Bom-dia Brazil!!!

I just spent an amazing week in Rio de Janeiro- Brazil and want to share some of my cultural and culinary adventures with you all!

A little background on Brazilian food--
Brazilian cuisine is a unique combination of three main cultures: Native Indians (aboriginals), Portugese (colonizers), and the Africans (slaves). The ingredients and cooking techniques of these people are all integrated into the food that is Brazil.

While Brazil has a very diverse immigrant community, including the largest Japanese population outside of Japan (Sao Paulo in secific), most of these other cultures have retained their own culinary identity and are not as integral to Brazilian cuisine.

Over the next few weeks I'll be blogging about all things Brazil and sharing with you the deliciousness of Rio de Janeiro!

Fried Turkey & Cabbage Wontons

Most traditional recipes call for ground pork but I happen to have ground turkey at home plus this is a leaner/ healthier alternative... without sacrificing taste!

Ingredients:

1/2 small cabbage (about 8 oz)

1/2 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger, grated

3 scallions, chopped

1/2 lb ground turkey

1/4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 Tb soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1) Toss cabbage w/ 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Let it stand for 15 minutes (this draws the moisure out) & squeeze out any access liquid

2) Combine turkey, garlic, ginger, scallions, soy sauce, salt, sesame oil w/ cabbage until well mixed

3) Place a bit of the mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper & fold according to the directions below & seal w/ egg mixture

4) Deep fry until golden brown & cooked. Serve w/ soy dipping sauce (below)

Folding Wonton Dumplings:

- Place the wonton on a flat surface in a diamond position

- Add a small spoonful of the mixture to the center of the wonton (be careful not to over stuff)

- Brush the edges w/ egg

- Fold the wonton in half so that the bottom corner of the wonton fold over the top corner to form a triangle & seal

- Fold the right and left corners together and seal w/ egg


Soy dipping sauce:

soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt-- combine ingredients to taste

Strawberry Basil Sorbet

This Strawberry Basil Sorbet recipe only calls for 5 ingredients (strawberries, sugar, basil, lemon juice & salt) and is all natural. Its a great way to treat yourself to a healthy dessert for the New Year!

Ingredients:

3 cups strawberries (cut in half, stemless)

2/3 cup sugar-- I used all natural cane sugar

1/4 cup basil, coarsely chopped

2 tea fresh lemon juice

pinch of salt

Directions:

1) Combine the strawberries, sugar & basil and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes-- you'll know they're ready when a thin glossy syrup coats the strawberries


2) Add everything (mixture, lemon juice & salt) to a blender or food processor and let 'er rip

3) Cover & refrigerate the mixture (2 hours or more)

4) Pour the cold puree into the ice cream maker and churn

5) Place in freezer safe container and sit in freezer for at least 2 hours.

And thats it- you've got fresh all natural sorbet at home!

**update: I redid this same recipe w/ fresh mint instead of basil and it turned out just as great!**

Fried Tofu with a Soy-Lime Dipping Sauce

Tofu is normally not on my regular shopping list but i decided to pick some up to experiment with. After playing around with a few ideas, this fried tofu recipe ended up being one of my favorites.

I coat the cubes of tofu with cornstarch which gives it a really light airy crunch. Pair that with my fresh soy-lime dipping sauce and its a great snack.

Fried Tofu with soy lime dipping sauce

Ingredients:

Tofu

Cornstarch

Soy-lime dipping sauce:

Soy sauce

Lime juice

Rice Vinegar

Salt

Directions:

1) Drain all the juice from tofu and pat dry with a paper towel.

2) Cut the tofu into one inch cubes and coat liberally with cornstarch

3) Deep Fry until golden and crisp

4) While the tofu is deep frying, combine all the ingredients to make the dipping sauce. I didn't put measurements so you can make the sauce to taste. I typically put larger quantities of soy sauce and lime juice. If you want your sauce a little sweeter, try adding some honey to the mixture.

(Better than) Carryout Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 Tb Peanut/Canola Oil ( for the wok-additional oil needed for deep frying)
• Flour (for coating chicken)
• 1 Orange (1/2 cup of the juice and zest from rind)
• 1/4 cup Chicken Broth
• 1 Tb of corn starch
• 2 Tb Soy Sauce
• 1 Tb Honey
• 1 inch Ginger Root- finely chopped
• 1 clove Garlic- finely chopped
• 1 Scallion- chopped
• 1 Chili Pepper- finely chopped
  

Directions:
Sauce-
1) Make Sauce: Combine orange juice, chicken broth, cornstarch, soy sauceinto a measuring cup and mix well--set to de side

Chicken-
2) Dice chicken into bite size chunks
3) Coat in egg batter, then flour. Repeat again
4) Fry coated chicken & degrease

Combine-
5) In a wok with the peanut oil, add: ginger, garlic, spring onions, hot pepper, & orange zest
6) Once flavors release, add the sauce mixture and simmer until bubbling and thickened
7) Add chicken with broccoli and coat until completely covered

Crispy Wasabi- Basil Tuna Rolls

This tuna recipe is the 'effin' best- No Drake. Plus, its super easy to make!

Ingredients:

• Tuna Steaks-- the real stuff, non of that canned chicken from the sea ish
• Wasabi paste
• Basil
• Spring roll wrappers
• Salt-N-Pepa
• Oil- for deef frying

1) Season fresh tuna steak w/ salt, pepper & wasabi paste

2) Arrange the spring roll wrappers so that the corner is facing you and the seasoned tuna steak is horizontal at the bottom of the paper


3) Put some fresh basil on the tuna


4) Wrap the tuna- tightly rolling up, fold right & left corners in to the center, continue to roll to the top; seal w/ beaten egg

*see my spring roll video for tips on how to roll


5) Deep fry 'em to your preferance- I like my tuna rare/ medium-rare

Califonia Luu-uuv

So I spent the last week and a half trekking through Cali and of course you know I was on the lookout for some good (and cheap) eats. I started off the trip in SanFran & the Bay area, worked my way south and finished off in San Diego.

This was my first time in the west coast, but I will most definately be going going back back to Cali Cali... I loved it!!!! SanFran's got so many interesting neighborhoods with tons of character and of course lots of great food. Here are my favorites from each neighborhood--

Chinatown:

Easily one of the best I've been to... it shits majorly on the Starbucks flooded "Chinatown" we have here in DC. Aside from bangin' restaurants, markets and tea shops, there's some really dope retail and gift shops. One of my highlights was this fortune cookie factory that was hidden away in a small alley:

... I gotta get my hands on one of those cookie presses. Mmmm.... hot off the press cookies!!

The Wok Shop on Grant Ave was also one of my fav's :)

Chef Jia's (just outside of Chinatown) has one of the best Chinese food spots ever... and for de cheap! All of this was $5 + it comes w/ a bowl of hot and sour soup. Forget $40 a day... let's aim for 25!

The honey chili chicken had a thick batter and was perfectly fried, then coated with a sweet and spicy chili sauce- awww, man!

SF = best farmer's markets ever. I would love to spend my lunch break like this everyday:

Fisherman's Wharf:

Boudin's Sourdough bread factory at the Wharf was awesome. They've got fun bakery demonatrations and you can peep the whole factory from outside or sourdough museum. Check out their cute little bread animals & see them make it on site

And you can't go to SF & not get a sourdough bread bowl, mmm Mmmm... just thinking about it makes me salivate- No Pavlov
*focused*

Golden Gate Park:

Be sure to pack your own food... there are endless picnic spaces here. Also stop by the Japanese Tea Garden for some warm tea w/ wasabi rice crackers and cookies.

Mission:
I had some of the BEST Cambodian food here ever... easily the best I've had since being in Cambodia.

This sour beef salad was the BEST. The meat marinated in a citrus, chili's, sugar and fish sauce and served rare/ uncooked (similar to ceviche). It's later tossed with beansprouts, peppers, carrots, mint and other goodies before its served over a bed of salad.

They also have imported beer from Thailand and they make an AMAZING Lemongrass Iced Tea... (which I will be making at home from now on until the end of summer :) The service was top notch and the owner was super sweet. All adding to the wonderful experience.

Delicious + Affordable = all smiles :)

Japantown:

This sushi place was pretty cool. The sushi circles the table on a floating boat and you just pick what you like.

The concept was really cool, but you have to wonder how long some of the food had been sitting on those boats. Also, since the place was pretty packed it seemed as if the chefs (who were preparing the sushi in the center of the table) were sort of in a rush to get the food out and I think they skimmed on a quality a tad.

If you're in SF, definately take some time to checkout the Oakland scene. Its accessible on public trasportation (the BART) for a few bucks.

House of Chicken and Waffles in Jack London Square was one of my highlights:

Each dish is named after family members of the owner with portraits of each member painted the interiors walls. I had Paige's Palette: 2 Southern Fried Chicken Wings, 1 egg and a waffle... MMMMmmm! The waffle has a slight cinnamon taste that went perfectly with the maple syrup.

We need more joints like this in DC.

Check out pt deux of my California post where we make out way down south to San Diego