Spicy Garlic Green Beans

 

Spicy Garlic Green Beans

Spicy green beans, served in Chinese restaurants, is difficult to reproduce at home, so I came up with my own recipe. To retain crispness in the green beans, they are tossed with besan or chickpea flour and fried before stir-frying. If you prefer to use green beans without the besan, make sure the oil is very hot before frying them so that they remain crisp.

Rice Noodles and Asparagus in Spicy Black Bean Sauce

Rice Noodles and Asparagus
In Spicy Black Bean Sauce

It feels like the world is slowly waking up from this pandemic that has gripped our lives for the last two months. Supermarkets are still displaying sparsely stocked shelves except in the vegetable and fruit departments.

Asparagus
In Spicy Black Bean Sauce

When asparagus is available, it's best to cook them as soon as they arrive home or they lose their flavour and texture in a hurry. An easy and tasty way to have asparagus is to use south-east Asian flavours and here's what I did.

Steamed Balsamic Asparagus Topped with Crumbled Bacon

Asparagus with Crumbled Bacon

Tender asparagus spears, steamed and tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette and garnished with crumbled bacon taste wonderful! Somewhere on the worldwide web I read (and tried) a tip that bacon strips baked between two cookie sheets prevents a mess caused by spattering and keeps the bacon from curling. It worked exactly as promised. I baked the strips of bacon in a 350*F oven for 20 minutes until browned and crisp, then crumbled them.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

This side dish is easy to prepare, looks appealing and tastes wonderful with or without the sauce. It was part of our Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Ingredients:

2 lb. (48 spears) fresh asparagus, ends trimmed
12 slices bacon, uncooked

Toothpicks
Sauce
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup butter
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
½ tsp. garlic salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Combine sauce ingredients, reduce to a syrupy consistency and set aside.

3. Divide asparagus spears into 12 bundles of 4 spears each.

4 Wrap a slice of bacon around each bundle, starting ½" from bottom of tips.

5. Secure bacon-wrapped asparagus with a toothpick & arrange in baking dish.

6. Place in refrigerator for half an hour, then remove toothpicks.

7. Bake at 400°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until bacon looks fully cooked.
Serve sauce alongside asparagus bundles.

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Burmese Garlic Noodles with Pork - Hsee Chet Khawk Swe

Stir-Fried Burmese Garlic Noodles with Pork

Hsee Chet Khauk Swe in the Bowl

Hsee Chet refers to the garlic oil which is used to stir-fry and garnish this dish. Pancetta is a fatty bacon that the Italians use in pasta. Like fish sauce, oyster sauce and bacon, pancetta is highly salted, so please taste the noodles before adding any salt.

Loaded Baked Potato And Chicken Casserole

Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole

The inspiration piece at the link above is a healthy recipe. I made a few changes to pump up the flavour with the addition of fajita chicken strips and red pepper flakes. My recipe is much simpler and more straightforward because I've made use of several pre-cooked, ready-made products such as fajita chicken strips and diced potatoes which cut down the baking time by more than half. Before I added the sour cream to the casserole, it looked kind of dry. The outcome of this entire experiment could not have been more successful. It is delicious!

Quick & Easy Fried Rice With Bacon And Peas

Fried Rice with Bacon & Peas

Left over white/steamed rice, unless cooked at home, usually turns hard and inedible the next day.  I usually freeze the left over rice in Ziploc bags until I'm ready to turn it into fried rice.

Ingredients:

2 cups cold cooked white rice (preferably short-grain sticky rice)
1 Tbsp. dark roasted sesame oil
2 tsp. dark soy sauce
3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
4-5 slices bacon
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large egg, beaten with salt & pepper
1 cup peas
2-3 stalks green onion, chopped

Method:

1. Remove all lumps from the rice with your fingers.
2. Pour sesame oil and soy sauces on rice and mix until rice is coated well.  Set aside. 
3. Fry bacon until crispy.  Remove bacon, crumble and set aside.
4. In the same pan, heat vegetable oil and saute onion and garlic until translucent.
5. Add rice and crumbled bacon to pan and toss.
6. Make a well in the center of the rice and melt butter in well.
7. Add beaten egg.  When it begins to set, combine it with the rice.
8. Stir frozen peas into rice and garnish with green onions.
9. Serve immediately.