Thao Uyen

I tried it!
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There are times when I want an elaborate, detail-oriented recipe to test my patience and there are times when I just want to grab the ingredients, quickly cut them and throw them all in a pot or a pan and boom! Dinner is served, baby!

This is one of those times, and Anuca’s recipe for quick spicy chicken is just the thing to make me happy. And happy I am, because of the simple ingredients and big flavors. I think the dish has an Asian flair with the combination of ginger and soy sauce, yet so exotic with parmesan cheese (to me it’s exotic). Since this dish also reminds me of spring because of the colors, I dive right in when the weather gets warm to make myself a hot plate. And wow, this spicy chicken quickly becomes a sexy kitchen chick! ;)

The big plus is the recipe uses everyday ingredients which you can find at the supermarket. So there’s no need to make a list to go shopping at the grocery store. In fact, I bet you have most of the ingredients in your pantry. 

When it comes to the cooking part, I make some twists here and there, with marinated and deboned chicken thighs instead of chicken breast, and I add more soy sauce. And although I don’t know how it happens, my copy-cat dish looks exactly like an Asian dish. Really, the last time I cooked Anuca’s Mediterranean chicken stew, it looked like an Asian soup and now this! I suppose I can’t help adding my quirky twists. The only thing that saves my dish from going too far in that Asian spectrum is parmesan. No wonder she made a note to add a lot of parmesan. The cheese is, as you can call it, that last note of a perfume, designed to bring all the components together. I think the parmesan cheese is the genius touch, to make the dish complete. As a result, it is savory and fresh, it has that rich and buttery feel from the combination of ginger, soy sauce and olive oil. When the parmesan starts to melt in your mouth, a bust of spiciness from the chili comes through to literally wake you up from all those winter months. And then you taste the well-balanced sauce with the chicken and veggies, and you feel vigorous and giddy. That’s how it makes me feel when I take the first bite. I’m sure you’ll want to try this dish more than one time. As for me, I tried it and I’ll come back to it again and again.

Check out my fella’s recipe for quick spicy chicken here. Aaaand don’t forget the parmesan.

Have a great week-end!

...call for a big bowl of Southeast Asia fusion noodle soup by Tuk Tuk.

Herbal aromatic broth with Asian greens, spring onions, side of Hoisin sauce and sriracha, fresh herbs, chili, lime and quail egg wonton.

It can be served with specialty five spiced duck, marinated prawns, grilled beef with soybean paste, Char Sui pork (slow cooked Cantonese style pork with star anise, dark soy and fresh ginger), grilled chicken breast or mushrooms and tofu. 

Everything is blooming in the garden today!

Preparations for a fluffy cozonac with butter, orange zest and Corinthian raisins.

A traditional Easter meal in our family infuses the Romanian tradition with our mixed background (Italian, Greek, Turkish). It usually starts with a series of appetizers, and apart from the Romanian traditional starters such as salata de boeuf, we use the occasion to invent at least one two appetizers each year. This is part of the Easter fun! Aside from the "inventions", the beginning of the meal will usually include a fish, cheese and cold meats platter. 

Painted eggs are the star of the meal, and it is the custom in my family to eat them with a delicious roasted beet-horseradish garnish and the omnipresent during this time: spring onions and spring garlic.

As the tradition says, everything coming next will be the little lamb: lamb sour soup (borș de miel), lamb roast and drob de miel. 

Ahhh the dessert...finally! :)

Traditional Romanian sweet bread, cozonac. 

This year's special dessert creation, my sister Diana's blackberry brownie (totally yum).

Wherever you are, feel our joy and celebrate with us!

Thao Uyen

This one is a family favorite, and a tradition too. Not only that it’s quick to prepare and to cook, it also has all the flavors (sweet, sour, creamy tomato sauce) and, above all, much needed greens. At my family table, there are always greens, especially herbs that are always in high demand. The reason for it is no coincidence though, as my paternal grandmother used to have a stand to sell herbs and veggies at the market. As a result, my dad has been eating veggies and herbs since he was little. And as tradition would have it, he passes that craving on to his children. Herbs and veggies must have an addictive effect, how else to explain that feeling of satisfaction when we can eat a whole bowl of salad? Meat alone just can’t cut it.

Greens are essential for this dish but you’ll also find beef or veal. If you’re trying to lose weight without losing hard earned muscles, you should give this one a try. It’s also a great way to incorporate any kind of greens that are in season. This time I use frisée salad and radish (it’s April after all), but you can choose watercress (yum!), water spinach, kale, escarole, also lettuce, iceberg and batavia salad. Really, there’s no rule for the greens.

For the tomato sauce, you’ll only need tomato, beef, onion, oyster sauce and soy sauce. If the thought of oyster sauce gives you weird feeling (I know some people who find sauce made from oyster a taboo), just add more soy sauce instead. You can use tender beef part or ground beef and based on your choice, adjust the cooking time to not dry out the beef which is so important for the success of the dish.
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There’s one thing that you need to pay attention to: The sauce must be made from fresh tomato, so use the ripe ones that have a creamy texture when cooked. The ripe tomatoes will provide a beautiful color for the sauce and reduce the cooking time too. The contrast between creamy tomato and crunchy salad is the x factor of the dish. That's it for the technical part ;), let’s not waste any more time and get to our recipe!

INGREDIENTS (for 2 servings):
- 150-200 gr tender beef or veal (filet/tenderloin), thinly sliced
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- ½ a medium onion, cut into thin wedges of 0.5 cm
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 pinch of salt and grounded black pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 big bowl of greens or in my case 150 gr of frisée salad and 5 red radishes, green leaves included.

READY IN: 20 minutes
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PREPARATION:
In a skillet, stir fry ½ tbsp of olive oil and minced garlic on high heat. After 20 seconds or when the garlic gives off its fragrance, add the sliced beef (or grounded beef) with 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and continue to stir fry. After 3 minutes, take the skillet off the heat. Put the beef along with any possible beef juice into a bowl and add ½ tbsp of soy sauce. Give the stir fried beef a mix to distribute the soy sauce evenly.

Put the skillet back on the stove, on medium-high heat add the last ½ tbsp of olive oil, sliced shallot, diced tomato, sliced onion and a pinch of salt. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. After 2 minutes, when the tomato starts to break down and turns mushy, add 50 ml of water, the last of the soy sauce (1 ½ tbsp) and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes or until all the tomato meat turns into thick sauce. In this process, if the water dries out too quickly, add in the beef juice by straining the stir fried beef earlier. If not, go straight to the next step.

Add the stir fried beef (and any beef juice left) back into the skillet, give it a good mix in the tomato sauce then turn off the heat. This step only takes 30 seconds.

To assemble the dish, sprinkle grounded black pepper on the beef tomato sauce. While waiting for the sauce to cool down a bit, proceed to slice the red radish, cut short the frisée salad and radish leaves and put them all on the plates. Lastly gently pour the beef and tomato sauce on the salad and dive in.
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Enjoy the creamy sauce and greens!
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Floriile (Flowery or Palm Sunday) mark the beginning of the Orthodox Holy Week in Romania, which follows the story of Jesus since his entry into Jerusalem, when he was received with joy, flowers and palm leaves. However, this celebration is one of the juxtapositions of the Christian faith over the ancient Roman celebration of Floralia, the festival of vegetation goddess Flora, a gathering of fertility rituals and games meant to celebrate the rebirth of nature and the rites of spring. And it is a juxtaposition of an even older Dacian spring celebration centered on flowers and fertility dances and songs.

One such very old custom, after Christianity became the use of willow leaves to purify the body, the household, the animals and the fields. Before the Florii Sunday, the Lazarus Saturday, being part of the story of Lazarus being resurrected by Jesus from his grave, replaces an older celebration of the vegetation god being resurrected each spring. As a combination of both, on that Saturday, Romanians take willow branches to church to be sanctified by a priest, and on Florii Sunday, the willow, an immortality symbol in many cultures, is set to decorate the house, entrances, graves, animal sheds, fields and the beehives (for a good honey harvest). Tradition says that the willow branches are to be kept in the house, for protection, until the next Florii Sunday.

In the city, it becomes a beautiful Sunday when you see people carrying willow branches and flowers and is also the day when approximately 1,5 million Romanians who bear flower names celebrate their name day.

This is also the weekend where many traditional fairs are taking place all around the country, and in Bucharest, one such fair is the Florii Fair at one of the most distinguished and beautiful museums, the Romanian Peasant Museum, where we can usually find a gathering of traditions in many fairs throughout the year, corresponding to major celebrations. The Florii Fair brings about traditional craftsmen from all over the country, and it is always a pleasure for me to visit this fair to stroll among the beautifully crafted objects and culinary delicacies and to interact with the craftsmen

One gorgeous inclusion in any peasant fair that you can find at the Florii fair as well are the intricately decorated ii (the Romanian blouse), textiles such as table cloths, napkins, towels, carpets and other various beauties, where each region can be recognized by their specific embroidery motives and the regional folk costume.

The beloved pottery makes so hard to choose a new addition, but my sister made some excellent choices :)

Of course, one of the most impressive items would be the famous Romanian painted Easter eggs! Each color has a symbolic meaning: red is vitality and power of life, black is immortality, yellow is the sun, blue is the sky and green is the rejuvenated nature.

It would be hard to pass by and ignore the sweets and candies. Childhood sweets like homemade lollipops and traditional bunny gingerbread, all sorts of honey and honey products, wines and oils, cozonac (the traditional Easter cake) and my favorites, which became an addition to our Palm Sunday meal, layered cakes from Maramures. (So hard to choose which one to take home, seeing them waiting patiently in the freezer).

This is not a fair to leave without the liquid gold of honeycomb. The best way to eat honeycomb is to chew it as much as possible and to slowly ingest the beeswax as well, during the process, little by little. Among its many, many health benefits as a superfood, this ritual alone is one of the most powerful anti-allergenic remedies.

A typical Florii Sunday meal

The tradition on Florii is to eat fish and fish products. During the 40 days Easter Orthodox fastening, this would be a day that gives a permission to eat fish (since the fastening is exclusively vegan). The fish as you know is a major symbol of Christianity, in connection to the feeding of multitude by Jesus, the Ichthys and the fish as symbol of the "fisher of men" and as universal symbol of faith and the spirit, in connection to the water element.

On Florii Sunday, the table will be decorated with flowers and willow branches, spring greens and fresh fruit. There are hardly any local fruits at this time of year, other than the superb strawberries, that are just at the start of their season. Usually, the meal opens with a few traditional appetizers, vegan for those who keep the fastening, if not, tarama, for which we discussed a recipe here, would be a must. This time, I prepared the traditional Romanian tarama, which is made of carp roe or a mixture of carp and pike roe (as I did here), served with chopped green or golden onion.

The main course is a good fish, baked, barbecued or fried, usually carp, and the most common traditional meal is fresh fried carp with boiled potatoes, lots of lemon or mujdei, and a salad made of the local greens joyfully joining the markets at this time of year: green onion and green garlic, spinach, stevia, celandine, ramsons, chervil and radish.

This is a very simple and healthy recipe that puts you in touch with a traditional Romanian meal on one of the most beloved celebrations in Romania.

INGREDIENTS (for 6 servings)

One fresh carp
As much potatoes as you want
Flour
Lemon
Butter
Parsley
Spring greens
Salt&pepper

For the fried fish

If you prefer, you can grill the fish, but the traditional cooking method is cutting the fish in big chunks, flouring them a little on each side and frying them in a pan with a little vegetable oil, on lower heat so that the meat is cooked inside (usually fried for about 15 minutes).

For the buttery potatoes

The traditional method is dicing the potatoes in cubes and boiling them in mildly salty water, until soft when pierced with a fork. Drain the potatoes from the hot water and place them in a pot, adding 2 cubes of butter, salt, pepper and chopped parsley. Mix it all well, to cover all potatoes with the butter. Before serving, you can reheat them to get a little crust from the butter. It is not necessary however, and it is healthier to just serve them boiled, steaming hot.

For the salad

This salad is meant to gather all local greens, as enjoyment of spring, rejuvenation of nature and people, both healthy and symbolical. If you do not have the mentioned greens, just use the local sprouts that come to your markets as early spring culinary wonders.

Mix the greens with olive oil and lemon and serve very fresh.

We liked everything so far (I hope!), but now comes the favorite part: the traditional sweets. Homemade with farm products. Cozonac (traditional sweet bread with lots and lots and lots of walnuts). Yummy chocolate salami. And the most delicious layered cake ever, the honey cake: it has honey dough layers and it is filled with white buttery cream and homemade apricot jam.

For those who celebrate Easter today, Happy Easter! Also, Happy Fool's Day :D And LA MULŢI ANI for all the flower people of Romania!

Spring was late this year. After the vernal equinox, a mighty snow storm has been visiting us for a few days. Before plunging into the greens of spring, the cold, dark days call for a yummy winterish warmer, a traditional French soup: Velouté de poireaux, leek soup. Quick and easy to make and as French would say, savoureux. 

Velouté means “velvety” and it originally referred to mother sauces that are thickened with butter, cream and egg yolks, currently extended to also describe soups turned creamy with butter or cream. 

The French classic is potato leek soup - potage poireaux pommes de terres – or Potage Parmentier, a delicious and quick homemade soup that can be served hot or cold and by contemporary standards, what one might call a blender soup, for you can basically throw all the ingredients in your blender, for its preparation.

The recipe introduced today is a mélange of the grand-mère (grand-mother) recette and my personal touch. It is going to be our French Connection between winter and spring.

Optionally, you can use vegetable stock powder (I used homemade, all-natural vegetable stock powder made of carrots, parsley roots, celery, onion, bell peppers) and season the soup with either more leek, or parsley or chives.

PREPARATION

For a lighter recipe, I prefer to use olive oil instead of butter, and let the milky taste and texture come from the cream alone.
Cut the onion in large rings and caramelize it in a little bit of olive oil.
Cut the potato in cubes and the leek in rings and throw them in your blender. Add water or stock.
Add the garlic cloves, the caramelized onion, the Herbes de Provence and the cumin seeds.
Blend well.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add enough water for a light creamy texture and boil the mixture in your soup pot for 15 minutes, at medium heat. At this point, pour in the heavy cream and boil for another 12 minutes.
For a silkier result, you may want to reblend the hot soup, but it is not necessary.

A good portion of fibers, B vitamins and anti-oxidants in a French classic that will caress your body and soul.
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Au revoir, winter!

We are inaugurating a new category of Quick and Easy recipes, that you can prepare in just a few minutes, for a quick meal or dashing solution to impress your surprise guests!

The grand opening comes with a memorable pasta recipe that you can enjoy whenever you have a quick and overwhelming sea craving, which is at the same time a safe bet for any party or home visit.

PREPARATION

Put your pasta to boil, by sprinkling a little oil and salt in the water, to prevent the pasta from sticking together and for extra flavor.

In the meantime, in a sauce pan or wok heat some olive oil (or the vegetable oil of your liking) and toss in the seafood when hot. Stir fry for a 3 minutes and add the veggie mix, for more stir frying. 

Add the crushed garlic or the garlic powder and the chili paste or powder. I used a delicious homemade chili jam.

Let the seafood and veggies stir for 3 more minutes and add enough cooking cream to cover them and to match the pasta quantity. 

Let it simmer and thicken for 4 more minutes and 1 minute before the end, add about 2 tablespoons of white wine and some grated yellow cheese.

Mix in the cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta and add the seafood sauce to it, mixing well.

Serve hot with more grated yellow cheese, chopped parsley, dill and green onion on top.

Thao Uyen

This recipe is for that time when you try to recover from a cold or flu. It’s that time when you lost all appetite and even the best steak look like a greasy heavy mess that you can’t even bring yourself to chew. Vietnamese believe porridge is the dish to go for, along with natural remedies, to recover from cold or flu.

Vietnamese porridge is made with ordinary rice being simmered in water for a long time until the grains of rice become mush. The result is like a thick broth which you don’t even need to chew. You can make porridge to feed babies and grandparents alike, just one dish.

You will need to chew this chicken porridge though, as there are different textures and flavors to savor. In this porridge you’ll find ginger and mung beans, a combination that is used for hundreds of years to neutralize poison. It can also neutralize medicine so if you’re sick and take medicine, I’d recommend you to leave out the mung bean. If you only take natural remedies like honey lemon tea, this recipe is a bonus to help you sweat out toxins. 

To optimize the healing properties of this dish, you can add a small amount of black pepper, red chili pepper and fresh turmeric or turmeric powder. You can eat your way back to health, so let’s get to our recipe right away, shall we?
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Ingredients: (for 2 servings)
- 2 chicken thighs with drumsticks (or half a chicken of 500gr), skinned if needed
- 80 gr short grain rice, washed and drained
- 80 gr glutinous rice, washed and drained
- 100 gr mung beans, washed
- 3 slices of ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
- ¼ medium onion, thinly sliced (as thin as possible)
- 2 stalks of spring onion, chopped
- 1 handful of Vietnamese mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- Salt, fish sauce, black pepper
- 1 handful of coriander (optional), roughly chopped
- ¼ lemon (optional)

​How to cook:
Soak the mung beans in warm water while you cook the chicken.

Boil the chicken in 1,5 liter of water along with 3 slices of ginger for 30 to 35 minutes. You don’t need to boil the chicken on high heat. In fact the medium-high heat is best, as we want to obtain a delicious broth by letting the chicken flavor infuse in the water. 

During this process, if you use the chicken skin, remember to skim off some of the fat floating on the surface. If not, you can skip this step.

When the chicken is cooked, take it out and leave it to cool down. As for the broth, keep it to make porridge.

In a small sauce pan add 1 tbsp of olive oil and stir fry the rice and glutinous rice with crushed garlic. Use medium heat as the rice can be burned quickly. Stir for 2 minutes until the rice is translucent then take it off the heat. If the rice sticks to the pan during this step, you can add a dash of water or two, just don’t let the rice be burned.

Come back to the chicken broth, add water to reach 1 liter of broth. Put in the stir-fried rice, glutinous rice and soaked mung beans. Bring this broth to a boil for 5 minutes and stir occasionally to prevent the rice to stick and burn at the bottom of the pot. After 5 minutes of boiling, turn off the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Let the pot seat on the stove for 1 hour and you can go do your things while you wait for the rice to be cooked on its own. When you do this, the rice and beans will continue to be cooked without you burning off gas or electricity. It’s a good way to economize energy, isn’t it? ;)

If you don’t have other things to do, just take care of the boiled chicken. With your hands, tear apart the chicken meat into small pieces. Throw out the bones or you can put them back in the broth pot. Mix the chicken pieces with salt (for 250 gr of chicken meat I add 1/2 tsp of salt) and 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper, onion slices (you can keep some slices for garnish later) and Vietnamese mint. It’s basically a chicken salad. I also like to add grated lemon zest for citrus fragrance but this is optional. Set this salad aside to assemble the dish later.

You can also prepare the greens (wash and drain then chop them) at this stage because the waiting time is quite long.
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After you wait for 1 hour, the rice will look like this

Now turn on the heat again and bring the porridge to a boil. By this time all rice grains should be soft, only the beans need to be cooked. Let the porridge simmer for 20 minutes while you add salt and/or fish sauce to the taste. I usually add 2 tbsp of fish sauce and 1 tsp of salt. Stir occasionally to prevent burning at the bottom of the pot.

After 20 minutes of simmering, the cooking part is done, you can take the pot off the heat.
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To assemble the dish, put the porridge in a bowl then add the chicken salad on top. Garnish with slices of onion, spring onion and/or coriander. I like to squeeze a small portion of lemon on top for a zingy pop, and sometimes I add red chili pepper for added heat and colors.

It is said that we should put on our skin only what we would eat. Let’s experiment with the concept! I am introducing to you 3 magical potions for your inner and outer nutrition, health and beauty. We will create a series of superfoods that keep the raw properties of high quality nutritious ingredients that you can either mix in your smoothies (or add to your desserts or snacks, as highly concentrated foods) but that you can use at the same time as simple, homemade, easy, quick and healthy all-complexion face masks.

All three recipes have an energizing, cleansing, rejuvenating effect in and out.
They teach us to incorporate in our food and beauty rituals carefully selected natural raw products which have a high enzymatic impact on our body. Perfect for meeting spring in full health and radiant beauty!
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INSTRUCTIONS
(valid for all three recipes)

As superfood: mix one tablespoon of the product in your daily smoothie or your freshly prepared dessert (such as fruit salad) or enjoy with whole grain crackers.

As face mask: gently rub the mask on your face and neck and leave for 15-20 minutes. Rinse with warm water or warm water and natural homemade face soap (I use goat milk soap after makeup removal). It is best however to not rinse excessively and to let the oils continue their absorption into the skin, after removing the mask.

Be careful for the turmeric mask can stain your clothes. You may need to use paper towels or makeup removal wipes to remove the excess turmeric color from your skin.

All face masks are highly rejuvenating and anti-wrinkle, so try to carefully apply the masks at eye corners, below the eyes and even below the eyebrows, gently, in very small dosage, and without touching the eye, for honey, coconut oil and turmeric can be irritants for the eye (they sting a little). If you don't feel skilled enough, avoid the area around the eyes.

You will notice the all the masks will leave your skin very very smooth and exceptionally glowy, clean, regenerated and healthy.
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​INGREDIENTS (version one)

1 tsp raw, high quality cocoa powder
1 tsp freshly ground coffee
1 tsp grated raw unprocessed cocoa butter
1 tbsp hot coffee from your daily coffee pot

​Finely grate the cocoa butter and add it to cocoa powder and ground coffee in a small bowl. Add the hot coffee  and mix  with a teaspoon until smooth  and having a yogurt-like texture. The hot liquid coffee will infuse the cocoa powder and the ground coffee.

NUTRITION

COCOA POWDER: Lowering blood pressure. Fibers. Minerals (iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese, potassium). Anti-depressant. Antioxidant. Low calories. Cholesterol balance. Anti-diabetes.

COCOA BUTTER: Immunity boost. Heart balance. Anti-constipation. Minerals and vitamins. Energizing. Anti-depressant. Dental health. Anti-obesity. 

COFFEE: Energy. Vitamin B complex. Minerals. Neural boost and healer. Burns calories. Antioxidant.


SKIN

COCOA POWDER: Exfoliant. Increase in oxygen saturation. Hydration. Minerals. Rejuvenating. Skin cells repair. Anti-wrinkle. Anti-age.

COCOA BUTTER: Rejuvenating. Moisturizer. General skin health. Anti-age and anti-wrinkle. Heals stretch marks, sores, rashes, sun burns. Soft lips. 

COFFEE: Exfoliant. Rejuvenating. Anti-wrinkle and anti-age. Detoxifying. Toner. Lightener. Skin-repair. Antioxidant. Anti-inflammatory. 

​INGREDIENTS (version two)
Instead of the liquid hot coffee, use 1 tbsp of raw, unprocessed coconut oil.

This gives a firmer, richer mask that includes the repairing benefits of coconut oil (see below).

​INGREDIENTS
1 tsp freshly and finely grated carrot
1 tbsp raw and unprocessed coconut oil
1 tsp acacia honey
½ tsp high quality turmeric powder

​Mix the honey, coconut oil and turmeric and add freshly grated carrot (use the finest grating degree).

NUTRITION

CARROT. Beta caroten. Heals the heart and the brain. Vitamin C. Anti-free radicals. Anti-cancer. Essential for eyes and skin. Fibers. Immune booster. Controls diabetes. Oral health. Digestive. Anti-cholesterol. 

COCONUT OIL: Good cholesterol. Weight loss. Anti-bacterial and anti-fungi. Memory and neural recovery. Hormonal balance. Heart, brain, pancreas help. Healthy digestion. Builds muscle. Heals joints. Oral health.

ACACIA HONEY: Anti-insomnia. Hormonal balance. Immune booster. Weight loss. Internal organs repair. Lowers blood sugar. Respiratory infections. Kidney repair. Analgesic. Minerals and vitamins. Anti-depressant.

TURMERIC: Anti-cancer, oxidant, inflammatory. General boost. Brain booster. Heart booster. Anti-Alzheimer and degenerative disease. Rejuvenating. 
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​SKIN

CARROT: Exfoliant. Bright, rejuvenated skin. Powerful anti-age and anti-wrinkle. Cleansing. Anti-acne and dark spots. Heals scars and blemishes. Sun protection. Repairs dry skin.

COCONUT OIL: Anti-age and wrinkles. Deep cleanser. Moisturizer. Lighter skin. Anti-bacterial. Fit for both dry skin and acne. Skin repair. Heals and prevents breakouts.

ACACIA HONEY: Intense repair of all scars, wrinkles, blemishes, burns. Nourishing and moisturizing effect.

TURMERIC: Anti-acne, bacterial and inflammatory. Cleans pores. Calms the skin. Rejuvenating. Treats chronic skin conditions. Sun burns. Corrects oily skin.

​This recipe is best processed in higher quantity, for example when you want to indulge in homemade fruity frozen yogurt, being more difficult to prepare a small quantity in your regular blender.

INGREDIENTS
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1 live culture yogurt (200g)
50-100g frozen or fresh berries (including seedy berries like raspberries, blackberries and strawberries). You can experiment here with different concentration of berries.
Honey to taste

​Blend them all in your blender. It is important to keep in mind that berries will become juicier upon blending, so try to use a thicker yogurt, or to use a fruit or seeds processor for the berries and subsequently add the berry puree in the yogurt. If you are using fresh berries, it is easier to just puree them with a fork and then add the yogurt and honey. Mix it all to obtain a smooth cream. 

NUTRITION

YOGURT: Rich, whole food containing protein, vitamins and minerals (especially calcium, potassium and magnesium). Probiotics essential for the digestive system. Immune booster. Weight loss.
 
BERRIES: Fibers. Iron. Anti-oxidants. Vitamins. Healthy heart. Anti-cancer. Bone balance. Rejuvenating effect. Low blood pressure.

SKIN
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YOGURT: Exfoliant. Rejuvenates. Moisturizer. Nourishing. Anti-bacterial. Removal of dead skin. Skin cell repair. Calming effect. Prevents breakouts. 

BERRIES: The tiny seeds will act as a marvelous exfoliant. Anti-oxidants. Increase of elastin and collagen levels. Face lift effect. Moisturizer. Re-mineralization. Soften dry skin. 

ICY TIP!

You can keep your favorite superfoods for longer periods by freezing them in ice cube trays. When you need a boost for your tummy or face, you just remove one ice cube and use it over your face and neck or toss it in your blender to be mixed with your smoothie.

Thao Uyen

If cooked rice has become monotonous for you and you want to make a party out of it, this one is for you.

Cantonese rice is a Chinese dish but it has been a part of Vietnamese cuisine for decades. The recipe I present to you today is a Vietnamese recipe, a simple version of the traditional Cantonese rice since the original recipe can include different nuts and a variety of oils and spices. You won’t find any nut in this Vietnamese recipe though and so it won’t have that crunchy texture. However, this one showcases a special Vietnamese technique and that is fried rice.

I call it special because now if I go to an Asian restaurant here in France and order Cantonese rice, I’ll get a dish of cooked rice mixed with oil, ham, fried egg, carrot and peas. Of course all the essential ingredients will be there but the mixed rice/oil is not the same as fried rice. Fried rice is made from cooked rice but unlike normal cooked rice, fried rice doesn’t stick, it shrinks a bit in size and becomes translucent with a chewy texture. It doesn’t absorb the flavors as readily as normal cooked rice but allows the flavors and spices to coat around each grain of rice. As a result, saucy fried rice ;) is tastier than cooked rice mixed with sauces.
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To make fried rice, rice is cooked and cooled down completely before being fried on high heat with a small amount of oil until each grain of rice turns translucent and smoky. Because of the small amount of oil, the dish is not greasy. In fact, it is more like your stir-fried dishes. Aside from fried rice, any kind of ingredient can be added, like meat, seafood, egg, vegetables, sauces and spices. Usually it’s a mix of 2 to 3 of those ingredients. In my opinion, when it comes to Vietnamese fried rice, less is more. You don’t need fancy ingredients to make the dish shine because fried rice is already the star.  

Now that we know that we can elevate cooked rice, let’s try to recreate this dish that you can find in 8 out of 10 restaurants in Vietnam: Cantonese fried rice.  
        
Ingredients (for 2 servings):
2 Chinese sausages, cut into small cubes
150 gr or a medium carrot, cut into small cubes
30gr or ½ an average onion, cut into small cubes
100gr peas (frozen or fresh)
4 fresh shrimps, cleaned and cut into cubes
200 gr cooked rice, cooled in room temperature
1 egg, beaten
1 shallot, minced
1 tbspoon of oyster sauce
1 tbspoon of black soy sauce
1 tbspoon of vegetable oil
Salt
Grounded white pepper (optional)

For the serving sauce (optional):
2 tbspoons of soy sauce
½ green or red chili 
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How to cook:
First blanch the peas: put the peas in hot boiling water for 1 minute then transfer into a bowl filled with cold water for another 1 minute. We will stir-fry the peas with carrot later.

Put a frying pan on medium-high heat. Put the sausage cubes into the pan and stir for 2 minutes so that the fat in the sausages comes out. If the sausages give a lot of smoke, you can add a dash of water. Next put in the shrimps and stir for 2 more minutes then remove the pan from the heat, keep the stir-fried shrimps and sausages and throw away the oil. (Chinese sausages are salty so you don’t need to add salt for this step)

Next use the same pan to stir-fry carrot cubes and peas. There should be a thin film of oil left on the pan, this is enough for this step. On high heat, stir-fry the carrot and peas with 2 pinches of salt for 2 minutes then put the carrot and peas aside but keep the pan on the stove.

Now add a dash of oil into the pan along with onion cubes, a pinch of salt and minced shallot. Keep stir-frying so that the onion turns translucent then smoky (about 3 minutes on high heat).

Gather the smoky onion and shallot to one side of the pan. Next pour the beaten egg into the other side of the pan and swirl. Soon the egg will start to be cooked and double up in size, this is when you can add rice over the cooked egg along with oyster sauce and black soy sauce. Use your wooden spoon to fold the rice from the edges of the pan to the center and tap to flatten and spread it around the edges again. Keep repeating this step to mix the rice, egg and sauces together. When you do this, the cooked egg will be shredded into small pieces and mixed evenly with rice. This step takes about 4 minutes.
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You can add more cooking oil if the rice absorbs oil too fast before it is fried properly. For 200 gr of cooked rice, I use 1 tbspoon of cooking oil. When the rice and egg are mixed, stir in the onion and shallot from the side of the pan and mix for 2 minutes. When making fried rice, you need to constantly stir, fold and tap the rice and ingredients to make sure each grain of rice is coated evenly.

Add the stir-fried carrot, peas, sausages and shrimps and continue to mix for 2 more minutes on high heat. You can now add grounded white pepper if you want, then take the pan off the heat.

Serve fried rice hot. You can serve it with spicy soy sauce by adding slices of chili pepper, and also thinly sliced cucumber which will add crunchy texture, but all of these are optional. Another serving option is sriracha, the spicy sweetness makes it one of my favorite dipping sauces.
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Since there is water in vegetables, this fried rice can only be store in the fridge up to 2 days.

Do you like Cantonese rice or Cantonese fried rice? Do let me know if you give this recipe a try ;). Enjoy the week-end!
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