Tami Ryan's Home Cookin' From Around the World

Soul food, comfort food, home cooking . . .
Every culture has it, and it warms the same spot in the hearts of family and friends who come home to enjoy it. Dishes that are easy to cook, have tons of flavor, and broad appeal. You don’t need to be a chef, you don’t need to master difficult techniques using obscure ingredients and expensive kitchen appliances. All you need is a love of food, a desire to try something new, and someone to share it with!

About Tami

Tami Ryan Interview (2 min.)

I’m a southern girl who loves family, friends, and food. I grew up in the South and spent my summers in my Grandma’s garden & kitchen. She taught me how to cook southern food with farm fresh ingredients. I grew up loving good ole home cooking! But a girl can eat only so much chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cornbread.

During my teenage and college years, I worked in a variety of restaurants where I learned to try new types of food and recipes. I also started meeting people from different countries who loved to share the food from their country.

Once I began to travel, I discovered an exciting endless variety of delicious and exotic foods from every corner of the world. I learned that everyone, regardless of where they call home, has their favorite home cooked meals, the meals that they come home for.... and every mom, or grandma, has the same desire to feed their family tasty food.

Many of these meals seemed exotic and intimidating to a southern girl like me with no formal training...but I started trying them...cooking for family and friends, talking to local cooks, and hitting up friends for their grandmother’s old world recipes. What I’ve found is that dishes from around the world use many of the same ingredients as we use, taste delicious, are healthy, and will bring exciting new tastes to your table.

Variety is the spice of life. Do your family a favor and discover some new comfort foods. If I can do it, you can, too! I’m Tami Ryan. Welcome to Home Cooking from Around the World!

Vietnamese Pork Rolls

1 Lb. fresh ground pork
2 Tbs. fish sauce
1 oz. wood ear mushrooms, chopped
2 tsp. sugar
2 Tbs. peanut oil
3 sprigs green onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 sprigs fresh mint (stems removed), chopped
12 dried rice spring roll skins

Mix fresh ground pork, fish sauce, wood ear mushrooms, and sugar in a bowl. In a hot wok, add peanut oil, green onion, and garlic. Stir fry quickly, about 30 seconds. Do not let the garlic burn. Add pork mixture to work and cook until pork is no longer pink, about 2-3 minutes. Remove wok from heat and toss in cilantro, basil, and mint.

Heat up a bowl of water to simmering. Do not boil. Dip a spring roll skin into the water until it is re-hydrated and soft. Lay the spring roll skin on a flat surface and place about a 1/4 cup of the pork mixture in the center of the spring roll skin. Fold two sides of the skin into the center of the pork mixture. Fold the short side of the skin over the pork filling and roll up the skin. Repeat with remaining spring roll skins.

Serve with soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, or your favorite dipping sauce!

About Tami

Vietnamese Pork Rolls

Information coming soon