Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Pork and Lotus Root Oyster Sauce Stir Fry (豚肉とレンコンのオイスターソース炒め)

Lotus root, or “renkon,” is one of my favorite Asian vegetables. For one, it looks cool, and two, it has a mild taste with a nice crunchy texture. You can use it in a bunch of different ways, but this dish is pretty straight forward with a simple sauce. Aya’s mom made a daicon salad, miso soup, and rice to accompany the meal.

RECIPES:

Pork and Lotus Root Oyster Sauce Stir Fry

300g (about 3/4 lb) lotus root (renkon)
100g (about 1/4 lb) thinly sliced pork
1 clove minced garlic
Sauce: 2Tb oyster sauce, 2tb soy sauce, 2tb Japanese cooking wine
Sliced almonds for garnish
Pinch of sugar
1Tb vegetable oil

  1. Slice the pork into 1″ strips.
  2. Slice the lotus root into 1/16″ thickness and soak in water.
  3. Heat oil in frying pan and saute garlic.
  4. Add pork and once browned, add the lotus root.(be careful not to over cook and lose crispy texture)
  5. Add sauce, pinch of sugar, and stir.
  6. Serve hot on plate and garnish with almond slices on top.
Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Pumpkin Bread!

This looks perfect and tasted great! I roasted a pie pumpkin and pureed it instead of using the canned puree. It calls for olive oil instead of regular which I used. I liked the different flavor it brought. This was good, moist, and not overly sweet.

RECIPES:

Pumpkin Bread

Matt Dad Stuff, Family, Inner Monologue

POSTPARTUM JEALOUSY

After sharing how sweet and cute Ellie has been with Chloe so far, I know what you’re probably thinking. “See, I told you the jealousy would set in. The rainbows and unicorns wouldn’t last forever. She’s two and half years old, what did you expect?”

I’d like to say you are right. But I’m not talking about Ellie’s jealously, I’m talking about mine.

Continue reading “POSTPARTUM JEALOUSY” →

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Pumpkin Chili and Corn Bread

What says “fall” more than chili? How about pumpkin chili? Yes!

Pinterest is a great place to find pumpkin recipes which is where I found this one. This picture on the website looked great! I love that the pumpkin added great color and texture to this chili, but unfortunately it didn’t add as much pumpkin flavor as I had anticipated. So for lunch tomorrow I’m going to add cubed butternut squash to maybe kick up the pumpkin-ish flavor a notch or two.

This wasn’t bad at all. This was a good solid chili recipe but not my favorite. I’ve made eleven different chili recipes of the past year or so and I’d rate this one a 7.9 overall. I can’t give it an 8, but 7.5 seems too low. I’m hoping my modification edges it up a few points.

Update: I made the modifications to this chili and it helped a lot! So I guess technically it’s a pumpkin/squash chili. Either way, it bumped the rating up to an 8.5!

When looking for cornbread recipes I went for Paula Deen’s super easy recipe, but this was a little flavorless. It had excellent moisture and texture, but was kind of bland. I definitely wouldn’t make this one again. But it got great reviews online so maybe I’m missing something.

RECIPES:

Pumpkin Chili

Moist and Easy Cornbread

 

Matt Cooking Stuff, Recipes

Ponzu and Soy Sauce Sauteed Japanese Vermicelli w/ Green Pepper(ピーマンと春雨のポン酢醤油炒め)

While we were in Japan, I didn’t copy any of Aya’s mom’s recipes, but with her here, I’m determined to copy as much as I can. A lot of these seem fairly simple and easy and I’d love to be able to cook Japanese more for Ellie and Aya.

This normally calls for asparagus, but since it isn’t in season anymore, Aya’s mom used green pepper that was plentiful from our garden.

RECIPES:

Ponzu and Soy Sauce Sauteed Japanese Vermicelli w/ Green Pepper

100g Japanese vermicelli (harusame noodles)
200g (about half a lb) ground pork
1 large green pepper thinly sliced
40g (about a 1/3 cup) thinly sliced carrot
30g (about a 1/4 cup) sliced Chinese leek (or green onions if leeks are not available)
A) 1tb vegetable oil
1/2tb sesame oil
1tb minced fresh ginger
1tb minced garlic
1 chopped chili pepper
B) 4tb Ponzu sauce
3tb “straight” somen tsuyu
2tb water
C) 1/2tb potato starch
1tb water

  1. Boil the vermicelli and cut it randomly to prevent long strands.
  2. Cook A and add the ground pork until browned.
  3. Add the cooked vermicelli and B.
  4. Add the thinly sliced carrot, green pepper, and Chinese leek.
  5. Once everything is stirred and cooked together, add C.