Archive for Author AnniesChamorroKitchen

About the Author: AnniesChamorroKitchen
Hafa adam means "hello" in Chamorro, the native language of my island home, Guam U.S.A. Guam is the proverbial melting pot, abounding with cultural diversity that is aptly displayed in the variety of food we eat and share. The focal point of most Chamorro families centers around family gatherings and cooking. In my home, most of my guests congregate in my kitchen. It is where we do our best catching up, and whee lasting emories aremade. Browse through my selection of Chamorro and other recipes m and please leave me a comment if you try my recipes to let me know what you think of them. I hope you enjoyed your time in my kitchen. Come back soon! This site is work-in-progress, so please bear with me as I grow this site to a place where you'll love to visit. Happy Cooking! ~ Annie

Crepes

Life is short…have dessert for breakfast.  😀

Okay, this is not really a dessert, but it could be.  In fact, crepes are one of those versatile foods that can be sweet OR savory (cheese, mushroom, spinach, and chicken crepes are a favorite!).

My family loves fruit-filled crepes with a sweet cream filling.  We have it for breakfast, as snacks, and they’re a special treat for dessert.

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My youngest loves filling hers with Nutella and strawberries, but add some sliced bananas (oooh, and maybe some peanut butter too) for an Oh-My-Goodness flavor experience!

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These crepes and tender and sweet all on their own, and do not taste eggy like the ones served in some restaurants.

Speaking of restaurants, I used to think that crepes were an indulgence we could only have at those popular breakfast restaurants.  Not anymore.  Crepes are really quite simple to make.

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Have I tempted you enough to make some for yourself?  No?  How about now? 😀

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So what are you waiting for?  Head into that kitchen and get started.  Here’s how to make it.  (If you’re new to my blog, you will always find my complete recipe at the bottom of my post.)

For the batter, you’ll need the same basic ingredients you use to make pancakes — eggs, sugar, butter, milk, and flour.  I also add a pinch of salt and vanilla extract my batter.

Place the eggs into a large mixing bowl.  Beat it slightly with a whisk.

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Add sugar to sweeten it a bit.  If you plan on making savory crepes, I recommend decreasing the amount of sugar or omitting it completely.

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Vanilla extract gets mixed in next.  You could also use lemon extract, or some lemon zest instead of vanilla extract, but remember that a little goes a long way.

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Add a pinch of salt to the mixture.  Did you know that salt is a natural antioxidant?  Salt also adds taste and helps bring out the flavors present in the flour and other ingredients.

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Melted butter gets mixed in next.  The butter serves two purposes in this recipe.  It adds flavor, but it also helps the crepes not stick to the pan during cooking.

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Whisk in the milk.

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Next comes the flour.  It may seem like you’re adding way too little flour for the amout of liquid.  However, unlike pancake batter, the ratio of milk to flour is 2:1 for crepe batter, which makes a very thin batter.

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Whisk until you get a smooth batter.  A few tiny lumps of flour left in the batter are okay.

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Set the batter aside while you heat up your pan.  I recommend using a non-stick skillet.  I use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet.

Lightly spray the pan with butter-flavored cooking spray (just to be on the safe side to ensure your crepes don’t stick to the pan).  Pour 1/2 cup of batter onto the heated skillet.

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Cook the crepe over medium-low heat; you may need to adjust the heat as you go along, turning it down or up, depending on how quickly the crepes cook.

Use a spatula to gently lift the edges. If the crepe feels like it is still stickng to the pan, let it cook for a little while longer.  A telltale sign the crepe is ready to be flipped over is when you see it start to “wrinkle.”

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Flip the crepe over to lightly brown the other side; this should only take a minute or less.

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Continue making crepes until all of the batter is used up.  This recipe makes 8 crepes (more if you use less than 1/2 cup of batter per crepe).

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So now that the crepes are done, it’s time to make the filling.  This recipe is for a sweet filling.

Cream together softened cream cheese and a bit of powdered sugar.

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It should resemble cream cheese frosting at this point.

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To lighten it up, mix in whipped cream.  I use Cool Whip to make things easier.  Hey, I’m all about making things from scratch, but sometimes semi-homemade is just fine. 🙂

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Okay, so let’s see where we are in this endeavor.

Crepes — CHECK.

Sweet cream filling — CHECK.

All that’s left to do is fill the crepes with filling and your favorite fruit.  We like — okay, we LOVE — fresh berries in ours.

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Spread some filling down the middle of a crepe.

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Add fruit, as much as you like.

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Fold each side over the middle, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and ENJOY! 😀

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Scroll down for my complete recipes.

 

 

Crepes
 
Tender crepes filled a sweet cream; it's perfect for breakfast or served as a dessert.
Author:
Ingredients
Crepe batter:
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 cup flour
Filling:
  • 8-oz cream cheese
  • 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
  • 8-oz cool whip
  • Fresh berries
Other:
  • Powdered sugar
  • Butter-flavored cooking spray
Instructions
Make the crepes:
  1. Place the eggs in a large mixing bowl; beat slightly with a whisk.
  2. Mix in the remaining ingredients for the batter. Whisk until smooth.
  3. Pour ½ cup of batter onto a heated skillet. Cook over medium-low heat until lightly browned on one side. Flip the crepe and cook the other side until lightly browned.
Make the filling:
  1. Place the cream cheese and powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer to mix until creamy.
  2. Mix in the Cool Whip.
Assemble the crepes:
  1. Spread some cream filling down the middle of a crepe.
  2. Top with fresh fruit.
  3. Fold the sides over the middle. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
ENJOY!

Rice Krispy Treat Easter Eggs

This is a fun and yummy project you and your kids can make this Easter.

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To make these delicious and cute treats, you’ll need:

  • 6 cups Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies® cereal
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 package (10 oz.) marshmallows
  • Sweetened shredded coconut
  • Green food coloring
  • Pretzel sticks
  • Peeps marshmallow chicks
  • Large plastic eggs that can open/split in half
  • Butter-flavored cooking spray
  • Small candies

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Make some Rice Krispy treats using the recipe printed on the cereal box.

Spray the insides of large (and clean) plastic eggs with butter-flavored cooking spray.  Fill each plastic egg half with the cereal treats while still warm and pliable.  Use your thumb to create an indentation inside each egg half.

Carefully remove the formed cereal treat from each egg half.

Fill the thumbprint hole with your favorite candy (we like jelly beans and peanut m&m’s).  Press the halves together to form the cereal treat eggs.

Decorate with marshmallow Peeps, “grass” and “twigs” and enjoy!

To make the “grass”, tint sweetened coconut flakes green using a few drops of green food coloring.  Use pretzel sticks for the twigs.

Have fun and enjoy these delicious treats!

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Easy Lemon Garlic Aioli

My super simple aioli is tangy from fresh lemon juice and packed full of flavor from chopped garlic and cajun seasoning.

It takes a few short minutes to make.  It’s perfect with my Salmon Cakes or as a dipping sauce for fish sticks.

Give it a try today. 🙂

Salmon cake

Here’s how to make my super-simple lemon-garlic aioli.  Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside until ready to use.  Refrigerate any unused aioli.

Enjoy!

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Easy Lemon Garlic Aioli
 
Prep time
Total time
 
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 cup mayo
  • 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
  • 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.

 

Salmon Cakes

Salmon cakes are my take on one of my favorite seafood dishes — crab cakes.  These savory patties are crisp on the outside, thanks to a quick pan-frying, and moist and flavorful on the inside. To finish it off, top with a dollop of lemon-garlic aoili and a sprinkling of green onions. Mmmm mmmm mmmm…these are soooooo good!

Salmon cake

I usually make this for a meal, but you can easily make these into appetizer-sized portions.  This recipe makes between 10-12 salmon cakes, depending on how big you make them.

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This is a quick and easy version, using canned salmon. I’ve also made this using fresh salmon.  To prepare fresh salmon, bring about 2 cups of broth (seafood or chicken) to a boil in a small saucepan.  Add boneless, skinless salmon pieces to the boiling broth.  Cook until done, about 6-8 minutes, depending on the size of the salmon pieces.  Let the salmon cool then use a fork to break the salmon apart into small chunks.  You’ll need about 1 1/2 pounds of fresh salmon for this recipe.

This is an easy recipe that your kids can help with.  There is something about forming the patties that appeal to kids, or at least it appeals to my kids.  Maybe it’s because they get to “play” with food. 😉

You can find my complete recipe at the bottom of this post.  Give it a try.  I’m sure you’ll like it. 🙂

Start out by making my super-simple lemon-garlic aioli.  Mix all of the aioli ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

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Once the aioli is prepared, start making the salmon cakes.  Place all of the ingredients for the salmon cakes into a medium-sized mixing bowl.

Salmon cake

Use a spatula to fold the ingredients together.  Be gentle…the salmon breaks apart easily.  You want to still see small chunks of salmon after mixing.

Salmon cakes

The mixture will be a little “wet.”  This is perfectly okay and is key to creating tender and juicy salmon cakes after frying.

Place the remaining panko bread crumbs into a small bowl.  Form patties out of the mixture then generously coat in bread crumbs. Place the coated salmon cake on a plate or tray; finish forming/coating the rest of the mixture.

Because the mixture is quite moist, I find that refrigerating the coated salmon cakes for about 30 minutes BEFORE frying makes them easier to lift from the plate to the frying pan.

Salmon cakes

When you’re ready to fry the cakes, place a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil on a heated non-stick skillet.  I actually prefer to use a cast-iron skillet when I make this.

Pan fry over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and crisp.

Serve with garlic aioli and ENJOY! 😀

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Salmon Cakes
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Savory salmon patties seasoned with cajun seasoning, topped with a delicious lemon-garlic aoili
Author:
Serves: 10-12 patties
Ingredients
Cajun Garlic Aoli
  • 1 cup mayo
  • 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
  • 1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Salmon Cakes:
  • 3 cans boneless salmon (6-oz each)
  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs
  • ½ cup mayo
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 4 stalks green onions, sliced
  • 2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Other:
  • 2 cups panko bread crumbs, for coating
  • Vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
Make the Aoili:
  1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Make the Salmon Cakes:
  1. Drain the water out of the cans of salmon then place into a mixing bowl.
  2. Add the ingredients for the salmon cakes to the bowl. Fold the ingredients together until combined.
  3. Form the mixture into patties, coating each one with the remaining 2 cups of bread crumbs.
  4. Heat a non- stick or cast-iron pan over medium high heat. Lightly coat the pan with vegetable oil (a couple of tablespoons will do). Pan fry the salmon cakes for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Add more oil to the pan if needed.
Serve with aioli and enjoy!

 

Baked Sushi Casserole

My family loves, LOVES, LOVES sushi.  We love both the sushi with cooked ingredients (especially those with tempura shrimp — YUM!) as well as the ones with raw fish (spicy tuna is a fave).

We especially love the sushi that is either baked or fried and is served piping hot with the saucy filling practically oozing out of the wrapper.  OMG — I’m drooling as I type this.

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Rather than make one sushi roll then bake sliced pieces, this recipe is made casserole style in a 9×13 baking dish.  Serve the baked casserole with sushi wrappers and you have a quick and easy — not to mention inexpensive (or at least not as expensive as buying sushi at a restaurant) — and delicious dish.  This is also great for potlucks too.

While you can use the large sushi wrappers with this dish, my family prefers serving it with the “snack sized” seasoned seaweed wrappers (pictured below).  You can find the smaller wrappers in the Asian aisle of most grocery stores.

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Very little preparation is needed to make this yummy casserole.  Step-by-step instructions and photos follow.  See my complete recipe at the bottom of this post.

First, chop up some imitation crab meat.

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Pre-cooked salad shrimp also cuts on the preparation time.  I prefer to chop these up as well, but you can certainly use them whole since they are rather tiny.

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Place the chopped imitation crab and shrimp into a large mixing bowl.

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Add sour cream, mayo, and furikake to the bowl.

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Furikake is a seasoning consisting of chopped seaweed, sesame seeds, sugar, and a few other spices.  It comes in different flavors; I use the “regular” furikake pictured below.  You can find this in the Asian aisle of your grocery store as well.

furikake

Stir to combine the ingredients for the shrimp and imitation crab mixture.  This is good just as it is, but sometimes I mix in a little squeeze of Sriracha sauce, or if you have it, some Kimchee Base as well to kick it up a notch.

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I love a lot of “meat” in this dish, so into the bowl goes real lump crab meat.  Sometimes the can of crab meat has a few crab shells in it, so if you see any, be sure to pick them out and discard them.

Fold the crab meat into the shrimp and imitation crab mixture.

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As I mentioned above, I love a lot of filling in this dish.  I don’t like using too much rice as I think it detracts from the deliciousness of the filling.

I cooked just two cups of rice for this recipe then spread it in the bottom of a 9×13 pan.  The rice layer is pretty thin — just how my family likes it.  If you like having more rice, by all means, cook more, and create a thicker layer.

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The entire bowl of the shrimp and crab mixture gets spread on top of the rice.  It may seem like too much, but trust me, it’s the PERFECT amount.

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Add more real crab meat to the top of the shrimp and crab mixture.  Hey, I did say I loved a lot of “meat” in this dish. 😉

If you prefer, you can add more salad shrimp instead of crab meat, or splurge and use both! 😀

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More furikake goes on top of everything.  Because I didn’t season the rice or shrimp-crab mixture, the seasoned furikake is where most of the flavor and seasoning comes from.  Do not skimp on this or your casserole will taste quite bland.

Bake for 20 minutes in a 375-degree oven.

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After baking, add as much or as little roe as you like.  We use capelin roe, or masago.  One of my children LOVES extra roe on hers.  She loves it so much that her serving looks completely orange with all the roe she adds.

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This is the brand of Capelin roe or Masago that I buy.  It’s sold frozen in our local Asian supermarket.

Masago

Serve the piping hot casserole with seasoned seaweed and ENJOY!

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Baked Sushi Casserole
 
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 8
Ingredients
Crab Mixture:
  • 12 oz imitation crab meat, finely chopped
  • 12 oz cooked salad shrimp, chopped
  • 1 cup mayo
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • ¼ cup furikake
  • 1 cup real lump crab meat (I use lump claw meat)
Other Ingredients:
  • 2 cups medium grain rice, cooked
  • ½ cup real crab meat (I use lump claw meat)
  • ¼ cup furikake
  • ¼ cup seasoned capelin roe
  • Packages of seasoned seaweed wrappers, for serving with the casserole
Instructions
Make the Crab Mixture:
  1. Place the chopped imitation crab meat and chopped shrimp into a large mixing bowl. Add the mayo, sour cream, and furikake to the bowl. Stir the ingredients together.
  2. Fold the lump crab meat into the shrimp mixture. Set aside.
Layer the Sushi Casserole:
  1. Spread the cooked rice in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
  2. Spread the crab and shrimp mixture on top of the rice.
  3. Spread the remaining lump crab meat on top of the crab-shrimp mixture.
  4. Sprinkle more furikake on top of the lump crab meat.
Finish it up:
  1. Bake the casserole for 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
  2. Top with roe.
  3. Serve with seasoned seaweed wrappers.
ENJOY!

 

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