Sesame Dressing

We had only been married a little time before Ryu told me he liked Chinese food also. Wow! Learning to make Japanese food as well as Chinese - I recruited his help. We bought a Chinese cookbook at the 100 yen (Dollar) store and have used it and used it!

This is the Sesame Dressing for one of the dishes (whose name I can't remember or READ!)

The cookbook is Bon Cook #23 Chinese...Something. The recipe is on page 48.

Anyway, this is Ryu's dish to make, but, we are on a chicken eating frenzy, so I am always looking for ideas. The other day I decided to boil a chicken breast, tear it into shreds, steam some green beans and cut them in half, and pour this sauce over it all. We were ALL (meaning, Jun too!) in heaven!

Sesame Dressing

3 Tbsp. White Sesame Seeds - grind these up in a food mixer you can later add wet ingredients too for ease in preparation. (I'm sure you could use black too. We used roasted white ones.)
3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Tbsp. Vinegar
1/2 tsp. Sesame oil
1/2 tsp. rayu (very hot oil. We leave it out when Jun is eating with us - ALWAYS - though we love it!)

After grinding up the sesame seeds, add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. This is the first time I used our food grinder/mixer. Ryu does it by hand. Do as you wish, but I will always use our cheapo frustrating mixer after this! So easy!

This is great over chicken and pork. Also, over steamed veggies like broccoli, green beans or spinach. It would also be great over a salad or chilled tofu! Of course, you can adjust the flavor/sweetness to your liking, too! Try it!

Creamy Baked Beans

In the 1960's my Mom found a recipe on the back of an evaporated milk can for Creamy Baked Beans - or something like that. She always made it for picnics and parties. They are sooo yummy, creamy and mild. No other baked beans really do it for me.

Well, we moved a ton of times and the 1960's are long past, and the recipe only apparently exists, lodged in our food memories. No sign of it on the web, anywhere!

So, this evening we attempted to recreate the recipe. And it was good!

Creamy Baked Beans

1 14.5 oz. can of pork 'n beans
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. prepared mustard (any that you put on your hot dogs will do!)
1/4 cup cream or evaporated milk

Pour it in a casserole dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Stir well before serving. It has a lighter color than traditional baked beans, and a light creamy flavor. Of course you can double/triple the recipe if you want. Just bake it for an hour or so.

I sauteed 1/4 of an onion till it was soft and stirred it in before baking. You could also add cooked hamburger or whatever floats your boat and it would be yummy too!