Beef Kebabs

Friendly reminder: If you have not yet done so, do join us for the Momgateway Light Recipes Contest.  The deadline is July 25th and the prize is a $60 gift card to the more than 200 online CSN stores.

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The workshop at Ohio State University was quite an experience...lots of new technologies and great talks...but so little time.  Our schedule was so full, we barely had time to eat.  I'm really glad to be back and get cooking again! After being away for so long, I missed my family... but the same day I arrived, we had to head off to Fort Worth to bring my son to a week-long church camp. Yesterday, we picked him up from camp and the first thing he said was, "Finally, after more than three weeks, I'm going to eat Mama's cooking!"  That got me so inspired... I made him kebabs for lunch.  It is super easy, hope you give it a try.

4-5 lb beef sirloin
For the Marinade
1/4 c dark soy sauce (light has more salt)
2 T canola oil
2-4 T muscovado sugar (my son likes it sweet so I used 4 T)
2 T freshly minced garlic
1/2 small onion, finely minced
1 1/2 t black pepper
1 t Kosher salt
juice of 1/4-1/2 of a lemon

Cut beef into bite-size pieces (about 1" chunks). Mix marinade ingredients together and taste it before adding the beef.  Different brands of soy sauce vary in saltiness. Reduce the amount of soy sauce according to your taste. Allow beef to marinade for at least 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.  Soak kebab sticks overnight to prevent them from burning while on the grill. Skewer meat and vegetables and grill.  Enjoy!

Vietnamese Beef Soup (Pho Bo)

When we went to Dallas bring my son for a basketball tournament in April, we stopped by a Vietnamese place for lunch.  They had one of the best Vietnamese beef noodle soups we've had in a long time.  There is just something about the combination of cinnamon, 5 star anise, nutmeg, Asian basil and ginger that is so... comforting.  Hubby always orders this soup at EVERY Vietnamese restaurant so I tried making it at home.  This recipe is loosely adapted from a Food Network recipe.  I added nutmeg, scallions and Asian basil and instead of searing the beef, I placed paper-thin, raw beef in soup bowls and allowed it cook gently by adding the super hot broth. The beef is very tender and flavorful this way.  I use a Rival deli slicer at home to make paper-thin cuts of sirloin but if you just freeze the beef for about 20-30 minutes, you can use a regular Santoku knife to get thin slices.  For the broth, it is important to use the best beef stock you can find.

In celebration of the exquisite flavors and spices in Vietnamese cuisine, this is my contribution to Delicious Vietnam created by A Food Lovers Journey and Ravenous Couple.

 Vietnamese Beef Soup (Pho Bo)

3 cups beef stock/ broth
1 onion, halved
4" piece ginger, halved
1 cinnamon stick
5 star anise pods
1 whole nutmeg
12 oz, paper thin slices of sirloin
8 oz. rice noodles (or Japanese odon noodles if rice noodles are not available)
4 scallions
2 jalapenos
1/2 cup cilantro
2-4 Tbsp fish sauce
Kosher salt and pepper
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
sprigs of Asian basil (bung que or rau que) but may be substituted with purple basil when these are not available)
1 lime, cut into quarters

Place broth in a large pot over high heat and add onion, ginger, cinnamon, 5 star anise and nutmeg.  Pour in the beef stock and let the broth simmer for 25 minutes.  Add fish sauce and boil for 5 minutes. Meanwhile place rice noodles, thinly sliced beef, scallions, cilantro and bean sprouts in 4 soup bowls.  Remove the ginger, star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon stick from the broth and discard. Take the onion and slice it thinly and place in the soup bowl.  Pour the piping hot broth into the bowls to cook the beef.  Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper and some lime juice.

Shawarma: Lebanese Treat

Shawarma is a Lebanese-style sandwich, an Arabic version of the Turkish döner kebap. It's very similar to the Greek gyros in the way a stack of marinated slices of beef, lamb or chicken is cooked on a rotating vertical spit.  The tower of meat is topped with fat, a whole tomato and onion that drip oil and juices over the meat, keeping it moist and flavorful. 

Gyros and shawarma differ in sauce, ingredients and garnishes. Gyros sandwich has tzatziki sauce, tomato, onion and fried potatoes added to the meat.  Tahini sauce (sometimes hummus or a garlic aoli) is used in shawarma then tomato, onion, lettuce, parsley, pickled turnips and in some countries, french fries and cheese are added. 

I've been looking for a perfect Shawarma recipe but  none of the  recipes I've tried in the past from cookbooks and blogs have been very successful.  That is until I found one from Monique Zaarour's The Lebanese Kitchen (available at the momgateway store).  It is the best so far, not yet perfect but pretty good.  Monique tailors it for the Western kitchen by pre-cutting the meat and using a regular oven as it's almost impossible to have a counter top shawarma oven in North America. 

Ingredients
2 lbs beef sirloin, cut into strips (or beef+lamb or chicken)
3 Tbsp oil
4 Tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp allspice (I added a more of this)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp mastic, crushed
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Tahini sauce
5 Tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
2 garlic cloves crushed
5 Tbsp lemon juice

Garnishes
thinly sliced onions
sumac
thinly sliced tomatoes
finely chopped parsley

• Mix the seasonings and rub into the steak strips. Marinade the beef for six hours, stirring every hour.
• Place the seasoned meat in a rimmed baking dish then cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven (475 F) for about 40 minutes.
• Combine tahini sauce ingredients in a food processor and set aside. Pour tahini sauce over the meat and serve on a plate or as a sandwich with shredded letttuce, onions, tomato and parsley. Enjoy! This was part of my guest post last week for OuR KrAzY kitChEn. 
  
  
• NOTE: My son prefers cheese with his shawarma so I add it even if it is not authentic Lebanese.
  

Beef with Bean Sauce and Mixed Vegetables

With Teen at various Academies and Camps most of the summer, I don't have to rush home to prepare dinner for a kid with hollow legs. I come home much later than usual and make a lot of single serve, less than 20-minutes, stir-fry meals. This Beef with Bean Sauce and Mixed Veggies was created at the spur of the moment when I had a hankering for the salty, umami flavor of bean sauce. I had some frozen tomatoes from Mary and Allen V.'s garden and a bag of frozen peas and carrots, seranno and red bell peppers. Luckily, I had left-over steamed rice in the fridge so I had a meal in less than 10 minutes. The frozen tomatoes made the dish very moist and balanced the saltiness of the bean sauce. I did not have salted black bean paste on hand so used Thai yellow bean sauce for this recipe. Cilantro from my garden was not just for garnish but added for the wonderful aroma and freshness it gave to the dish. Here's the recipe:

Beef with Bean Sauce and Mixed Veggies

1/2 lb ground beef
1 T canola oil
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots
1/4 cup diced red bell peppers
1 serrano pepper, diced (jalapeno or habanero if you want if hotter!)
2 frozen tomatoes, diced
2 Tbsp yellow bean sauce
steamed rice

Brown ground beef in canola oil and stir-fry yellow bean sauce . Add tomatoes and stir-fry 3 minutes. Add frozen peas and carrots, cilantro, red bell peppers and serrano pepper (you might like to use jalapeno or habanero if you want if hotter!). Cook till veggies and peppers are done. Garnish with more cilantro and serve over microwaved left-over steamed rice. Quick, easy and delicious!

NTBMO dinner

I was doing some spring cleaning, going through the kitchen cabinets, fridge, etc that I have not been able to post at all. Finally got it all done on Monday then I got to baking pizzelles, whole wheat crackers and almond crisps. Due to the holy days, Hubby's on the road almost 6 hours a day this week so we decided to have a NTBMO dinner at our place. We invited our friend Ron who lives about 40 miles away to join us. Despite my full schedule, it was not really difficult as I decided to prepare entrees I can just bake in the oven overnight or leave in the crockpot till the morning. We had slow-roasted brisket, Hungarian goulash, chicken salad, mixed salad greens, buttered corn and green beans, fruits and ice cream for dessert. I planned on making a delicious mango cream pie I prepared two weeks ago but I did not find the fresh mangoes at the store so I just stopped by Braums and got Vanilla and Pistachio Almond Ice Cream. We had Steinberg Red Wine and Sparkling White Grape Juice we've been saving since October after a delightful wine tasting at Stone Hill Winery in Branson, MO. It was a no fuss dinner, surprisingly simple and easy to prepare. Maybe we'll host one again next year.

P.S. As I started posting pictures, I realized I forgot to take a picture of the goulash! It's our new favorite beef dish and I will be making it again soon. Hubby got it from his colleagues at work during their cultural orientation. More on that later...

Crispy Beef Wonton Appetizers

In Chinese, dimsum is often translated as "to touch your heart". It consists of a variety of small dumplings made of meats, veggies and other delicacies. Traditionally they are served with tea but like hors d'oeuvres they are tiny portions served hot or cold as appetizers. Steamed meat dumplings dipped in soy-citrus sauce are very tasty but my personal favorite is fried dumplings dipped in sweet chili sauce. Dumplings are delightful, comfort food. They're easy to make and freeze well. When you are ready to fry them, take them out of the freezer and let them sit for a while in the fridge to thaw so the oil won't splatter during frying.

Most of the time I include some finely chopped cabbage to my beef wontons to keep them very moist but today I decided to make it pure beef and onion for the recipe I am submitting to Weekend Wokking. The host this month is Palachinka and the secret ingredient for April is Beef

Filling:
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 c onion, chopped
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp sesame chili oil
1 tbsp flour
1 beaten egg white

Wrapper: Thawed wonton wrappers
Dipping sauce:Bottled sweet chili sauce

Procedure:
1. Combine beef, onions, salt, sugar, pepper, garlic powder and sesame chili sauce.

2. Lay a wonton wrapper on a flat surface and brush with the beaten egg white. Place about a tablespoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Take the four corners of the wrapper and bring them up to the center to form a pyramid shape. Press together where the edges meet to seal the shape. Make sure no air is trapped inside as you seal the edges. You can do this by pressing around the filling to vent out air bubbles. This will allow the wontons to keep their shape and prevent them from ballooning up when fried. Make sure the oil is hot before gingerly placing the wontons in the oil to avoid oil splattering.

3. Deep fry till light golden brown in color. Serve with the sweet chili sauce as dip.