Pickled Mango

I never thought about making my own pickled mangoes but since I'm up for all kines of challenges, I have decided to make this, especially when my coworkers came to work with tons of unripe mangoes!!

Pickled Mango
4 c sugar
2 c water
1/4 c hawaiian salt
1 tbs li hing powder
1 c rice vinegar
A couple of li hing mui (optional)

1) In a pot add in sugar, water, and salt, heat til dissolved. 

2) Remove pot from heat, add in li hing powder and rice vinegar, stir til combined. Let stand until cool. 

3) Pour in a jar or container of unripe mango slices, cover tightly and put in refrigerator up to 3 days before serving.

Yummy, cold, delicious pickled mangoes will be ready to eat in 3 days!!!!

Lechon Kawali Special

I have really only tried this dish about 2 years ago at Mililani Golf Course. When I first had it, I immediately thought my husband would LOVE it. So....I decided to create a quick version sometime later. I was right, he absolutely loved it! It's like roast pork poke! LOL!

Lechon Kawali Special (Quick version)

Chinese Roast Pork (with crispy skin)
Tomatoes
Onions
Black Pepper
Fish Sauce

1) Cut roast pork in small pieces.
2) Stir fry roast pork with oil for a min or so, turn off heat. (or you can completely skip this process if you are ok with them at room temperature)
3) Toss in diced tomatoes, sliced onions, pepper, and fish sauce (about a tbs or two). Give it a quick stir.
4) Place in serving plate or bowl.
5) Ready to serve!!!!!

So this is a quick version because I'd pick up ready-made chinese roast pork at the store. If you want to attempt making the real deal at home, following my chinese roast pork recipe!

Li Hing Lemonade

What a perfect summer treat! But...when you're in Hawaii, everyday is summer! =)

1 bottle Lemonade
1/2 tbs Li Hing Powder (more to taste if needed)
Strawberry slices (optional)

1) Open bottle of lemonade, add in Li Hing Powder, close cap tight and shake it up until powder is fully mixed.
2) Serve in a tall glass over ice, with strawberry slices. You can even rim the cup with li hing powder for more of a sophisticated look!

Make-Ahead Acai Bowl

Make-Ahead Acai Bowl (makes 2 bowls)

Acai Smoothie Packet (mine was 1 packet of Sambazon smoothie packs found at frozen fruit section)
Banana (1-2 for blending, 1 for toppings) blend one can be frozen
Frozen Strawberries (about a cup) 
Frozen Pitaya aka Dragon Fruit (about 1/2 cup)
Apple Juice (about 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup)
Honey (2 tbs for blender, drizzle for topping)
Granola (1/2 cup, I used Fiber One Protein cereal)

You can can omit pitaya or add frozen blueberries if you want. You can use fresh fruits too but it's best to have about half the fruits frozen to get the thick consistency.

1) Place acai, banana for blending, strawberries, pitaya, apple juice, and honey in a blender until blended.
2) Pour them in individual bowls
(if prepping for breakfast for next day or two) cover and freeze overnight. Then just take out about 30-60 mins before ideal breakfast time.
3) To serve, top acai mixture with sliced banana and granola, then drizzle honey on top.

I take my frozen bowl to work in the morning, by the time i get to work (about an hour later), my acai bowl is ready to eat and i just needed to add the toppings.

Malasada French Toast

Got leftover malasadas and you don't want to throw it out? Turn them into overnight French toast! 

Malasadas (cut up)

4 eggs

1.5 c milk

2-3 tbs honey

Granolas

1) Cut them up into smaller pieces, toss them into a greased baking pan. 

2) In a separate bowl combine eggs and milk and pour over the cut up malasadas, drizzle with honey. 

3) Cover with foil and refrigerate over night. In the morning, set oven to 350 and bake for 30 mins.

4) Uncover, sprinkle granolas on top and and bake for additional 10mins. Serve warm. 

This recipe doesn't call for sugar because... Duh, already has plenty! It goes well as dessert pair with ice cream, too.

Vegetarian Summer Rolls

1 container of Tofu (extra firm)
1 tbs olive oil
Garlic & Ginger (sliced)
1/2 teriyaki sauce (store-bought is fine, add more if needed)
Rice Paper
Green papaya (shredded)
Lettuce
Avocado slices

Vegetarian Summer Rolls

1. Press tofu between two paper towels to squeeze out water.
2. Slice them into thin pieces.
3. Heat olive oil in a skillet, add in sliced garlic & ginger.
4. Remove garlic &; ginger then fry tofu in skillet in a single layer about 3-5 mins, flip and cook the other side.
5. Add in teriyaki sauce (i used store bought), and cook both sides about two mins each, or until sides are brown.
6. Remove and let cool.
7. Wet rice paper then place moisten rice paper on a flat surface.
8. Add in tofu, green papaya (shredded), lettuce, and avocado slices (shredded carrots too if you have them, it adds color!)
9. Roll them up and serve them with peanut sauce.

For more step by step on how to roll summer rolls or recipe for peanut sauce, go HERE. 

Pressure Cooker Sweet & Sour Spare Ribs

I really feel terrible that I have neglected this blog for over a year! I felt that it was easier to use Facebook to share my recipes but I realized, they are not searchable on the internet, nor can you pin the recipes on Pinterest.

So....After today, I will be sharing all of my facebook recipes here too.

I have recently purchased a pressure cooker, I have been thinking about getting one in a while and then I saw one of the infomercial showing how fast it is to cook a meal. Being a busy momma with a full time job, I think I have made a good investment. I end up getting the Instant Pot because it was on sale on Amazon. I received the pressure cooker last week Tuesday, and my first cooked meal in it on Wednesday. I have used it for 4 meals already and I am loving it! While I have pinned a bunch of recipes on my pinterest to try, other than the lasagna recipe, I never really followed any single recipe to the fullest. There are always some tweaks and addition just because I don't have the ingredient, or I just wanted to add a little wine. lol!

Today let me share with you something that Mr. P enjoyed!

Sweet & Sour Short Ribs

2 lbs spare ribs, cut into smaller pieces
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbs chili pepper
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup shoyu
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbs honey
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs fish sauce


1) Combined the orange juice, shoyu, rice vinegar, honey, ketchup in a separate bowl.
2) Turn your pressure cooker to saute and saute onions in olive oil, then add in garlic, ginger, and chili pepper. Saute for about a min or two, turn off.
3) Pour in the orange juice mixture, add in spare ribs, toss to coat.
4) Add in lime juice and fish sauce, toss again to coat the spare ribs.
5) Cover the pressure cooker, set the pressure on for 20 mins.
6) Once done, remove the cooked ribs and set it on the side.
7) Saute the sauce in the pressure cooker to reduce the sauce and thicken it up. Turn off heat.
8) Toss ribs back into the pressure cooker, give it a good stir, and they are ready to serve!