Month: December 2016

Main Dish

Asian Udon Noodle Soup (Khaub Piaj or Khao Piak Sen)

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This soup is a Hmong and Laotian dish. It is call Khaub piaj or khao piak sen. It’s similar to chicken noodle soup. The noodles are made fresh using rice flour and tapioca starch. It is soft and chewy. This soup is perfect for the cold weather, but I still make it during the spring/summer when I want to eat it too.

To make the noodles, you’ll need:

  • 1 cup Rice Flour (Red bag)
  • 2 cups Tapioca Starch (Blue bag)
  • About 1 1/4 cups of boiling water

You can find these flours at any Asian grocery stores. Or you can buy it from Amazon. It cost more, but it’s free shipping.

In a stand mixer, pour in both of the flours. Add 1 cup of boiling water and mix. Then add 1/2 cup of water. Still mixing. Add a little bit of water at a time. If it is too dry, add more water. If it is stick, add a little bit of tapioca starch. When the mixture is in a lumpy dough form, take it out of the stand mixer. Divide the dough into thirds.

Using some tapioca starch to dust, roll 1/3 of the dough until it is 1/8 inch thick. Cut it into 1/4 inch thick or depending on how thick you like your noodles. Then dust the noodles in tapioca starch to prevent it from sticking to each other.

asian udon noodles soup asian udon noodles soup

To make the broth, you’ll need:

  • 2 cups shredded cook chicken
  • 48 oz chicken stock
  • 1 stalk lemongrass
  • Salt, to taste
  • Pepper, to taste
  • Fish sauce, to taste
  • 1-2 cups of water if needed



When the water is boiling, add noodles in. Stir the noodles to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. You’ll know when the noodles are ready when they float to the top and the liquid thickens.

garnishes

Cut green onions, cilantro, and limes to garnish.

These are the Asian sauces that I like to put in my soup: chili oil, hoisin sauce, Sriracha sauce, and soy sauce. I also add black pepper.

khaub piaj or khao piak sen

It’s totally up to you how you season your soup since everyone has different taste. For example, I like mine spicy and sour while my husband prefer his to have more hoisin and soy sauce. You can experiment with any sauces and adjust it to your taste.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Asian Chicken Udon Noodle Soup (Khaub Piaj/Khao Piak Sen)

Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Asian
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Rice Flour
  • 2 cups Tapioca Starch (blue bag)
  • 1 1/4 cups Boiling water
  • 1/2 cup Cilantro
  • 1/2 cup Green onions
  • 1 Lime
  • 2 cups Cooked chicken
  • 48 ooz Chicken bouillonbouillon powder
  • 1 stalk lemongrass
  • Soy Sauce
  • Sriracha Sauce Optional
  • Hoisin Sauce
  • Salt
  • Fish Sauce Optional
  • Chili Oil Optional
organizations

Pantry Organization

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I was thrilled when my husband and I moved into our apartment because it had a pantry! Since we live in an apartment, I didn’t think much about organizing the pantry. Before organizing my pantry, each shelf was for certain stuff. Like one shelf would be for baking, the other would be for cans. Each time after grocery shopping, we would just put stuff on the shelf and it would get all messed up.

I decided to start organizing our pantry. We were on a budget so I tried to find things that would work for what we need.

These containers are the IKEA 365+. I found these here. I was lucky that these containers were on sale for half off. First, I made a list of everything that I needed containers for so I only bought as much as I needed. I got the chalkboard labels from here and used a bistro chalk marker to label them. You can find the chalk marker here. If you love colors, you can find colorful markers here. Gotta love these labels! Whenever you need to change the writing, just wash it off.

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted on this shelf so I went to dollar tree. First I got some baskets. It didn’t work because I can’t stack them on top of each other. So I went back to dollar tree and found these. In these I put snacks, candies, ramen noodles, seasoning packets, and whatever that can fit in there. There is a little room left on the side so I filled that empty space with cans and spaghetti sauces. That closet rod is in the way, but I can’t do anything about it. Maybe I can hang chip bags on it or something. Haha

I also got these from IKEA. These containers are called Tillsluta. Not really sure if I like these. The lid doesn’t seem tight. I kind of have to push down the edges of the lid for it to close down, but it works for now. Again I have a little space left on the side to store some stuff.

At the top of my pantry is Asian noodles. I just stacked them on top of each other making sure that they don’t fall. At the bottom of my pantry are the 5 gallons bucket from Walmart. I store my rice, sweet rice, and flour in them. I wanted something to store all my ziploc bags, aluminum foil, and plastic wraps so I got this door organizer from Walmart as well. If you know me, I usually like to stock up. There’s so little room so I have to use whatever I can find to make it work.

I’m loving my pantry! It’s so easy to find what I need. Just wish it was bigger. Maybe when we buy a house! Hope you enjoy reading about my pantry organization and got inspire to organize yours as well!

Main Dish

Fried Rice

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Print Recipe

Fried Rice

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: Asian
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp Canola oil
  • 5 Eggs
  • 2 tbsp Sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp Minced garlic
  • 1/2 Chicken breast
  • 1 bag Shrimp
  • 1/2 bag Frozen Mixed Vegetables
  • 2 cups Rice
  • Salt
  • 2 tbsp Stirfry Sauce

Instructions

  • Prep: Thaw the shrimp and frozen vegetables. When the shrimp is thaw rinse, drain, take off the tail. Place paper towel in a bowl and put the shrimp in. This help soak up the water from the shrimp.
  • Diced the chicken breast and minced the garlic.
  • Cook: In a skillet, scramble the eggs then put it aside.
  • Add 1 tbsp sesame oil and saute the garlic until brown then add the chicken breast.
  • When the chicken breast is cook, add the shrimp.
  • Add 1 tbsp sesame oil and cooked rice. Then stir.
  • Add the vegetables, eggs, and stirfry sauce. Add salt to taste.
  • Enjoy!

Homemade fried rice is the best! In the past when I went to Chinese buffets, I would get some fried rice. Sometimes the rice is hard or it taste kind of bland. So I told myself not to get it anymore. When I want some, I will just make some myself.

I’ve grown up eating fried rice all the time. My 2 year old daughter loves fried rice. It’s one of the food that she’ll eat including her veggies. It’s so easy to make, but I’ve never even thought about writing a recipe. Usually I just eyeball everything and adjust it to my taste. I came up with this recipe just for my blog post.

Instructions

Thaw the shrimp and frozen vegetables. Then minced the garlic and diced up the chicken breast.

When the shrimp is thaw rinse, drain, take off the tail. Place paper towel in a bowl and put the shrimp in. This help soak up the water from the shrimp.

In a skillet, scramble the eggs then set it aside.I like to scramble my eggs first. You can cook your eggs after cooking the chicken too. It’s totally up to you.

Add 1 tbsp sesame oil and saute the garlic until brown.

Then add the chicken breast.

When it’s cook, add the shrimp.

Add 1 tbsp sesame oil then pour in the the cooked rice.

Add the vegetables, eggs, and stirfry sauce. Add salt to taste. You can find my stirfry sauce recipe here.

You’re done. Enjoy!