Yellow Squash Coconut Burmese Noodles

Background

Copied from one of my favorite Burmese Restaurant: Mandalay Bay. Their Special Noodle dish is really good, and this was our attempt at recreating something similar. We did not have yellow pea powder, nor lime juice. We also think there is fish sauce in theirs, but did not put that in because we wanted to keep it veggie. 

Ingredients

Sauce

olive oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 can coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon arbol pepper (or cayenne)
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 bayleaf
a little salt
yellow long squash (looks like zucchini)
lemon
2 kaffir lime leaves (cut up into 1/8 inch tiny pieces)
Rice Noodles (pad thai size)
cillantro

Fried Onions

garbanzo flour
1 large onion sliced for thin frying
coconut oil / olive oil
milk

Prep / Cook

Fried Onions

put a little milk in a bowl
garbanzo flour on a plate
dip slices of onions in the milk, then in the flour, and into a pan of hot coconut and olive oil

Sauce

quarter the squash and then slice into  1/4 inch lengths
Put 1 can of coconut milk
1/4 cup olive oil
 1/2 teaspoon arbol pepper (or cayenne)
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 bayleaf
a little salt

Cook till sauce is thickened and squash is softened.

Noodles

Boil water, cook a little al dente

Combine onto final plate

Put the noodles into the sauce with the kaffir lime leaves
put this onto final plate
add onions to your individual plates
and at the end add lemon juice and cillantro

Granola

Makes 1 quart jar of granola

Equipment

- 1 quart wide mouth jar
- small Pyrex bowl (for wet ingredients) or small pot
- large bowl for dry ingredients and to mix items together
- cookie sheet

Ingredients

  Dry: 

     - 2 cups rolled oats
     - 1/2 to 1 cup nuts (raw is best: pistacios, pumpkin seeds)
     - 1/2 cup dried fruit (golden raisins, blue berries, cranberries)
     - 1 cup coconut shredded (unsweetened)
     - 1 1/2 TBSP cinnamon powder
     - 1/2 tsp salt
     - 1/2 cup chocolate chips  (add after cooking)

  Wet

     - 3 TBSP coconut oil (raw if possible)
     - 2 TBSP maple syrup
     - 2 Tsp vanilla extract
     - 1 TBSP grated ginger (cheese grater with small holes works great!)

Prep

1. Turn on oven to 250 F
2. Add wet ingredients to Pyrex small bowl or pot and warm so they mix together and the coconut is liquid.
3. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.
4. Add wet ingredients to the dry
5. pour the combined ingredients onto the cookie sheet and spread them out evenly.
6. put it in the oven

Cook

1. set timer for 15 mins
2. after 15 mins stir ingredients, rotate pan so stuff in back is now in front
3. repeat so the total time items are in the oven is 1 hour

 

Finished Result

1. Add chocolate chips
2.  Let cool on cookie sheet
3. Add to quart jar for storage

 

Tasty Brine Pickles

Makes about 8 jars of pickles / 10 pickles each jar

Equipment
- 8 quart wide mouth jars (Ball works). Rinsed with hot water, and dried; relatively sterilized.
- 8 quart sauce pan (lid could help)

Prep
- 20 [2.5 per jar / 10 spears] pickling cucumbers (firm ones with warts are best) quartered long ways. If they are too long to fit in the jar height-wise they should be cut to fit under the lid and liquid.

Brine (add all ingredients below to the brine in saucepan with lid on; bring to simmer, for 15 mins.
- 4 quart water
- 2 cup vinegar
- 1 cup salt
- 3.5 tsp mustard seed (black or red)
- 4 tsp whole cumin seed
- 4 tsp whole black peppercorn
- 4 tsp whole coriander
- 10 cloves garlic bruised
- 1 serrano chili cut in two

Per Jar
- About 2.5 cucumbers quartered per jar. they should fit tight
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 sprigs dill
- 1/2 serrano chili
- 1 bay leaf

Adding The Brine To The Jars
put ladle in saucepan holding brine, stir to create a swirl that will bring the seeds and stuff towards the center of the pot. scoop one ladle full of this stuff and ladle into each jar. Then ladle mostly just liquid up to the line in the jar near the top. This will ensure an even amount of seeds in the jar amongst all jars. The pickles should be submerged in the brine in the jar.

Resting, Refrigerating and Eating
- Put jars on shelf in a dark and dry place for 5 days.
- After 5 days put the jars into the refrigerator. The pickles are ready to eat.
- The jars of pickles must stay in the refrigerator or they will go bad.
- The pickle taste will increase as the cucumbers sit in the brine, even in the fridge.
- They will last for about 2 weeks after they go in refrigerator and then they will get softer when they are getting old.

Eggplant with Asian Orange Sauce

Ingredients
Part 1
- 1 Chinese eggplant [light purple color, that are long/slender] (quartered lengthwise and chopped into one inch pieces)
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 2 TBSP olive oil

Part 2
- 1 TBSP ginger (grated with cheese grater / don't bother peeling skin off)
- 1/2 red onion (sliced into 1/4 in rounds and cut into 2 inch pieces)
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 2 TBSP olive oil

Part 3
- 1 TBSP cornstarch (if you want the sauce to thicken)
- 1 Orange or Tangerine peeled (crush the part you would eat over pan, include pulp)
- 1 TBSP sugar
- 1 TBSP soy sauce
- 1 TSP sriracha or garlic chili sauce


Cooking
1. Cook Part 1 of the ingredients on medium in cast iron pan until eggplant begins to soften. Add water as needed to keep the frying part of the process wet at all times.
2. Add Part 2 ingredients and Cook until onions are tender.
3. Cook Part 3 ingredients until everything looks mixed together and eggplant is tender. Give it a taste. If its tender it will taste good!