Tom Yum Goong

Tom yum goong is my favorite soup, followed by, and in no particular order: French onion, Chinese hot and sour, lobster bisque, and menudo. It’s hot, it’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s sour—it truly is a mélange of flavors. And it’s also surprisingly simple to make, as long as you can obtain the ingredients.

Tom yum goong requires a very short albeit unique shopping list:
shrimp
limes
straw mushrooms
cilantro
fish sauce
galangal
kaffir lime leaves
lemon grass
nam prik pao (roasted chili paste)
Serrano chilis (optional)

You’ll probably have to go to a Thai market to get the galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and nam prik pao, but you should be able to find everything else at a Chinese market, or even a well-stocked super market. Ginger can be substituted for the galangal, but it’s not quite the same. Omission of any one of the ingredients can change the flavor of the soup tremendously, although not detrimentally.

Start with a pot of 4-5 cups of water over high heat. Add several slices of the galangal, and several kaffir lime leaves, as well as a couple of stalks of lemon grass lightly crushed and cut up into 1-2 inch pieces. Add about 4 tablespoons of fish sauce and 2 tablespoons of the nam prik pao. Bring to a boil. Add the straw mushrooms and the juice of 4-6 limes to the pot and bring back to a boil. Add the shrimp and cook just until they are opaque. Finish by adding some coarsely chopped cilantro. To increase the heat, sliced Serrano chilis can be added. You should end up with about 2-3 servings.

From start to finish, the soup can be ready in about twenty minutes. If you don’t like shrimp, just leave them out and you’ll have tom yum kai. Or you can add coconut milk and have tom yum nam khon. It’s an excellent recipe to have in your repertoire as it’s impressive in its composition despite its relatively uncomplicated construction. Just remember not to eat the galangal, kaffir lime leaves, or lemon grass. While they add to the flavor, they are largely inedible.

Corned Beef Burgers

I was off the hook for cooking last night, as we happened to have corned beef and cabbage for dinner. It used to be that we would use the leftovers to make corned beef dipped sandwiches, but seeing as how I had to cook tonight, I had other plans in store. One of my favorite things to do with leftover corned beef is to make corned beef burgers. Credit for the idea goes to a wonderful food blog called Ideas in Food. The recipe is so simple it's ingenious.

The original recipe involves mixing equal parts lean ground beef (I used 90/10 ground sirloin) and chopped corned beef, adding cold grated butter, and throwing in a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper. The mixture is then formed into patties which are pan-fried and served on English muffins grilled in the drippings. There isn't an exact recipe, but I will provide a more detailed account at the bottom of this post.

For my version, I topped one patty with a slice of Havarti cheese and added some French's yellow mustard beneath the patty. Havarti might be a tad bit salty, in which case I think Swiss, Monterey Jack, or even Provolone could make a better compliment. I served this one on an English muffin as per the standard recipe.

But I also felt the need to experiment further, so I made a rice burger variant. The idea for the rice burger comes from MOS Burger. MOS Burger is a Japanese fast food hamburger chain with additional stores located throughout Southeast Asia. If you have never been to a MOS Burger, your life is incomplete. MOS Burger is my favorite fast food burger chain in the entire world. I could go on, but that is for another post. MOS Burger introduced the first rice burger in 1987, and it featured a Japanese-style meatball patty on a bun made of grilled rice, barley, and millet. For my bun, I used Japanese rice leftover from the previous night, formed into flat, burger sized discs. These I grilled on the stove and brushed with soy sauce, similar to yaki-onigiri (grilled rice balls). I put the corned beef patty between the discs, and voila! The corned beef rice burger was born.

Both burgers were very good, although I would like to explore the rice burger concept more. Mom suggested topping the rice burger with kimchee, and I was thinking of doing something with grated daikon or a ginger dressing. Whatever I do, it will show up right here on my blog, so stay tuned.

On the side I made more shoestring fries which is fast becoming a go-to side for my burgers.


Corned Beef Burgers
Burger Patties
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb cooked corned beef, trimmed of fat and chopped fine
1/8 stick cold butter, grated
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper

Buns
6 English muffins, split into halves
drippings reserved from burger patties

Combine ingredients for the burger patties into a bowl and mix thoroughly with hands. Once mixed, take a handful of the mixture and form into burger patty no larger than the diameter of the English muffin. Grill in pan over a medium flame about 4-5 minutes on both sides. Remove from pan. Add English muffins to pan, cut side down, and grill until brown. Serve corned beef patties on the grilled English muffins.

Serves 6

How to properly marinate an egg in cola

Trying to flavor a hardboiled egg with cola can be a little more difficult than it sounds. You can't simply boil it in cola. (I know, I've tried. Twice.) So here are some simple instructions on how to marinate a hardboiled egg in cola.

Ingredients
eggs (as many as you want to make)
cold water
cola



The first step is to make the hardboiled eggs. Place eggs into a saucepan and fill with cold water just until the eggs are covered. Place the saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water has started to boil, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs and run under cold water until cool. Remove shells.



Place eggs in a plastic baggy and fill with cola just until the eggs are covered. Diet cola can be used instead for the more health conscious. Tie off baggy and let sit for at least 6 to 12 hours depending on the desired strength of the carbonation and cola flavor. Bon apetit!


These eggs were marinated for 6 hours.