Drunken Noodle with Shrimp (Prawn)

I cook this dish once in awhile when we crave for some spicy asian dish. I have stocked up couple of this Thai Tom Yam curry paste for my asian dishes. The Tom Yam paste is the 'secret sauce' to most of my asian dishes :), this paste adds so much punches to any dish and we use it sparingly... reason being I bought 3 bottles and brought them from Malaysia to US. I can't seem to find the exact paste here in US. Yes, there are lots of stuff I can find in the Asian market here but there are certain things like this particular Tom Yam paste, I have not seen in stores here in US.

I usually cook this drunken noodle with different sort of ingredients, all depending on what I have in my fridge. But in most cases, I always have the main ingredients like rice sticks (noodles), eggs, and shrimps and ben sprouts. I like to have plenty of vegetables and less noodles.

On this recipe, I used snow peas. ( I sometimes use cabbages, tomatoes, green beans, carrots ).

Ingredients:

2 eggs
6 ozs of rice sticks (I used medium size rice sticks, though 'wide' size is the preferred drunken noodles, but they taste the same)
1 bowl of snow peas
1 lb bean sprouts
30 medium size shelled shrimps (prawn), sliced into half on each shrimp if you like (optional)
4 Tbsp Tom Yam paste
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp fish sauce ( or use soya sauce if you don't have fish sauce )
pinch of salt
10 slices of fresh ginger, and cut them in thin strips

Directions:
1. Start boiling rice sticks in a 4 qtr pan filled with 2/3 full of water.
2. When water starts boiling, set timer to 4 minutes. Drain in strainer, set aside.

3. In a 5 qtr stir fry pan, heat oil and ginger in medium to high heat.
4. Add snow peas, salt, stir (using wooden spatula) and let it cook for couple mins.
5. Add bean sprouts and fish sauce, stir and cook for 5 mins. I also added 1/4 cup water (because I hate to use oil, so I use water - if I have tomatoes, it will be better, I would have use 1 or 2 tomatoes in replacement of water ).
6. Break in eggs, cover vegetable over eggs for 3 mins and stir and cook.
7. Add Tom Yam paste, stir well.
8. Add rice stick and stir well, and cover pan with lid not completely for 5 mins.
9. Uncover lid and stir and cook.
10. Scoop to dish and serve warm.

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and me, Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Moon from Food Playground at this post.

 

The Little Thumbs Up event starts on first Tuesday of the month until the last day of the month. Please join us! To join, simply cook or bake any recipe with the theme of the month which is PRAWN for March 2014 and link with us at this post. anytime until 31st March 2014. 

Meringue Cookies ... lightly coated in chocolate

I really needed to use and get rid of the 5 egg whites I have saved for so many days. So I resorted to bake Meringue Cookies and served them for Coffee Fellowship at Sunday's service. These cookies were fun the make except for the chocolate dipping part which I need more practice on. I am sure will be plenty of opportunuity on working with Chocolate Dippings :)

Recipe:

5 egg whites at room temperature.
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp of lemon juice.
couple drops of vanilla extracts

1/2 chocolate chips ( melt chocolate in a bowl in microwave when ready to use, stir )

Direction:
Beat egg white at medium to high speed for 10 minutes.
Gradually add lemon juice, continue to beat and mix well.
Slowing sprinkle in sugar to the mixer while the mixer continues to run. Mix well after each add on the sugar.
Drop in vanilla and continue to mix and beat.
Mixture should be foamy and puffed.

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Fill minture into piping bag with star shaped tip decorator.
Press cookie on cookie sheet.

Bake at preheated oven at 225 degree for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, turn off oven, open oven door slightly and let cookies cool in oven for at least 1 hour.

Dip each cookie with melted chocolate. Let chocolate set on cookie on the same cookie sheet.
Let cookie set in the slightly opened door oven.
Serve alone or with other cake dessert or ice-cream.
Or store cookies in air-tight container.

Carrot Whoopie Pie

I have been wanting to try making whoopie pies. I chose to make carrot cake whoopie pies. I should have known that on the first attempt to this new recipe would be a little trials and errors on the baking part. I adjusted the recipe somewhat because I wanted the cookie dough to be thicker and added 3/4 more flour. My challenge all started with the dough so when I scooped to drop a tablespoon of dough for each cookie onto to the pan, it still was spreading out too wide. That made me worry that the cookie will be too flat after baking. To be surprise, the cookie did not flatten so that was good. ( should tried a different whoopie pie like just a pumkin or vanilla flavor, I like to work with a more doughy texture when I drop the dough on the pan that it feels like a cookie ).

Take a look at these first product.

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated carrots
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup oil
3 eggs

Mix eggs and sugar till blended.
Add oil and mix well
Mix together flour, baking poweder and baking soda.
Add flour mixture to egg muxture, mix well.
Add carrots, mix well

Line 4 cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Drop 1 tablespoon or 1 tsp (depending on how big you want your whoopie pies, I used a teaspoon full on each of my cookie ) on pan. Make sure cookie is spread apart evenly at least 1 1/2 inches apart.

Preheat oven at 350 degree.
Bake 2 cookie sheet at a time for 15 minutes.
Let cookie cool down.
Spread a teaspoon of cream cheese frosting on back of one cookie.
Sandwish another back of one cookie to the frosted cookie to complete one whoopie pie.

Look for Cream Cheese Frosting recipe on this  here

Pizzelle Cookies

Take two... This time around I used butter in replacement of coconut milk.

Even though the cookie mixture was pretty thick in comparison with my first earlier attempt, these cookies are very crispy... much easier to bake, one minute per set of cookies and surprisingly this recipe yielded round 40 pieces of whole pizzelles!

Recipe will follow at the bottom.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cup rice flour
1 Tbs tapioca starch
3/4 cup fine granulated sugar
5 Tbs melted butter
4 whole large eggs
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:
Mix eggs and sugar till sugar is dissolved.
Add melted butter to the mixture, continue to stir and mix well.
Add all the flour to the mixture and mix well.
Mixture will not be runny but not super thick, but thinner in texture then ordinary cookie dough.

1. Wipe the pizzelle maker moulds with damp oil to completely grease the moulds.
2. Heat up pizzelle maker. Wait pizzelle maker is hot to the touch on the mould.
3. Drop 1 Tbsp of dough mixture to the middle of mould.
4. Cover pizzelle lid and clamp the handle of pizzelle.
5. Bake cookie for total of 1 minute.
6. Pick up cookie using a kebab wood stick or bare finger. Should be pretty easy to pick up cookie.
7. Lay flat or roll or fold to desire shape as soon as cookie is out of pizzelle maker.
8. Repeat step 3-7 on the next cookie.

Cool cookie and store in air-tight container.