PHAT Spice blog

Hello and welcome to the official PHAT Spice blog.

The PHAT (Pretty Hot & Tasty) Spice blend was a concept that Susan and I came up with together. The flavors included in the mixture are a blend of Indonesian and Pakistani origin. We originally passed this mixture out to our friends and family as a wedding gift. The feedback was tremendous. We would love to hear more and find out just how folks are using the mixture.

So, please post your comments, stories, and recipes around your use of the PHAT Spice blend.

Happy cooking, eating, and living!

Oh and if you would like a free sample please email us at
phatspiceblend@gmail.com

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Slow Cooked PHAT Gumbo and IndoPHAT Cauliflower




Boy was this delicious!! I was looking to make a nice warm stew or roast for this freezing cold 77 degree late October evening in Houston and my husband requested Gumbo, so here we go! I looked up several healthy recipes and kind of went off on my own tangent. I will warn you that this isn't truly a gumbo because there was no rue used in the making of this gumbo-like stew! 

This serves 8 people.

1.5 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Cubed
1 lb Andouille Sausage, or Smoked Turkey Sausage, cubed
4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
2 small cans of Spicy V8
1 Whole Sweet Onion
3 Stalks of Celery
1 Whole Bell Pepper
1 Bag of Frozen Okra
2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
3 Tbsp Worchestershire Sauce
1 Pinch of Fresh Rosemary
4 Leaves of Sage
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tbsp Red Pepper flakes
1 Tbsp Celery Salt
Lots of PHAT Spice

Coat chicken with PHAT Spice and place in the slow cooker
Toss in the sausage and all of the veggies, spread another coat of PHAT over entire mixture
Add V8 and Chicken broth until soupy

Cook on High for 4 hours or low for 6 and voila!

Serve over rice 


IndoPHAT Cauliflower

This was an excellent side dish. I was looking for something with a slight sweet edge to it and thought of one of my favorite sauces. ABC Kecap Manis Sedang, it's medium sweet soy sauce and It's delicious and a wonderful sauce to have in your pantry.


This is what it looks like and can be found at your nearest Asian market


2 Heads of Cauliflower, chopped into large pieces
Olive Oil
PHAT Spice

In a large bowl, coat cauliflower with Olive oil, PHAT, and Kecap Manis Sedang

Place on a baking sheet and bake on 425 for 30 minutes. Check and turn half way through.

Hope you enjoy this meal as much as we did! Happy Cooking!

Sushi and Farhan








Thursday, July 11, 2013

PHAT Spice goes Green, and by green I mean Vegan!

My husband and I love a good challenge, and we got one!

Having our dear friend and realtor over was long overdue, and when I realized that he and his partner followed a raw-vegan diet, well let's just say I started a journey of green exploration.

First of all, let me say that we are both pretty carnivorous, so to imagine creating a meal that would be both delicious and filling seemed like a challenge. At the end of the day we were quite successful, even having our guests asking for recipes!! What more could I ask for?! So here we go:

Let me start by saying I found most of these amazing recipes on rawfoodrecipes.com and tweaked them to include PHAT.

I started out with a chopped green salad, adding tomatoes, cucumbers, yada yada..you get it...

For the Dressing:
PHAT Lime Dressing
1 Tbsp PHAT
2 Limes Squeezed
1 Tbsp Tamari
1 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar

Stir and Serve

Second course:
PHAT Raw Red Pepper Soup
4 Red Bell Peppers(Roughly 3/4 pepper per person(say that 3 times fast! ha!))
1-1/2 Cup Cashews
2 Cups Water
2 Tbsp PHAT
1 Tbsp Garlic
Chopped Green Onions
 
In a blender mix all ingredients until smooth. I served it in a pureed state, but you can probably get it smoother.
You may add water or cashews to fix consistency.
I garnished with chopped green onions(you may also garnish with chopped red pepper and/or pumpkin seeds) 

Third Course:
Watermelon and Fennel Salad
Thank you sample chef at Central Market for this one!

1 package pre-cut watermelon
2 Fennel stalks
2 Large Lemon
1 Bunch Flat Leaf Parlsey

Cube Watermelon into 1 inch pieces
Cut the leaves from the fennel chop the base also into 1 inch cubes
Pull leaves from 1 bunch of Parsley

In a large bowl, mix watermelon, fennel, parsley, and squeezed lemon.

So refreshing!!


Fourth and Final Course:
Veggie Noodles with PHAT Spicy Almond Butter Sauce*

*You'll have to check out the August Food and Wine issue of 002 Magazine for the recipe!


We never made it to dessert because we were so full...but the next day, poolside, we offered up left overs from this incredibly eye opening meal and this next sweet recipe that I had to share. OMG Delicious!! The cardamom just sent it flying over the edge for all of us!

Sweetly Raw's Spiced Strawberry Parfait












Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Deep in the Heart of PHAT Spice

This blog post is all about some yummy down south comfort food only the way some transplanted Asians could make...

Being half Indonesian with deep southern roots in Texas, mostly Lindale and Tyler from the time I was 10 to 24, I spent a fair amount of time in learning the ways of comfort food and southern cooking. Boy do I love it!! Well the big city and healthy living have mostly taken over, but every once in a while I receive a special request for some home cooked southern cuisine. It started out with Chicken Fried Steak and it just kept going and going... This is a journal entry of all of the recipes we created last night. This was a dinner for 7.


PHAT Chicken Fried Steak
2 lbs Beef Sirloin Round Steak(Tenderized Family Pack)
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup PHAT Spice
5 Eggs
1/4 Cup Milk
Vegetable Oil

-In one bowl mix all eggs and milk
-In another bowl mix flour and 1/2 Cup PHAT SPice
-Sprinkle remaining PHAT Spice on both side of the steaks and rub in
-In a large pan, heat oil to Medium(about 1 in deep)

Take each steak, bath in the egg/milk mixture, then coat in flour/PHAT mixture and place in Hot Pan
Flip the steak once the underside is golden brown. (roughly 2-3 minutes)
Keep there until remaining side is golden brown and place on paper towels to soak up oil.
Only flip the steak once

PHAT Gravy
With the remaining Oil from the steaks, keep heat at medium.
This is slow process and the key is small amounts at a time and KEEP STIRRING!

Slowly Sift in unused flour from prep
Pour in a 2-3 tbsp of milk
Continue Stirring
Repeat

PHAT Mashed Potatoes
7-8 New Potatoes
1/2 Pint container Heavy Whipping Cream
1-1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1 bunch green onions
2 tbsp PHAT Spice
1-1/2 Stick Butter
Salt to taste

Scrub and cut potatoes into halves or quarters
In a large pot, boil the potatoes until you can cut them with a spoon
Drain potatoes and place in a large bowl
Add garlic, 1 stick butter, and PHAT Spice, 1/4 Pint HWC
With a mixer on low, mash all ingredients and check consistency. Put in more HWC as needed to get desired fluff. Add Green onions and salt to taste.
Mix one more time

Place in a Pie Dish
Melt the remaining butter in the Microwave for 30 seconds
Brush on the potatoes
Place in Broiler on High until top is golden brown and serve

PHAT Fried Okra(Thank you Bliss and Henry)
2 lbs Fresh Okra
1/4 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
3/4 Cup PHAT Spice
1 Cup
Vegetable Oil

Slice Okra
In a large bowl, lightly coat Okra with HWC
Sprinkle PHAT until its evenly coated
Sprinkle Flour until lightly coated
Toss with Hands

In a wok, heat oil to medium
Fry in batches until golden brown

Here are a couple of other things we made without PHAT but were really Yummy!

Corn on the Cob
I bought 8 ears with the husk on
With limited time to cook them, we ran them under some water then wrapped them in foil
Put them on the grill on medium heat, about 7 minutes each side or until the foil starts turning black
They were really juicy and sweet... It was a good save!

Happy Cooking Y'all!!


Friday, June 14, 2013

Mini PHAT Spice Lamb Burgers on Garlic Loaf with Lemon Yogurt Sauce




Mini P.H.A.T. Spice Lamb Burgers on Garlic Loaf with Lemon Yogurt Sauce
Recipe by Matthew Gantt


Prep Time:  20 minutes
Cook Time:  20 minutes

Serves:  3-4 servings

Ingredients

For the lemon yogurt sauce:
7 oz. Greek-style yogurt
½ lemon, zested and juiced
Kosher salt

For the mini burgers:
1 lb. ground lamb
½ small red onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
2 Tbs. Pine nuts, roughly chopped & toasted
¼ cup fine bread crumbs, unseasoned
5-6 springs of cilantro, diced (save 2 sprigs for garnish)
4 heaping Tsp. of P.H.A.T. Spice
3 ripe plum tomatoes, cut into ¼ thick rounds
1 small head red leaf lettuce, washed, dried, trimmed to small pieces

Directions
Make the burgers:

Preheat oven to 350º
In a medium mixing bowl, combine lamb, red onion, garlic, pine nuts, bread crumbs, cilantro and P.H.A.T. Spice, work over until well-blended.  Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the mixture into little balls about 1 to 1½ inches big and place them on a sheet of wax paper.  Using your hands, flatten the scoops into small patties a couple of inches in diameter.

Transfer the patties onto an oven-safe grill plate that has been spayed with Pam cooking oil, use a wire baking rack atop a cookie sheet to catch the grease.  Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven.

Make the sauce:

While the burgers are cooking, combine the yogurt, lemon zest and juice into a mixing bowl, blend well and salt to taste.  Cover and place bowl in refrigerator until needed.

Place the cooked mini burgers on top of the cut garlic loaf, add a piece of lettuce and a tomato slice.  Top with a dollop of the lemon yogurt sauce and serve.

Variants

For a little extra heat, add 1 seeded and ribbed Serrano pepper (finely diced) to the burger mixture.
Or
For a more Mediterranean flavor, add 5-7 seedless red grapes (finely diced) to the burger mixture.
 

Easy PHAT Hummus








Easy P.H.A.T. Spice Hummus
Recipe by Matthew Gantt


Prep Time:  10 minutes
Cook Time: 

Serves:  3-4 servings

Ingredients

1 15.5 oz. can of chickpeas, drained
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
4 tsp. lime juice
4 Tbs. of butter ghee or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 tsp. of P.H.A.T. Spice


Directions

Using a food processor, combine all the ingredients and pulse until smooth.  Salt to taste. 

Serve with pita triangles, crackers, fresh carrot sticks, celery, grape tomatoes, anything you might want to dip into hummus! 

NOTE:  For a little extra kick, add a few shakes of chili powder or a diced Serrano pepper.

 


Friday, May 10, 2013

P.H.A.T. Tenderloin

P.H.A.T. Tenderloin

Last night I successfully attempted to roast a beef tenderloin. A 6 pound tenderloin was purchased from the butcher to feed 8 people. My biggest fear, when hosting a dinner party, is running out of food. After bringing it home and setting it in the marinade, I was afraid I had made too much food. By the end of the night barely anything was left. It turned out amazing!

This post explains how I prepped and cooked the tenderloin. This should work for a tenderloin close to 5 or 6 pounds.

In addition to the recipe here, I recommend accompanying the roast with a chimichurri sauce. You can hit Sushi up for her recipe for that. Just make sure to leave yourself enough time to allow the chimichurri sauce to sit in the fridge for a few hours also. 

The Prep:

Back at home tenderloin in hand, I gathered up the following ingredients for the marinade.


1/2 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/8 cup Soy Sauce
1 cup xtra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 cup chopped cilantro
4 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
3 teaspoons fresh oregano leaves
4 tablespoons of P.H.A.T. Spice
2 teaspoons Coarse Sea salt
2 tablespoons cracked pepper

Step 1. Mix all of the above ingredients together in the large bowl, pan or tray that will be used to hold the tenderloin while it marinates.

Step 2. Add the tenderloin on top of the marinade, and roll it around a few times. Stab the tenderloin psychotically with a knife to get the marinade injected inside the tenderloin. Make sure you have a crazed look on your face as you do this. Continue to roll the tenderloin around a few times, as you rub an even coat of the marinade over the whole piece.
Step 3. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Time to Cook:

Step 4. Preheat the oven to 425 normal/400 convection
Step 5. Transfer the tenderloin to a roasting pan. Do not remove any of the marinade. Feel free to add any of the remaining marinade right on top of the meat.
Step 6. Place the pan inside the oven once it is ready, and allow it to cook for 50 - 70 minutes depending on your oven. Use a thermometer to check the internal temp of the meat. For medium rare remove the roast when it reaches 135 degrees.
Step 7. Cover the roast with foil, and allow it to sit for around 10 minutes. During that time the internal temp of the meat will continue to rise, and cook.


Ready to Serve:

Step 8. Slice the roast into one inch thick pieces.
Step 9. Transfer to a serving platter, and drip the juice from the roasting pan on top of the meat.
Step 10. and... EAT!