quickmeals

Chinese Inspired Salt & Peppered Calamari

food

Made this on a whim on Friday night because I was running out of dinner ideas…. then I looked in the freezer and saw this whole ass squid and was like omg…. 💡calamari rings!

If you are dismembering a whole squid, there are 2 things to know:

  1. you must pull out the skeleton that’s on the inside and throw that away along with its head
  2. when you are frying it, do NOT move it around or the batter will fall off into the oil!

The chewiness of the calamari will be dependent of how you slice it up. In my personal opinion, the calamari is already chewy in nature and if I make it too thick, it will be unpleasing to eat. So I tried to keep it to a good amount of thickness and of course I will attach some photos for you to see!

Note: 1 squid is sufficient to feed 2 people. If you have a larger party to feed, I’d recommend getting more. I also think this recipe can be done with pre-prepared squid… I think some stores have un-marinated calamari rings available for purchase.

Ingredients for the squid:

  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine

Ingredients for the batter:

  • 1/2 cup of flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
  • 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder (*this is key*)

Ingredients for the stir-fry (at the end):

  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • chopped onions
  • 2-3 Thai chili peppers, chopped thinly (you can sub it for jalapeños)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Step 1: Prepare your squid! Rinse the squid with cold water. Pull out the skeleton and toss. Using your knife, slice pieces to the thickness seen in my photo (but it’s your preference of course). I kept the tentacles because that’s the best part!!

Step 2: Marinade the squid for 15 minutes by adding 1 egg and the ingredients listed above under ‘squid marinade.’

Step 3: Mix ingredients for the batter. Depending on how large of a frying pot you are using, only batter enough squid pieces to fit for each round. *This means I do not batter the squid and then let it sit until it’s ready to fry. If you bread everything at once, the flour will soak into the squid and fall off and then you will have naked calamari.* So for my small pot, I was able to fit about 7 squid pieces each time.

Step 4: Once you set each calamari piece into the fryer, DO NOT TOUCH IT! If you touch it, the flour pieces will fall off and then your pieces won’t be breaded anymore. I fried them for about 4-5 minutes each time. There were some pieces where I had to flip them over in order to fry evenly.

STep 5: Repeat step 4 until all pieces have finished frying.

Step 6: Prepare stir-fry ingredients! Chop up 1/2 an onion and chili peppers. Chop about 2-3 garlic gloves.

Step 7: In a new sauce pan, add 1 tbsp oil and add in minced garlic, chopped onions and chopped chili peppers. Stir until fragrant. Add in calamari rings/pieces and saute on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Make sure to sprinkle salt and pepper on the top and continue stirring.

Step 8: Serve over white rice and enjoy! This can totally be eaten as a snack! I guarantee it won’t last long.

bon appetit!

Boba Shop Air-Fried Popcorn Chicken

food

Dude… quarantine life got me mEssEd UP…. I miss leaving my house, grabbing boba and walking around Target for no actual reason. I’ve been craving popcorn chicken that’d I’d normally get from the OG Lollicup back home. See photo.

I had this idea because I went to Costco last week and saw they were selling frozen chicken breast pieces that were already chopped into ~ 1 inch squares! I was staring at the bag like “what can I do with this… and immediately popcorn chicken popped into my head. If I can recall correctly, it was $10.99/bag.

To come up with this recipe, I referenced a Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken recipe that I found online (click to navigate to that site!) I learned the key ingredient was Chine five spice powder and basil leaves! Sadly during this time I didn’t have any basil leaves but I highly recommend adding it at the end if you can! With that being said, let’s get to it 🙂

Ingredients for chicken marinade:

  • 3 boneless chicken thighs or chicken breast
    • Tip: I used the bag of pre-cut chicken breast that I referenced above! Makes everything extremely easy.
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp five spice powder
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
  • 1/2 tsp white pepper powder
  • 1/8 tsp black pepper powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp sugar

Ingredients for toppings:

  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • salt and black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon msg (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

Directions:

Step 1: Chop chicken into 1 inch cubes if you don’t have it pre-cut. Marinate the chicken for 30 minutes with the combined ingredients, as stated above.

Step 2: Next you’re going to batter the chicken. Depending on how large your air fryer is, only batter how much your air fryer can fit at a time. If you batter everything ahead of time and allow it to sit there, it will get soggy and the flour slowly falls off 😥 = which means it won’t be crunchy! Dip each chicken piece into egg mixture and coat it with flour.

Step 3: Add chicken into air fryer. Before you start cooking, pour some oil into a small dish and use a cooking brush to dab and coat the chicken with oil. I tried spraying cooking oil, i.e., Pam, but it didn’t coat the chicken with enough oil. From my experience, this is the best way to yield delicious results. This is how you get the “fried chicken” effect without actually deep frying!

Step 4: Set your air fryer between 350-375 F and cook for 15 minutes. After about 15 minutes, it should look like this. Using a fork, separate the individual chicken pieces because they will be stuck together. Cook it again for another 5 minutes.

Step 6: After 5 minutes, flip the chicken with tongs. You won’t need to dab it with oil again because there will be enough oil around the chicken by this time. Cook for another 5-7 minutes and it’s all done! Remember to check it with a food thermometer = 165 degrees for safe eating. *If you have basil leaves, this is where you would add them.

Note: I repeated these steps 2 more times to cook all of my chicken. For those of you who have larger air fryers, you can probably cook everything in one sitting 😛

| As you can see, my air fryer is small, so it takes me twice as long to cook these special dishes… but I promise it’s always worth it! |

Step 7: Remove chicken from air fryer and into a large mixing bowl. Pour the ingredients for the topping (cayenne pepper, chili powder, msg, salt/pepper, Chinese 5 spice) and shake to mix evenly. If you want it more spicy, cayenne pepper always delivers a kick 🥵

Step 8: Make your favorite dipping sauce! I love spicy mayo, so mix 1:1 equal parts of sriracha sauce and mayonnaise.

You can enjoy it as a snack or serve over white rice if you need a quick dinner idea!

Enjoy!! If you ever try one of my recipes, make sure to tag me and shout me out 🥰 Love and blessings, stay safe everyone.

Chicken wings and Tomato Jeow (Laotian dipping sauce)

food

Ahhhhhh, chicken wings and a spicy dipping sauce. A Laotian staple. This is one of those meals that you eat like once a week with your family with a side of steaming hot sticky rice. Pair it with spicy papaya salad and there’s no other meal like it.

This spicy dipping sauce is called “jeow” and it’s a pretty universal name used for most sauces. The one I made here is the tomato version, “jeow mak-len“. My mom was always the go-to person to make a large batch of these and then she’ll put it in Tupperware and it can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks! I don’t have the luxury of making large batches since there’s only 2 people in this household, so making it fresh each time is perfectly fine with me 🤓

Ingredients for the chicken wings:

  • 12 large chicken wings, with the drum and tail attached
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 5 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp chicken seasoning
  • 3/4 tbsp yellow curry powder
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • black pepper
  • 1 tbsp chopped lemon grass
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder or 2-3 cloves chopped garlic

Directions for chicken wings: Very straight forward– just combine all of the ingredients and let it marinate for 20 minutes or overnight. Then I cooked it on broil at 425 F for a total of 45 minutes, flipping the wings to the other side after about 20 minutes. Tip: I lay the wings out on a tray upside down on purpose. So when it’s time to flip it, the top part of it will be nice and crispy (cause’ that’s the best part).

– featured: frozen chopped lemongrass

Ingredients for the tomato jeow:

  • (serving for 2 people, with leftovers)
  • 5 grape tomatoes
  • 3 shallots
  • 3 Thai chili peppers (or more, but mine are very spicy so 3 is a good medium spice for me)
  • 1.5 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 2.5-3 tsp fish sauce
  • 1.5 tsp sugar
  • 1 lime slice
  • mortar and pestle, OR something to smash the ingredients with i.e., rolling pin and ziplock bag

Directions for the tomato jeow:

Step 1: Slice the grape tomatoes and shallots into halves. Lay out the chili peppers with the stems removed. I cooked this in my air fryer for 5 minutes, but you can do this in anything (i.e., toaster oven, large oven).

But if you’re going to do this in an air fryer like me, you must do it BELOW the basket cover. This is to prevent any vegetables from rising and getting stuck in the heat source, thus causing a fire. Please see photo below! Cook at 400 F for 7 minutes.

– we want to cover the veggies from floating up in the air fryer to PREVENT a FIRE

Step 2: After 7 minutes, your vegetables should look charred a bit. This is exactly how you want it! Remove from foil and throw them into your mortar and pestle. Smash it until you get a thick consistency and everything looks well mixed.

a. charred and beautiful
b. thicccccness

Step 3: Squeeze a lime slice. Add in fish sauce, sugar and cilantro. Mix thoroughly. The consistency of this sauce is supposed to be on the thicker side, but if you like it more liquidy, feel free to add in a tsp of h2o.

Step 4: Finished product!!! I like to dip the chicken into it and scoop some into my rice.

– enjoy!

Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Vietnamese Beef Stew “Bo Kho”

food

Happy self-quarantine recipe #2! Twas’ another rainy day in LA and ya girl was werkin’ that instant pot. This dish is extremely soothing and warms my soul. You can serve it with vermicelli noodles or dip it with baguettes as I did– either way, I love slurping up the broth!

Servings: ~6 bowls Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of beef flank (I bought beef that was already cubed for stew from the grocery store)
  • 5 tbsp bo kho powder ($3.99 at Asian mart and there were some left over for another time)
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1/2 tsp chicken powder
  • 1/2 tsp mushroom powder
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1.5 tsp white sugar
  • 1 tbsp beef paste
  • 1 tsp sweet soy sauce

Veggies/Herbs

  • 1 tomato, chopped into medium size
  • 3-4 carrots, chopped
  • sliced onions
  • minced shallots (5)
  • minced garlic (2 cloves)
  • 2 pieces of sliced ginger
  • 1-2 stalk lemongrass OR 1 tbsp frozen lemongrass

Directions

Step 1: Time to prep! Chop up all the vegetables. See photo above ^ Note: The COVID outrage has left my grocery store empty! So I couldn’t get my hands on actual fresh lemongrass, but was able to pick up a jar of frozen lemongrass. I used about 1 tbsp– it’s the middle bowl with the green stuff in it.

Step 2: Get your instant pot, click “saute” and set for 4 minutes. Drizzle 1 tbsp oil and add in onions, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass and shallots. Stir occasionally. Fun fact: I set my instant pot on top of my stove so that I can simultaneously turn on my kitchen vent in efforts to suck up all the steam and aromatics that’s rising from the pot.

*this is the bo kho powder I used. and featured here is my instant pot sitting in the middle of my stove top… #innovative

Step 3: Add in the beef. Set to “saute” mode for another 3 minutes. Salt and pepper the beef as you are stirring. Once the timer is up, fill the pot with water to the 1/2 mark that is right below the 2/3 max line. *we need to leave space for the tomatoes and carrots. Next, add in the carrots + tomatoes and the water should rise to the max line.

Step 4: Add in everything that is listed in the ingredients list above. Click “stew” mode and set your instant pot for 35 minutes and close the lid. Once it is complete, you can choose your form of release; I don’t think it makes a difference here.

Step 5: Toast your baguettes! If you know me by now, I use my air fryer for everything and just to be EXTRA, I brushed butter onto the top and sprinkled some parsley before toasting. I put it in the air fryer at 300 F for 2 minutes.

*bougie af

Step 6: Serve in a bowl and share it with your loved ones! Or not… your choice 😉

with love and blessings, @tbh_xtina ❤

EASY Pressure Cooker Pho Bo (beef pho!)

food

Hi friends! I’m super excited to share my recipe for beef pho… using the amazing instant pot! Yes, two weeks ago I finally hopped on the pressure cooker train and convinced my bf to purchase it at Costco :3 ($89.99 for anyone interested in getting one).

I can’t put in words how fortunate I am to have a local 99 Ranch close to me where I can pick up the following very helpful ingredients: the beef pho powder mix and the Pho Hoa star anise spice satchel. This saves you SOOO much time and still gives you a very authentic taste. I don’t always agree to short-cutting… but for this recipe, we can! I mean… aren’t we already taking a short cut if we’re using a pressure cooker to make our broth?? Sheesh, I can’t complain there.

Instead of the usual 4+ hours needed to get a rich broth, with an instant pot, we can make it in under 1 hour.

| So go on, invite some guests over and trick them into thinking you spent all day making this with your blood, sweat and tears. I dare ya! |

Servings: 4-5 bowls. Prep time: 15 minutes. Cook time: 45 minutes.

Ingredients for the broth…

  • beef bones of your choice, you can use oxtail. I used 4 beef neck bones.
  • 2 tbsp beef pho mix
  • 1 can of beef broth (inside asian marts for $0.69)
  • 1.5-2 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 Pho Hoa star anise spice satchel (see below)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ginger
  • 1 tsp beef paste (optional, it’s what made my broth more dark)
  • 1 pack of beef meatballs

Ingredients for your bowl…

  • 1 pack of fresh rice stick noodles (16 oz) — good for 4 or 5 bowls
  • hoisin sauce
  • sriracha sauce
  • chili oil
  • jalapenos
  • bean sprouts
  • chopped green onions
  • chopped cilantro

Directions:

Step 1: Before actually cooking in your instant pot (or pressure cooker), put the bones in a small pot and boil it with water on your stove for about 10 minutes. This is to get all the gunk off the bones and helps to get a very clear broth. See photo below 🙂

– see how dark the water is? we want all that nasty stuff extracted from the bones.

Step 2: Remove bones from the pot. Rinse in cold water before adding it to your instant pot. Cut half an onion and 2 pieces of ginger. Click saute mode and set to 5 minutes. Mix everything around the bottom of the pot with 1 tbsp oil. The goal is to blacken the onion and char the meat that’s on the bones.

Step 3: Fill the pot with water to about 3/4 full. Add in fish sauce, one pho hoa satchel (the star anise packet– DO NOT CUT OPEN. *It will float and release its contents to the broth like a tea bag), and instant beef broth powder (*DO NOT pour entire packet).

Click “soup/broth” button and set instant pot timer for 45 minutes. While the pressure cooker is working its magic, this is when I slice the additional brisket, tripe, onions, green onions and cilantro. Or you can always buy packaged slices of brisket/beef. Make sure to thinly slice everything! Nobody likes choking on onions, okuuuuur.

– don’t forget to wash the bean sprouts and chop some jalapenos and limes

Once the timer is up, you can choose to either do quick release or natural release to alleviate the pressure inside. I like natural release because I’m impatient, hehe. When the broth is done cooking and you’re able to remove the lid, you will notice the meat on the bones are extremely tender and falling off the bones 😀

– okay, not sure if you can tell here but I assure you it’s falling off the bones!

Step 4: Add in your meatballs at the end, while the broth is still scorching hot. I made the mistake of cooking the meatballs with the broth and they came out super mushy and lost its flavor 😦

– see how the beef balls are cracked? I don’t recommend cooking it with the broth, but rather adding them at the end.

Step 5: Get your rice noodles and cut them in half so it’s easier to remove from the bag. I used a metal basket to cook the noodles in the broth before placing them into my actual bowl. I know some people boil their noodles in a separate pot ahead of time, but this is my way of trying to save everyone some time so we can get to grubbin’!

Step 6: Pour broth into large bowl, add in green onion, cilantro and jalapeno. Don’t forget your meatballs and brisket! I personally don’t like tripe, so it’s not featured in this photo lol. Serve with sriracha, hoisin sauce and chili oil!

– note: this photo is filtered to show details of the soup 😉
with love, @tbh_xtina ❤

Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp

food

This dish is definitely a crowd pleaser. This is my version of the Shrimp Daddy copycat. If you’ve visited LA, you’ll know what I’m talking about! On days I don’t want to fight traffic to get some Shrimp Daddy, this recipe does the job 😉

hawaiian garlic shrimp recipe

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs of large shrimp — skin on
  • Flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 tbsp Old Bay Cajun seasoning
  • 1.5 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/4 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 tbsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 1/4 stick of butter
  • 10 chopped garlic cloves (the more the better in my opinion)
  • Lemon slices — your preference

Preparation

  • step 1
  • step 2
  • step 4
  • *finished product*
  1. Clean shrimp. Batter the shrimp with shell on using eggs and flour.
  2. You can deep fry, but I pan fried — Add the oil to a pan and cook the shrimp on each side. *this his how the crunchy skin forms!* Remove shrimp from the pan when it’s cooked.
  3. Since I have a small pan, I had to repeat this step 3x to actually finish cooking the shrimp. So during each batch, I applied new oil to coat each round of shrimp.
  4. Wipe your pan down with a paper towel. Add butter onto your pan and lots of chopped garlic! Let sizzle and keep stirring. Add old bay Cajun seasoning, paprika, salt, sugar and black pepper — it should be slightly thickened sauce.
  5. (Note: if you have a large pan and it permits you to fit all the shrimp, then you can do it all at once. But I had to break this up into 3 rounds once again).
  6. Add the shrimp back into the pan and toss around to coat the outer layer of the shrimp for 5 minutes. Eat up!

Tips:

  • This dish is meant to be eaten WITH the shell on! (it’s weird at first, but it’s pretty bomb)
  • Serve with rice and Furikake seasoning on top.
  • Squeeze some lemon slices if you want it zestyyyy.

TT 03: My Top 3 Frozen Meals (without compromising taste, time and money)

food

Welcome to Topic Tuesday 03!

Let’s be real here, the majority of us are millennials. And lord knows we are always on a crunch for time AND we’re tight on money. Like, always.

But who says frozen foods have to be gross and unhealthy all the time? I decided to write about this as I was scrambling this morning to prepare for today. On Tuesdays I start class at 1:00 PM, which gives me an open morning. I’ll be at school until 6:00 PM which means I’m having dinner in the classroom… Then I’ll be stuck in traffic on the drive home and won’t have time to cook anything else. So these are my favorite things to turn to when there’s not enough time in the day!

All of these items are under $15 and you’ll get multiple meals out of it + it cooks in under 20 minutes.

Saving money AND time? Sheeeesh, go on sis.

1. Trader Joe’s Frozen Line of Chinese Take-out: Almost tastes just as good as Panda Express dude. You can’t go wrong for $4.99 a bag! They come in 23 oz. bags that are good for serving 2 people, or good for 1 person with leftovers for tomorrow! My top favorites: the kung pao chicken, orange chicken, chicken fried rice, shrimp stir fry, broccoli beef and chow mein. The walnut shrimp is a no for me…. lol.

I feel like some people are under the impression that TJ’s is organic and expensive like Whole Foods, but it totally isn’t. I learned this when I lived in San Francisco because it turned out to be the CHEAPEST grocery store nearby so we spent our time there on a weekly basis. Be sure to check it out at your local TJ’s!

What I love about it:

  • I normally hate frozen foods, but the Trader Joe’s line isn’t bad at all. They’re pretty good at keeping that authentic Asian taste.
  • Price!! Super cheap so we always stock up during our trip to TJ’s.
  • Everything cooks in under 10 minutes on your skillet and some are even microwaveable.

2. Trident Beer Battered Cod (from Costco). $14.99 for 2.5 lb. box. I throw it in the air fryer for about 10 minutes.

I eat this 1 of 2 ways (air fried or oven baked):

  • wrapped around a plant based tortilla (higher protein content), throw in some shredded cabbage and tartar sauce, and squeeze a lime = easiest fish tacos you’ve ever made
  • served over white rice with a side of spicy soy dipping sauce = reminiscent of chinese restaurant style.

3. Tyson’s Panko Crusted Chicken (from Costco), $13.49 for a large 5 lb. bag. You can’t beat that price… Air fry it and serve over rice with sriracha on the side! However, it comes not fully cooked (unlike like other frozen foods), so they don’t recommend microwaving it.

Why I love this:

  • Great substitute for chicken katsu because it’s all white meat and instead of deep frying, you can air fry this or pop it in your oven.
  • The 5 lb. bag comes with these giant filets of chicken (about 20+) and costs about $14!
  • If you’re cutting carbs, you can eat it as a chicken tender and dip it into some spicy mayo sauce or whatever sauce you prefer.
*this is what the bag looks like, in case you’re hunting for it at Costco

I hope someone out there finds this helpful! Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook but I don’t always have time to make full blown family-style meals. Thanks for reading!

Love & blessings ♥️