Chinese snack - Part II - Beef/Pork Jerky

This is another impressive looking "Chinese Snack", it looks complicated but it's actually quite easy to make! The idea came to me from my mother in law, she has been making a lot of HK style pork jerky lately and it soo good, so I decided to try it out as well. Unlike the beef jerky you get at the local gas station for $1, the Chinese style pork/beef jerky is more of a high end snack. There are speciality stores that sell these jerkies for upwards of $7 a piece! The main difference is that the Chinese style jerky is more moist, a softer consistency and is often sweet. I always thought making jerky will require a lot of special tools and equipments, but it turns out all you need is an oven. And all the ingredients required are mostly likely already in your fridge and pantry!

Chinese style meat jerky

Ingredients


2lbs of  minced pork (or minced beef, I used a combination of 1.5 lbs of pork and 0.5lb of beef)
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp 5-spice powder
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese wine (Hua Tiao/Shao Hsing)
dashes of black pepper
5 tbsp sugar

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, mix until the mixture is in a gluey consistency. Let marinate for a few hours in the fridge.
2. Place the mixture on a large cookie sheet covered with foil.

3. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap, and flatten/roll into a thin layer, as thin as possible.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C, bake for 12 minutes.

5. Set oven to broil and broil until the edge is brown and slightly char. Remove the jerky from the oven, let cool, flip the jerky over, and broil the back side until it gets brown and char as well.

6. Slice (A pizza cutter works really well) and ENJOY!

Chinese Snacks - Part I - Mango Mochis

I’m a huge mango lover! I love anything mango, and these little mango mochis definitely fit the bill! Mango mochis are not easy to find, the first time I had it was at a Chinese restaurant which specialized in their lobster feast, the best way to end the 5-course lobster dinner was with these little mango mochis. They look so complicated to make, so I was pleasantly surprised when I surfed the net and came across this super duper easy recipe. This recipe has been tried and tested, and it’s a real winner!! ENJOY!

Mango Mochi

Makes 18

1 cup glutinous rice flour


180ml mango juice

1/4 cup sugar

3 mangoes cut in tiny cubes

½ bag of unsweetened, finely shredded coconut for dusting/coating

Method:

1. Cut the mangoes into tiny cubes, lay them flat on a plate and freeze for 30 minutes or up. (This will make the slimy mangoes easier to work with)

2. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour, juice and sugar. Stir and mix well, there should be no lumps.

 3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, microwave for 2 minutes. Remove and stir. Return to microwave for another 30 seconds. Stir-well (it’s going to be hard to stir, the mixture should be a uniform and very sticky at this point).

4. Put the shredded coconut on a plate, drop a tablespoon of the mixture into the coconut. Flatten the ball into a thin disk, cover it with coconut, drop some mango in the middle of the disk and wrap the “dough” around the mango to form a ball, pinch the top to seal the ball. Add more coconut if it gets too sticky, once the ball is seal, lightly roll it into ball shape, and put onto muffin cups.These can be made ahead and refrigerate in a covered container for up to 2 – 3 days. They are a crowd pleaser and a great compliment to any Chinese dinner.

Weeknight Entertaining

We love having people over for dinner even on weeknights, I know it seems like a hassel, but sometimes a night of catching up and laughter is exactly what we need after a long day at work. And obviously due to time constraint, pizza and Chinese takeout are usually the way to go. But honestly, with a bit of advance preparation, you can have a nice meal on the table for your family and friends in no time! Here is one that doesn’t take a lot of effort, it’s yummy and also somewhat elegant.

Bacon wrapped stuffed pork tenderloin
Serves 2 (Multiply the recipe for your party)

1 pork tenderloin

1 head of garlic
6 pieces of bacon
1 tbsp each of thyme and rosemary
Salt & Pepper to taste


1) To make roasted garlic: Slice the top of the garlic head (exposing part of the flesh), place on top of foil, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap the garlic with foil, place in oven (Preheat to 375F) and roast for 60 min. Set aside to cool, this can be made in days ahead and place in the fridge.

2) Squeeze out the garlic flesh from the bulb into a bowl, mix with thyme and rosemary (the herbs can substitute with any other herb you like), season with salt and pepper.

3) Cut the pork tenderloin in half lengthwise, spread the garlic mixture onto the cut side of one piece of the tenderloin, place the other piece back on top.

4) Cut each piece of bacon into 2, wrap each piece of bacon around the tenderloin, with all the bacon seams on one side, place wrapped tenderloin seam side down in a baking dish.

5) Bake in 375F oven for 30 minutes
6) Slice and serve

This is a truly simple and elegant dish, only a few ingredients and a short prep (if you roast the garlic ahead) and cook time! You can serve this with roasted potato, a salad or roasted vegetables too!

Eat Light, Eat Well

Happy 2012 everyone (Yes, I know I’m a few weeks late)! I don’t usually set any new year resolution, but this year, I plan to put more focus to being happy! And cooking makes me happy, so hopefully I will get to do more of that and post more new recipes. January is always the time where everyone wants to eat healthier and lighter, especially after all the heavy holiday meals, so today I would like to share a recipe which is both quick and light. The star ingredient in this dish is the fish, fish is a great alternative to meat, and fish like black cod and Chilean seabass can be just as hearty as red meat. For this recipe, I used cod which is lighter and overly fishy tasting.

This recipe is actually inspired by one of the past Top Chef winner recipe (Michael Voltaggio's Miso cured cod in dashi), the cod sits on a bed of veggie and a deep flavoured miso broth. This is the perfect meal on a cold winter day, it really sooth the soul! And I bet, besides the fish, you already have all the ingredients stashed in your fridge or pantry, and if you don’t, you can easily substitute any of the ingredients with ones you already have.

Baked cod in miso broth
Serves 3

3 pieces of Cod (I used fresh ones, but you can also substitue with frozen)
1 Medium Sized Carrot (Cut into long sticks)
1/2 cup of frozen, shelled, edamame
5 - 6 pieces of shitake mushrooms (or any other type of mushrooms)
1 bunch of green onion (chopped)

Marinate for Cod

1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 tbsp of mirin

Miso Broth
4 cups of water
1 sheet of kombu
1 cup of bonito flakes
1/4 cup of miso

1) Soak the shitake mushroom in hot water overnight, drain and slice very thin. If you don't have shitake, use enoki or even white button mushrooms, they are much easier to find and you can skip the soaking step.
2) Place cod in marinade for 30 min or so, a little more or less won't hurt
3) Bake the fish fillet in oven (375F) for 15 min, the fish is done when it is opaque and flaky
4) While the fish is baking, cook the carrot and edamame in boiling water (If using other type of mushrooms, pan fry the slice mushrooms in bit of oil). Set aside
5) For the broth, boil water and put in the piece of kombu and simmer for 10 minutes.
6) Remove from heat, and put in the bonito flakes, let steep for 10 minutes.
7) Strain the broth to remove the kombu and bonito flakes, return the clear broth back to the heat and whisk in the miso.
8) To assemble - lay the carrots, edamame, mushrooms and green onions on the bottom of the bowl. Place a slice of cod on top, and pour broth to finish. Serve with a bowl of rice (and seaweed if you are into that like us!!)

I know what you are thinking, holy, there are so many weird ingredients! I'm going through a Japanese phase, and totally been stocking up with all kind of japanese ingredients. But like I mentioned above, you can substitute anything in this recipe, use bok choy if you don't have edamame or even peas. There is no need to use the kombu and bonito flakes for the broth if you want to keep it simple, you can just whisk miso into water for the broth, or even use instant miso soup. The whole idea of the recipe is combining veggies and fish with some sort of broth. You can invent your own recipe, maybe using salmon and chicken broth? Experiment!! That's part of the fun!

Pot luck ideas - part I

The holiday season is near and eating is definitely a big part of the holidays! I love hosting festive parties and also attend quite a few parties during the holidays, one thing that always gets me is what to bring to the next pot luck. Pot luck dishes need to be easy to make, can be made ahead and should feed a crowd. Lasagna definitely meets all those criteria, the only problem is that it can hard to serve up sometimes. So this year, I decided to change it up a bit and turn the classic lasagna into a roll –up. It still has all the classic flavours of the traditional lasagna, but it’s a smaller portion size and easier to serve up, perfect for any pot luck and also a made ahead weeknight dinner.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

1 box of Lasagna noodles (approx 14 – 15 sheets)

1 tub of ricotta
1 bunch of spinach (or 1 box of frozen spinach)
1 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ cup of parmesan cheese, shredded
¼ cup of milk

1.5 lbs of ground beef

1 tbsp oil

1 bottle of your favourite pasta sauce (I used crushed tomatoes and added my own seasoning, but past sauce is just as good)

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Cook the lasagna noodles as per packaged direction, drain and set aside
3. Heat oil in frying pan, brown ground beef and add pasta sauce. Simmer until boiled, turn off heat and set aside

4. Cook spinach in a pot of water, drain and chop to small pieces
5. In a mixing bowl, mix together the ricotta, chopped spinach, ½ cup of mozzarella cheese, ¼ cup of parmesan cheese and milk. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Spread half of the tomato sauce mixture to cover the bottom of the baking pan, reserve the other half for later use
7. Put 1 spoonsful of mixture at the end of the lasagna noodle, roll it up, and place it seam side down onto the sauced baking pan

8. Repeat until all mixture is used up
9. Cover the noodles with the rest of the meat sauce, and sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarellan and parmesan cheese.
10. Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and broil the top until cheese is golden brown
11. Serve it up and eat it up!

I really hope to post a few more recipes before the holidays, but if I don't, have a great holidays everyone!!!
 

 

Chinese home cooking

Surprisingly, I don’t make a lot of Chinese dishes at home. Chinese dishes are generally easy to execute, but require a lot of ingredients and can be time consuming after a long day of work. This recipe only uses a few ingredients that most home cooks already have at home, maybe with the exception of the Chinese five-spice powder. If you don’t’ have this in your pantry, you definitely should, it gives that special savory spice to any Chinese meat dishes! This recipe is for a classic Shanghai-ese dish, five spice pork chop with veggie (bok choy) rice.

Pork Chop is a staple at our household, the second most consumed meat besides chicken! Pork chops are easy to cook and very versatile I always prefer bone-in chops, they are way more moist and flavorful (not to mention fatty! YUM!). Each chop is slight hammered out with a meat tenderizer, and quickly marinated before frying. The rice is super easy, all done in the rice cooker!

Five-spice pork chops (serves 4)
4 pieces of  boned-in pork chops

Marinade

2 tbsp of soy sauce

1 tbsp of cooking wine (optional)

1 tbsp of sugar

1 tsp of Chinese five-spice powder (this spice is magical!)

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Seasoned Flour

1 ½ cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp of Chinese five –spice powder (more magic!)

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl, mix with pork chops and marinate for 15 min or overnight if you have time. Lightly cover each pork chop with the seasoned flour, shallow fry each chop until golden brown. Viola!

Veggie (Bok choy) rice (serves 4)

3 cups long-grain rice

4 cups of Chinese bok choy, chopped into 2 cm lengths (or roughly)

1 tbsp of chicken bouillon powder (or salt)

Wash the rice, mix the chicken bouillon powder into the amount of water you usually use to make 3 cups of rice (I used 3 cups of water for 3 cups of rice). Add the veggie into the rice, and pour the stock into the electric rice cooker. Stir and set it to cook. Stir the cooked rice with veggie well before serving.

This is a very simple recipe and can be done in a very short amount of time, perfect for a weeknight dinner. There can be different variation to this recipe; you can serve the rice with chicken and also Chinese sausages steamed over the rice.

A little late...

I’ve been experiencing some writer’s block lately, I find myself more drawn to Criminal Minds marathon then adding new entries to this blog. There hasn’t been any lack of “new creations” lately though, the fall always bring out the inner “domestic diva” in me, I love cooking (and eating) in this cool weather, and why bother turning on the heat when the oven is warming up the whole house?! =P

The first holiday of the fall/winter season is of course Thanksgiving, the one holiday that is purely around food in this household! I make the exact same thing every year for thanksgiving, roast turkey with stuffing and my hubby is always very excited. I know a lot of people associate turkey as dry and tasteless, if you are one of those people, then you need to keep reading! I don’t take particular pride in anything I make, but this turkey is going to change your mind definitely! Roasting a huge turkey looks like a very daunting task, but if you follow this (or any similar recipe online), you will be praised by your family and friends at your next turkey gathering!

How to Roast a Turkey

One misconception about roasting a turkey is that the meat will dry out if the timing is not precise, well, obviously if you roast the turkey for too long, the meat will dry out and the skin will be charcoal black. But this problem can be easily solved if you have a good oven thermometer, just turn off the oven the moment the bird reaches 165C. But the secret to a moist, tender and juicy turkey is not in the cooking technique (at least not in my experience), it is in the prep work. I have used the brining method for years, on expensive, organic, grain-fed turkey and also on inexpensive, generic ones, and the results are just as good. Brining is the cooking technique of submerging the meat in a salt water solution prior to cooking, the salted solution allows the cells in the meat to hold on to the moisture while they cooked. This sounds all scientific, but all it means is that we need to soak the whole raw turkey into water with added salt (and other spices) for a period of time before roasting it. The brining step can seem excessive, but it is a small price to pay for a thanksgiving turkey that will blow your mind.

For this year’s thanksgiving, I chose a 9kg butterball frozen turkey, be sure to pick up the ones that DOES NOT contain stuffing. I left the frozen turkey in the fridge for 2 days to defrost.

Turkey Brine Solution (a combination of many different recipes):

- 2 cups of kosher salt
- 1 ½ cups of brown sugar
- 1 onion (cut in half)
- 2 garlic cloves (coarsely chopped)
- 2 sprigs of thyme (optional)
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- As much water to keep turkey submerged

Roughly dissolve the salt and sugar in 1 cup of hot water (doesn’t have to be fully dissolved), put the rest of the ingredients in and fill the bag with ice cold water. The solution should be cold.

I prepared the brine solution inside a garage bag over the biggest bucket I’ve got, before putting the turkey into the brine, I took out the neck and giblets for later use. The whole turkey is submerged into the brine, garbage bag tied up, place ice and ice packs on top to keep the solution cold. The bucket was kept in a cool area (or outdoor if the weather is cool enough) and let the magic begin. After the 6 – 8 hours of brining, remove the turkey, and pat dry with paper towel before placing it on the roasting pan. Another important note is that the turkey should rest uncovered in the fridge overnight, this will allow the skin to dry up, so the butter/herb mixture will stick on the skin better.

Preheat oven to 350C.

Remove the turkey from the fridge 30min – an hour prior to roasting, spread a mixture of room temperature butter, chopped herbs (thyme, rosemary, etc or whatever you have around the house) and garlic powder onto the turkey skin. There is no need to add salt to the mixture as the bird is well seasoned from the brine already. You can roast the turkey with or without stuffing, I usually do mine with stuffing.

Quick rice stuffing

The stuffing I make is a bit non traditional, it is very popular with my family who always like rice with everything! And the leftover is super tasty. Prepare the Uncle Ben's Natural Select Wild Rice as per direction (the whole package), mix it with sauteed chopped vegetables like carrots, celeries, onion and mushrooms.

Place the turkey in the oven, loosely cover with foil to prevent over burning the skin, baste with drippings occasionally, and depending on your oven setting and size of your bird, it should hit an internal temperature of 165C between 3 – 6 hrs. (My turkey was 9kg, took 3.5 hrs of convectional roasting at 350C). If you are unsure, follow the roasting time on the turkey wrapping. Remove the foil in the last hr for additional browning if desired, ensure to let the turkey rest for 30 min before carving.

Turkey stock gravy

Stock: Boil the turkey neck, gilbets, one onion (chopped in half), a few mushrooms, and one coarsely chopped carrots in a small pot of water, seasoned to taste. Strained the stock and set aside.

Roux: Set aside 1 cup of drippings while the turkey is roasting in the oven (remove the dripping when basting the turkey), heat the dripping in a saucepan, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of flour. Whisk mixture until thick paste, slowly add the stock into the mixture until no more lumps. Seasoned with salt & pepper to taste, you can add chopped mushrooms or herbs as well. the gravy will thicken as it cools down, add more stock or water if it gets too thick.

 
Viola!!! The end product is going to change your mind about turkey forever, everyone will be fighting for the moist, juicy, tender meat. And the leftovers is even better, it doesn't get dried out even if you reheat it!