Dragons and Egg Rolls

Happy Chinese New Year! Today marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, otherwise known as Chinese New Year. According to an old Chinese proverb, all creations are reborn and renewed so today marks a day of change. I have always been fascinated with the Chinese culture, especially the food. I have been making egg rolls since I was 9 years old and decided to share my recipe in honor of this lunar occasion. The sweet chili sauce became a staple in my house about 6 years ago, there’s nothing like some sweet heat. Enjoy the holiday and recipes.

xoxo,

Chef Ameera

Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

• 25 Spring Roll Wrappers ,defrosted at room temperature for 30 minutes
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch  mixed with ¼ cup of cool water
• Oil, for frying
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic, chopped
• ½ head of cabbage
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• ½  tablespoon Chinese rice wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• Freshly ground black pepper 

Directions:

1. For the filling, in a bowl combine the ground beef, garlic, cornstarch, and pepper together. While it develops flavors, grab another bowl and shred the cabbage and carrots. Slice the mushrooms into a fine dice.
2. Heat a wok over high heat. Add the peanut oil and swirl to coat. Toss in the beef and stir-fry until no longer red, about 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, push the meat to one side of the pan. Add the cabbage, carrots, ginger and the mushrooms and stir-fry about 2 minutes, until the vegetables are softened. Add the rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and black pepper.Mix together ingredients in the wok  stir-fry for another minute. Remove and transfer filing to a baking/cookie sheet and spread out to cool. To help remove some of the extra juices, place a folded dish towel under one end of the baking sheet. Let cool for 10 minutes.
3. After eliminating all of the extra juices, use paper towels to blot the filling to rid of extra oil or juice. It’s time to wrap your rolls. Add no more than 1 ½ tablespoons of filling (click here to see an example from a trusted source) and roll tightly. You must make sure there are no open gaps or you will have greasy rolls!
4. As you roll, keep them in a neat stack covered with parchment paper. I like to stack as I roll and use parchment in between the layers. If you don’t have parchment paper, you can use wax paper.
5. Fill a wok 3 inches of high temperature cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350°F. Place the egg rolls gently in the oil to prevent hot grease from splashing (I’ve been burnt plenty of times!), frying no more than 4 at a time. Cook just under 2 minutes and drain on wire rack.

 

Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tablespoon red chili paste
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

 

Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat, Place all ingredients, except the cornstarch mixture in a sauce pan.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium and let mixture reduce by half.
4. Reduce heat to low and add the cornstarch mixture. Stir to incorporate and continue stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and enjoy. 

Cooking with Kids

I can’t believe it’s been nearly three months since I’ve posted…Being a private chef, you cater to the needs of your clients while your needs become secondary. While I absolutely LOVE what I do and wouldn’t trade it for anything…. It’s definitely been a challenge stealing time away for all of you. I have at least 40 drafts from posts I started and didn’t have the time to finish!

Well over the past month my client was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Chicago Bulls and I now have a little time on my hands to share my culinary tidbits with all of you. I’ll be posted some of those drafts along with a bunch of new posts to tickle your fancy or at least make your taste buds wiggle.

My mini me has been dying to contribute to the blog so you’ll get to meet my LAGDC chef in training soon. She’s 9-years old and can cook just like her mama. Check out her skills chopping some italian parsley!

She’s just about the age I was when I realized I had an innate passion for food. I would have a complete dinner prepared for my mother by the time she arrived home from work by the time I was 10-years old! I look forward to hearing from you as I show you some of my clients favorite dishes(and not so favorite), my testing of recipes, my must-have gadgets, tips on healthy living, and the best places to dine in LA.

Ciao bella

Veggin’ out

The LA Girls DO Cook team LOVES TO EAT!!! In lieu of this bit of info about ourselves, we have developed a system against junk foods. Now don’t get us wrong, we are by no means skinny, nor have we mastered the art of calorie counting on our days of leisure, but we know that our bodies deserve the best, so we found a couple of ways to indulge smartly!

The TV is usually the place where most Americans stop thinking, hence it is also the place we eat mindlessly! Set yourself up for successful snaking. Keep some kale chips, wheat crisps, or bolder canyon chips nearby. A personal favorite of the team happens to be popcorn! Not the butter saturated, salt filled, artery clogging gunk they serve at the movie theaters.

We are nuts, about nuts! Almonds, Macadamia, Walnuts, Peanuts! These are the perfect little handfuls for when you are on the go. They come in packets so that you are able stuff them in your purse or pocket quickly.

Cereal: Everybody has a box of cereal in their cabinet! It makes for a great crunchy snack. We recommend less sugary cereals. Honey bunches of oats is a great one….

The best part about all of the aforementioned snacks, is that you can train your brain to get full off of these small finger foods. If you have a limited supply of nuts, cereal, or popcorn then eat one morsel at a time… TRY IT! Instead of grabbing a fistful of popcorn and shoving it down your throat, pick up one piece at a time. Your brain will get tired of the up and down motion your hand makes to bring the food to your mouth. This tricks you into thinking you’ve eaten more than you really have!

Veggies are great to … well… veg out with. Celery sticks or mini carrots are ideal tasty snacks!

Fruit cocktails! Fruit cocktails are deliciously tricky. They can be drenched in sugary syrups, and preservatives. We prefer to make our own quick and healthy alternative to the traditionally store bought product fruit cocktails. For the recipe… email us at: info@LAGIRLSDOCOOK.COM

What to do when dinner is being made for you!!!!

Cooking is a special gesture! Think about how intimate, time consuming, and memorable it is for someone to share this talent (or developing talent) with you. More than likely, if someone is willing to cook for you, they are willing to share their space with you; in other words they are comfortable enough with your presence to invite you into their home.

If you know someone is preparing a dinner for you, it is in good taste to bring something with you, such as a bottle of wine, perhaps some flowers, or dessert. This shows that you are considerate.

It is also a good idea to let the in-house chef know what your allergies or medical dispositions are. It would be terrible shame for them to create a 5 course meal and you are not able to eat any of it because they used peanut oil in all of the dishes.

If they prepare something that doesn’t necessarily agree with your palate, be courteous and at least try a bite or two of whatever it is that they have created. Remember, it is the sentiment behind the gesture that counts. Highlight all the positives and if possible avoid talking about what you disliked, unless confronted. In this case, it is ok to communicate that you are unaccustomed to whatever it is that they have cooked and opt to eat other items they have prepared. Be sure to be sensitive to the other person’s feelings in letting them how much you enjoyed the meal.

Have a couple topics to bring up over dinner in the back of your mind to keep lines of communication open. Avoid, politics and religion unless you are in the mood for low grade confrontation, or you are aware that your positions are the same for both topics. Being ready with conversation topics is a good idea to avoid long spots of awkward silence… unless the food is so good that the silence is called for.

Lastly, ask if the meal is themed. Are you supposed to dress up? Is it a casual dinner? Is it a stilleto or flip flop kind of party? You don’t want to show up in your best shoes and a form fitting dress when he answers the door in jeans and a t-shirt.

Armed with the above, you should be more than ready to attend a special invite dinner. Most important of all, bring your smile and personality. It’s the best thing you can bring to the table! Enjoy!

Striving for Summertime Sexy

It all started when we got our first summertime pool party invite, and had to turn it down because we weren’t in bikini body basking mode (aka not in shape).

Summertime is almost here and the LA Girls DO Cook Team is focusing on losing our winter “snuggle weight” and strapping up for our “get it right, get it tight” mode. In order to keep us on task, we are using this blog to hold us accountable to our goals! The next couple of weeks we will be reporting on the consistency of our routine, what is working, what is not working, and in the end, the only cottage cheese you’ll see around us is the kind you put on top of your strawberries!

Step 1 meet with a trainer- In our case, we met with Mark Jenkins celebrity trainer to P Diddy for the marathon, Mary J Blige, Beyonce, Busta Rhymes, the list goes on! We talked about our goals and the feasibility of time constraints! We recommend that you consult a doctor before any physical activity or supplement taking. He took our measurements and did some calculations and recommended specialized plans geared towards our individual body types!

You know all the things you are supposed to do: eat a healthy breakfast, cardio till your chest burns, drink enough water to drown a fish etc. You don’t do them and neither do we. But we have resolved to stick to our guns on this one for a life changing experience.

Now you know that the LA Girls team loves to cook… meaning we also LOVE to eat… so half the battle is curbing the appetite or retraining our palates to lust for foods that are delicious and nutritious!

This will be a a fun project along with all of our other adventures, we can’t wait for the results!

DC Dining from an LA Girls Perspective

The LA Girls Do Cook Team is back where it belongs… IN LA! However, we can’t help but think back to the wonderful places we’ve encountered and recommend visiting if any of our readers ever travel to DC! We’ve found a little something for everybody.

Looking for simple, quick n filling… JUMBO SLICE in Adam’s Morgan is the perfect bang for your buck! 5$ for a pizza slice bigger than your head!

Searching for something refined and foreign?

La Tasca is a Spanish Tapas bar with a fiesty flair in DC’s Chinatown. The Decor is comfortable, the service is inviting, the food is delicious, the prices are easy on the pockets. Try the Gambas al Ajillo to kick start the metabolism and burn those calories!

 If you are looking for something a little closer to home with a DC Twist go with Chicken, fries, and mumbo sauce. We admit that we were a bit skeptical of the location as to where you can find it (any quick stop express, usually Asian. When we feasted, it was like absolutely nothing we have tasted on the west coast!

 Lastly,but definitely not least… we went to Philips. Phillips is a seafood cornucopia! Giant crab legs, lobster tails, oysters, clams, fresh fish…. just an overload of food for a Whale of a deal! Huge potent drinks, all you can eat, and the food is definitely fresh and the servers have smiles at all times!

What a great way to finish up our trip to the Nations Capital!

LA Girls in a DC state of mind…

Part of the LA Girls DO Cook team is bringing the West coast to the East! We headed to the nations capital to see how the DC ladies are bringing it. Especially with Michelle Obama’s push for healthier living amongst the youth we just had to come check it out for ourselves! Not only are we turning heads with our LA Style, we’re picking up little tidbits of flair from the lovely ladies of Washington!

DC sexy involves: bright colors! We were surrounded by DC natives who sported the vibrant colors in not only their wardrobe but right down to the nail colors!!!

LA Sexy: Racy colors. Deep wine reds, and french tips! You know we LA ladies keep it classy and always red carpet ready!

On the layover from LA to DC, we picked up the book ” SKINNY BITCH” by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin! Beyond the cussing and potty mouth approach that the authors chose, this is an excellent book! It really made this half of the team take a second look at what we eat!… this is not your run -of- the- mill diet book and it is because of the book that we have decided to spend our time in DC as vegans/ vegetarians!

So far, we have discovered DC’s Chop’t! A delightful menu that caters to the vegan and vegetarian diet. Yummy and filling! We recommend the vegetarian powerhouse option…

So far, we can definitely say that DC is its own culture with its own the slang, music, and food. The ladies don’t go off of what media fashion dictates, centepede twists, gogo music and chicken mumbo sauce… where else in the world can you find that?

Krys Ivory and the Berry Cameo

This week we had the pleasure of gifting the new up and coming artist Krys Ivory with a load of decadent chocolate strawberries at her video shoot for her new single called “Next to Ya”.

Upon our arrival she was greatful, pleasantly surprised, and found herself sneaking nibbles of a new strawberry between scenes.

Her steamy video co-star Collins Pennie of Fame’s 2009 remake was also drawn to the delicious treats. The art director thought that Chef Ameera’s berries were so beautifully done that he decided to debut them in the the video!

The cast and crew of the set were extremely thankful, and if they weren’t believers before, they now know that LA Girls DO Cook…!!!

Keeping love in the air after the Valentine’s Day rush is Over….

Ladies, we have successfully perpetuated Valentine’s day as a day to celebrate loving the one closest to us.

We plan for it around the same time every year (around the time the New Year ball drops)yet most men do not reap the benefits of this day. They write it off as a day to cater to the woman’s romantic inclinations. Once the date is done and the romantic romp is through, like a pumpkin at midnight “poof” it all goes back to normal. But ladies, it is 2010 and men should have the opportunity to be just as excited by the thought of V-day as we are. By doing so, you are prolonging the romantic euphoria. So kick it up a notch this year and follow up V-day’s traditional and predictable trend of dinner and a movie date with a sexy play date day for your man.

The key is to engage him mentally, stimulate him orally, and get a little “hands on”… We’re talking food of course… You can create a meal filled with aphrodisiacs to get you and your honey going from zero to sixty in no time.Of course there is the sweet yet infamous chocolate strawberry duo, and even honey itself is an aphrodisiac but lets remix the usage. For example, who said the chocolate had to be on the strawberry? Chocolate body painting anyone? Other sexy foods include oysters, walnuts, oranges, steak, the list goes on and on. So turn on the music, light the candles, make a meal that will make his mouth water and his heart melt… naughty tip- let him know what each aphrodisiac he samples is supposed to do to him as you feed it to him. Half the price of V-day, twice the intimacy, and zero hassle … sounds sexy to me already.

For aphrodisiac recipes, tips, and/or a list of sexy side effects, email info@chefameera.com

Giving Back Celebrity Style…

I couldn’t have been more honored when the Los Angeles Mission utilized my chef services to prepare food for the homeless over the Christmas weekend. I joined a group of volunteers who helped served lunch to the homeless on Saturday (December 26). Needless to say, the homeless were a little surprised when Kanye West and girlfriend Amber Rose stopped by to volunteer as well!

The Los Angeles Mission is a non-profit organization helping the homeless in the city’s downtown Skid Row district for more than 70 years. In addition to food and shelter, they offer employment, transitional services and rehabilitation to those struggling with substance abuse.

 

It was a very special day for all involved, and I can’t wait to help out again next year.