I miss it, frankly. But there’s a lot going on in the Tiny Kitchen and surrounding house, and I apologize for not keeping up with the blog as stringently as I’d like to. That should all change in the new year, so all will be revealed.

In the meantime, please enjoy this anti-Thanksgiving recipe. You could make this recipe with ground turkey if you wanted, instead of pork, since it is so flavorful the turkey wouldn’t be bland at all. I’m sure some of my awesome vegan blogger friends could figure out a way to make these out of tempeh, but I’ve always had a hard time cooking tempeh. Hmmmm, I wonder if cooked mung beans would work….Somer? Annie? Shira? Any ideas?

But we’re fans of pork here in this household, and ground pork it was.

These are quite warming and a little addicting—The Husband could barely contain himself from finishing them all off (even though he did get to do so a few nights later for leftovers!). I also made a sunflower-seed-butter sauce from Well Fed, which wasn’t even necessary, but The Husband said would have made a good salad dressing for the spinach salad I had on the side.

I made some stir-fried cauliflower “rice” for these meatballs to go on, which turned out quite well for my first go. If you’re not grain-free like me, feel free to use regular or brown rice for your side.

I’d also like to thank Alice of Girl In a Food Frenzy for inspiring this dish. She made some awesome looking dumplings a few weeks ago, and since I’ve learned the hard way not to go off the reservation when it comes to my diet, I had to find a way around the wheat wrappers. And here we are. Thanks Alice!

Thai/Vietnamese-Inspired Pork Meatballs

1 lb. ground pork (or turkey)
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 Tbs finely chopped lemongrass
1-inch finely grated fresh ginger
1 shiitake mushroom, finely chopped
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 spring onions, finely chopped
3 Tbs chopped cilantro
1 Tbs coconut aminos or tamari
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes (or more to taste)
2 Tbs ground flax seed
1 egg

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Use a small ice-cream scoop to make equally-sized meatballs about the size of a golf ball. Place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and put in a preheated 350°F oven for 15 minutes or cooked through. (If your meatballs are this size, they probably won’t need much more time.

Stir-Fried Paleo Rice

1 – 2 green onions
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
4 tablespoons sesame oil for stir-frying
Half a cauliflower, cut into florets and all stems removed
1 – 2 tablespoons coconut aminos

Wash and finely chop the green onion. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Pulse the cauliflower in a food processor carefully until it resembles rice. Set aside.

Heat a wok or frying pan and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is hot, add the egg. Cook like an omelette until lightly cooked but not too dry. Remove the egg and clean out the pan.

Add another 2 tablespoons oil. Add the riced cauliflower. Stir-fry for a few minutes, then stir in the coconut aminos to taste.

When the rice is heated through, chop the egg and add to the pan. Mix thoroughly; stir in the green onion. Serve hot with meatballs or any other Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese recipe that calls for rice.

The Husband was away last weekend on a trip with his friend, so I took the opportunity to make something with tofu. My friends in the blogosphere have come up with so many tantalizing recipes frankly I was overwhelmed with choice. Plus I knew I had a bunch of Asian veggies in the fridge that needed to be used up, so it seemed to make sense to throw together a stir fry.

I didn’t feel like making a Chinese sauce, and I remembered the garlic sauce from Thai Bros. around the corner that I had tasted just a week or so prior. I had a hankering for it, and thought I could probably whip it up myself if I had a guide.

It’s a lovely, savory sauce that went perfectly with the tofu and veggies. So much so that when we had salmon on Monday, I recreated the sauce and used it as a marinade before grilling. I thought it was superb, and The Husband agreed.

A lovely combination of herbs and spices!

This will definitely be a go-to stir fry sauce for me in future, especially when I don’t want to use coconut milk—or don’t have any. It also uses my favorite herb, cilantro. What could be better than that? Interesting fact: Thailand was only introduced to chilis in the last few hundred years, and of course they’ve been around for thousands. So I guess the pepper and the garlic were a substitute for the spice, and it’s lovely to explore a

I am going to go out looking for some mushroom soy sauce, but I didn’t have any and it still tasted great. I’m so glad I don’t have to depend on Thai Bros. to get my fix—although it is a great lunch spot.

Vietnamese Garlic Black Pepper Sauce

4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs shallots, minced
2 Tbs mushroom-flavored soy sauce
1 tsp. brown sugar
1.5 tsp. coarse freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. cilantro root or stem, minced
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 Tbs toasted sesame oil

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or mini food processor until smooth. With the tofu, I stir-fried the veggies first then added the tofu, and lastly the sauce to finish.

For the salmon, I marinated the fish in the sauce for about 30 minutes before The Husband took it out and fired it on the grill.

Let me know how you use it! It would be a great sauce in tons of different ways….get creative!

The finished salmon.

Sorry this is a bit late today. We had some trouble with the car that was unanticipated. I think it’s my fault. Luckily it seems that The Husband still loves me—for now, until the mechanic checks the car tomorrow and finds I’ve killed the transmission.

But, back to the food. That’s the important thing, right? So, a week or so ago, we had some rain here in Laguna Beach. Not unseasonal, by any means, but we’ve had so little this year thanks to a La Niña weather system. I’ve lived through an El Niño, and at this point I think I prefer the latter to the former–a little too much rain is always good for California, even if a few movie stars’ houses fall off the Malibu coast.

Along with the rain, we had some fresh salmon from Sam down at our farmers market which was too delicious to go to waste. It was quite stormy outside—we even had hail!—and The Husband was looking for alternatives to grilling. Grilling is our preferred method of salmon preparation, but not that night. The hail was quite insistent.

I thought back to the days when I lived in London—there was little grilling going on while I lived there, and I remember eating salmon from my local Sainsbury’s. Quick to the Internet for a Thai recipe that I could use to poach the salmon in some decadent and coconutty sauce.

And here it is—you can just use red Thai curry paste mixed with coconut milk in a pinch, but if you have these other ingredients on hand, adding them really does make it extra special. I served it with some stir-fried Chinese broccoli with some garlic and ginger, and splashed some soy sauce on towards the end. I even used a wok—get me, eh?

Vegetarians: you can use this delicious sauce and throw in a bunch of fresh veggies and have a yummy curry over rice! But please omit the fish sauce to make it vegetarian.

1 lb. fresh salmon, center cut filet
1/4 cup shallots or purple onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
3 tsp. red Thai curry paste
1 thumb-size piece ginger, peeled and sliced
1 can good-quality coconut milk
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves and stems
1 Tbsp. freshly-squeezed lime juice

Blend shallots, garlic, paste and ginger with a little coconut milk in a blender or small food processor until well blended. Add the rest of the coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients; blend.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Put the sauce into a Le Creuset or other enameled cast-iron pot and heat up on the stovetop. When it boils, turn off the heat and add the fish in one piece. Put into the pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes more.

Serve topped with sliced green onion and freshly chopped cilantro.

You're jealous of my child-sized stove. Go on, admit it.

I personally wasn’t convinced last night that I should blog about these Thai pancakes, as I didn’t think they were that hot, but The Husband must have been in some sort of psychedelic coconut love-drug haze last night. He loved them. Had seconds, even.

He did admit that the sauce on the stir fry was a little on the salty side—I blame myself for not tasting the oyster sauce before I put it in. It would have been perfect with just a splash of soy sauce, but I got a little twirled up because I remembered we had the oyster sauce in the fridge. To make this fully vegetarian, don’t use the oyster sauce. There’s tricks to replace the egg in the pancakes to make it vegan, but you can comment and ask if you want more info and I’ll happily give it.

So, here’s the recipes with a few notes on what I’ll do next time—because according to TH, there WILL be a next time.

Thai Pancakes:

This requires a bit of chopping and prep, and if I can do it with my counter space, you should be peachy. This was adapted from a Vegetarian Times recipe. Their recipes often lack seasoning, so I always have to improvise.

P.S. Did I mention all my recipes serve two, unless otherwise noted?

2 spring onions, chopped
1 small carrot, grated
3 Tbs cilantro, chopped
1 Thai chili, chopped fine (I used a 1-inch long chili, and you couldn’t even taste it)
2 Tbs chopped peanuts (I used roasted & salted, but cashews would work too)
2 Tsp chopped or grated ginger
1 cup cooked rice
4 Tbs flour (I used coconut flour, since our cleanse forbids wheat, and it added a nice flavor. Also makes it gluten-free)
1 egg
Coconut milk to get the right batter consistency
Sriracha sauce, to taste (A staple in the cupboard, for sure!)

Combine the last four ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk, making sure it’s well combined. Add the other ingredients, and stir well. If the batter seems too thick, add a little more milk. I think I added too much, because the pancakes didn’t bind too well. I also used an ice cream scoop to get them in the pan.

I also cooked them in coconut oil, which is great for you and delicious in Asian and Indian cooking (especially if you can’t use the ghee usually used in Indian food because of lactose or vegan issues).

Basically, cook ‘em up like regular pancakes, and we served them with the mango salsa leftover from the tacos on Sunday afternoon, and a slice of avocado. The Husband has panic attacks if there’s not avocado on his plate.

Stir Fry:

OK, I went crazy at the Chinese stall at the farmer’s market last Saturday, so I had all these things in my fridge. I know it’s not normal to have baby bok choi and Napa cabbage at the ready, but the combination worked very well. Except for that dang extra dash of soy that made it too salty. Yuk.

1 Tbs sliced ginger*
4 cloves garlic (it’ll be pretty obvious soon that this is a vampire-free household)
1 red Fresno chile
5 or 6 baby bok choi, sliced in half
Handful of snow peas, chopped to bite-sized pieces
3 leaves of Napa cabbage, sliced
2 large green onions, sliced on the diagonal
Soy sauce
Oyster sauce (optional)

Heat up some coconut or grapeseed oil with a splash of sesame oil in a wok (mine’s buried in the back storage area) or a large pan—my cast iron Le Creuset** (see photo) seems to work weirdly well for stir fry. Go figure. Throw in the ginger, garlic and chile, and let sizzle for a few. Throw in the bok choi and the peas, and when it’s cooked for about 2 minutes, throw in the cabbage and the onions. Finish off with the soy sauce and the oyster sauce, but please do taste for seasoning before slopping in the oyster sauce! You’ll thank me.

We’re off to dinner at the neighbors tonight (Pal & Am), so we’ll see if the blog travels. (Cue finger to chin in a thoughtful pose….)

* Here’s a tip: throw ginger in the freezer. You don’t even need to put it in a bag. It will last ages and you don’t have to defrost before using. It actually makes it easier to peel (use a potato peeler), chop and grate! Bazinga!

**Do you think if I mention Le Creuset enough they’ll send me some free pots? Hope springs eternal.