Shrimp and Cucumber Salad

Yet another addition to my Chinese cooking book. I know shrimp are an endangered item, but my son just loves this combo.


Shrimp and Cucumber Salad

1 large cucumber cut in half lengthwise& sliced very thinly.
½ lb. shrimp
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 rib celery
Small bunch of Vermicelli

Sprinkle shrimp with salt. Remove the shell. In a med. Saucepan, bring 3 cups water to boil. Boil shrimp for 1 min. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking process. Or use cooked shrimp. Slice cucumbers and place in bowl, sprinkle with salt and set aside for 10 min. Chop rib of celery. Bring larger saucepan filled ¾ full with water to boil. Boil vermicelli for 5 min. Drain, and rinse.

While Vermicelli is cooking. Squeeze water from cucumbers, drain away. Combine Shrimp, cucumbers, celery and drained and rinsed Vermicelli toss with dressing.

In separate bowl combine 1 tsp. salt, vinegar, sugar, lemon juice. This will be the dressing for the cucumbers, shrimp and vermicelli.
* I have successfully substituted chicken for the shrimp. Of course I cut it up into bite size pieces, and stir fried it.
Serves 4.

Yet another delicious recipe

My sister makes this salad, and I had to add it to my book, I hope you enjoy it.


Mandarin Salad

2 heads Romain lettuce hearts
3/4 - 1 cup pecan halves toasted
2 oranges - peeled and sliced OR 1 can mandarin oranges (drained)
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 small red onion chopped
1 tsp dry mustard
2 Tbsp. water


Mix the vinegar, oil, sugar, salt, mustard and water. It will become syrupy. Let it stand
Arrange your lettuce with the sliced red onion.
Toast the pecans in the toaster oven..... I do not bake them.... I just put them on the TOAST cycle for about 4 min. Watch them carefully, so they do not burn.... you will need to stand and watch them as they are toasting..... The toasting improves the flavour of the pecans.

Toss your salad with the dressing..... add the mandarins and pecans and lightly toss again. You may want to add more mandarins if desired.

Chicken, chicken and more chicken

My son loves chicken,...and mashed potatoes. But, I'm so sick of cooking it the same boring way, I thought I would expand my horizons. Tuesdays, I visit my mother and I'm usually pretty exhausted, but I still get home and cook supper. STUPID eh! Anyway last night I made this Kraft Kitchen recipe. I was so tired I forgot the cheese, but it was very good anyway.
Cheesy BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Prep time:
10 min
Total Time:
25 min
Makes:
4
What You Need
1 onion, thinly sliced, separated into rings
4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (1 lb./450 g)
1/4 cup KRAFT Original BarBQ Sauce
3/4 cup shredded CRACKER BARREL Cheddar Cheese Light - Made with 2% Milk
4 whole wheat sandwich rolls (6 inch), partially split
Make It

HEAT large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add onions; cover. Cook 2 min.; stir onions, then push to edge of skillet. Add chicken; cook 4 min. Turn chicken over; top with barbecue sauce. Cook, covered, on medium-low 6 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF). Stir onions.

SPRINKLE chicken with cheese; cook, covered, 1 min. or until cheese is melted.

FILL rolls with chicken and onions.

Our Piano book

Our workshop creating a Piano Book was GREAT. But I think I will go out and purchase some chopsticks to use in the one to hold my chinese cooking recipes. It's very interesting as you'll see. The weather is good today so I may just make it to the China Town store.

Basic Fried Rice

This is the original recipe for fried rice I have from the cooking class. Remember this was in the 70s so salt, fat and carbs were not in the forefront of our dietary awareness. Cook to desired doneness. I like my mushrooms thoroughly cooked and my shrimp not too chopped. I also add celery. I also use brown rice, or a mixture of rices. Alter as you like.

Basic Fried Rice

1 c. long grain rice ½ lb. barbecue pork, shredded.(I purchase this at our local Asian Grocery, otherwise watch for recipe on how to make your own.
2 eggs ½ lb. shrimp cooked
½ tsp. soy sauce ½ c. chopped onions *
½ tsp. salt 1 c. bean sprout
1 tbsp. oil 1 chopped green onions

Boil or steam rice as you like. Loosen up rice and let it cool. Beat eggs with a pinch of salt. Cook in fry pan as a thin omelette. When cool, chop up egg and set aside. Add 1 tsp. oil and 1 tsp. salt to a fry pan/wok and fry shrimp. Set aside. Stir fry onions* in a hot wok, for a short time add bean sprouts continue stirring for about 2 min. or until heated through, add cooked rice, shrimps, barbeque pork, . When all is heated thoroughly, add egg, soy sauce, salt if desired, green onions. Toss to mix and serve when heated through.

* The originally recipe calls for a Spanish onion, I have over the years mixed this up to a Vidallia, or a red onion, they change the taste ever so slightly. I fry the onions only enough to get the bitterness out before adding the remainder of the ingredients. You can also add mushrooms, and green peas (canned or frozen), canned peas can be drained and added just before serving, frozen peas should be added in the early stages after the onion. The mushrooms should be added before the onion as they will require a little more cooking time, stir fry these at a high temp., my preference is to have them thoroughly cooked so when the water is gone, continue recipe.

Won Ton Soup

Won Ton Soup

½ lb. won ton skins
4oz. minced pork
4 oz. minced shrimp
1 tsp. memi
2 tbsp. white wine
Pinch salt and pepper
3 ½ c. pork stock
1 egg

Add to soup
¼ lb. snow peas
1 doz. Sliced water chestnuts
2 leaves Buk Tuey (chopped)
2 green onions ( chopped)
½ tsp. memi

Mix the pork, shrimp, salt, pepper and white wine. Put ½ tsp. of the filling in the centre of each skin. Fold over and dampen one side with egg and pinch together. Cook the won ton very gently in boiling salted water for 15 minutes. Then drain and put into individual bowls.

Bring pork stock to a boil, add the snow peas, water chestnuts and buk tuey, green onions and memmi. Pour over the won tons and serve.


Notes
I don’t care for water chestnuts so I leave them out, and I use my own stock, not usually pork. I also like my snow peas cooked a little more, still crisp but cooked so I delay adding the buk tuey and green onions and memmi for about 7 minutes while I heat thoroughly the soup. Buk Tuey is a leafy herb available at Chinese grocery stores, or I have used parsley instead. Memmi is a milder soy sauce, which you can use instead if you can’t find memmi.

Piano Hinge book

In our monthly book binding group we will be doing a Piano Hinged book! It's very cool. I thought it reminded me of the Orient, so I've decided to capture my favourite Chinese food recipes. My sister Donna took a Chinese food cooking class and these are our favourites as well as, some of the ones I've developed over the years, what with pregnancy cravings and all. They will be in no particular order until they get put into the book. It's a small book, not too much room required on the book shelf.

Sweet-and sour chicken with cucumbers and cantaloupe

4 skinless,boneless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 ½ tbsp. Soy sauce
1 tbsp. dry sherry
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. veg. oil
1 peeled cucumber, cut into bite-size cubes
¼ to ½ cantaloupe, seeded, peeled, and cut into bite size pieces
1 sweet red pepper, cubed
1 ounces blanched, whole almonds


Sauce
3 tbsp. brown sugar
3 tbsp. vinegar
½ c. pineapple juice*
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. cornstarch in 2 tbsp. cold water

Marinate chicken cubes in the combined soy sauce, dry sherry, and cornstarch while remaining ingredients are being prepared. Heat oil in the wok., stir-fry chicken mixture for 3-4 min. Add the cucumber, cantaloupe, and red pepper. Combine the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce and add these to wok. Stir gently and heat until the sauce boils and the cucumber and melon are heated through. Serve at once garnished with almonds.

*I’ve successfully substituted apple, or orange juice for the pineapple juice in the sauce. I don't always have pineapple juice hanging around, but most of the other ingredients are not too far out.

Yes we have some banana's today...

Just as I feel a song coming on, I realized that since I have not been eating or serving food much this weekend my family, who can't even peel a banana, have let them ripen, so I guess it will be Banana Bread Time.

Banana Bread

½ c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
Dissolve in 4 tsp. boiling water
3 bananas mashed
2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch salt
1tsp. vanilla
1 c. nuts
Cream butter and sugar add eggs. Dissolve soda & mix with mashed bananas. Sift & mix together dry ingredients add alternately to butter mixture with banana mixture. Add vanilla and nuts.

Bake in a greased loaf or bundt pan for 35-40 min at 350 degrees F.

My personal preference in banana bread is large hunks of chocolate. But you might have guessed that. As much as you have left in the baking drawer that your kids have not eaten.