My Japanese Curry Recipe

My homemade version of Japanese
Chicken Curry

Hello Socialites!

One of my favorite dishes to make is Japanese curry. It is so hearty and comforting. Japanese curry is different from Thai, Indian, or Malaysian curries since coconut milk is not involve in this recipe but only curry roux.  This dish is so delicious and perfect for fall and winter season.

Feel free to add any kind of vegetables you prefer or substitute or subtract the vegetables and proteins to your liking.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• I lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (beef, pork, shrimp, tofu if you prefer) cut into pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper. 
• 1 carrot chopped or sliced (I like baby carrots)
• 1/2 of a whole onion chopped (use the whole onion if you prefer but I prefer just a small amount)
• 1 cup of shittake and other mushrooms chopped or juilenne
• 1-2 potatoes peeled and cut into medium pieces
• Greens such as chopped bok choy, green beans, leeks...
• I chopped up sweet orange and red bell peppers for this dish. 
• Julienne bamboo (comes in a can)
• 1/2 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 garlic finely crush or minced
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 quart chicken broth or water
• Curry Roux mixture (see Curry Roux instructions below)

Instructions:

Heat large pot in 2 tbsp of oil in medium heat. Add onions until they are sauteed.

Add ginger and garlic. Stir.

Add in chicken and cook it for at least 3 minutes, just enough where the chicken starts to color and cook but not all the way.

Add in the carrots and potatoes and stir for at least 2 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and other vegetables you're using.

Add in the chicken broth or water. Bring pot to boil (around 10-15 minutes) 

Uncover pot and let it simmer now on low heat.

Slowly add in batches of curry roux with a mix of the cooking liquid in the pot and stir until it thickens. Add 1 tbsp soy sauce and stir.

Add in the tofu and shrimp and gentle stir in. Let it cook in the pot for two minutes.

Serve with Japanese sticky rice. 

Curry Roux Ingredients and Instructions:

• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 5 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1-2 tbsp. curry powder
• 1-2 tabsp. garam masala
• 1 tbsp or more cayenne pepper or Japanese Ichimi Togarashi ground peppers. Add more for heat.
• In this photo I added a tablespoon of red curry for extra spice. It's not necessary just an option.

Melt the butter in a medium low heat pan. 

After the butter has melted, add in the flour and stir. Consistently keep stirring or else it will burn.

Stir for at least 10 -15 minutes and add in the curry powder, garam masala, and cayenne pepper. I don't have cayenne pepper so I use any kind of grounded up red pepper flakes such as Japanese Ichimi Togarashi. Stir for another 30 seconds and remove from heat and set aside.

Cheers!

Sashimi Japanese Steakhouse Is a Hidden Gem In Maumelle

Sashimi Japanese Steakhouse 1900 Club Manor Ste. 108 Maumelle, AR
501-851-4700

Hello Socialites!

As you know, I love to eat. When it comes to sashimi and sushi, it has to be fresh, well presented, and delicious. Great sushi is hard to come by if you are a sushi snob. My good friend Mani and I are sushi snobs. We examine the quality of our fish as if we are the head chef. We can see and smell bad fish from miles away. 

I've heard about Sashimi Japanese Steakhouse from Mani who will travel anywhere for great food and Sashimi Restaurant was one of her top places for sushi. I always trust her restaurant dining taste because she is a huge foodie and an amazing cook. And we both love to cook and eat. This girl used to travel over 30 miles to just have a great lunch on her lunch break. Sashimi Japanese is tucked away in Maumelle in a shopping center. It is around 20 miles outside of Little Rock.

We decided to check it out one night. The place was packed by the time we got there and we had to wait for at least 10 minutes. Not bad at all. 

We decided to try a few rolls and a variety of sashimi of course. The owner Tommy Kattavirong welcomed us since we have mutual friends. I heard from hear say he was very meticulous and it definitely shows in his food and style of presentation in his sushi. I was very impress by the quality of the rolls. And I especially love the added touch of fresh flowers.

I told him Sushi Cafe in the Heights need some competition and he is the perfect person to give them a run for their sushi. He said he is happy with where he is at the moment and when the time and opportunity is right in the future, he will plan accordingly. For now he is focused on Sashimi being the best it can be in Maumelle before he decides to expand. 

I recommend everyone stop in and check Sashimi Japanese Steakhouse out in Maumelle. This is definitely on my list of the best sushi place in Arkansas. Thanks Tommy for providing us with great sake to go with our incredible sushi! I definitely will be back again.

Beautiful presentation and unlimited variety of sake! 

Gorgeous rolls!

 Cheers everyone!

My Pad Thai Recipe For Your Next Party

I haven't posted any recent recipe in my Underground Socialite blog in awhile due to the fact that I've been eating out in recent months and have been lazy in taking pictures of recipes that I do make when I'm at home. This recipe has been in my draft for awhile and I will be making it for Christmas but I wanted to get this out to you on how I make my Pad Thai recipe. Very fast and easy but most importantly delicious! Let me know if you do try it! Enjoy!

First, prepare your Pad Thai Sauce:

Ingredients for Pad Thai Sauce (makes four large servings)

• 1/4 cup palm sugar or sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate
• 1/4 cup Srirachi sauce or dried chili pepper

Pad Thai Sauce

Combine tamarind concentrate with 1/4 cup of water to make tamarind juice.

In a pan, put palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind juice, and sriracha sauce (or dried chili peppers). Cook on low heat until the sugar dissolves, then increase heat. Let it start to boil, then quickly remove from heat, and set aside. 

Ingredients for Pad Thai (makes 4 servings)

• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 cup uncooked shrimp
• 1 cup of diced chicken
• 1/4 cup tofu (optional)
• 2 garlic glove minced
• 1/4 cup of chopped shallots
• 1/2 Package of rice stick noodle, 
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 3 tablespoon chopped roasted peanut
• chopped cilantro
• oil for frying

Method

Soak the rice stick noodle in warm water for about 20 minutes, leave in water until you are ready to use.

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan at medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook.  Add egg and cook it quickly, scrambling into small pieces. Move to side of pan.

Add 2 tablespoons of oil in the same pan. Add shrimp and cook.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan. Add shallot and tofu. Increase the heat of your wok. Add a handful of soaked noodles followed with water. Stir-fry this mixture for about 5-6 minutes. The noodles will start to get soft. Add 1/4 cup of Pad Thai Sauce and mix well. Add sugar,bean sprouts, and chives. Stir well for another 1-2 minutes until everything blends together. Turn off heat, transfer to serving plate and top it with roasted peanuts fresh bean sprout, and cilantro on the side with a side of lime wedge.

Fast and easy! Enjoy!

Caramelized Succulent Asian Rib Stew With Egg Photo Recipe

Estimated per serving cost $1.50

Hello my Socialites! Today's delicious hearty recipe is an Asian caramelized rib stew that is cooked in brown sugar. This is a simple but yet succulent tender dish. This dish is similar to neighboring SEA countries as well and just as delicious! Lao tradition make this type of stew with pork fat and skin along with the meat but I am out of pork so I found family style boneless ribs in the freezer instead. It's perfect for someone starting out and don't want a lot of pork fat in their diet since this dish is caramelized in sugar anyway. 

The key in this dish is perfecting the caramelizing because it is so easy to burn the pan quickly if you are not attentive. Serve this with any type of rice. I prefer mine with sticky rice. This is a great dish for a pot luck or a gathering. This is my own take on a sweet Asian dish and it's very easy on your wallet! Let's get started! 

Ingredients (Serving 4)

• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of fish sauce
• 2 tbsp garlic minced
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 2 or 3 tbsp slices of ginger
• 2 lb of family style boneless ribs
• 1/4 cup brown sugar or sugar if you don't have brown sugar
• 2 or 3 tbsp cooking oil

Garnishments

• Chopped cilantro
• Chopped scallions

Step by step photo instructions below. Enjoy!

Boil 4 eggs for 12 minutes. Rinse and leave in cold water and then peel eggs. Set aside until later.

Get ingredients ready

Cube boneless ribs into pieces

Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, and black pepper into cube ribs in bowl.  Mix well with hand.

Heat up medium pan with cooking oil. After it's nice and hot, add brown sugar in pan. Stir and making sure heat is low to medium. Let it caramelize. If it's too hot it will burn.

Now add the meat mixture in and stir for a minute.

Now add the ginger in and stir.

Stir until the meat is brown but not all the way cook. Browning should only take 2 minutes after ginger is added in.

This is how it should be browning.

Now add at least  4 cups of water into the pot

Stir for a few seconds

Now place lid on the pot and reduce heat to low/medium for 10 minutes.

Place peeled boiled eggs into the pot and gentle stir to coat eggs in juice. Place lid of pot back on and let it cook for an0ther 15 or 20 minutes in low heat

Garnish

Serve with white rice. Enjoy!

5 Minute Asian Style Omelet For Any Time of Day

Estimated cost per serving $1.50 including homemade pork sausage. So without the sausage this serving only costs $.50

Hello my Socialites! Today's dish is an easy breezy Asian Style omelet that will take less than five minutes to cook. I went back to all my previous recipe posts and included an estimated cost per serving for each recipe to remind you that it doesn't have to be expensive to eat, cook, or entertain guests. The goal of this blog is to help you find creative ways to live inexpensively without compromising your budget, your eating,  your style, and your entertainment.

The recipe below is only the omelet and the pepper sauce. I made the Asian pork sausage a month ago and froze it. I will post a recipe for the homemade sausage in a later post when I am out of the frozen ones that I stored so I can document a step by step photo recipe for you. Let me know how it goes! Enjoy!

Ingredients for Omelet

• 2 Eggs
• 1 or 2 tbsp Chopped Cilantro
• 1 or 2 tbsp Chopped Scallion
• 1 Clove minced Garlic
• Dash of Msg
• 2 tbsp Fish Sauce
• Dash of Black Pepper
• 1 tbsp oil for cooking

Ingredients for Pepper Sauce

• 3 Chopped Thai Peppers
• Chopped Cilantro
• Chopped Scallion
• 3 tbsp Fish Sauce

Step by step photo recipe below

Heat frying pan in 1 tbsp oil.
Crack two eggs in bowl. Add chop garlic, cilantro, scallions, black pepper , fish sauce, and msg. Whisk well.

Add egg mixture in heated pan on med/high heat. Leave it cooking for 2 minutes.

Then flip with a spatula and let it cook for 2 minutes. Turn off stove. I heated my sausage up with the same pan that is why you notice dark marks in the middle of the omelet.

Now chop up the Thai peppers. Mix it in fish sauce, cilantro, and scallions. Set aside. Now cut up omelet to your preference. 

I eat this meal with sticky rice. I will show you how to cook sticky rice in a later post.

I will also show you how to make homemade pork sausage in a later post as well.

Enjoy!

Never Eat Ramen Noodles Ever Again With My 12 Minute Noodle Photo Recipe Series

Estimated serving cost $1.50 for a bowl full of food.

Hello my Socialites! I know many of you have eaten ramen instant noodles during your college years or even after college when you were poor or living out on your own and not knowing how a stove works. I just can't believe that Maruchan is America's top selling ramen noodle soup brand. It produces over 3.6 billion packages a year.  Personally I find it disgusting and tried it once in my life and never again. I've been so poor for so long but I still would not think to actually get into my car and go to the grocery store to pick up ramen noodles to survive off of. There are cheaper yet better ways to eat better than ramen noodles. I'm not knocking anyone who loves it but for those who rather find a more fulfilling alternative, I got it for you. No one has told you about Mama noodles. It comes in different flavors such as chicken, shrimp, and beef . They even have different styles of noodles such as Tom Young Gonng and Pho soup. I stick to the regular flavored pork soup. You can buy it individually for as cheap as ramen noodles or you can buy it in a box for like $7 at your local Asian Market. The box lasts you for at least a month. 

So I am going to do a series of Mama noodles creation for you and this is the first. I promise it taste nothing like ramen instant noodles. It is hearty and just one package is plentiful for one person. I used to make this all the time for my friends. I will be showing you in my upcoming series how to cook Mama noodles in different ways that is fast and easy and delicious! Remember, you can always substitute different vegetables or proteins. Cooking is not about following a recipe that someone gave you to the exact ingredients and measurements. It's about being inspired to put your creative skills to use and make do with what you have in your pantry. You might end up creating something better or totally different! Let me know how this worked out for you! See step by step photo instructions below~ Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

• Chopped Celery
• Shredded Cabbage
• Sliced or julienne Cucumbers
• Sliced Carrots
• Chopped Cilantro
• Sliced of Lime
• Chopped Jalapeno Pepper
• Sliced Polish Sausage
• 1 Egg
• 2 tbsp Fish Sauce
• 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
• Sriracha Sauce for spice
• Packaged of Mama Pork Flavor Instant Noodles

Step by Step Photo Recipe

Step 1: Chop cabbage, celery, cucumbers, scallions, cilantro, jalapeno peppers, carrots, and sausage up.
Step2: Boil 3 cups of water  in a small pot and throw in carrots and an egg for 10 minutes. Remove boil egg and place in cold water. Do not turn off the pot. Peel the boiled egg and slice and set aside.  *When boiling egg, don't overcook it. 10 minutes is perfect.

Open the Mama noodles. It contains the noodle and 3 small season package. There is a pepper package attached to the bigger size dried seasoned package at the bottom right of this picture. If you don't want red peppers in your noodles, leave it out of the equation. Open the the 3 seasoned package and place contents in boiling pot. Put two dashes of fish sauce and a dash of oyster sauce in pot as well. Now add the polish sausage in the pot. Break the uncooked noodles in half and then place in pot. Let noodles soften and break down and stir. After you put the noodles in the boiling water, it will only take two minutes to cook. Turn off the stove.

Now pour the noodles  in a bowl and place the vegetables and eggs on top. Garnish with a slice of lime on the side. Add Sriracha chili sauce if you want it spicier.

Now mix the vegetables up with the noodles. Taste to see if you need more fish sauce or chili sauce.

Enjoy!

My Laotian Egg Rolls Photo Recipe For Your Next Party

Estimated cost per serving $.25 per eggroll

Hello my Socialites! Eggrolls are a traditional appetizer in our culture. I am not much of a fan of eggrolls at Chinese restaurants because it's bland and they are never generous on the meat. Usually I just end up with a big chunk of fried cabbage and oil. Our Lao eggrolls are tasty and full of generous portions of variety of ingredients. Every Asian culture makes their eggrolls differently but the concept is basically the same. Yes, no two household will ever make the exact same egg rolls. I used ground pork in this recipe but you can always substitute it with ground chicken or veal if you prefer.  This is a great party appetizer for your guests. I hope you experiment and let me know how it goes! Enjoy!


Vegetable Mixture Ingredients: Makes around 50 eggrolls

• 2  cups Carrots shredded
• 2 cups Cabbage shredded
• 2 cups Onions chopped
• 1 cup Shittake mushrooms chopped (optional. I didn't use any in this recipe bc I was out of mushrooms)
• 1 package Vermicelli Cellophane Noodles soaked in hot water and then cut into 2 or 3 inch long.

Pork Mixture: (combine below ingredients)

• 2 lb Ground Pork
• 8 eggs
• 2 tbsp Salt and Pepper
• 2 tbsp MSG
• 2 tbsp fish sauce 
• 2 tbsp of oyster sauce 
• 3 Garlic cloves finely minced
• 1 tbsp ginger powder (optional)

For Rolling Mixture

• 2 package Spring roll  wrapper shell (comes in sheet of 25) It comes frozen so thaw at room temperature before attempting to fill and roll.
• 1 egg for sealing the ends 
• Vegetable oil for frying

* *You can make these and freeze it to use later for parties or to give away to friends. When you do decide to freeze it for later use, do not defrost the egg rolls. Just cook it in oil in high heat and add extra time for it to cook.

Step by Step Photo Instructions. Now let's get started!

 *Pardon my mom's bad manicure. Looks a lot better than mine if I were the hand model in these pictures! I hate rolling egg rolls.

Seared Tuna on Top of Soba Noodles Photo Recipe

Estimated cost per serving $4.00

Hi my Socialites! This is a recipe that is packed with nutrients, flavors, texture, and very easy to make. Very simple and healthy but yet delicious. Great food does not have to be hard to make. Don't be afraid to explore and experiment.  I made this recipe for a party of me, myself, and I. That's 1 lonely date. I'm not great with recording exact measurements but only estimation of how much spice or sauce I put in. Enjoy! Let me know how it goes!

Ingredients For Soba Noodles:

Soba Noodles

Shittake mushrooms 

Chopped cilantro

Chopped cucumbers

Chopped scallions

Chopped sweet mangos (optional)

Ingredients for Noodle Sauce:

Mirin sauce

Sugar

Soy Sauce

Lemon juice

Ingredients for Tuna: 

Tuna Steak

Rice vinegar

Sesame oil

Soy sauce

Salt and pepper

Crushed nuts of your preference

Flour

Egg

Shrimp Spring Rolls For Your Next Party: Photo Recipe

(Photo courtesy of Mani Nanthalangsy)
Estimated cost per serving $1.00 

Mani's Shrimp and Pork Belly Spring Rolls Photo Recipe that she made and was kind enough to share it with us. This is an easy and delicious recipe for your next get together. It's packed full of flavors. Remember that if you don't like shrimp or pork in this recipe, you can always substitute it with chicken or any other protein you like. Sometimes my family would use grilled fish in it. And remember, if you are going to do a get together, make several hearty food besides chips and dip if you want people to remember your parties. Food brings people together. Let me know how it turns out! Enjoy!

Peanut Sauce Ingredients:

• Pineapple with the juice
• Peanuts
• Fried garlic
• Fried shallots
• Chili sauce for added kick
• A cup of sugar
• Salt is optional

Ingredients to Make the Spring Rolls:

• Vermicelli Noodles
• Rice Paper
• Pork Belly
• Raw Shrimp
• Shallots, green onions, chopped garlic (to cook the pork belly with)
• Cilantro
• Mint
• Romaine Lettuce
• Cucumbers

The Art of Making Lao/Thai Spicy Seafood Salad Photo Recipe

(Photo courtesy of Mani Nanthalangsy)
Lao Spicy Seafood Salad

Hello my Socialites! Tonight's Recipe is courtesy of my good friend Mani Nanthalangsy. This is a Thai/Lao spicy seafood salad she made for dinner tonight. Below you will see that this salad is packed full of spice and sour flavors. You can also vary the ingredients to your preference. I added in some ingredients in the recipe below that Mani didn't add to her recipe due to her taste. If you like tomatoes, add it. If you don't care too much for lettuce, don't add it but I like both and if I have it handy, I will add it in. Thanks again Mani for making another delicious Lao/Thai recipe and sharing it with us! I hope ours is as good and spicy as yours! Let me know if anyone attempts this dish. Remember, even if you do not prefer spicy, it's ok. Just add a little bit of the pepper. The great benefits of cooking is that you are the head chef and you get to control the amount of spice that goes into it. Enjoy!