Glamping Baba: January 2012

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sweet and Sour Ribs...

I'm still cleaning out my fridge and freezer for 2012. This is an old recipe for Sweet and Sour Ribs from my old Chinese cooking class.

4 cups spareribs cut into small pieces.
3 tsp. soya sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vinegar
1 tbsp flour
Flour ribs and then add the rest, coating each rib. Deepfry at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or just brown them in a pot of oil till all red is gone.
Sauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup vinegar
2 cups water
2 tsp. soya sauce
Thickening made from cornstarch and water.
Bring sugar, vinegar, water and soya sauce to a boil in a pot and add browned ribs. Simmer till ribs are well done...anywhere from 1-2 hours depending how soft you like gristle. I like them simmered about 2 hours and when they are just about ready I thicken the sauce. You can thicken earlier if you want. Garnish with pineapple chunks or serve by themselves. I added a bit of red food colouring.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Best Beef marinade for Beef and Tomatoes

Sirloin Marinating steak or Flank steak

Round if you have to...but I prefer not.

Freeze and when half frozen or half thawed, slice in thin slices. This is much easier when half frozen to get nice thin slices. If using round steak just marinate a little bit longer.

Best Marinade:

(from Chinese cooking course 30 years ago)

½ cup cold water

½ tsp. cooking wine( had none so I used Wine Vinegar)

½ tsp. soya sauce

½ tsp. salt

Touch of pepper

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. accent( I use ½ tsp)

2 tbsp. oil

Mix together and put in your beef slices. Let sit for 30 minutes or longer, and add 1 tsp. cornstarch to mixture and stir. This marinade makes the beef really tender. You can fry in hot oiled pan and serve with rice or prepare this meat to stir fry with veggies like Tomatoes and onion. Withthe cornstarch on this the meat strips fry with a batter crispiness.

Beef and Tomatoes

Blanche 1 cup chunked onion and 1 cup chunked celery in a pot for 2 minutes. Takeout and put and set aside. Prepare your beef and fry in skillet or wok, until redness is gone and remove to another dish. Clean skillet and add fresh oil and add 6 medium chunked tomatoes, onion and celery. Add 1 tsp. soya sauce, 1 tbsp,. accent ½ cup sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 2 cups water or chicken broth, and bring to a boil. Add a bit of cornstarch to thicken. Last add your prepared beef strips and serve on white rice.

I was cleaning out my fridge and only had 1 big field tomato so decreased my veggie juices to 1 cup water-1/4 cup sugar-3/4 tsp. soya sauce and 1/2 tbsp accent.

Yummy.

Apple Crisp a bit different

Apple Crisp in 9 by 13 pan

Cover greased pan with sliced apples( I used about 7 apples)

Sprinkle apples with ½ cup brown sugar

In a bowl mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup white sugar, 1 tsp. Baking Powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 eggs. Will be coarse and lumpy. Sprinkle over apples. Sprinkle 1 tsp. cinnamon over batter. Melt 1/2 cup butter and drizzle over everything. Pop in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Bottom of pan will have juice and butter.

Brown Rice Tabbouleh

1/2 cup uncooked Instant Long Grain Brown Rice
11/2 cups veggie broth
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp, lemon juice
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 English cucumber finely diced
4 Roma tomatoes
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint
1/4 tsp. salt and pepper

Rinse rice and drain well. Combine rice and broth in saucepan and brong to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low simmer....until liquid is absorbed...about 40 minutes. Remove from eat ad let stand 5 minutes. Fluff and cool.
In mixing bowl whisk olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Stit in everything else and season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Blueberry muffins with cottage cheese

My favorite recipe for blueberry muffins calls for 1 cup sour cream. So of course today I had none.....but I had some creamed cottage cheese...so I blended a cup and I think I like the consistency of these better.