The recipe makes a good use of canned or frozen vegetables and dried herbs you would already have in your well-stocked pantry. You can cook a large quantity to make a hearty meal or scoop out a few of those tender and juicy meatballs as your tapas choice.

Serves 3-4

• 350g ground beef
• 1 cup and half (80g) bread crumbs
• 5 tablespoons Freshly grated Parmesan or Manchego Cheese
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 spring onions, minced
• 2 teaspoons, fresh thyme, chopped, or ½ teaspoon, dry Thyme
• ½ teaspoon, Turmeric powder黄姜粉
• 2 large eggs
• Salt and ground black peppercorn for seasoning
• 3 tablespoons             extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 can (400g)                   plum tomato, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons             dry red wine
• 5 tablespoon, fresh basil, roughly chopped, or 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1 tablespoon, fresh rosemary, roughly chopped, or use 1/3 dried rosemary
• 1 cup, peas, use fresh or frozen ones

Method

1. Combine the beef, bread crumbs, cheese, tomato paste, garlic, spring onions, thyme, turmeric powder, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well. Shape the mixture into 16-18 small meatballs.
   

   
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, Add the meatballs and pan fry browned all over, 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the canned tomatoes, wine, basil and rosemary. Simmer gently until the meatballs are cooked and the sauce is reduced. 10-15 minutes. Add the peas, cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.
   

   

   

Pad Thai is such a tasty dish when done right, and it’s something we should be able to make reliably at home. You will want to use a wok that produces high heat to get that elusive wok flavor镬气（huò qì）or 锅气 found on the Thai street food. If you’ve got a bit of spare time, you may want to separate this shrimp pad Thai into two batches to really get the full effect of the Thai street food vendors who make pad Thai to order one serving at a time. Smaller portions, while not always practical, almost always guarantee better results when cooking at home. This Shrimp Pad Thai does require quite a bit of prep work and organization, but once everything is assembled, it really comes together quickly.

Tamarind is widely available in supermarkets. The fruit is a kind of a pod, 12 to 15 cm in length, with a hard, brown shell. The fruit has a fleshy, juicy, acidic and edible pulp. You can easily find canned Tamarind paste in Asia grocery stores. The consumption of tamarind pulp is widespread due to its central role in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and the Americas, especially Mexico. In Western cuisine, tamarind pulp is found in Worcestershire Sauce and HP Sauce.

Serve 4

• 200g dried pad Thai noodles （thin rice noodles）
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon,  caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons  tamarind paste罗望子膏
• 3 tablespoons  fish sauce鱼露
• 2+2 tablespoons  cooking oil
• 200g                       shrimp, shelled and deveined with tail on
• 1 medium shallot or half of 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 tablespoons  salted preserved Chinese turnip or radish, washed in warm water and julienned (optional)
• 2 pieces of extra firm tofu, cut into thin rectangles, 豆腐干
• 2 large eggs
• 2 spring onions cut in inch long pieces
• 1 cup  mung bean sprouts，washed and drained， 豆芽
• 2 tablespoon roasted peanuts, crushed
• For garnishing, use a handful of cilantro leaves, lime, or use banana bud if you are able to find them.

Method

STEP 1

Soak the pad thai noodles in warm water for about 20 minutes, and drain in a colander. If the noodles are in really long strands, you will want to cut them into 10- to 12-inch lengths, or you will end up with a huge noodle ball when cooking. And nobody wants a huge noodle ball.

STEP 2

Let’s prepare the pad thai sauce by combining water, tamarind paste,fish sauce and sugar in a sauce pan, and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes or till the sauce thickens. Transfer to a bowl and put aside.

STEP 3

1. Heat a wok of 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat and sear the shrimp for 1 minute. Remove the shrimp immediately after they’ve gone opaque and are a little golden at the edges, leaving any excess oil in the wok. Set the shrimp aside.
2. In the same wok, add into shallots and garlic over medium high heat and fry till aromatic. Add tofu and turn up the heat to high. Fry for 1 minute.
   

   
3. Time to add the noodles! Add the noodles and stir-fry for about 30 seconds, or until all the ingredients are combined. Pour the pad thai sauce (made in the step 2) mixture over the noodles, and stir fry for 30 seconds or so. Push the noodles to one side of the wok to make way for the eggs. Add two tablespoons of oil to the clear area of the wok. Crack the two eggs in, stir and cook till set. Toss the eggs well with the noodles.
   

   

   
4. Lastly, add the bean sprouts and spring onions. Stir fry everything at high heat until the bean sprouts are just cooked (about 1 to 2 minutes, depending upon how hot your flame can get). Toss in the cooked shrimp, and serve the Shrimp Pad Thai with crushed peanuts. Garnish with cilantro leaves and or/lime. Or even use Banana bud if you are able to find them.
   

   
5. Serve immediately.

Truly miss this spicy, flavorful and delicious Malaysia street food. Fortunately, we can find all the ingredients in the Asian grocery stores here in America. Jarred sambal paste (Malaysia chili paste) is available online or in the grocery store. But this Malaysia chili paste can be quickly made at home.  The sambal paste can go well with other vegetables like asparagus, cucumbers and sweet potato leaves.

Serve 2-4

• 2-3 Asian purple eggplant (about 300g)
• 5 tablespoons       cooking oil 
• 3 tablespoons       Sambal paste (homemade recipe as below)
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked in warm water before use and drain
• ½ teaspoon          brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• ½ teaspoon fresh lime juice

Homemade Sambal Paste叁巴酱

• 8-10 red bird chilies or 4-5 long red chilies
• 1   medium-sized tomato or 3-4 cherry tomatoes (this helps make the paste look red and bright, alternatively, you can use 4-5 red chilies based on your tolerance level of spiciness.)
• 1 tablespoon belacan (Malaysia dry shrimp paste)
• 3 medium-size shallots, peeled
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon, cooking oil
• ½ teaspoon, fresh lime juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Method

1. Cut the eggplant as you like, add 3 tablespoons of oil, fry until cooked, strain excess oil. 
2. To make the sambal, using a blender, blend together red chilies shallots, garlic, belcacan,  salt, sugar, cooking oil and lime juice.  (add a little bit of water to help the blender motor get going.
   

   
3. In a pan, place 2 tablespoons of oil, add the sambal paste & dried shrimp. Stir-fry over medium heat until sambal is well cooked and oil begins to appear on the surface, take about 5 mins. Sambal is done when the liquid has evaporated & the texture becomes scrambled. Adjust the seasoning, add fish sauce & sugar to taste.
   

   
4. Add the fried eggplant, stir to mix. Cook just shortly and remove from heat. Sprinkle ½ teaspoon of lime juice. Serve hot with rice.

 

This healthy, delicious one-pot dish can be customized with most quick-cooking vegetables — thinly sliced asparagus or radishes and brown or button mushrooms — and whatever tofu you have access to. The white peppercorn powder at the end will breathe a lot of much-needed life into this casserole dish built mostly from pantry staples, but a splash of rice wine vinegar would also do the trick.

Serves 3-4

• 1 packet (about 400g)  firm or extra firm Tofu 北豆腐, cut into small cubes
• 12-15 (about 200g)         medium-size shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 teaspoon                  salt
• ½ tablespoon                 light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon                Chinese cooking wine
• 1 teaspoon                    corn starch玉米淀粉
• 1 spring onion              green and white parts separated, minced 葱白葱绿分开, 切成末
• 2 tablespoons                 cooking oil
• 1 cup                               chicken stock (click chinese homemade stock )
• 1 tablespoon                   light soy sauce生抽
• 2 tablespoons                  Chinese word-ear mushrooms (rehydrated one) or use button or brown mushroom, thinly sliced
• 1 cup                                 frozen pea and carrot mix or any suitable vegetables of broccoli or asparagus
• 1 teaspoon                          white sugar (optional)
• A pinch of white peppercorn powder 白胡椒粉

Water starch

• ¼ cup                   water in room temperature
• 2 tablespoons        corn starch玉米淀粉

Method

1. Cut tofu into square cubes (around 2cms). Bring a large amount of water to a boil and then add a pinch of salt. Slide the tofu in and cook for 1 minute. Move out and drain.
   

   
2. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, ½ tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of cooking wine and 1 teaspoon of corn starch to the shrimp. Mix well and set aside.
3. Mix 2 tablespoons of corn starch with ¼ cup of water in a small bowl to make the water starch.
4. Get a pot and heat up around 2 tablespoons of oil, fry the minced white part of the spring onion for 1 minute over medium heat till aromatic, add into shrimp. Once the shrimp becomes translucent (50% cooked), then add the drained tofu cubes. Mix well and cook for about 2 minutes.
   

   

   
5. Add into 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and bring it to a boil. Add into mushroom, turn to low-medium heat, cover the pot and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
   

   

   
6. Now stir the water starch into the simmering pot – do this by three batches to allow tofu even coated with seasonings. Just wait for around 30 seconds before you add another 1 batch of the water starch. Taste the tofu and add pinch of salt if not salty enough. Stir into your choice of vegetables. Mix well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
   

   
7. Sprinkle minced spring onions (green part).
8. Serve immediately with steamed rice.