t Shrimp, shelled and deveined, sprinkled with Cajun seasoning
6 C Stock (I made a ham stock)

The trinity - Onion, bell pepper, celery... plus garlic, butter and flour.


The herbs and seasoning


The meat - sausage, cooked chicken and shrimp.


1. Cook the roux...melt the butter in a heavy pot before adding the flour. Cook over medium about 15 minutes. The flour mixture will darken. The darker the color the nuttier the flavor. Ideally, you want the roux dark... I mean dark like chocolate. I stopped when it was caramel colored. I chickened out... lol.


2. Add the celery, bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook 10 minutes to sweat the vegs.


3. Add the okra. Okra is an interesting veg. When cut, there's a slimy ooze that comes out of the pod. However, when cooked the slime dissipates into the liquid. Add 7 C of stock.
Simmer about 1 hour or more with the lid off.


4. After an hour, add the meat and cook for another 15 minutews=


The Final Dish
Gumbo topped with rice and green onion.
Overall a good result. The ham broth provided a lot of flavor.


Ham Broth (A way to use the extra ham hock from last week)
1 C Onion, chopped
1/2 C Celery, chopped
1/2 C Carrot, chopped
2 Ham Hocks
8 Cups water
3 Buillion cubes, Chicken

Sweat the mirepoix (onion, celery and carrot.)
Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 3 hours.
I acutally used the oven set at 175F and cooked overnight.

Feb 22: Sunday Dinner - Jambalaya

Jambalaya is a rice dish that's synonymous with New Orleans. According to Wikipedia, the origins is based upon paella... makes sense to me.

Jambalaya - based upon what I have locally.
1 C Onion, chopped
1/2 C Celery, chopped
1/2 C Bell Pepper, chopped
2 Clove Garlic, minced
1 Bay leaf
1/2 t Thyme
1/4 t Basil
1/4 t Cayenne Pepper
7 oz Smoked Sausage, cut into rounds
7 oz Ham, cubed
1/2 lb Shrimp, peeled and deveined
14 oz Diced Tomato, I used Italian style.
1 1/2 C Rice (I used converted rice which is very popular in New Orleans)
2 C Stock (I added the shrimp shells to further flavor the stock)

The aromatics - bell pepper, garlic, celery, onion, thyme, bay, basil and cayenne.


Sausage, ham and peeled shrimp sprinkled with Cajun seasoning.


1. Saute the onion, bell pepper, garlic and celery in a little oil (about 5 minutes) to soften the veg.
Add the sausage and ham, plus the dried herb... Cook about 5 to 10 minutes.


2. Add the canned tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes so the flavors meld.


3. Add the rice and the stock.


3a. Added Stock. The stock was 2 cups of chicken bouillon and the shell from the shrimp. Brought to a boil and simmered for 5. Taken off the heat and allowed to steep. Strain before using.


4. The rice was cooked on medium for 2o minutes... After which the shrimp was added to the rice and allowed to steam for 10 minutes before mixing in.


The Finished Dish
Served on a platter and garnished with green onions.

Feb 21: BBQ Shrimp

Shrimp is very common in New Orleans being a Gulf state. I don't know how this dish came to be known as barbecued shrimp since there is no grilling or smoking.

I've tried different version of the dish. Some restaurants cooked shrimp in a Worcestershire sauce braise while other restaurants used lemon, garlic and a butter sauce. However, the Worcestershire flavored version is the most common.

Barbecue Shrimp
1/2 lb Shrimp, shell-on, deveined.
1/2 Onion, Chopped
4 T Butter
1/4 t Thyme
1/2 t Ground Black Pepper
2 Clove Garlic, grated
1/4 C Italian Dressing
2T Worcestershire Sauce

1. Shrimp sprinkled with Cajun seasoning and set aside.


The other ingredients....


Saute the onions, garlic and herbs in 2T butter until soft.


Add the shrimp and the liquids (Italian dressing and Worcestershire sauce)... Cook about 10 - 15 minutes.


Add the remaining 2T of butter a little at a time to form a sauce.


The finished dish... usually served with French bread to sop up the sauce.


The flavor was good. I should have added lemon to the dish, even better the next day after the flavors soaked into the shrimp.

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

Shrimp Egg Fu Yung

With my home grown bean sprouts, I've decided to make the classic Chinese-American dish Egg Fu Yung.

Egg Fu Yung is essentially an omelet with lots of vegetables and a meat. I would typically use ham, but I wanted to try something different today so I picked shrimp.

Any type of vegetables will work, but bean sprouts, onion, celery are the primary veggies. You can cut the veggies anyway you like, chopped, sliced, diced, minced...etc.

The fixins:

1/2 Zucchini, chopped
1/3 carrot, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/3 cup bell pepper, chopped
3 big mushrooms, rough chop
1 to 1.5 cups beans sprouts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
4 eggs, beaten

15 shrimp (31/35), deveined and split and cut into thirds
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
dash of white pepper
pinch of salt

1. Shrimp marinaded with a little soy sauce (about 1/2 teaspoon, a dash of white pepper and a pinch of salt)

The vegetables


2. I like precooking the ingredients so the omelet part is mainly cooking the egg. First I partially cooked the shrimp, about 3 to 5 minutes. Afterwards the shrimp was taken out and the vegetables and the rest of the seasonings were added. I was mainly sweating the vegetables and steam with a little chicken broth, about 5 minutes. Another reason for cooking the vegetables is to get rid of the "raw" flavor from the bean sprouts.

The vegetables were taken out of the saute pan, mixed in a bowl and allowed to cool. At this point, I could have made another American classic, Chop Suey, by just making a sauce, but my goal was Egg Fu Yung.


When the mixture cooled sufficiently, I added the beaten eggs to the vegetable mixture.
I used a measuring cup, 1/3 C, to pour the mixture into a frying pan. I, also, could have just made one big omelet but my preference is for smaller individual Egg Fu Yung.

Cooking at Medium to Medium-High



About 3 to 5 minutes, flipped the patties.


Finally when they were all done. I topped with an Egg Fu Yung sauce.

Egg Fu Yung Sauce (Ref: Sunset Oriental Cookbook, 1994)
1 cup of chicken broth
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1 Tbl corn starch
1 Tbl soy sauce
2 Tbl water

Bring the chicken broth to boil. Dissolve the other ingredients in a small bowl.
When the broth boils, stir in the rest of the ingredients. The mixture should be fully thick when the sauce comes to a boil

The Final Dish:
Egg Fu Yung with Sauce


Overall, the vegetables were still had a slight crunch and the taste was good. The bean sprouts turned out nice.

There was about 3 cups of the vegetable shrimp mixture. I could have used 3 eggs instead of 4 so the patties aren't as eggy. Also, the vinegar seemed pretty strong in the sauce so I will probably use 1 teaspoon instead of 2 the next time around.

I forgot to add/buy green onions. Green onions would have added a little extra flavor.

Happy Mardi Gras 2008

Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is the day before Lent where devout Catholics give up something for 40 days, as a symbol of devotion. They also start attending services. Fat Tuesday is the day were people splurge, pig out and get it all out of their system for Lent.

I didn't realize today was Mardi Gras until I went downstairs to the cafeteria at work. Of course, they made poor attempts at some Louisiana classics - seafood gumbo, hush puppies and fried okra.

While I was driving home for work, I decided to make a classic poor boy, also known as a po' boy, in celebration of Mardi Gras. However, when I lived in New Orleans, I heard that the locals call the sandwich a poor boy and that tourist called it po' boy. The same with the pronunciation of New Orleans. Tourist will call the city Nawlins' while locals never used 'nawlins.

A poor boy is a submarine sandwich that's typically on soft french bread. Typical fillings vary but of of the popular fillings is deep fried shrimp which is what I'm trying tonight.

The deep fried fillings usually has a corn meal coating, but I believe the corn meal is ground to a fine texture. This is what it looks like in the bag of Louisiana style fish fry. Of course what I have is just a box of regular cornmeal.

I tried pulsing the cornmeal in a coffee grinder. It's hard to tell if it worked or not. There were some fine particles, but not a big difference. I could have used a food processor, but didn't want to lug it out and wash it. Maybe I'll try it next time, but it will be awhile before I try again.

I made 3 batches of fry mix. Actually, I think it was 4.

The fixins
1 cup of corn meal, pulsed through a coffee grinder about 30 to 40 seconds.
Shrimp (31/35), peeled and deveined
1/2 cup of flour
1.5 teaspoons of Lousiana Cajun Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Batch 1 - all cornmeal
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 teaspoon seasoning

Batch 2 - half cornmeal and half flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon seasoning

Batch 3 - half and half plus leavening. Based Paula Deen's Fried Chicken recipe on the Food Network. Her recipes calls for self rising flour. I've tried it and liked the results.

1/2 cup of batch 2
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Batch 4
Dump Batch 1, 2, and 3 into a bowl.


While the shrimp is still damp, dredge though the coating mixture and fry in 350F oil for about 1 minute. The shrimp is thin so it doesn't take a long time to cook.

The results:
Batch 1 is in the 9 o'clock position. Crunchy and kind of course from the corn meal.
Batch 2 is in the 12 o'clock position. Not as crunchy with a light coating.
Batch 3 at 3 o'clock. Coating seemed slightly puffier. My imagination since I'm expecting the leavening to do something?
Batch 4 at 6 o'clock. Not as heavy as batch 1, but can feel the texture of the corn.


A common deep frying techinique, you would use an egg wash before the coating, but I don't remember the poor boy shops using an egg wash. Also, I didn't have any eggs.

However, if I try this again I would try a more traditional deep frying method. Flour the ingredients, egg wash and a final dredge through the corn meal coating.

Oysters too!
Yes, I also bought some oysters and fried a few.


The finished product:
A shrimp and oyster poor boy dressed.
Dressed means that the sandwich includes toppings - mayo, tomatoes, lettuce and pickles.
Actually each poor boy shop had a different definition for dressed. Some would include pickles and others you have to request pickles.

I also like adding a few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce. I like the vinegary-ness of Louisiana hot sauce over Tobasco.



If deep frying wasn't a messy procedure, I'd try different coating recipes more often.
Overall, it was a good sandwich. You can't go wrong with deep frying... lol.