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Tsukune
Tsukune
Tsukune are little chicken meatballs sautéed then finished in a sweet and savory sauce. These are sometimes grilled on skewers and served as an appetizer like yakitori. These are really easy to make and require very little prep and cooking time. If you can’t find potato starch, breadcrumbs are an acceptable substitute.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb ground chicken thigh
- 1/4 cup sautéed onion cooked to golden brown
- 1 large egg beaten
- 2 tsp ginger minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp potato starch
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp rice cooking wine
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp potato starch
Garnish
- green onion finely chopped
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine ground chicken, egg, onion, ginger, salt, and potato starch.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Using a cookie dropper, drop scoops of the meatball mix into the oil. Make sure to not overcrowd. You might have to cook these in 2 batches. I yielded 20 meatballs out of this recipe.
- Cook the meatballs for 4-5 minutes a side. Take out of the pan and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together all of the sauce ingredients.
- In the same sauté pan, add the sauce over medium heat. Cook for 1 minute. Add in the meatballs.
- Cook for no more than 2 minutes, tossing the meatballs, making sure that they are evenly coated in the sauce.
- Serve over steamed rice. Garnish with green onions.
Sweet Corn Tamales
Sweet Corn Tamales
There are many different types of tamales. Most people are used to seeing either pork or chicken tamales served with either a green or red sauce. These sweet corn tamales are considered a dessert tamale. They are still served with sour cream and some hot sauce. There are many extra ingredients that you can add to the dough if you’re looking for more than just sweet corn. Egg yolks, cinnamon, cream, and cheese would be great additions to the dough.Assembling the tamales is pretty simple. Place dough in the center of the husk. Fold over right, bottom, left, then roll up. Easy enough. While not necessary, I like to roll them up again in another husk. When steaming the tamales, make sure to line the bottom of the steamer basket with extra husks and that no water is touching the tamales. You only need 1” of water in the bottom of your pot. These will take 75 minutes to steam. When finished, let sit for 15-20 minutes before you serve them. They will need a little time to settle and firm up. Serve the tamales with sour cream and a hot sauce of your liking.These can be made with fresh sweet corn and husks. It takes about 5 ears of corn to yield 6 cups of kernels. Make sure to thoroughly clean the fresh husks of any silt. You will want to layer up the corn husks will fresh ones. Other than that, they assemble and cook the same way.
Equipment
- food processor
- steamer
Ingredients
- 6 cups sweet corn
- 1 1/2 cups masa flour
- 1 1/2 cups butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Pour over the corn husks, making sure that they are completely submerged. Weigh them down with the pot you boiled the water in. Let soak for 40 minutes. While the husks are soaking, you can start to prepare the dough.
- In a food processor, lightly pulse the corn until it is coarsly chopped, but not puréed.
- Mix the corn together with the masa flour.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, and salt.
- Add the butter mixture to the corn mixture. Mix thoroughly. Add in the baking powder and mix.
- When the husks are ready to use, pick out the biggest ones. Depending on how big you want your tamales, use either 1/3 cup of the dough for smaller tamales or 1/2 cup of dough for larger tamales. I made larger ones, obviously. Place the dough in the center of the husk like so, forming into a cylindrical shape. Fold over the right side first; then the bottom upwards; then the left side over; then roll. At this point they are ready. I like to personally roll them up again in another husk.
- If making large tamales like I did, the dough recipe will yield a dozen. If making smaller ones, you will yield 16-20 tamales.
- Line the bottom of a steamer pot basket with some of the smaller corn husks that you didn’t roll up. Place the tamales in the steamer standing upright. If the pot isn’t ham packed, fill the gaps with the remaining husks. Cover the top of the tamales with more husks.
- Add no more than an inch of water to the bottom of the steamer pot. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium. Place the steamer pot basket in the pot, covered with a lid. Steam for 75 minutes.
- Let sit for 15-20 minutes before serving. They will firm up quite a bit.
- I like to serve these with a little sour cream and a couple drizzles of hot sauce.
Mustard Green Soup with Pork Riblets
Mustard Green Soup with Pork Riblets
This Vietnamese soup is very simple to make and is versatile with protein. I used pork riblets that I saved in the freezer from all of the rib recipes that I make. You can also use a chicken carcass, beef short ribs, sirloin, ground pork, or shrimp.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork riblets
- 2 tsp pork stock powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 quarts water
- 1 tbsp pork stock powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 bunch mustard greens
- 8 oz shiitake or portobello mushrooms sliced
- fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Par boil the pork riblets for 5 minutes. This will help remove any impurities.
- Strain the riblets in a colander and wash in cold water. Marinate with 2 tsp pork stock powder and sugar for 30 minutes.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large stockpot over medium high heat. Add in onions and garlic, cooking for just a minute.
- Add in the riblets. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil. Season with pork stock powder and sugar. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 40 minutes. Skim off any scum that floats to the top.
- Add in mustard greens and mushrooms. Cook for 1o more minutes.
- Finish with fresh cracked black pepper. Serve with steamed rice.
