Vegan Cuban Bean Burgers

• 2 cans of black beans OR 3 cups of cooked black beans
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 1 red bell pepper (you can use green), chopped finely
• 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped finely
• 1 tbsp of tomato paste
• Handful of cilantro, rolled and chopped finely
• Juice of a lime (about 2 tbsp)
• About 3 tbsp of spanish green olives with pimientos, chopped finely
• 1 tbsp of capers
• Tsp of each: Badia Complete Seasoning, Cumin, Oregano, and onion powder. (yes there's fresh and dried onion in this)
• Scant 1/2 tsp of Spanish smoked paprika
• Salt/Pepper to taste (should be fine between olives/capers)
• 1/4-1/2 cup of panko

Optional Mayo Sauce:

• 1/2 cup of "mayo"
• 1/4 tsp of each: badia complete seasoning, oregano, cumin.
• Healthy pinch of smoked paprika
• Pinch of salt

1. Spread one can or 1 1/2 cup of beans on a cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes at 375 to "dry" out,
2. In a saucepan/skillet, add a little olive oil. Saute onion, peppers, and tomato paste till soft. About 5 minutes on medium heat. Then add garlic, stir and remove from heat.
3. In a bowl combine cilantro, lime, olives, capers, and seasonings. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cup of beans and mash finely. (not the oven-baked ones yet) Add in the onion mixture and oven-baked beans. Mash/stir. Add just enough panko till it's a tad try but still clumps easily. Taste for salt/pepper at this point and add if needed.
4. Form into patties, air fry or pan fry till slightly crispy and flip. Make optional mayo sauce by combining all into a small bowl/ramekin.
5. Toast buns if using. (I just eat with the mayo) Add sliced tomato/avocado drizzled with lime as well to the burger if you wish. We also use potato strings to make it "authentic".

NOTES: If you don't have Badia complete seasoning, you can use any mixed spices blends like Spike or just leave out completely. It's fine.

Bang Bang Shrimp in a hurry

Bag of Boom Boom shrimp (found at whole foods, see note below for more details)
Sauce:
1/2 cup of mayo
1/2 cup of sweet chili sauce (see note below)
1/4 cup of honey
1-2 tbsp of sriracha

Airfry or oven fry shrimp till cooked through and piping hot.

In a large bowl mix above sauce ingredients while shrimp is cooking.

Add hot shrimp to the bowl and swirl to coat and shake out onto a plate and serve immediately.  I serve this with this site's Tom Yum Fried rice.

Notes:  Boom Boom shrimp is a gluten-free coated shrimp that is all ready to be cooked.  You can sub out for tempura or batter-fried shrimp.  Breaded shrimp won't work as it will just get soggy.

You can find sweet chili sauce in most stores.  I have seen it called Thai Sweet Chili.  It is also the dipping sauce for spring rolls.  You can make it as well but this is a quick recipe for nights that I dont' want to order in but want comfort take out foods!

Tom Yum Fried Rice

TIP: Use cold leftover rice.  If cooking on same day, cook earlier than dinner time and place in the freezer till you start cooking.  Or in the fridge if you do it on the morning of.  The goal is cold rice.

4-5 eggs, lightly stirred with optional below.
Optional-Add 2 green onions chopped to eggs. Or 2 tbsp of fresh chives.
1 bag of broccoli slaw (Unsauced and found in produce dept-great short cut)
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3-4 tbsp of Tom Yum Paste (see note below)
3 cups of cold rice
4 stalks of green onions
Soy Sauce to taste
Cold-pressed sesame seed oil

In a large wok/pan add oil of choice to cover the bottom of the pan.  Set heat on medium and when shimmering, add eggs.  Cook till just done, slide eggs out to a plate to reserve. 

Add more oil to the pan and saute the slaw, garlic, and onion on low heat as not to burn.  Add a couple of tbsp of water to steam slaw.  Cook till evaporated and tender.  About 5 minutes.

Add tom yum paste and stir it through veg.  Scrape to sides of pan leaving space in the middle.  Add a touch more oil, turn the heat on high and dump rice.  Rice will be a block but use a sturdy spatula to mash it down into the oil.  It will soften as it heats up. (gives your arms a great workout!)  Be patient and keep stirring/breaking up the chunks.  Also incorporating the veg into the rice as well.  Once the rice is well mixed and no chunks, add egg and green onions.  Stir to incorporate.  Then in a swirl around the pan, add a few circles of soy sauce and stir.  Taste.  Keep adding till you like the taste.  It usually takes me 2 tries.  (about 2 tbsp)

Remove from heat and give it a few swirls of sesame seed oil and stir.  Serve.

Notes:  You can make tom yum paste but it's so many ingredients and wasted in this rice as you might as well make the soup!  You can reserve some of the paste if you do make soup for this rice as I have done.  But for a quick dinner, I just use the ready made paste from my local Asian grocery store.

Also, be careful when you add soy sauce, you don't need much.  If you add too much, rice will be sticky and lose that fried texture. 

Quick notes on times for Instant Pot:

On High Pressure unless noted.

40 minutes for unsoaked black/red/white/garbanzo beans.  Drain and use in the recipe as directed.

15 minutes for bagged idaho potatoes. Drain and use.

6 minutes for grits. Natural release. 4 cups of liquid to 1 cup of grits.

7 minutes for rice.  (same if you add veg/onions/chicken pieces etc)

10 minutes for kale. Add rest of soup items and cook again for 7 minutes. (zuppa toscana)

10 minutes for Minced meats/veg

5 minutes for frozen shrimp.  2 minutes for thawed shrimp.

Pasta-equal parts water/pasta and add more water if top is exposed.  Cooking time is the lowest time indicated halved then minus 2.  Ex. 10-12 minutes on the package.  Half of 10 is 5, minus 2 equals 3 minutes of cooking time.  MUST DO QUICK RELEASE.

Simple fish taco with cilantro lime slaw.

Fish:
Firm flesh fish of your choice (I have been using salmon), left in filets
Juice of a lime
1 tbsp Chili powder (I use Penzey's Ancho Chili powder)
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp of Oregano
Pinch of sugar
Salt/Pepper to taste

Slaw:
Pkg of angel hair cabbage
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
2 green onions, chopped
1/4-1/2 cup of mayo
Salt/Pepper to taste

Squeeze lime on fish on all sides.  In a small ramekin, mix up the spices well.  Sprinkle on all sides of the fish.  I use an airfryer to cook my fish at this point. You can roast in oven or pan saute.  Your choice.

Slaw-Add all ingredients in a bowl and mix. 

Assemble taco:  Add fish to your fave tortilla and top with slaw. 

Another Enchilada sauce for your fave recipes:

There's a version with chili powder and oil.  This is the version that I prefer to use.

4-6 dried peppers of choice, I use 1 chipotle, 2 ancho, 2 quajillo, and 1 mulato
3 cups of boiling hot water
2 tsp of salt
2 cloves of garlic
1/8 cup of good olive oil

Soak peppers in hot water.  With gloves on, remove from water and cut off the stem.  Make a slit and scrape out the seeds if you don't want it hot.  Usually, I just take off the stems.  Reserve a cup of the soaking water.  In a blender or food processor, add in the soaked peppers, reserved liquid, salt, garlic, and oil.  Blend till smooth.  Add fresh water if you want the consistency to be thinner. (I usually end up adding about 1/2 cup worth)  You might want to taste for salt but it should be plenty.   Add it to your favorite enchilada or chilaquiles dish.

Instant Pot Enchilado De Camarones over grits (Cuban creole shrimp)

Camarones|
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
1 tbsp of capers
2-3 tbsp of chopped spanish olives
1 small jar of tomato sauce
1 pinch of saffron threads
1 cup of white cooking wine (or regular white wine)
1 tbsp of Badia Complete Seasoning
1 tsp of black pepper
1 pound of shrimp. keep frozen
Juice of one lime

In instant pot, press saute.  Add in enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the insert and saute onion and red pepper till softened.  Add in garlic, capers, and olives with tomato sauce.  Stir through and let simmer.  Meanwhile, add your pinch of saffron to the wine.  Once the sauce is bubbling up, add in the rest of the ingredients except the lime and stir.  Secure lid and turn regulator and cook for 5 minutes on high pressure.  Quick Release.  Add lime juice to mixture and stir. Taste for salt and salt as desired keeping in mind that the olives/capers are salty.

Grits-I have 3 IP so I do this in another pot.  You can do stovetop as well.

1 cup of grits
3 tbsp of oil or butter
3 cups of water
1 cup of milk
Salt/Pepper to taste

Set saute on and add butter to melt.  Add grits and stir to coat well.  Cook till it becomes toasty and add the rest of the ingredients.  Whisk well till smooth and no lumps.  Secure lid and cook for 10 minutes.  You can natural or quick release.  Once opened, it will look maybe a bit lumpy and liquidy.  Just stir vigorously over saute till smooth and thick.  Serve with shrimp.

(You can also add about a cup of cheese to the grits for a great breakfast item.  Just add cheese when you open the IP)