Foodies in South Florida

If you know of any foodie groups, underground supper clubs, food happenings,

please share with us: wokstar at eleanorhoh dot com

Here's my attempt at putting a list together:

Foodies in South Florida

Fragrant Eggplant/New Blog Site!

Fragrant Eggplant

Today is the OFFICIAL RELAUNCH of my website and blog at Fast, Fun, Fresh Cook Like a Wok Star|Wok Star Eleanor Hoh eleanorhoh.com and launch of rasamalaysia.com Bee Yinn Low’s new cookbook. Bee is giving away 5 signed copies, so hop over for that! I will be doing a Giveaway in probably a week so check back at my new site!

Congratulations to Bee who’s worked tirelessly over the year to produce her first cookbook, Easy Chinese Recipes! It must be so rewarding for her to know that all the hard work from her hugely successful blog has resulted in this gorgeous first cookbook.

I pre-ordered this cookbook and already have mine and it’s just as gorgeous as her site! We are also both Virgos and our birthdays are coming up soon, so lots to celebrate.

Bee’s book is beautifully presented and executed. Dishes, photography and styling are outstanding, she did it all herself! It shows dedication to her craft. I like that she has made popular Chinese dishes so accessible for anyone to make at home. Her approach to cooking is simple and attention to detail is meticulous.
I was very honored to be asked to write “Seasoning a Cast Iron Wok” and hope her fans will like it.

As a cooking teacher myself, I find her recipes wonderfully easy to follow and I don’t even use recipes! I was lucky enough to be a tester for her Fragrant Eggplant dish, I must say it turned out just as she taught us. I know her fans will enjoy this cookbook as much as I do, so run out and get it or head over to her blog and see if you can’t win a signed copy!

FISH FRAGRANT EGGPLANT

from Bee Yinn Low’s Easy Chinese Recipes: Family Favorites from Dim Sum to Kung Pao

I followed Bee’s recipe to the tee and must say she does a fantastic job with this recipe with exception to a few ingredients I had to substitute. I’m not very good at following recipes, (as my readers know, I have a NO-recipe technique and encourage everyone to Cook Like a Wok Star) so I was pleasantly surprised how easy this dish was to make from start to finish. And boy, it was so delicious. I love eggplant and now I understand how the restaurants get these so tender and juicy. I’m excited to see everyone’s post of Bee’s recipes.

Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal

8 oz. Chinese eggplant
Oil for deep frying
1 tblsp oil
2 cloves garlic
one thumb sized fresh ginger, minced
1/2 green chili, cut into small pieces (I substituted with green because there weren’t any red chilies.)
1 handful chopped scallion

Sauce:
1 1/2 tblsp hot bean sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tblsp Chinese black vinegar
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tblsp water
sprinkle of cornstarch

1. Mix all the ingredients in the sauce in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Cut the eggplant and soak pieces immediately in cold water. Add some salt to prevent the eggplant from turning brown. Pat dry with paper towels before deep frying.

3. Heat enough oil in the dip of my wok for deep frying. The way I test whether it’s hot enough is to use a wood chopstick and put in the middle of the oil. If there are bubbles, your oil is hot enough. Gently lower the eggplant into the oil and deep fry for 10 seconds. Remove them with a slotted spoon or strainer draining the excess oil by laying the eggplant on a dish with paper towels. Discard or reserve the oil for another recipe.

4. Heat 1 tblsp. of oil in my wok over hight heat. Add garlic and ginger and stir fry till light brown. Add the green or red chilies and then stir in the Sauce. As soon as the Sauce thickens, add in the eggplant and scallions. Stir continuously until the eggplant is well coated with the Sauce. Dish out and serve immediately. Instead of steamed rice, I served with brown rice and a simple stir fried shrimp dish. They complemented each other perfectly.

Wontons with wok fried veggies and miso soup on a rainy night!

#salad #lunch #curry #chickpeas #Toufu #sweetpotato #jicama #lotsachopping #healthy #diet #delicious

Wok fried banana walnut pancakes topped with #egg #Figs & fruit

#Wok fried #curry #chickpeas #toufu Salad with tons of fixings! #Healthy packed with #flavor & #spice, #yum #easy

Leg of lamb strips with Makoto's leftover fried rice! Delish combo. Plus added Vietnamese chili garlic sauce, slurp.

Fried up a whole bunch of veggies I used in last night's cooking class to show Asian way of cutting

Chayote pickle that goes with every dish! Sprinkle salt & dash if rice wine vinegar is all you need! Try it on crunchy veggies.

HOH WOK CLUB: Little Lotus

Join me, Wok Star Eleanor Hoh at my upcoming HOH WOK CLUB gathering (it's a sorta Asian supper club)...Great way to meet people who share the love of food and always a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

So happy our next gathering is at Little Lotus Miami, such a cozy Asian & Japanese Tapas restaurant in downtown Miami. They opened not that long ago, so go read my restaurant review. They've been featured on ABC, Ocean Drive, Urban Daddy, Daily Candy, New Times, Miami Herald, etc.

The team, Andi, Chef Nyoman, Sari and Chef Michael helped me create this exotic and tantalizing menu with dishes from Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia. I know you'll LOVE it and want to go back and try more dishes from the talented chefs. And if you can't make this gathering, you can always go on your own and tell them Wok Star sent you.

Now, if you were my newsletter subscriber, you had first dibs before I made this event public. As a subscriber, you'll get the inside scoop for Giveaways and specials not available to even blog subscribers which is open to public viewing. You can subscribe by emailing me wokstar at eleanorhoh dot com. Anyway, CALL NOW.

WOW! What a GREAT DEAL for 38 lucky people on a first come, first served basis!

Sat. September 17, 12:30pm - 2:30pm

$25 incl. tips and tax.Drinks not included, cash bar, separate check.

Little Lotus Restaurant

17 East Flagler Street #107, Downtown Miami, Fl 33131

Street meter parking or garages all round

Here's the incredible 5 course menu we put together for you!
Appetizer

- Salmon Bola: Baked Salmon with seaweed salad.
- Crispy Bok Choy: Deep Fried Chips with garlic sauce.

Second Course
- Beef Rendang: Indonesian Stewed Beef, slightly sweet.
- Gado-Gado: Indonesian Steamed Vegetable Salad with peanut sauce dressing (see photo)

Third Course
Crispy Paratha Tuna: Japanese/ Malaysian Pizza Style with sweet onion sauce.

Fourth Course
Laksa Ayam: Malaysian Chicken Curry with coconut milk and rice noodles

Dessert
Natalie Portman: banana wrapped with sushi rice deep fried, topped with coconut flakes and served with wine glaze sauce and fresh strawberries.

Here's the lowdown:
1. Call 305-533-2700 and ask for manager, Andi
2. Mention Wok Star Event: Sept. 17
3. How many in your group? They will try and accommodate you as best they can but it's a tiny restaurant, so you may not sit together. It's a good time to meet new people!
4. Prepay with your credit card
5. Provide your email AND telephone number (this is ESSENTIAL in case there's last minute announcements and we need to get hold of you.)

Look forward to seeing you there!

Wok Star Eleanor

Explanation of HOH WOK CLUB.

Join Little Lotus Miami Facebook page.

For latest Updates, join Wok Star Eleanor Hoh Facebook page

#breakfast Fried egg on Scallion pancake with fig, strawberries, blueberries, banana, yum!

Colorful Cold Entree

Pulling together all the elements to make this month's #LetsLunch theme Cold Entree was so much fun! I love creating from existing ingredients as well as using fresh and new ingredients.

I already had grilled hoisin pork shoulder and cooked cold whole wheat linguine so those were the basis of my dish. All I needed was to build on top...some spicy shrimp to contrast the sweet hoisin pork. Then layering bright colored stir fried vegetables in an interesting pattern. I slathered Annie's shitake sesame dressing over the linguine which was exactly the flavor I was looking for.

A very typical topping in Malaysia and Singapore are crispy shallots but I only had red onion. They would not crisp up even though I fried it exactly how I would have done with the shallots. However, they did caramelize nicely and gave a wonderful sweetness to round out this wonderful Cold Entree.

I can't wait to see what my other #LetsLunch buddies made, always so creative and the best is hearing the stories behind the dish! I'll be adding their links below, so please come back and visit.

I just got my copy of Cheryl Tan's A Tiger in the Kitchen, a Memoir of Food and Family but I've not had a chance to read it yet. I got sucked into her story after reading the prolog on Amazon and just knew I had to have it! I'm a newbie on Amazon but quickly found that if you order over $25, you get free shipping. Cheryl spearheads #LetsLunch and organizes us all with our posts. I'm not sure how she does this as well as her book tour! Visit her wonderful blog, also named A Tiger in the Kitchen, to find out how to join #LetsLunch, I've met the neatest food bloggers.

Colorful vegetables ready for the stir fry.

Stir fried veggies with tea seed oil, then added dash of tamari and sherry

Marinaded shrimp with TSPC
(tamari, sherry, white pepper and cornstarch)
with a little chili garlic sauce.

Assembling the ingredients.

Cathy‘s Jasmine Tea-Poached Shrimp Summer Rolls at Showfood Chef

Cheryl's Spicy Sichuan Sesame Noodles at A Tiger in the Kitchen

Linda‘s Gazpacho Rolls Gone Wrong at Free Range Cookies

Lisa‘s Byron Sprout Salad with Chargrilled Chicken at Monday Morning Cooking Club

Mai‘s Strawberry Soup at Cooking in The Fruit Bowl

Maria‘s Croque Monsieur with Bechamel at Maria’s Good Things

Rebecca‘s Cold Roasted Lamb with Mustard & Rosemary at Grongar Blog

Victor‘s Seafood Napoleon at The Taste of Oregon

Coverings etc host Wok Star!

Lots of laughs, fun, prizes and Wok Stars cooking including HGTV's Design Star Mark Diaz, Marti TV reporter, journalist, architect, models, attorney...

Wow, what an amazing event space! Coverings etc. is located at Miami Iron Side Campus, Miami. THANKS for hosting me! 

I'll be writing a full post later but couldn't wait for you to see these shots last night.

Thanks to sponsors Fiji Water and OWS (Gancia Prosecco), San-J Intl. tamari, Koon Chun hoisin & brown bean sauce, Earthy Delights gourmet mushrooms, MySpiceSage spices, enjoyed by all.

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Asian Jerky Pork Omelet

I'm loving Little Red Dot Kitchen's Jerky Pork. The only problem is whenever I'm hungry, it's such a perfect little protein hit, I end up stealing from the stash before I get a chance to use it in a stir fry noodle dish!

My fav is the BBQ Jerky Pork which come in slices. In Asia, we like to warm it up before devouring. Naturally my wok is the best way to do that on low heat.

I had a perfectly ripe, creamy, juicy mango to go with my special Bak Kwa (BBQ Jerky Pork) and some Florida strawberries. Don't you love how mango is presented? So pretty and slurp-ready.

Succulent BBQ Jerky Pork morsels with red sweet mini Peppers and scallion were a wonderful mix in our omelet.

I crave savory when I'm hungry, and these slices are so handy, I just slip into my handbag! There are so MANY ways to enjoy this delightful Asian Jerky Pork, can't wait to use in a noodle dish. Thank you Little Red Dot Kitchen for bringing a bit of Asia to us in America! Visit their site for some outrageous creations with ice cream or macarons??!!! It's freshly made, so get your own stash!

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Double Spicy! Toufu and Sausage

Always fun using odds and ends to make lunch! Today, I found a red bell pepper, half a tomato, scallions. I needed to use up the toufu and chicken sausage. Well, I'd forgotten the sausage is already spicy and decided to sprinkle my favorite MySpiceSage curry powder and San-J tamari to the toufu!!! My mouth is burning but in nice way! Helps to clear the sinus too, so not complaining. However, I'm not a fan of overly spicy foods that ruin your taste buds so you can't taste anything. Had one of these experiences?  

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Singapore Restaurant Recommendations

Here's my list of recommendations for good eats in Singapore!

One thing I hate when traveling is wasting time testing out restaurants and getting frustrated. Since my mom was born in S'pore and was such a fabulous cook, we were spoiled. So, I'm pretty picky about eating in Asia.

I was in Spore 2009, so please call prior to going in case anything changes. I didn't take too many photos in those days, so sorry I have nothing to show.

This is Nyonya cuisine which is Chinese/Malay/Indonesian mix. I personally think this was the most enjoyable meal I had in S'pore...
House of Peranakan Cuisine (they have 4 but think we went to:
Baba Inn
#01-103 Frankel Ave (S) 458225
tel: 6445-2404

This Thai restaurant put on an incredibly, beautiful and yummy lunch buffet spread. There's 2 of them, we were taken by an Indian friend who lived there. I think I have photos of this, have to find them!
Patara (Fine Thai Cuisine)
2 Stamford Road,
Level 3 Swissotel The Stamford
Raffles City S.C.
Singapore 17882
tel: 6339 1488

This was our FAVORITE, it's Chinese banquet style, top notch. It's inside a high end mall if I remember correctly. You can order from a set menu which is VERY REASONABLE. We ate there many times because we were so addicted. Also beautiful setting, fantastic service and the food is EXQUISITE:
Imperial Treasure Nan Bei Restaurant
391 Orchard Road,
#05-12/13 Ngee Ann City
S'pore 238872
tel (65) 6738 1238

SOBE Food Tour w/7 Asian Gals!

This was such a fun South Beach food tour with a bit of exercise and culture thrown in! The 7 Asian gals were a "hen party" from Toronto and definitely added more 'color' to this group. How coincidental is that for me to join an Asian group on the night I picked to go. More to come.

Sakaya Kitchen Nails Korean Banchan

My trip to Hong Kong made me so homesick for Asian food, the first place I wanted to go was Sakaya Kitchen. Richard Hales nails Korean flavors down, he sent over Banchan (little pickled dishes like kimchi, bean sprouts, cucumbers, toufu to go with Bulgogi BBQ.) They're not on the menu, he made them special for me, thanks Richard!!!  I'm working on a blog post and video of Sakaya, so overdue. I've been going since day one and now he and Jenny have 2 adorable kids and 2 food trucks as well, not sure how he juggles it all.  Keep up the good work Richard.

My friend had chicken with salad, so tender.

Banchan which is little pickled dishes like: (clockwise) kimchi, toufu, bean sprouts, cucumber to go with Bulgogi BBQ.

One of my fav at Sakaya Kitchen is Spicy Dae Ji pork tenderloin with coconut rice & buttered broccoli. It encompasses all the flavors that make me think of Asia!

These are the most delicious scallions bathed in soy, vinegar and secret ingredients, yum.

Pot Luck- Curry & Pickles

I made a big pot of Malaysian Chicken Curry for a friend's birthday pot luck. I'm so glad pot luck dinners are the 'in' thing, I'm attending THREE this month. So much nicer to eat at a home and enjoy good conversation with friends, and so much cheaper.

I was told BBQ ribs are from a guy behind Publix around 44/Biscayne Blvd. on west Dixie hwy?

Easy cucumber & tomato, red onion pickles go well with curries. Just add salt, rice wine vinegar and lime juice to taste. That's IT!

This curry always turns out well, I had to add more curry powder when it started cooking down. I could see it wasn't a deep red color. All about learning to adjust on the fly. Try this, it's SO EASY, I made the curry and pickles in 50 minutes. Just curry powder, cloves, cinnamon stick, onion, potatoes and tomatoes.

 

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