kattebelletje

Dongpo pork

2009-12-16T11:18:00.001+01:00

Dongpo rou ???
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

This braised pork belly dish, Dongpo rou or Dongpo pork, is one of China's classic dishes. Everyone in China loves pork, and praises the gelatinous and soft layers of pork belly to no end... the ultimate comfort food for cold days. The story is this dish is the invention of the famous poet Su Dongpo, who was an government official in the city of Hangzhou, 900 years ago. He not only wrote poetry and braised pork slabs, but had a long dike built in the West Lake as well, on which you can still stroll today and enjoy the lake's beautiful views.

For this recipe, you will need:
1 to 1.5 kilos of pork belly in once square piece
1 bowl of Shaoxing rice wine
1/2 bowl of soy sauce (ie Kikkoman) for flavor, a little bit of dark soy sauce for color
1/2 bowl of white sugar
a bunch of spring onions
a piece of ginger
preferably: a Chinese clay pot (they come cheap in Chinese supermarkets, 8 euros will get you one)

Take a pot or wok, fill it with water, and put in the pork belly. Raise the heat until the water starts to boil, lower the heat and let simmer for about 2 minutes. Take out the meat and discard the water.
After cooling, cut the meat into perfect squares of 6.5 cms wide (2,5 inches). To make it perfect, trim off odd pieces of meat. The precooking has made the meat shrink, so it will keep its proper size.

Take your Chinese clay pot - this is an earthenware cooking vessel with a lid, glazed on the inside, perfect for stewing on a low fire. Line the clay pot with a discarded piece of sushi mat, or some wooden satay skewers. This is to keep the juices from burning your meat afterwards. (Well- I skipped this step and it happened to me, so you know). Then put long pieces of spring onions on the bottom (fit to size), smash your piece of ginger with a knife and add on top. Now fit in your pieces of pork, skin side down on the spring onions. You might have to force them a little bit but don't worry, the pork will shrink during the cooking process and will have ample room later.

Add 1 bowl of Shaoxing rice wine. If you think that is too much - you are not alone. There are a few versions of this Dongpo pork, this of them being 'stewed without any water'. Braising pork in only rice wine and soy is of course going to be super delicious. Then add half a bowl of nice soy sauce. Sprinkle around 7 to 8 spoonfuls of white sugar on top of the meat, cover with a lid and put the fire on. After you start to hear the juices bubbling, put it on the lowest possible heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Be careful though - your fire might not be as low as you think and then your sauce might thicken, caramellise and burn - so do check now and then and add a little water or rice wine to the stock in the clay pot to prevent it from sticking. You don't need to touch the meat.

After 2 hours, the meat will be juicy, soft, and almost falling apart. Take the pieces out carefully and put them, now skin side up, in a serving bowl (with lid). Put the bowl in a steamer and steam for at least half an hour. The whole steaming process sounds like quite a hassle, but believe me, you will be very happy with the results! You can also do the cooking beforehand and the steaming just before you want to eat, so you can finish some rice and green vegetables to go with this dish.

There are some variations to Dongpo pork - for example, in some recipes the first step involves frying; some recipes use way more water than rice wine; and some recipes call for steaming the meat in the end for 2 to 3 hours (improving its softness). Some wrap the chunks of pork in strings of bamboo leaves or 'tribute greens', to create beautiful looking 'gifts', and some recipes add star anise, cinnamon or Sichuan peppercorns to the braising liquid. This recipe is the basics - which you can adapt to your liking. Enjoy!

Quick version of steps:
precook (shrink) pork; cut into cubes; line clay pot with sticks, spring onions & ginger; add pork- skin down; add rice wine, soy, sugar; braise 2 hours; take out; change to serving bowl with lid; steam half an hour.

Pictures: Dongpo pork

Fuchsia Dunlop's cooking class

2009-11-04T00:04:00.001+01:00

Frying pork slivers
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Here is Fuchsia Dunlop frying some pork belly slices in a wok at a cooking class in London, for 'twice cooked pork'. Her class, "Sincerely Sichuan" at the Divertimenti cookery school, was completely sold out.

Sitting in the front row (and in the back rows too!) one could smell the lovely fragrance of Sichuan pepper being ground to a fine powder (to be sprinkled on Mapo tofu later on). Fuchsia handed out a small bowl of this Sichuan pepper so everyone could have a taste. They were (or it was, because I had only one!) was the most powerful huajiao I have ever had. Although Fuchsia warned everyone just to bite on it gently for 3 times and then spit it out, most of the participants started coughing and scraping their throats for at least 5 minutes. Even after getting a huge glass of water, my mouth felt this tingling numbing effect for a long time!

Fuchsia did all the Sichuan classics in her cooking class which lasted over more than two hours: spicy cucumber salad - fried in a wok; fish-fragrant aubergines; twice cooked pork, Mapo tofu and Gongbao chicken. She not only did all the cutting and stir-frying, but was talking all the time about Chinese culinary traditions, her travels in China, and her experiences in becoming a Chinese chef.

Seeing an expert at work (and she is!) really makes a lot of difference. Dunlop is great in explaining the different styles of flavors (using Chinese culinary terms as well), and can show it by bringing out a different combination in every dish. It is not just chiles and spices, but a careful mixing of ingredients to get a totally different end result. For those who think Chinese cooking is only about stir frying at the highest fire possible: it is not. Fuchsia Dunlop takes her time and sniffs the wok regularly to see if the flavor is there yet. Her Gongbao chicken was truly great - it had the stickyness of the sauce all around the ingredients- and her twice cooked pork incredibly awesome - I'd order every dish in a restaurant if I had the chance.

And perhaps I will -after today's lunch at the Baozi Inn I'm planning a meal at Bar Shu tomorrow, the restaurant where Fuchsia Dunlop devised the menu and acts as consultant. When I go home, I'll have enough Sichuan flavors to keep me going for a while!

Here are more pictures from Fuchsia Dunlop's Sincerely Sichuan class at Divertimenti, London

Making kimchi

2009-09-28T23:18:00.001+02:00

Making kimchi
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Kimchi is Korea's national dish: fermented Chinese cabbage preserved in a spicy chili mixture. It tastes zingy, spicy and fresh at the same time and goes really well with all kinds of dishes, also with fried rice. In Korea, they have it with about every meal and the Koreans believe strongly in its healthy properties. They even took it along on their first space flight as astronaut food.

I made it myself the other day, and it really is not hard. YouTube videos, for example Maangchi's one, make huge amounts with massive cabbages. The cabbages one buys here in the supermarket are about twice as small, and I recommend just one plain Chinese cabbage for starters, to get a feel of the whole kimchi making process and to see if you like it!

For this recipe, you will need :
1 Chinese cabbage
kitchen salt

kimchi-mixture:
1 cup of Korean chili flakes (red pepper powder, 90 grams)
1 cup of rice flour, sugar
1 yellow onion, 6 cloves of garlic, piece of ginger
3 spring onions, some sprigs of Chinese chives (12 or so)
4 centimeters piece of daikon radish (or 15 small European red radishes)
fish sauce

Cut the cabbage in half lengthways. Then make a cut on the stem side, but don't cut through, only halve the stem - the cabbage is still attached at the leaf side. Immerse the two cabbage pieces in cold water for 20 minutes, drain.

Sprinkle the cabbage with salt all over: lift up the leaves and put in salt between all nooks and crannies of the cabbage. Now leave to sit for two hours.
Turn the cabbage after two hours (some liquid will have come out of the cabbage) and leave again for two hours. You can make the kimchi mixture in this time (read further down).

After these four hours rinse the cabbage in plenty of water, getting rid of all the salt. Don't forget this step (I did once, and the kimchi tasted foul later on!). Then wring out all water from the cabbage. It will be very limp. Try to make it as dry as you can.

Make the kimchi mixture sometime in these four hours of waiting:
Add one cup of rice flour and 1.5 cups of water to a pan. Slowly heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until it thickens to a kind of paste. Add 4 tablespoons of sugar when it starts to bubble and cook for 1 minute more. Take off the heat and let cool.

Cut up 3 spring onions into slices, a couple of sprigs of Chinese chives into chunks. Whizz a piece of daikon radish, 6 cloves of garlic, a piece of ginger and a smallish yellow onion in a food processor until all cut up (you can do it with your Chinese cleaver too). When the rice flour mixture has cooled, add your Korean chili flakes, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and the daikon-garlic mixture and stir to combine. [some recipes call for raw chopped up oysters at this stage, but we leave those out for now]. Add the spring onions and chives. It will become a deep red spicy sticky mixture, like a paste. Put aside until your cabbage is ready.

Making the kimchi:
Use your hands or kitchen gloves to rub the spice paste all over your cabbage. Lift up the leaves to rub the paste everywhere, covering the cabbage all over with the red chili mixture. Fold the cabbage pieces neatly in their original shape and fit them snugly in a plastic container. Cover with lid and put away at room temperature for two (!) days.

During this time, the cabbage will start to ferment and the kimchi will get its unique flavor. After two days, there will be small bubbles in the liquid surrounding the kimchi and the smell will be fresh and sour, reminding perhaps of sauerkraut. Remember the kimchi smells clean and zingy, never foul or off-putting! Move the container to your refrigerator, it will keep for months.

Just today I had it the fusion sauerkraut way (a la zuurkoolstamppot): I mixed some shredded kimchi into potato mash, turning the mash into a beautiful red and great spicy dish. Like so many spicy things, kimchi is highly addictive - you soon might want to make more!

Chinese fried eggplant

2009-09-16T14:47:00.001+02:00

Eggplant strips ??
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

You know it by now, I love watching Chinese cooking videos - for example on YouTube- and getting new inspiration. The older Chinese cookbooks are to blame- they hardly have any photos, only boring characters, so you have to be super dedicated to really read it all without a picture to make one hungry.

Watching a video is much easier. There is a series from CCTV or Beijing TV which is quite nice. Every time the Beijing host invites a new cook or a new guest and they do one or two recipes. It is great to listen to the beautiful Beijing accents and see a dish develop.

This dish is inspired by their video of fried eggplant strips.

For this recipe, you will need:
2 or 3 slender Asian ('Japanese') eggplant
50 to 100 grams of minced meat
cornstarch
2 cloves of garlic
knob of ginger
sugar, sweet bean paste, sesame oil
salt, soy sauce, Chinese vinegar, Shaoxing rice wine
(optional for 'prettying up the plate': small bell pepper dice)

Start by cutting the eggplant into chunks about 7 cms long. You might cut the eggplant into 3 to get equal size chunks. Cut the chunks into half and then into strips - don't make them too thin, just a little bit fatter than finger size. Put them in a bowl of salted water.

After 10 or 15 minutes, take out the eggplant strips and squeeze them dry. Then coat all over in cornstarch and put aside. Fry the eggplant strips in a wok with hot oil until they are golden brown and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper.

After frying the eggplant strips, take out the oil (if there is any left) and leave 3 tablespoons. Fry about 100 grams of minced meat. Add soy sauce, Shaoxing rice wine, sugar, salt, chopped up garlic and ginger cut into strips to get a nice mixture. Add a little water to make a sauce, then return the eggplant strips to the pan.

Coat all eggplant strips with the sauce, stirring and turning, and add small chopped dice of red and green bell pepper for color (if desired). The eggplant will be very crispy, but not too oily because of the cornstarch crust. Great dish for the Chinese repertoire!

Summer cooking

2009-09-09T12:09:00.001+02:00

Big Green Egg
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Although the summer was not half as long as I hoped it would be - and I could use a lot more of summer heat - I really enjoyed cooking outdoors. After one year of indecisiveness I finally jumped into action and spent my money on a Big Green Egg, the Rolls Royce of barbecues (or, as they would like to say, 'smoker and grill').

This green Egg is like a large ceramic oven in which you put chunks of charcoal. The heat is incredible, it will rise from 0 to 350 Celcius in 20 minutes time. And when you think this takes expertise or careful fanning with newspapers on my part, you are wrong. After lighting you just close the lid and pry all vents open, then it will heat easily without any effort. Anyone can do it!

I realize there is always a lot of fuss about barbecueing, also involving some male / female roleplaying. It seems men want to kindle fires and slap on the big steaks, while women prepare salads and desserts and nibbles. Also, when buying my BBQ, the salesman kept looking at my boyfriend when he talked instead of at me (although this also happens when you go out to buy a computer). Why would that be?

There is something extremely comforting about making your own fire and then cooking on it. It feels so basic and simple. One can hardly call it cooking, just put on some stuff - red peppers, zucchini, eggplants - and they turn yummy and tender and filled with the charcoal flavor, perfect to toss with some olive oil and seasalt. Put on some meat or fish - and again- when they are done they are succulent, smokey and irresistible. In two months' time, I have made salmon, sea bream, red mullet, potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, pork tenderloin, pork chops and steaks.

One other really exciting thing is the BGE works as a bread or pizza oven. Although this takes an extra part known as a plate setter, which is basically a very thick ceramic (pizza) stone with 3 feet so the air can circulate, breads and pizzas are supposed to come out great. I have only tried to make pizzas up to know, and the last batch turned out wonderful. A crispy crust and oozing mozzarella with tomato on top. It needs more exploring! The BGE can get so hot some Indian foodies tried to make chicken tandoor in it, using it as a tandoor. And what would happen if I tried to make Chinese style oven duck?

Chinese chive pockets [jiucai hezi]

2009-08-02T19:51:00.001+02:00

Chinese chive pockets
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Finally some time to write up a recipe- I've been too busy with nothing, holidaying, shooting pictures, cooking simple and not so simple food, and my new addiction twitter, which is fun enough to post little things on about stuff that interests you, but seriously keeps one from blogging or writing up longer pieces altogether.

After my holiday in Malta where I cooked like 2 meals of pasta each day, because it's perfect in hot weather, I am now back in the 20C zone of the Netherlands and not feeling happy about it. A cold drizzly summer makes me lose interest in cooking, but I know the remedy. I start flipping cookbooks or surfing YouTube to find interesting cooking videos.

Now I stumbled upon a Taiwanese television cooking series where two women, one young and one older lady, cook all kinds of Chinese specialties. The old lady is the knowledgeable cook who shows how to make all kinds of Chinese savory pastries, which has the younger pretty lady (with a fat Taiwanese accent) shrieking with delight and amazement all the time. In the video where they make 'Chinese chive pockets' [jiucai hezi] it takes 3 videos of 9 minutes each to show how to cook them. They go on and on about how when you make a dough with 3 cups of flour and 1 cup of water you really have to use the SAME cup and not 2 cups of different sizes, that writing it down for the blog seems somehow much faster!

Chinese chive pockets (or 'chive boxes') is a typically street food snack from Northern China. You can see Beijingers on the side of the road frying up all kinds of things, and this is one of the snacks everyone loves and queues for.

For this recipe, you will need (makes about 15)
dough: 1.5 cups plain flour
1/2 cup scalding hot water + 1/4 cup cold water

filling: 200 grams pork mince
a handful of glass noodles, soaked in hot water for 20 mins
a large bunch of Chinese chives, finely chopped
salt, soy sauce, white pepper, oil, sesame oil

Add the flour to a mixing bowl and pour over the water you have just boiled. Use chopsticks to mix together. The water will scald the dough, half cooking it - it will produce a much softer dough later on. Now add 1/4 cup of cold water and knead until a supple dough. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Make the filling: wash and chop the chives very finely. Put aside in a bowl and add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil. Take your pork mince and add 1/2 to 1 teaspoons of salt, add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and mix to combine. Add some pepper to your taste. Take your soaked glass noodles en cut them into tiny chunks. Add to the pork. Then add the chives (they should be almost equal in weight to the pork, even more) . Add more oil or sesame oil to make a nice juicy filling.

After 30 minutes, roll out your dough until it forms a long 'snake'. Divide into chunks, roll them out to circles of about 10 cms wide. Put a large tablespoon or 2 tablespoons of filling on the dough and shape them into a half moon shape. Flatten with your hand. Cut off the remaining dough from the edges and crimp in beautiful pattern. This takes some practice but it is fun to do!

Heat a flat pan, non stick if you prefer, and fry your Chinese chive pockets without any oil on a low fire. They will fry gently and will break somewhere, so oil will seep out anyway in which you can continue frying. After about 20 minutes (turn occasionally) your Chinese chive pockets are done. They make a lovely snack with your favorite dipping sauce, or just plain with a little vinegar. Enjoy!

Panko shrimp

2009-06-06T11:44:00.001+02:00

Starters of the Korean dinner
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

This is the perfect snack food for long summer evenings in my opinion. Shrimps always taste heavenly, and coating them with Japanese breadcrumbs (panko) is even nicer. They get a great crunch. When you serve these shrimp with a mix of mayonaise and sriracha hot sauce, my recent addiction, the whole plate of shrimp will be gone in no time.

You will need:
1 box of freezer shrimp, heads/tails on;
panko bread crumbs (Asian store);
1 egg, some soy sauce, mashed garlic if you like;
oil for frying
Sauce: a nice mayo and Sriracha hot sauce will do

Thaw the shrimp, peel them - keep the tails on for a nicer look, and save the shells to make a nice stock to keep for later.
Carefully slice the shrimp open from the belly side and devein. This is a little bit of a hassle now, but it will taste great later on.

Marinate for half an hour or more (you can do prep work beforehand) in a mixture of egg, soy sauce, white wine (optional) and mashed garlic if you like. Just before you want to eat the shrimp, coat them in panko breadcrumbs and fry in oil until crispy and done.

Serve with mayo and sriracha and other side dishes. Here I had them on some beautifully draped shiso leaves, and sushi and other bites to go as well. Perfect to go in an Asian meal!

Tiger salad (laohu cai)

2009-05-25T21:28:00.001+02:00

tiger salad
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Of course the attractive thing of this salad is, first of all, its name.
Laohu cai, 'tiger vegetable' or 'tiger salad' is an intriguing sounding dish which came into vogue in China in the past five years or so. I actually can't tell you when exactly it came on the scene, since I have no recollection of it appearing. But then, lots of dishes come to the Chinese dining scene without us knowing about it!

There are said to be two versions of the 'tiger salad'. One is a Uyghur version from Xinjiang province, from the far west of China; another version from the salad is from Manchuria, which also happens to be the birthplace of the Manchurian tiger. I studied in Manchuria years ago, but at that time tiger salad was nowhere on the menu. Nor was there anything else much on the menu for that matter, especially in winter time - Chinese cabbage was about all there was to have then. And then- there has been a trend for Chinese to start eating raw foods, salads as well as sashimi-like dishes, when traditionally Chinese keep from raw foods as far as they possibly can.

Both versions consist of uncooked vegetables cut into very fine julienne strips with a fierce chili sauce, making up a lovely crisp salad, served as an appetizer or a side dish. In Xinjiang it is undoubtedly served with kebabs and cold beer. The Manchurian (north east, Dongbei) version is also a dish for summer, which you nibble on when having a beer, waiting for the rest of your meal to arrive. The Xinjiang version is basically yellow onions, red bell pepper, green chilis and tomato; the Chinese version consists of spring onions, green pepper, red chili and coriander, all cut into strips. Both versions are seasoned with a mixture of garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar and salt. I have scanned a lot of sites on the web with recipes and found a lot of variations, for example in adding ingredients like cucumber, red bell pepper, pressed tofu or zuccini. I am afraid my own version kind of started to be not very tigerlike, since I threw in some strips of carrot for color, and even tossed over some crushed peanuts at the end. But it is nice to play with the variations.

I kind of felt like making the Chinese version since tomatoes didn't
really appeal to me in this dish, I guess because they make it more soggy. I like to nibble on thin strips of vegetable, especially when they have a nice chili heat kick!

For a small portion, serving 2 to 3 people, you will need:

1 green bell pepper
2 spring onions
1 large bunch of coriander
1 clove of garlic
1 red chili (or more... it should be hot!)
sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, chili oil

Slice the vegetables as thinly as you can, cut into strips. Cut the spring onions into 4 cm pieces, cut these into strips. Cut the coriander into the same size. Cut up the red chili, as much as you dare. Be a tiger! Toss. Then mix the seasonings, taste for salt and spicyness. Assemble at the last minute or it will go soggy.

Add some cucumber strips (without seeds) for variation. Or some tomato. But then you are almost in Turkey instead of in China....

Gravad lax - home cured salmon

2009-03-25T16:17:00.001+01:00

Making gravlax (gravad lax) step 1
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

The last couple of weeks I've made this salmon more than once. The slices of home cured salmon are much nicer than the ones you get from supermarket packages, and really, there is nothing to it, except a little wait. It takes from 48 to 72 hours (yes, 2 to 3 days) before the salmon has cured and is ready to eat. A mixture of salt, sugar, pepper and dill dries out the salmon and you get a dark meat, firm texture and delicious flavor.

For 1 kilo of salmon, you will need:
[from Mr. Ooijer's recipe]

1 kilo of salmon, with skin on
50 grams of sea salt
30 grams of pepper (choose white, black or mixed, what you like)
80 grams of icing sugar
large bunch of fresh dill
cling film or alu foil

Slice the salmon into 2 pieces of equal size. (You will tie them together, sandwich-style, later). Crush the pepper in a mortar or with a rolling pin. Make a rub of the salt, sugar and pepper and rub it into the salmon flesh, make sure to cover everything.
Then chop up your fresh dill and put on one piece, add the other piece on top, sandwich style. Put on a large piece of alufoil or clingfilm and cover tightly.

Now put it in the fridge, with or without a heavy object on top. I've experimented with both: the first time I only put on like two bottles of beer (light weight), and turned every day. That salmon came out beautifully, succulent, delicious. The other time I might have put in too much salt (I thought I knew the recipe by heart) , and weighed with the mortar on top (heavy weight), also turning every day, and that salmon came out dryer, but much saltier. I think I prefer the former.

After 48, or preferably 72 hours, your salmon is ready. Unwrap, scrape off dill mixture and excess pepper and salt, then slice into thin slices. Excellent as starter, or as snack. Have it on toast with the traditional mixture of mustard, dill and sugar, or with your favorite mayo or horseradish. You don't have to buy 1 kilo of salmon to make it, you can do it with smaller portions as well. Adapt the recipe accordingly. Try it, you'll like it! And if not, I know a cat that really really does ;-)

3 minute cake

2009-02-10T21:43:00.002+01:00

mug cake

It all started 2 months ago when I, as usual, was strolling though a
Chinese supermarket for fun. I found an intriguing box called 'Easy Cake' in the shape of a mini-size microwave oven, which claimed on the box to produce a lovely chocolate cake in the microwave in just 2,5 minutes. Of course I found it irrestistible and bought it right away. I took it home, much to the delight of my daughter. We made the cake a few weeks back. All it said on the package was to mix the ingredients with some milk, oil and a fresh egg, pop it in the microwave and then to see it rise. It was very exciting to see it go up, almost going over the plastic bowl provided, and then set. Indeed, after 2.5 minutes we had a chocolate-y, puddinglike cake which tasted surprisingly OK. Child's play.

In the back of my head the riddle kept coming bak what the ingredients were. Surely there couldn't be that many secret ingredients, could there? What did they put inside anyway? Then, quite unexpectedly, I found the recipe of a similar cake on the web. It wasn't called 'easy cake' but 'mug cake'. All over YouTube and other places I found movies of people making chocolate cakes in large coffee mugs, sometimes with self raising flour, sometimes with chocolate powder instead of cocoa, sometimes with extra chocolate chips or marshmellows added... They looked pretty much the same as the 'easy cake' from the Chinese store to me. So I tried the mug cake recipe - and it worked beautifully. Anyone can make a chocolate cake in 3 minutes flat!

For the 3 minute cake, you will need:
1 large mug (I used a 'soup mug' for this)
some oil to grease the mug with
3 tablespoons of cake flour or self-rising flour
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 tablespoons of milk
1 egg

Grease the mug. Then put in all dry ingredients and mix together. Add oil, milk and mix again. Finally, break the egg and stir it in until everything is a smooth batter. Put microwave on highest setting (mine was on 800 watt) and put the mug inside. Put it on a plate or something in case something goes wrong. Put the microwave on 3 minutes. After about 1.40 minutes the mixture will rise to the rim of the cup, then it will rise spectacularly above the rim, looking as if it might wobble and spill over any minute. If all goes well, it won't. Although high above the rim of the cup, it will set and cook.

After 3 minutes take out your mug (hot!) and spoon out the cake. Cut up in slices and eat with whipped cream. Of course you can bake a cake the traditional way in the oven and get probably better results. But there is something truly satisfying in knowing it takes as long to make a chocolate cake as it takes to brew a cup of coffee, so you can enjoy both of them at the same time. Or get this together for a last-minute dessert !

Happy Chinese Niu Year!

2009-01-25T13:48:00.001+01:00

Chinese dumplings
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Tonight there are celebrations for the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Ox. An ox is called 'niu' in Chinese, so you can wish everyone a happy niu-year! Don't believe it when you read somewhere the Chinese are celebrating the year 4753 or whatever figure you might be reading - traditionally, the Chinese really don't count that way.

Chinese count the years of the reign of the emperor. So your year might be something like "12th year of emperor Kangxi (K'ang-hsi) of the Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty". As an emperor dies, the counting starts all over again. And if a new dynasty arrives, the dynasty name changes too. Of course your sense of history has to be in a firm place to figure out what year they are talking about! However, after 1911 this way of keeping calenders was discontinued when they adopted the system of the Western calendar. What remains in China is the most important festival of the year, the Chinese new year, which is also called 'Spring Festival'. Everyone has to travel back to celebrate it with their family.

In China everyone knows which animal of the Chinese zodiac is in turn: the ox. The coming year will be a year of hard-working, sturdy perseverance. What if it is 'your' year, if you were born in the same sign ? Your year will be special, but not always in a good sense, you have to be careful. Some Chinese wear a red ribbon around their waist for a full year. Only if you are 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72 or 84 (..count up) this year!

Happy Niu Year to everyone, have some Chinese dumplings (in Dutch), and let's make it a good one!

lotus buns

2009-01-23T14:30:00.002+01:00

lotus buns before steaming
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

These 'lotus leaf buns' (heye jia or 'lotus buns') have been on my to-make-list forever. At least, since I rediscovered them on my trip to China last May, where we had them several times in both Beijing and Shanghai. These lotus buns are a Chinese steamed bread-variety, made from the same dough as baozi, mantou or other steamed goodies. But their fun lies in the fact that they open up so you can stuff them with things and eat them.. like a bun. I had them with wonderfully crisp pork slices, spring onions and cucumber strips.

Of course there is no way I could surpass the beautifully shaped buns I had in a Shanghai restaurant (click here to see the picture) - really I would love to know how they become so prettily puffed up and with curves in all the right places. I searched the web for some photo instruction, but didn't find any - only for the most basic of shapes. Finally I found the recipe in good old Pei Mei (volume 1, p. 365). Not that she helps out with the shape much...

For the dough, you will need: (makes about 20 small buns)
1.5 cups of flour
0.5 cup of water
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of lard (if you want, otherwise omit or substitute little oil)
a pinch of salt
2 teaspoons of baking powder
sesame oil

Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, lard and water until it forms a dough. Knead well, then roll in snake-shape and cut or pinch into 20 pieces. Flatten the pieces out with your hand or small rolling pin until round in shape. Brush the top half of the circle with a little sesame oil and fold over.

Now is the time to be creative and try to shape it in a beautiful form, like a shell or lotus leaf. Use a blunt knife to make a criss-cross pattern on top (of the folded over half-circle), or imitate the pattern of a lotus leaf. Then use the back of the knife to dent the lotus bun from the folded open side to make it more like a leaf. Study the picture above to see what I've tried, but be creative here! I am open to new shapes or to an explanation on how to make the beautiful buns I had in China.

Steam over high heat in a bamboo steamer for 10 minutes. Enjoy with pork strips, charsiu meat, red-cooked pork belly or whatever you like.. you'll love it!

Sniffy nose noodles

2009-01-07T13:31:00.005+01:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

To start the beginning of this new year, I am going to share one of my favorite recipes with you: Chinese noodles, also known as "one-spoon noodles" or "sniffy nose noodles" because it takes a spoonful of all kinds of Chinese ingredients to give these noodles their wonderful kick - and a sniffy nose while eating them! The strands of noodles are darkened by a yummy soy, sesame, garlic & chili sauce, covered by a dark sauce with minced meat, have some nice greens on the side, and are beautifully sprinkled with spring onions and crushed peanuts on top. Because you mix the ingredients of the sesame sauce in each bowl, it is very easy to adjust this recipe to everyone's taste: some like chili oil, some don't eat meat sauce, some love extra sesame paste.. whatever.

I thought I blogged about these noodles ages ago, but found I really didn't - I guess it is one of these recipes you have made for years now and thought everyone knew about. These Chinese one-spoon noodles are a huge hit with all friends and family members, who beg for either these noodles or home made dumplings when they come over for dinner at my place.

This dish can be made easily for a large group of people. Just count the number of bowls and buy ingredients accordingly. The recipe includes 1. the uncooked sauce-in-the-bowl, 2. the meat sauce; 3. the noodles; 4. some nice greens; and 5. some chopped peanuts.

Ingredients: for each bowl, you will need:
* Noodles: 50-70 grams of noodles (uncooked weight). I prefer udon noodles now because they really take on the flavors well without losing their bite, but you could use any kind of Chinese noodles or Italian egg noodles or tagliatelle.
* Meat sauce: about 50-70 grams of minced beef (for every person) / or mixture of pork and beef; soy sauce, sichuan pepper, dried chillies, sugar, ginger, Pixian chili broad bean paste, sweet bean paste.
* Noodle bowl sauce: 1 tablespoon each of: sesame paste, sesame oil, soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, white sugar, chopped Sichuan preserved vegetables, chopped spring onions, sweet bean paste (I really like this, but you can leave it out if you want), chili oil (look here if you want to make chili oil yourself), and 1/4 to 1/2 of a clove of crushed garlic.
Of course you can add more or less of all of the ingredients, or leave out ingredients if you don't like them. It is really all up to you. I like to add as much chili oil as I can handle, because these noodles need to be eaten with sweat on your brow and a sniffy nose.

How to prepare:
1. start by making the meat sauce. Put a little oil in a wok, add 4 slices of ginger, 4 or 5 Sichuan peppercorns and 2 to 3 dry chilies if you like it spicy. Fry about 400 grams of meat until brown, then add a splash of Shaoxing rice wine, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, a spoon of sugar, 2 spoonfuls of Pixian chili broad bean sauce (substitute for sweet bean paste if you don't like chili heat) and add some water to make a sauce. Simmer for rougly 20 minutes.
2. Fry up a handful of uncooked peanuts in some oil in a wok, careful not to burn them, then take out, drain on some kitchen paper, let cool and chop coarsely with pestle and mortar or just with your knife. Put aside.
3. Then start your preparations for cooking the noodles. Put on a large pot for boiling water and have a colander ready for draining the noodles. In the time you are working on the noodles, take out your Chinese noodle bowls and get out all the ingredients.
4. Put a spoonful of everything described above in the bowl and stir to combine, add a little hot water if it is too stiff (you might use the pasta water for this). Add extra chili oil if you like.
5. Chop a cucumber into thin julienne to serve on top of your noodles later, or blanch some bok choy or spinach. A little green touch is very appealing! I even added some vegetable stir-fry on the picture here, and some green fried Spanish peppers.
6. When your noodles are cooked, drain them and divide into the bowls. Toss the noodles immediately with the sauce, add a little hot water if it is too stiff. You can even let your guests do their own tossing.
7. Add a large spoonful of minced meat sauce and the juice on top.
8. Put some veggies to the side, then sprinkle with chopped spring onions and crushed peanuts! ENJOY!

Have napkins close by - your nose will sniff all the way! But boy, it will be good!

chocolate truffles

2008-12-31T15:01:00.002+01:00

chocolate truffles

These home made chocolate truffles are definitely very, very delicious. Of course they are full of butter and cream - I mean, deliciousness comes with the very best ingredients, doesn't it? Sometimes these chocolate truffles are for sale in supermarkets in a very small bag with a large price tag attached, but you can easily make them at home. Making chocolate things is messy, though, so just be prepared to mess up your kitchen. The rewards will be well worth it. Making truffles is not hard, but you will need some time to freeze the filling, so you have to plan this in some way.

You will need (makes about 30 truffles):
for the outside (chocolate with cocoa):

dark chocolate, about 300 grams. the nicer the chocolate, the nicer the end result.
lots of cocoa powder

250 grams of whipping cream
180 grams of softened butter
140 grams of white sugar; a pinch of salt
1 vanilla pod

You will also need: a baking sheet, a (chocolate) fork, a large bowl for putting in the cocoa powder.

Pour the cream into a saucepan, make a slit in the vanilla pod and put it in the cream. Put it on a low fire and let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. Careful, don't burn it. Sometimes a film of cream will form on the top, don't worry. You can take it out later. The idea is to infuse the cream with the flavor of vanilla and reduce it somewhat.

After 20 mins, take the saucepan off the fire and add the sugar. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Take out the vanilla pod, scrape out the inside bits and add these to the cream and sugar. Discard the pod. Let cool. Then mix in the softened butter. Use a wire whisk to whip it until rather stiff.

Now take your filling and put into a piping device with medium nozzle. You can get hold of these rather cheaply in household shops, they cost around 5 euros. Try to make little blobs of the mixture on a large baking sheet which will fit into your freezer later on (you might have to clean out your freezer for this...) These blobs be the filling of the chocolate truffles later on, so try to make them as round and even as you can. Put on a tray, put in the freezer and freeze for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

When your filling is frozen, you can start melting the chocolate. Working with chocolate can be tricky, the best temperature to work with chocolate is 29 degrees Celcius. You start by melting 3/4 ths of the chocolate in a bowl au bain marie, and add the other 1/4 chopped up chocolate off the fire, so it will lower the temperature of your chocolate. The lower your chocolate is in temperature (just before it sets, so to speak), the easier it is to work with.

Take one blob of filling and use a fork to dip it into your molten chocolate. Then plonk it into your ready bowl with cocoa powder and roll around gently until all covered with cocoa. Put on a tray to set completely. The chocolate will set and harden and the cocoa will keep them from sticking together. Continue until you have made all truffles this way. Store your truffles in the refrigerator.

Then try not to eat them all in one day...

Wishing all my readers a very happy new year with lots of good food, health and happiness in 2009 !

Christmas ahead

2008-12-21T13:29:00.001+01:00

carpaccio
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

On the darkest, shortest day of the year, with dull grey weather, nobody really wants to do anything. Least of all think about a Christmas menu. The supermarkets are suddenly filled with all kinds of interesting foodstuffs, things they don't usually stock. Things I would like them to stock all year round, because why would I only want to eat nice things at Christmas?

My Christmas menu is not at all set. It used to be otherwise! Ten years back, I would be all over all my cookbooks to set up the menu of menus. With the Roux brothers, Marcella Hazan, Nigella and Carluccio at hand, I would carefully ponder the match between main course and starter. Or between amuse and dessert. We would even go to the special store to buy all kinds of luxury foods. Somehow it is not the time now. Luxury things have hit the ordinary shops and I cook nice stuff all year round. It doesn't have to be Christmas for you to start cooking, you know.

I know madness will strike many people, who probably hit the shops on Tuesdays with huge lists and nervous eyes, grabbing their stuff for some perfect home cooked dinner. Others might eat out or buy ready set menus from the larger supermarket chains.

But this year I might just bake some lasagna or a potato gratin and have a piece of chicken for main. I haven't decided yet...

apple sauce

2008-11-30T21:51:00.001+01:00

apples
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

What do you do when you picked about 50 kilos of apples from a friend's orchard in September and they are still not finished? You bake an apple pie, you drink fresh apple juice every day (chore: cleaning the juicer) and bake another apple pie. But then there still are so many bags of apples, you really have to think big now. Making cider would be nice, or making a strong apple liqueur - but that is a little bit out of my range of expertise. So there you have it: apple sauce.

Apple sauce (appelmoes) is one of the staples of the Netherlands, especially for young children. They will have apple sauce on almost everthing. All your food will go down easily with apple sauce, believe me. My favorite meal as a child, and any Dutch child of my generation I think, was kip, patat en appelmoes: chicken, fries and apple sauce!

To make apple sauce you will need:
Lots of apples (I used about 20)
half a cinnamon stick
some cloves - about 5
some grated nutmeg (if you like)
sugar to taste
the peel of one lemon

Start to peel the apples and core them. I used not to do this and try to get rid of the peels and other bits after boiling the apples; fiddling out the pips and sieving the stuff and so on, but believe me, this is even more choresome then just to peel and core the apples beforehand. (Tip 1)

Then cut the apples in chunks or quarters and put them in a large pot. Add the peel of one lemon, 6 to 7 tablespoons of sugar, your cloves and cinnamon stick and a little bit of water to get things going. Put on the fire and wait for the water to cook, then turn the heat down and put a lid on. Your apples will bubble and start to simmer. Leave on a low fire for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Check now and then to see how your apples are going. When they start to make a plonk-plonk sound and when you peek inside you find the apples have cooked their way up the pan so to speak, rising in a souffle-like manner, the apple sauce is ready. Stir to see if the apples are done. Test a spoonful of the apple sauce to see if it is sweet enough to your liking, stir in more sugar or any other spice if you need to.

Eat either hot or cold, chunky or more smooth. You can whizz the sauce in a food processor if you like smooth apple sauce - I don't, because I like the chunky bits. They look more home-made this way. What I really like about this apple sauce is the hint of cloves, which is a nice spice with apples, and the lemon peel, which according to my mother is a true must for apple sauce. Enjoy!

Quick style Peking duck

2008-11-12T23:11:00.001+01:00

Peking duck
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Having Peking duck in Peking (Beijing) is one if the joys of the city. I remember one of the first times in the 1980s, at the Quanjude branch in a side alley of Wangfujing, then the main shopping street. No fancy stuff then: we were seated at a large round table with several other guests, and had the 6 or so courses that make up a duck meal.

Webbed feet (skip), gizzards (try), and a milky white soup to end it off (just some sips). in between we got what we came for: crispy duck with Mandarin pancakes, spring onions and sweet bean sauce.

Trying this at home? I would never have thought of it. But now, at the Chinese store, you can buy lots of the Peking duck ingredients. Buy the Mandarin pancakes frozen, get some cucumber and spring onions, open a tin of sweet bean paste and buy... ready pre-cooked duck. The store sells deboned duck in the deep freeze department (picture here) which you only heat in the oven until the skin is crispy, and then you can assemble your dinner and have mock-Peking duck!

You will need: one package of deboned, ready 'Peking' duck;
1 to 2 cucumbers
a bunch of spring onions
Mandarin pancakes (frozen), about 10 each

Defrost duck and put in an oven dish. Preheat oven till 200 degrees. Cut the cucumber into 4 pieces and halve these. Then cut into strips. Cut the spring onions into similar chunks and cut these into strips, too.

Then put the duck in an oven tray and bake until hot and crispy, approximately for 30 minutes. If needed, turn on the grill to crisp up the skin. Take a bamboo steamer and steam your Mandarin pancakes for about 5 to 7 minutes until hot and soft. Take the duck out of the oven on a cutting board and cut into thin slices. Then put on a serving plate.

Seat your guests... and roll and fold your pancakes. First take half a spoon of sweet bean sauce and smear it on the pancake. Then add strips of cucumber, strips of spring onion and of course pieces of your lovely crispy duck. Have it as a meal on itself or a starter of a larger Chinese meal. If you really want to try the real stuff, go to Robin for the long version of the recipe!

glass noodle salad

2008-10-15T13:39:00.001+02:00

glass noodle salad
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

There are these dishes you just forget about. They used to have their golden years, when they were regularly on the menu, you had their ingredients in the cupboard all the time, and everyone really enjoyed them (especially you) - and then they were all forgotten.

Perhaps you had it too much; or you met new people who thought it nothing special, or the ingredients disappeared from your regular shopping trips - or you just moved on to some nicer, newer dishes. Or you simply forgot. This is one of these dishes, lengban fensi Chinese 'cold mixed glass noodles'.

I had it at least once a month in the 90s, because it is so easy, and I wrote about it in my cookbook-to-be (a simple computer handout, which I gave to some friends), and there I discovered it again last week. It is great as a side dish for larger dinner parties, because it is a cold salad and can be made beforehand. Plus it is really yummy.

You will need:

1 packet of glass noodles (100 grams)
half a cucumber
sesame oil; soy sauce; Sichuan-pepper oil; rice wine or mirin; [optional: chili oil or chili paste]

Boil water and pour over glass noodles. Let soak for 20 minutes until soft. Use scissors to cut noodles into smaller strips, but don't overdo this ;-)
Make a nice tasting sauce with about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 to 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, and at least 3 to 4 tablespoons of Szechuan pepper-oil. This very flavorsome, peppery, addictive oil can be found in Asian supermarkets. The oil is made from Sichuan pepper, the true Sichuan spice which gives its special kick to almost any Sichuan dish. Use a lot of it- your salad will definitely improve!
Add some Shaoxing rice wine or Japanese mirin for extra flavor, taste for salt. Mix the noodles with the mixture until all flavors are absorbed by the noodles. If you like spicy you can add some of your favorite chili oil or chili paste as well.

Cut half the cucumber into julienne strips and put on a plate. Then put the noodles over (I had too many noodles for the plate). Let sit and enjoy with Peking duck, jiaozi or any other Chinese dinner stuff. Even my daughter who says she doesn't like spicy added heaps of it on her plate and finished it all. The noodle salad is back to stay!

Beef with orange peel

2008-10-07T20:29:00.002+02:00

Beef with orange peel by kattebelletje.

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it? I must say, after starting the site tokowijzer I really didn't see the hype coming! The new site was very well received; we got a lot of good reviews and more visitors that kattebelletje ever had. I have spent many hours updating the site and making pictures. And I have been lurking in Chinese supermarkets for even longer times than before. I have tried many ingredients I wouldn't have bought otherwise - and I have tried out more frozen dumplings than I have in the last 5 years!

This is one of the dishes I made with the ingredient orange peel, chenpi niurou. It is one of my favorite Szechuan beef dishes : it has a dark flavor, mildly spiced by the red dried peppers and with a very fragant flavor of the orange peel. The beef is chewy and has a sweet tinge. I used to use fresh tangerine peels, but stocking up on these dried orange peels is very easy, so all you need is a chunk of beef to get you going.

For this recipe you will need:

500 grams of braising beef (klapstuk, sukadelap)
6 to 7 slices of fresh ginger
4 dried chili peppers (the long pointy ones)
6 pieces of dried orange peel (Chinese shop)
Shaoxing rice wine
soy sauce (light and dark), sugar, rock sugar, salt

Cut the beef in bite size pieces. Slice the ginger. Snap the orange peel into smaller chunks. Fry the ginger and dried pepper in a couple of tablespoons of oil until fragrant (careful, don't burn!), then add the beef and brown on all sides. Splash with almost a cup of Shaoxing rice wine and add 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce (or a little more). Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and a walnut-size chunk of rock sugar and stir. Bring to a boil, take off the scum of the surface of the liquid, then put a lid on and leave on a slow simmer.

The beef has to simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours; check regularly to stir and to check if there is still enough liquid. Add a little water if needed. At the end of the cooking process taste the sauce and add more salt or soy if needed. For extra flavour you could add some orange juice, too. The beef has to be dark and the sauce has to cling around the meat - the rock sugar makes the sauce have a beautiful shine.

Take the beef off the heat, sprinkle on some sesame oil, and put on a plate. This dish can be eaten hot or cold: a perfect starter or a perfect dish for a Chinese meal - at least it is not a last-minute stir-fry to worry about. You can eat the pieces of orange peel if you like, they will taste of pepper and soy and beef. Lovely.

nieuw site: tokowijzer

2008-08-18T12:00:00.004+02:00

tokowijzer by kattebelletje.

Zojuist is de nieuwe website 'tokowijzer' live gegaan!

De tokowijzer is een samenwerkingsinitiatief van Kok Robin en kattebelletje. Allebei zijn we nogal fanaat met Chinees eten en koken, en op Flickr waren we al ieder voor zich bezig met het fotograferen van pakjes, zakjes en andere ingredienten uit de toko.

De opzet is om bij tokowijzer een verzameling op te bouwen van vaak gebruikte, voornamelijk Chinese ingredienten. We leggen uit hoe het heet, wat het is en hoe je het moet gebruiken, wat er te koop is, en welke het lekkerst is. Dan is er nog ruimte voor opmerkingen en zijn er links naar recepten waar dat ingredient wordt gebruikt. Ook is er een lijst van grote toko's in Nederland.

Hopelijk wordt deze website een handig hulpmiddel bij het winkelen in de toko. Suggesties of commentaar? Ga naar de site, kijk rond, doe inspiratie op, en ga lekker winkelen in een toko bij jou in de buurt ! Zie je op tokowijzer!

eindelijk: 8-8-8

2008-08-08T23:55:00.016+02:00

cooks eating by kattebelletje.

De Chinezen hebben lang genoeg gewacht. Ze begonnen al meer dan twee jaar geleden met de Grote Countdown vanaf het Tian'anmenplein, die de dagen telde tot op vandaag. Ik was net op tijd thuis van een weekje weg om hun gigantische show in het Vogelnest live op tv te zien.
Opeens is China heel erg in het nieuws en wordt overal gegoogled naar Chinese recepten. Gisterochtend had De Pers een artikel over de 'nieuwe' Chinese keuken, en 's avonds kwam zelfs het NOS nieuws met een item over de Olympische menu's, iets waar ik in april al een blog post over schreef.

Omdat de zoekfunctie van deze blog soms te wensen overlaat, ik nooit echt een overzicht heb gemaakt, maar ik de afgelopen jaren toch al een behoorlijke verzameling Chinese recepten op dit blog heb verzameld, geef ik hier een overzicht van recepten en verhalen over China. Wel in het engels, maar dat kan geen probleem zijn toch?

Algemeen:
* Hier meer over de Chinese spraakverwarring over de Olympische menu's - de hilarische vertalingen van Chinese gerechten die al jarenlang op menukaarten staan en die bij buitenlanders prachtige foto's opleveren
* Conimex naar Peking : hoe Conimex hun eigen versie van de Chinese [=Indische] keuken in stand probeert te houden, ook nu;

Verzameling Chinese koude voorafjes :
* Duizendjarige eieren - een hoog griezelgehalte, maar daarna een acquired taste
* Salade met reepjes tofu, sesamolie en koriander als het zomerweer is
* Chinese geplette radijsjessalade met link naar video
* Chinese komkommer in het [zoet] zuur knapperig voorafje, overal in China te bestellen

Chinese klassiekers:
* Mapo tofu - pikant gerecht van tofu met gehakt uit de Sichuankeuken
* Ganbian sijidou: drooggebakken sperciebonen, Sichuan style - boontjes, gedroogde garnalen en gehakt
* Terug-in-de-pan vlees [twice cooked pork] (met video) - speklapjes met knoflook en lenteuitjes
* Gongbao chicken [Chicken Kung pao], kip met nootjes
* Fotoinstructie op Flickr : hoe maak ik Gongbao Chicken
* Bangbang chicken [Kip klopklop] - koude kipreepjes met sojasaus en sesamolie
* Aubergine met sichuanpeper-zout gefrituurde schijfjes met dip
* Mongoolse hotpot (Chinese fondue) klassieker, een ouwetje al

Vis & vlees:
* Gestoomde zalm op z'n Chinees
* Kabeljauw met zwarte boontjes makkelijk, snel en lekker
* Garnalen uit de wok (met video)
* Reepjes varkensvlees met knoflookspruiten

Groente:
* Gebakken aardappelsprietsjes bijzondere manier om aardappels te eten
* Koreaanse salade knapperige zomersalade met zoet-zure smaken
* Jiaobai: exotische groente in de Chinese supermarkt
* Eten Chinezen tulpen? : eetbare lelies
* Bloemkool met garnalen, simpele stir-fry
* Zelf rode pepertjes inleggen [1] en [2]

Dumplings en noedels:
* Olympische dumplings de lekkerste kant-en-klare dumplings uit de supermarkt
* Vegetarische dumplings vulling voor jiaozi
* Jiaozi [Chinese dumplings] met nieuwjaar
* Pannenplakkers [potstickers guotie, gyoza] gebakken dumplings
*Yinyin-saus: het lekkerste sausje voor dumplings
* Koude Sichuan noedels - klassieke favoriet
* Dandan noedels (met video)
* Xiaolongbao [kleine gestoomde Shanghaidumplings]
*Baozi [Chinese bapao's]

Voor wie meer wil weten over de Chinese keuken en Chinees koken, kijk ook op Flickr bij mijn laatste verzameling eetfoto's uit China en mijn sets instructiefoto's, hoe maak ik... Jiaozi, Chinese dumpings; Mapo tofu; chili-olie; Hagau - dimsums met garnalenvulling; hoe vouw ik een wonton; Chicken Gongbao; Bangbang chicken; Twice-cooked pork en nog heel wat andere kookinstructies. Veel plezier ermee!

Fish with back bean sauce

2008-08-01T09:28:00.002+02:00

cod with black beans by kattebelletje.

This dish is really nice if you want to eat fish the Chinese style. It is quick to prepare if using whitefish fillets, and a meal by itself or with more dishes for a larger Chinese dinner.
You will need:

400 grams of cod (or other white fish)
1 spring onion
1 cm of ginger
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, Shaoxing rice wine, corn flour,
dried black beans from a jar/pot. [I use the dried kind which keeps forever].

Cut the fish into chunks and marinate in a tablespoon of Shaoxing rice wine and a tablespoon of light soy sauce. Meanwhile, take a tablespoon of black beans and soak in cold water. Cut ginger into julienne strips, slice the garlic and shred the spring onions into very thin strips.

Dip the fish in cornstarch until completely coated and fry the pieces in hot oil until both sides are golden. Take out and put aside. Then, in the leftover oil, fry the ginger, garlic and drained black beans until fragant. Add about two tablespoons of Shaoxing rice wine, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoon of Chinese black vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Add a few tablespoons of water to make a sauce, then, gently, put back the fish and simmer briefly until done. You don't have to turn them over - of course you can if you want to, but they might fall apart if you do so. Anyway they will be delicious, especially if you spoon over some of the sauce when they simmer.

Take out the fish and arrange on a pretty plate. Pour over the sauce and scatter with spring onion julienne. Eat with rice. You could add some drops of sesame oil in the end, and add some chiles if you like the heat. The black beans give a salty tang to this dish, and the balance of soy, vinegar and sugar is really nice.

dadar isi

2008-07-21T20:42:00.001+02:00

dadar isi
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Fellow bloggers are taking a break in blogging, or are about to - everyone needs a holiday. So do I, I think, but since I have been to China in May there is not really a long holiday going to happen this summer. Summer? HA! It is really awful now, an outside temperature of 13 degrees and more rain than anyone in the summer can handle. I feel sorry for travelers in Holland, they are probably waiting for the rain to stop and craving for winter foods.

I was craving for hot, hot foods as well. No salads today, but this Indonesian style omelette, filled with minced meat. Here is what you need (2 persons): 4 eggs, 2-300 grams of minced meat; 1 kemiri nut; kecap (sweet Indonesian soy sauce); spring onions; cumin seeds, garlic, onion.

Roast the kemiri nut ( a small nut about the size of the nail of your thumb) in a dry pan until it starts to brown. Let cool, then pound with mortar and pestle until a fine powder. This nut gives Indonesian foods a special flavor and it used in many spice pastes. Add half a teaspoon of cumin seeds, a pinch of dried ginger powder, and grind until you have a paste. Take a pan and fry half an onion and 1 clove of garlic in some sunflower oil, add the spice paste and fry until fragrant. Add the minced meat and fry until it smells nice. Add kecap sauce, some dark soy if you like a dark color, and salt until you like the taste. Take of the heat and set aside.

Take 2 eggs a person, beat them in a bowl. Make an omelette in a new pan, but before the top is solid, add a couple of spoonfuls of the meat mixture on top and fold the omelette over the filling. Fry until golden, then put on a plate and sprinkle with shredded spring onions. Make your second omelette.

We had it with a stir-fry of bok-choi and portobello mushrooms, and I added lots of my favorite serundeng (spiced coconut flakes, garlic flakes, and chilil flakes and peanuts) for some extra spice.

home made cheese

2008-06-30T22:17:00.002+02:00

Step 22: slices of fresh cheese
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

After several years of just buying the stuff, the cheesemaking bug started to itch again. There was a time I made this regularly, in a sunny kitchen at the end of the day: a fresh white cheese, home made from fresh milk, buttermilk and rennet in just over 1 hour. The process is simple and no trouble: anyone can do it. So can you, if you can get hold of rennet.

I searched for quite some time this year. I had some stuff in the fridge, but rennet doesn't keep forever, so I had to get it new. There used to be a supply at these organic shops, but they didn't sell it anymore. The place to find your rennet nowadays is to go to the Turkish / Moroccan supermarket. Here you find them in a small plastic bottle with a red lid. Just 15 drops makes a cheese the size of a tea saucer.

You will need: 2 litres of fresh milk (can be pasteurized, but it has to be the kind of milk you have to keep in the fridge. Don't use UHT mllk). Half a small cup of buttermilk (this will raise the acidity of the milk, increasing the cheese yield). Plus a thermometer and rennet.

Take a large pasta pan or something like that and pour in two litres of milk with half a cup of buttermilk. Stick in your thermometer, turn up the heat, and turn it off as soon as it reaches 32 Celcius. This is sooner than you think, watch the thermometer closely! As soon as it reaches 32 C, add 15 drops of rennet, diluted in some tablespoons of water and stir thouroughly. Then put the pan in a warm place - you can cover it with towels, or put in a box with old newspapers - and wait for about 25 minutes.

After this time, your milk will have set, resembling a pudding. When you touch the surface, it will leave a dent. Take a large knife or palette knife and cut the 'pudding' in long strips. Cut crosswise, so you will have a checkerboard pattern, each square being 1 cm wide. Put the lid on the pan again and wait for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, open the pan. The curds will have separated from the whey: a yellowish shiny liquid. Stir with a spoon for several minutes and leave to rest for 10 minutes again (covered by lid). Now the whey has completely run out of the curd. Press a conical sieve in the curd and scoop out the whey (save it!) Then ladle the curds in a colander, lined with muslin and let drain.

The curds just want to stick together and the whey will run out like crazy, producing a soft, white, firming cheese. As your first attempt, wait another 10 minutes and turn the cheese out on a plate. It has a sweet, fresh cheese flavour and is very bland. Have it with olive oil, some coarse sea salt, some basil and tomatoes as you would have mozzarella.

Ah- mozzarella! Making fresh mozzarella from scratch is my ultimate goal in life. I read a recipe on the web involving microwaving the curd after this stage. I had to heat it for 1 minute, and then stretch it., and knead it into a ball. Enthousiastically, I went out to buy milk again and tried with a second batch. But alas, it didn't work: the result was a grainy hump of rather dry cheese instead of the silken smooth stretchy mozzarella we all know and love.

So. This is going to be one of my experiments the coming weeks, and one of these days I am sure I can show you the triumphant end result! Don't forget you can make ricotta with the leftover whey. Heat it until it reaches 70C and add 1/4 cup of cider vinegar. Scoop out the curds, put on your wooden shoes, and you will definitely feel like an artisanal cheese lady!

orzo with zucchini

2008-06-28T13:09:00.001+02:00

orzo with zucchini
Originally uploaded by kattebelletje.

Quick and elegant, that's how I would describe this dish. Perfect as a pasta course, with just some grilled pork chop or lamb chop on the side, or a nice grilled fish or chicken. Or just a plain salad with goat's cheese and bacon strips. Orzo looks like flecks of rice, but it is a shape of pasta. It has a funny texture which i like.

You will need (serves about 3)
1 large cup of orzo
1 large zucchini, or 2 small ones
olive oil, garlic, thyme, oregano, Parmesan cheese

Use a food processor to slice the zucchini into julienne strips. Of course you can do this by hand on a grater, but really, if you own a food processor, this job is very quick. Saute in a pan with some olive oil and a clove of garlic. Season with thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. In the meanwhile, boil orzo for about 7 minutes, then drain. Turn off heat and add to the zucchini mixture until combined. Add lots!! of grated Parmesan and some extra pepper if you like.

Barbara Kingsolver - or rather, her daughter Camille, who wrote the recipes in the book Animal Vegetable Miracle from where this recipe is taken - calls this dish 'disappearing zucchini orzo', because it really looks like the zucchini, well, disappears into the orzo.
The texture is really very pleasing, you don't feel you are overstuffing with pasta - and you aren't, because at least 50% is vegetables. The flavours all blend together very well. Will make again.