Archive for the ‘SIDES’ Category
Za’atar Roasted Potatoes
Excellent roasted potatoes, very nice flavor, and easy to prepare.
Ingredients
- 750 grams potatoes, (1 1/2 lbs)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons za'atar
- lemon or lime zest, as desired, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 C (400 F). Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
- Scrub the potatoes then cut into quarters or slice 1/2 inch rounds. Add the potatoes to a large mixing bowl.
- To the mixing bowl, add the salt, za'atar, and olive oil. Toss the potatoes until they are evenly coated.
- Spread out the potatoes on your prepared baking sheet, bake for 35-45 minutes. You are looking for crispy and tender potatoes.
- Sprinkle some fresh lemon or lime zest on the potatoes, serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Stir Fried Mushrooms & Baby Corn
This is an excellent side dish, and mushrooms and baby corn are a great combination.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 300 grams fresh mushrooms, see Step 1
- 8-10 ears baby corn
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- fresh cilantro, chopped, to garnish
Instructions
- For the mushrooms, Straw, Shiitake, Button, or Oyster, would be great choices. For Straw, slice in half lengthwise; for Shiitake, remove the stems and cut the caps in half; for Button, cut lengthwise into quarters; for Oyster, tear into bite size pieces.
- For the baby corn, cut in half lengthwise and then cut in half.
- Heat the oil in a large non stick pan or wok on medium heat, when hot, add the garlic and cook until lightly browned, then add the onion and fry until the onion is soft.
- Add the baby corn. stir fry for a minute or two the add the mushrooms and stir fry until they are starting to soften, about 2-3 minutes, then add the sauces and stir fry to to mix in.
- Stir fry until the liquid is thickened, pour onto a serving dish, sprinkle with coriander to garnish. Serve.
Notes
Low cost.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms
Simple and straight forward recipe. This is the alternate way to use teriyaki sauce, at the end of cooking, not marinating in it. One 3 ingredients, and one you can make yourself, and is highly recommended, the teriyaki sauce. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 250 grams fresh Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, (8 oz)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup Teriyaki sauce, (Shortcut)
- 1 spring onion, sliced
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a non stick pan on medium heat, when hot, add the mushrooms, saute, stirring them often, until golden brown and tender, about 7-10 minutes.
- Add the spring onion and stir fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the teriyaki sauce to the pan and stir fry to coat the mushrooms in the sauce and cook until the liquid mostly evaporated.
- Serve as a side with any meal.
Notes
Shortcut: Teriyaki Sauce (照り焼きのたれ).
Common way to cook mushrooms.
Stir Fried Straw Mushrooms
A local vendor in the village had some Straw mushrooms available so I bought the bag, about 500 grams (1 lb). The plan was for a stir fry, the simplest dish you can prepare on short notice. I made this on 27 Aug 2018, very well liked by the family.
Ingredients
- 500 grams fresh Straw mushrooms, (1 lb)
- 2-3 bunches fresh spring onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- oyster sauce, as needed
- mushroom sauce, as needed
- light soy sauce, as needed
Instructions
- Rinse the mushrooms and slice in half lengthwise. A note about Straw mushrooms, these are unopened mushrooms, meaning there is no veil or stem, they pretty much look like a oblong ball, try your best to slice lengthwise to keep them intact, if you cut crosswise, they fall apart. For these in the photo, they would not have lasted another day, this type of mushroom has a very short shelf life once harvested.
- Heat a non stick pan on medium heat and add the oil and butter, when the butter is melted and the oil is hot, add the mushrooms and stir fry. This after they have leased just a little water, and that is cooked off.
- Now add the spring onion, stir, then add a splash each of soy sauce, mushroom sauce, and oyster sauce. Keep stirring to mix in the sauces.
- When the spring onion is wilted, taste and adjust the sauces as desired.
- Served as a side dish.
Notes
Low cost.
Common stir fry procedure, nothing secret here.
Hard Cooked Eggs with Mustard
This is a must try for me, this is a change up from deviled eggs, no mayo used, and no mixing anything. Just 3 ingredients, 5 if you would like salt and pepper. This is a make what you need guide.
Ingredients
- 1 hard boiled egg, chicken
- 1 teaspoon whole grain Dijon Mustard
- 2-4 fresh dill stems, small, or 2-4 fresh parsley leaves
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Cut the egg in half lengthwise, place on a serving dish, cut sides up.
- Spoon on 1/2 teaspoon mustard on each half.
- Top each egg with 1-2 pieces of dill or parsley.
- Serve as an appetizer, side, or snack.
Notes
Sausage Salad II
This is a Thai spicy sausage salad based on pork sausage, specifically, Vietnamese sausage, aka, Cha Lue or Cha Hue for the pepper variety. On my to cook list. Keep in mind, the number of Bird's Eye chilies will determine how spicy you would like this.
Ingredients
- 75 grams Vietnamese sausage, see Steps 1-3, (3 oz)
- 1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped
- 1-4 red Bird's Eye chilies, seeded, finely chopped, as desired
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and finely minced
- 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- fresh mint leaves
- fresh coriander leaves
Instructions
- For the Vietnamese sausage, which is a pork sausage that is already cooked and found in the refrigerator section of grocery stores, the name is Cha Lua for the regular flavor. This is the Moo Dee brand (moo = pig, dee = good). Similar brands will close to what this looks like, grocery stores have all the Vietnamese sausage together as well.
- This is the Cha Hue variety, which is heavy with cracked black pepper and garlic. When looking for this in the store, the pepper is clearly seen in the sausage, and more than likely, there is a picture of black pepper on the package. This is also the Moo Dee brand. I prefer this variety due to the pepper.
- Unwrap the sausage and slice into about 1/4 inch thick slices, place on a serving plate.
- To a mixing bowl, add the garlic, onion, chilies, lemon or lime juice, and the fish sauce and mix together well.
- Pour over the sausage and garnish with mint and coriander leaves.
- Serve as a side dish to any Thai meal or as an appetizer.
Notes
Low cost.
This recipe for Spicy Home Made Sausage Salad is adapted from Appon's Thai Food.
Okra with Tomatoes
Sounds like a good alternative from fried okra. I made this on 16 July 2018 and is perfect as written, with my wife doing the final taste test. She simply added a pinch of chicken stock powder, then it was perfect, and I wrote that step in as well. This is a keeper.
Ingredients
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 10 pods fresh okra, stem trimmed, sliced in half lengthwise
- 1 small onion, cut into wedges
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- salt and pepper, to taste
- splash oyster sauce
- splash mushroom sauce
- pinch chicken stock powder
Instructions
- Garlic and okra prepped, I took the photo early before I had the onion prepped.
- Heat the oil in a large non stick pan, when hot, add the garlic and stir fry until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the okra and onion and season with salt and pepper as desired. Cook stirring often until the okra is tender and bright green, about 10-12 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, oyster sauce, and mushroom sauce and cook until tender and nearly bursting, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in a pinch of chicken stock powder, taste, and adjust with oyster or mushroom sauce as needed.
- Serve as a side dish with any meal.
Notes
Low cost.
Variants: 1. Add some sliced fresh mushrooms. 2. Season with additional spices such as ground cumin or garam masala (1/4 teaspoon or so). 3. Add chopped bacon. 4. Add a slice bell pepper.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Spicy Caramelized Quail Eggs (Khai Luk Khoei)
This is Thai in nature and is a variant of Son-in-Law Eggs (Khai Luk Khoei). The recipe is from a Thai person but omits the tamarind and shallot oil. This sounds good and is a nice way to prepare quail eggs. On my to cook list. This recipes assumes you have hard boiled or canned eggs available. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 7 hard boiled quail eggs, see Step 1
- 1-3 red Bird's Eye chilies, seeded and thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar, or rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Instructions
- For the quail eggs, you can use fresh or canned, a shortcut for perfect hard boiled quail eggs is in the Recipe Notes section. If using canned eggs, and there is nothing wrong with that, just drain the eggs needed and refrigerate the rest.
- Once you have the hard boiled quail eggs sorted out, fresh and peeled or canned, cut each in half lengthwise.
- Heat a non stick pan to medium heat with about ½ inch of cooking oil, when hot, add the egg halves, fry until lightly browned on both sides, remove the eggs to a serving plate.
- Pour out all but 1 tablespoon of oil, easy way is to pour out all hot oil into a jar and add 1 tablespoon of oil back to the pan.
- Heat the oil and when hot, add the chilies and garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Turn the heat down to medium.
- Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and vinegar and cook, stirring, until the sugar caramelizes and the sauce thickens and turns brown.
- Pour sauce over the eggs, sprinkle with the onion and coriander, serve, and enjoy.
Notes
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
Fried Okra
A good sounding southern US side dish, that is very good. Not sure how okra ended up in Thailand, or even how it is used in Thai cooking. I have modified this with my findings. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 10 pods fresh okra, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup lard, or cooking oil, OR make from a shortcut
Instructions
- Beat the egg in a bowl then add the sliced okra, mix and allow the okra to sit in the beaten egg for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
- Place the cornmeal, salt, and pepper in a zip lock bag, seal and shake to mix. Add the okra, seal, and shake to coat, does not take long, okra is pretty slimy on its own. (Original recipe called for 1 cup of cornmeal, after making this, 1/2 cup would be plenty.)
- Heat the lard (or oil) in a large non stick pan on medium high heat. Important to get the lard very hot. Using tongs, remove the okra from the bag and place in the hot lard.
- Gently stir and when nice and golden brown, remove using a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Some of the cornmeal will fall from the okra, no worries, that is expected.
- Serve as a side with your preferred main dish.
Notes
Oyster Mushroom Pasta
Sounds like a delicious use oyster mushrooms. Common ingredients. On my to cook list.
Ingredients
- 500 grams dry linguine, or fettuccine, or spaghetti, (1 lb)
- 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 block, (1 stick)
- 500 grams fresh oyster mushrooms, (1 lb)
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2/3 cup whipping cream
- 4 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Prep the mushrooms by cutting off the root ends, give a quick rinse and squeeze out the excess water. Just use your fingers and pull the mushrooms into 2 to 3 pieces, and for any large pieces, go ahead and cut those in half.
- Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water. Cook until just tender. Drain.
- While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a large non stick pan on medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the mushrooms. Cook and stir often until the mushrooms are good and wilted and starting to brown.
- Mix in the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook to wilt the parsley, about 1 minute.
- Stir in the cream and bring to a boil, stirring until the sauce thickens.
- Pour the mushroom sauce into the pasta, and toss to mix together.
- Add the spring onion and cheese and mix together.
- Serve as a side dish with any meal. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Variants: 1. Use any long or short pasta you desire. 2. Use any type of mushrooms you desire.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
