CHEWIE:How to Make Traditional Asian Recipes

How to Make: Japanese Strawberry Almond Tart (Sugar-Free)

2012-03-09T17:48:00.001-08:00

Hello, long time no posts... I've finally have had time to make something again, and this time, I made a Strawberry Almond Tart, a recipe that I stole from Ochikeron, on Youtube. It is ridiculously easy to make and it looks like a patisserie made it at the end. I used coconut oil, but use butter instead if you prefer. You can use whatever fruits you have, strawberries, blueberries, kiwis, mangoes...

Ingredients for a 12 cm Tart Tin:

Crust:

60 g Coconut oil or Butter at room temperature
30 g Splenda/Sugar substitute or just using powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
100 g cake flour (or 80 g all-purpose flour + 20 g potato/corn starch)
pinch of salt

Filling:

30 g Coconut Oil or Butter at room temperature
30 g powdered sugar or sugar substitute
40 g almond powder/ground almonds
1 egg
1/2 tbsp potato/corn starch
1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

454 g (1 lb) Strawberries

1st Glaze:

20 mL hot water
10 g honey

2nd Glaze:

2 tbsp Apricot Jelly, Jam or Preserves (You can use any light coloured fruit, like apple, orange etc)

Method:

Crust:

Mix the butter/oil and sugar together until fluffly.
Add in egg yolk and mix until combined.
Sift in the cake flour, salt and mix until it forms a dough, it will start out dry, but it will come together.
Form into a dough and wrap it with plastic wrap, let it sit in the fridge for 1 hour until it gets a little firmer.
Take it out and roll it between two plastic wrap to have the dough be about 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) thick. Put it in the tart tin and use a fork to prick holes in the bottom.

Mixture:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 F)
Mix butter/oil with sugar.
Add in egg and mix well.
Add in the almond powder or ground almonds, potato/corn starch and vanilla.
Spread the mixture into the crust and bake for 25 min.
Take it out and let it cool completely.

Finishing Touches:

Mix the honey and water together. Brush 3/4 of this mixture on top of the tart.
Heat the apricot jam for 10 sec in the microwave, and brush 1/2 of the jam on top of the tart.
Put one whole strawberry in the middle of the tart with the greens remove, and cut the rest of the strawberries in half. Arrange it so that it forms a flower-like pattern.
Mix the remaining honey water and apricot jam mixture and brush it on top of the strawberries.
It is ready to serve!

Here is Ochikeron's Recipe:

How to Make: Taro Dumplings 芋頭角 Wu Gok

2012-01-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2012! Today I made a Taro Dumpling called Wu Gok in Cantonese. It's a very popular dish to see in Chinese Dim Sum/Yum Cha places. I must admit, it is quite difficult to make this. The oil has to be at a good temperature otherwise it just won't work... Out of the 6 dumplings I made, only 3 came out mildly acceptable. Try it out though, maybe you just have better luck than I do. The nettings become nice and crispy after you fry them...

How to Make: Taro Dumplings 芋頭角 Wu Gok

Yields: 6-8 dumplings

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Filling:

120 g ground meat (turkey, chicken, pork etc)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp potato starch
1 garlic. minced
2 tsp water
1 tsp soy sauce

Taro Wrapper:

300 g peeled taro, steamed or boiled
50 g butter, oil or lard
50g wheat starch
50 mL of hot water
15 g sugar
5 g baking soda

Method:

Mash the taro root while it's still hot it should be like a powdery texture.
In another bowl, combine wheat starch and hot water until a dough forms. Add in the mashed taro, lard/oil/butter, baking soda and sugar. Combine until a soft dough forms.
Put in the fridge for 1/2 hour.
Meanwhile make the filling. In a frying pan, fry the meat with sesame oil until almost cooked. Add in garlic, sugar, soy sauce, potato starch and water.
Set aside and let it cool.
Take the taro dough out, and divide into 6 or 8 pieces. Flatten each piece into a circle of about the size of your palm. Add in a little bit of filling, not too much. Close the dough.
Deep fry at exactly 350 F (170C), not any hotter nor colder. If it is cooler, the nettings will separate, and if it is hotter, the netting with burn and smoke.
Serve after letting it cool for about 5 min.

Green Tea Matcha Mousse Cake (New Year's Cake)

2012-01-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! For New Year's Day, I made my Mousse Cake again (Click Here to See the recipe). Except this time, I used Matcha, and it turned out sooo well. I think I'm going to get so fat, LOL I'm kidding. I've been eating cakes non-stop since Dec 22. I like cakes, but aye.... New Year's Resolution? haha
Here are some pictures of it, and I made a video on How to Make it as well. Hope you enjoy and please subscribe if you know how to!

How to Make: Japanese Style-Christmas Cake (クリスマスケーキ) Kurisumasukeki

2011-12-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

Today is my birthday! Yeah... So I made myself a cake. Since it was close to Christmas or X-mas, I made a Japanese style X-mas cake, which is not too hard to make, and very yummy. It's usually whipped cream and strawberry in a Asian style sponge cake. It's also sold in Vancouver from many Asian bakeries most notably is the Chinese-Canadian supermarket chain T&T. This kind of cake, from what I hear, is almost like a tradition in Japan along with eating KFC (fried chicken). This type of cake is sold at bakeries before Christmas and eaten on or before Christmas. Strawberries are very expensive at this time of year, which make this cake even more special than a summer Strawberry Shortcake. My decorating skills are not perfected yet by any means, but it turned out okay. Try it out, it is very easy to make! The sponge cake is a very good recipe, very light and fluffy. It's another not too sweet cake, but be careful not to eat it all at once, I ate half in one sitting, but it's my birthday.

Japanese Style-Christmas Cake (クリスマスケーキ) Kurisumasukeki

Yields: One 12 cm (5 inch) cake

Servings: 4 servings

Time: 3 hours

Ingredients:

Sponge Cake:

2 eggs (room temperature)
63 gm of cake flour (50 gm of all purpose flour + 13 gm of potato starch or corn starch)
63 gm of sugar
25 gm of melted butter or oil
15 mL of water

Whipped Cream Frosting

200 mL of heavy cream
5 mL of vanilla extract (1 tsp)
10 gm of powdered sugar (or 5 gm of granulated sugar)
200 gm of strawberries plus extra for decoration.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170 C (340 F).
Beat the two eggs and sugar in a bowl with a wire whisk until the mixture becomes foamy and has doubled in volume. The colour should be pale yellow.
Fold in the flour and potato starch/corn starch until well combined. Add in the melted butter/oil until well combined.
Transfer the batter to a 15 cm cake tin, and bang it on a hard surface about 4-5 times to remove the air bubbles.
Put it in the oven to bake for 20-30 min, until when a knife or toothpick inserted, it comes out clean. Bang it on a hard surface again about 4-5 times to remove air bubbles. This will prevent it from shrinking.
Let it cool.
Using a hand whisk or electric whisk/beater, whisk the cream and sugar until it reaches soft peaks. Continue beating until it is medium-firm peaks.
Cut the cake into two. Brush sugar/water/vanilla on the first layer. Put 2 tbsp of the whipped cream on to the first layer. Add in sliced strawberries. Cover with another 2-3 tbsp of Whipped cream. Put the remaining layer on top of the sliced strawberries.
Here comes the tricky part. Use all but about 4 tbsp of the remaining whipped cream. Frost the entire cake with the cream. This usually takes practice, but do the best as you can. I had some trouble with it too.
Take the remaining cream and put into a piping bag. Pipe the remaining cream on top of the cake to your liking. Top with strawberries and ornaments.
Cut and serve! Merry Christmas! (You've just made a Kurisumasukeki! (クリスマスケーキ)

Tips and Suggestions:

For the cake: to whip the eggs faster, place the bowl of eggs in warm water while whipping it.
Keep the whipped cream cold by chilling the bowl before whipping it.
Don't worry if your cake doesn't turn out as beautiful, you can decorate it all you want after. It takes a lot of practice to make it really perfect.
Use an off set spatula if you have one to frost the cake. If not use a long butter knife.
Top it with chocolate, and other decorations for fun.
If you're planning to serve this cake later (not within 24 hours), add in some dissolved gelatin to the whipped cream frosting.

How to Make: Korean Seafood Pancake (Haemul Pajun/Pajeon) (해물파전)(파煎)

2011-12-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

Seafood Green Onion Pancake is a popular Korean side dish. It is always available as a popular appetiser at Korean Restaurants, because of it's savoury and comforting taste. Whenever I go to a Korean restaurant, I always order this because it's so good. It's sort of similar to the Chinese pancake, except much easier because it does not require kneading the dough. Today, I made this Korean Green Onion Pancake with my mum. It's actually very easy to make, and it's tonne cheaper than ordering in a restaurant. The sharp taste of the green onion becomes mild after it has cooked. The pancake becomes crispy on the outside, but very soft and slightly mushy in the centre. It contrasts really well with the taste of the seafood. If you don't like seafood, leave it out, and just add in more vegetables like carrot or more green onion. I like to have a lot of squid in the pancake, so I used mostly squid, some octopus, crab and prawns. Customise the ingredients yourself, it's really fantastic and easy to make! Be sure to serve the sauce with it, it brings all the flavours together.

Korean Seafood Green Onion Pancake (Haemul Pajun/Pajeon) (해물파전) (파煎)

Ingredients:

85 gm of All-purpose flour (3/4 cup)
5 gm of baking powder (1 teaspoon)
5 gm of ground black pepper (1 teaspoon)
5 gm of salt (2 teaspoon)
5 gm of dashi stock powder (1 teaspoon) *optional
175 mL of water (3/4 cup)
1 bunch (10 stalks) of Green Onion (Scallions) cut into 5 cm (2 inch) strips
225 gm (1/2 pound) of Mixed Seafood (Prawns, Shrimp, Squid, Octopus, Mussels, Clams, Oysters, Crab etc...)
Oil for frying

Dipping Sauce:

10 gm of sugar (2 teaspoon)
30 mL of soy sauce (2 tablespoon)
15 mL of vinegar (1 tablespoon)
5 mL of toasted sesame oil (1 teaspoon)
5 gm of minced garlic (1 teaspoon)
5 gm of toasted sesame seeds (1 teaspoon)
5 gm of hot pepper flakes (1 teaspoon) *optional

Method:

Mix the all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper, salt, and dashi stock powder if using. Add in the water and mix until all the lumps are gone. Add in half of the seafood and mix until evenly distributed. This is your pancake batter.
In a large heated pan, spread 15 mL (1 tbsp) of oil. Add in most of the pancake batter (reserve a little bit of batter for later), and spread into a thin layer.
Distribute the green onions, remaining seafood on top. Pour the remaining batter on top, this will make sure that the green onions and seafood will not fall apart. Slightly press the pancake.
Let it fry until golden brown on medium heat (~about 3-4 min).
Flip it (with a spatula if you're too scared to flip it in the pan), and let it cook on the other side for another 3 min until it is fully cooked. Both sides should be slightly crispy.
Cut it into 8 wedges and serve on the plate. Mix the ingredients for the dipping sauce, and serve with the pancakes!
Eat while it's piping hot! ＼（＾∀＾）メ（＾∀＾）ノ

Tips and Suggestions:

If you want it crispier, make the first pancake even thinner, and add more oil. This usually works out to make 2 thin pancakes rather than one.
Feel free to use any kind of seafood, and vegetables too. Some good suggestions are: Lobster, Crab, Imitation Crab, Shredded Carrot, thinly sliced potato, Kimchi...
The dashi stock powder enhances the seafood flavour, but is not necessary.

''Cooking Quick n’ Easy Dinner Recipes for Asian Dishes'' from James Kim (Guest Post) author of foodonthetable.com

2011-12-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone, today's post is my first guest post. The guest is James Kim, author of http://blogcontentguildnews.com/. Please check it out! Today he writes and gives advice about ways you can eat a nutritious and satisfying Asian meal even when there is very little time. He will explain what you'll need on hand, and what you should think about when shopping for groceries. View James Kims popular website ''Food on the Table''

http://www.foodonthetable.com.

James also writes about food for

http://blogcontentguildnews.com/

Happy Reading! Thanks James for your post!

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''Guest Post'' Cooking Quick n’ Easy Dinner Recipes for Asian Dishes- by James Kim of http://blogcontentguildnews.com/ and http://www.foodonthetable.com

Many of us can barely find the time to cook easy dinner recipes like macaroni and cheese out of a box, let alone find the time to cook delicious Asian restaurant style meals. Fortunately for the Asian food loving family, there are a number of quick and easy dinner recipes that require few ingredients and limited time and skill to cook. Here are some great ways to help you start preparing easy dinner meals just like the ones you would find in your family’s favorite Chinese, Japanese, and Korean food restaurant.

If you want to start cooking dinner recipes that taste just like the ones you’d find at a Chinese restaurant, it’s best to always keep staples on hand. Some Chinese food staples include rice, tofu, chicken, fish, soy sauce, sesame oil, eggs, onions, garlic, broccoli, sweet potato, and shiitake mushrooms. You can make sure you always have your pantry and fridge stocked with these ingredients by making a weekly grocery list. Always do an inventory check as you make your list to ensure you have what you need. Since eggs often get used up fast at breakfast time, you’ll need to pay special attention to your egg supply to make sure you have enough to cook your easy dinners. If you want to add a healthier twist to the Chinese, Korean, and Japanese meals you cook, substitute brown rice for white rice, and keep more vegetables on hand. Some examples of vegetables commonly used in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean dishes are bok choy, water chestnuts, leeks, Chinese cabbage, baby corn, kabocha, scallions, onion, peppers, and snow peas.

There are plenty of quick easy dinner recipes to Chinese/Japanese/Korean dishes you can find online. Start by looking for easy dinner ideas for simple stir-fries and fried rice dishes. These will require the least time and skill to cook, and they’ll taste delicious. If you are cooking easy dinner recipes for family members, make sure you adjust how much of each dish you make accordingly. If you’re cooking easy dinner recipes for two, you’ll probably use considerably fewer ingredients than most recipes call for. Keep this in mind. You’ll get the hang of adjusting portions. To build up your Chinese/Japanese/Korean cooking skills, try to cook at least one easy dinner from a Chinese/Japanese/Korean food recipe a week. Once you’ve been cooking the simple dishes for a while, you can move on to cooking more advanced meals like Kung Pao Chicken and Moo Shu Pork.

So, if you want to cook delicious and nutritious meals for your family that taste just like the ones you can find in a Chinese, Korean, or Japanese restaurant, keep staples on hand, start off with the simplest dishes, and believe in the potential of your culinary skills!

-James Kim

View James Kims popular website ''Food on the Table''

http://www.foodonthetable.com.

James also writes about food for

http://blogcontentguildnews.com/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks James for you post!

How to Make: Jajangmyeon/Jajiangmien/Jajangmyun Black Bean Sauce on Hand Pulled Noodles (자장면)(炸酱面) Koreanised Chinese Food

2011-12-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

It's December already, so it's time for some hearty food to warm up from the cold. Zha jiang mian/Jajangmyeon in Korean, is a traditional Chinese dish, composed of a sweet black bean sauces, meat and other delicious ingredients on top of chewy hand pulled wheat noodles. It's really good, and sometimes it can be spicy too. But today, this recipe is the Korean version of this classic dish, which tastes completely different, but it is very delicious as well. Originally, the Chinese version has a combination of fermented bean sauces like, sweet bean sauce, yellow soybean paste (similar to miso), and/or broad bean sauce. The Korean version uses Jajang, a black bean sauce combined with caramel which gives it a charcoal like taste. It's slightly sweet, and it's very interesting. There is an instant ramen variety of this dish by Nongshim, ''Chapaghetti'' because this Chinese dish is so popular in Korea. Usually it's ordered with Tangsooyuk or Sweet and Sour Pork, another popular Korean-Chinese Dish. Make sure you get Korean style Black bean paste, it's completely different from the original Chinese one. It's super easy and satisfying!

Jajangmyeon/Jajiangmien/Jajangmyun : Black Bean Sauce with Hand pulled Noodles(자장면)(炸酱面) :A Koreanised Chinese Food Recipe
Yields: 4 servings
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Ingredients:

500 gm of Pork/Chicken/Beef (1 1/2 lbs)
2 medium Potatoes
1 medium Onion
3 cloves of garlic
Any other vegetables (carrots, zucchini/courgettes, sweet potato, pumpkin, green peas)
5 tbsp of Jajang (Koreanised-Chinese Black Bean Paste)
15 gm of Sugar (1 tbsp)
250 mL of water (1 cup)
1 tbsp of potato/corn starch + 1 tbsp of water
400 gm of Jajiangmien/Jajangmyeon/Jajangmyun Hand Pulled Noodles (ThickWheat or Hand Pulled Noodles or Spaghetti)

Method:

Cut all the vegetables and meat into uniformed 1 cm (0.5 inch) pieces.
In a pot/wok on medium heat, add in 15 mL/1 tbsp of Oil. Add in the garlic, stir fry until fragrant.
Add in the onion and potato. Make sure the potato is almost cooked (try a piece, it should be soft but a little crunchy). Add in the other vegetables, then add in the water and cover. Cook until the potato is completely cooked through to your liking.
In a separate pan put in 60 mL of oil and fry the black bean paste for 3-4 min. This process will remove the bitterness of the paste. Drain the excess oil and remove. Add in the fried black bean paste to the vegetable mixture and mix until the paste is dissolved.
Add in the potato/corn starch + water mixture and mix it through until it thickens. You've made Jajiangmien/Jajangmyeon/Jajangmyun sauce!
Prepare the noodles according to the packet and pour the Jajiangmien/Jajangmyeon/Jajangmyun sauce over the noodles.
Serve warm, with kimchi, pickled yellow radish, and more vegetables if you like!

Tips/Suggestions/Notes:

Use Korean style Black bean paste. The Chinese one is different in taste.
Use whatever vegetables you fancy.

How to Make: Peking-Style Pork Chop/Strawberry Pork Chop (京都排骨)(Ging duo Pai gwat)/(Jing du Pai gu)/(Ching Du Pai Gu)

2011-11-27T06:23:00.000-08:00

Today's recipe is authentic Chinese Peking Style Pork Chops- Jing duo Pai Gwat in Cantonese or Ching du Pai gu or rou pai in Mandarin (京都排骨). In Western Canada (Vancouver, Calgary in particular), the most common variety is called Strawberry Pork Chop or spare ribs. Did it originate from Hong Kong? I don't know :-( It might sound unappetising, but it is very delicious! You can't taste the strawberries at the end, but it helps make the sauce have a unique flavour. I used boneless pork chops but you can use the one with bones too. Usually the dish is made with Hoisin Sauce instead of Gochuchang (Korean Hot pepper paste), but I didn't have any. I learned how to make this dish from experience and observing how the restaurants did it. It's just like the restaurant! Try it out.

Peking-Style Pork Chop/Spare Ribs(Strawberry Pork Chop)(Ching Du Pai Gu) (京都排骨)

Yields: 3-4 Servings

Cooking Time: 30 min

Total Time: 2 hours 30 min

Ingredients:

Pork:

3 Pork Chops cut into 5-7 cm pieces (2-3 inches) OR 500 gm of Pork Spare Ribs (1 lb)
100 gm Potato starch or Corn starch (1/2 cup)
500 mL of water (2 cups)
1 egg white
5 ml of Sesame Oil (1 tsp)
10 gm of Baking powder (2 tsp)
pinch of salt

Sauce:

100 gm of Strawberries, smashed (about 3 oz)
30 gm packed brown sugar (2 1/2 tbsp)
30 mL of Soy Sauce (2 tbsp)
45 mL of Hoisin Sauce or Kecap Manis (3 tbsp)
30 mL Chinese Rice wine or Sake (2 tbsp)
30 mL Oyster Sauce (2 tbsp)
15 mL Korean Hot pepper paste (Gochujang) (2 tbsp)
10 mL Srichacha Chilli Sauce (or any hot sauce) (2 tsp)
45 mL of water (3 tbsp)
30 mL Vinegar (2 tbsp)
5 mL sesame oil (1 tsp)

Method:

Prepare the batter, combine the potato starch or corn starch in a large bowl and mix it well with water. Leave it on the counter for 2 hours. It should separate into two layers. Drain of the water, and add in the egg white. Mix until the batter becomes runny. Add in the sesame oil, baking powder, and salt.
Prepare the meat. Cut the pork into 5-7 cm (2-3 inch) pieces. Pound the pork with a kitchen hammer, meat tenderiser or heavy pot to flatten it. This will make the pork very tender.
Add the pork to the batter and coat it evenly.
Heat the oil to medium heat at 180 C (350 F), and fry the pork until a little golden (about 4 min). Remove the pork and let it drain on paper towel. Let it cool slightly before frying the second time.
Heat the oil to medium-high heat to 190 C (375 F) and fry the pork again for 2 min until they become very golden brown and crispy. Remove and drain again.
Combine the ingredients for sauce and then put in a pan or wok on medium heat. Let the sauce boil and reduce in volume by about 1/2. It should become sticky and and glossy.
Add in pork, coat the sauce evenly, and serve with rice

Tips/Suggestions:

If you don't have time to let the potato starch/corn starch to separate, just use 100 gm (1/2 cup) of potato/corn starch with 100 mL (1/3 cup) of water and the other ingredients. Mix well- it won't be as crispy but it will still be pretty good.
Double frying it will give it extra crunch. Careful not to over brown the first batch, otherwise the meat will not be fully cooked in the centre.
If you like it with a lot of sauce, double the ingredients for the sauce.
You can also try with oranges to make orange pork.
Careful not to turn the heat too high on the sauce, it will burn because of the high sugar content.

How to Make: Kinako Yoghurt/Yogourt/Yogurt/ Mousse Cake (きなこのヨーグルトムースケーキ)(酸奶慕斯蛋糕)(Asian Style Cake)

2011-11-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving 2011! Today I will share with you a very pretty cake! It is a Yoghurt Mousse Cake that is very common at Asian Bakeries. It is not too sweet and very elegant. The mousse is airy, creamy and delicious. Oishi! I made mine with Kinako, which is roasted ground soy beans which sort of taste like peanut butter. I thought the colour would be nice and complement the Thanksgiving spirit. Please try it with Matcha green tea powder, cocoa, orange, strawberry and other flavours. They are delicious too! This is relatively easy to make, if you follow the steps, and there are quite a few. Be patient and you'll be greatly rewarded with this beautiful cake!

Kinako Yoghurt/Yogourt/Yogurt/ Mousse Cake (きなこのヨーグルトムースケーキ)(酸奶慕斯蛋糕)(Asian Style Cake)
Yields: 1 cake
Preparation Time: 40 min
Idle Time: 10 hours

Ingredients for 12 cm (5 inch) Cake Tin: (for larger cake tins double the ingredients for every 3 cm ex: 21 cm cake tin-use 4 eggs and 80 gm of flour)

Chiffon Cake:

1 egg
20 gm of All Purpose Flour
5 gm of Cornstarch
20 gm of sugar
5 gm of honey
15 mL of melted butter or oil
25 mL of water
1 tbsp of of the following: Kinako, Cocoa, Matcha, Vanilla, Orange zest, Prepared Coffee

For Mousse:

100 mL of milk
100 gm of Yoghurt/Yogourt/Yogurt (*see note below)
100 mL of Heavy Whipping Cream
35 gm of sugar
8 gm of unflavoured Gelatin
20 mL of hot water
1 tbsp of the following: Kinako, Cocoa, Matcha, Vanilla, Orange zest, Prepared Coffee

For the jelly-glaze topping:

1 tbsp of boiling juice, or prepared coffee
2 tbsp of room temperature or cold juice/coffee
1 gm of unflavoured gelatin (1/4 tsp)
Sliced Fresh fruit

Method:

Chiffon Cake Layer

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (350 degrees F).
Separate the egg white from the egg yolks. Using a whisk or an electric beater, beat the egg whites until they become foamy, and slowly add in 5 gm of the sugar, and continue beating until they are doubled in volume and it looks glossy- this is called stiff peak stage. Set aside
Combine the egg yolk, the remaining sugar, and honey. Sift in the flour and cornstarch and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine butter/oil, flavouring (I used Kinako), and water until well dissolved. Add it into the egg yolk mixture and stir well. Combine the egg yolk mixture and the whipped egg whites gently by using a folding motion.
Transfer the batter to a cake tin lined with parchment paper (or if you don't have parchment paper, grease the pan generously and dust it with a teaspoon of flour). Bang the filled tin on a hard surface 5 times to remove the air bubbles.
Bake for 20 min, or when a toothpick or knife inserted in the centre comes out fairly clean.

Mousse:

Whip the cold heavy whipping cream until it is thick (medium peaks). Fold in the yoghurt/yogourt/yogurt with the whipped cream.
In a bowl, combine the milk, sugar, and kinako. Stir until everything is well combined. Gently add in the Whipped cream-yoghurt mixture. This is now the mousse mixture.
Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water and wait for 1 min to cool down. Add in to the mousse mixture.

Assembly:

Cut the cake in half and remove about 1 cm around the edges (the crust) to make space for the mousse. Put the first layer in either a spring form pan, cake ring or a cake tin with a removable bottom. Put in half of the mousse mixture on top, pressing it firmly around the edges to remove any air bubbles.
Add in the second layer of cake, and pour the rest of the mousse mixture, again firmly pressing the edges with the back of a spoon. Bang it on a hard surface about 5 times to ensure that there are no air bubbles.
Let it set in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight until firm.
When the mousse has set, making the jelly glaze topping. Combine the boiling juice or coffee and gelatin until it has completely dissolved. Add in the cold or room temperature juice/coffee and let it cool completely (about 5 min). Pour over the mousse cake and let it set for about 3 hours or longer. Unmould the cake, to make it easier warm the edges with a blow dryer.
Garnish with freshly whipped cream and fruit! Yummy.

Tips/Notes/Suggestions:

**I used whole (homo) milk yoghurt, it was already thick, but if the yoghurt you have is very runny, then place it in paper towel and squeeze very lightly until some of the water drains out.
Banging the cake batter before prevent it from rising too much. Banging the cake after will prevent it from shrinking too much when cooling.
Timing is very important. When making the mousse, don't let it sit too much or else it will become too set to pour over the cake, and will increase your chance for having air bubbles between the layers of the cake.
Decorate the cake as your liking! Fresh fruit and whipped cream, maybe some chocolate or plastic signs?
Try other flavours in place of kinako, replace this wherever kinako is used:

Matcha/Green tea and replace the coffee jelly with matcha jelly (just substitute with matcha powder).

Instant Coffee/Espresso Powder- use the same coffee jelly. (This one is very good)

Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry- use strawberry, blueberry, raspberry or blackberry yoghurt. You might want to consider reducing the amount of sugar in the mousse.

Mango or other fruit- Use mango puree instead of the water and kinako, and use mango juice instead of coffee for the jelly.

Chocolate- Use cocoa powder, instead of kinako, and adjust the sugar to your sweetness. Use the coffee jelly, it complements the chocolate very well

How to Make: Easy Cabbage Kimchi/Gimchee/Kimchee (김치) (沈菜)

2011-11-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

Kimchi/Kimchee/Gimchee/Gimchi is a Korean side dish and most of the time, it's the first thing you think of when you hear about Korean food. It is served with almost every meal along with other side dishes. It is full of complexity and it is spicy, salty, crunchy and as time passes, sour. For this recipe, I learned this way of making Kimchi from my Korean host family when I was travelling a couple months back. She showed me how easy it was. One thing to watch out is that, make sure you use KOREAN chillies, not just any chili powder, it has to be KOREAN type. I've made it with the common hot pepper flakes,- it was beyond spicy, and the colour was not as bright too. You can get it (usually in big 500gm-1 kg bags) at Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese- almost any Asian market.

Easy Cabbage Kimchi/Gimchee/Kimchee (김치) (沈菜)
Yields: 1.5 kg of Kimchi
Total Time: 2.5 hours.
Ingredients:

1.5 kg of Nappa Cabbage (Chinese Cabbage) 3.3 pounds
300 gm of (one medium sized) Daikon Radish (10 oz or (2/3) lbs), Sliced
~175 gm One medium sized Carrot, Sliced ( 5 oz or 1/3 pound)
8 Green Scallion Onions (Chopped)
75 gm of Sea Salt (1/3 cup)

Sauce:

1 whole head of garlic, finely minced (1/3 cup)
3 tbsp of Grated Ginger
1 medium Onion, grated
125 mL of Fish Sauce (1/2 cup)
100 gm of Hot pepper flakes or hot pepper powder (2/3 cup) (this amount is medium spicy, use more or less if you want it spicier or less spicy.
30 gm of Glutinous rice flour
80 mL of Water (1/3 cup)
30 gm of sugar

Method:

Cut the Nappa/Chinese into bite size pieces and soak them in water to clean them. Drain the cabbage, and transfer 1/4 of the cabbage into a large bowl. Sprinkle 1/4 of the salt on the cabbage. This will ensure that the salt will coat the cabbage evenly. Continue the layering of cabbage and salt until finished. Let the salt and cabbage sit for 2 hours. Stir every half hour. There should be a lot of water coming out of the cabbage.
Wash the cabbage 4-5 times to remove the salt taste. Drain well.
In a saucepan, dissolve the glutinous rice flour, sugar and water until there are no more lumps. Turn the heat on Medium heat and allow the porridge to thicken. The consistency should be like liquid honey. Let the mixture cool.
Add in the minced garlic, grated onion, grated ginger, fish sauce, Hot pepper flakes, carrot, daikon radish and green onion. Stir to combine.
Mix the drained cabbage with the sauce, be sure to coat evenly. Store in a container- make sure to press the kimchi when you transfer it to a container to squeeze out air pockets that can shorten the life of your kimchi. A special twist that my Korean host family showed me was that she drizzled about 2-3 tbsp of honey over the top to make it a little sweet, it also allows the good bacteria to grow.
You can leave it out for 5-7 days to ferment and get sour, then put it in the fridge for or you can put it in the fridge to ferment slowly (over weeks). Sprinkle with roasted sesame seeds and serve with rice or as a banchan!

Tips/Suggestions/Advice:

Use Red Pepper Flakes for less spicy Red Pepper Powder for more spicy. The finer the powder the greater in concentration the spicyness is.
You don't have to make a porridge if you don't have glutinous rice flour, just skip the porridge stage and just mix the sauce together. The reason for

How to Make: Simple Char Siu Pork Buns (Cheating Version :P)(Nikuman (肉まん)/ Char Siu Bao (叉燒包)/ Jjinppang mandu 찐빵 만두 )

2011-11-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

Bar-bq pork buns (Char Siu bao) is one of the most common Chinese food available. It is sold very commonly in bakeries, dim sum/yum cha restaurants, supermarkets, almost anywhere. It is also very common in Japan, Korea, Hawaii and Southeast Asia as snacks, however, as expected, the fillings do vary drastically. Today, I will show you how to make my ''cheating'' version of it that has been handed down from my grandparents. I have made them with different fillings, but this is by far my favourite. It tastes just like Char siur bao, but you don't have to make or buy the Char siur. Char siur is Barb-qued pork butt or shoulder that has been marinated with many different sauces overnight, and char-grilled. The cooking process is very long, smelly and tiring if you choose to make it. But this recipe, I use ground pork belly, which will be very similar. No one will ever tell that you didn't use it! You will save many hours and a heck of a lot of energy making it this way. The dough has been a very long adventure for me. I started making these baos (buns) since I was a little kid, and I've been experimenting with the ratio, the flours, and all sorts of things. It is fluffy and very white. I am glad to share with a very special dough recipe with you today, so please enjoy this delicious bun!

How to Make: Simple Char Siu Pork Buns (Cheating Version :P) (Nikuman (肉まん)/ Char Siu Bao (叉燒包)/ Jjinppang mandu 찐빵 만두 )
Yields: 8 buns
Active Cooking Time: 15 min
Non Active Cooking Time: 1 hr 30 min
Ingredients
Dough :

250 gm of All-purpose flour (2 cups/0.55 lb)
25 gm of sugar (2 tbsp)
7 gm of Instant Yeast (1 generous teaspoon)
7 gm of Baking Powder (1 generous teaspoon)
135 mL of lukewarm water (1/2 cup)
15 mL of toasted sesame oil (1 tbsp)
10 mL of vinegar (2 tsp)

Filling (Meat Mixture):

200 gm of Ground Pork Belly (You can use any turkey, beef or chicken too) (1/2 pound)
2 tbsp of Korean Hot Pepper Paste (Gochuchang)
2 tbsp of Oyster sauce
1 tsp of Hoisin Sauce (optional)
1 tbsp of honey
2 tsp of potato starch or corn starch
3 tbsp of water

Dough:

Combine all-purpose flour, sugar, instant yeast, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add in the luke warm water and stir. As the dough comes together, add in the sesame oil and rice vinegar. The dough will look like there is not enough water at first, but there is, the more you knead, the more moist the dough will be.
When the dough forms a dough, knead it on a very lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is not sticky or crumbly any more. Form it into a ball and put it in a large bowl.
Put the bowl of dough in a relatively warm place (25-30 degrees C or 80-90 F) for about 1 hour or if the temperature of the room is colder, let it rise a little longer until the dough doubles in size.
Punch the dough to remove the build up of gas, and divide the dough into 8 pieces. Shape each of the 8 pieces into a ball, keeping the surface smooth. Cover the 8 pieces with a damp towel and let it rest before filling and shaping.

Meat Filling:

Combine in a separate bowl, the honey, Korean Hot pepper paste (Gochuchang), honey, Oyster sauce, Hoisin sauce and 2 tbsp of the water. This is the sauce.
Heat up a frying pan or wok to very-high heat. Add in 1 tsp of oil, and the ground meat. Allow the meat to scorch a little bit as you stir. When the meat is completely cooked, add in the sauce and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for 3 minutes.
Dissolve the potato starch/corn starch and the remaining 1 tbsp of water in a separate bowl. Add it to the meat mixture until it thickens and becomes sticky. Let it cool completely in the fridge.

Assembly:

Take a ball of dough and flatten it with either a rolling pan or with your hands to a diameter of about 10 cm or 4 inches on a NON floured surface. Put two generous spoonfuls of the meat mixture and crimp the edges, and then finally twisting it to enclose. Place each bun on a muffin liner. Do the same with the remaining 8 pieces.
Put the buns in a steamer on the lowest possible heat for 15 min. Then, steam the buns on high heat for 20 min.
Serve warm! They can be frozen after they have been steamed. Just microwave or re-steam before serving!

Tips/Suggestions:

You can use real Char siur if you want, just cut them into small pieces and use the same sauce.
Gochuchang is a hot Korean pepper paste, it doesn't make it very spicy, but it makes it very red and sticky. It will also give it a unique complex flavour. If you cannot find it, just use 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and 1 tbsp of honey. It won't be as vibrant in colour though.
You can freeze the buns, but steam them first.
Try filling it with red bean paste or sweet taro paste. It makes a nice sweet dessert.
You want to make sure that you scorch the meat just a little (not too much) to give this the signature smokey flavour of a char-grilled char siur. Just let some of the bits get really dark.

How to Make: Jjapchae: Korean Stir Fried Sweet Potato Starch Glass Noodles 잡채(雜菜)

2011-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've been trying out some Korean food that my mother used to make for fun. Here's the first one: Jjapchae. Jjapchae or Chapchae is a delicious noodle side-dish loaded with healthy vegetables and flavour. The colours of this dish makes it so appetizing. It is slightly sweet and salty with a strong sesame taste to it. The toasted sesame oil is the real key to this dish. It adds a unique flavour to the entire dish, so be sure you use it! The best thing of all though, it is extremely easy to make and it is quite a fast dish to make. The noodles are made out of sweet potato starch and are labelled sometimes as ''Sweet Potato Starch Noodles,'' ''Oriental Noodles'' or just ''Starch Noodles.'' It shouldn't be very difficult to find them in an Asian Supermarket. But if you can't find them, you can use rice noodles which are a bit thinner. This dish is so versatile, you can just use whatever vegetables you have in the fridge. This dish is wheat free! Enjoy this recipe!

Jjapchae: Korean Stir Fried Sweet Potato Starch Glass Noodles 잡채(雜菜) (Wheat-Free Recipe)
Serves: 6-8 people
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

1 Medium Onion- Thinly Sliced
5 White Button Mushrooms Sliced
5 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms, rehydrated, sliced
2 large Bell Pepper/ Capsicum
2 medium carrots, sliced into long thin pieces
8 Green Scallion Onions cut into 5 cm (2 inch) pieces
340 gm of Korean Sweet Potato Starch Noodles (12 oz)
100 gm (One medium bunch) of Watercress
3 Garlic cloves minced
50 gm of Sliced Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish, Squid, or Tofu.

Seasoning/Dressing:

2 tbsp of Toasted Sesame Oil
3 tbsp of Soy Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp of Sugar or Honey
2 tbsp of Coarsely ground black pepper.
1 tbsp of Roasted Sesame Seeds

Method:

Add the dried noodles into a large pot of boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes until they are soft and tender. Remove the noodles and lightly rinse with cold water. Put the noodles in another bowl and add 1 tbsp of Sesame Oil.
In the same pot with the boiling water, add in the watercress and boil for 1 minute until the leafs are slightly wilted and are bright green. Remove the watercress and run it under cold water. Squeeze the excess water and cut it in half.
In a frying pan or wok on medium-high heat, add one teaspoon of any type of oil and stir fry the onion, mushrooms and garlic until soft. Transfer to the same bowl with the noodles. Reheat the wok or frying pan, and add another teaspoon of oil, cooking the remaining vegetables for 2 min until they are heated through and have bright vibrant colour.
In a small bowl combine the ingredients for the seasoning/dressing and mix well. Pour it on top of the noodle and vegetables and toss well.
Sprinkle some additional roasted sesame seeds and ground black pepper to serve. Serve this dish hot or at room temperature.

Tips/Notes:

Use whatever vegetables you have, it is totally up to you.
Adjust the amount of soy sauce and sugar to your taste. It should be slightly sweet.

How to Make: Sweet Taro Paste/Red Bean Baked Pastry Dumplings (Manju 만주) Adapted from Maangchi

2011-10-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've found about a Youtube celebrity chef; Maangchi. If you haven't seen her, go look her up NOW. She is so relaxed and makes everything looks so delicious and easy. Her video and recipe of Manju (Click here to see her recipe and video!) made me make it. I've adapted the recipe to more Chinese style and diary free, and in fact, these kinds of pastries are common in Asian Markets. T&T Supermarket in Canada have something similar to this in their baking aisle, but I don't know what it's called. This pastry is actually amazing easy to make and only takes a couple of minutes to prepare. You'll impress anyone with the cute chestnut shape. You can shape it however you want but I like it like this. I've used the taro paste this time, and it was pretty damn good! But you can always use red bean paste or any other pastes. Maangchi uses lima beans, but I can't find them. Give it try, you'll be so you made beautiful pastries!

Sweet Taro/Red Bean Baked Dumplings

Recipe by: Maangchi's Recipe for Sweet Manju, adapted by Chewie

Yields: 4 dumplings

Preparation Time: 10 min

Baking Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

Dough:

50 gms of flour (1/3 + 1 tbsp cup)
1 egg, whisked and then divided into 2.
1/4 teaspoon of salt
30 mL of honey (2 tbsp)
Roasted Sesame Seeds or Crushed peanuts

Filling:

120 gm Sweet Taro Paste or Red Bean Paste (1/2 Cup) (Click for the recipe)

Method:

Combine all the ingredients except for one half of the egg for the dough in a bowl. Mix well, the dough will be very sticky. Transfer it on a cutting board or surface that has been generously dusted with flour. Dust the top of the dough with flour and with well-floured hand, divide the dough into 4 equal pieces.
Divide sweet taro paste or red bean paste into 4 equal balls and put it on the floured surface.
Take a piece of dough and dust some more flour on it, and press it into a circle on your floured hand. Put a ball of filling in the middle of the circle and wrap the dough to completely enclose the filling. The dough when flattened does not need to be too thin, just enough to hold the filling otherwise the dough will break.
Shape it into a ball and pinch the edges to form it into a chestnut shape. Dip the ends of the chestnut in water lightly and roll them in some sesame seeds. Place on a baking tray and brush with the remaining 1/2 beaten egg. Bake for 15-18 minutes on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown.

Notes/Tips:

If you put the filling in the fridge for an hour or two, it will be much easier to shape and form the balls.
Make sure you use a good amount of flour on your working surface, as everything is very sticky.
Be sure to put the dumplings in the middle rack to prevent the filling from seeping out. You can always use other fillings such as premade lotus paste, black bean paste, sesame paste etc.

How to Make: Chinese Sweet Taro Paste (芋泥餡) ''Or Nee'' Dim Sum/Yum Cha Filling

2011-10-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

Taro Paste is a common and relatively a new filling to see in Chinese pastries, steamed buns and desserts. Chinese pastries are usually filled with some kind of paste whether it be red bean paste, lotus seed paste, black bean paste, black sesame paste, chestnut paste... the list goes on. The taro paste however, is my favourite and the easiest, quickest one to make. Taro (芋头 yù tou) is a starchy root vegetable that originated from Hawaii. It is used in various cuisines such as Hawaiian, African Japanese, Chinese, and almost all Southeast Asian cuisine. The flesh of the root has a murky grey-ish tint to it with specks of purple. When it is cooked, the purple specks tints the entire vegetable giving it a beautiful cloudy-purplish colour. The texture of a taro is like a potato, with a little less moisture and has a distinct taste to it. It has a mildly-sweet, coconut-like flavour which complements many Chinese dishes. It served at Dim sum/Yum Cha restaurants as a filling in the Coconut Pudding Jelly (椰汁糕), Pineapple buns, Steamed buns, baked buns, etc. Taro paste is very exciting to see and taste whenever it is inside a bun because it fits so well, texturally, visually and flavour-wise. Plus, when do you ever get to eat something purple that isn't food coloured?

It is so easy to make, you can start filling your cakes, puddings, buns, and even savoury foods with it. You can serve by itself as a dessert which is called ''Or Nee'' which is a bowl of taro paste, topped with a little bit of sugary syrup, and peanuts. You can get taro at all Asian grocery markets. Pandan is the Southeast Asian version of vanilla, but has a completely different profile in taste. You can find the extract in bottles or the leaves frozen in the freezer section, or if you're really lucky, the fresh leaves. But you can use vanilla if you can't find it at your Asian grocery store.

Chinese Sweet Taro Paste (芋泥餡) ''Or Nee'' Filling

Yields: 800 gm of Taro Paste (about 2 1/2 cups)

Preparation Time: 30 min

Cooking time: 10 min

Total Time Required: 40 min

Ingredients:

900 gm of Taro (2 lbs)
75 gm of Sugar (1/3 cup)
75 gm of Honey (2 1/2 tbsp)
300 mL of Hot water (1 1/4 cups)
30 gm of Butter/oil/lard (2 tbsp)
2 Pandan leaves or 1 tsp of Pandan extract (**optional** can be substituted with vanilla extract or beans)

Method:

Preheat the steamer. Using latex or rubber gloves to protect your hand, peel (with a vegetable peeler) and cut the taro into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes. Put it in the steamer until tender, about 20 min. You can also boil and drain them in water for 15 min instead of steaming.
While the taro is cooking, make the syrup. Combine the sugar, honey, hot water and pandan/vanilla (if using) in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves completely.
Mash the steamed taro while it is still hot until it resembles a dry powder. Add in the butter/oil/lard and combine. Add the syrup to the mashed taro mixture in 3-4 additions, stirring with either a wooden spoon or spatula until the syrup is absorbed. The final texture should be like soft mashed potatoes.

Notes and Tips:

Taro root contains calcium oxalate which cause itching to the skin. You may or may not be very sensitive to this, but for precautionary, use rubber/latex gloves when handling taro in its raw state. The calcium oxalate is minimized when cooked and is completely edible.
Adjust the sweetness of the final product to your need or liking. You may like it sweeter so add more syrup or honey, or you may like it less sweet.
If the paste seems too dry, add some more boiling water, tablespoon by tablespoon until the desired texture is achieved.
To help which fat to use here are some guidelines: Butter matches very well if using the paste in sweet baked goods. Flavourless oils match sweet and savoury foods. Lard enhances savoury foods better.

How to Make: Chinese Chive and Prawn Pan Fried Dumplings 韭菜虾饺 (Gai Coi Har Gow) Chinese Dim sum/Yum Cha Recipe

2011-10-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

Dim sum/Yum Cha is favoured throughout the world (Click here to see what Dim Sum/Yum Cha is). Delicious snack-like dishes offer such elegance to the eyes and the multitude of textures in every dish is truly a unique experience. Today, I'm sharing the recipe of a very common dish to see at Dim Sum/Yum Cha-they are Chive and Prawn Pan Fried Dumplings 韭菜虾饺 (Gai Coi Har Gao). At the Dim Sum/Yum cha restaurants, they are commonly distributed by trollies equipped with a portable electrical grill or griddle attached. They are pre-steamed and are reheated and pan fried as per order right in front of you. I remember I saw Giada de Laurentiis eating this dish on her show, ''Weekend Getaways'' on Food Network TV! So this dish is definitely a favourite throughout the world! The Chinese garlic chives can be purchased at almost all Chinese and Vietnamese grocers, but you can substitute it with other kinds of chives and with the addition of some chopped garlic. The Chinese garlic chive have broader leaves and a much stronger garlic taste and aroma to them. The skin of the dumpling a crisp exterior and a soft chewy interior when they are ready, it's absolutely delicious! Please note that the recipe requires wheat starch! Not all purpose wheat flour. This is very important as wheat starch has no gluten which allows it to be soft. You can easily get it cheaply at any Asian market.

Chive and Prawn Pan Fried Dumplings 韭菜虾饺 (Gai Coi Har Gao)
By: Chewie Recipes
Yields: 12-14 dumplings
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Wrapper:

170 gm of Wheat starch (1 1/3 cups)
60 gm of Tapioca starch (1/3 cup)
250mL of boiling water (1 cup)
5 mL of oil (1 tsp)
pinch of salt

Filling:

180 gm of Chinese garlic chives* (6.5 oz)
130 gm of raw prawns (1/3 lb or 4.5 oz)
5 mL of toasted sesame oil (1 tsp)
15 mL of light soysauce (1 tbsp)
10 gm of potato starch (corn or tapioca starch is fine) (2 tsp)
5 mL of Chinese cooking wine (optional) (1 tsp)
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt

Method:

Filling:

1.) Chop the garlic chives roughly and put it in boiling water with 1 tsp of salt for about 2 minutes until they shrink.

2.) Drain it and squeeze all the excess moisture. It should shrink quite a lot in volume.

3.) Devein and peel the prawns. Gently dab it with paper towels to remove excess moisture.

4.) Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl and stir to combine.

5.) Put it in the fridge to slightly set while making the wrappers.

Wrappers:

1.) Combine the wheat starch, tapioca starch, salt and oil.

2.) Add the boiling water and combine.

3.) If the dough is very sticky, it is too wet, so add some more wheat starch. If it is not holding together, it needs more boiling water, so gradually add some in (tablespoon by tablespoon) until it comes together and forms a dough.

Assembly & Cooking:

1.) Divide the dough into 12-14 pieces and keep a moist papertowel or kitchen towel over them to prevent them from drying out.

2.) Roll the dough with a rolling pin or press it with the side of a knife into a circle with a diameter of at least 7.5 cm (3 inches).

3.) Add a 1 1/2 tsp of filling to the centre of the wrapper and gently fold the edges towards the centre.

4.) Squeeze the folded edges together enclosing it tightly. Make sure that there are no leaks or cracks.

5.) Heat the skillet to medium high heat with about 2 tbsp of oil. Allow the oil to heat up and then add in the dumplings. You can put them smooth side up or down, it does not really matter.

6.) Let them fry in the pan for 2 minutes, and then flip to the other side for another 2 minutes. They should be golden brown. It is important that it smokes a little bit, this will ensure that it will not stick to the pan.

7.) Add in about 250 mL (1 cup) of water to the pan and immediately close with a lid. This will steam the dumplings cooking the prawns on the inside and the wrapper skin.

8.) Do not remove the lid until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the skin of the dumplings become translucent. You can add some more water if it is still not translucent.

9.) Take of the lid and let them fry for another 1 minute on each side to crisp up.

10.) Let them cool and serve with a dipping sauce made with chili oil, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Enjoy!

Tips and Advice:

It is very important that you do not put too much filling inside or else the dough will break and will not be able close tightly. When you fry it the filling will leak out and burn.
The texture of the raw dough should be soft but smooth. You'll know when it's right, it won't stick to the table or board.
Be sure to allow the dumplings to brown properly when you initially fry them, because they won't brown the same after they are steamed.
If you can't find Chinese garlic chives, use whatever chive you can find, and add 2 finely minced garlic cloves to the mixture instead.

How to Make: Steamed Red Bean Tapioca Jelly Cake (Hong Kong Bakery Sweet)

2011-09-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

''Steamed Red Bean Tapioca Jelly Cake.'' Sounds like an interesting combination of words? Well it is a delicious common item to see in Hong Kong Asian Bakeries. It is also always sold in bakeries in Vancouver, Canada for about $1.29 a piece. Not only do they look beautiful but they are so delicious. The tapioca turns clear when it is finished cooking and has an incredibly gooey- chewy-ness to them. You can use tapioca or sago pearls, they both work here. Tapioca pearls are made with tapioca starch and sago is made with potato starch. Traditionally, they are filled with Red Bean Paste but you could try it with other pastes such as lotus, taro etc. It is incredibly easy to make, and the end result is almost like a not-so stringy Japanese daifuku mochi, with half the mess. I made mine in a 16.5 cm by 7 cm square baking tin but an 8 inch tin will do too. You can put it in any moulds you want, even muffin tins, but the times will vary depending on the thickness of the pearls. Give it a try, you'll impress your taste buds and your guests! This recipe is adapted from Christine's Recipes of Steamed Tapioca Red Bean Cake. Be sure to check out Christine's Recipe Blog! Click Here.

How to Make: Steamed Red Bean Tapioca Jelly Cake
Yields: One 16.5 cm by 7 cm loaf - about 4 servings
Preparation Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

100 gm of Small tapioca pearls or sago pearls
40 gm of castor sugar
10 mL of oil (I used virgin coconut oil, it really works here)
80 gm of Prepared Red Bean paste (Click here for the Recipe)

Preparation:

Steamer:

1. Turn on the steamer.
**If you don't have a steamer, take an inverted small bowl or shallow plate and place it on the bottom of the pan. Then fill with water until it reaches half of the plate or bowl. Then place the cake on top of the bowl/plate and cover with a lid.

For the tapioca/sago:

1. Put the tapioca pearls or sago in a bowl and pour cool water until it completely covers the pearl.

2. Allow it to soak for 45 minutes, the pearls will swell and become soft.

3. Drain it, and lightly use a paper towel to remove excess moisture, but don't press too hard or else the pearls will break.

Steps 2 to 6

Method:
1. In a bowl, add in the drained tapioca/sago pearls, sugar and oil. Stir lightly.

2. In the tin, lined with either parchment paper (use muffin liners if using a muffin tin) or lightly greased with oil, add in half of the tapioca/sago mixture to the bottom of the tin and spread evenly.

3. Now add in the red bean paste, and create an even layer.

4. Top with the remaining tapioca/sago mixture and press firmly with a back of a spoon, especially around the edges.

5. Put it in the steamer and steam it until the pearls are completely translucent. For a 16.5cm x 7 cm or 8 inch loaf tin, it will take approximately 50 minutes. For muffin tins, they will take only 30 minutes.

6. Turn the heat off and leave the cake inside the steamer. Allow it to cool down. It will harden a little and it will be perfect for slicing (about an hour or so).

7. Take it out of the tin by inverting it onto a serving dish. Remove the parchment paper.

**If not using parchment paper, run you knife around the cake to loosen the edges and invert it on to a serving plate.

8. Divide into 4 or more slices with a non-serrated knife for clean cuts.

There you go! Delicious and super simple Steamed Red Bean Tapioca Jelly Cake!

Tips and Advice:

Be sure to leave the cake at room temperature and consume with in two days. If the cake begins to harden, it is because of the temperature of the room being too cold. To restore to the delicious-ness stage, put in the microwave for 15 seconds and you've got it nice and gooey again!
Don't undercook it or else it will taste chalky.
Make sure you soak it for 45 min or even overnight as this will affect the time it needs in the steamer. If you soak it overnight, it might steam and be ready faster so adjust the cooking time until it's done.

Delicious and beautiful!

How to Make: Red Bean Paste (Anko) used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean sweets.

2011-09-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

Red bean paste is a sweet bean paste that is commonly in East Asian sweets. Red beans have a slight sweet taste even without having sugar added to it. However, it is most commonly sweetened, and used to flavour, fill or as a base for sweets. It is used to make Japanese jelly (Yokan), to fill Korean doughnuts and Chinese pineapple buns, as a topping of the Malaysian Ice Kacang and many, many more. There are 3 main types red bean pastes. There are the whole, the chunky and the smooth. The whole one consists of the red beans being whole which is all slicked in a sugary syrup. The chunky one has the beans mashed with the skins on with a few addition of whole beans for texture. The smooth one is the most common one to be filled in pastries, and cakes. It is completely mashed and have been strained through a sieve to remove the skins leaving a satiny smooth dark paste.

Red bean paste is extremely easy to make, and it can flavour almost any sweets and desserts like red bean cake, red bean pie, red bean pancakes, or just on top of vanilla ice cream. The best ratio I've found to make red bean anko paste is 1:4 (red beans to water, respectively). So please multiply or divide according to the amount you require. Both metric (left side) and imperial measurements (right side) are listed.
Red beans (commonly labelled, ''Anko'') are very easy to get at any Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, almost all East Asian markets. They are in packets and usually inexpensive, perhaps $1.29-$2.50 CAD a packet. There are pre-tinned and pre-made pastes available as well, but you can't control the sugar content and the addition of preservatives. I think it's best to make your own, and it's easy too!

How to make: Red Bean (Anko) Paste
by: Kubeen81's recipes
Yields- This particular recipe makes about 225 grams (3/4 cup) of paste
Preparation: 2 hours
Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

100 grams of red beans (1/2 cup)
400 mL of water (1 2/3 cups)
To taste, some sweetener (I used 1/4 cup of golden syrup and 1 tbsp of brown sugar, but you can use honey, white, brown, rock, cane sugar, even sugar substitute like splenda will work.)

Preparation:

1.) In a bowl put the beans and enough water to completely submerge the beans.

2.) Let it soak for 3 hours, this will rehydrate the beans and they will expand a little a bit.

3.) After they've soaked, drain the water.

Let it soak in water to rehydrate.

Method:

1.) In a saucepan, add the beans and the 400 mL of water and cover.

2.) Let it simmer over low heat for about 45 minutes or until the beans are soft.

Almost ready, another 5 min.

3.) Add the sweetener, add thoroughly.

4.) Let it cool for 15 minutes, it will thicken up. You can now either have it as is or mash them. (See below.)

For whole beans: The paste is complete.

For partly mashed: Remove half of the whole beans out and mash the other half. When they are completely mashed, add back the whole beans and mix.

For smooth paste: Mash the beans and then strain it through a sieve. This will remove the skins, leaving a dark smooth paste. Discard the skins. You may need to add more sweetener, be sure to taste it.

Tips and Notes:
**Whole beans are usually used as toppings or in drinks. Some examples are vanilla ice cream topped with the whole beans on top, or in a drink with coconut milk, crushed ice and whole red beans.
**Partially mashed beans can also be used like whole beans, but can also be used in pastriesl
**Smooth pastes are used for pastry fillings such as moon cakes, or to make jellies, like Yokan 羊羹, but can also be used like the others.
**If it seems like the water is evaporating faster than the beans are soft, add some more water to cover the beans.
** The final product should be slightly wet but not drowned in water.
** Golden syrup, and honey gives the red bean paste a shiny gloss to the beans.
** The water is used as a medium to allow the beans to get soft. The beans should be as soft as white kidney beans when they are finished cooking.

Whole Bean Red Bean Paste

How to Make: Golden Syrup (The British Style)

2011-09-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

Golden syrup is one of Britain's greatest contribution to the culinary world. It is a thick, sweet, golden syrup, that has a reddish tinted hue to it. It looks like molten, edible amber. Traditionally it is served drizzled on top of scones and clotted cream, (known in Cornwall as the, ''Thunder and Lightning''). Though it may seem just like a sweetener, it actually has a unique slightly sourish, bitter flavour to it, which adds such depth to cakes, pies, biscuits, cookies and even in marinades. It is an important ingredients required to make Chinese mooncakes. Golden syrup is made of sugar and water which has been allowed to caramalise, and combine with an acid to it to make it stable as a liquid, preventing it from crystalisation.

For so many months, I've been looking for Golden Syrup (yes, the name deserves to be capatilised), in the USA, but I've had no luck. The only thing that bared any resemblance in look, was Aunt Jemina's pancake syrup, which we all know, is an inferior, cheap substitution of real maple syrup. Not only does it not taste good, but it's not quite bad for you (not saying that Golden Syrup is health food too). Golden Syrup however, is available widely in Canada, made by the traditional UK brand Lyle's and our own Canadian brand, Roger's, both packaged in tins and glass jars. It is also widely available in the UK (of course), Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, Norway.... the list goes on, but not so common in the USA apparently. So with no luck in finding it in the USA, I figured why not try making it at home? I searched up some recipes and I based it upon this recipe from Neck Red Recipe's Blog, but only made a small batch, because I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I tweaked the recipe and the texture was very close to the ones in the market! The scent is not like the commercial ones, but it's pretty good! I think it's a fantastic recipe! It's a must-try, especially since you'll need them to make lots of Nigella Lawson's recipes! Again, both metric and imperial are listed, but the metric measurements will ensure consistent results.

Thanks so much to Neck Red Recipes!

How to make Golden Syrup:
From: Kubeen81 Recipes
Yields- 300 mL (about 1 1/4 US cup)
Preparation- 1 min
Cooking Time: 45 min

Ingredients:

100 gm White sugar (1/2 cup)
50 mL of Water (3 tbsp plus 1 teaspoon)

500 gm of white sugar (2 1/2 cups)
300 mL of boiling water (1 1/4 cup)
15 mL of lemon juice (1 tbsp)
2 slices of lemon, seeded

Preparation:

1.) Measure the ingredients out.

2.) Boil the water.

Method:

1.) In a saucepan, preferably stainless steel, turn the burner on to medium heat

2.) Add in the first two ingredients on the list (100 gm of sugar and 50 mL of water).

3.) Swirl the pan to mix, but don't stir with foreign utensils :)

4.) Let it turn into a dark deep amber colour. Be careful, the stage of turning to an amber colour and having it burned, is very quick, so keep a good eye on it, and be ready for the next step when it turns to an amber colour.

First stage of the sugar and water

Starting to carmalise

5.) Once it turns amber in colour, add the rest of the sugar (500 gm), boiling water, lemon juice and lemon slices.

6.) Swirl the pan again, but don't mix again. Turn the burner to the lowest heat possible.

With all the ingredients added in, you can use a brush to stir when it has been cooking for 20 min

7.) Let it simmer for 45 min.

8.) After 45 min, take it off the burner and let it cool (about 4 hours or overnight).

9.) It should be thick, glossy, and have a beautiful shine to it. You can keep the lemon slices and eat as candied lemons if desired.

It's done! Let it cool now.

10.) Transfer into glass jars and store. If not using within the next month, be sure to sterilise the jar, it should last a good year or even longer.

11.) Serve drizzled on top of scones and cream, or using in baking and marinades

Tips and Advice:

** Try not to stir when it is in the pan to avoid crystalisation. You may stir once it is 20 min in with the cooking process.

**Be careful when handling with sugar, it is like lava. Allow it to cool completely before transferring them to jars to prevent from injuries.

**After the 45 minutes, the syrup will look very watery, but don't worry as it cools, it will thicken a lot.

**If it is too watery after it cools, put it back on the heat (low) and let it cook for another 20 min.

**If it turns out too hard, make a half batch of the recipe and turn on the on low to let it cook. It should be right after you let it cool.

**Be careful not to burn the sugar at the beginning, it is very easy to do so.

** For easy clean up, add some water to the saucepan, and let it boil on the stove. Discard the water, and it should be easy to clean the pan.

So thick a gleamingly beautiful to look at.

As Nigella said, ''edible amber''

Dribbling some more.

Serve with butter and bread. It's just as good...

How to Make: Meatloaf à la mode

2011-09-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

The school season has started, and time is not so plentiful as it was in the summer! So when time is scarce, I try to make a dish that can last two or even three days. Meatloaf is a good one to make.
It can be eaten with rice, in a sandwich or just as it is.
Meatloaf is a common dish in English speaking nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States. Everybody has their own recipes, so I did some research on a few recipes and I saw some interesting techniques that were used such as using potato chips, mashed potatoes, heavy cream, cheese, ground almonds, yoghurt, sour cream, a whole bunch of others. I personally find that when all of these ingredients are added, it dilutes the taste of the meat, and it ends up tasting like soggy dense bread. Breadcrumbs are common in meatloaf, but I use Panko, which are Japanese breadcrumbs. They are much lighter and airier than italian-style breadcrumbs. This prevents the meatloaf from having a dry and grainy texture. The idea of adding some hard boiled egg in the middle was an idea I stole from Nigella Lawson's meatloaf recipe, but the actual meatloaf recipe is my own. The eggs in the middle of the meatloaf makes it so appealing, especially when it is cut. The bacon wrapped around the loaf makes it even so flavourful because it creates a crisp crust around the juicy meatloaf.
This meatloaf is one worth trying! It's very appealing and easy. I've provided both imperial and metric measurements in the recipe, the imperial is on the right side and the metric measurements are on the left side. This recipe can be doubled or halved if want to change the serving size. If doubling the recipe add another 20 minutes in the oven. If cutting the recipe in half, reduce the cooking time by 15 min.

Click on the description below to buy Panko. Panko should not be hard to find, it is widely available in both Asian supermarkets and Western supermarkets.
Panko Breadcrumbs on Amazon.

Meatloaf à la mode (with eggs)
By Kubeen81 Recipes
Yields: 4 people
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 55-60 minutes

Ingredients:

450 gm of Freshly ground beef (1/2lb)
1 onion diced
40 gm of Panko (1/3 cup)
30 mL of oil (2 tbsp)
15 mL of Ketchup (1 tbsp)
15 mL of Oyster or Worcestershire sauce (1 tbsp)
2 egg, beaten
2 eggs hard boiled eggs.
4-6 strips of bacon
Pinch of dried chili flakes
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

For the glaze:
45 mL of Ketchup (3 tbsp)
15 mL of Oyster or Worcestershire Sauce (1 tbsp)

Preparation:

1.) In a pan that is over medium heat, add in the 2 tbsp of oil.

2.) When the the pan is hot, add in the diced onions.

3.) Add a pinch of salt and sauté until soft and caramelised, about 10 min.

Method:

1.) Preheat the oven to 200 C/ 400 F.

2.) In a bowl add the ground beef, cooled sauteed onions, beaten egg, cayenne pepper, chili flakes, salt, pepper, ketchup and Oyster/Worcestershire sauce.

3.) Mix lightly.

4.) Add in the panko breadcrumbs, folding gently and not mixing too much.

5.) On a baking tin/sheet, place 1/2 of the mixture on the pan and shape it into an oval shape, around 3 cm (1 1/2 inch) thick.

6.) Make a well in the centre and add in the two hard boiled eggs. Cover the eggs with the remaining meat mixture, making sure that it seals the eggs completely.

7.) Wrap around with bacon slices completely, (you may need to cut them in half if they are too long. Tuck them underneath the meatloaf to prevent it from curling up too much.

8.) Bake it in the oven for 50-55 min.

9.) During the last 10 minutes, mix the ketchup and oyster/worcestershire sauce in a bowl, and pour over the meatloaf. This will make it nice and shiny.

Let it rest for 10 minutes and then....Cut and serve!

Tips:

**Be sure not to overmix the meat otherwise you get a very tough chewy texture.

**The meat should have an internal temperature of 71 degrees C and the juices should run clear when stabbed with a knife.

**The bacon on the outside should be almost completely crispy before the ketchup glaze is added because otherwise, the bacon will braise and become very soft, not crispy.

**Cut the meatloaf into thick slices so that every slice has a slice of egg in it.

** The oyster sauce is a Chinese ingredient, but it makes the meat so much richer. Worcestershire sauce is a good sauce too, but it is a Western ingredient.

It looks so pretty with the egg!

Hello Egg!

Best eaten warm.

How to Make: Japanese Chocolate Truffle Sponge Cake (チョコレートケーキ)

2011-08-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, almost all the shops were closed in the city because of Hurricane Irene. So what to do when you have the extra time to stay in all day? Well I baked a Japanese-style chocolate cake! It is my moist, dense, and fluffl-y at the same time, Chocolate Truffle Sponge Cake. Beware thought, it is extremely rich. You really only need a tiny slice of it to get satisfaction. If you have a huge piece, you might actually throw up. Since this is a sponge cake, the amount of butter or oil in the cake is much much less and the texture is lighter which contrasts with the dense chocolate ganache. I baked mine in a 16 cm (6 inch) cake tin, to make a smaller cake but if you're using a 20cm/8 inch tin, just multiply it by 1/3. I use 70% chocolate for the frosting. You can always use semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips for this cake. This is my favourite type of cake, which is also known as Japanese style, because it tastes like chocolate, not sugar, and is not too sweet all. Japanese cakes don't use buttercream frosting recipe because it's way too sweet. Instead they use what I made a ganache which is just chocolate and cream, like a truffle. I see these types of chocolate cake in Asian Supermarkets all the time, so I thought of giving it a go! It is the best! The finishing touches are the dusted cocoa powder and the piped whipped cream, it makes it so elegant! It's best to use the metric system when baking (actually for any cooking), but for those people that have not converted, I've listed the imperial measurements on the right side of the page. There's no reason for you not to try it now!

Chocolate Truffle Sponge Cake (チョコレートケーキ)
Yields- (the 16 cm/6 inch)- 8 servings (the 20 cm/8 inch)-12 servings
Preparation Time-20 min
Cooking Time-45 min
Overall Time- 3 hours

Ingredients:

Cake:
65 gm All-purpose flour (2/3 cups)
15 gm Corn starch or Potato starch (2 tbsp)
100 gm of white sugar (1/2 cup)
2 eggs, separated
50mL of milk (1/4 cup)
30 gm of butter or oil (3 tbsp)
30 gm of unsweetened cocoa (1/4 cup)
10 gm of instant coffee (1 tsp)
5 gm of salt (1/2 tsp)

Filling and Ganache:
110 gm of Dark/Black 70% Chocolate (4 oz)
110 mL of Cream (Coffee or Heavy cream will do) (1/2 cup)
10 gm of instant coffee *optional* (1 tsp)

Decoration:
Some extra cocoa
Whipped Cream

Preparation:
1.) Preheat oven to 170 C/350 F

2.) Line the cake pan with parchment paper

Cake Batter:

1.) Beat the egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually while beating the egg whites until medium-stiff peaks. The egg whites should be thick and glossy.

2.) Add the egg yolks and beat until just mixed.

3.) Sift in the flour, corn starch, and salt and mix until just combined. (Try not to deflate the air in the egg whites too much).

4.) In a separate bowl, put the butter, coffee, and milk in the microwave and heat until melted. (If using oil, you don't have to put it in the microwave.)

5.) Sift in the cocoa powder, and mix.

6.) Add it to the egg white mixture until combined using the folding motion.

7.) Transfer it to the cake tin that is lined with parchment paper, and drop the filled tin on to a surface about 4-5 times to remove excess air.

8.) Put it in the oven to bake for 170 C or 350 F for 40-45 min until the centre comes out clean when a toothpick or knife is inserted.

9.) Once it is has finished baking immediately drop the cake from a height of 30 cm or 12 inches to prevent it from shrinking to much. This will remove the excess air.

10.) Take the cake out by flipping it over and then flipping it over again. Let it cool, and place a wet paper towel on top of the cake to prevent it from drying it out.

Peel off parchment.

Turn, it's okay if it cracks like this!

Cover with a moist paper towel to prevent it from drying out.

Now let's make the Ganache/Filling

The delicious ingredients for the frosting.

11.) Turn the burner to low heat.

12.) In a saucepan or in a double boiler, add in the cream.

13.) When the cream becomes warm, add in the chocolate, (and coffee if using) and stir until melted and will combined. (Don't let it boil!)

Coffee, chocolate and cream! YUM

14.) When it is combined, remove it and transfer it to another bowl to cool down.

The warm chocolate ganache/frosting

Cut the cake!

15.) Using toothpicks as a guide, slice the cake into 3 layers. Trim the top off to make it all flat.

I had no toothpicks, so I used Q-tips as a guide.

Cut through as a guide.

Trim off the bumpy top.

16.) Cover with a moist paper towel to prevent it from drying out.

Frost the cake! It's best to do this on a rack so that the excess frosting can drip down.

17.) Add about 2tbsp of the filling to the first layer.

Frost

18.) Put the second layer on top of the filled first layer, and do the same thing.

19.) Put the last layer on top and use the rest of the chocolate ganache/filling to frost the entire cake using an butter knife or an off set spatula.

20.) Smooth it out evenly.

21.) Put it in the fridge to harden (1 hour at least, can be overnight too!)

22.) Can be served as is, but to make it even better, put some cocoa powder (2 tsp) in a strainer, and dust the entire cake with cocoa powder. You can even top it with some whipped cream like I did!

23.) Transfer to a presentable plate and serve! To slice, run the knife under warm water, then dry the blade with a towel. Cut it. Do this for every cut to get it nice and clean.

Hope you enjoy! Please comment below!

There you go!

Yummy ( ^ _ ^) / 　

Whipped Cream is falling off...

How to Make: Hainan Chicken Rice-海南雞飯 (Hainan Zi Fan) Mother's Recipe

2011-08-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Today is a special day. My mother cooked her absolutely delicious Hainan Chicken Rice pronounced Hainan Zi Fan (海南雞飯)! It's my favourite meal from my mother! Hainan Chicken Rice originated from the Island of Hainan, China. However, it is also closely associated with Singaporean cuisine. In Vancouver, near where I'm from, it is commonly sold at fast food restaurants in shopping malls, selling usually at $6.99-$7.99 CAD a set. The chicken is slowly poached in water and salt which makes the meat especially the breast incredibly tender. The rice is then made from the leftover stock of the chicken and fat, making the rice rich, fragrant and absolutely delicious. But you can't have Hainan Chicken Rice with out the onion-y ginger oil sauce! That is the best part!
This dish is not the fastest dish to make, but it is easy if you're organised.
and... the best thing is, it's relatively inexpensive to make!

Hainan Chicken Rice Mother's Recipe
Hainan Zi Fan 海南雞飯
Yields- 4-6 servings
Preparation Time- 30 minutes
Cooking time- 1 hour and 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For Chicken:
One whole, cleaned Chicken
Water
50 grams of Ginger cut into 1 inch chunks
1 1/2 tbsp of salt

For Rice
2 1/2 cups (can be any sized cup) of uncooked rice (preferably Medium grain or long grain Jasmine rice)
50 grams of Ginger
8 to 10 whole garlic cloves

Ginger-Onion Sauce
75 grams of Ginger
8 (about 75 grams) Green Onion
125 mL of Oil, (Olive oil is good!)
1 1/2 tsp of salt

Preparation:

Chicken:
Be sure that the whole chicken is clean, and rinse under water.

Rice:
Wash the rice, and cut the ginger into thin long strips. Peel the garlic cloves.

Sauce:
Grate or chop the ginger very thinly. Chop the green onion.

Top Right- Finely chopped/grated ginger, Bottom Left- Chopped Green onion, Bottom Left- Sliced ginger Top Left- Garlic

Let's Cook!

1.) Place the chicken in a large pot breast side down, and fill with water until it barely covers the top of the chicken. If the legs stick out, it is okay.

2.) Add in salt and ginger.

3.) Turn the stove on at Medium heat, and allow it to boil for 1 hour until fully cooked. Skim the foam which appears on top of the water with a strainer and discard.

4.) Pull the chicken out and place it on a plate to cool. Do not throw away the liquid.

5.) Pour the liquid under a strainer to remove any impurities.

Allo Chicken!

Rice:
6.) Rinse and drain the rice under cold water three times.

7.) Add in the 2 3/4 cups of the strained Chicken liquid to the rice. (Be sure to use the same measuring cup when measuring the liquid.)

8.) Place the sliced ginger and garlic on top of the rice and turn the rice cooker on!

If using a rice cooker, stop here! If not, then continue down!

9.) If not using a rice cooker, place it in a pot with a tight lid cover. Bring it to a boil on medium heat.

10.) When it is boiling, turn it on to high heat for 1 min.

11.) After 1 min, turn it back down to medium heat and let it simmer for 5 min.

12.) After 5 min on medium heat, turn it down to low heat for 10 min. Do not peak during those times.

Step 7, Add Chicken Liquid to Rice

Step 8, Add Ginger and Garlic

Sauce:

13.) Set the stove to low heat, and add in the oil.

14.) When the oil is slightly warmed (2 min), add in the ginger and green onion.

15.) Let it simmer for 3 min until the ginger and green onion has slightly wilted.

16.) Add in the salt, and pour into a bowl to serve with the chicken.

The Sauce!

To put it all together:
17.) Carve the chicken into slices.

18.) Remove the ginger from the rice and serve with the chicken. Don't worry about the garlic, it will be very soft and tender inside the rice!

Removing the ginger

19.) Pour some of the sauce on top of the chicken!

Voila! Bon à petite!

Hope you enjoy!

Yumsters!

Doesn't that look good?

How to make: The Best Banana Chocolate Chunk Loaf/Cake Recipe

2011-08-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Having bananas that have too many brown spots is not the most appetising thing to eat, but they're super for making banana cake or bread! I had 3 bananas that had would not be so pleasant if eaten as is, so I used them to make a cake! The addition of chocolate and nuts make this really stand out! This recipe is one that I made up right on the spot too, and it better than all the other recipes I've tried out before. Give it a go and you'll be happy you did.

I know this banana bread is very popular in bakery shops in Asia. I also know it is also common in Canadians coffee shops too-and in Starbucks Café. Bananas are relatively inexpensive fruits so this is very do-able!

The texture is soft, moist, and a little bouncy, almost like a Japanese style sponge cake. It's not like most banana breads where it's sugary sweet, and overly wet. It's sweet but not too sweet, kind of hard to explain. This has an eggy taste to it which is really unique. It also doesn't require as much flour as much flour as other recipes call for because, it relies on the eggs to give the structure of the cake/bread. Feel free to top it with any icing if you want it to be more of a cake. I only used 45 gm of sugar which is much less when compared to other recipes, but I think the bananas are very sweet already, and with the addition of the chocolate chip and dried fruit if adding, makes the cake/bread perfectly sweet. You can add more sugar though if you have a real sweet tooth!

This recipe is seriously a killer, so with out anymore babbling, here it is!

The Best Banana Chocolate Cake
Yields: 1 16.5 cm by 7 cm square baking tin (8 inch tins will do).
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Baking time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

3 overly ripe large bananas (Take 2 1/2 and mash them, take the last 1/2 and slice into thin slices for the top of the cake)
2 eggs
40 gm (3 tbsp) of butter or any oil
45 gm (3tbsp) of sugar
75 gm (1/3 cup) all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
1 tsp of milk
1/2 tsp salt

optional:
3 tbsp dark chocolate chunks or chips- I used Lindt 70% Chocolate bar.
and/or
2 tbsp chopped nuts (walnuts are very good)
and or
2 tbsp of candied fruit (such as candied papaya, candied pineapple etc.) or dried fruit (sultanas, raisins...) I just used some trail mix.

Preparation:

1.) Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F (in the USA)

2.) Mash the bananas using a fork or potato masher until it looks mashed :)

Time to Mix!

1.) Add the sugar and oil/butter to the bowl, and mix until well combined.

2.) Add the eggs and beat until a little foamy, for about 2 min. (Beating it like this will give the end result a fluffy texture.)

3.) Add in the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder. You can sift through a strainer to get rid of any lumps if you want, I didn't bother.

4.) Add in milk and the mashed bananas.

5.) The batter should be be like the texture of body lotion :)

6.) Add in the nuts, chocolate and candied/dried fruit if adding and mix to combine.

7.) Transfer the batter to a loaf tin greased or lined with parchment paper 16.5 cm by 7 cm (or 8 inch).

8.) Top with the remaining 1/2 banana that were sliced on top of the batter.

9.) Bake at 180 C (350 F) for 45-55 minutes.

10.) When inserted with a toothpick or a knife, the centre should come out fairly clean, a little crumb is okay.

11.) Leave it to cool for 20 min, then slice! Serve with butter, but really it tastes good without it too!

Great with some Japanese Green tea!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, if you did, please follow this blog, and comment! Let me know how I'm doing!

Here are some beauty photos to follow down to the comment section below :D!

How to Make: Emperor Pork 皇帝豬肉- Father's recipe-Traditional Chinese Recipe

2011-08-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today, I didn't cook. My dad did, and he made his signature, "Emperor Pork." He would always cook this dish whenever we demanded. It's a traditional Chinese dish that he grew up with, but has a slight Malaysian twist to it with the Kecap Manis (Sweet Soy Sauce). Kecap Manis is soysauce that has been boiled down and sweetened with palm sugar. You can get this at most Asian markets nowadays, or you can find it on amazon.com Find Kecap Manis on Amazon.com. If you don't want to go through the trouble of doing this you can just use 50 mL of dark soysauce with 30 gm of brown sugar.
It is a fairly simple dish to make, and it is sooo delicious on some white rice! It's sweet, salty, sour and very delicious! The preserved mustard is a very common sight at Asian markets, just be sure to ask the local storekeeper, because most probably, it won't be translated into English. The preserved mustard are the leaf of the mustard plants, that have been drenched in salt in the packaging process to preserve it, giving it a unique sour and salty taste. Be sure that you rinse it very well before adding it to your dish otherwise your dish will come out very salty!

Here is what my dad calls, "Emperor Pork"!

Above is the video tutorial!

Emperor Pork 皇帝豬肉
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Yields: 4 hungry people, otherwise 5 normal appetite people.

Ingredients:

2x100 gm (200 gm total) Packages of Preserved Mustard
1 knob of Ginger
1 Garlic clove WASHED!
100 mL (1/3 cup) of Kecap Manis (Sweet Soy Sauce)*
Some ground black pepper
50 mL (2 tbsp) Fine Chinese cooking wine
900 gms (2lbs) Pork Shoulder Roast cut to 1 inch or 2.5 cm cubes
250mL or 1 cup of Water

*can be replaced with 50 mL of Regular Dark Soysauce and 30 gm of dark brown sugar.

Preparation

Step 1-

1.) Soak the preserved mustard in room temperature water for 5 min.

2.) Rinse the preserved mustard under cold running water making sure all the salt crystals are gone.

3.) Squeeze, drain and let it stand to dry, as you prepare the other ingredients.

Step 2-

1.) Peel the ginger.

2.) Slice it in to thin strips (2.5 cm or 1 inch long strips)

Cooking Method

1.) At medium heat, add 2 tbsp of oil to the pan.

2.) Stir-fry the ginger until fragrant- about 2 minutes.

3.) Add the cubed pork, and let it brown a little- about 3 minutes.

4.) Add the rice wine, and let it simmer for 1 minute.

5.) Add the kecap manis or the sugared-soy sauce and stir to combine well.

6.) Add in the whole, washed garlic clove in to the same pan, and stir so that it is covered by the meat. This will give it a light garlic taste, not too overpowering.

7.) Add the water and cover the pot with a lid. Let it simmer for about 4 min.

8.) Add in the drained, preserved mustard into the pot and stir around. Let it simmer for a further 10 min at medium heat.

9.) Your dish is done! Serve with white rice and vegetables! It is very delicious!

Serve with White Rice and Vegetables! Thanks for cooking with Emperor Chef!

Tutorial:How to make Instant Ramen Noodles

2011-08-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Rainy Philly, PA, USA

Being in my apartment in Philadelphia, USA, I had no food. I arrived late because of a delayed bus, missing the train from Newark to Philadelphia. All I had was a packet of Neoguri noodles and some dumplings in the freezer. Since I haven't written on here for a while, I thought I might as well just write a tutorial on how to make the easiest thing in the world. It's not the healthiest thing in the world. That's because the deep fry the noodles before the package them to extend their shelf life. Then you add a flavouring packet which is full of sodium, MSG, dead fish (not that it's that bad).

But heck, whatever, It's only once in a blue moon. So here is....

How to make Instant Ramen Noodles from a packet. I had the Neoguri Udon Spicy Seafood flavour (the best).

How to make Instant Ramen Noodles
What you will need-
A packet of Instant Ramen Noodles (can be anything)
Water
Pot
A working stove
Some form of eating utensil

Nongshim Udon Style Instant Ramen Noodles

Nutrition info on Ramen Noodles

Ramen Noodles

By Kubeen81

Prep time: 0 mins

Cook time: 7 mins

Yield: 1 serving

Step 1- Get a pot and add water. How much water? Read the back on the instructions. Mine said about 500 mL or 500 cc.

Step 2- Boil the water that is in the pot. (It took me 4 min because I have a gas stove)

Step 3- Open the packet and separate the noodles from the MSG seasoning packet

Step 4- Drop in the noodle in the boiling water and open the MSG flavouring packets. Pour it in with the noodles and stir.

Boiling away for 3 minutes

Step 5- Wait to cook as directed on the back of the noodle package, mine took ~ 3 min.

Step 6- Transfer the things in the pot into a serving bowl. You can put some meat on top or some veggies. I put some dumplings

Step 7- Eat it.

As you can see, it is very easy, all you really needed to do was read the instructions on the back of the noodle package.
It tastes good though!

I'll have some more recipes on here when I get more settled down here!
See you.

My Dinner

Dim Sum/Yum Cha in Victoria, BC, Canada

2011-07-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

Victoria, BC, Canada skyline.

Back in Victoria, BC, Canada for Dim Sum/Yum Cha. Ahhh... Home. Back home in Beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It so nice to be back for the summer here where the weather is at a perfect 20-24 degrees Celsius with no sign of rain. So peaceful and relaxing while seeing the harbour float planes take off into the midst of the bright clear sky!Victoria is located on Vancouver Island in Southwest Canada, has a population of 330,000 people and is the capital of British Columbia. Being in Victoria is also the perfect place to go for YUM CHA/DIM SUM. This post includes food from Yum Cha and some pictures of my hometown, Victoria!

Going for Yum Cha is a long tradition that the people of Southern China have been practising. Yum cha or dim sum is a unique dining experience like no other. Among the people in Hong Kong and Southern China, the word Yum Cha is the common word for this type of dining experience. In the English speaking world, Yum Cha is commonly used in Australia, but in the United Kingdom, and United States, the word Dim Sum is prevalent. In Canada, both are common. The words Dim Sum and Yum Cha can be used interchangeably, sort of like pork and pig, but Dim Sum officially translates to ''touch the heart.'' Dang.

So it's really up to you what you prefer to call it.

Busy busy at 10:30 am already!

The usually sight of Yum Cha/Dim Sum include steamed prawn dumplings, vegetables, delicious, sticky rice, baked tarts, jellies, and metal or bamboo pots pilled high on trollies which are filled with delicious flavoured meats. It is always served with a endless amounts of tea, after all, Yum Cha does mean ''drink tea.'' Our family goes to Yum Cha/Dim Sum about every two weeks, if we are someplace where there is dimsum. Luckily, we are back in the Pacific Southwest of Canada, where Asians are practically the majority of the population, so there is no excuse not being able to have CANTONESE DIM SUM! yum yum yum.
We went to Jade Fountain Restaurant which is just off of the new Uptown Construction, on 3366 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC, Canada - (250) 383-8718.

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The restaurant was quite good actually, and it was definitely comparable to the king of Cantonese food
outside of Hong Kong- Vancouver, BC Canada. The food was fresh, service was quick, a little on the oily

side on some dishes, but not overly distracting. Here are some pictures of the dishes we ordered.

On the left it is a pork and prawn Chinese steamed meatball called- Siu Mai 燒賣 and on the right is sticky rice wrapped Chicken called Lo mai gai 糯米雞

Here on the far left are beef tripe in a black bean sauce called "Niudu''. In the金錢肚. On top of that are chicken feet marinaded in a sweet and salty garlic sauce called ''Fung Zhao'' 鳳爪. In the centre, they are deep fried prawn spring rolls, I don't know what they are called exactly but I just call them xia chun juan (shrimp spring rolls). On the bottom right are some fancy ha gow 蝦餃 prawn dumplings, topped with scallops and salmon roe.

So yummy.
Broad and flat rice noodles in a salty sauce with beef and bean sprouts. It's called 乾炒牛河 gan chao niu he.

Here are some pictures of Victoria, BC, Canada! I missed it so much, and it's so beautiful. The ocean is only about ten minutes from my house so I went over and took some pictures! VIctoria is not accessible by road if you are not on Vancouver Island. Only by ferry, or plane.

At Beacon Hill park, facing towards Washington state's mountains.

Out in the Pacific ocean!

Houses in Victoria

Gold course, Mountain, Hills and Ocean, so beautiful.

view of the beach from the car... sorry the picture isn't that great!

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Silly gulls.

Until next time! Have a great day and please follow my blog on the top right sidebar!
Remember, if you want to see a recipe on this blog, send me a message at kubeen81@gmail.com

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