How often should I update my food blogs (I also have one in Chinese)? For all these years, I've been trying to update at least once a week. However, there are way too many food pictures to share, and that's why I got Instagram!
If you are interested in my food ventures, check out my Instagram account "foodmakesmehappy" where I update daily with mostly food pictures that went into my stomach!
And here's today's recipe, store bought sauce makeover - meatballs with pasta sauce and Asian seasonings -
Ingredients (about 24 to 30 meatballs)?
Meatball mixture:
- 1.3 lbs of ground beef
- 1.3 lbs of ground pork
- 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 medium onion (peeled and chop into mini pieces)
- 3 tablespoons of water
Sauce and other ingredients:
- 2 stalks of scallion (stems removed, chopped into 2 to 3 inches long strips)
- 1 big ripe tomato (cubed)
- 1 cup of all natural or organic pasta sauce
- 1/4 cup of black vinegar
- 1/4 cup of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
- Some olive oil
- Some red chili flakes
- Some sea salt
- Some freshly ground black pepper
How?
I actually prefer using more pork than beef for this recipe because the fat content of the pork provides more moisture to the meatballs. However, I got both ground meat that were pre-packaged instead of directly from a butcher. As a result, there's no chance for me to ask for specific amount of meat. If possible, try to use about 1:2 beef to pork ratio for this recipe.
Take a big bowl and add in all the ingredients under "meatball mixture" except water -
Don't even bother to use a spatula or a spoon to do the stirring work. I assure you that all the meaty goodies will eventually get on both of your hands shortly. Use one hand to slightly mix the ingredients with the same stirring direction, ex. clockwise or counter-clockwise. Once done, use the clean hand to add the water gradually and keep mixing with the other hand. You can substitute water with beef stock to enhance the flavor. This liquid-adding step helps the ground meat to absorb more moisture, which will result in juicier meatballs.
Form the ground meat mixture into about 2 dozens to 30 medium sized meatballs -
Drizzle just enough olive oil to evenly coat the bottom of the pan and turn to medium high heat. Sear the meatballs in two to three batches. Make sure the sides turn slightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside for later use.
Take a big pot and drizzle just enough olive oil to coat the bottom again. Turn to medium high heat and add in the scallions, some red chili flakes, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
Sear till the scallion turns slightly burned then pick them out.
Discard 1/3 of the excess oil in the pot. Transfer the cubed tomato into the pot along with 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Cook for about 3 minutes.
Pour in the pasta sauce, black vinegar, and soy sauce. Give it a quick stir then add in the seared meatballs. Make sure all the meatballs are coated with the sauce.
Reduce the sauce till it thickens, about 2/3 or 1/2 left depending on your own preference. I like to keep more sauce so I can drizzle it all over steamed white rice.
Taste and adjust with soy sauce, black vinegar, and granulated sugar if needed.
Supposedly ketchup works for this recipe. However, I think a good quality pasta sauce has much more flavor and can truly "upgrade" the taste for the meatballs.
Happy belated Mother's Day! I supposed most of you had a festive meal full of meat and high calories dishes over the weekend. How about switching to something healthier for the next few days?
Colorful mung bean sprouts stir fry -
Ingredients?
1 pack/12 oz/340 grams of mung bean sprouts
10 shiitake mushroom
1 medium carrot
2 stalks of scallion
3 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons of high quality ponzu sauce
Some olive oil
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
Some toasted white sesame seeds
How?
Most mung bean sprouts come with thin and dry stems unless your local market carries the already-picked and washed type. Get a helper from the family to pluck out those string-like stems for you!
Of course you can just leave the mung bean sprouts as the way they are, but it'll affect the texture of the dish. Once done picking out the stems, rinse the mung bean sprouts and make sure to drain out all the water.
Discard the stems from the scallion and chop into 2 inch pieces. Peel the garlic and cut off the stems. Slice the garlic cloves.
Discard the mushroom stems and cut the remaining into strips. Peel and julienne the carrot.
Drizzle just enough olive oil to evenly coat the bottom of the pan, turn to medium high heat. Add in the scallion, garlic slices, small pinch of sea salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. Give it a quick stir and cook till the edges of the garlic turns slightly golden brown color.
Add in the mushroom and carrot. Give it a quick stir. The mushroom will absorb all the oil from the pan but there's no need to add more oil for this recipe. Remember we're trying to eat healthier after big meals?
Add in mung bean sprouts and give it a quick stir. Pour in about 3 tablespoons of ponzu sauce. Mix well and cook till the bean sprouts no longer carry that raw veggie taste, about 3 minutes.
Sprinkle some toasted white sesame seeds after plating. So now we have the veggies, how about some meat? Below are some no fuss meaty recipes for your protein needs:
Beef shabu with a touch of sesame dressing and homemade spicy oil
Top recipe - shabu shabu black angus beef slices with ponzu garlic dipping sauce
Stewed chicken with sausage and leek
Indeed a very satisfying meal.
A friend recommended this place the other day when I was looking for a chill and casual western restaurant around Orange County. Nothing fancy like Morton's or 21 Oceanfront around the area, but something close to Memphis or The Playground - if you know what I'm talking about.
There was a misunderstanding of reservation hours. As a result, the initial visit for me and my boyfriend got cancelled. The restaurant made an effort to invite us plus two additional guests back and everything will be on the house. Of course we didn't take such an advantage of bringing more people, which might further enhance the stereotype of cheap Asians in this case. On the side note, we left a good amount of tip as a token of our gratuity.
I have to say that everything I tried at Eva's was all so delicious and packed with flavors, flavors not so familiar with but in a good way. What's even more impressive? Eva's truly cares about their customers and I'm already converted to be one of their regulars from now on. In fact, I came back again with group of friends just over the weekend. The pictures throughout the post will be the munching results from these two visits. Just need to clarify here in case you're wondering how in the world I can fit in so much food and drinks in my stomach over a single meal.
Eva's is a cute petite restaurant located on Pacific Coast Highway. It might be hard to find for first visitors. However, just make sure to keep an eye on a palm tree with pink lights.
The restaurant arranged a spot for us next to the windows during first visit -
Media coverage hanging on the wall -
Other wall decor -
Menus -
This place is pretty chill during weekdays.
However, Eva's might turn into a loud and party-like place on Fridays and Saturdays. Partly due to the beach crowd, but most likely it's because of Eva's wide collection of alcoholic beverages, particularly rums.
Notice that there are still many more pages for the alcoholic beverages menu?
Of course other "less aggressive" beverages are available too -
Something small to start with -
Entrees -
Our wonderful waitress Melanie brought us some drinks before we even get a chance to take a look at the menu. The one below is Eva's famous tropical rum punch -
"Made with mango, guava, passion fruit juices with rum."
I'm never a big fan of rum but this punch is totally doable for me. The amount of rum used is just enough to carry the oaky aroma without adding too much bitterness taste in the drink. High recommended for ladies!
Eva's also has other specialty drinks which I managed to try some more during second visit. First is the guava mimosa on the bottom -
My friends' drinks:
Left - Pomegranate martin (martini)
Up - Dark & stormy (Bermuda Gosling's dark rum and Jamaican ginger beer)
Right - Tropical rum punch
Key lime pie martini -
It was soooo good. It tastes exactly like a key lime pie but in a foamy liquid form. I can almost skip dessert and just have this drink instead of the real thing!
Brown suga -
This one was really good too. Made with 12 year old rum, sweet & sour, and a squeeze of lime. The rim has a thin coat of cinnamon sugar that adds a touch of spiciness and warmth to the drink.
Jamaican beer Red Stripe -
Bread basket -
The bread always comes hot. Not warm, but hot! The room temperature butter served on the side just melts on the bread right away. Of course you can also dip it with the extremely hot sauce from the Cajun prawns -
"Black tiger shrimp marinated in lime, garlic, and chili, then dredged in Cajun spices and seared in a black skillet. Served with a grilled pineapple, roasted pepper, and passion fruit relish."
It's not the Chinese oily kind of spiciness. You probably won't feel the heat right away. However, do be aware that the burn might slowly creeping up to your throat and linger through the next 10 minutes. Highly recommended if you can take the heat!
*Insider tip: Eva let the spicy sauce marinate for 3 weeks to intensify the aroma and "impacts!"
On the top is the only soup dish available at Eva's. It's called callaloo soup, which comes either in a cup of a bowl. Ingredients consist of spinach, okra, and coconut milk from Trinidad. Made with clam and lobster base, thyme, garlic, and shallots. Perhaps the best western style soup I've ever had. Highly recommended too!
We also ordered the St. Martin salad during my second visit. The pineapple on the salad surely helped in relieving the burn from the Cajun prawns -
"Mixed baby greens, red onions, pineapple, tomatoes, and tossed with passion fruit/raspberry vinaigrette."
Time for entrees. Let me start with what we had from the first visit, jerk pork loin -
The pork loin was cooked to perfection, just a slightly pink in the center -
It was juicy and packed with flavors as well. Eva makes all the sauces and seasonings all by herself, and for sure you do get authentic tastes from her awesome skills in the kitchen. There were allspice, brown sugar, garlic, cumin, and other "secret" ingredients used for the jerk sauce. You can also sense a slight minty taste from the cinnamon. This is the first time in my life that I like cinnamon so much in my food. Another high recommended dish.
Blackened salmon -
Slightly spicy but I can't really feel the heat anymore from the salmon after tasting the Cajun prawns. The spiciness level of the salmon and the prawns are like comparing water to coffee.
Underneath the blackened seasonings you'll find herb butter, which adds another layer of aroma for the juicy salmon.
The little dark thing on the left is plantains.
During the second visit, we tried some other entrees and below is the jerk steak -
I was so in love with Eva's jerk sauce so I ordered jerk-series again. Still as good as I remembered, but the pork loin was definitely my first choice for jerk dishes.
I also love how much veggies that come with the entree, making me feel like I'm having a well-balanced meal instead of overloading with meat and alcohol.
Jerk chicken -
Organic chicken by the way. This is the only dish that didn't perform too well due to dry texture of meat.
Pan roasted Chilean sea bass -
Seasoned and breaded with Japanese panko, seared in a black skillet and roasted in oven.
Curry snapper -
If you're a seafood person, Eva's really know how to prepare and cook a fish. All fish entrees were succulent and again, packed with flavors. I probably use this phrase way too much but this is truly how I feel about Eva's.
Crème brûlée with a slight touch of coconut and lots of vanilla beans -
Forgive me for not remembering the name of that creamy drink on the top right corner. Both visits my mind and body were already filled with food. As a result, towards the end of the night, the name of the drink can never find an empty spot to stick with me.
Goodie bag -
Carrot cake! -
The walnuts were a plus for this moist cake.
Towards the end of the night (on a quiet Thursday) -
There's not really a set time for closing hours, mostly depends on customer flows. Usually it closes around 10 p.m. during weekdays and the nights can last pretty long on weekends.
I rarely give out such high rating for a restaurant, not mentioning I was actually upset about the whole reservation mixed up incident in the beginning. If you ever decide to come and give it a try, tell them the Asian couple Cindy and Kenneth recommended this place. It's that good that I'm afraid to put our names on the table!
Cindy's rating: 9
Eva's - A Caribbean Kitchen
31732 Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
(949) 499-6311
http://www.evascaribbeankitchen.com/index.html
*Opens Monday - Sunday at 5 p.m.
*Parking spots can be easily found on the street
*Google gives the wrong direction, DO NOT USE Google Map
*Easiest way to get to there is to stay on PCH, Eva's is in between 3rd and 4th street
*Ladies, I didn't get any food smell on my hair nor clothes during both visits, if this matters to you
Chinese mustard greens (gai choi) can be transformed and used in many different ways. There are fresh mustard greens, pickled, dried, and aged. In addition to that, the root, leaves, and even flowers can all be seen in Chinese cuisine. However, all these different parts and processed results carry totally different names in Chinese, none of them sound anything similar to "mustard green."
For instances, 菜心 Choi Shin, which literary translate as the hearts of veggies, is in fact the root of mustard green. 酸菜 Suan Choi, which means sour veggies, is the result of fresh mustard greens being sun dried and pickled for weeks. That's why I didn't realize that all these different dishes I grew up with were in fact coming from the same root - Chinese mustard greens.
Usually you can find pickled mustard greens packed in airtight bags in Asian or Japanese markets. However, I always have my doubt on the preservatives used for pickled items in airtight bags. Even back in Asia, the all natural ones are not as easy to come by because they get spoiled in about a week if not stored in the freezer. Well, at least I'm not eating it all the time. Let's just stick with these already made packs before I learn how to pickle the veggies myself.
Ground pork stir fry with Chinese mustard greens -
Ingredients?
- 1 pound of ground pork
- 1 pack/250 grams of pickled mustard green
- 5 garlic cloves
- 5 fresh red chilies
- 1 tablespoon of dried shrimps
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon of granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of Chinese chili sauce
- Some soy sauce
How?
Gently rinse the dried shrimps and soak in room temperature water for about 10 minutes. Once done, drain well and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Chop into tiny pieces and add into the pan.
Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves. Chop and discard the chili stems, finely chop the rest. Take out the pickled mustard green and finely chop it.
Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan with dried shrimps and turn to medium heat. Cook till the oil starts bubbling then quickly add in chopped garlic, chilies, small pinch of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. Don't wait for too long before adding in the garlics and other ingredients because the dried shrimps can get crazy after the oil starts to bubble. You know, the usual oil bursting and shrimps flying scene in the kitchen.
Cook just right before the garlic start to burn, add in ground pork, tiny amount of soy sauce just to color the meat, and granulated sugar. You can also add in some Chinese chili sauce if desired.
Give it a quick stir, the pork fat should starts to render, but just keep cooking till all the juice has been reduced. Do not over-season the food yet since the pickled mustard green already contains quite amount of salt. Lastly, add in chopped pickled mustard green, give it a quick stir and cook for couple more minutes.
Now you can taste it and see if any more seasonings are needed. The sugar used in this recipe helps to balance out the acidity from the pickled mustard greens. That way you get a milder sourish flavor instead of an instant pungent kick from it.
This dish is good with steamed rice. You can also mix it with dry noodles along with a few more dashes of soy sauce, black vinegar, and sesame oil.
Similar Chinese Stir Fry Recipes:
Scrambled eggs stir fry with oyster mushroom and pork slices
Dried radish and ground pork stir fry 蘿蔔干炒肉末
Garlicky eggplants stir fry with scallops X.O. sauce 蒜炒干貝XO醬茄子
