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.

Shared this recipe on

Bacon Ranch Potatoes

The inspiration for these potatoes came from Oklahoma Natives on Facebook, whose recipe I adapted to ingredients that were available in my kitchen. For example, we always have fat-free half & half in our refrigerator, so that's what went into making this dish.  It was a big hit at our Thanksgiving table!

Ingredients:

6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
1 (10 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1¼ cups milk
1 envelope Hidden Valley dry ranch dressing mix
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. Oscar Mayer real bacon bits or 2 bacon strips, cooked & crumbled

Directions:

1.   Place potatoes in a saucepan and add cold water to cover.

2.   Bring to a boil and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.

3.   Drain potatoes and place in a greased 9” x 13” baking dish.

4.   Stir soup, milk, salad dressing mix, ½ cup cheese, salt and pepper, in a bowl.

5.   Pour mixture over potatoes and bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 25 minutes.

6.   Remove from oven, sprinkle with bacon and remaining cheese.

7.   Cover and set aside for 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Spanish Chicken Rice

Spanish Chicken Rice Bowl

Spanish Chicken Rice Skillet

GrandBoy #1 is spending the evening with us today, so this dish was made in his honor. I removed his portion before adding the green onions & chili powder. The fajita chicken strips can be replaced with shredded rotisserie or any form of left-over roasted chicken. The rice was cooked and refrigerated overnight which prevents it from becoming mushy even after all the tossing and turning.

Stir-Fried Spinach with Potatoes & Peas

Palang Shaak Alu Karaishuti

I’ve noticed that if spinach is cooked uncovered, it retains its bright green color. Omit ghee to make this a vegan dish.

Cucumber Raita (Salad) with Dill & Mint

Raita is usually made with yogurt, mint and cucumber, all ingredients that are cooling to the body. Raita is often served cold as part of a festive Indian meal to help cut the heat in spicy dishes. The cucumber in this salad can be replaced with shredded carrots & raisins, chopped & blanched spinach, or a salsa of diced onions, tomatoes & green chilies. Unlike a salad which is eaten as a first course, Raita is eaten along with the different courses of an Indian meal.

Chicken Keema & Cabbage - Ground Chicken & Cabbage

An easy chicken curry made with ground chicken and shredded cabbage that tastes great as a stuffing for pita pocket sandwiches or served over steamed Basmati rice.

Lau Chingri Posto - Bottle Gourd/Chayote Squash & Shrimp in White Poppy Seed Sauce

This is a traditional Bengali recipe that I have tweaked by adding the white poppy seed sauce and replacing bottle gourd with chayote squash. 

Red Lentils with Onions, Tomatoes & Garlic

This was one of Mum's favourite ways of preparing red lentils. It tastes great garnished with cilantro and a touch of ghee or butter.

Easy Meatball Rolls

Just Baked Meatball Rolls

Cross-section of a Roll

Meatballs & cheese wrapped in garlic bread. The frozen meatballs need not be thawed before assembling. They were simply delicious and the meatball inside the roll was soft and juicy.


Adapted from a Pillsbury recipe.

Mung Bean Lentils with Spinach

Kaacha Mooger Dal Aar Shaak

A quick and easy lentil dish using mung beans and a package of frozen spinach. It took exactly 20 minutes to prepare on the stove top.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Whole Red Lentils & Carrots

Astho Musoorir Dal aar Gajar

It was quite surprising how little time it took to cook these lentils on the stovetop.

Cauliflower and Potatoes in Yogurt Sauce

Doi Phool Kopi

This was one of Mum's preparations for cauliflower that we all loved. Unfortunately, I don't have her recipe and all I remember is that it was white, devoid of all colour such as the yellow imparted by turmeric. So I tried to stick with all white ingredients and avoided the temptation to add tomatoes or turmeric.

Burmese Tohu Thohk - Chickpea Tofu Salad

Using tohu in a salad provides lots of protein and makes a refreshing mid-day meal. This is a cold salad utililizing tohu that has been setting up in the refrigerator for an hour to a couple of days. Tohu becomes firmer the longer it chills. The recipe that was posted last night makes 2 lbs. of tohu, a quarter of which (1/2 lb.) will be used in this recipe.

Burmese Tohu

Chickpea Tofu

A weekly challenge on a food group in Facebook with a main ingredient of chickpea flour or besan (sounds like baisin) as it is known in Hindi, prompted me to try this for the first time. There were certain foods in Rangoon, Burma that were best left to the experts, the street vendors, with the result that they were rarely, if ever, made at home. Ohno Khaukswe, Mohinga and Tohu were among these. After leaving Burma, all we were left with were memories of these delicasies but now, thanks to all the foodies on the Internet, our shadowy memories are coming to life in our own kitchens.

After chilling in the refrigerator, the tohu develops a firm and creamy texture. This recipe yields 2 lbs. of tohu and can be used as a garnish for Mohinga and as the main ingredient in various salads. 

Baked Tandoori Chicken with Mayonnaise

This dinner took exactly half an hour to put on the table. The boneless, skinless chicken thighs were very tender, the onions crystallized and the potatoes fork tender because the dish was baked at a high temperature.

Shrimp & Peas Pilaf

For a first attempt, this dish turned out to be a hit! I usually make a Chicken Biryani when company dines, but we needed a break from that. We're fortunate that shell-on shrimp (26-30 count/lb.) are available already cleaned of their digestive tracts.

Bijoya Lunch - October 12, 2013

BIJOYA LUNCH
October 12, 2013

Cockwise from top left -
Shrimp Pulao
Cucumber Raita with Dill & Mint
Chana Dal Cooked in Coconut Milk
Yellow Alu (Potatoes)
Nahari Gosht
Pineapple Srikhand
Tomato Date Chutney
Palang Shaag (Spinach) with Potatoes & Peas

Friends of ours from London, Ontario spent Bijoya weekend with us. The Shrimp Pulao and Spinach were Baby Anil's favourite dishes. He is one year old.
This meal fed six adults and one baby.

 

Burmese Black Sticky Rice & Coconut Pudding

This pudding is pure comfort food for a cold, snowy or rainy day. A good friend of ours who lives in the neighbourhood walked over last evening and presented us with a generous amount of black rice. She must have read my mind because black rice is on my list of things to get from the Oriental grocery store. Black rice is called Kao Hnyin Baung in Burmese and, during my childhood, was sold by street vendors for breakfast in Rangoon. So it has a special place in my heart.

Black rice, according to the information on the package, was known as “Emperor’s Rice” in ancient China and was reserved exclusively for Chinese Royalty. Loaded with antioxidants, Vitamin E and fiber, it is delicious with a sweet and nutty taste which, combined with its rich, dark purple color, is a treat for the eyes and taste buds.

Pickled Eggs, Beetroots & Onion Salad

I love eggs cooked in any and all ways, and first came across a similar recipe to this in a foodie group on Facebook.  The pinkish-red hue on the surface of the peeled eggs deepen the longer they sit in the brine and absorb color from the beets. Adding onions is an adaptation to the original recipe and turned out to be a good idea because they add a crunchiness to the salad. The pungency of the onions is diminished and they actually are quite sweet and go well with the beets.  

To hard-boil eggs, place them in a saucepan and cover with water. Boil for 10 minutes, remove from heat, cover and set aside to cool. Drain the eggs and cover with cold water before peeling.  

Ground Chicken Stew with Chayote Squash

A one-pot meal/stew of
ground chicken & chayote squash

This one-pot meal is quite typical of the way the Burmese people make stew. All the ingredients are dumped into a skillet and simmered until the oil resurfaces and chicken & vegetables are cooked.

Eggplant & Shrimp in Mustard Sauce

Begun Chingri Shorshe Bata

Begun Chingri Shorshe Bata - Eggplants, shrimp and potatoes cooked in a coarse ground mustard sauce. It generally takes a while to prepare black mustard seeds for this dish. To remove the bitterness from black mustard seeds, they are generally soaked in salt-water overnight and then blended to a smooth paste. To save time, I decided to use Grey Poupon's Harvest Coarse Ground Mustard, which worked quite well.

Red Lentils with Cucumbers

Masoor Dal with Cucumbers

Mum's favourite way of preparing red lentils was with onions, tomatoes & garlic. She would sometimes add cucumbers to it, but always peeled them. As a shortcut, I decided to leave them unpeeled and was surprised at how good it tasted. The cucumbers retained their shapes, added a bite and weren't mushy at all.

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.

Laab Gai - Thai Chicken Salad

1st Try

2nd Try

The picture on the left is my first attempt at making a Thai chicken salad and it turned out to be really easy to make and delicious! The sliced shallots are not visible in the salad because I served them on the side in deference to those of my guests who do not like onions in the raw.

On the right is my second attempt at making this salad and is garnished with sliced shallots.

The left-over salad was combined with a package of mung bean noodles (kya zan or glass noodles) that were soaked in hot water for ten minutes. This naturally neutralized the seasonings so the juice of one lime, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and salt were added. It was delicious and made for a great lunch!