Sweet Chili Sauce

I bought a Thai chili pepper plant at the Farmer's Market recently. No chilis are ready yet (but they're there!), but it's made me crave sweet chili sauce while I'm waiting for them to mature... There are lots of recipes for sweet chili sauce with similar but slightly varied ingredients, but here's a good basic recipe to use as a spring board for personalizing the flavor. Great as a dipping or finishing sauce for lots of Southeast Asian dishes.

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper

1-2 cloves garlic

½ C sugar (I like using brown sugar, but white is more traditional)

1/3 C vinegar -- distilled white or apple cider

2 t sriracha or sambal oelek (use more if you like more spice!)

½ t salt

1 t fish sauce or oyster sauce

Directions

Remove stem and seeds from bell pepper; coarsely chop. Pulse pepper and garlic in food processor or blender until finely chopped.

In small saucepan, combine pepper & garlic with ½ C water, sugar, vinegar, sriracha/sambal oelek, and salt. Bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking about 10 minutes until reduced and slightly thickened.

In small bowl, create a slurry with cornstarch and fish or oyster sauce.  Add to mixture in saucepan, stirring constantly for about a minute until sauce thickens.

Cauliflower 'Tots'

1  medium head cauliflower

2  eggs

1 C shredded cheddar

1 C shredded parmesan

2 T fresh chopped herbs*

2/3 C panko breadcrumbs

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

* To try out the recipe, I just used a pre-blended Italian herb mix (2 tsp, dried), but you could play around with any flavor combination here!

Core cauliflower and chop into 1 - 1½ " inch floret pieces. Steam until tender. Drain thoroughly and transfer to a large bowl. Mash cauliflower using a pastry blender or potato masher (or, use a food processor...) in to very fine pieces.

Add eggs, cheeses, panko, herbs, and salt & pepper (more or less to taste). Mix until well combined.

Shape 1-2 tablespoons of cauliflower mixture into balls or 'tot-like' shapes with your hands. Arrange tots in a single laer on a parchment lined baking sheet, or in the basket of an air fryer. Cook at 375° until golden -- for 10-12 minutes in an air fryer, or approximately 20-25 minutes in conventional oven,

Serve with your choice of dipping sauce(s).

Namasu - Pickled Carrot & Daikon Salad

Asian flavors (and pickles) are both foods I like. If you don't, this probably isn't for you. A little serving of this on the side of any Asian dish adds a bright, zingy bite to the meal.

Ingredients

1 lg daikon, julienned (1/8 x 1/8 x 2 inches)*

     -- about 3½ cups

1 lg (3 medium) carrots, julienned*

2 tsp kosher salt

3 T rice vinegar

1 T sugar

1 T lime juice

1-2 T orange juice

Optional garnish: toasted sesame seeds

* I bought carrots that were pre-cut, and used a mandolin to prep the daikon. If you don't have a mandolin or a food processor to slice the veggies, you could shred them on the largest section of a hand-held grater. The texture isn't going to be quite the same, but it could save you a LOT of prep time! (and knife work, if you're not that efficient with practice)

Directions

Toss together the daikon and carrots; sprinkle with salt and gently toss again. Let sit (room temp) about 20 minutes. Veggies will soften a bit and release some water.

While veggies are resting, whisk together vinegar, sugar, lime and orange juices* until sugar is dissolved. (Ideally the lime and orange juices should be replaced with yuzu juice; it's not that hard to find but I rarely have it on hand and I usually have lime and orange which are a pretty good substitution.)

Drain liquid from carrot & daikon mixture.  Drizzle vinegar dressing over vegetables and toss to coat; let stand at least 15 minutes.

Serve at room temp or chilled, garnished with toasted sesame seeds.

Shoyu-Miso Tare (ramen bowl flavor base)

I'll try to remember to take my OWN photo, but so far all I've done is mix up the Shoyu-Miso Tare itself, which is a concentrated flavor base for ramen bowls. Just add hot broth, ramen noodles and whatever veg or proteins you fancy! (...all pre-cooked, of course!)

Shoyu-Miso Tare

¼ C tamari/soy sauce

2 T mirin

2 T sake

2 T white miso

1 tsp Sriracha, or a pinch of red pepper flakes

Whisk it all together and get ready throw together a ramen bowl!

To add extra flavor, add a couple spoonfulls of this on top of your ramen bowl:

Scallion-Ginger Sauce

4 thinly sliced scallions

1-2 T minced fresh ginger*

1 tsp tamari/soy sauce

pinch of red pepper flakes

¼ C sesame oil

In a small bowl, combine scallions, ginger, soy sauce and red pepper flakes.

Heat sesame oil in a small sauce pan until is shimmers (about 1 minute, just before smoking). Pour hot oil over scallion-ginger mixture and let steep at least 10 minutes before serving.

* I buy this in pre-prepared squeeze tubes at the grocery store.

Egg 'Waffles' -- ("Chaffles"???)

Apparently calling them "chaffles" is a thing (something+waffle??? -- I truly have no idea! Egg is the main ingredient). But...whatever!  It's a fun alternative to scrambled eggs with 'add ins'.

The 2-egg recipe amounts below were perfect for one serving in my 8" waffle iron. Easy to double (or quadruple), but this is a great single serving size...my students would have fun mixing up their own individual creations!

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 T flour

¼ tsp baking powder

pinch each salt & pepper

Optional: 1/3 C shredded cheese, bacon crumbles, diced ham, crumbled breakfast sausage, chopped scallions, minced chives, minced garlic, small diced peppers or onions, minced herbs...   You get the idea!

Directions

Whisk eggs until fluffy. Whisk in flour, baking powder, salt & pepper.

Add in shredded cheese(s) and other add-ins if desired (they can also be used as toppers to garnish the finished egg-waffle).

Heat waffle iron; pour egg mixture onto waffle iron and cook about 3 minutes until set and beginning to brown. Serve immediately while still very fluffy...they do tend to deflate a little. 

I topped mine with sour cream with a little bacon jam mixed in, and some roasted cherry tomatoes and chopped scallions (both of which I also mixed into the egg batter).