Dinner Trade » 16+ Ingredients http://dinnertrade.com Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:59:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Recipe: Martin Yan’s Firecracker Sweet and Sour Pork http://dinnertrade.com/599/recipe-martin-yan%e2%80%99s-firecracker-sweet-and-sour-pork http://dinnertrade.com/599/recipe-martin-yan%e2%80%99s-firecracker-sweet-and-sour-pork#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:01:24 +0000 admin http://dinnertrade.com/?p=599

Ingredients

  • Martin Yan’s Firecracker Sweet and Sour Pork
  • 1 cup sweet and sour sauce
  • ¼ cup chicken broth
  • ¾ lb boneless pork, cut into ¾-inch cubes
  • ½ cup cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp cooking oil
  • ½ cup diced onion
  • ½ cup diced green bell pepper
  • ¾ cup pineapple chunks
  • 6-8 dried chili peppers

Instructions

  1. Combine the Sweet and Sour Sauce and the chicken broth in a bowl. Dust the pork with the cornstarch. Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add 1 Tbsp of the oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the pork and stir-fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Keep warm.
  2. Return the wok to high heat; add the remaining oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the onion; stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the bell pepper; stir-fry for 1 minute. Add chili peppers. Reduce the heat to medium high. Add the sauce, stirring until the sauce boils and thickens. Return the pork to the wok and add the pineapple chunks and heat through, about 1 minute.

Recipe: Sweet and Sour Sauce

Ingredients

  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup ketchup
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup orange juice or pineapple juice
  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 1 ½ Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 ½ tsp crushed dried red chilies
  • 2 Tbsp cooking oil
  • 2 Tbsp minced ginger
  • 1 ½ Tbsp cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup water

Instructions

  1. In a bowl, combine the water, ketchup, brown sugar, orange juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce and dried chilies. Place a medium pan over high heat until hot. Add the cooking oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the minced ginger and cook, stirring until fragrant about 20 seconds. Add the mixture from the first step and bring to a boil and cook until the sugar dissolves. Add the cornstarch solution and cook; stirring until the sauce boils and thickens.
]]> http://dinnertrade.com/599/recipe-martin-yan%e2%80%99s-firecracker-sweet-and-sour-pork/feed 0 Recipe: Minestrone Soup http://dinnertrade.com/258/recipe-minestrone-soup http://dinnertrade.com/258/recipe-minestrone-soup#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:38:50 +0000 admin http://dinnertrade.com/?p=258

minestrone_soupIngredients

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 c. minced onion (about 1 small onion)
  • 1/2 c. chopped zucchini
  • 1/2 c. frozen cut Italian green beans
  • 1/4 c. minced celery (about 1/2 stalk)
  • 4 tsp. minced garlic
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 (15 oz) cans red kidney beans, drained
  • 2 (15 oz) cans small white beans or great Northern beans, drained
  • 1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 c. carrots, julienned or shredded
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsely
  • 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
  • 4 cups hot water
  • 4 cups fresh baby spinach (optional)
  • 1 cup small shell pasta

Instructions

  1. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a large stock pot.
  2. Saute onion, celery, garlic, green beans, and zucchini in the oil for 5 minutes or until onions begin to turn translucent.
  3. Add vegetable broth to pot, plus drained tomatoes, beans, carrots, hot water, and spices.
  4. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
  5. Add spinach leaves and pasta and cook for additional 20 minutes or until desired consistency.
]]> http://dinnertrade.com/258/recipe-minestrone-soup/feed 0 Recipe: Cafe Rio Pork Salad http://dinnertrade.com/206/recipe-cafe-rio-pork-salad http://dinnertrade.com/206/recipe-cafe-rio-pork-salad#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:08:14 +0000 admin http://dinnertrade.com/?p=206 Cafe_Rio_SaladTo build your salad, you start with a flour tortilla, add a smidge handful of cheese, a spoonful or two of black beans, a spoonful or two of rice, as much pork as you think you can get away with, pile on shredded romaine lettuce, a couple of spoonfuls of pico, some guacamole if you have it, the tomatillo dressing and then homemade tortilla strips
Total Prep-time: 18 hours, technically. But most of that is just waiting for the pork to cook. I’d say active cook time for the entire meal was perhaps an hour, maybe 1 hour 15 mins. Lots of this meal (dressing, pico) can be made before-hand and kept in the fridge until it’s time to eat.

Café Rio Salad Ingredients

  • Tortilla – you can make your own, mine came from a package.
  • Cheese – it is a good idea to warm on the tortilla so the cheese is a little melty.
  • Beans – black or pinto (mine came straight out of the can, warmed in the microwave with a little garlic powder and green Tabasco sauce).
  • Rice – don’t be stingy now!
  • Pork – I am actually salivating while writing this post…
  • Lettuce – Shredded Romaine, you want small enough pieces to get a little of everything on your fork
  • Pico de Gallo - I like extra pico, so I give myself an extra scoop.
  • Tortilla Strips - slice a corn tortilla into strips, brush with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake on a foil-covered sheet for 15-20 minutes at 350-ish.
  • Creamy Tomatillo Dressing – I like to keep mine on the side so my lettuce doesn’t get too slobbery

Cafe Rio Cilantro Rice

Ingredients

  • 3 cups. water
  • 4 cloves minced garlic
  • 1/2 bunch chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 can (4 oz) green chilies
  • 4 tsp. chicken bouillon
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 3/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 TB butter
  • 3 cups rice, uncooked

Instructions

  1. Bring water to a boil in large pot, add all ingredients.
  2. Cook covered for 30 minutes, or until rice is done.
Total Prep-Time: About 10 minutes, although a food processor would cut down your chopping time significantly.

Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa

Ingredients

  • 5-6 lb. pork roast
  • 21 oz. Dr. Pepper (or Coke, do NOT use diet soda)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
  • 6-ish oz. red taco sauce (I used hot)
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions

  1. Place roast in crock-pot, cover half-way with water and cook on low for 12 hours. (I started my Pork Adventure at midnight and everything worked out perfectly for Sunday dinner at 6:00 pm.) After 12 hours, drain pork (retain liquid if you want sauce for burritos, simply mix with a can of verde enchilada sauce and away you go.)
  2. Mix remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. I didn’t keep the actual chilies, I dumped the can into a bowl and added enough Dr. Pepper to get all the sauce off of the chilies, then I tossed them. I also rinsed out the can with Dr. Pepper for more adobo goodness. My version had a fairly good kick to it, but if you LOVE hotness, then blend everything + 2 or 3 chilies in the blender. (Also, the adobo sauce tends to stain plastic, using a glass or metal mixing bowl will make your clean-up of adobo sauce considerably less frustrating.)
  3. Add Dr. Pepper mixture to the roast and cook on low an additional 4 hours. Take out roast and shred, add back into sauce and cook for 2 more hours. At this point the meat was so tender it practically shredded itself.

Cafe Rio Tomatillo Dressing

Do not skip this part, the dressing is my favorite part of the salad! Creamy and spicy and zesty, it is absolute heaven. I actually use leftover dressing for a tomatillo-cilantro salsa, this stuff makes regular, everyday corn-chips taste like exotic, savory treats. (Because we all know, corn is not exotic on it’s own.) If it can transform corn chips, just IMAGINE what it will do for your salad! Besides, it takes 3 minutes to put together.

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
  • 3 tomatillos (remove papery skin), rough chop
  • 1 cup mayo
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup (or more) cilantro, rough chop
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp green Tabasco sauce
  • juice from 1 lime

Instructions

  1. Dump everything in a blender and blend until smooth.
  2. Refrigerate in air-tight container (or your entire fridge will smell like garlic and cilantro).

Easy Pico-de-Gallo

Ingredients

  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 bunch of cilantro, minced
  • 1/2 sweet onion, minced
  • 1 section of green pepper, minced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  • about 1/3-1/2 cup vinegar (use your best judgment)
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Mix it up really well and refrigerate. I put my pico in a Tupperware and shook it up really well right before serving to re-mix.
]]> http://dinnertrade.com/206/recipe-cafe-rio-pork-salad/feed 0 Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala http://dinnertrade.com/189/recipe-chicken-tikka-masala http://dinnertrade.com/189/recipe-chicken-tikka-masala#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:39:41 +0000 admin http://dinnertrade.com/?p=189 chicken_tikka_masala“Tikka” means pieces and “Masala” means both spice and spices. When wet ingredients are added to a spice mixture, such as yogurt or water, it’s called a “wet” masala.

As you can see from the ingredient list below, making Indian Curry is a bit complex. For this reason, I like to use a sauce starter, my favorite being the Patak’s Cooking Sauce brand. You can usually find an Indian cooking sauce in the ethic food section of the grocery story and they’re very common at specialty stores. You can also order it online, but the shipping charges make it a bit expensive.  But

The Easy Method

Ingredients

  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 chicken breasts, skinless, cut into 1″ chunks
  • 15 oz Indian Cooking Sauce
  • 1 can diced tomatoes or two fresh diced tomatoes
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 2 tbsps olive oil
  • 1 can coconut milk (optional for richer Korma taste)

Instructions

  1. Marinate the chicken breasts in yogurt and cook in oven until tender
  2. Heat stovetop to medium and add 2 tbsps of olive oil to a large sauce pan. Cook onions until they begin to be come translucent, but not browned
  3. Add cooked chicken, stir
  4. Add Indian Cooking Sauce, Tomatoes, and coconut milk. Stir occasionally until hot. Serve over or along side rice and naan bread.

The Complex Method

Chicken & Masala rub Ingredients

  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 1 cup finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
  • 2 tbsps ginger paste
  • 3 tbsps garlic paste
  • 3-4 tbsps garam masala
  • 6 peppercorns/ 2 dry red chillies
  • 3 tbsps lime/ lemon juice
  • 3 cups chicken breast, skinless and cut into 1″ chunks

Sauce Ingredients

  • 2 medium-sized onions finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic chopped fine
  • 5 pods cardamom
  • 6 medium-sized fresh tomatoes chopped fine (canned tomatoes okay)
  • 2 tbsps garam masala
  • 2 tsps soft brown sugar
  • 1 cup single cream
  • 3 tbsps almonds blanched and ground to a paste
  • 3 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Grind the chopped coriander (keep some aside for garnishing) and all other marinade ingredients (except yogurt) to a smooth paste in a food processor.
  2. Pour the above mix into a large bowl and add yogurt. Mix well. Add the chicken pieces and mix well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate. Allow to marinate overnight.
  3. Thread the chicken onto skewers and keep ready.
  4. Preheat your oven or grill to medium high (200 C/ 400F/ Gas Mark 6). Place the skewers on the grill racks in your oven with a tray underneath to catch drippings. Roast open till the chicken is browned on all sides and tender. Keep aside.
  5. To make the gravy/ sauce: Heat the oil in a deep pan on a medium flame and add the onion. Cook till soft.
  6. Now add the cardamom and the garlic. Fry for 2-3 minutes.
  7. Add the garam masala, brown sugar, tomatoes, almonds and mix well. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and a thick paste forms.
  8. Add the grilled Chicken Tikkas (chunks/ pieces) and stir. Cook for 10 minutes.
  9. Add the cream and mix well. Turn off the flame.
  10. Garnish the dish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rice and naan.
]]> http://dinnertrade.com/189/recipe-chicken-tikka-masala/feed 0