For the Love of Food

Sweet & Sour Sauce recipe from: CDKitchen
Fried Wontons recipe from Wikibooks
Sweet & Sour Sauce
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup unsweetened Pineapple juice
1/4 cup distilled white Vinegar
3/4 cup Sugar
3 tablespoons Katsup
3 tablespoons Cornstarch

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens.
Fried Wontons
Ingredients:
1 Cup of Cream cheese
16-24 Wonton wrappers
1 Garlic clove, pressed (optional)
Oil for frying

Directions:
Heat oil in a deep-fat fryer or pour into a deep skillet on high temperature. Vegetable oil or peanut oil works best.

If you would like garlic mixed in with your cream cheese, do so at this time.
While oil is heating, lay out as many wrappers as you plan to use. Have a small bowl of water nearby to wet your fingers in. Put a small dab of cream cheese in one corner of each wrapper, about 1/2” from the edges. Using your fingers, wet the two edges nearest the cream cheese, then fold the other half down and seal the edges, making a triangle shape. Seal the edges tightly, but try to leave small gaps at the corners so the triangles will not expand so much that they burst.

Drop several wontons into oil at a time. Turn over when the edges start to brown and cook for another minute or two. Set on paper towels to drain.

Ingredients:

1 150gram bag of Tortilla chips
1 Cup of shredded Cheddar cheese
1 Cup of left-over Taco meat (or any seasoned ground meat)
1 Cup of shredded Iceberg Lettuce
1/4 Cup of sliced black Olives
1/4 Cup of sliced green Olives
1/8 Cup of sliced jarred Jalapeños
2-3 Tablespoons of Sour Cream

Directions:

Preheat your oven to broil (grill). In a large glass or ceramic casserole dish, pour in tortilla chips and top with meat and then cheese. Place in oven and broil for about 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is a bit crispy. Remove from oven, and top with remaining ingredients. Other great toppings are: green onions, tomatoes, salsa, black beans, corn, and/or red onion.

Ingredients:

3 parts Tequila

2 parts juice of fresh squeezed Limes

1 part Triple sec

1/2 teaspoon Olive juice

4 green Olives with pimentos

Ice

Margarita Salt

Directions:

Squeeze out the lime juice and rub the lime onto the edge of the glass(es) you will be serving in. Dip the glass edge into the margarita salt. Shake or stir together the first 4 ingredients. Add ice to the glass and pour the drink mixture over the ice. Garnish with 4 or more (or less) green olives on a toothpick.

Serves 2.

Sushi Rice and Sushi-Zu Recipe from the cookbook “sushi american style” by Tracy Griffith, with some slight variations of mine.
Sushi Rice and Sushi-Zu
Ingredients:
1.5 Cups Sushi Rice
1/3 Cups Rice wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Sugar
1 teaspoon of SaltDirections:
Sushi-Zu: In a small saucepan, stir the vinegar, sugar, and salt over low heat until the sugar and salt dissolve. Don’t let the mixture boil. Set aside.Sushi Rice: Pour the rice into a freestanding wire-mesh sieve. If you don’t have a freestanding one, place one ontop of a pot so it can hang dry. Under cold tap water, swish the rice around with your fingers, until the water runs almost clear. To dry, fan the rice up around the sides of the colander, exposing the maximum surface area to air. Let the rice stand forabout 30 minutes, until it’s completely dry.Place the rice and 2 Cups of water in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Bring to boil over high heat and boil for 1 minute. Foam should bubble up around the lid, but be carefull not to let the rice boil over. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 3 more mintes. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered and undisturbed, for 15 minutes.With a wooden spatula, spread out the rice in the pot. Pour the Sushi-Zu over the rice, trying to cover it evenly. With the paddle, fold the rice until all the grains are coated and glossy.

You are now ready to make “sushi” with this rice.
Makes enough for 2 rolls and 3 nigir-sushi.

Sushi Rolls:
2 Nori sheets
6 cooked Shrimp
3 Snow Peas
2 thin long slices of Cucumber
2 long thing strips of Avocado
Wasabi paste
2/3-3/4 Cup of cooked Sushi Rice
Bamboo rolling mat or aluminum foil
Kikoman Soy Sauce for dipping

Directions:

Have a small bowl of water mixed with a dash of rice vinegar on the side to wet your fingers so the rice doesn’t stick.

On your bamboo rolling mat, place 1 nori sheet shiny-side-down. Wet your hands and scoop out about 1/3 cup of Suchi rice (use a spoon if the rice is still too hot) and place it in the middle of the nori sheet. Spread the rice out over the nori sheet, leaving a 1 inch boarder at the top and bottom. Add some more rice if this was not enough to cover your nori sheet. Repeat this for the second nori sheet as well.

For an untraditiaonal California Roll:
Dab a pea-sized amount of wasabi paste onto your pointer finger and run it accross the middle of the rice. Place 3 shrimp (or surimi…I prefer shrimp) accross the middle of the nori sheet. Place 1 piece of cucumber above the shrimp and 2 pieces of avocado bellow the shrimp. Then, place 3 snow pea pods in a row on top of the shrimp. Roll..
For a Shrimp and Cucumber Roll:
Dab a pea-sized amount of wasabi paste onto your pointer finger and run it accross the middle of the rice. Place 3 shrimp accross the middle of the nori sheet. Place 1 piece of cucumber bellow the shrimp. Roll.

To roll:
See these step-by-step instructions with images from FabulousFoods.com

Serves 2.

Nigiri Sushi
Ingredients:
2/3 Cup of cooked Sushi Rice
3 jumbo-sized cooked shrimp (see instructions on how to cook shrimp for nigiri-sushi at the Tokyo Food Page)

Directions:
Using left over rice form oval rolls, dab on some wasabi paste, and cover with shrimp.

Serves 1.

Late summer / Early Fall Salad, originally uploaded by my_amii.

Ingredients:
1 Cups of washed Lamb’s Lettuce
4-6 Grape Tomtoes, quartered
4 strawberries, quartered
2 Tablespoons of Feta crumbles
1 Tablespoon of Redwine vinegar
1 teaspoon of Water (optional – use if the vinegar is too strong)
Directions:
Toss all ingredients together and serve imediatley.

Tostadas
Ingredients:
3 large flour Tortillas
1 Plum Tomato, diced
1/2 Cup of shredded Gouda
1 Cup of shredded Iceberg Lettuce
3 Tablepsoons of Sour Cream
1/4 Cup of sliced green Olives
Taco meat (see recipe bellow)
1 Cup of Oil for frying

Directions:
In a skillet, heat the frying oil and fry one flour tortilla at a time, turning once.  Poke any parts of the tortilla that bubble up to release built up pressure.  Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to remove as much oil as possible.  Set aside.
Once you are ready to eat, assemble the tostadas by evenly distributing the taco meat on the 3 fried tortillas.  Then, layer with Gouda, 1 Tablespoon of sour cream each, lettuce, tomato, and green olives.

*For a vegetarian version, substitute the taco meat for heated refried beans.
**Or, add a layer of refried beans to the tostadas for a heartier meal (spread on before the taco meat).

Taco meat:
250 grams of ground beef
2 teaspoons of Chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
dash of Cayan pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground Cumin
1/2 Cup of Water
1 teaspoon Cornstarch

Directions:
In a saucepan, brown the ground beef on high heat.  Once beef has been browned add all other ingredients and let simmer until the liquid has reduced and the flavors have set in, about 5 minutes.  Set aside.