Polish Soup Zurek

I made this soup from scratch a long time ago. It is here on the blog. I ate it during my trip through Poland and liked the sour taste.

I was cleaning out my pantry and some items went on the counter for cooking in the near future. The treta pack of soup was from a Polish/ Eastern European market and I wanted to try it. Forgotten on a shelf, I rediscovered it now.

Since it is a stormy and icy winter day, a heart warming soup sounded great.

Just shake the tetra pack a couple of times and pour it in a pot to heat up. Since I made a pork bone stock today with the leftover bones from my Japanese pork from the weekend, I had some meat left on the bones later. That went in the soup too. Waste not!

The constistency of the soup was a bit runny. The taste had the sourdough touch. To add more to the soup, I made some croutons. That was a great idea and pimped my soup.

Chicken Salad Asian style

For an other recipe I needed some homemade chicken stock. Chicken thighs were in the fridge. 

To eat some of the chicken, I decided to prepare a salad. Since I wanted to use some Mung bean glass noodles, the salad went the Asian way. 

I put 2 large carrots in the soup, just broken in 3 pieces. That helped to keep them in a good condition to be part of the salad later.

A piece of celery and a bay leaf added to the soup to improve the taste.

Recipe for 2:

40 g mung bean noodles

2 chicken thighs cooked and skinned

2 large cooked carrots, 1 celery stalk, 2 spring onions, 1 tomato

2 tbsp sesame seeds, 4 tbsp peanuts

3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 2 tbsp ketchup manis, salt, pepper, 2 tbsp black Chinese vinegar

Japanese Pork - Buta no Kakuni

The preparation needs some planning ahead. The pork has to cook in the liquid for 2,5 hours.

The pork belly needs to be in 5 to 6 cm cubes, off the bone. Use the bone on an other day to cook some stock or soup. Don't throw it out. Save the pork fat too.

With the addition of a soft boiled egg and some greens the dish gets more complete.

Recipe for 3:

1 kg pork belly on the bone

6 cm ginger in slices, 3 garlic cloves, 1 large yellow onion, 2 spring onions, 1 tbsp oil

700 ml water, 2  Dashi powder packages, 3 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 3 1/2 tbsp Mirin, 3 1/2 tbsp Sake, 3 tbsp sugar

Bok choy, soft boiled eggs, mustard, rice

In a wide pan with a little oil start the 6x6 cm cubes  skin side down in  cold pan. Heat it up to medium high and sear the cubes on all sides. That can take up to 15 min. It splatters a lot, take precautions.

Use a large pot and place the pork skin side down in. Add the veggies and the prepared liquid. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook for 2,5 hours.

Cook the eggs. Later blanche the bok choy  and cook the rice. Do not forget to take the mustard out of the fridge.

A story on the end to tell: the picture of the ingredients shows a package of Sushi Rice. Our Discounter LIDL had an Asia Week a short while ago. I bought some stuff and saw the Sushi rice. I was wondering why it was so cheap. Today I opened the package to use some and store the other part of the bag, I looked closer at the rice grain. It did not look like the short grain rice from Japan I usually use. 

It looked different. I checked the packaging and found a very little sign on the back of it. Round grain rice from Italy. That means the rice is good for Rice Pudding! No wonder, many people struggle to make a good Sushi at home using this rice.

After cooking it, the rice was different in texture from the Sushi rice I normally use. But for that rice I pay a lot more money.

 

Potato Dumpling Fingers in Cheese Sauce with Spinach

The dumplings are called Schupfnudeln here in Germany. They are a bit more dense then gnocchi. Either cook them in water or toss them in a pan to get some color.

This easy recipe is good to prepare when you have not much time on your hands. We can get these dumplings ready made from the supermarket. While they brown in the pan, just chop all the veggies and cut up the cheese.

Recipe for 2:

500 g potato dumpling fingers, 3 tbsp clarified butter, nutmeg, salt, pepper

100 g fresh baby spinach, 1 celery stalk, 2 spring onions, 2 cloves of garlic

150 ml milk, 2 tbsp creme fraiche, smoked paprika, salt and pepper

50 g goat cream cheese, 50 g regular cream cheese, 5 slices American cheddar

Prep the dumplings first and set aside. In the same pan toss in the onion, garlic and celery and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3 min.

Add milk and cheeses. When they are melted, season with smoked paprika and add the spinach. When that is mostly done, add the dumplings to heat up again and check the seasoning.

Red Lentil Dhal with Pea Curry

A vegetarian curry with two kinds of peas. Combined with a buttery red lentil dhal.

Istarted my cooking today with peeling the waxy skin off all the chickpeas. Enough time to watch some YT Videos. All other main ingredients just needed a scale for the right amount. This is no One Pot dish. A bit of timing is good to get everything ready at the same time.

Recipe for 2:

Dhal: 3 whole garlic cloves, 90 g red lentils (washed), 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp butter, 400 ml veg stock

Curry: 125 g chickpeas, 150 g defrosted peas, 70 g onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1 green chili, 1/2 tsp red chili flakes, 2 tbsp oil, salt, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp coriander seeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1/4 tsp brown mustard seeds, 1 tsp Madras curry

Basmati rice

Start the lentils first. No need to chop the garlic, just toss it in with the other ingredients in the heated stock. Cook until the curry is done.

Make the paste in a minichopper. Throw in green chili, red flakes, garlic, 1 tbsp oil and all the seasoning. Blend and set aside.

Chop the onion and in a pan with 1 tbsp oil start to soften it. After 3 min add the chickpeas and let them roast. Now in with the paste. It takes a bit to heat up and develop the full flavour. Don't burn it!

Add the stock and the defrosted peas. Cook for 5 min. Check the salt level.

With a slotted spoon get the Dhal out of the pot, discard the garlic. Serve all together with rice or Naan.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is so often eaten as Take Out Food from a Chinese food chain. Many times greasy, tasteless and with dry chicken pieces.

Why not make it yourself? It took me just less then 30 min to cook it. It was done, when my cheap rice cooker clicked to keep the rice warm.

The chicken pieces were soft and tasty, not greasy! The veggies were just a bit cooked, not overdone. The sauce has the right amount of sweet, sour and a little spice.

Recipe for 2:

500 g chicken thighs without the bones, 4 tsp cornstarch, salt and pepper, 100 ml oil for frying

1 red bell pepper, 1 large red onion, 4 garlic cloves, 1 celery stalk, 150 g pineapple chunks, salt and pepper

Sauce:

2-3 tbsp cornstarch, 3 tbsp ketchup, 3 tbsp light soy sauce, 4 tbsp white vinegar, 4 tbsp Muscovado sugar, 50 ml pineapple juice, 8 drops Tabasco

Sesame seeds, rice

Get rid of the chicken skin. Cut up. Season the chunks with salt and pepper and cover with cornstarch. Pour 1/2 cm oil in a wok and heat it up to high (170 C). Drop in the chicken and fry on all sides for 5 min. Take the chicken out.

Discard most of the oil. Chop all veggies and toss them in. Season with salt and pepper. After 5 min, add the pineapple chunks, stir in the sauce and let it thicken. If its too thick, add more juice. Drop in the chicken and stir and reheat. Finish with sesame seeds and eat with rice.

Mushrooms in Cream

You can eat them on toast as a snack.

But I had some potato dumpling dough sitting around from my failed waffle attempt. I rolled the dough in table tennis ball size dumplings and cooked them for 12 min.

They went great with the creamy mushrooms.

When I saute mushrooms, I put them in a little butter and a bit of oil on high heat. I let them sit without stirring them or adding salt. The salt draws out the water too soon and the mushrooms get soggy. 

Just some spring onions and garlic for more taste. The creme fraiche is enough to create a little sauce.

Ham and Cheese filled Potato Dumpling Dough

This is a dish that has not gone as planned. I wanted to bake the potato dough in my waffle iron.

But too much dough and not enough heat let the experiment fail. There is phrase here in Germany saying: Diese Köche sind beschissen, die sich nicht zu helfen wissen. (These Chefs are shit, when they are not able to clear their mess).

The dough started to drip out of the waffle iron and the cheese went too. I pulled all the stuff out in a pan. Not to waste the food.

After 6 min on each side, the ham and cheese pancake was done. And it tasted great, only the look was not so nice. 

Salmon with Leek and Celery Pasta

The salmon tail looked so good at the fishmonger. I had to buy it. An other Sushi Bake? But too much Noori or Wakame in a short period of days is not good.

Leek and celery are tasty and good to combine with salmon. Pappardelle are going great with a dish like this.

I wanted some more taste on my salmon. Instead of just poaching it in the sauce, I choose a quick run through a pan on high heat. Just enough to get some searing on the outside and an easier way to get the skin off. Then cut in to cubes and added to the sauce to finish the cooking. Do not overcook your salmon!

Ingredients for 2:

120 g Pappardelle, salt

280 g salmon, salt and pepper, 1 tsp oil

1 leek (mostly the white part), 2 celery stalks, 2 spring onion, 3 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp oil

120 g sour cream, 40 ml Noilly Prat, pasta water, thyme, 2 tsp mustard

While the seasoned salmon takes it tour through the pan, start the pasta.

Take the fish out, peel off the skin and set aside. In the same pan in more oil cook all veggies together. Season. Add some pasta water to steam.

Now in with the sour cream and Noilly Prat. Add more water to dissolve the cream. Now add the broken up salmon. Get the pasta directly from the pot in the pan. Stir well and serve.

Rice Vermicelli Salad with Ssamjang

This salad was eaten with small sausage balls. 

I was cleaning out a pantry and found a package of Rice Vermicelli. Had only used up one piece of it. Now I needed an idea.

The other ingredient to use this week was a box of fresh raw sausages, aka Bratwurst. Sausage and rice noodles???

Pulling out the veggie drawer of my fridge, I took out some small carrots, one red bell pepper and lots of spring onions.

Now I needed a sauce for the noodles or a dressing for  salad. I was still not sure what to cook. Then I took out the box of Ssamjang. Now the coast was clear. Veggie salad with Ssamjang, rice noodles and Bratwurst on the side. But still the sausage part was not solved. I decided to take them out of their casing and fry them as chunks in a pan. Good idea.

Ingredients for 2:

400 g raw sausage like salsiccia

2 blocks of rice vermicelli noodles

4 small carrots, 1 red bell pepper, 3 spring onions

2 tsp minced garlic, 2 tbsp Ssamjang, 2 tsp oyster sauce, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp agave syrup, pepper, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 lime

Place the vermicelli in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let then sit for 8 to 10 min, drain.

Cut up the veggies in different styles. The carrots with a speed peeler in strips, the pepper in battonettes, the onion in small rings.

Mix them with the sauce and the noodles. Fry the bratwurst and serve with the salad.