Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1-1/4 cups 2% milk
- 10 tablespoons butter, cubed
Friday, 25 March 2016
HONEY WALNUT SHRIMP
Budget-friendly crispy battered shrimp tossed in a creamy, sweet mayonnaise mixture, topped with caramelized walnuts!
I’m kind of a sucker for Chinese food. I could eat it on any given night, and whenever we order take-out/delivery, the honey walnut shrimp must always be ordered.
Now this dish involves an epic concoction of crispy battered shrimp tossed in a sweet mayonnaisemixture along with some candy-glaze walnuts. It’s actually one of the most popular dishes at Chinese restaurants, but it’s also the most expensive dish on the menu. But sure enough, you could make this right at home for just $10! With one pound of shrimp, some walnuts, honey, condensed milk and a bit of mayonnaise, you can easily recreate this on a tight budget.
The only complaint that I have is that there wasn’t enough shrimp for Jason and I! Next time, I’ll have no choice but to double the batch!
Honey Walnut Shrimp
Budget-friendly crispy battered shrimp tossed in a creamy, sweet mayonnaise mixture, topped with caramelized walnuts!
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup walnut halves
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons condensed milk
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Heat 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Add sugar and stir, constantly, until golden and thickened. Add walnuts and gently toss to combine. Transfer to a parchment paper-lined plate.
- In a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, honey and condensed milk; set aside.
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Working one at a time, dip the shrimp into the egg, then dredge in the cornstarch, pressing to coat.
- Working in batches, add the shrimp to the skillet, 8-10 at a time, and fry until evenly golden brown and crispy, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- In a large bowl, combine shrimp and honey mixture.
- Serve immediately, topped with walnuts.
If you’re tired of relying on the limited power of a fan and a cold beer to cool you down during scorching summer days, then you may want to consider getting a swimming pool. But before you haul out a spade and start digging, consider these points.
There’s An Upside
“The average increase in your property value when you put in a pool is around 15%,” says Marius Crook, regional sales manager at ooba, a bond originator.
That doesn’t mean you should install a multimillion rand Olympic swimming pool though. “Obviously, this depends on the type and quality of pool that you put in,” says Crook.
Find The Right Builder
A good starting point is to only consider builders who are registered with the National Pool and Spa Institute. Get quotes, but don’t just pick the cheapest option says Crook.
Rather approach it in the same way as you would approach hiring someone for an important position. Get referrals, preferably from friends, and don’t rely on photos either. Rather ask to see the pool in person, the last thing you want is to spend your money on a mud pit instead of a swimming pool.
Beware The Hidden Costs
From the moment you’ve finished building your pool it will start costing you money. Don’t forget that a pool pump consumes vast amounts of electricity each month and you have to run your pool pump every day to keep the pool water in decent condition. Be prepared to spend the money and time every month (even during winter) to ensure that your pool’s water remains as far away from farm dam green as possible.
Safety First
Never forget that, in as much as a swimming pool is an upgrade to your house that allows you to get one over the summer heat waves, it’s also a potential killer, especially for children. Put a fence around your pool or net over it to prevent anything from going wrong.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
Authentic Japanese-American Breakfast Fried Rice
My grandmother’s breakfast fried rice, stuffed with bacon and eggs for a quick and hearty meal.
The recipe I’m posting today is one of those family-favorite, special-occasions recipes. Growing up, we always served this fried rice for birthdays and New Year’s day breakfast. It’s white rice, fried up in bacon drippings, with chopped bacon, mushrooms, and scrambled eggs throughout. Top it with some shoyu or, like my father, slather it in ketchup, and you are starting this year off right!
When I decided to post this recipe, I titled it “Authentic Japanese-American Breakfast Fried Rice,” because I thought that it was a fun play on the fact that this is a recipe taught to my German mother (and then to me) by my Japanese father and grandparents, containing decidedly un-Japanese, very-American things like ketchup and American-style bacon. I always thought it was the perfect natural evolution of a traditional recipe to one more suited to the tastes of its current country. But when I went to my father to double check the recipe’s provenance, he told me that wasn’t actually the case.
According to him, the use of non-traditional meats, and condiments like ketchup, stemmed not from a natural evolution, but from the time my grandparents spent interned at Tule Lake during WWII. These were the ingredients they were served in the camps and that’s where they acquired a taste for them. Unfortunately, neither of my grandparents are still living, so I while I have so many questions, I can’t ask them. But I did a little research and there’s a fascinatingwrite up and short audio story from NPR here with other first-hand accounts about the effect of the Japanese internment camps on traditional Japanese dishes.
I debated changing the recipe name since it wasn’t really all that funny anymore, but recipes have histories, and changing the title felt like deleting this one’s. So I’m leaving the “Authentic Japanese-American” part, because that’s what it is. For better or for worse, it’s Japanese food that America helped shape.
Have you ever had any unexpected discoveries when it comes to family recipes? This is a first for me!
Authentic Japanese-American Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 8 strips of bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 2 green onions, sliced + more for garnish
- 4 cups cooked rice (day-old is best, but just-cooked is fine)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat a large wok or skillet. Spray pan with cooking spray (or coat with a little oil) and scramble eggs. Place cooked eggs on a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan, over medium-high heat, fry bacon, mushrooms, and green onions until bacon is cooked through and mushrooms are caramelized.
- Add the rice to the pan and stir. Continue until rice is toasted. Stir in eggs and soy sauce and cook until the eggs are hot.
- Remove from heat and serve. Garnish with sliced green onions.
Notes
I prefer Calrose rice for Asian-style dishes. It's a medium-grain rice that cooks up soft and sticky, but you can use whatever rice you have on hand.
Make Ahead Information: Rice can be (and is best if) prepared the day before. Onions, mushrooms, and bacon can be cut a couple days in advance. Eggs should be cooked day of.
Small Batch Information: The best thing about fried rice is that ingredient amounts don’t matter all that much. No need to cut eggs in half or worry about the exact weight of mushrooms. Use your best judgement. It’s really hard to screw this one up! Just watch the amount of bacon grease in your pan. You don’t want 8-slices worth of grease for a cup of rice.
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