Brussels Sprouts

Growing up, my family rarely ventured out of the Asian cuisine, so brussels sprouts were rather foreign to us.

The first time I’ve ever had brussels sprouts was at a potluck a couple years ago. I actually really like the taste of them-Just didn’t have the chance yet to try making them myself. But during one of my lunch breaks at work last week, I strolled to the nearby farmers market..bought my usual items, and then I came across brussels sprouts at one of the stands and randomly decided to buy a lil less than a pound of it at $5/lb ..omg yes, that was pretty expensive, but it was one of those days that when I put my mind to do something, it must be done. And that day’s mission.. was to make brussels sprouts!

I had no idea how to cook this thing, so when I got back to the office, I researched a couple of simple recipes and came across some that uses balsamic vinegar or lemon juice, salt or sea salt or kosher salt, and black pepper was a common ingredient for the recipes. I was lazy to buy the items that I didn’t have, so I just ended up making these sprouts with what was already in my kitchen, essentially making up my own recipe.

Ingredients:

• ~1 lb brussels sprouts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 (or more) teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Clean and cut the stem off of the sprouts. In a large bowl, place the olive oil, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice in. Mix and stir.

Boil a pot of water. When the water reaches a boil, place the sprouts in and boil for 5 mins. Drain.

Make sure the sprouts have been drained pretty well. Place them immediately in the olive oil, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Cover a shallow roasting tray with foil. Place the sprouts on top along with all the mixture.

Bake for 7 mins. Take it out of the oven and flip the sprouts over so that the browned side is showing at the top. Then drizzle a little more olive oil over the sprouts.

Bake for another 7 mins. Then take it out of the oven, flip them over again. Add the chopped walnuts to toast them.

Bake for another 7 mins. Take it out of the oven and let the sprouts and walnuts sit for about 5-7 mins. It should then be ready.

(I’ve learned from this that brussels sprouts taste better after sitting out longer-texture is less mushy than when you first it eat out of the oven.)

The taste of it was surprisingly pretty good! ..given the fact that I improvised with only what I had in my kitchen :)

Tofu Pork Meatballs

I learned how to make these from one of my housemates back in college.  They’re great when you don’t know what to do with your leftovers!

I happened to have some leftover ground pork and leftover tofu in the fridge, so decided to make them.

Ingredients:

• ~1/4 lb ground pork
• 1/2 slab of medium firm tofu
• water
• 1/2 teaspoon potato starch (太白粉)
• rice wine
• salt
• white pepper
• 1 stalk green onion, chopped

Directions:

Place the pork in a mixing bowl.  Add a splash of water and mix.  Add a splash of rice wine and mix. Add the potato starch and continue mixing in one direction. Dash a layer of salt and white pepper and mix.  This is the same mixing method as my wontons and potstickers.

Add the tofu. Dash a layer of salt and white pepper and mix. Mix until the tofu is all broken into small pieces. Dash another layer of salt and white pepper. Add the green onions. Mix well.

Then gently roll them into balls, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter.

Fry them on high temperature until evenly brown on both sides, and voila!