06.02.07

Mee Siam (One of Singapore Cuisine)

Posted in Our Recipes at 4:30 pm by henri

Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients

Mee Siam and Sambal
water for scalding vermicelli
1 packet coarse rice vermicelli (Hokkien: bee hoon)
250 9 beansprouts
100 g Chinese chives (Hokkien: koo chye)
500 9 small prawns
3 tablespoons oil
4 firm soybean cakes (Hokkien: taukwa)
5 tablespoons oil
1 large onion, sliced
250 millilitres water
2 tablespoons tamarind powder mi e
4 hardboiled eggs, sliced

Spice

5 tablespoons dried prawns (pounded separately)
5 large onions
4 cloves garlic
6 candlenuts
20 dried chillies
3 tablespoons belacan powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon saltGravy

2 litres water
4 tablespoons tamarind powder
3 tablespoons fried rempah (see method)
2 tablespoons preserved soy beans (Hokkien: taucheo), mashed a little
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 coconut, grated
150 millilitres water

Cooking Directions

Boil a large kettle of water and scald vermi- celli for 10 minutes, longer if necessary to soften until strands are pliable and soft to the touch. Wash and tail beansprouts. Cut chives into 4 cm lengths. Wash and drain. Wash and peel prawns. Heat 3 tablespoons oil and fry firm soybean cakes until brown. Cut into pieces 1 x2x 1/2 cm.

Sambal
Heat 5 tablespoons oil and fry pounded dried prawns for 3 minutes. Add all other spice ingredients except sugar and salt and fry until oil seeps out again. Add sugar and salt and stir once. Remove about half the amount of rempah and put aside. In remaining rempah, add sliced onion and fry for 2 minutes. Add prawns and tamarind liquid and simmer for five minutes. Remove and set aside.

How to Fry Vermicelli
Putting all but 3 tablespoons of the reserved rempah in a kwali, fry vermicelli and bean- sprouts for 8-10 minutes, stirring all the time until cooked. Moisten occasionally with tamarind liquid from the gravy allow- ance if vermicelli gets dry during frying. Add about 3 tablespoons of fried soybean pieces and half the chives to this fried vermicelli. Dish up and arrange on a large plate with sliced hardboiled eggs, remaining chives and remaining soybean pieces for garnish.

Gravy
Bring tamarind liquid to a boil. Put all ingre- dients in. Adjust seasoning to suit your taste.

Serve Mee Siam with sambal prawns and as much gravy as each person wants from a gravy boat.

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05.31.07

Classic Beef-Stuffed Peppers

Posted in Our Recipes at 3:46 pm by henri

Description

Ingredients

4 medium red, green or yellow bell peppers
14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
8-ounce can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup cooked white or brown rice, cooled
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Chopped fresh parsley (optional) 

Preparation
Total preparation and cooking time: 1-1/2 hours

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Cut tops off bell peppers; remove seeds and membranes. Place peppers upright in 8-inch square baking dish, cutting thin slice off bottoms of peppers to stabilize, if necessary.

2. Combine tomatoes, tomato sauce and 1 tablespoon parsley in large bowl. Remove and reserve 1 cup tomato mixture. Combine ground beef, onion, rice, remaining 2 tablespoons parsley, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt and black pepper with remaining tomato mixture in bowl, mixing lightly but thoroughly.

3. Spoon beef mixture evenly into peppers. Top with reserved tomato mixture. Cover baking dish with aluminum foil.

4. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Uncover baking dish; continue baking 35 to 40 minutes to medium (160°F) doneness, until beef is not pink in center and juices show no pink color. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Cooking Tip: Due to the natural nitrate content of certain ingredients such as onions, celery and bell peppers, ground beef may remain pink even when a 160°F internal temperature has been reached. Always verify the internal temperature with a meat thermometer or instant-read thermometer to be certain it reaches 160°F. 

Nutrition
Nutrients per serving using 80 percent lean ground beef: 328 calories; 15g fat (5g saturated fat, 6g monounsaturated fat); 77mg cholesterol; 824mg sodium; 25g carbohydrate; 5.1g fiber; 25g protein; 5.7mg niacin; 0.7mg vitamin B6; 2.1mcg vitamin B12; 4mg iron; 19mcg selenium; 5.8mg zinc. 

This recipe is an excellent source of fiber, protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, iron, selenium and zinc. 

Serves
Makes 4 servings 

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