Banana and shrimp does not normally mix, does it? However, these Banana Shrimp Cakes are great finger food. They are crunchy on the outside and soft, sweet and savory on inside.

The Banana Shrimp Cake will go great with almost any type of sauce dip.

Ingredients

• 2 bananas
• 150g shrimp meat
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 2 tablespoons egg white
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs

Seasonings

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Banana Shrimp Cake"

This is a very Chinese homey dish. My kids will certainly love the fish fillet with the fermented soy bean. The guava gives this dish a unique flavour. You may substitute the guava with other vegetables like zuchinni, cucumber, etc.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon fermented soy beans
• 1 medium sized guava, thinly sliced
• 1 lb Basa fillet
• salt and pepper to taste
• corn flour to coat the fish fillet
• 1/4 cup water

Click on the link below for the instructions.

continue reading "Fry Fish Fillet with Guava and Fermented Soy Beans"

The Arctic Surf Clams is great as an appetizer. It is best served cold. You can buy frozen, ready cooked Arctic Surf Clams from Asian Supermarket like T&T in Vancouver.

Ingredients

• 1 package of Frozen Arctic Surf Clams
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
• 1 to 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• juice from 1/2 lemon

Instructions

The Arctic Surf Clams have to be washed thoroughly as there may be sand in them. In order to do that, cut the clams into halves and rub away any sands in them. Rinse with cold drinking water and pat dry them. The Arctic Surf Clams can be cut into strips if you prefer. Chill the Arctic Surf Clams in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

To make the sauce, combine together the sesame oil, Bonito seasonings, sugar, vinegar and lemon juice. Pour the sauce over the chilled Arctic Surf Clams and mix thoroughly.

Sprinkle the dish with Bonito Rice seasoning or toasted sesame seeds. You may serve the Arctic Surf Clams with a Garlic Soy Sauce.

The Arctic Surf Clams is great to be served in summer. I love the sesame oil and coriander fragrance which permeates the dish.

For this fall session, I’ll try to attend another community kitchen so that I can learn more variety of recipes from a different group. I’ll be going to Minoo’s group at Caring Place on Thursday morning every other week.

Minoo shared two recipes this week. The recipes are Pacific Salmon Loaf and Blueberry Muffins. The Pacific Salmon Loaf in this recipe uses can salmon but you may use any left over baked salmon or even can tuna. The Salmon Loaf is served with a cucumber sause.

Ingredients

• 2 (220g) cans salmon, drained and flaked
• 1/2 cup (125ml) dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup (125ml) chopped onion
• 1/3 cup (75ml) chopped green peppers (or any other color peppers)
• 1/3 cup (75ml) chopped celery
• 1/2 cup (125ml) mayonnaise
• 1 large egg

Ingredients for the cucumber sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup dairy sour cream or yogurt
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cucumber
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 3/4 teaspoon dried dill

Click on the link for the instructions.

continue reading "Pacific Salmon Loaf"

This is another thing I prepared for the recent BBQ at the South Arm Park. It is simply called the Salt and Sugar Shrimp. The recipe for this was also from the Safeway Great Grilling Recipe. All the recipes are simple but yet looks very appetizing. Check out their website: http://shop.safeway.com/superstore/default.asp?brandid=1&page=corphome.

The shrimps are marinated in 2 tablespoons of kosher salt and sugar for at least 45 minutes or up to 2 hours. Rinse the salt and sugar mixture and pat dry. Thread in a C shape onto skewers.

Pour 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced garlic over the shrimp. Grill the shrimps uncovered, turning once until the shrimp are bright pink on the outside and opaque but sitll moist-looking in center of the thickest part (cut to test). This takes 5 minutes.

I found that the shrimps way too salty. I suggest that you reduce the salt in the marination.

Polly brought some chicken drumsticks, some vegetables and also some beef short ribs for the BBQ. We had a great time at the BBQ.

This is about the other meal we got from DinnerWorks.com. It is called the Blue Fjord Salmon. Although it is frozen salmon, it is surprisingly very good. The meat was flaky and moist while the skin was really crisp.

In this meal assembly, we get six individually packed Wild Sockeye Salmon fillets. Since six is a bit too much for us, we had earlier split the order into three and three. The meal assembly includes the salmon and the Blue Fjord marinade.

The salmon are frozen. However, we were told that fish frozen at sea and thawed in the refrigerator is as good than fresh market fish for flavor and texture. This info is new to us. What do you think — is that right?

Instead of typing the cooking instructions, here it is on the label. Click on this picture to blow it up if the print is too small to read.

I marinate the salmon as they thaw out from the packaging. I place them in a shallow dish with the skin side down. Doing this will crisp the skin really nicely. Marinating the salmon requires 6-10 hours. I normally don’t marinate it that long.

Oh yeah, have I told you what the secret ingredient of this dish is? It’s the whiskey.

The marinate in made up of:

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 2 oz whiskey
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons chopped green onions

After marinating, place the salmon steaks on a baking sheet, lined with aluminium foil. I pour the marinate and scallions into a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. If I don’t remove the scallions too, they will burn in the oven.

You may either grill or broil the salmon. I broiled it for 10 minutes. It’s done when the flesh flakes easily when tested with a fork.

I have salmon close to this before but did learn a couple of ingredients that really enhances the taste. It looks really yummy out from the oven, smells lovely and the taste? Perfecto!

The second recipe which Vanessa shared with us in this week’s cooking club is Baked Salmon. She got the recipe from a friend in Seattle.

Salmon is a popular food, and reasonably healthy due to its high protein and Omega-3 fatty acids content and to its overall low fat levels. We had the chance to see a salmon run in Adams River before and it was so awesome seeing thousands of salmon spawn and then die. It will be a “dominant year” this year — this happens once every four years where up to millions of salmons is expected.

The Baked Mayonnaise Salmon is crisp on the outside while the meat is moist.

Ingredients

• salmon steak or fillet
• Mayonnaise
• ground black pepper
• parsley flakes
• salt to taste

Click on the link below the for Cooking Instructions.

continue reading "Baked Mayonnaise Salmon"