FOOD n Drink

Showing posts with label Cindy's Homemade Food-Asian. Show all posts

Chinese Fried Rice with Canadian Bacon

Posted by kenny Friday, February 25, 2011 0 comments

Fried rice is definitely one of my all time favorite comfort food,
This is especially the case when trying to get rid of leftover ingredients in the fridge,
You can almost chop off everything into little pieces and turn these unwanted "stuff" into another yummy meal, just like the one below -

Ingredients (4 to 5 portions)?

5 cups of leftover brown rice
2 cups of diced Canadian bacon
2 eggs
1 small onion
1 medium size carrot
1 zucchini
1 can of corn
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of Sriracha sauce
1/2 teaspoon of chili sauce (optional)
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
Some white pepper powder
Some olive oil
Some toasted sesame seeds

How?

I actually prefer to use freshly made rice when making fried rice dishes,
However, I got some leftover brown rice,
For those who are not so familiar with brown rice,
Its texture tends to be on the tougher side compared to regular white rice, which makes it a perfect ingredient when mixing up with additional sauce.
Perfect for fried rice -

Peel the onion, carrot, and zucchini,
Dice these ingredients into small pieces,
Beat 2 eggs and set aside,
For the canned corn, drain out the liquid and set aside also.

Below is the chunky Canadian bacon -

Pretty thing huh? Dice that into smaller pieces too.

Have a big pan ready, drizzle some olive oil, toss in diced onion, sprinkle some salt and pepper,
Let it cook till the color turns translucent or just a wee bit browned on the edges,
You can add additional chili sauce at this moment if preferred.

Transfer the bacon to the pan to cook out some excess fat, about 1 minute,
Add in diced carrot, some soy sauce, and Sriracha sauce,
Give it a quick stir, cook for couple minutes.

Add the zucchini, corn, and some sesame seeds,
Mix well and let it cook for a little bit longer so that the spongy zucchini can fully absorb the sauce mixture.

Add in the rice in two batches,
Make sure the first batch mixes well with all the ingredients in the pan before adding the remaining rice,
Sprinkle some white pepper powder and more ground black pepper once all the rice is added to the pan,
Combine well, sprinkle the fried rice with more toasted sesame seeds before serving.

See! That's how I got rid of my one week old veggies and a chunk of bacon in the fridge,
Foodie rule #1: We shall not waste food!

Cindy's Rating: 8
*My dad finished 1 1/2 plate of my fried rice for lunch today!

Egg Wrap with Chinese Pork Floss - ????

Posted by kenny Wednesday, February 9, 2011 0 comments

Egg wrap is one of the Chinese traditional breakfast items,
Usually you can find the wrap in Chinese grocery store, maybe around frozen food isles,
If not, you can always substitute with Mexican soft tortilla shells,
Well, there's one other way - make it yourself,
But since my lazy mode is on, we'll save that for later ( ^ _.< )b

Ingredients (for one)?

1 Chinese flour wrap or soft tortilla shell
2 eggs
Some Chinese pork floss
Some toasted sesame seeds
Some olive oil
Some salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
Optional: soy sauce

How?

Drizzle just enough oil to evenly coat the surface of the pan, turn to high heat,
Add in the wrap or tortilla shell,
Cook till one of the sides turn slightly brown then remove the wrap for later use.

Here's the premade frozen wrap I got from the grocery store -

Add in more oil or butter, bring to high heat,
Beat 2 eggs together with a small pinch of salt and pepper,
Pour the beaten eggs onto the pan,
You can also add some chopped scallion to the egg mixture to bring up the aroma,
But my premade wrap actually comes with scallion inside, so I omitted this step.

Cook the egg till 60% doneness,
Evenly sprinkle some Chinese pork floss and toasted sesame seeds.

Now take the pre-seared wrap and put it on top of the pork floss,
Remember, the already seared side down,
Use a spatula to press down the whole thing,
The semi-cooked egg will help binding all the ingredients together.

Carefully flip the whole thing so the other side of the wrap can be cooked,
The dish is ready when the color of the wrap turns slightly brown.

Starting from the edge and fold the round shaped wrap into a tube shaped wrap,
Well, just like a burrito!

Cut into small pieces,
You can even drizzle some soy sauce to add some moisture to the dish,
Especially for tortilla shell since it tends to be dryer compared to Asian wrap.

I usually add some cheese on top of the eggs during the cooking process,
Unfortunately there was no cheese in sight,
Otherwise it'll taste even better,
Of course, everything tastes better with cheese!

Cindy's Rating: 7

Happy Chinese New Year! Steam Chicken with Goose Liver Sausage

Posted by kenny Sunday, January 30, 2011 0 comments

February 2nd is gonna be Chinese's New Year's Eve according to the lunar calendar,
Everyone is preparing for the upcoming "rabbit" year while waving goodbye to the "tiger" year.

You can sense how crowded the streets are these days,
Moms shopping for New Year's Eve dinner ingredients,
Kids picking up their favorite festive candies,
Workers putting in more hours to wrap up tasks on hand in order to freely enjoy a whole week break.

Since my mom is going to be the chef in charge for our big holiday's dinner,
I'll be the one cooking these few days,
And this is on tonight's menu - steam chicken with goose liver sausage,
*Semi-Chinese New Year's Eve dish (no fuss style) -

Ingredients?

Some chicken pieces (preferably with bones and skin)
15 small dried shitake mushroom
4 garlic cloves (peeled)
2 goose liver sausage
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of Chinese rice wine

Optional/garnish: fresh chilies

How?

Thoroughly rinse the chicken and pat dry,
Wash and soak the dried shitake mushroom in lukewarm water till softened -

Once done, drain well, cut off the stems, and set aside.

Massage the chicken pieces with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rice wine,
Marinate for at least 30 minutes, at least,
Mine was about 2 hours -

You can add 2 fresh chilies into the marinade,
Remember to cut them cross-wise.

Steam the goose sausage for about 8 minutes,
It doesn't need to be fully cooked through yet,
Cut the sausages into thin slices, save the juice for later use -

I love this goose liver sausage,
It's more of a traditional dish from China (??) instead of from Taiwan,
The sausage tastes sweet, makes it a perfect seasoning while adding on top of other ingredients.

That's about all the prep works,
Now mix everything together (mushroom, chicken, sauce, including all the juices),
Combine well and steam for 30 to 40 minutes.
Once done, garnish with fresh chili -

The sweetness from the sausage made this dish a winner,
It also made the sauce a perfect condiment for the rice,
Just drizzle it all over the rice and down it like you haven't ate anything for 3 days!

That's how I celebrate my new years!

Cindy's Rating: 8

Simple Stir Fry Matsusaka Pork Slices

Posted by kenny Sunday, January 23, 2011 0 comments

Hello Taiwan!

It's been almost one week since I arrived in Taiwan,
My parents are really taking good care of me,
Not sure about other families, but to mine, that involves a lot of feeding...

Don't get me wrong,
Feeding is good, especially everything's homemade and childhood favorite dishes,
But man oh man, how much I miss cooking and messing around the kitchen.

Luckily, I finally got my cooking time back yesterday,
My dad got tons of Matsusaka pork slices for friends and business partners,
6 of that high pile of meat containers went into my fridge,
Yes!

Ingredients?

30 slices of Matsusaka pork slices
2 garlic cloves
1 stalk of scallion
1 tablespoon of black bean soy sauce
1 teaspoon of chili sauce
(*not the paste kind, preferably with some fine grounded Szechuan peppercorn)
Little olive oil
Little salt

How?

Here're my beautiful Matsusaka pork slices -

The texture is on the chewy side once you cooked it,
But it's tender at the same time due to its high fat content.

I've decided to go light on the seasoning so I get more taste from the meat,
Here's how I did it,
Drizzle some olive oil in the pan and turn to medium high heat,
Just a little bit of oil is fine since the meat is so fat.

Toss in peeled and sliced garlic, sprinkle a little bit of salt,
Cook till the garlic just about to get burned,
Add in pork slices, soy sauce, chili sauce, and chopped scallion,
Cook till the sauce is fully absorbed by the pork.

All 30 slices, finished in 6 minutes, by myself.
That's life \( ^ _.^ )/

Cindy's Rating: 8

5 Minutes Appetizer - Seared Tuna with Ponzu Sauce

Posted by kenny Monday, December 20, 2010 0 comments

My kitchen resembles a 3/4 empty shell at the moment.

Since the majority of my stuff was packed yesterday, ready to ship oversea back to Taiwan,
I have nearly nothing left to cook with.
No knives, no pots, no blender, no fancy plates,
Just a few small bowls and utensils scattering here and there,
Oh, and an ancient old Teflon pan in the corner.

That also means I've been dining out for the past few days,
My tongue and tummy are crying out for some homemade food (partially I think they're just spoiled!),
MSG-loaded food no more, today, I shall have my simple homemade lunch in da house!
Plus this super easy appetizer below!

Seared tuna served with ponzu sauce and chopped scallion

Lunch: Noodles with soup base, plus tons of spinach (not included in recipe)

Ingredients?

Some sushi grade tuna
Some ponzu sauce
Some toasted sesame seeds
Some "finely" chopped scallion
Some sriracha sauce if preferred
Some olive oil
Some sea salts
Some black pepper
(Use freshly ground black pepper if possible, sadly mine's been packed away)

How?

Season both sides of the tuna with salt and pepper.

Drizzle some oil in the pan, turn to high heat,
Once the oil gets hotter, transfer the fish and sear both sides for about 30 seconds each,
You can definitely sear it till lightly browned.

Remove the fish from heat to a cutting board, let it cool down a wee bit,
Cut into about 1 center meter thick slices,
Serve with some ponzu sauce, finely chopped scallion, a small drop of chili sauce if desired.

So how did I manage to cut the tuna and scallion without a knife?
Well well well, a very dull steak knife can still do the trick,
*if you don't mind suffering from finger cramping afterwards.

-Side note-
Marinate the fish beforehand should make this dish tastier,
Maybe some soy sauce, mirin, grated ginger, and scallion will do.

I would like to fry up some thinly sliced garlic or lotus roots to go with the tuna,
But without a very sharp knife or slicer,
I'd better skip this part just so I can still see all of my ten fingers together.

Cindy's Rating: 6
(Consider this good enough with my limited tools and seasoning)

Semi-Instant Green Curry Meal

Posted by kenny Friday, December 17, 2010 0 comments

Japanese curry cube is one of the "must have" ingredients in my pantry,
Let me tell you, after so many trial and errors,
I finally found my all time favorite curry cube:
Golden curry sauce mix "extra hot" by S&B.

Japanese curry - checked.

So that's one less thing I need to worry about,
Now it's the perfect timing for me to venture out and start the whole trial and error thing again,
But this time, with green curry.

As I strolled down the aisles of my local Asian grocery store,
A wee bit overwhelmed by piles of green curry mixes...
But there is was, my little green box with colorful markings stating:
No added MSG,
No preservatives,
No artificial flavoring.

That's it, you're coming home with me!

The recipe on the package requires additional ingredients,
So I also picked up some chicken, bamboo shoots, and coconut milk on the way out,
It's gonna be one creamy and spicy lunch!

Semi-instant green curry meal -

Ingredients?

Some green curry paste
Some chicken (cubed)
Some bamboo shoots (and/or other vegetables of your liking)
Some coconut milk
Some hot water
Some olive oil
Some rice

How?

First of all, pardon me for my fairly vague ingredient measurements,
I only glanced through the recipe printed on the curry box, but didn't apply the exact amount for my lunch,
It's more of a "go with the flow/palate" cooking style.

So here's what I "vaguely" did,
Heat up some olive oil in the pan, add a couple spoonful of the green curry paste,
Cook till that spicy, pungent aroma comes out, then add the chicken.

Give it a quick stir, cook till the chicken is about 50% done,
Add the vegetables, some more curry paste, and some coconut milk,
Combine well, taste the mixture once the vegetables are cooked through,
Adjust the amount of curry paste, coconut milk, and hot water based on your preference.

Be careful though, green curry can be very spicy if not diluted enough (which I love),
When you feel the taste and consistency is right, serve with steaming hot rice.

This is my very first instant green curry paste meal,
As a result, I can't really tell if the one I used is a good brand or not,
Allow me to do some more experiments and report back to you guys!

Side note:
My green curry lunch was so spicy, but yet so satisfying,
Plus the whole thing was done in 20 minutes, bravo.

Cindy's Rating: 7

Happy Thanksgiving Dinner"S" - Asian Style

Posted by kenny Friday, November 26, 2010 0 comments

Happy belated Thanksgiving!
Everybody all gained some weight this week?
If yes (and a lot), then congratulations, mission accomplished,
Thanksgiving is at least 50% meant to be a fun week full of food, and fat,
But no worries, we'll all start working out the extra numbers, starting the following Monday!

So what have I been eating these couple days?
It's not just Thanksgiving dinner, it's dinner"S!"
One little greedy foodie!

First night, pre-Thanksgiving dinner - potluck style,
Instead of turkey, we had a giant lobster as our main course!

Lobster dish (before) -

Lobster dish (after) -

This crustacean was marinated first before deep frying,
Underneath the lobster is Chinese egg noodles,
In addition, every ingredients were drizzled with special-made sauce to boost up the flavor.

Some live clams on the counter -

Steamed egg with clams -

This steam egg was silky and flavorful,
I got the "miracle ratio" for the main ingredients from my friend,
Maybe one day I'll cook some kind of egg custard dish and share it with you guys.

Stir fry cabbage with fermented bean curd -

Another clam dish, stir fry style with lots of Thai basil and garlic -

My stir fry ground pork, semi-Thai style,
Similar sauce recipe can be found here.

Scrambled eggs with Thai basil -

Our dining table was full of homemade goodies,
My friends all cook like real chefs, lucky me!

A meal won't be complete without something sweet right?
So here it was, chocolate chip cookies by me,
The texture is more like shortbread cookies instead of the "regular" kind,
*I looked through my blog and found nothing in regards to "regular" chocolate chip cookies recipe,
But I made it so many times already..?...
Maybe it's time to add another dessert post once I get to digest all the food in my system,
By the way, the recipe for this version of chocolate chip cookies will be posted in the near future.

.....The very next day...real Thanksgiving dinner,
This time, I got to enjoy the food without running around in the kitchen,
Thank you Su Family!

Turkey two way,
The first one is roasted turkey with Chinese sticky rice as stuffing -

The bird might look small from the picture,
But don't let the image fooled you, the portion was huge!

The other half of the bird went to a big pot of soup with Chinese medicinal herbs -

I only had a small bowl, see, not so greedy afterall.

Stir fry greens with scallops -

Stir fry pork liver slices with Sacha sauce -

Stir fry veggies with Sacha beef -

Fried meat balls (very moist inside!) -

Roasted beef -

Braised daikon with dried scallops (chopsticks tender) -

Fried taro ball -

I think all the gyms will be full people sweating the fat off the following Monday, and Tuesday...maybe Wednesday too.

It's all worth it.

Hearty Soup Asian Style - Miso Soup It Is

Posted by kenny Sunday, November 21, 2010 0 comments

The weather is finally feeling more like winter here in Southern California,
(Can't really complain much huh?)
What's better than a hearty soup that can warm up your tummy?
By the way, it'll only take less than 20 minutes to do so!

Ingredients (4 to 5 bowls)?

7 1/2 cups of hot water
1 1/3 cups of diced chicken
1 1/3 cups of diced soft tofu
2/3 cup of dried seaweed
1/5 cup of Japanese soup base (some soy sauce will do too)
2 tablespoons of red miso
2 tablespoons of white miso

Optional:
Eggs
Sesame seeds

How?

Have 7 1/2 cups of water in a soup pot, bring to a boil,
To fully dissolve the miso into the pot, simply mix in 2 kinds of miso gradually instead of dumping them all at once,
A whisk can be a wonderful helper here.

Once the miso are fully incorporated into the water, add the chicken and bring to a boil again,
Afterwards, add the tofu and dried seaweed flakes,
Here's a picture of the dried seaweed I used (looks like tea leaves) -

You can get it at any Asian grocery store,
The flakes open up easily once submerge in water,
You can quickly rinse it under running water for cleaning purpose.

Back to the soup,
Bring it to a boil again and turn to medium heat, let it simmer for a little longer,
Taste it and see how much soup base needs to be added,
My recipe uses 1/4, which can be a too salty for some people,
So I suggest just use a little bit at a time and see how it turns out,
Plus different miso brands come with different saltiness flavor,
In this case, I say just trust your taste buds ( > _.^)b

The soup is basically done,
You can sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds before serving,
Just adds more nutritional value that way.
To bring it to another level,
Have a small pot ready for poaching the eggs,
Semi-cooked eggs are unbelievably delicious with miso soup!

Side note:
Thanksgiving is coming up,
Are you ready for all the turkey goodness?

Cindy's Rating: 8

Stir Fry Udon with Sacha Sauce - ??????

Posted by kenny Friday, November 12, 2010 0 comments

San Francisco here I come!
This is going to be my long craved weekend getaway, packed with lots of action shots and mouth watering restaurants!

"But!" Before I leave for my afternoon flight, here's a quick blog update,
(Something to keep you guys' stomachs rumbling while I'm gone..-evil grin-..)

Ingredients (for 2 to 3 people)?

Marinade:
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mirin

Main:
3 packs/600 grams of instant udon
1/2 onion
1/2 small carrot
3 Thai chilies
4 stalks of bak choy
8 shitake mushroom
2 garlic cloves
230 grams of sliced pork (about 16 - 18 slices)
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons of sacha sauce
1/2 teaspoon of chili sauce
Some olive oil
Some salt
Some black pepper

How?

Let me give you a brief intro of sacha first,
It's like one of Asian's all time favorite sauce. Seriously.
There are different varieties such as "ma la" (super spicy) or vegetarian.

The most common place you'll find sasha sauce is at a hot pot joint, where people mix sacha together with other condiments such as scallion and cilantro to make the dipping sauce.
It is also often used in barbeque by smearing the sauce on meat and vegetables,
(Soooo good!).
As for our udon,
We are going to use the most basic, original sacha as this stir fry dish's seasoning agent.

Move on to the preparation work,
Slice the onion, carrot, and mushroom,
Finely chop the garlic and chilies,
Remove bak choy stems, cut larger leaves in half.

Marinate the pork slices for at least 15 minutes.

Boil a big pot of water to cook the udon,
Once the noodles are about 80% done, drain well and set aside.

Have a pan ready, drizzle some olive oil, toss in sliced onion, sprinkle some salt and pepper,
Cook till the onion turns translucent, add chopped garlic and chilies,
About 20 seconds, pour in the pork slices and the remaining marinade,
Let if cook for 10 seconds, add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, sacha, and chili sauce,
Give it a quick stir then add the thin carrot strips,
About 30 seconds, toss in the mushroom.

Save the bak choy for last since it cooks through faster than other ingredients,
Taste the mixture once the greens are fully cooked,
Use more oyster sauce if not salty enough,
However, it should be saltier since we gonna add the udon, which will dilute the flavor,
Also definitely use more chili sauce if you're a big fan of spicy food like me.

Once you get an "OK" for the sauce check, toss in drained udon,
Mix well, cook for a little bit longer so the noodles can absorb all that yummy sauce.

I really like this dish (especially when I make it "super spicy" style),
Hope this post is good enough for you to feast with your eyes during my short disappearance,
Just wait,
There will definitely be lots of mouth watering pictures next week!

Cindy's Rating: 8

Something Good with Beer - Mentaiko Baked Potato

Posted by kenny Tuesday, November 9, 2010 0 comments

Tired of same old potato dishes?
Wanna try something new?

This simple Asian/Japanese influenced recipe can definitely jazz up your meal,
By the way, did I mention it's good with beer too?

Ingredients (for 1 potato)?

1 medium size potato
5 tablespoons of mentaiko
2 tablespoons of Japanese mayonnaise
Some seaweed flakes
Some toasted sesame seeds
Some butter

How?

Simply mix together the mentaiko and mayonnaise, there we have it, the sauce -

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
For the potato, you can either boil it first or just use the microwave,
If you're boiling it,
Bring a small pot of water to a boil,
Toss in peeled potato and cook till you can easily poke a fork/chopstick down to the center.
If you're using the microwave, again, put the peeled potato on a small bowl,
2 minutes at a time for about 6 minutes,
Remember to change sides in between.

Once the potato cools down a little bit,
Slice it, about 2 mm in width.

Line up tin foil on a baking sheet,
Cut the butter into small squares.
Here's how we gonna do it,
Put one butter square on the sheet,
Lay one potato slice on the butter, press it down a wee bit if needed,
Drizzle the sauce over the potato, repeat the steps for the remaining slices.
*Butter prevents the bottom of the potato slices from drying up.

Don't worry if the potato slices are tearing apart,
You can just treat it like clay and form the pieces together again,
It'll all stick together after baking.

Into the oven for 14 minutes,
Quick check, if the sauce still looks semi-wet, turn to broil and cook for few more minutes.

Sprinkle some seaweed flakes and toasted sesame seeds before serving,
Mentaiko makes this dish slightly spicy,
That little kick is perfect with....beer!
(Good for football season huh?)

Cindy's Rating: 7

FOOD n Drink

Chinese Fried Rice with Canadian Bacon

Egg Wrap with Chinese Pork Floss - ????

Happy Chinese New Year! Steam Chicken with Goose Liver Sausage

Simple Stir Fry Matsusaka Pork Slices

5 Minutes Appetizer - Seared Tuna with Ponzu Sauce

Semi-Instant Green Curry Meal

Happy Thanksgiving Dinner"S" - Asian Style

Hearty Soup Asian Style - Miso Soup It Is

Stir Fry Udon with Sacha Sauce - ??????

Something Good with Beer - Mentaiko Baked Potato

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