COOKING FOR TAMA (YouTube) Part 2

RD Lick em Up! Our cooking show is not made for prime time t.v., but we don't give a shit, part 2 of "Cooking For Tama" Our families' Staffy. We cooked a 12 oz. New York steak for him, and he mauled it in less than 30 seconds.

Our show is based on Danny Agdeppa behind the camera as camera man/ commentator, while Ron (me) is the front man playing the chef. Every episode is an experiment.

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THE MAHALO GIVING BIRD

Thank You in Hawaiian, we say "Mahalo" (ma hah low)... Get it? In a week, it'll be Mahalogiving time, and well, most peeps will be roasting that bird also know as the turkey, the Tom, the bird. Some folks have some creative recipes for this bird. I've seen it done Chinese style, almost like Peking duck, I've seen it done somewhat Filipino/Spanish with the adobo flavors. Yes, I've seen it done with a teriyaki sauce too. Underground roasted, kalua. Deep Fried, oh this is really good deep fried, crispy on the outside, and juicy tender on the inside, man even the breast is juicy. But that good old traditional roasted turkey in the oven with the gravy made from the juices off the roasting pan, can't get better than that. There's nothing like it, some peeps will soak the turkey in a salted, herbed and spiced brine (not me though). Some peeps thaw it out early, fill a chest with ice, season it all over with seasonings, and let it just seep right into the body. My friend Uncle Al D, used to get lots of lemon grass, ginger, and garlic, with some soy sauce and soak the cavity of the bird with it. Then he'd go under the skin and put some Hawaiian salt, with pepper, and herbs, and tuck in nice and tight, lots of garlic too. He'd crank up the oven to super hot, place the bird in there, and let the bird get that crispy crust, then he'd foil it, turn the heat down to like right above 280 deg. and let it slow cook, always checking the birds internal temperature with his old culinary instant read thermometer, he'd pull it out at about 150 deg. f and let it rest on the counter, by the time people were ready to eat, it was fork tender. Also his stove was messed up, but he knew how to stroke that baby, I think now that stove is in the landfill. 


Happy Thanksgiving!

HOW TO USE TOFU FOR BREAKFAST

For those of you who think tofu is bland, think again, this is a simple recipe that is great for those of you trying to omit the meat out of your diets. Check out this list of ingredients, it's easy to purchase for I bet, you can buy these in your local supermarket.


And all you'll need is a non-stick pan, about a 10 inch pan will do, or a 12.


5 tbsp. of safflower oil
2 minced garlic
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika,1 block firm tofu 14 oz. Broken up into pieces. (organic)


1. Heat up the oil in pan over medium high heat, then add in the garlic, and ginger for a few seconds until the aroma is present, then add in the cumin and paprika, stir it  into the oil for a few seconds. Then add in the tofu, and stir around cooking for about 5 minutes until steaming.


2 tsp. turmeric
1 orange (squeezed of its juice)3
1 bay leaf broken
3 tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp. ume vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


2. Add in the turmeric, stir until some color changes to yellowish, then add in the juice of one orange, stir for a minute, crack the bay leaf in half, add that in as well as the soy sauce, ume vinegar, stir for about a couple minutes, you'll smell the aroma which is cool and fresh.
Add in salt and pepper to taste.


Serve with toast or any starch you like.

SWEET SOUR SHRIMP On The Healthy Side

Sweet Sour Shrimp is a very popular Chinese dish, usually the shrimp is battered and then deep fried in hot sizzling oil, to a nice golden crisp, and a sauce that is sweet and sour, and colored on the reddish, yellowish side. There's different styles because of the different chefs that make it, but the basic recipes do have lots of sugar and sodium, so then how can you keep the sugars and sodium down?


Try this recipe.


1 lb. of cleaned shrimp, tails on.


1 cup of garbanzo flour + 2 cups of garbanzo flour
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
Ice Cold water enough to make a batter with the last 2 cups of garbanzo flour


First, take the one cup of garbanzo flour and put it in a bowl. Now place the shrimp in the flour and dredge it.


Next, add the bread crumbs 1/4 cup to the 2 cups of garbanzo flour, mix it well with a whisk or a fork, then slowly add in the ice cold water, mixing it in so that the mixture will be just right, not too thick and not too runny. Then add in the dredged shrimp and coat it well with the batter.


For the Sweet Sour Sauce:


1/2 cup of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup of raw brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup of water
1 tsp. ground turmeric


1 tbsp. of cornstarch
3 tbsp. of water.
Mix these two together in small bowl to thicken sauce.


1. Heat up a wok with vegetable oil over high heat, until it sizzles, then turn heat down to medium high, fry the battered shrimp, 2-3 at a time until golden, place on paper towel to drain oil. Continue until all of the shrimp are cooked.


2. In the same wok, with oil drained out, put the ingredients of all the sweet and sour mixture into the wok over high heat, stir it around, then add in the cornstarch and water mixture to thicken the sauce, the turmeric should make it kind of yellowish orange.


3. Pour the hot sauce over the cooked shrimp and serve immediately with brown rice, not white rice.

Sausage Salad

Salads are getting to be quite crazy these days, I mean you go to a restaurant, and you'll see nice Kula greens, topped with 5 oz. of thinly sliced grilled flank, and the chef calls it a fajita salad. Wow, meat lovers unite!


Well, everyone that loves to eat meat, and I really try to watch my intake of it, in fact, seriously if there were more vegan joints around Lahaina or where I travel I'd really eat that kind of food. Well, that's another story for another time eh?


How about creating a sausage salad? Well, you can use any kind of sausage you like, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Ham, Pork links, whatever.


Here's my Sausage Salad, and you sick puppies are making fun of that dish right now eh sickos? But here is my Sausage Salad.


Serves 2.


Hand full of chopped romaine lettuce on each plate
A few Kalamata olives on each plate

A few thinly sliced onion slices on each plate
A few thinly sliced daikon radish on each plate


DRESSING:
2/3 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. sugar
In a blender blend all of these ingredients, and pour on each plate over veggies.


10 oz. of Portuguese sausage spicy
Pan sear sausage until it is blacken in the pan, use no oil or fats, let the fats come out from the sausage as it sears. Then slice it diagonally, dividing 5 oz. each over each plate, feather it over the veggies, serve with a nice red wine.


The picture is of Linguica made in a factory, these are very tasty sausage, over veggies it's wonderful.

TOFU, GINGER, PATIS, SWEET CHILI SAUCE

Here are 4 ingredients, tofu (firm), ginger, patis (fermented fish sauce), and sweet chili sauce. What can you do with it?


Here's what I would do, I'd take the tofu and drain it well, take out as much water as possible, and then cut them up into cubes about 1/2 inches in size. Then peel the fresh ginger, and grate them, about 1 tbsp., and then mix about 4 tbsp. of patis, and 2 tbsp. of sweet chili sauce.


Then to be fancy, place the tofu, divided on four saucers, because most blocks of tofu are 14 oz., so each person will get a little over 3 oz. of tofu, then I'd top each saucer with some grated ginger, and then spoon some of the patis and sweet chili sauce mixture over it.

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BALE Spring Rolls with Veggies, Rice Noodles and Fish Sauce

If you've never eaten at Bale restaurant, a Vietnamese dig, you're missing out. The food is clean, and really low on the sat fats. Bale is located in Kahului at the Maui Market Place off of Dairy Road, it is also in Wailuku town under the bridge, there's one in the Piilani Shopping Village in Kihei, and one in the Lahaina Cannery Mall.

Pictured here is the Spring Rolls side dish, with crispy spring rolls, long rice noodles, sliced cucumber, and crisp romaine lettuce and sweet fish sauce. People can eat this anyway they want, but most will put a Spring roll into the lettuce, with a topping of rice noodles, cucumber, and dip it in the fish sauce and chomp it down.

Very filling, and clean, they also have vegetarian, and the breads are awesome too, they make great sandwiches, Vietnamese with a French touch.