Coconut Rice Pudding with Mango

My boys and I go on dinner dates to an Asian fusion restaurant that serves a delicious sticky rice with mango. Personally I LOVE the flavor combination of coconut and mango. I also happen to LOVE rice pudding so this was an easy recipe to put together. The sugar crust is like the icing on the cake. There's no more satisfying way to end a meal than breaking into the crunchy sugar crust on a brulee. Sadly I have an electric stove and no kitchen torch so my sugar didn't brown as much, but it still had that nice crunch!

1 can pure coconut milk
1 cu milk
1/3 cu jasmine rice
1 egg
1/4cu brown sugar
1 tsp coconut (or vanilla) extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cu diced mango
2tbsp granulated sugar

1. Combine coconut milk, milk, and jasmine rice in medium saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil, turn to low/medium and cook for 20 minutes slowly stirring.

2. Whisk together egg and brown sugar. Slowly add in 1/2cu of hot rice to temper (warm eggs without scrambling) the eggs. Pour egg mixture into pot with cinnamon and mix well. Continue cooking at least 10 minutes while stirring until rice is ideal doneness. You can add additional milk to keep the mixture creamy until it reaches the texture you want.

3. Pour into buttered casserole dish and top with mango. Sprinkle sugar on top and broil or torch for a few minutes until the sugar on top is browned like a creme brulee.

Crock Pot Curry

Today I decided to take a flavor trip to Asia with a crock pot curry. I used chicken thighs because they were the cheapest meat and the deep flavor of dark meat is great in a curry. This will be served over brown and jasmine rice cooking in my small crock pot. I also got some naan bread which is kind of like a pita without the pocket.

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
6 small red potatoes, cut into eigths
1/2 bag frozen California blend veggies
6oz sliced okra
1 jar curry sauce

1. Layer potatoes, okra, and frozen veggies in crock pot. Add half the jar of sauce.

2. Place chicken on top, pour over rest of sauce, and allow to cook for 6-8hrs.

Pad Thai inspired shrimp peanut stirfry

This is a meal that combines some of my favorite flavors of pad thai noodles. When I cook I rarely measure anything because I always add a little to make the flavor suit what I want. I will tell you what I started out with as a base. Feel free to adjust to fit your own taste. This can be served over any kind of noodles. As you can see from the picture I used a rice stick noodle...

1tsp fresh finely grated ginger (if you've never dealt with fresh ginger I show you how to hold a spoon and scrape the outer layer off)
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4cu green onion
1/4 cu cilantro
12oz bag of frozen cooked shrimp, thawed
Bag of stir fry veggies
1/2 cu peanut butter
1/4 cu lime juice
1/2cu chopped peanuts
Red chili flakes
Noodles

1. Saute ginger, garlic, cilantro, and green onion in oil until fragrant. Add in frozen veggies and cook until they are thoroughly heated.

2. Make a spot in the center of the pan. Add the peanut butter and lime juice. Cook while stirring for about a minute before adding in the shrimp. Stir everything together. Put the peanuts and red chili flakes to taste.

3. Toss in your choice of prepared noodles and enjoy!

Crab Wontons

Tonight is Asian night here, so I decided to make my favorite appetizer crab wontons. These are much easier to make than you would expect. I try to eat semi-healthy, so instead of deep frying them I bake them. They have a satisfying crunch to them still, but there's much less fat to them. And please, use the real crab. You can get some pretty cheap canned crab from the same aisle your tuna is on. It taste much better than the imitation crab! Don't worry about the filling oozing out of my wontons in the final picture. Remember, I cook using lactose substitutes and vegan cream cheese isn't the same texture as "real" cream cheese when it's heated. My 5yo described these as scrumptious so they're definitely kid approved!

2 6oz cans crab meat, drained
8oz softened cream cheese
Few dashes of soy sauce
Sprinking of garlic salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup green onion
Wonton wraps

1. Preheat oven to 425* and spray baking sheet with oil. Season the cream cheese to your personal taste with garlic salt and soy sauce. Not too salty, but with some flavor.

2. Fold in the crab meat. Place a tablespoon of the mixture in the center of the wonton wrapper,  rub a moistened finger along the edges and fold according to instructions. It doesn't matter how they look. You just want it so the delicious filling won't ooze out.

3. Place onto baking sheet and spray with oil. Bake until golden brown and enjoy! I like mine served with sweet chili sauce on the side.