.

Another cross-posting, but as this was an ‘adventurous’ dinner, thought it belonged here as well. The taco soup tastes divine, recipe is included here but not at ‘the other’ blog . That’s cause this blog is SPECIAL . Maybe Skipps would have a comment on this post re taco rice.

/—————————————————————————————

.

If you’ve been following me on twitter, you would’ve seen a large flurry of twitter taco party messages yesterday! A bunch of us on twitter decided to hold a virtual taco party and make tacos!!! It was amazing that all our tacos are completely different, and I seriously wished we could’ve actually do this in real, all the tacos from the vietnamese version to the soyrizo version looks fabulous! The other tweeps who ‘attended’ this fun-filled taco party were @hapabento @fujimama @passthepocky @sherimiya & @LovelyLanvin . Go drool at their yummy taco pictures!

I fell asleep long before the twitter taco party started – what can I say, it had been a looooong monday and I’m on GMT 0! I made taco soup, with home made tortilla chips cut from a large tortilla. Just oil them slightly, pop in the oven at 250 F until it crisps up! I left mine in for 10-15 mins as I forgot about them, and were slightly burnt. Sprinkle some paprika over it when it gets out of the oven – I did it before and it burnt in the oven . Very pretty addition, and may I say, even nicer than your regular tortilla chips as I made it extra crispy to dunk in the taco soup. Mm Mm good. I first had taco soup in New York this year (recommeded by another tweeter friend, Megan! ), and had not looked back since. It’s perfect for the perpetually bleah weather that we get in the UK, a hot bowl of steaming taco .

.

.

Taco soup recipe

1 can tinned tomatoes
300g lean mince beef
1 pack taco meat seasoning
1/2 diced ripe avocado
1 red onion & 1 clove minced garlic
1 can beans (I used soy cooked in tomato sauce)
1/2 jar salsa
pickled jalapenos
sour cream
cilantro (I forgot to buy any!)
nachos
grated cheddar
shredded lettuce

Spoon into flat wide bowls, and top with jalapenos, sour cream, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, more salsa, nachos and anything else that you love with your taco! Bacon like to dunk soft tortillas into his

.

I was going to turn the taco soup into a bento, but as it was so delicious, we actually finished it for dinner. Uh- oh. Fear not, I had prepared and saved 1/2 my taco-seasoned beef before I turned it into taco soup! My submission was actually between taco soup and taco rice, and I had saved the taco beef to turn into taco rice. Therefore, tomorrow would be taco rice lunch.

Taco rice is a REAL dish (no, I didn’t make it up) from Japan. Okinawa to be precise, and is also known as takoraisu. The invention for this crazy dish was accredited to the US Marines located in Okinawa. Homesickness for good ole tex mex food paired taco staples with rice (tortillas are pretty hard to come by out of the Americas – or North America to be precise) transformed this tex mex staple into something that is quinessentially Japanese. And I love Japanese take on foods from other cultures – youshouku (western-influenced) and chuka (chinese-influenced) food love all around!

.

.

Taco rice contains all the fixings of tacos – with rice replacing the main job of the taco. My taco rice is slightly deconstructed (like my taco soup) , usually all taco fixings are piled on top of a plateful of rice. It’s still all there though – rice, taco beef, salsa, jalapenos, cheese, lettuce and a small pot of sour cream. You could replace the beef with taco-flavoured soy beans for a veggie version. I popped in some of my homemade flower tortilla chips as well for additional crunch…I love their shape

.

Aren’t they just the cutest?

.

Taco rice FTW! Actually, TacoTwitterParty FTW. It had been so much fun – and I think we’re going to be doing this monthly, which is so great! Not only it gives me the motivation to do something different, it was so fun seeing everyone else’s take on the humble taco. Everyone’s invited, so come join in our party for next month!

.

UPDATED 12 Feb 2011: Step by step pictures

.

I have been meaning to publish this recipe for ages now. Since making it the first time around, I’ve reproduced it with varying success – mostly due to me changing the recipes slightly and tweaking thickness. ‘Bah Kwa’ is a traditional favourite within the chinese community in South East Asia and Taiwan. ‘Bah Kwa’ is literally translated from the Fujian dialect to mean dried meat. It is pronounced as ‘Yuk Kwong’ in Cantonese, but most people irregardles of dialect, understands bah kwa. Especially popular during Chinese New Year as a gift for family and friends, the price of bah kwa shoots up during that period, with a corresponding hike in demand. However, l I love it at any time during the year and I can just eat it….all…day…long. It tastes fantastic grilled and sandwiched in a sweet bun; I regularly have this for breakfast and just microwave the whole bun for 15 seconds when I get to work. It brings back a rush of childhood memories of watching chinese opera and then heading to the charcoal-fired pushcart hawker for a freshly grilled bah kwa sandwich .

.

I would have been more than willing to pay through the nose for this delicacy in the years that I’ve spent abroad – alas, I had never managed to source some authentic tasting bah kwa. They were mostly too dried, under flavoured and not to mention way too overpriced for the quality and quantity. So this recipe is heaven-sent for a bah kwa addict like me, I no longer have to import it from Malaysia nor miss it !

.

Some people associate this with the American-styled beef jerky, but the depth of flavour and the texture is completely and utterly different from the dry stringy meat of the American styled jerky. I have tweaked this recipe from various others that I found online, and you might want to experiment yourself on the amount of sugars and seasoning – or even using minced chicken or beef! Caution: if you are using 5-spice powder purchased from the supermarket, it might be an idea to put more in – the one I use is freshly mixed 5-spice powder which is way more fragant than the supermarket version. Too much 5-spice powder can make food taste slightly bitter, so just becareful, but do not be afraid to season away! It’s the same with all other ingredients, do not be afraid to change and tweak the levels, this has been tweaked to my taste, but I do sometimes add an extra splash of soy sauce or different sugars i.e. muscavodo.

.

Recipe for Bah Kwa – Chinese sweet meat jerky

500g minced pork (slightly fatty)
2 Tbs five spice powder
150g sugar (more sugar will caramalise the meat more, but less with be tasteless)
2 Tbs shaoxing wine
1 Tbs fish sauce (this is very important)
3 Tbs light soy sauce
red food colouring – optional, it turns out brownish otherwise. I do not use this

waxed/parchment paper
cookie trays

Step 1
Marinate all the inggredients for at least 6 hours; best if left overnight.
Ensure that it is well combined before leaving it in the fridge.

.

Step 2

Cut two pieces of parchment paper that is the same size as the cookie sheet
Lay one sheet on the upturned cookie sheet (turn it upside down)
Scoop about 1.5 cup of the meat mixture on the bottom parchment that is resting on the cookie sheet (approx – depending on tray size)
With the other parchment sheet, slowly press the mixture down from the top, trying to spread the meat mixture as evenly as possible over the cookie sheet.
Try to get it to cover the whole cookie sheet, using more meat mixture as needed and another cookie sheet if it is not large enough
Your meat mixture should be around 5-7mm thick, and even all around.Use a rolling pin over the top parchment paper if needed; I usually only use my fingers to flatten it out.

.

Step 3

Traditionally, this meat mixture is then air-dried for a day or two in the sun. The modern way would be:

Leave it in a 80c oven for 50 -60 minutes to dry it out. Do NOT turn the oven up higher than 100 degrees as this will cook the meat.
We want to dry it out, not cook it.
After about 1 hour, the meat layer should be ‘welded’ together from the fats in the mince.
Leave to cool, and then carefully cut it into squares at this point.
You can freeze this for later, OR

.

Step 4

Turn on the grill (charcoal bbq is best) and grill it for about 4-5 mins on each side
The bah-kwa should sizzle and spit and be slightly charred on both sides
Leave it to cool before tucking in – or stuff it into some sweet buns immediately for a great snack
You can keep this (wrapped in more parchment paper) in the fridge for at least a month in a tightly sealed container.
It tastes best warmed- up, you could grill it again prior to consumption or I just stick it in the microwave for 15 seconds

.

UPDATED INSTRUCTIONS: Step by step pictures

1) Empty cookie tray with parchment paper
2) Marinated meat
3)Spread meat on tray with fingers
4)Flatten it out an oiled spoon

.

5) Should look pretty flat like this
6) Place another piece of parchment paper on top. Flip the parchment sandwich paper over; so the top paper is now on the bottom.
7) Slowly peel the top parchment off. Use your fingers if nessacary to ensure all the meat is ‘peeled’ off.
The meat-sheet should now be flat on both sides. Stick in oven at under 100C for 50 minutes.

.

9) When it comes out it should look like this, still soft but the meat has all melded together.
10) Cut into squares -the meat sheet now looks like this with the bottom part a lighter brown
11) Put the oven on broil/grill function at circa 180 on the lighter side up, and grill on both sides, around 5 mins each. Watch carefully to ensure it doesn’t burn.
12) Cool on wire rack once both sides of the meat has sufficiently caramalized. Serve up!

.

.

I’ve even managed to bring a couple of pieces back to Malaysia over the summer, and everyone agreed that it tasted like the real thing! Amazing! I made a batch for my grandmother as well and she was amazed – I don’t think anyone I know had ever thought that bah kwa can be made at home. It is cheaper, better for you (no preservatives – or colourings if you don’t mind it brown) and as you can control the seasonings and tailor it to your tastebuds. Seriously – the best invention yet from my kitchen. And what’s more, I’ve trained bacon to make this!

.

If you had never tried bah kwa before, I strongly suggest that you try this recipe out. It is amazing what sweet-salty meat tastes like – I know most people that had not tried this would be pretty skeptical on a ‘sweet’ meat – but it really IS mind blowingly amazing. I can chomp on it all day long….all day every day….

.

.

We very rarely eat out on a weekday, and when we do eat out, it is usually a quick and dirty takeaway, KFC or fish & chips. I both enjoy cooking and eating out, but as bacon don’t get home till after 7 usually, it just makes more sense for me to cook on weekdays and we can eat out on weekends. However, on a rare occassion where I run out of ideas of what to cook and there’s not much left in the fridge, we try to make and effort to eat out.

Like many people, I get trapped with a handful of restaurants that I go to. I make an effort to discover new places, but I do tend to repeat a few places, i.e. Sundays are buffet days, the same old thai, indian or chinese. Delicious, but seriously lacking in creativity. As for italian, we had been going to the same old restaurant for years now – I never try anywhere new because I love it, but it was seriously time for a change. I go past Viva in my bus out of town, but never stepped in before. After changing our minds about 10 times whilst heading into town, we ended up in Viva at last.

.

.

The gregarious owner greeted us at the door and shook both our hands in welcome – a big change, I don’t actually remember the last time I’ve been greeted by the owner of a restaurant. All the staff spoke italian inside the cozy restaurant, peppered with some choice English phrases like oki doki. I found this very charming . We were in time for the Early bird deal (up to 7.30pm on weekdays) , which came with any pizza or pasta, choice of starters and desserts. For just over £10, this was an absolute bargain.

.

For some reason bacon mistook this for the starter we actually ordered. No idea why!

.

We both went for the deep fried brie. Coated with breadcrumbs, deep fried and drizzled with a balsamic sauce, this was heavenly. It did leave me quite full, but the melty cheese contrasted beautifully with the drizzle of sauce and the salad garnish.

.

Bacon had the double pepperoni pizza. Unfortunately it was only sparsely populated with pepperoni. Bacon was not entirely impressed. Everything else tasted ok -lovely base, thick with cheese; just not enough pepperoni (I counted 8 slices) to be classified as a double pepperoni pizza.

.

I had the chicken and spinach calzone. This was better than the pizza, filled with oozing cheese, lovely tomato concasse and enough spinach & chicken in the calzone. Yumms. We could not finish either the calzone nor the pizza, but they were more than happy to wrap it up for us to take away.

.

However, there is ALWAYS space for desserts! I had the tiramisu, which was seriously one of the best tiramisu I’ve ever had. I raved about Jamie Olivers’ tiramisu, but it doesn’t compare to this. Well-soaked sponge contrasts beautifully with just the right amount of mascarpone. Mm Mm good.

.

Bacon had the creme brulee, which was lovely as well. We very rarely order the creme brulee, but this was so perfectly faultless. Creamy and sweet, topped with a crunchy layer of burnt sugar.

.

Even the coffees have that personal touch. Call me a pushover, but a little latte art pleases me to no end

.

Cheap, cheerful, friendly and yummy, I guess Viva will be finding its way to our growing handful of go-to restauraunts:)

.

Viva Ristorante
9 Bridge End Leeds,
West Yorkshire LS1 7HG
Tel: 0113 242 0185

I rarely post my lunches here as I’ve created a separate blog for it, but this creation of mine was way too good to miss

Cross posted from http://notabrownbag.wordpress.com

.

.

Today I learnt a lesson on never giving up. I tried making the yellow bird from egg sheet the day before, but had stupidly mixed in the whites & yolks and added tumeric to bring out the yellow-ness. However, this just serve to turn it a dull brown dishwater color. Looking at the state of my eggsheet, I was very upset, and actually did not end up making a bento for myself that day.

.

EVERYTHING about it was wrong. I was really excited about making it initially, and after an whole hour in the kitchen and producing this really sad bird, I was more than ready to throw in the towel. Gaah! After sleeping on it, I asked Lia, the queen of eggsheets, and she advised me that I should just separate the whites from the yolk and just use the yolk for the yellow eggsheet.

And success!!!!!

.

Today’s bento is made for the bacon again, a giant bun filled with ham and crumbly onion chutney cheese. I covered the bun with another thin slice of ham to get the contrast. The box is filled with a mini salad, a whole nectarine, a small pot of pickles, a homegrown tomato (our first fruit from the plant!!!) and four wild blackberries.

.

The speedy yellow bird is made from a base of yellow egg sheet and a half-moon of polony. I used two different cheeses for the eyewhites & eyebrow, a carrot beak and teensy nori eyeball, nori tail and hair.

.

Here it is, warts and all! You can see I still need to work on my egg sheet.

.

Just as proof that you don’t need cute boxes to start packing a bento, this sammie have been packed in a well-recycled ice cream container . Yeah I know, here is me saying that you don’t need a cute box for a bento whilst I have a large number stacked up in my kitchen cupboard.

.

.

EDIT: This was part of my Awesome America blog posts – however, I’ve just noticed that I’ve left this in the draft!! So here it is – my love for chain-restaurants revealed!

I’m not entirely sure that a trip to Red Lobster deserves an entire blog post by itself. Heh. Well, I’m going to anyway, as I never did document my visits to Red Lobsters years ago. Red Lobster is a nationwide seafood chain, serving up lobsters (doh), crabs, shrimps and more. However, my favourite memory of Red Lobster is most definately their deliciously naughty Cheddar Bay scones. Served warm, buttery, soft and herby, I had dreamt about them for many years since I left CA.

.

As usual, when we went in for an early lunch, I was not hungry at all, having just had breakfast. Seeing that the Red Lobster by Times Sq was the only one that we’d seen in New York, we thought we would pop in for a quick lunch anyway and share a platter.

The yummy Cheddar Bay biscuits. The best part is they are FREE – comes complimentary with every main course ordered. OMG. When I was a penniless student, I used to go into Red Lobster, order the cheapest entree, and get two lots of the biscuits. And then doggy bag all of it when I’ve finished with a basket of biscuit. Yeah, I have no shame . The biscuits are really beautiful. So buttery it should be made illegal, as soft as a marshmallow, it literally melts in your mouth. I have to admit though, I don’t really like the main courses as much as I love the free starter.

.

We ordered a Seafood Platter, which came with a starter of Caesar Salad. Crisp and tasty, like a caesar salad should be – just nice.

.

And here it was – the shrimp and lobster platter. A pot of buttered shrimp, a shrimp skewer, a lobster tail, wild rice, fries, ketchup and melted butter, this was seafood dipped in butter. It tastes better than it looks, and suprisingly not as greasy as all the butter would lead you to believe. The seafood was suprisingly fresh, and the butter counteracts beautifully with the well seasoned seafood. Bacon even went as far to declare that this was the best meal he had in the States – and with the places that I bring him, this is no easy feat!

I miss Red Lobster already.. It was lovely when I was a student and it is still unpretentiously lovely now. Highly recommended as a family restaurant as they cater for kids, but it serves up good value tasty seafood for adults as well. I wished they would seriously consider opening a branch up in the UK, although it would probably triple the prices!