V’s Blog

Bean Curd Stick Kkakdugi

This recipe was created after my recent discovery of dried bean curds. There are a lot of recipes floating around for simple salads and soups using these tofu skins, but I so much enjoy kkakdugi (Quick Korean Radish Kinchi) that I thought for sure you could use bean curd sticks for a similar snack. After […]

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Dried Bean Curd and Celery Salad

This super easy and very cheap salad can be served warm or cold. The recipe below makes for a mildly hot dressing. You can of-course add more chili as desired. The same goes for the sesame oil. I tend to only like a little bit in my dishes, but feel free to add more to […]

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Garlic Teryaki Beef With Lo Mein Noodles

I’m not any kind of Chinese food chef – nor do I claim to really know a lot about the modern Americanized version of Chinese cuisine – but I do know a good meal when I see one. This dish isn’t anything fancy, but it has all the elements of a good meal thrown nicely […]

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White Chili White Chili

White Chili. It’s the title of this dish but also the key ingredient. When I created this recipe I had two things in mind. Chili needs meat, (but I also like beans in mine), and chili should taste like chilies. Keeping things white, the protein of choice, chicken, was easy, but how to have a […]

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Chicken Marbella

Though taken from the name of a town in Spain, Marbella is actually an American made recipe based off of the flavors of that region. All the rage among the shoulder pad clad who’s-who of the 80’s, chicken marbella was the creative genus of Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, proprietors of the very trendy Silver […]

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Manakish with Za'atar

Manakish, pronounced manakeesh, is a very popular flat bread from the Middle East. It is most commonly topped with a za’atar blend, but can also be found topped with tomatoes, local cheeses, ground seasoned lamb, chilies, or greens. It can be sliced or served whole, and eaten flat or folded. Manakish is common for both […]

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Preserved Lemon Rind

Requiring only 2 ingredients, salt and lemons, it is incredibly easy to have this versatile condiment and meal enhancer in your fridge. Okay, so it sometimes also needs a little lemon juice, but you don’t even need a pressure cooker or canner. Just make sure your jar and it’s lid have been sterilized, either with […]

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Israeli Inspired Tapenade on Paan

A few years ago, when we were just starting this food adventure, I created an olive tapenade recipe. It wasn’t a bad recipe, though I certainly needed to update the photos! It was just very simple. This week I realized how much I have grown in the culinary field when I decided to clear out […]

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Achiote Annatto Paste Close

In our American world of mish-mashing cultures, it is really wonderful whenever I stumble upon a truly authentic l dish. Not too long ago, in my never ending quest to expand my herb and spice collection, I purchased a pinch bag of annatto seeds and began researching the hows and wheres of their common use, […]

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