Thai Sweet Rice with Mango

This delicious Thai dessert will satisfy both your tummy and your taste buds!

Ingredients

1 cup sticky rice
1 3/4 cups water
pinch of salt
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon stevia (or 1 tablespoon sugar)
1 ripe mango, refrigerated*

*I like to use the smaller yellow mangoes for their smoother texture and sweet flavor, although any ripe mango will do.

Soak the rice in the water for at least 30 minutes in a rice cooker. Add a pinch of salt and 1/4 cup coconut milk, and turn the rice cooker on.

After the rice cooker stops, taste the rice. If it is not soft and chewy, add a little more water and turn it on again.

Once the rice is finished cooking, allow it to sit on the "warm" setting while you prepare the sweet coconut milk and the mango. Mix the stevia in with the coconut milk and stir over medium-low heat until warm. (Do not boil it.)

Dish the rice and pour sweet milk over it. Slice up the mango and lay it on top. Serve warm with chilled mango and enjoy!

Honey Soy Salmon

Ingredients
(for 2 servings)

2 salmon filets, about 6 ounces each
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon grated ginger (or ginger powder)
Sprinkle of sesame seeds
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Mix together the soy sauce, honey, lime juice, and ginger in a shallow dish.  Dip the salmon filets into the mixture and place them in a coated baking dish.  Pour a little more of the sauce on top of each filet, leaving a little for later.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Broil salmon for 6-8 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn't burn.  During cooking, add the rest of the sauce directly onto the filets a little at a time.*

After it's cooked, top with chopped cilantro and enjoy.

*Alternatively, you can also fry the fish with a little oil in a pan instead of broiling it.

Thai Pumpkin Peanut Butter Soup

I experimented with this soup, mixing different recipes until I got this--a nice blend of creamy, sweet, and spiced.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil
½ an onion, sliced and chopped thinly
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
14 ounces pumpkin puree
2 cups water
1½ cups coconut milk
¹/₃ cup creamy peanut butter
1½ tablespoons grated lemon rind
salt and pepper to taste
a few pieces of fresh cilantro
optional: chili flakes or chili sauce to taste

Heat the oil and cook the onion in it with the brown sugar and garlic until transparent and soft.

Add the pumpkin, water, coconut milk, peanut butter, and lemon rind.  Stir and cook until all ingredients are mixed and soup is creamy and warm.  Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as chili flakes or sauce if you want it spicy.

Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

Tomato and Eggs with Soy Sauce

This is a simple and yummy dish, perfect for those days when you don't have much else in your refrigerator but don't feel like leaving the house.

Ingredients
(for 2-3 servings)

5 eggs
olive oil
2 large tomatoes (or 3 roma tomatoes)
½ cup water, plus more as needed
2 cloves garlic, minced
dash of sugar
1 tablespoon flour
soy sauce

Using a small dab of oil, scramble the eggs in a frying pan, and then set them aside in a bowl.

Slice the tomatoes into thin wedges. Heat up about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the same pan and fry the tomatoes over medium heat. After a minute, add half a cup of water and minced garlic. Sprinkle a dash of sugar over it as well.

While the tomatoes are cooking, mix soy sauce into a tablespoon of flour until it makes a brown paste, similar to the consistency of pancake batter.

When the tomatoes are soft and cooked, add the flour-soy sauce batter and the scrambled eggs, mixing well.  It should be somewhat wet, so add more water as necessary.  Simmer for a couple minutes, then serve with steamed white rice.

Chow Fun Noodles with Bok Choy

Ingredients

8 oz. dry wide rice noodles (chow fun)
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 onions
4 garlic cloves
1 lb. bok choy--the smaller, the better
4 tablespoons Sa Cha sauce (I use Lee Kum Kee brand)
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt to taste
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Dash of chili pepper
Splash of rice vinegar
(optional: ½ cup chopped roasted peanuts)

Cook the chow fun noodles in boiling water for 4-5 minutes, or until soft.  Drain them and set them aside in the strainer.

Cut the onion into strips and slice the garlic thinly.  Saute in the oil over medium-high heat until the onions are yellowish and glassy.  If your bok choy is large, cut it into edible pieces.  Toss it into the pan with the onions and garlic.

After a couple minutes, add the noodles.  Make sure it's not clumped together; if it is, run a little water over it and separate it with your hands before adding it to the pan.

Add the Sa Cha sauce, sugar, and a little salt. Stir it up and mix the ingedients together well.

After you put it in serving dishes, sprinkle fresh chopped cilantro and a dash of chili pepper over the top.  Drizzle a few drops of rice vinegar over it too.  If you'd like, top it off with chopped peanuts.

Sweet Red Bean Soup

This sweet & yummy Chinese soup is very easy to make, if you have a few hours to hang around and watch over it.  It makes a nice last touch to a meal as a dessert soup, but you can also cut some or all of the sugar and enjoy it as a main course.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups small red beans
• 20-25 cups water (5-6 quarts)
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup dry tapioca

Boil the beans for two and a half hours, stirring occasionally. (Start with about half of the water and add cups periodically as it starts to boil out.) While the beans are cooking, soak the tapioca in a small bowl of water.  

After two and a half hours, add the tapioca and sugar, stirring constantly.  When the tapioca is transparent and the beans are soft, it's ready.  Enjoy your sweet red bean soup!