C. sapidus

Yes, mung bean sprouts. Good eye! I have not tried other sprouts in this recipe, which takes no time to cook. Do soy bean sprouts cook as quickly?

Beef stew with star anise and basil (thit bo kho), one of my absolute favorite Vietnamese dishes. Cubed beef chuck seared with annatto oil, shallots, and garlic before simmering with chicken stock, lemongrass, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Seasoned shortly before serving with more fried shallots and garlic, plus star anise, curry powder, Thai basil, and cilantro. Stir-fried bean sprouts, cucumber salad, and jasmine rice

Breakfast leftovers from the family "Easter" get-together. Mrs. C brined and roasted a capon, and also and baked steelhead in a maple-soy-ginger glaze. I cooked green rice with roasted Poblanos, cilantro, and flat-leaf parsley. I also cooked Marcella Hazan's delicious braised carrots with Parmesan cheese, and a simple green bean salad with olive oil and lemon. Sadly, neither survived the meal.

Picadillo would be an excellent stuffing, too. I find huge glops of cheese a bit heavy.

Yep, I prefer no batter. Especially at home. You can always make a Panko-butter topping and broil it if you want a little crunch. Caveat: I have only made stuffed peppers once (crab-stuffed Poblanos). They were more "open face" than stuffed, mostly 'cuz I had too much crab meat (there are worse problems lol).

Made a quick batch of Vietnamese caramel sauce for caramel pork. Trimmed and thinly sliced pork butt, fish sauce, caramel sauce, cilantro, and lots of black pepper. Simple and very good, but I prefer a version that uses ground pork - lots of crispy pork bits. Stir-fried baby bok choy with garlic and chiles. I need to make this more often. Jasmine rice to go with

Wow, that's quite a breakfast! 😋

Improvised green curry with shrimp, broccoli, and green beans. Started with onion and green curry paste, freshened up with garlic, ginger, galangal, bird chilies, lime zest, and cilantro. Adjusted seasonings with brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, and rice vinegar. Turned out very well, except the green beans were tough SOBs.Jasmine rice in ghee to go with.

Green eggs (no ham). Green beans, green curry paste, green bird chilies, and cilantro with chicken sausage, feta, onion, garlic ginger, and fish sauce.

Last of the Russian leftovers: borscht with tzatziki and Olivier salad

Kaffir lime and makrut are synonyms for the plant Citrus hystrix. Some places prefer makrut because "Kaffir" is considered an insult in certain parts of the world.

Leftovers from Easter dinner with Russian neighbors. The actual meal included shark, chicken, and a table full of appetizers and desserts. Rolls and meat-filled rolls (pierog?) Excellent borscht One of many desserts

The potato, chicken, or beef rendang pastes from James Oseland's 'Cradle of Flavor' use red Holland chilies and would give you some very flavorful chilie pastes. You might also consider purchasing a variety of Asian chilie pastes to see what you like. Should be pretty inexpensive to try out Thai red, green, or Panang chile paste (Mae Ploy brand is good if available), Korean gochujang, or Chinese chile-bean paste (toban jian, or similar spellings). Mexican chilie pastes typically use dried chilies such as ancho, pasilla, and/or guajillo. Do you have access to those? As an alternative there are some simple chipotle chile pastes if you like smoky heat and can find canned chipotle chilies in adobo. Good luck!

Spinach, cilantro, feta, and egg with sautéed onion, chiles, ginger, garlic, and fish sauce

That all looks good but man . . . beef rendang is special. I need to make some rendang, and soon. 😀

I always associate hush puppies with crab joints. They make really good ones, hoping customers will fill up on hush puppies and eat fewer crabs.

Flounder simmered in spicy sauce, from Kasma Loha-Unchit’s Dancing Shrimp. Caramelized brown sugar boiled with a blender paste of garlic, shallots, bird chilies, and white peppercorns, and then seasoned with slivered ginger, fish sauce, and cilantro. I went easy on the bird chilies and the family liked. I will make this again. Stir-fried spinach and watercress with sliced onions, scallions, soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. This was good. Sautéed carrots with vinegar and oregano. Mrs. C made microwave quinoa with dried mint, garlic, and olive oil.

Spinach and egg tacos with sausage, chilies, red onion, garlic, herbs, and a dollop of labneh.

Shrimp salad with watercress, Thai basil, mint, cilantro, lemon zest, and shallots. Shrimp were coated with white pepper, garlic, sugar, and salt before searing. Dressing was lemon and lime juice, roasted chile paste, fish sauce, sugar, and Thai bird chiles. Leftover saffron rice to go with.

Younger son likes fried Spam. I fried some up a while ago and . . . yeah, probably won't do that again soon. Funny, I also had a craving for canned beans recently. Fried up some cubed kielbasa, little hot sauce, nice satisfying meal.

Mrs. C made dinner tonight, after a stop at the Middle Eastern market (she though the family running the store was from Syria). Saffron rice, lamb kebabs (tasted great but looked, uh . . .), artichoke hearts, excellent babaghanoush, labneh topped with dried spearmint and olive oil, and toasted pitas.

I just bookmarked Mala Market. Thanks!

We are having dinner with neighbors. Fairly international crowd so I expect mostly Russian food with a sprinkling of Caribbean and Indian sides. Probably have our "Easter" get-together with my brother and his family in a couple of weeks. The only certainty is Mrs. C making salmon with a maple-soy glaze, because that is one of the few things younger nephew eats.

Double salad dinner tonight. Shaking beef - cubed NY strip marinated in soy and oyster sauces, seared with garlic over high heat, and then tossed with Thai basil, red onion, and pineapple. Dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and bird chiles, served over watercress and sliced tomatoes. Gosh I love meat salads. Cucumber salad, with a dressing of rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, sliced shallots and bird chilies, and cilantro. Store-bought baguette to sop up the juices. Mrs. C dipped her bread in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Last night Mrs. C picked up dinner supplies from a middle eastern store. Some sort of spicy cured sausage, labneh, tzatziki, pitas, etc. Sausage and labneh omelet with sauteed onions, garlic, and long red chiles.