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Easy Dinner Fix For Family Diets

July 14, 2019 By Eleanor Hoh 1 Comment

With all the endless diets nowadays, it’s tricky to fix dinner when your family is split between Low Carb, Keto, Paleo, Atkins, South Beach, Vegetarian, Vegan, the list is endless. On top of diets, throw food allergies like gluten intolerance in the mix and you’re at your wits’ end how to make dinner the whole family can enjoy? Is this a familiar scene with your family? I’d love to hear your “workarounds” in comment below.

WSJ Family Fight over carbs — In a recent Wall Street Journal article, The Family Dinner Is Now A Battle Over Carbohydrate Preferences, I was overjoyed to read the mom makes stir fry twice a week and of course triggered me to post this blog. I don’t know if the writer is a Dietitian but his suggestions of dinner with chopped salad with meat or eggs for The Low Carb Diet sounds so boring, no wonder folks can’t stay on their diets!

I’ll start by saying every diet agrees more veggies and a smaller portion of meat with good fats, right? Well, Asians have eaten that way for decades so wok cooking is ideal!

When our mom cooked, a typical family dinner consists of Stir Fried Veggies, Stir Fried Meat with Veggies, Soup and rice. Carbs are sides unless it’s fried rice or a fried noodle dish.

My simple dinner at home with my sister and her hubby! See noodles at the top of the table?

So, here’s my workaround for families with multi-diets…
Try my cooking process of stir frying veggies and meat separately.

Matt show off stir frying Chinese Broccoli!

If there’s a vegan or vegetarian, it’s easy to just leave out the meat and cook up some tofu and still share the veggies! You can choose your own carbs and here’s a delicious low carb, Curry Quinoa which everyone will LOVE.

Wok cooking is so adaptable to any diet!

I encourage you to invite your kids and partners or friends to chop veggies and stir fry with you. It’s a perfect way to spend family time together, and dinner will be ready in no time!

I’ve said this many times, my fondest childhood memories are cooking with my mom and sisters and sitting down to dinner at our big round rosewood dining table with a lazy Susan. I am reminded of our times together every time I cook and I LOVE IT.

Mango, Pineapple Salsa

June 27, 2019 By Eleanor Hoh 5 Comments

Thank you Mom! This Mango Pineapple Salsa is so popular and well received that even chefs who cook for celebrities wanted my “recipe”. I’ve adapted your cucumber, tomato pickle by adding fresh mango and pineapple and voila, it’s now a Mango, Pineapple Salsa. The combination of sweet mangoes and juicy, sweet pineapple is a winner! Refreshing and addictive!

It doesn’t matter proportion, whatever fruit you like most, add that.

My mom’s cucumber pickle always showed up at the table when she made spicy curries, the pickle is supposed to help “cool us down”.

It is the easiest Mango, Pineapple Salsa ever!!!

Cube everything, toss to mix
add rice vinegar, Celtic Sea Salt and lime juice if you have it
use a slotted spoon, keep turning, let sit covered in fridge for about 4-6 hours ON THE DAY you want to eat it. NOT overnight, that’s too long.

NOTES:
Mangoes – best are Ataulfo, also known as Champagne mangoes and for good reason, they are sweet, creamy and perfect, I get mine from Costco. Feel free to use whatever mangoes you want. Locally grown with sweet perfumes, umm. Don’t use pithy ones, they’ll wreck your experience.

Pineapple – use ripe, otherwise it’s too sour and also not juicy.

Cucumber – I love Persian cucumbers, Hot House cucumbers are crunchy with less seeds. Cut out seeds, they make pickles too watery.

Tomatoes – ripe ones are better, any kind whether plum, on the vine or Beefsteak work.

Celtic Sea Salt – I stumbled upon this brand years ago and discovered it’s the BEST! This brand has over 70 minerals that our body needs to function optimally. I absolutely LOVE the flavor, never salty but adds FLAVOR. I’ll be posting a blog about how important salt is soon.

Marukan Rice Vinegar – I’ve used Marukan for years, but my mom used the Chinese white rice vinegar. Add in a third way up the big bowl AFTER you’ve cubed ALL the veggies and fruits. This way you’ll be able to see how much you need.

When ready to serve, drain juice into clean jar for other salads or add to sauces or soup, delish.

Serving Suggestions:
This Mango Pineapple Salsa is a great side for BBQ meats whether they’re ribs, pork or lamb chops, steaks and goes especially well with fish.

Best is with my signature Spicy Hoisin Ribs! Perfect for 4th of July or any occasion!

If any leftover Mango Pineapple Salsa, add to your lunch salad and eat this up as soon as you can, it’ll get very soft and watery.

Ingredients:
2 mangoes
1 pineapple
1/2 red or yellow onion
4 Persian cucumbers
4 ripe plum tomatoes
2 scallions
handful of cilantro for last minute garnish (optional)

Seasonings:
Marukan rice vinegar
Celtic Sea Salt fine ground
1/2 lime or lemon juice (optional)

Directions:
1. Core and cube veggies and fruits and place into a big bowl.

2. Add vinegar, salt and lime juice. Use slotted spoon and keep turning.

3. Cover with plate or Saran wrap and leave in fridge.

4. Use slotted spoon and turn a few times before draining juice prior to serving.

\Enjoy and be prepared for friends asking you for this salsa recipe, send them over here! Would love to hear what other combinations you create as your Mango Pineapple Salsa in comments.

Note: I receive a commission from Amazon affiliate links on this post.

Dreamy, Creamy Curry Coconut Seafood Soup

March 12, 2019 By Eleanor Hoh 12 Comments

I love challenging myself to come up with a dish using ingredients I already have! And this Dreamy Curry Coconut Seafood Soup came about after my first attempt at a dinner party with this one-dish soup. It is so fast, making it a super weeknight dinner!

Some helpful notes…
Use the same technique as with stir frying, cook each vegetable SEPARATELY as they don’t cook at the same rate.

Use a wide shallow bowl, I got these beautiful orange ones at West Elm and they are perfect for presenting any dish. My new favorite bowls. I have them in white and gold because they ran out of orange.

Use WHATEVER vegetables you have, that’s the beauty of being a Wok Star! None of my cooking is about specific ingredients.

Use a good brand of curry powder, it makes a world of difference, don’t use curry sauce! I love Baba’s from Malaysia, a brand of curry powder my mom introduced me.

Start with 1 tablespoon for 3 bowl pot which is what I did for 2 people. Everyone has different taste profiles, so adjust according to how spicy you like it. Just know when you add coconut milk, it will dilute the spiciness, so adjust after that as well.

This dish was originally inspired by a Curry Shrimp soup I loved at Lillikoi Organic Living in South Beach. If you ever get a chance, pop in there for their version.

When you like a dish at a restaurant, claim it for yourself, put your spin on it and use what you like and expand on it. That easy, that’s what being a Wok Star is all about. It’s more about the cooking PROCESS than specific ingredients and measurements.

This post is about shifting your cooking mindset…
Cooking is about FLAVORS, TEXTURES AND COLORS, in that order. If you focus on those, everything else will fall into place. I repeat this a lot in my cooking class. Keep practicing and the process will become second nature. And when that happens, you’ll look forward to CREATING instead of avoiding cooking because it’s drudgery.

What makes cooking EASY is if you stock some basics then you’ll be able to create some pretty fantastic dinners! This brings me to a much needed blog on stocking basics, that’ll be next.

**Dreamy Curry Coconut Seafood Soup:** shrimp, salmon with snow peas and mini sweet peppers.

I poached salmon and shrimp ahead and reheated broth to pour over when guests arrived. It worked out so well, all about the planning.

Snow peas, mini multi colored sweet peppers and scallions. Crunchy textures and added a pop of color.

Here’s a step by step for Dreamy Curry Coconut Seafood Soup…
Ingredients:
Salmon cut into big chunks
Shrimp
Brussels Sprouts
sweet corn
mini sweet peppers
G&G
Scallions

Flavorings:
TSP (tamari, sherry, pepper white)
Curry powder (see note above)
Coconut Milk

Garnish:
chopped scallions
chopped Cilantro
Lime wedges

Method:

1. Start by using the bowl you will serve in as a measuring vessel for the broth and add 1 extra bowl because broth tends to boil down over time.

1. Next, add flavorings to broth: G&G; TSP and curry powder, mix well.

1. Poach tilapia on slow simmer so they don’t break. Use slotted spoon to transfer to serving bowl.

1. Poach shrimp till just pink, spoon around tilapia in bowl.

1. Blanche SEPARATELY Brussels Sprouts, sweet corn, sweet peppers in boiling broth and take out with slotted spoon and place around seafood in bowl.

Reheat broth to rolling boil. Depending on how many guests you are feeding (1 can of coconut milk for more than 4 people), I only put in about 4-6 tablespoons of coconut milk for 2 of us so it’s not so rich and heavy.

Garnishes:

Put garnishes in separate bowls in case guests don’t like a certain one (I learned that one!)
Squeeze lime wedge over your soup, lime is amazing, it helps to ‘wake up’ all the flavors and make them shine and accentuated. However, don’t overdo it because then it becomes too sour and ruin the other flavors. You can also swirl in some coconut cream. Sprinkle chopped scallions and cilantro for a complete fresh flavor blast.
I’ve now added my new fav find…Crispy shallots or Crispy Red Onions from Asian market. They have NO MSG or processed chemicals, only fried in either soy bean oil or coconut oil.

I remember my mom taught us how to shallow fry shallots in oil. They are sprinkled on many dishes in Malaysia especially noodle dishes, they give a nice crunch and superb flavor, salivating just thinking about these, ha, ha. Peeling shallots and cutting them thin, then frying is so much work, I was elated when I discovered them already fried in a jar from the Asian market.

There is nothing more rewarding than hearing your hubby say how much he enjoyed my Curry Coconut Seafood Soup, dreamy and creamy.

Now, dream up your own version and share with us in COMMENTS below or ask me questions!

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