Cajon Potatoes ala Barbeque Nation

During last summer holidays, we went back for a home trip for almost a month and during that time we made a quick trip to Chennai for a week.  While we were in Chennai we went to Barbeque Nation for lunch and they served this amazing potato salad that I loved so much and so did my youngest. I tried googling for the recipe and finally after a few months I came across this recipe which is apparently from a chef at Barbeque Nation! Thank you so much Chef, because with this recipe, I can finally make this potato salad that my son enjoys. Even my husband who dislikes potatoes, likes this recipe. I guess it is called Cajun Potatoes.

Ingredients

1 lb baby potatoes, washed and parboiled (just boil baby potatoes for about 5 mins and drain)
vegetable oil for deep frying.

for the cajun dressing:

original recipe calls for
1/4 cup of thousand island dressing
1/2 tsp of chilly powder
1/2 tsp of chaat masala
1 small shallot chopped

my version (tweaked as usual)
1/4 cup vegan mayo (I used Hampton Creek's vegan mayo - this is Gods answer to my prayers for a perfect vegan mayo
1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup
1 tsp of sriracha sauce
1 tsp chilly powder
1 tsp chaat masala
1 small shallot chopped

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1/2 tsp of lime juice

Directions:

1. Prepare the sauce. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and leave it the fridge for about 1 hour or more since we want a cold dressing.
2. In  a deep pan heat some vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, deep fry the potatoes until they are crispy.
5. Add the hot crispy potatoes into the cold sajun dressing and serve.

Note.
1. Prepare the dressing in well and keep it in the fridge.
2. Deep fry the potatoes when you are ready to serve the food.
3. Adding the hot potatoes into the cold dressing helps to keep the potatoes crispy.

My husband and sons said that my version was better than the one they had at Barbeque Nation! :)

Korean Fish Cake Eomuk

My daughter is off to college and I am missing her so much. I just wished that she was somewhere close enough for me to visit her over the weekend.  Feeling a bit empty inside and after cross mad with the boys for messing up the house, as usual, i started visiting some of my favorite cooking Youttube channels. I came across this fish cake recipe in Maangchi's youtube channel.  I had some of the main ingredients in my freezer and all I had to do was modify the recipe a bit based on what I had at home and fix this before the dad comes home from work. It took something like 15 minutes to make the fish paste and another 15 minutes to fry it. Pretty quick right. It tasted really good.

Ingredients

1/2 lb cod fish fillet or hake or any white fleshed fish fillet
1/2 lb shelled prawns and deveined
1/4 cup white onion
1 large egg white
2 garlic pips
1 tsp white pepper powder
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame oil

Directions

1. Put all the ingredients into the blender and blitz it for about 2 mins or until all the ingredients come to a smooth paste.
2. Heat up some cooking oil on medium heat. Take about 1/3 a cup of fish paste and flatten it over the back of an oiled spatula.
3. Start rolling the fish paste from the wider edge a bit by bit until it form a long roll and drop it gently into the oil.
4. Fry until the fish cake is cooked and evenly browned. Drain any excess oil on a paper towel. The fish cake will float when it is cooked.
5. The fish cake tastes good on its own without any condiments.

Cream Cheese Wontons

I always look to Fridays and I always like to celebrate Fridays with my family. Last day of school, last day of work, last day for everything  for the week and two full days of holidays. This Friday I was planning on going to the mall with my family, do some shopping and have some chinese food. At the last minute, I thought to myself why not have the food at home and then watch a movie at home. I had also just finished watching 2 videos on how to make fried loh mien and cheese wontons. Great, we will have Panda Express at home! I made cream cheese wontons and fried noodles. The cream cheese wontons tasted so great and it such a simple recipe. I used regular cream cheese but the next time I do this, I will make it with low fat cream cheese, because I cant stop at one.

Ingredients

1 block of cream cheese, at room temperature

1 tsp sugar

some chopped scallions and some chopped red chillies

some wonton wrapper

oil for deep frying

Directions

1. Mix cream cheese and sugar with a whisk or spatula until it is smooth.

2. Mix in the chopped scallions and red chillies

3. Wet the edges of a wonton wrapper and put about 1 tsp of cream cheese mixture in the middle. 

4. Fold the edges of the wonton wrappers and deep fry it on medium high heat.

Note:

Dont put too much cheese filling in the wonton wrapper because the filling might come out while frying.