Tag: appetizer
Vietnamese Fried Butter Quail
Fried Butter Quail
Fried quail are a very popular Vietnamese street food. Here in the states, they are served in fancy restaurants. You can find quail at Asian markets in the rozen aisle in pack of 6. They usually cost about $10 a pack. This recipe is fairly simple. Cut the quails in half, marinate, and fry. Since they are small, the quail take less than 10 minutes in total to cook.After they are done frying, brush them with melted butter. The dipping sauce that goes with the quail is pretty much a lemon pepper sauce. The acidity of the dipping sauce helps cut through the richness of the quail.
Ingredients
- 6 whole quail cut in half
- oil for frying
- 2 tbsp melted butter
Quail Marinade
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
- 2 tsp cooking wine
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 3 garlc cloves minced
- 1 shallot minced
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1/2 tsp corriander
Instructions
- Mix a of the marinade ingredients together. Set aside.
- Cut the quail in half like so.
- Marinate the quail for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
- When ready to cook, heat up a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the quail in batched to the pan, frying for 4-5 minutes skin side down.
- Flip the quail over and cook for another 4 minutes.
- Put on a plate. Brush each quail with melted butter.
- Mix all of the dipping sauce ingredients together and serve with the buttered quail.
Pork and Bean Empanadas
Pork and Bean Empanadas
There are many different variations of empanadas in many cultures. This recipe is of Mexican variety, stuffed with ground pork, red beans, and queso fresco. The dough is made out of masa harina flour and water. Simple enough. The easiest way to assemble the empanadas is with a tortilla press. When using a tortilla press, I recommend cutting a gallon sized ziplock bag in 2 pieces to keep the dough from sticking. You also will use the bottom ziplock bag to fold over the empanada and crimp. If you don’t have a tortilla press, roll the dough in between the ziplock bags with a rolling pin to no more than 1/8″ thick. If you don’t have a rolling pin, you’re fucked. There are endless options to what you can fill an empanada with. Cheese, beans, chorizo and potatoes, chicken tinga; what ever sounds good to you.
Servings: 8 empanadas
Ingredients
Empanada Filling
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1 cup cooked beans pinto, red, or black
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 green onion chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup crumbled queso fresco
Empanada Dough
- 2 1/2 cups masa harina
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- vegetable or canola oil for frying
Instructions
Empanada Filling
- In a large saute pan over medium high heat, brown the ground pork, onions, and garlic until cooked through.
- Add in the beans, green onion, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.
- Transfer the filling to a bowl. Let cool. Stir in the queso fresco. Set aside.
Empanada Dough and assembly
- Mix together the masa harina flour, warm water, and salt. Form into a dough.
- Place a cut apart gallon sized ziplock bag over your tortilla press.
- Place a small dough ball, a little smaller than a golf ball, in the center of the press, with the other side of the ziplock bag over the top.
- Press until the dough is about 1/8″ thick.
- Remove the top ziplock bag. Place a heaping tbsp of the filling in the center of the top half portion of the pressed dough.
- Fold the bottom half of the bag over the empanada, crimping it while it’s underneath the ziplock bag.
- I like to take the edges of the empanada and curl them in a little more.
- I then take a fork and crimp the edges once more.
- You should yield about 8 of these.
- In a medium sized skillet over medium high heat, add enough oil so that it will cover the empanadas half way. Once hot, add in 2 empanadas.
- Cook for 4-5 minutes a side, until golden brown. Cook these in batches. Drain on paper towel.
- erve empanadas over finely shredded cabbage. Top with sour cream and hot sauce.
Zucchini Pancake
Zucchini Pancake
My love for Korean savory pancakes is never-ending. So far I’ve made green onion, seafood scallion, kimchi, and chive flower pancakes. This zucchini pancake is very simple to make and is so satisfying. The sliced red chilies in the batter give this pancake a little kick. The most important thing about this pancake is to get out as much liquid form the grated zucchini as possible. Zucchini holds a lot of water. If the zucchini was grated and just added to the batter without getting rid of the excess moisture, the batter would be very runny and the pancake wouldn’t get crispy right. After I let the salted zucchini sit for 10 minutes, I squeezed the zucchini into a ball and drained the zucchini water into another bowl. Use this liquid later to thin out the batter when mixing the pancake flour and egg together.
Servings: 1
Ingredients
Korean Pancake Flour
- 1/2 cup minus 2 tbsp wheat flour
- 1 tbsp sweet rice flour
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1/4 tsp salt
Zucchini Pancake Batter
- 1/2 cup korean pancake flour
- 8 oz grated zucchini
- 1/4 medium onion sliced
- 2 red thai chilies thinly sliced
- 1 large beaten egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2-3 tbsp squeezed zucchini water
- 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
Dipping Sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp gochugaru pepper flakes
Instructions
Korean Pancake Flour
- Mix all pancake flour ingredients together.
Zucchini Pancake Batter
- Grate the zucchini into a bowl. Lightly salt the zucchini to draw out moisture. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Squeeze out as much moisture as you can from the zucchini into a separate bowl. Save the water and set aside.
- Mix the korean pancake flour with 1 beaten egg. The batter will be a little stiff. Add 2-3 tbsp of the saved zucchini water. Add in the zucchini, onion, Thai chilies.
- Heat up the cooking oil on a griddle over medium high heat. Portion out the batter into 4 equal pancakes. Cook for 4 minutes.
- Flip. Cook the pancakes for another 4 minutes.
- Serve with dipping sauce.
