This recipe is contributed by Multi Cultural Cooking Network Facebook fan, Christian Allarde. Here's what she has to say about this dish.

If you are a garlic lover, you need to give this garlicky flavored meat stir-fry recipe a try, it is easy to master and very fast to make.

A tasty Filipino recipe which consists of beef innards, fresh hot pepper, ginger and other spices for flavoring. Stewing the mixture in low fire for long hours until it becomes yellowish in color will bring the best result.

MCCN's number one fan is my father.  He is a foodie.  Over the holidays, he ran out of sweet and sour sauce so he whipped up these ingredients to serve 40 people.  He made this to compliment Thai Angel Wings.   Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It has long been popular in North America and Europe, where it is stereotypically considered a component of standard Chinese cuisine. It does in fact originate from China, and is now also used in some American (also American Chinese) and European cuisines.

After having a chat with an American who spends half of his year living in Thailand, I got inspired to find a recipe for Krapoa Gai when he told me that was his favorite dish. Ironically, I shared, "It is mine too." He quickly let me know there was likely to be a gap in the presentation and taste when it comes to basil as the dish is prepared in Thailand versus the United States.  If traveling to Thailand expect much more basil.

FoodontheFood.com-This, right here, is the best Indian pudding in the world. I adapted this classic Yankee recipe from The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer (originally published in 1896). I think it's even better than Durgin-Park's famed Indian pudding, but don't say anything because I don't want to get yelled at. (Do they still yell at people over there anymore?) My version uses a combination of molasses and maple syrup as well as ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The consistency is very soft and is meant to whey a bit (meaning some liquid separates from the pudding—I like to call it sauce). Serve warm with vanilla bean ice cream melting all over it in shallow, milky pools. Dreamy!

Jalfrezi is a hot curry with green chillies, peppers, onion and tomatoes, whose name comes from the Bengali word jhal, meaning spicy hot. It is dish invented during the Mughal era in north India.

The Samosa has been a popular snack in South Asia for centuries. It is believed that it originated in Central Asia (where they are known as samsa prior to the 10th century. Abolfazl Beyhaqi (995-1077), an Iranian historian has mentioned it in his history, Tarikh-e Beyhaghi. It was introduced to the Indian subcontinent in the 13th or 14th century by traders from the region.

The winter melon, also called white gourd, ash gourd, or "fuzzy melon", is a vine grown for its very large fruit, eaten as a vegetable when mature. It is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The fruit is fuzzy when young.The immature melon has thick white flesh that is sweet when eaten. By maturity, the fruit loses its hairs and develops a waxy coating, giving rise to the name wax gourd, and providing a long shelf life. The melon may grow as large as 80 cm in length. Although the fruit is referred to as a "melon," the fully grown crop is not sweet. Originally cultivated in Southeast Asia, the winter melon is now widely grown in East Asia and South Asia as well.

What is the concept of French toast but not? Indian Egg Bread.  It is similar but minus the sweet flavor.  Think savory.  While staying at a friend of mine's home a British woman of Indian descent, her older son offered me his stab at Egg Bread.  Below is a recipe from Spark Recipes.  Click on their website for nutritional facts.  If you are conservative with flavors then go with merely egg, salt & pepper. 

Teriyaki (照り焼き, テリヤキ) is a method of Japanese cooking in which sliced meat or fish is grilled, pan-fried, roasted or broiled in a special sauce made from soy sauce, sugar, mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine) and sake (rice wine). The word “teriyaki” derives from the word teri, which refers to a shine or luster given by the sauce, and yaki, which refers to the cooking method (grilling or broiling).  Teriyaki is used in most Japanese dishes. Traditionally, the meat is either dipped in or brushed with the sauce multiple times before completion.

There are two main types of sushi, nigiri-zushi and maki-zushi. Nigiri-zushi is vinegared rice hand-formed into oval shapes; its usually topped with various raw and cooked seafood. Maki-zushi  on the other hand is vinegared rice combined with seafood and vegetables then wrapped in an edible seaweed called nori and sliced into rounds. Nigiri-zushi is tricky to prepare so most people eat it at  Japanese restaurants and sushi bars. Maki-zushi is much easier to prepare but requires a sushi mat for rolling.

The California roll is an American invention, and was made by a California sushi chef in the early 1970s. He made leftover avocado, cucumber and fish cake into a maki (roll) sushi. To hide the seaweed, which many Americans did not like, he hid it in inside a layer of rice—today known as an “inside out roll.”

As with many things in the Philippines, there are several stories as to the origins of this rather unusual yet distinctly Filipino dish. The first one is that it came from Pampanga. Another, from the regal dishes of the Moro elite who once settled in Manila before the Spanish arrival (interestingly enough, in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, Kare-kare also remains a popular dish). It is a comfort food for Filipinos, and is a perennial family favorite in both local and overseas Filipino households.

Kare-kare is a Philippine stew. It is made from peanut sauce with a variety of vegetables, stewed oxtail, beef, and occasionally offal or tripe. Meat variants may include goat meat or (rarely) chicken. It is often eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste), sometimes spiced with chili, and sprinkled with calamansi juice. Traditionally, any Filipino fiesta (particularly in Pampanga region) is not complete without kare-kare. In some Filipino-American versions of the dish, oxtail is exclusively used as the meat.

PREPARATION

Oxtail, with the skin on and cut into 2-inch lengths, and ox tripe are boiled until tender. Sometimes pieces of ox feet or shins are added. When the meat is tender, the soup becomes gelatinous and to this is added ground roasted peanuts (or peanut butter), ground roasted glutinous rice to make the soup thicker. Atsuete (annatto) is added to give color. The basic vegetables for kare-kare include young banana flower bud or "heart" (puso ng saging), eggplant, string beans, and Chinese cabbage (pechay). Kare-kare is often served hot with special bagoong alamang (sauteed salted shrimp paste).

 

*Source Wikipedia

This recipe comes from The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi.

 

MCCN Host Sunni Boswell shares her popular Chicken lettuce wrap recipe. 

Thai Angel Wings are a favorite of my father's so of course I had to post this video. He lives in Chesapeake, Virginia and can't find a restaurant which prepares this dish. When he visits Los Angeles the Thai Angel Wings are must!

Actor/Dancer Harry Shum Jr. of the hit show Glee shared with MCCN that this is one of his favorite cultural dishes.  This recipe is for 32 dumplings.

This Thai soup recipe from 101 Cookbooks is wonderfully flavored as well as extremely healthy and nourishing. With only a few ingredients, it’s perfect for chasing away cold bugs or just brightening up your day.

Apricot Snowballs is a popular Christmas recipe. Learn how to make/prepare Apricot Snowballs by following this easy recipe.