Tag: pork
Watercress Wonton Soup
Watercress Wonton Soup
Watercress is one of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens out there. It is a popular ingredient in many dumpling and wonton recipes, where watercress is dominant, not the meat in the filling. The watercress wontons in this soup are so unbelievably flavorful, you’ll will want to make this a part of your standard diet.
Ingredients
Watercress Wontons
- 8 oz watercress washed; chopped in a food processor
- 6 oz ground pork
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- wonton wrappers
Soup Stock
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- chili oil optional
Instructions
- Mix together all of the filling ingredients.
- Place a tsp of the filling in the bottom center of a square wonton wrapper. Fold the bottom up half way.
- Squeeze out any air and fold up the wonton like so.
- Take each of the sides and fold underneath to the center, pinching together to seal.
- Use up all of the filling until it is used up. I yielded 45 wontons. Anything that you don’t intend to immediately use, freeze in a single layer on a sheet pan, then store in a freezer bag.
- Place the wontons in a steamer. Steam for 5-6 minutes.
- Place 8 steamed wontons in the bottom of a soup bowl.
- In a small pot, bring all of the soup stock ingredients to a boil.
Kow Piek Sen (Chicken Soup with Pork Meatballs, Quail Eggs, and Rice Macaroni)
Kow Piek Sen (Chicken Soup with Pork Meatballs, Quail Eggs, and Rice Macaroni)
Kow piek sen is a great example of Laotian comfort food. This is more than just a chicken soup, my friends. Inside of the large pot I made contains pork meatballs, quail eggs, and rice macaroni with a ton of green onions and cilantro; and a ton of chicken. The soup is garnished with more green onions and cilantro, plus fried garlic. I kinda wish I made a double batch.There are a few approaches you can take when making this soup. You can use either a whole chicken or chicken pieces. I had a few bone-in chicken breasts and backs in my freezer. Do not use boneless chicken. The bones in the chicken are creating the stock. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove from the pot and pull off the meat. Place the rest of the ingredients into the pot along with the chicken. The pork meatballs are specifically Asian style. You can find them in the freezer section of every Asian market.You can find rice macaroni at just about every grocery grocery store nowadays. If you are feeding a group of people and not planning to have leftovers, you can place the dry macaroni into the pot once the chicken has been removed. Cook the macaroni until it is tender before adding the rest of the ingredients in. If you are like me and planning to have leftovers for a couple of meals, prepare the macaroni separately. Place the macaroni in the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup over. If you don’t do this and leave the macaroni in the pot of soup for leftovers, they become mush and will ruin the soup.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 3 lbs whole chicken or chicken pieces
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 stalk lemongrass smashed; tied in a knot
- 10 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 12 oz pork meatball sliced in half
- 1 can quail eggs
- 4 green onions
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
- 2 tsp chili oil
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 cups dry rice macaroni prepared according to package directions
Garnish
- green onions chopped
- cilantro chopped
- fried garlic
Instructions
- Place the chicken, onions, lemongrass, and salt in a pot with 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked completely through.
- Remove the lemongrass and chicken from the pot. Let the chicken cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones and chop.
- Place the chopped chicken into the pot along with the pork meatballs, quail eggs, green onion, cilantro, fish sauce, soy sauce, chili oil, and sugar. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Season with salt to taste.
Assembly
- Place 3/4 cup of the cooked rice macaroni in the bottom of a large soup bowl.
- Ladle the soup over the rice macaroni. Garnish with green onions, cilantro, and fried garlic.
Green Chorizo
Green Chorizo
I never heard of green chorizo until very recently. I was shopping at my favorite Latin market, El Burrito Mercado, in their meat department. I stumbled across packages of green chorizo that they make in house. Sure, why not. Let’s try it. So I bought a few links and cooked them up at home. To quote the great Ric Flair, “Wooooo!” They were unbelievably flavorful and spicier than I expected. A lot more spicy than any red chorizo I’ve had. So, being a sausage maker, I had to learn how to make them.Green chorizo gets it’s color from all of the green ingredients: roasted poblanos, serranos, cilantro, parsley, and green onions. All of these ingredients get chopped in a food processor until a chunky green paste is formed. The paste is then mixed into ground pork. And just like that, you have bulk green chorizo. If you want the sausage stuffed into casings, you will need a sausage stuffer. The green chorizo is great with eggs and even better in tacos.
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 5 lbs ground pork
- 4 poblano peppers
- 4 serrano peppers
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 bunch green onions
- 1 head garlic peeled and minced
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp Mexican oregano
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar vinegar
- pork casings for making links
Instructions
Bulk Green Chorizo
- Turn on your oven’s broiler. Place the poblano peppers on a rack on a baking sheet.
- Broil for 6 minutes a side until the pepper is charred.
- Place the peppers in a bowl with a cover for 10 minutes. This will sweat the skins off of the poblanos.
- Place all of the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are turned into a chunky paste.
- Pour the green mix over the ground pork.
- Mix thoroughly.
Green Chorizo Links
- Pipe the green chorizo through your sausage stuffer. Use pork casings for regular sized links and lamb casings for breakfast sized links. Twist to 6” long.
- Let the links sit for 2 hours before cutting.
Green Chorizo Tacos
- Place the bulk chorizo in a skillet over medium high heat.
- Brown for 8 minutes.
- Serve on corn tortillas. Top with onions, cilantro, and your favorite salsa.
