Every once in awhile, the craving for a tasty burger hits and I'm on the search for a new recipe. Since I'm trying (key word, trying) to eat healthier, I decided to look for an appealing turkey burger recipe. I stumbled upon this tasty sounding recipe for a Thai turkey burger with quick pickled cucumbers and sriracha mayo. Isn't your mouth watering already?
The burgers are so flavorful, bringing in warmth from the cinnamon, spice from the fresh ginger and a good kick of heat from the red pepper flakes. Complimenting the burger really well are the quick pickled cucumbers, which add some acidity and crunch. Rounding out the entire burger is the sriracha mayo, which adds a cooling element and another small kick of heat.
I was really excited to find pretzel buns at Fairway so I picked those up, toasted them a bit in the oven, and stacked everything together! These burgers are great for summer as the temperatures are heating up. Who doesn't want a juicy burger with some cooling aspects too? Let me know your favorite burger recipes that you'll be bringing out for the warm weather!
It's really hard to go wrong with a recipe that involves some of the best ingredients in Asian cuisine - ginger, scallions, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, peanuts. Don't all of those ingredients just scream something delicious? Well, I can guarantee this recipe will be exactly that! You're probably wondering, "What is the wonderful recipe that is already making me salivate?" Well, you're in luck because you get to experience this incredibly easy, but full of flavor recipe for Asian lettuce wraps!
I decided to use ground turkey instead of ground beef, just to make the recipe a bit healthier. I've never actually made these with ground beef, but I can guarantee that they're still full of flavor if you're going the leaner route. All of the flavor comes from the spices and sauces after all.
The end result is a crunchy lettuce cup full of flavor! The ground turkey (or beef) mixture has a spicy kick from the ginger and a good amount of heat from the red pepper flakes. The hoisin sauce gives a bit of sweetness while the soy sauce gives some saltiness. Look how balanced all the flavors are! The crunch of peanuts throughout is great too, give a nutty, earthy flavor. I hope you enjoy - I know I have since Matt and I have made this recipe several times now, even two days in a row!
A few weeks ago, one of our really good friends from college and best man at our wedding, Chris, happened to be in New York for work and had a night off, so we made dinner plans. Back in college, Matt and Chris delivered Chinese food for a take-out place, which resulted in a lot of free meals and a love for the food. This made the decision easy when we were trying to decide what type of food we should eat.
Usually when we're craving Chinese, we'll head down to Chinatown to one of our favorite restaurants, but Chris was coming in from Queens so we wanted to find something more convenient. During my restaurant search, I came across Land of Plenty, which offers authentic Szechuan Chinese food. The menu was extensive and the reviews were good so it sounded like a winner to me!
It's always a good sign when the majority of customers in a restaurant are from the same country/region as the food. I was happy to see that all of the tables around us were predominantly Chinese. The menu was enormous, which made it really difficult to choose only a few options (we were only three people after all!). I had read reviews online beforehand to see what others recommended, so I had a list of a few options, just in case.
We started with pan seared pork dumplings, which we inhaled before I remembered to take a picture. They were crispy with a flavorful pork filling and soy dipping sauce, a solid start to the meal.
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| A feast for your eyes |
We chose three entrees to share, and boy were we in for a treat. The entrees were huge, way more food than three people could possibly eat without feeling like your pants were going to burst. I loved the braised fish filets with silky tofu. The fish was delicate and mild in flavor and the silky tofu just melted in your mouth. Both of these were a great complement to the spicy broth and crunch from the chopped peanuts.
Chris recommended ma po tofu with chili minced pork since it's one of his favorite Chinese dishes. The dish was definitely the spiciest of the three, but equally delicious. The tofu was a bit chewy while the sauce and pork gave a nice kick and substance to the entire dish.
The third choice was double cooked pork belly with chilies and leeks. The pork belly was very rich and velvety, which was a nice balance to the other tofu-driven dishes. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but one of the chili pieces looked like a green pepper to me so I stuck the whole thing in my mouth and started chewing. My mouth was on fire! I was stuffing rice in my mouth to try and dull the pain. Lesson learned - remember what your dish is called before making poor decisions.
After we stuffed ourselves silly, I wanted something sweet but light to finish off the meal. I asked our server what she would recommend so we ordered the stuffed sticky rice balls with sweet black sesame based on her suggestion. The broth was very subtly sweet and the rice balls were filled with a black sesame paste that was a great palate cleanser after a very rich and spicy meal.
I know I'll be back since I'm pretty sure we only ate about 1% of the dishes on their huge menu. Land of Plenty - such an appropriate name. An enormous selection of dishes, all of which are huge portions in and of themselves. I can't wait to stuff myself again next time! Frog legs, I'm looking at you.
Last week, I had this constant craving for udon noodles, which was kind of strange since I was dying from heat in my apartment. I kept thinking about the very simple, but delicious udon bowl I get at Panya, a great Japanese bakery in the East Village. Instead of trekking down to the village, I decided I would try and make some noodles myself!
I found an easy recipe for udon miso soup and got all of my ingredients together. When I was looking for the noodles in the grocery store, I couldn't find the fresh ones that are nice and chewy, only dried noodles. Of course, the following week when I was checking out, I saw them in the refrigerated section with the pre-made gnocchi and ravioli. At least I know for next time!
I added extra miso paste to the broth because I wanted it to be really flavorful. I started with the suggested amount in the recipe, but I felt like it was a little weak and I wanted a really intensely flavorful broth.
The combination of the noodles, chewy mushrooms, earthy spinach and broth lead to a very satisfying soup. I can't wait to make it again with the right noodles - it'll be even better! I want to make a dish with soba noodles soon as well. Really, I just want to make and eat all different Asian dishes - nothing wrong with that!
