Ilse's Kitchen - culinary adventures of a girl who loves to eat

Today is day 100 - day 100 of 100 days on which I’ve posted a recipe on this blog every single day. 100 - it sounds like so much. Honestly, I’m proud. I did it to bring some of my hobbies back to life, I did it to learn, I did it because I love taking food photos and because I love to eat.  I especially love, love looooooove dumplings. Potstickers, momos, gyoza, dumplings - I’ll have them any which way. Up to now, I’d been stuck with home delivery or eating out whenever I had cravings - but as of now, no more.  I’m now proudly dumpling-self reliant, and I’m posting this potsticker recipe as the closing recipe of this challenge because at the beginning of this year, I wouldn’t in my wildest dreams have pictured myself making these. But here I am - and here we are. Crazy things are possible if you only try - and it’s not half as hard as I’d thought. Fear was, once again, an irrational obstacle.  I’m grateful for this beautiful recipe from Healthy Nibbles & Bits, which w...

I was in the mood for some good old fashioned vegetable soup with meatballs - the kind my grandma might have made. It’s one of those soups you’ll find throughout Europe from north to south, all with slightly different details but very close to this. This version is an Italian variant using half beef half pork meatballs, oregano and acini di pepe and popularly known as as ‘Wedding Soup’.  Ingredients (serves 3): meatballs 250g minced meat, 50% beef 50% pork 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped salt and freshly ground black pepper  1/4 cup breadcrumbs 1/4 cup grated parmesan 1/2 egg soup 1 stalk celery, finely chopped 50g spinach, roughly chopped 1 cup baby carrots, cut into 1/2 cm thick slices 1 medium-sized onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1.25L chicken broth 1/3 cup acini di pepe  2 tablespoons olive oil  Instructions: 1. Put the minced meat in a large bowl and add the oregano, parsley, breadcrumbs, parmesan, egg and salt an...

After a long spiel of Italian and Western dishes, I’ve been drawn to Asian lately - from stir fries to curries. Two of the ingredients I’d bought to play around with were bok choy and pork. After testing them recently in a Chinese-inspired stir fry, today I decided to go Thai and try them in a curry recipe that originally called for mini corn. The result was simple but intensely flavourful - and although I’ve been eating something different almost every day, this is definitely going down on my repeat-list.  Ingredients (serves 1): 120g pork, sliced along the grain 65g mushrooms, sliced 1 large leaf bok choy, roughly chopped 2 scalllops, diagonally sliced 1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste 2 teaspoons smooth peanut butter 100ml coconut milk 100ml water 1/2 tablespoon Thai fish sauce 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 teaspoon soft brown sugar stalks and leaves of 1/4 bush cilantro, stalks finely chopped and leaves picked Juice of 1/2 lime Serve with white rice or T...

I bought some black rice the other day and really wanted to try it, so I thought I’d go for a stir fry. Stir fries are always nice with rice. :) And it worked just fine, although the rice was nuttier than its white cousin, and a more neutral flavour would have done well too.  Ingredients (serves 1): 150g pork, sliced along the grain to thin strips 1/4 large bok choy, chopped diagonally into 5-6 cm pieces 1 large scallion, diagonally chopped 1 1/2 tablespoon low-salt soy sauce 1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar 1/2 tablespoon rice wine 2 tablespoon vegetable oil 1/2 teaspoon corn starch pinch of red chili pepper flakes season with salt as needed to garnish: toasted cashew nuts, toasted red chili pepper flakes Serve with rice Instructions: 1. In a medium bowl, toss together the pork strips, corn starch, 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce, and red pepper flakes.  2. In another bowl, stir together the rice vinegar, rice wine and 1 tablespoon soy sauce.  3. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in...

Sitting next to the fireplace in a country cottage in Franschhoek, South Africa and leafing through an old local edition of "Woman and Home” left behind by some previous passer-by, I came across a fabulous recipe for pork in little gem lettuce. I loved it so much I just had to share. This is more or less it, in a slightly altered version. Ingredients (serves 2-3): 1 little gem lettuce 150g minced meat (50% pork 50% beef) 1/2 red pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped 2 tsp fish sauce 2 tsp fresh lemon juice 1 tsp soy sauce 2 tsp fresh mint leaves 2 tsp fresh koriander (cilantro) leaves dash of vegetable oil 1 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp sesame seeds (white, black, or mixed) + an extra dash Instructions: 1. Pour a dash of vegetable oil into a skillet and fry the minced meat until it is no longer pink. Remove from pan and set aside, leaving as much of the oil as possible in the pan. 2. In the remaining oil, lightly sautée the red pepper (2-3 minutes) on medium heat,...