Family Recipes

Gluten Free Chow Mein noodles

2011-04-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

Came across a dish in my new recipe book on napa cabbage. It was only after I made it that I realized that it was a chow mein dish! That made me so happy as I'm currently gluten, dairy, and egg free. My first attempt was a 5/10. But only because the recipe book was not detailed in its instructions and I didn't realize that I was making Chow Mein so I didn't know when to add the spices. It ended up being under salted. But I was so surprised at how good it actually looked. Almost like the recipe book!

Ingredients

1 package Chinese vermecelli noodles 冬粉
1/2 lb napa cabbage
3 oz sliced pork
1-2 wood ear or substitute mushroom
1 green onion
garlic
1/4 large carrot
salt, sugar, white pepper, wheat free soy sauce, rice wine

Instructions

Soak rice noodles for an hour or two till it's not hard anymore. To make it easier to stir fry, you can cut it up into shorter pieces.
Cut up green onions into 2 inch pieces & chop up 1 clove of garlic
Cut up the pork into slices, not big flat pieces.
Peel and cut napa cabbage into small pieces. Usually you cut it lengthwise in half then into 1 inch pieces.
Once oil is heated, add green onion and garlic.
Add pork till it's mostly done. You have to kind of judge it so that you don't overcook the pork by the time the rest of the ingredients are completely cooked.
Add carrots and wood ear and stir fry a bit.
Add napa cabbage, a bit of water, and some salt, cover a bit to help it soften. Don't add all the salt you need as you may need to add more to the noodles later.
When napa cabbage is slightly soft, add noodles.
Add 1 Tbsp soy sauce, a bit of white pepper (a couple shakess), a bit of sugar (~1 tsp), 1/2 Tbsp of rice wine. Stir fry everything together till it's mixed well. You may need to cover at this point to get the cabbage to soften.
Take it out when napa cabbage looks cooked. Usually this is when the white part becomes kind of clear.

Notes Did you know those rice noodles are sometimes made of mung beans? Sometimes they also have wheat in them so you have to read the ingredients list.

This is basically a chow mein recipe. So you can be fairly liberal with what you add to it. You just need your noodles and one main veggie, everything else is really just so the dish looks good. So just add enough for looks and a bit of taste.

When it comes to spices I'm always not too precise. It's hard unless you're weighing every one of your ingredients! For the soy sauce, the idea is to get the noodles to look a bit dark in color. Pretty much like how it looks in recipe books. You then add salt to make it salty enough. Add water when necessary to soften/cook the napa cabbage. The rice noodles will also soak it up, which means you may end up adding more than you think you need. But be very careful or else you'll make the noodles too soggy.

Modified Nestle Toll House Cookie

2011-01-29T19:30:00.000-08:00

Decided to make modified version because we lacked some of the ingredients and I don't like really sweet cookies. Plus, we just bought the chocolate chips at the local grocery store.

The original cookie recipe also calls for mixing in a specific way which I was too lazy to do.

Ingredients
* 2 1/4 cups organic all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup (2 sticks) organic butter, softened
* 1 cup turbinado sugar or cane sugar
* 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
* 2 large organic eggs
* 1-2 cups chocolate chips
* 1 cup chopped nuts

Instructions
PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

Dump all dry ingredients except nuts and chips together in mixer. Add wet ingredients, eggs last, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix at low speed till creamy. Stir in chips and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Things I learned
The butter is what makes the cookie expands from a ball. That's why the Tassajara cookie didn't expand much.

The brown sugar in original recipe is what gives the cookie the golden color. Ours did not look brown at all with cane sugar. Will try turbinado sugar next time.

Cranberry Walnut Bread with Stand Mixer based on Tassajara Recipe

2011-01-24T22:43:00.000-08:00

Modified Tassajara Chocolate-Chocholate Chip-Walnut Cookie

2011-01-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

I don't like really sweet things, I didn't want to buy chocolate, but I wanted chocolate chips, so here's a modified Chocolate Walnut Recipe from The Tassajara Bread Book. The Tassajara cookie doesn't expand like Tollhouse Cookies so make them as big as you like.

Makes about 3 dozen or more cookie

Ingredients
12 Tbsp (3/4 cup) sweet butter, softened
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 egg
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup finely ground walnuts
1/2 cup tiny chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/4 cups unbleached white flour

Instructions
1. Dump everything into a stand mixer and mix. Add the egg in without beating it. The dough should be dry enough to shape into balls with your hands without too much sticking to your fingers, and wet enough that it does not crumble apart. If necessary, add more flour to make it drier. Add a spot of water or a bit more butter to moisten.

2. Roll dough into ball size of 1 tablespoon and place on aluminum sheets (ungreased cookie sheet), leaving 2 inches in between. Press them flat with a cookie stamp, a glass, or a teacup. Flour the bottom of the pressing implement if it stick to the cookies.

3. Bake at 375F for 8 minutes. They're done when the tops of the cookies are cracked, and the bottom slightly browned.

Tips
Dough will not form using the stand mixer. Just mush the thoroughly mixed ingredients together and they will mush together if you added enough butter.

Modified Tassajara Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread with Stand Mixer

2011-01-16T00:36:00.000-08:00

Google The Tassajara Bread Book for detailed instructions.

Ingredients
I.
2.75 room temperature water + 0.25 hotpot water
1.5 Tbsp dry yeast
1/4 cup cane sugar (OR honey, molaases, brown sugar), 1/2 - 1 cup for sweet version
1 cup buttermilk powder (optional)
4 cups whole wheat flour

II.
1 Tbsp cinnamon
4 tsp salt
5 Tbsp butter
3 cups white flour
1 cup raisin
1 cup walnut

III.
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar (1/2 for sweeter version)

Instructions
Put all dry ingredients in mixing bowl (buttermilk & flour)

Dissolve yeast & sugar in water

Start mixing (setting of 2) and add water bit by bit until it forms a thick smooth batter. You know you're done when the hook is starting to form a dough shape. About 5-10 minutes.

Cover with damp towel. Run oven for a few minutes and then turn off. Let out hot air for two minutes and put bowl in oven (less than 100F or else yeast dies)

Let rise 45 minutes

Soak raisin warm water till it puffs up a bit.

Add salt, butter, and cinnamon.

Start mixer and add 3 more cups, 1/2 at a time for 5-6 minutes

Add in raisin and walnuts bit by bit till thorough mixed, 2-3 minutes. Dough should be tacky but not sticking to sides of mixing bowl.

If not mixed thorough, knead on floured board.

Oil bowl. Put down in and then flip over to get oil on all sides.

Let rise 50-60 minutes in oven til doubled in size

Punch down. Press down with back of hand 10 times

Let rise 40-50 minutes till double in size

Fold dough into ball, cut in half, measure with kitchen weigh. wait 5 minutes

Kneed and fold 10 times

Use rolling pin and roll out dough. Width should be about width of loaf pan

Brush with water and sprinkle cinnamon sugar.

Roll up tight. Tuck and pinch sides in. Pinch seams tight.

Place in oiled pan, push down with back of hands till it conforms to shape of pan. Flip down over and do same. Dough should be 1/2 to 2/3 of pan.

Let rise 20-25 minutes or till dough at about height of pan.

Brush tops with 1 egg + 2 Tbsp water or milk

Bake in 350F oven for 20 minutes, turn around and bake for another 30 minutes, or until golden brown

Remove from pans and let cool 1.5 hours.

Tips
1. You need whole wheat flour in order for it to really rise and have glutton so don't substitute with too much white flour.

2. Having the dough rise twice helps the bread have a springy texture.

3. Depending on how plump the raisin are when you put it in the bowl, you need to adjust wetness. Add whole milk if you need it to be more wet. The raisin will suck water out of the dough.

4. Havn't tried letting this rise overnight. But when you do, you may need to put raisin in later due to tip #3.

Chinese style egg custard (pudding)

2010-09-14T01:01:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

400 grams whole milk
100 grams white sugar
2 grams salt
3 to 4 eggs (see Notes)

Instructions

Make burnt sugar and put in bottom of 6 oz cups

Stir milk, sugar, salt, and eggs together clockwise quickly without lifting the whip.

Filter through strainer

Put the mixture in the 6 oz cups and let sit 30 minutes

Put pudding cups in a tray with about 1/4 inch water. Add enough water so the cups don't move by themselves and there will be enough left when you're done baking.
Bake at 305 F for 50 minutes

Notes

You will know the mix is ready when you can stir the edges of the mixing bowl without the mixture threatening to spill out due to centrifugal force. Also lift the whip and see if there are egg whites remaining.

It's best if you let the eggs thaw first so it's easier to stir them in.

You want to avoid adding air to the mixture.

If you want to eat immediately when it's soft and warm, 4 eggs will make the custard firm enough. If you're planning to serve it cold, then 3 eggs will be enough as the custard will firm up when it gets cold.

Basic lettuce salad

2008-06-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, I need to write a recipe for basic salad as I've never made one before! We got really great salads from Riverdog Farm today so I tried it for the first time and it wasn't too bad.

Ingredients

Mixed lettuce
1 small carrot
1 mini red onion
a dallop of honey mustard
1/2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper

Instructions

Wash your lettuce, try to take as much water out as you can. Shred them by hand into a mixing bowl
Peel your carrot and grate them using a box grater.
Cut up onion in thin slices, add to bowl.
Mix the olive oil, mustard and balsamic vinegar together. Add salt and pepper to taste
Mix your lettuce with your salad dressing.
Put on plate and add the shredded carrot on top

Notes

For onion, cut it in half, then thinly slice either way.

Red Bean Soup - Crockpot version

2008-06-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

I definitely prefer cooking red bean soup this way than the traditional way, as I can start it the previous night before I go to sleep and have it for breakfast the next morning.

Ingredients

1 cup organic red beans
turbinado sugar or regular sugar

Instructions

Wash red beans in cold water
Put beans in crockpot, cover with water. Water level should be 2-3 times the level of the red beans in the pot
Cook in crockpot for 9-12 hours. It's done when the beans have broken apart and start becoming a bit mushy. This part is a preference issue. I personally like it as mushy as possible without becoming a paste.
Add sugar to taste. Start with 2 tablespoons and go from there.
You can add a bit of milk (not into the crockpot!) when you drink the soup.

Note

The bean soups WILL absorb the water when you leave it overnight. So you may want to slightly undercook it the first time. Leave it in the fridge overnight and it will be the right consistency the next day after you heat it up. By undercook, I mean cook it till it's edible for you, but on the firmer side.

Three color vegies

2008-05-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Ingredients

Lots of ways you can do this, as long as you have minimum corns, peas, and carrots. Some of those mix vegi bags have other weird beans or peas and that's fine too.

1 bag mixed vegies (peas + carrots, peas + carrots + corn, peas + carrots + corn + beans)
1 can low sodium corn
corn starch

CSA version:

1 bunch small carrots
fava beans
1 can low sodium corn

Instructions

Boil the frozen bag of vegies
Heat up wok and add a bit of oil
Add all the vegies
Add salt and pepper to taste
Mix cornstarch with a bit of cold water. Mix well and add to wok
Gently stir and serve. The cornstarch should coat all the vegies so that they kind of stick together instead of individual nuggets. Add more cornstarch + water if needed. Don't stir too long or too hard or the cornstarch will lose its effect!

Ground pork with onions

2008-05-14T20:30:00.001-07:00

This is one of my favorite dishes to eat over rice.

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground pork
1 medium onion or 2 small spring onions
soy sauce
black pepper
salt (optional)
oil

Instructions

Chop up the onions into small square pieces. 1/4 in to 1/2 inch?
Put 1/2 tbsp? oil into wok, wait till hot.
Put onion into wok, stir fry a bit.
When the onions are just starting to get cooked, put the ground pork in.
Stir fry some more.
When the pork is mostly done too, add the soy sauce to taste. Start with 1/2 - 1 tsp.
Add some pepper before you take it out.

Notes

Technically, you should stir fry the pork and onions separately so that the onions aren't overcooked. I'm too lazy to do that.
I don't know how much soy sauce to use. I usually judge by the color of the dish. This allows me to use either low sodium soy sauce or regular soy sauce. If it's the right color but still not salty, I add some salt. The color should be light brown to medium brown.

Tsubu-an (Chunky Redbean Paste)

2008-05-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

This recipe is adapted from Just Hungry's recipe. I used crockpot to cook instead. This will be used in my mochi.

Ingredients

1 cup - Organic redbeans
1/3 cup - raw sugar
1/2 tsp - sea salt

Instructions

Soak redbean overnight in cold water. You've soaked too long if they started sprouting.
Bring to boil the redbeans twice. According to Just Hungry's mother, it tastes better this way.
Dump beans into crockpot and add water till it is 1/2 inch over beans.
Cook on low for 6-12 hours till beans are falling apart.
Roughly mash the beans with a potato masher, fork or a pestle and let cool.
Keeps for up to 3 days in fridge.

Notes

The reason why you want to soak in cold water is so that the beans don't sprout! Don't be lazy and skip the soaking, it helps the redbeans cook faster if you've pre-soaked them.
Amount of water is 1/2 of original recipe because we're using a crockpot
When you cook the red beans, you need to find that right time to stop cooking. You want it to be mushy enough but not so mushy it's just mush.

Red Bean Mochi - 紅豆麻糬

2008-04-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

Did you know that mochi in Japanese means cookie in Chinese?

This was my first attempt at mochi, based on mom's recipe. I'm still looking for the perfect recipe.

This cooks about 15 large mochi.

Ingredients
1/2 box mochiko rice flour
1.5 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 can chunky red bean paste (tsubu an)
potato starch

Instructions

Mix your sugar and water together in a large bowl.
Slowly add your mochiko flour in with a bulb-shaped wisk will it's completely mixed.
Pour your mix into a rice cooker container. That's the container you put into your rice cooker.
Put that onto a steamer and steam on medium boil for 30-40 minutes. It is done when you stick a chopstick in and it comes out clear.
Wait for it to cool a bit. You don't want it completely cold though.
Prepare two plates. One with potato starch, the other covered with parchment paper to avoid dough sticking to plate.
Wet your hands. Stuff the red bean paste into your mochi dough.
Toss it into the potato starch. Cover well.

Notes

From my research, the flour to water ratio is 1:1. I havn't figured out the sugar to flour ratio yet. You can cut down on the sugar since the red bean paste is really sweet.
My steamer could not accommodate the rice cooker container. So I used the little container that you can put on top of that instead. According to mom, the time varies depending on the type of container you use, how thick its walls are, etc.
Some water may form at the top when your mochi is cooked, just pour it out.
To stuff mochi, I wrapped it as I would a pork bun. You try to form a little ball, flatten it with the edges thinner than the middle. Scoop a large spoonful of red bean paste. Usually in an amount that seems too big for the dough. Then push the paste down while you bring the edges together into the middle. Twist the middle shut.
When you toss it into the potato starch, cover it as much as possible and you can then shape it into a rounder ball with the ugly side on the bottom.
It's up to you to figure out if you like big or small mochi and make them accordingly. I've found that it's better to make smaller ones because the paste is very sweet and the mochi rice makes you feel stuffed if you eat too many.

Shrimp Pasta

2008-04-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, so totally not mom's recipe. But we cook this a lot cuz it's very simple. Takes 5 minutes and feeds 2 people for dinner.

This is adopted from Barefoot Contessa's Linguine with Shrimp Scampi dish.

Ingredients
1/2 - pound of headless shrimps
2-3 - cloves of garlic
1/2 - lbs linguine
1 - medium lemon
red pepper flakes
1 tbs butter
olive oil
1/2 - 1 tsp salt

Instructions

Peel and devein the shrimp.
In the meantime, start on your linguine. Linguine cooks for 7-10 minutes, pasta takes 5 minutes. Time it so that when the pasta is done, your shrimp is done too.
Chop up garlic into tiny pieces.
Heat up a flat pan on medium low heat.
Put in butter and olive oil. Wait till it heats up a bit.
Put in garlic, let it brown a little. Put in shrimp.
Add your salt and squeeze in half of your lemon, stir.
Flip shrimp over after 3-4 minutes. The contessa says to stir often. I find it easier to just leave it in the flat pan, spread out, and flip after a few minutes. Don't overcook your shrimp! When it looks mostly pink, immediately turn down or turn off your heat.
Put in your pasta and stir. Now's the time to add more olive oil if you need to, red pepper flakes to taste, and squeeze in the other half of your lemon.

Notes

You can look at the Barefoot Contessa for butter and olive oil portions. I cut way down on the butter and added more olive oil. The idea is to add ENOUGH oil/butter so that after you add the pasta, it coats the them well and separates them. It does not taste good when the pasta isn't greasy enough. The butter definitely makes it taste better than just all olive oil.
Make sure you don't overcook the shrimp. When it starts curling up a bit, and is pink, then it's mostly done already. The residual heat on the pan usually will cook it a bit more. If you turn off the heat after it definitely looks done, then it's usually too done and the shrimp is too chewy.
If you butterfly your shrimp a bit while you're de-veining, it'll definitely curl up easier as it cooks. So it'll help you see when it's done.
Make sure you drain the pasta well. If the pasta has too much water left, then the whole dish is too slippery and watery.

Instant noodle

2008-04-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

Testing out this multi user blog.

Instant noodle

1 - instant noodle pack

1 - bean sprout pack

1 - egg

1 - hot bamboo sprouts

1 - salted fermented bean curd

1.25 - bowl of water

directions

boil water
add noodle to water, use seasoning pack as desired.
add egg
add bean spout
pour noodle from pot into a bowl
add bamboo sprouts on side
enjoy with 1 square fermented bean curd

okra

2008-04-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Okras are really easy to make and pretty nutritious.

Ingredients
15 okras. See notes on how to pick them.

Instructions

Boil a pot of water
Put your okra in and cook it for 5 minutes. 3-4 min if you like firmer okras
Take it out and cover it w/ a little bit of hoisin sauce and soy sauce.

Notes
From
http://www.africhef.com/Okra-Recipes.html

"If you buy fresh Okra you should get young pods without any signs of bruising. The Okra pods should be tender but not soft. You shouldn't buy pods if they are any longer than 4 inches, as this is a sign that they have been left too long before picking.

You should prepare Okra as soon as possible after it has been picked. However, if necessary you may store the Okra pods in a refrigerator after first placing them in a paper bag or wrapping in an absorbant paper towel. Do not attempt to keep them in closed plastic bags or containers as the pods will weep and become messy. Do not keep fresh Okra for more than 3 days under refrigeration."

Chow mein - 炒麵

2008-04-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

So many ways to make chow mein. The best thing about homemade ones is that you get to add lots of ingredients so that it's not heavy on the noodle or overly greasy like in restaurants.

This should make enough for 2 people over 2-3 meals.

Ingredients
some fried onions (chinese kind, optional)
3-4 large shitake mushrooms
chinese noodles (alternative: sphaghetti)
1 large carrots or 2 medium carrots
1 medium size napa cabbage or cabbage
bbq pork (alternative: ham, stir-fry pork)
low sodium soy sauce
black pepper

Instructions

Soak your mushrooms in hot water. Cut them into thin strips. Save your mushroom water!
In the meantime, cook your noodles. You want about 2 fistful of noodles. Add some oil to the noodles so they don't stick. When they're done, pour them out and rinse the noodles in cold water.
Cut up your carrots into thin strips
Cut up your cabbage. You can either do medium chunks or do medium strips too.
2-3tbs of oil in wok. Wait till it's hot.
Put in your mushrooms and onions and stirfry. You want them to soak up the oil and omit some good smells.
When they're slightly brown, put in the carrots and stirfry. You can put in some mushroom water as you cook the carrots.
Put in the cabbage when the carrots are 75% done. Stirfry. You'll need to add some more mushroom water.
Cover wok till they're mostly done.
Add a bit of salt. Not too much because you'll add soysauce later too.
When the food mostly cooked, add the noodles and bbq pork. Mix them together. Add the soy sauce now and the black pepper. Mix will and serve.

Notes

You want noodles that are wide enough to be able to soak up the soysauce and mushroom juice.
It really doesn't matter how much of the ingredients you put in. Too much vegies? Add more noodles. Too much noodles AND vegies? cook them in 2 batches. :D
You want to make sure that most of the water you put in is evaporated when you put in the noodles. Since the noodles will soak up any juice, you don't want to have too much water, or else the noodles become really sticky and limpy.
Add enough soy sauce to make the noodles slightly brown in color. That's usually enough soy sauce for taste too. If it's the right color, but still not salty enough, add some salt.
Alternatively, you can add ham, or cook your own pork. For ham, add it in when your vegies are done cooking, before noodles. For pork, cut it into thin strips and add it in after the mushroom. Add enough just to make it look pretty.
To chop carrots, cut them in diagonals so you get longer slices. Then cut them into thin strips. Not super super thin, just thin enough so that it doesn't taste like you're biting into a chunky carrot when you eat it.

Tomatoes and Eggs - 番茄炒蛋

2008-04-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

I made my first tomatoes and eggs dish today!

This should be enough for 2 people for 1 meal.

Ingredients
1 medium size tomatoes on the vine
2 AA organic eggs
salt
sugar

Instructions
1. Beat your eggs in a bowl with chopsticks. Add salt.
2. Cut up your tomatoes.
3. Lots of oil in the wok. 2-3 tbs? Stir the eggs around so they become small chunks. Take them out when they're almost completely cooked since when you dump them back in it'll cook a bit more.
4. More oil, 1tbs? Put the tomatoes in with a bit of water.
5. Add your eggs in when the tomatoes are done. Add sugar.
6. Take them out when you've mixed them. Don't leave it in the wok for too long or it'll overcook the eggs.

Notes
1. You know they're done when you lift your chopsticks from the bowl and the eggs aren't goupy anymore. Instead, they're kind of watery.
2. Cut tomatoes in half vertically, then keep halving them vertically till you've got 1/2 inch slices. I then cut them in half horizontally though the recipe book says not to. I think it's however big you like when you bite into them. But don't cut them too small or else it'll just all melt and become mushy when you cook them!
3. The more cooked eggs are, the firmer they get. So take them out right when the eggs aren't runny anymore. If they're not cooked enough, you can always cook them when you add them back in.
4. You want enough water so that it'll cook all the tomatoes and have some juice leftover to mix w/ the eggs. Mom says to now cover the wok and cook it till it's soft. Longer if you like softer tomatoes.
5. Depending on how sweet the tomatoes are to begin with. The eggs will cook w/ the tomatoes and juice and it'll be slightly gummy and runny, which is just perfect consistency!
6.