Luang Prabang Pork and Eggplant Curry

This is one of my favorite Lao dishes to make. It is easy and does not take a lot of time. As some of the ingredients may be difficult to find, I will make some guess recommendations.

This is adapted from from Honeybees to Pepperwood, Creative Lao Cooking with Friends, by friends international

300 g fatty pork cut into cubes

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce
Black pepper

    1.  Marinate the pork in the oil, soy sauce and pepper for at least 30 minutes.

3 tablespoons preserved river fish eggs- I do NOT use this

6 garlic cloves, bruised  (I just slice the garlic into thin strips)

500 ml pork stock (I use whatever stock I have made recently)

6 shallots, cut into quarters

5 chilies halved lengthwise -I get rid of the seeds, too hot

50 g pea eggplant

50 g small apple eggplant  (this eggplant is similar to Japanese or the regular stuff, but it stays “fresher”, it doesn’t get soft. Same with the pea sized eggplant. I think you could use regular eggplant or even fresh squash/zucchini.).

4 snake beans, cut into 2 cm pieces

80 g boiled pork skin, cut into 1 cm strips (If I have bacon, I fry it with the garlic, otherwise I skip this one).

150 ml coconut cream

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

handful of Thai basil leaves

½ teaspoon sugar

2 young lemongrass stalks, bruised and cut into 6 pieces(I just whack it on the counter to bruise it? You do not have to eat the lemongrass when finished but it is IMPORTANT to the flavor of the dish!)

2.      Heat the oil in a medium sized pot and add the garlic and fry until fragrant. Add the fish eggs and fry for a minute, then add the pork stock and bring to a boil.

3.   Once the stock boils add the lemongrass, pork, shallots and pork skin. Simmer about 10 minutes until the meat is tender.

4.      Add the eggplants, beans, sugar and chilies and simmer for another 3 minutes. Add the coconut cream and basil and simmer until the curry becomes thick and creamy.

Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies

From Colorado Cache Cookbook, Junior League of Denver, 1984

3 eggs, well beaten

1 cup of raisins                                                 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract                           Combine eggs, raisins and vanilla, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for an hour.

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar                                          

1 cup white sugar

Cream together butter and sugars.

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon                    

2 teaspoons baking soda

Add these ingredients and mix well. Blend in egg-raisin mixture.              

2 cups oatmeal                                                 

¾ cup chopped pecans

Blend in with spatula, dough will be stiff.

Dough will be stiff. Drop by heaping teaspoons into an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 180 C or 350 F for 10 – 12 minutes until lightly browned.

Deep Chocolate Brownies

From Gourmet June 2008

2 sticks ( ½ pound or 8 ounces or 228 grams)

8 ounces (or 228 grams or about 1 cup) bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao)

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 eggs

2/3 cups flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F, or 180 C. Put oven rack in middle. Butter and flour a 13 by 9 inch baking pan.

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat stirring until smooth.  Cool to lukewarm. Whisk in the sugar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until the mixture Is smooth and glossy.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk into the chocolate mixture until just combined.

Spread in pan and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out with crumbs, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool completely.

Lemongrass Shrimp Noodle Salad

Sauce for the salad (Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce):

1 clove garlic, minced

1 serrano chili, minced

½ tsp ground chili paste

2/3 cup hot water

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup fish sauce

2 tbs fresh lime juice

Pound the garlic and fresh chilies into a paste. In a small bowl combine garlic mixture, chili paste, hot water and sugar, stir well. Add the fish sauce and lime juice. Let sit for at least 15 minutes.

Noodles:

8 ounces (225 grams) dried rice vermicelli noodles

Cook noodles in boiling water, 3 to 5 minutes. Rinse until cooled in cool water.

The Shrimp:

2 tbls vegetable oil

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pound (450 grams) large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tbs minced fresh lemongrass

2 cups sliced white mushrooms

2 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

Salt

Stir fry shallots and garlic in the oil for about 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and lemongrass and stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, fish sauce and sugar and cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes.

Garnishes:

2 cups lettuce

2 cups bean sprouts

1 ½ cups peeled, seeded, julienned cucumber

1/3 to 1/2 cup rough chopped mint

 1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves

2 tbs chopped peanuts

Cilantro

In individual bowls put the garnishes, some noodle, shrimp mixture and sauce.

Gnocchi, by Kelani

Taken and adapted from food network by Mario Batali

Ingredients

3 pounds potatoes

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 egg, extra large

1 pinch salt

½ cup canola oil* (we did not do this part, we had so much we dusted them with flour and froze the extra before cooking)

Directions:

Boil the whole potatoes until they are soft (about 45 minutes). While still warm, peel and grate into large bowl.

Set 6 quarts of water to boil in a large spaghetti pot, set up ice bath with 6 cups ice and 6 cups water near boiling water.

Make well in center of potatoes and sprinkle over with flour, using all the flour. Place egg and salt in center of well and using a fork, stir into flour and potatoes. 

Once egg is mixed in, bring dough together, kneading gently until a ball is formed. Knead gently another 4 minutes until ball is dry to touch.

Roll baseball-sized ball of dough into ¾-inch diameter dowels and cut dowels into 1-inch long pieces. Flick pieces off of fork until dowel is finished.

Drop these pieces into boiling water and cook until they float (about 1 minute). Continue with remaining dough, forming dowels, cutting into 1-inch pieces flicking off of fork. As gnocchi float to top of boiling water, remove them to ice bath. 

Continue until all have been cooled off. Let sit several minutes in bath and drain from ice and water. 

Toss with ½ cup canola oil* and store covered in refrigerator up to 48 hours until ready to serve.

We used a tomato based Carbonara sauce on our gnocchi.

Zucchini Chips

2- Zucchini cleaned and thinly sliced

1 ½ to 2 – tablespoons olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Paprika (I used Turkish kebab spice instead of pepper and paprika)

Preheat oven to 350F (170 C). Mix the zucchini with the olive oil and stir until well coated. Add the spices. Place apart on cookie sheets. Bake about 40-45 minutes until crisp. Enjoy.

Carrot Cake

From Colorado Cache, 1978

I do not have a picture of carrot cake, yet

1 ½ cups vegetable oil

1 ½ cups sugar

4 eggs, well beaten

3 cups grated carrots

2 cups unbleached flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 F, 160 C.  Grease and sugar a 10 by 14 inch pan.

Cream oil and sugar. Add eggs and carrots and mix well. Mix dry ingredients. Add flour mixture to carrot mixture, a small amount at a time, beating well. When blended add the pecans, raisins and vanilla. Pour into the pan and bake for about an hour. Cool a little before frosting.

Frosting:

½ cup butter, melted

1 8-ounce package cream cheese (I use 200 grams Labne)

2 cups sifted powdered sugar (icing sugar)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine melted butter and cheese with sugar and beat well. Add vanilla and spread on the cooled cake.