New Recipe: Pad Thai

So I was in charge of cooking tonight, and found a decent recipe that I had made modifications to in order to reach 'great.'

Ingredients
Just under 1-ounce tamarind paste (1 and 1/4 Tablespoons)
3/4 cup boiling water
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons fish sauce
2 rounded Tablespoons palm sugar
3/4 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Sambal
4 ounces rice stick noodles
1 to 2 Tablespoons oil (I used vegetable, original recipe called for peanut)
1 cup chopped scallions, divided 1/3 (serving) and 2/3 (recipe)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 whole eggs, beaten
3 ounces bean sprouts, divided
Freshly ground dried red chile peppers, to taste (I used Sambal)
1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions
Place the tamarind paste in the boiling water and set aside while preparing the other ingredients. Stir occasionally.

Combine the fish sauce, palm sugar, Sambal, and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.

Place the rice stick noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Once the other ingredients are measured out into separate bowls, drain the water from the noodles and set them aside.

Press the tamarind paste through a fine mesh strainer and add to the sauce. Stir to combine.

Place a wok over high heat. I did not have a wok, so I used a cast iron skillet, and it worked wonderfully (for the tossing, I was still able to hold both ends, as my cast iron skillet came with a small nub on the side opposite the handle).

Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil. Heat until it shimmers. Add 2/3 of the scallions and then the garlic, cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the eggs to the pan; once the eggs begin to set up, about 15 to 20 seconds, stir to scramble.

Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss after each addition: noodles, sauce, cabbage, shrimp, and 2/3 of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Toss everything until heated through, but no longer than 1 to 2 minutes total.

Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with the remaining scallions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Serve immediately with lime wedges.

Flavored Beer Base

I've been looking into doing a lot of different flavored beers, and I finally picked up Brewing Classic Styles. In there was the Apricot Wheat recipe, and it provided a great base wheat to add fruit and some other light flavors to.

8.3 lbs wheat LME 4L
1/2 lbs crystal 15L
.85oz willamette hops 5%aa

Suggested yeast is Wyeast 1010 American Wheat

This will provide a great base for any number of fruits, with possible minor tweaking needed for apricot, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry, etc...

On Hold - Cherry Fever Stout

It seems that with cherries out of season that the Cherry Fever Stout is on hold. I will be collecting cherries as soon as they're in-season and freezing them for a delicious future.

Instead, I will be brewing Papazian's Kumdis Island Spruce beer.

Next Up - Cherry Fever Stout

Ingredients
3.3 lbs plain dark LME
2.5 lbs hopped flavored light LME
1.5 lbs plain dark DME
1 lbs crystal malt
1/2 lbs roasted barley
1/2 lbs black patent malt
1.5 oz Northern Brewer hops (boiling)
1/2 oz Willamette hops (finishing)
8 tsp gypsum
5 lbs sour cherries
1 - 2 packages ale yeast
3/4 cups corn sugar (priming)

Directions
Add crushed roasted barley, crystal and black patent malts to 1 1/2 gallons of cold water, bring to boil. At boil, remove grains and add malt extracts, gypsum, and boiling hops, for 60 min. Add 5 lbs cherries (pits and all), and steep for 15 min (160-180 degrees) - do not boil. Add finishing hops 2 min before adding to fermenter, add cold water to make 5 lbs. Pitch yeast when cool, after 4-5 days, move to secondary for another 2 weeks and bottle upon complete fermentation.