Moo's Indian Deviled Eggs

Between the curry and lemon pickle, I think you have to call these Indian deviled eggs, although Moo always called them Thai hard boiled eggs. However you wish to classify this dish, it sure is good. If you want something different with an Asian-Indian twist, I highly recommend these. They are a little messy for appetizers unless you use just a little bit of sauce or put the sauce on the side as a dip. Your guests will have a hard time resisting. The lemon pickle gives these deviled eggs a bit of a snap.

6 hard-boiled eggs
2 Tbls. coconut milk
1 tsp. coconut cream
1 tsp. coriander, chopped
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. lemon pickle, finely chopped

Sauce
1 cup coconut milk
3 Tbls. flake coconut
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 canned green chili
Juice of ½ lemon
Pinch of chili powder
Salt to taste

When eggs cool, peel and cut in half lengthwise. Remove yolks and put in a bowl. Set egg white halves aside. Mash yolks; moisten with coconut milk and add coconut cream, chopped coriander, curry powder and chopped lemon pickle. Generously fill egg whites with the yolk mixture. To make the sauce, combine ingredients in blender and puree. Pour sauce over filled, hard-boiled eggs.

Spicy Szechwan Zucchini

Eat your veggies! Tired of the same old zucchini in a casserole or steamed zucchini? Here's a way to cook zucchini that spice up your life...or at least your vegetables. It's a palate pleaser in my book. Sometimes I substitute eggplant.

1 pound of zucchini
½ T fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 t garlic, chopped
1 T hot bean sauce
1 t. sugar
1 t. salt
½ cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
½ T wine vinegar
½ T sesame oil
1 T scallions, chopped
5 T olive oil

Wash zucchini but don't peel. Cut off tops and chop into bite-size pieces. Heat oil in wok to a medium heat. Stir fry zucchini until just soft. Scoop out onto paper towel and squeeze out excess oil by pressing with spatula. Put aside. In same oil, stir fry garlic, ginger and hot bean sauce for a few seconds, then add soy sauce, sugar, salt and broth. Bring to a boil, and add zucchini. Cook about a minute, until most of the sauce is absorbed into the vegetables. Add vinegar and sesame oil and continue to stir fry. Mix in chopped scallion and serve.

Moo's Original Black Bean Soup

Moo had several dishes that she worked on, revised and continued to perfect across the years. Black Bean Soup was one of them. This was her original recipe. It's good and hearty as Black Bean Soup should be. In days and weeks ahead, I'll share some of her variations on the Black Bean theme.

1 ¾ cups dry black turtle beans
2 quarts water
2 ozs. pork, diced
2 ozs. veal, diced
½ small yellow onion
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ tsp. fresh basil, finely clopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 quart beef consommé
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup cooked ham, finely chopped (topping)
Coriander and sour cream for topping

Rinse beans, drain thoroughly and put in a 3-quart stock pot. Add about half the water and soak beans overnight. Next day, in the same pot, bring beans and water to boil. Cover pot, reduce heat to simmer and cook about 1 ¾ hours (until tender).

In a separate saucepan, combine pork, veal, onion, bay leaf, garlic, basil, celery and remaining water. Bring to boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about an hour (until tender). Check water level from time to time. If it evaporates and meat is above the water level, add more water to keep meat covered.

Strain the fully cooked and tender beans, taking care to reserve the cooking water. Pour beans into food processor along with about 1/3 cup of the cooking water and puree. Turn the pureed beans into a large saucepan, and add beef consommé, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer (uncovered) for about an hour. Strain beans then return to the saucepan.

Once fully tender, drain meat combination, and remove bay leaf. Pour into food processor along with 1/3 cup of the reserved cooking water. Puree and turn into bean mixture.
Bring the combined soup ingredients to a boil. If you feel the consistency is too thick, gradually add some of the reserved cooking water. You can add more salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot, and garnish with a dollop of sour cream, ham and a little coriander.

Dovell's Favorite Pink Velvet Soup

What a delightful cold soup for summer. Moo's beet borsch has always been my favorite; this one was my father's. It's fresh, it tastes good, it's like a delicious alternative to beet borsch. Yes, it's a palate pleaser.

1 onion, thinly sliced
1 8 oz. can diced beets
¼ cup catsup
1 T concentrated beef stock (such as Bovril) Vegetarians can easily substitute vegetable stock
1 cup sour cream
1 3 oz. package cream cheese

Mix ingredients in processor or blender. Blend thoroughly and chill. Serve in chilled bowls. Garnish with coriander or parsley, your choice.

Sauce for Stir-Fry Veggies

Do you love stir fry vegetables but think they could be spiced up a bit? Moo created this sauce that will give your veggies the extra flavor you crave. This is a veggie palate pleaser. You may be inspired to come up with variations of your own. All the better. This should get you thinking. Remember veggies don't have to be bland to be good for you. Spice `em up and enjoy.

1 Tbls. cornstarch
½ cup chicken broth
1 Tbls. dry sherry
1 Tbls. soy sauce
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
¼ tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. dry mustard
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 Tbls. fresh ginger, chopped

Combine all the ingredients and set aside. Prepare veggies for stir-fry. Cook in olive oil. About a minute before you feel veggies are cooked, add sauce to wok. This is enough time to get the sauce fully integrated with the vegetables but won't scorch the sauce.

Moo's Scalloped Chicken

This is comfort food at its best. Scalloped chicken is an old recipe. I don't even know where Moo first found it. I do know she made it for us back in the late 50s and that she adapted the original over the years until she had the recipe that she shared with her daughters. I highly recommend this one.

5 pound roasting chicken
5 cups water
Trinity (celery, carrot & onion)
2 tsp. salt
12 slices firm bread, remove crusts and cube
1 cup celery, finely chopped
½ cup yellow onion, finely chopped
Salt & pepper
¼ pound melted butter

Cover chicken with water and add trinity (celery, carrot & onion) and salt. Cook gently until done. Remove chicken from broth and let cool enough so you can handle. Reserve broth, strain out celery, carrot and onion. Remove the chicken skin and lay out on a piece of foil on cookie sheet. Crisp this skin in the broiler, crumble into bite-size pieces, and set aside. Remove all the meat from the bones. Discard carcass. Remove crust from bread slices and cube. Combine bread cubes, chopped celery and chopped onion. Season with salt and pepper. In a casserole, layer 1/3 of bread cube mixture. Cover this with 1/3 of the chicken. Followed by more bread cubes, more chicken, more bread cubes and the last of the chicken. Top with the crisp, crumbled chicken skin.

An hour before serving, heat 2 cups of the chicken broth you saved from cooking the chicken and 1 cup of milk. Pour this over casserole and dot top with butter. Bake in 350° oven until hot through. Then turn oven up to 450° for a few minutes and brown the top. Watch carefully at this stage to make sure you don’t burn casserole. Serve.

Moo's Cold Cucumber Soup

This soup is easy to prepare and makes for a cool, summer treat. But because the flavors need to mature, you do have to plan ahead and keep overnight before serving. For a change of flavor (to spice things up a bit) you can add cilantro and when serving put a dot of Asian Chili Paste with Garlic or Black Bean with Garlic Sauce on top.

1 1/2 quarts broth, either chicken or vegetable
1 1/2 cups potato, pared, diced
2 cups cucumber, pared, seeded and sliced thin
1 cup fresh leeks (white part only), chopped fine
Cucumber and fresh dill for garnish

Boil potato in about half the chicken broth--until soft. Sauté cucumber slices and chopped leeks in butter until soft but not brown. Add potato and broth as well as the remaining broth to the cucumbers and leeks and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Pour cooled ingredients into food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside, cover and chill overnight. To serve, pour into chilled bowls and garnish with thin slices of cucumber and chopped dill.

Moo's Everyday Marinade

I call this her everyday marinade because for years it was the only one Moo relied on for preparing different meats for grilling. The only change occurred in later years when she started using the Good Season's Italian Dressing as the base for her marinade. Granted it made for a good taste (especially with leg of lamb), but I think part of it was the simplicity it offered. This recipe might benefit from the addition of a teaspoon or two of the dry Italian Dressing. I may play with that and get back to you.

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tsps. Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
½ tsp. dry mustard
¼ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbls. fresh lemon juice
1 dash Tabasco sauce

Combine ingredients and pour over meat. Allow to sit overnight. This quantity will provide enough marinade for about 3 pounds of meat.

Moo's Hot and Spicy Peanut Sauce

As I've said before, I love Asian peanut sauce. Just drizzle a little on pasta, dumplings or wonton, it's always a Palate Pleaser for me. Knowing my taste for peanut sauce, Moo was always coming up with new versions. This recipe has a little more snap to it. I think you'll like it.

3 Tbls peanut butter, creamy style
5 Tbls. extra virgin olive oil or peanut oil (your choice)
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
3 Tbls. sugar
2 tsps. Sesame oil
1 tsp. fresh garlic, pressed
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Mix peanut butter and olive oil until smooth. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until smooth. Cover. You can make ahead and chill but to bring out the flavor and make it easy to drizzle or dip let it warm to room temperature before using.

Like I said, try it with Chinese dumplings, won ton or noodles.

Three Dips that Always Please

These three dips have been mainstays of our family for years. And believe me, whenever I bring any of them to a party I don't have to concern myself with what I'll be bringing home. They are real crowd pleasers. The first was given to Moo by my father's old army buddy; the other two are Moo's. So enjoy.

Johnny Mack Bell’s Salmon Dip
1 lb. can of red sockeye salmon, do not drain. Add ¼ c. lemon juice; ½ lb. butter, softened; 1 c. sour cream; salt & pepper to taste. Refrigerate. Once in serving bowl, sprinkle top with lots of dill weed (fresh if available, dried okay). When this dip gets too warm it softens to the point of turning soupy so keep it cool. It usually doesn't last long enough for this to be too much of a problem, but you could consider placing the dip bowl inside a larger bowl of chopped ice.

Chopped Spinach Dip
1 package (10 oz) frozen, chopped spinach
1 c. mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
1 c. sour cream
½ c. chopped green onions (mostly the onion part)
Fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
½ t. dill weed

Moo’s Guacamole
2 large ripe avocados
2 T lime juice
1 6 oz. package of Italian salad dressing mix
½ c. fat free sour cream
¼ t. liquid hot pepper seasoning (Asian)
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
Peel, pit and mash avocados. Mix in lime juice and dry dressing. Blend well and add hot pepper seasoning. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.

Moo's Potato Salad

There are certain recipes that are as individualistic as the family, region or nationality that cooks them. Potato salad definitely falls into this classification. Moo was so devoted to her own potato salad that she wouldn't even try anyone else's. I have to admit that I'm a fan of hers too...but then it is what I grew up on. Give it a try and let me know if this is a palate pleaser for you too.

4 large potatoes peeled and cooked in boiled salted water till tender but not mushy
When cool, cut into bite-size chunks
Hard boil 6-8 eggs, cool and chop in bite-size chunks
Finely chop at least 1 large onion
Add1-1 ½ T celery seed
Bind with Miracle Whip and mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Let sit overnight. Taste to adjust seasoning.
Serves 8.

Shandy's Curried-Maple Salad Dressing

Okay, I have to admit that Shandy was an Airedale, and she didn't eat salads or salad dressing. However, she was a peanut butter freak. My sister, on the other hand, does love salads, and she came up with this recipe. Shandy was her dog...hence the name. It's another delicious palate pleaser of a curry-based dressing for which you'll find dozens of uses.

1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T cider vinegar
2 T maple syrup
2 T soy sauce
2 t. curry powder
1 t. shallot, minced
1 t. garlic, minced
1 t. Dijon mustard
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Whisk together vinegars, maple syrup, soy sauce, curry powder, shallot, garlic and mustard. Then add the oil in a slow stream while whisking to emulsify.

Chinese Noodle Salad w/Spicy Peanut Sauce

I love this salad. In my book, it's a real palate pleaser. Moo knew I liked anything with Asian peanut sauce so she came up with this one for me. Of course, Thai cooking uses a lot of peanut sauce...Chinese less, which makes this a bit more unusual. If you're an Asian peanut sauce fan, you have to try this.

Salad
1 package (8 oz) fine egg noodles
2 t. vegetable oil
1 bunch broccoli (c. 1 ½ lb) or 2 packages (10 oz each) of frozen broccoli spears, thawed
2 c. (½ lb) roast pork, cut into thin strips
4 c. (8 oz) fresh bean sprouts
2 c. shredded Chinese cabbage (iceberg lettuce can do in a pinch)
1 c. slivered radishes

Sauce
¼ c. creamy peanut butter
¼ c. warm water
¼ c. chopped green onions
2 garlic cloves, crushed
¼ c. soy sauce
¼ c. peanut oil (vegetable oil okay)
2 T wine vinegar
4 T sugar
1 t. salt
½ t. cayenne pepper

Cook egg noodles. Drain, rinse, drain again. Place in bowl, toss with 2 t. oil. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. Trim enough stalk from broccoli so you have about 2” of flowerettes and stalk remaining. In saucepan heat, 1 quart of water to boiling. Add broccoli and return to boil. Cook 3 minutes, drain and cool under cold water. Cover and refrigerate. (NOTE: If using frozen broccoli, thaw, drain, don’t cook.) Prepare remaining salad ingredients and wrap each separately for the moment.

Now for the sauce. In a small bowl, combine peanut butter and water until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Stir until well mixed. Pour in a small bowl and store at room temperature.

To serve, add broccoli, roast pork, sprouts, Chinese cabbage and radishes to noodles. Add sauce and toss lightly.