Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime Risotto--Daring Cooks Challenge

As usual, I waited until the last moment to get the challenge done. My wife doesn't care much for risotto, so I wanted to do something a little different. In addition to infusing the stock with lemongrass and some kaffir lime leaves, I dehydrated several of the kaffir lime leaves and crumbled them into the risotto. I also added some diced red pepper and shallots. I think some lime juice would have brightened the dish. The basic recipe for the challenge can be found here.

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

Daring Cooks Pork Sate

The January 2010 DC challenge was hosted by Cuppy of Cuppylicious and she chose a delicious Thai-inspired recipe for Pork Satay from the book 1000 Recipes by Martha Day. This month's Daring Cooks' Challenge called for pork sate. Although Indonesia's sate is well known, the recipe identified the challenge's sate as Thai. Sate in Thailand actually appears to have immigrated north from Malaysia, and as it moved north from the Muslim influence of the south, pork (taboo to Muslims, of course) became an acceptable meat.

In Indonesia, which has some 216 million Muslims out of a total population of around 240 million, pork sate is not usually found outside of Bali and Chinese communities. Although in Bali pork sate is now served with peanut sauce because that's what tourists expect, most Indonesians eat pork sate with sambal kecap--a sauce of kecap manis, lime juice, garlic, shallots, and chilies. I must say that I also prefer sambal kecap with pork sate. Peanut sauce somehow doesn't complement the pork sate. In the photo, peanut sauce is on the left, sambal kecap on the right.

I'm having a hell of a time getting photos, what with the shorter days and my teaching schedule. As a result, I thought I'd wait until there's more light to do a proper posting on sate babi (pork sate) as I know it. For the challenge, I used a marinade from a cookbook I picked up in Indonesia many years ago for a generic meat sate (beef, lamb, or goat). I much prefer Sri Owen's first cookbook, Indonesian Food and Cookery, even though she had to make many compromises when she wrote it because of the difficulty of finding Indonesian ingredients at that time.

I served the sate with a peanut sauce and sambal kecap, but I think I was the only one in the house who actually tried the peanut sauce. It just doesn't belong with pork sate.


Sate Daging (recipe adapted from Indonesian and Thai Cookery by Sri Owen)

3 shallots, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, pounded to a paste in a mortar
1 TBS coconut vinegar
2 tsp coriander, ground
1/2 tsp cumin, ground
2 TBS light soy sauce
2 TBS vegetable oil

1 lb pork shoulder, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
8--12 bamboo skewers, soaked in water several hours

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl. Add the meat and stir well. Marinate for at least two hours.

Skewer the meat and grill over a hot flame for 6 to 8 minutes, turning several times. Ideally, you should grill over charcoal, but a gas grill is ok.

Daring Cooks Sushi

The November 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was brought to you by Audax of Audax Artifex and Rose of The Bite Me Kitchen. They chose sushi as the challenge.

As fond as I am of sushi, and seafood in general, it's not something I would normally make at home as one of the members of the household is allergic to seafood. It's a pain to have to prepare separate meals for the different diets, so I generally choose to cook something that everyone can eat. And I don't care how accommodating you may try to be, sushi without seafood ain't sushi.

The biggest challenge in making the sushi was finding a time when I was well enough and had enough time to get the ingredients and prepare them on the same day. I think I may have had a touch of the H1N1 a few weeks ago, and then I was at the Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco last week. During the week I don't have enough time to run to the store between classes and then prepare the sushi. And you don't want to make sushi with yesterday's fish.

So I had to put it off to the last moment. I actually made the nigiri sushi and the spiral sushi roll a few days ago when we had a holiday (although I still had a night class to teach). The dragon roll I only got to today.

For the sushi rice, I used Kagayaki Haiga brown rice, which is 100% khoshihikari rice. Although a brown rice with considerably more nutritional value than regular milled rice (more than twice the dietary fiber, three times the magnesium and B6, and ten times the Vitamin E), it appears almost as white as regular short grain rice. The taste was very good.

The recipes are too detailed to include with the post. They are surely available somewhere on the web, or breakdown and buy a book. The nigiri sushi is topped with salmon and ahi tuna. To accommodate my allergic niece, I made the spiral sushi with char siu, grilled green onions, avocado, and roasted red peppers. For the dragon rolls I pan fried salmon and ahi fillets that had been marinated in a teriyaki style sauce.

All of recipes were tasty. Thanks to Audax and Rose for an interesting challenge.

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Wha tha pho? Pho Ga--Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

Although I lived in Vietnamese refugee camps several years, lived in Vietnam for almost a year, and could eat Vietnamese food every day for the rest of my life without complaint, I am not wild about Pho Ga (Chicken Pho). I like it, mind you. I would take it over its American counterpart any day of the week, but it is not something I ever find myself thinking I must have soon or my life will seem diminished. Sadly (for it is surely wrong to have such attachment to food), I do have these thoughts about other foods such as bun rieu, rendang, soto ayam, and pizza.

Still, this month's Daring Cooks' Challenge was Pho Ga. Although the challenge actually provided a simplified recipe, I preferred to go old school, charring the ginger and onion, the whole bit. So I followed this recipe. While it didn't convert me to a pho ga fanatic, it did produce as tasty a pho ga as I have ever had.



With the change in weather in Northern California, this recipe couldn't have come at a better time. It was a delicious meal for a cool, windy evening. For anyone thinking Vietnamese food is too difficult to cook at home, this soup proves that wrong.

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook. Thanks to Jaden for this delicious challenge. I look forward to trying out other recipes from her cookbook.

Daring Cooks--Rice with Mushrooms, Squid and Artichokes

Having started this blog largely so I could participate in the Daring Bakers challenges, figuring that it would give me an excuse to bake more often, I was pleased to discover the Daring Cooks component. I am more fond of savory foods than sweet ones, so I looked forward to trying my hand at the challenges presented by the cooks. There's a bit of delay in being admitted into the inner sanctum of the Daring Kitchen in order to take part in the challenges, so this is my first Daring Cooks challenge. This month's challenge was hosted by Olga from Las Cosas de Olga and Olga’s Recipes. It was rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes by José Andrés. You can watch him make the dish here.

Although there are several steps to making this dish, it is really not difficult. I made several adaptions based on personal preference and availability. I used squid instead of cuttlefish. I also used brown beech mushrooms and canned artichoke hearts from Trader Joe's. In spring I would choose to use fresh artichokes as the canned ones seem watery and insubstantial. Instead of making a fish stock, I used two cups of clam juice mixed with four cups of water.

This was a delicious recipe, one that got rave reviews from my wife. She is quite particular in rating rice dishes and does not usually like risotto. I made the dish expecting to hear bland praise at best. Instead, she positively gushed about the combination of rice, squid and allioli. Thanks for the recipe, Olga.

It really is the allioli that brings this dish together. I worried that I wouldn't be able to bring the four ingredients--garlic, lemon juice, salt, and olive oil--together in an emulsified whipped cream-like mass, but it worked wonderfully. I actually used juice from a kalamansi lime instead of lemon juice, but there were no problems. The key seems to be adding the olive oil very slowly to the garlic at first. You can add it much more quickly once you have gotten the process underway.

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Rice with mushrooms, cuttlefish and artichokes

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 4 Artichokes (you can use jarred or freezed if fresh are not available)
• 12 Mushrooms (button or Portobello)
• 1 or 2 Bay leaves (optional but highly recommended)
• 1 glass of white wine
• 2 Cuttlefish (you can use freezed cuttlefish or squid if you don’t find it fresh)
• “Sofregit” (see recipe below)
• 300 gr (2 cups) Short grain rice (Spanish types Calasparra or Montsant are preferred, but you can choose any other short grain. This kind of rice absorbs flavor very well) – about 75 gr per person ( ½ cup per person) Please read this for more info on suitable rices.
• Water or Fish Stock (use 1 ½ cup of liquid per ½ cup of rice)
• Saffron threads (if you can’t find it or afford to buy it, you can substitute it for turmeric or yellow coloring powder)
• Allioli (olive oil and garlic sauce, similar to mayonnaise sauce) - optional

Directions:

1. Cut the cuttlefish in little strips.
2. Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and put the cuttlefish in the pan.
3. If you use fresh artichokes, clean them as shown in the video in tip #7. Cut artichokes in eights.
4. Clean the mushrooms and cut them in fourths.
5. Add a bay leaf to the cuttlefish and add also the artichokes and the mushrooms.
6. Sauté until we get a golden color in the artichokes.
7. Put a touch of white wine so all the solids in the bottom of the get mixed, getting a more flavorful dish.
8. Add a couple or three tablespoons of sofregit and mix to make sure everything gets impregnated with the sofregit.
9. Add all the liquid and bring it to boil.
10. Add all the rice. Let boil for about 5 minutes in heavy heat.
11. Add some saffron thread to enrich the dish with its flavor and color. Stir a little bit so the rice and the other ingredients get the entire flavor. If you’re using turmeric or yellow coloring, use only 1/4 teaspoon.
12. Turn to low heat and boil for another 8 minutes (or until rice is a little softer than “al dente”)
13. Put the pan away from heat and let the rice stand a couple of minutes.

Sofregit (a well cooked and fragrant sauce made of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and onions, and may at times
different vegetables such as peppers or mushrooms)-

Cooking time: aprox. 1 hour
Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 5 big red ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
• 4 or 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 cup of button or Portobello mushrooms, chopped (optional)
• 1 Bay leaf
• Salt
• Touch of ground cumin
• Touch of dried oregano

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients together in a frying pan and sauté slowly until all vegetables are soft.
2. Taste and salt if necessary (maybe it’s not!)

Allioli is the optional part of the recipe. You must choose one of the two recipes given, even though I highly recommend you to try traditional one. Allioli is served together with the rice and it gives a very nice taste

Allioli (Traditional recipe)
Cooking time: 20 min aprox.
Ingredients:

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• Pinch of salt
• Fresh lemon juice (some drops)
• Extra-virgin olive oil (Spanish preferred but not essential)

Directions:

1. Place the garlic in a mortar along with the salt.
2. Using a pestle, smash the garlic cloves to a smooth paste. (The salt stops the garlic from slipping at the bottom of the mortar as you pound it down.)
3. Add the lemon juice to the garlic.
4. Drop by drop; pour the olive oil into the mortar slowly as you continue to crush the paste with your pestle.
5. Keep turning your pestle in a slow, continuous circular motion in the mortar. The drip needs to be slow and steady. Make sure the paste soaks up the olive oil as you go.
6. Keep adding the oil, drop by drop, until you have the consistency of a very thick mayonnaise. If your allioli gets too dense, add water to thin it out. This takes time—around 20 minutes of slow motion around the mortar—to create a dense, rich sauce.

José's tips for traditional recipe: It's hard to think that, when you start crushing the garlic, it will ever turn into something as dense and smooth as allioli. But don't give up. It's worth the extra time and effort to see the oil and garlic come together before your eyes. Just make sure you're adding the olive oil slowly, drop by drop. Keep moving the pestle around the mortar in a circular motion and keep dreaming of the thick, creamy sauce at the end of it all.

Allioli a la moderna (Modern recipe)
Cooking time: 3-4 minutes
Ingredients:

• 1 small egg
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (as above, Spanish oil is highly recommended)
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 Tbs. Spanish Sherry vinegar or lemon juice (if Sherry vinegar is not available, use can use cider or white vinegar)
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Break the egg into a mixing bowl.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic cloves, along with the vinegar or lemon juice.
3. Using a hand blender, start mixing at high speed until the garlic is fully pureed into a loose paste.
4. Little by little, add what's left of the olive oil as you continue blending.
5. If the mixture appears too thick as you begin pouring the oil, add 1 teaspoon of water to loosen the sauce.
6. Continue adding the oil and blending until you have a rich, creamy allioli.
7. The sauce will be a lovely yellow color.
8. Add salt to taste.

José's tips for modern recipe:
(1) If you do not have access to a hand blender, you can use a hand mixer (the kind with the two beaters) or a food processor. If you use a food processor, you must double the recipe or the amount will be too little for the blades to catch and emulsify.
(2) What happens if the oil and egg separate? Don't throw it out. You can do two things. One is to whisk it and use it as a side sauce for a fish or vegetable. But if you want to rescue the allioli, take 1 tablespoon of lukewarm water in another beaker and start adding to the mix little by little. Blend it again until you create the creamy sauce you wanted.

Olga’s Tips:
(1) In Spain, rice is not stired as often as it is when cooking Italian risotto. You must stir it once or twice maximum. This tip is valid for all Spanish rice dishes like paella, arròs negre, arròs a banda…
(2) When cooking the alternative style you can change the cuttlefish or squid for diced potato.
(3) If you can’t find cuttlefish or squid, or you’re not able to eat them because of allergies, you can try to substitute them for chicken or vegetables at your choice.
(4) Sofregit can be done in advance. You can keep it in the fridge or even freeze it.
(5) For more information on how to clean and remove the heart of artichokes, please watch this video
(6) To watch how Jose Andres cooks this dish click here.
(7) For more information on how to clean and remove the heart of artichokes, please watch this video
(8) To tone down the taste when you do it by hand in a mortar, then add an egg yolk. If you want to tone it down in the alternative way use milk or soy milk. Anyway, the best alternative way is the original oil and garlic alone.
(9) Allioli must be consumed during the preparation day and preserved in the fridge before using it.
(10) For help on conversion on metric to imperial, visit this page.