Homage to Halal

When you think of food in NY, what comes to mind? Bagels and cream cheese with lox? Junior cheesecake? One of the hidden jewels of the city lies in the vast web of halal food carts embedded in the streetcorners, their gas engines spewing out carbon monoxide and at the same time the delicious aroma of barbecued meat. What do you get when you put yellow rice, some meat, spices, veggies, white sauce, and hot sauce all together? Chicken/Lamb over rice!!

The experience: 

Open up your white plastic takeout box. Close your eyes and smell. Take the plastic fork and jab at a piece of lamb. Open your mouth and try it. Chew the crisp rind of the meat, and savor the flavoring that enhances with every bite. Pick up a forkful of yellow rice. Put it in your mouth and chew carefully, tasting the earthiness of the turmeric. Also, have a bite of the simple salad: shredded iceberg lettuce with a few slices of tomato, smothered with white sauce. Repeat the above process until there is nothing left. The food they offer is not expensive, yet honestly satisfying, without any pretension.

I haven't yet been to the "Great" 6th Avenue and 53St food cart yet, but from what I have tasted at different food carts throughout town, they all taste wonderful. And the hot sauce is really hot, but not enough for someone like me, a fire eater. 

Not going to give away the recipes!
They also have GYROS!!!!

Next time you try some when you come to New York!! $3-6 to pay for 30 minutes of foodie heaven. 

Flower Boy Ramen Shop + Recipe

In the spirit of the drama with Jung Il Woo "Flower Boy Ramen Shop"

Ramyun is an integral part of east asian, and college culture. It is cheap, filling, and delicious. Found in all sorts of places: Shops, delis, train snack carts, etc. To eat, just add hot water! I remember during my school days popping by the local deli afterwards to catch a cheap bite to eat when I was almost broke.What more could one want? A slightly smaller waist perhaps.
I have been eating this since.......I dunno. Never got sick of it!
Recipe: Spicy Seafood Ramyeon

Ingredients:
1 pack of ramyun
Cook according to package instructions. Note: For a healthier version, don't add the entire soup base-its filled with sodium and most of the time, msg.
Suggested additives
Shittake mushrooms, thinly sliced
Eggs-hardboiled or poached
Leeks sliced thinly, may be added as a topping
Kimchi :D
Peppers
Carrots
Potatoes
Tomatoes!!!
Green peppers
Cabbage (Bok Choy)
Spinach!
Bean Sprouts
Broccoli
Seafood: Shrimp, lobster, Squid, etc.
Gochujang or any type of hot sauce
Be creative. It will ALWAYS taste good. I even added milk when I was little and it was still delicious.
Eat, exercise, and be merry!

Pan-Fried Lemon Chicken

Hello cookievisioners

Sorry for a long 2 month absence. Its just that life in the real world has caught up to me and I'm averaging 3 hours of sleep a day. So what would I choose? Sleep or blog? Blog, definitely.Love you all :D

So today being a weekend and all, I got home late with unexpected visitors and I had to cook something fast. I started to just pan fry chicken drumsticks rubbed with a bit of salt, without oil, to make it healthier. However, I got more creative I guess (or less forgetful perhaps) and I added Rotisserie Chicken Dressing, teriyaki dressing, BBQ sauce, and some slices of lemon. And the end result turned out...pretty good!

So here's how you do this.

Get your raw drumsticks,
Wash them, (Do not add salt because the chicken will taste too salty with all the seasonings)
Marinate in Teriyaki sauce and Rotisserie chicken dressing for 5 min. You may add some scallions/onions if you wish
Now, time to get out your frying pan, turn heat to medium high, and add the meat.
When frying, dont forget to flip it occasionally to keep it from burning. 
After the meat has whitened a bit, you can use a knife to slit the meat a bit to allow it to cook faster.
Wait wait Patience is a virtue :D (3 min) You may turn the chicken one or two times during this period.
Now add BBQ sauce. Spread on to chicken evenly.
Cut up some lemon wedges and put them on top of the meat.
When you feel the chicken is almost done, verify by sticking a toothpick deep into the meat. If it comes out red with blood still, you need to wait more. Perhaps cut a few more slits in the meat to let it cook faster.
Later on, cut up some lemon wedges. Serve them as garnish. I would say that for a health conscious person, I would share 1 drumstick with another health conscious person. And serve with a heap of raw lettuce and some rice to balance out the heaviness of this dish.

ALSO IMPORTANT NOTE: The liquid left in the pan after you cook the chicken is known as "drippings." They are the main constituent of gravy. Mhmmmm.

So to make gravy, add 1/2 tablespoon flour to the pan, stir, and add 1/2 cup hot milk slowly until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Season with salt to taste, pepper, lemon zest, etc. What ever you like. You may serve this with mashed potatoes, or put them on rice, our use it as dip for lettuce. However, gravy has lots of calories-around 40-50 for 1 tablespoon. Use with caution.

From southernfriedchickenrecipe.com

Ok so this is my sunshine thought for the day. Enjoy your meal!

Cookievision's Impromptu Veggie and Tofu Pasta with Side Dish

I wanted three cheese pasta, but had only 1 cheese and some veggies. 
This ain't authentic. Its my invention.
Prep + Cooking Time: 1 hr 15 min  
Serves 4 people. Hungry ones ;D 
Ingredients 
4 teaspoons olive pomace oil (or vegetable oil or any oil suited for frying)
6 cloves garlic, finely minced (may add more or less depending on taste)
1 small onion, diced (may add more or less depending on taste)
1/2 cup carrot, chopped 
1 green pepper
2 squares chinese dry tofu (dougan), in medium-thick slices 

Chinese dry tofu and one type of hot pepper

1 can tomato puree (or your favorite pasta sauce)
1 1/2 teaspoon rotisserie chicken seasoning
1 tablespoon butter
1 lb pasta
Whole milk, heavy cream, or cream cheese (depending on how creamy you want your sauce to be)
2 slices American cheese
sugar and salt to taste
2 fresh hot peppers (optional)
Chinkiang black rice vinegar (optional)

Directions
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, in a large nonreactive saucepan, heat oil and butter on medium heat. 
When oil gets warm, add onion, garlic, carrot and stir with spatula.
When onion becomes slightly translucent, add rotisserie chicken seasoning and stir .
Add tomato puree or pasta sauce, or both. Stir. 
When sauce starts to boil a little, add sugar and salt to taste. Add green pepper. Turn to medium-low heat to prevent sauce from flying out pot. Stir.
Add tofu slices. Turn to low heat. Stir.
If you wish, add cream cheese. Stir.
Add American cheese slice. Stir until it disappears. Add another.
Turn off heat. Add milk/heavy cream to desired creaminess. Stir sauce.
Combine the pasta with the sauce in the pot. Mix thoroughly with spatula.

Optional side dish
Slice hot peppers into small pieces. Be careful to not touch the inner white part, because that's where the capsaicin is. The capsaicin is the chemical that makes peppers hot. Your hand will feel painful for a few hours afterward if you do. Mix with chinkiang black rice vinegar. This side dish will tone down the richness of the pasta sauce.
Enjoy!!

I await your feedback.

Pasta-The Three Fired Chefs Bread Pizza-Brunch

This morning, the refrigerator was almost empty. There were no leftovers or any traditional sandwich fillings, so I decided to make my own version of a dish they ate in the Korean drama Pasta (see at dramafever.com!)

Cookievision'sBread Pizza
Serves 4 
Total time needed: usually 1ess than 15 minutes. Varies with amount of people you want to serve.
Ingredients  
1. 8 slices of bread
2. A jar of pasta sauce
3. Shredded or chopped up sharp cheddar cheese (or any type you like or have)
Directions
1. Spread generous amount of pasta sauce on bread (I usually use 1 tbsp)
2. Add cheddar cheese bits on top, just like pizza. If you are cooking for someone you <3 then you could make cute designs. Have fun!  ;-)
3. Now here, you could either
         a) microwave it for 3 minutes (to make it hot and melt the cheese)  ----Like in the movie version
         OR for a crispier version:
         b)get out your skillet/fry pan (ply pan in korenglish :-) ) and add 1 regular spoon of vegetable oil, heat
         for around 10 seconds, and add your tomato and cheddar bread, and toast until the cheese melts or
         until you are too hungry to wait :-)

ENJOY!!

-Rokujo of Cookievision