CHINESE; Beancurd with Vegetables

Ingredients:

* 500 g hard beancurd
* Oil for deep frying
* 50 g baby white cabbage (bai chai/bok choy), blanched
* ½ carrot, sliced and cut in flower shapes, blanched
* 3 dried black mushrooms, soaked\
* 1 tsp chicken stock, soaked
* 2 tsp oyster sauce
* 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
* ½ tsp sugar
* ¼ cup chicken stock
* 1 tsp cornflour, blended with water

Directions:

* Cut the beancurd into 8 cm lengths.
* Deep fry in very hot oil until golden, then drain.
* Pour out all but 2 tsp of oil and put back the beancurd with blanched vegetables, mushrooms, rice wine and  
   sugar.
* Stir fry for about 1 minute, then add chicken stock and heat through.
* Thicken with cornflour and serve immediately.

KOREAN; Tangsuyuk( Sweet, Sour, and Crispy Beef)

Ingredients:

 600 grams (1.3 Lb) of beef, starch powder (2 cups and 2 tbs), vegetable oil, egg,
 Turbinado sugar 1 cup (brown or white sugar is ok too), salt,ground black pepper,
 3 tbs vinegar, apple, pineapple, 5-7 wood ear mushrooms, onion, cucumber, carrot, and water

Directions:

Soak ¼ cup of dried wood ear mushrooms in warm water (about 5-7 mushrooms) for a few hours.
To make the coating batter, mix 2 cups of starch powder (either corn starch or potato starch)
with water (about 3 cups) and let it sit for a few hours until the starch sinks in the bowl. Then remove the water by pouring it into the sink.*tip: after draining the water, the starch will be solid and stiff.Cut beef into thin strips (5 cm long, 1 cm thick, 1 cm wide) and put it in a bowl.Add ½ ts salt and ½ ts ground black pepper to the beef and mix it well with your hand. Set it aside.Add the beef strips to the starch, and 1 egg white (or yolk) and mix it well with your hand.Heat vegetable oil in your wok and fry the beef strips for about 5 minutes until they look golden brown and crispy. It’s very important to coat the beef strips with as much starch batter as you can. Try to use all of it. Then put the fried crispy beef strips into a strainer.
Now you made your fried beef strips and sauce! If you’re waiting for your family or guests,
just take a break and do the next steps just before serving.

Ok, it’s time for you to serve it now?
Reheat the oil and fry the beef strips again, until each strip becomes very crispy.
Put the fried beef on a large platter
Reheat the sauce for a minute and pour it on top of the beef strips.
Serve it hot with dipping sauce (mix 2 tbs soy sauce and 1 tbs vinegar)

SPANISH; Garlic Chicken- Pollo Al- Ajillo

Ingredients:

* 2 1/2 lbs whole chicken
* 1 lemon
* 6 garlic cloves
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp black pepper
* 1 sprig of flat leaf parsley
* 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) extra virgin olive oil
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 cup (125 ml) white wine
* 1 1/2 lb (about 4 medium) potatoes
* 1 cup chicken broth (optional)
* 1 small hot pepper (optional)
* 1 tsp Spanish sweet paprika
* 3 Tsp red wine vinegar
* pinch of sugar

Directions:

Cut chicken into 10-12 pieces. Rinse and pat dry. Place chicken in a large glass dish.
Squeeze lemon juice over the chicken. Peel 2 garlic cloves and chop finely. Sprinkle garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and rub into chicken.Allow to marinate for 1-2 hours.Pour half the oil into a large heavy bottom frying pan and heat on medium. Remove the chicken from the marinade and drain well. Brown the chicken in the oil on both sides.Then, remove it from frying pan and place in a large casserole dish or deep frying pan.And the white wine and bay leaf. Cover and simmer on low until the wine is reduced.While chicken simmers, peel and cut potatoes into thin round slices or small cubes. Heat new oil in a small frying pan on medium high and fry potatoes. Remove potatoes and add to chicken. If more sauce is desired,
 add the cup of broth now. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer covered.Finely chop parsley
and sprinkle over chicken.Peel the other 4 cloves of garlic and thinly slice. In the same pan used to fry the thicken, lightly sauté the garlic, and add the hot pepper (optional).

    Add Spanish paprika, vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pan. Pour over chicken. Adjust salt and serve.

AMERICAN; CLASSIC BEEF POT ROAST

Ingredients:

* 1 teaspoon olive oil

* 1 (3-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed

* 1 teaspoon kosher salt

* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

* 2 cups coarsely chopped onion

* 1 cup dry red wine

* 4 thyme sprigs

* 3 garlic cloves, chopped

* 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth

* 1 bay leaf

* 4 large carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces

* 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

* Fresh thyme leaves (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chuck roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan; cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove roast from pan. Add onion to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until tender.Return browned roast to pan. Add the red wine, thyme sprigs, chopped garlic, beef broth, and bay leaf to pan; bring to a simmer. Cover pan and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until the roast is almost tender.
• Add carrots and potatoes to pan. Cover and bake an additional 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaf from pan; discard. Shred meat with 2 forks. Serve roast with vegetable mixture and cooking liquid. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired

BRAZILIAN; BANANA FRITA (Fried Banana)

Ingredients:

*  2 Ripe bananas
*  2 Teaspoons of butter
*  Cinnamon and sugar to taste


Directions:


 Peel the bananas.Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan.Add the bananas and fry them on both sides.
 Put the bananas on a plate.Sprinkle the bananas with cinnamon and sugar to taste.If you wish,
 you can add honey and raisins to the bananas when frying them.Fried bananas go well with
 vanilla ice cream and whipping cream.Brazilians also eat fried bananas with a meal,
 but the bananas are coated with egg and breadcrumbs.