Thursday, April 30, 2009

My Mom's Secret Shanghainese Vegetable Rice 上海菜飯

My Mom is Shanghainese and she's been cooking since she was 12, but she never writes her recipes down so I thought it's time for me to take notes on my family recipes which I hope will be passed on for generations!

I don't normally eat white rice on its own unless it's fried and has lots of soy sauce to go with it. I think Shanghainese Vegetable Rice is healthy, full of flavour, and with a little bit of Chinese Chili Sauce, I can easily eat two bowls! Some people prefer to use the chinese ham 金華火腿, my family is very health conscious so we use bacon/pancetta (see picture 1) instead, which is just as good!

This is easy and quick to make, the cooking time is just as long as a rice cooker takes to cook the rice. But the timing and the steps are the key to this recipe. First, the water in the rice must be less than what regular rice cooker needs. Second, the Pak Choy must not be overcooked (see picture 2) and third, it's important that vegetable and ham is not mixed into the rice too early, otherwise the rice will not be cooked thoroughly or the vegetable will be too overcooked/soggy (see picture 3).

1) 2)3)

Shanghainese Vegetable Rice

This is one of most popular Shanghainese dishes. Rice is ...

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Sweet Potato and Ginger Muffins

After making banana chocolate muffins recently, I wanted to try different ingredients for muffins, and not the typical chocolate chip or blueberry. I always like to use what I have at home, rather than going out to the grocery store and add things in my kitchen that will only be used once. So, this time I found some Japanese sweet potatos (mom just bought them from Sogo) which she originally wanted to make Sweet Potato with Ginger Soup 蕃薯糖水. Apparently this is Mr. Li Ka Shing's favourite chinese dessert every night! (If you really want to know :P)

I actually found a lot of muffin recipes with sweet potatos and I picked one that was healthy (no butter in the recipe), easy to make and used the same baking concept as my other muffin recipes. I thought sweet potato may be too starchy for muffins, but I was quite pleasantly surprised by the result! I added a bit of nut and oat cereal to add a crunchy texture, but I think chopped almonds or pecans will be better (unfortunately I didn't have any at home). For ginger, I used crystallized ginger extracted from a sweet ginger tea in sugar syrup (see pictures) that you can normally find in a chinese grocery store. I don't think raw ginger would work in this recipe.

My mom (my QC) gave me the thumbs-up for these muffins! They have a very similar taste to a baked sweet potato, soft, not too sweet, and the ginger is a good compliment that is refreshing to the palette.

Sweet Potato and Ginger Muffins

Healthy, low fat muffins with sweet potato and a light ...

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

A Taste of the French Countryside - Chicken Provençale

I think French and the Chinese have one thing in common - we both love food! My idea of a good vacation in France is to stay in a small village, eat different cheeses and drink lots of local wine! Since I've been dreaming about France lately, I thought why not have a taste of the french countryside at home by making Chicken Provençale for dinner!

I found some beautiful free range chicken drumsticks on sale at PnS tonight and found some leftover ham and green pepper in the fridge. I looked up a few recipes online and found a recipe from Eating Well. I think this is a very healthy, low carb, low fat dish. The rich tomato sauce could go with rice or bread. I added my own little twist to this recipe though. In my recipe, it's important to use fresh basil and fresh parsley, adding flavour and depth to the sauce. I also added a bit of dried hot chili pepper. I think diced tomatoes from cans are absolutely awesome! I love them more than fresh tomatoes because they have more texture and also saves me a lot of the hassle to take the seeds out.

I've taken some photos while preparing this dish. There seems to be a lot of ingredients but I just had to spend 15 mins chopping up the onions, green pepper, ham, garlic, olive, fresh basil and parsley. The beauty of this dish, I only need one large skillet or deep frying pan (I HATE washing up)! The sauce is perfect with baguette, pasta, potato or brown rice - my family has been eating brown rice and I think it's so much healthier and it tastes better as well. We couldn't finish all the sauce and drumsticks at dinner, so I left them over night in the fridge, which will make the drumsticks even more flavourful. I can't wait to finish the rest tomorrow!



Chicken Provençale

The flavours are just as colourful as it looks, with ...

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Friday, April 24, 2009

My Ramen Obsession

I think Ramen is one of those foods that I will never get tired of eating. As you can tell from my Ramen picture collection, I have a Ramen obsession!!!


In my opinion, it's such good comfort food, not only does it fill your stomach quickly, I feel warm and fussy afterwards and I especially crave for it in the winter time! I've tried many different kinds of Ramen in the past, in different parts of Japan - Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo. Sapporo is known for its rich Miso soup, topped with seafood i.e scallops. Tokyo style is with the Shoyu (soy sauce) or Shiyo (salt) soup whereas Fukuoka is known for its rich creamy Tonkotsu (pork bone) soup.


It's so hard to decide which one I like best, I guess it depends on my mood that day. I usually choose Miso when I feel tired and want something to wakeup my taste bud a bit. Shiyo and Shoyu are a bit lighter in taste, so I usually choose those in summer time, when I don't want to feel too full. Tonkotsu is the best for winter time I think. It's got pork fat and its creamy soup base is absorbed into the noodles so I feel especially warm and satisfied after just one bowl!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

#1 Party Pleaser Tiramisu

Did you know Tiramisu means “pick me up” and it's a recent addition to Italian cuisine.


Tiramisu is my favourite dessert and it's also my #1 Party Pleaser at potluck parties! I usually make them the night before the party as flavour improves overnight. It is SUPER easy to make, only takes half an hour to prepare, and you don't even need an oven or stove. I remember one time I even made Tiramisu in the office!!! (I was working the night shift and we had nothing to do, boss wasn't around either..hehe)

My recipe here is a bit light and airy and not too sweet. Usually I use Ladyfingers as the cake base, but I made some Lemon Angel Food Cake yesterday, unfortunately they turned out too dry and hard. I thought rather than wasting them, I could use it for Tiramisu! It was a brilliant idea as the cake was perfect for Tiramisu and it was absolutely delicious. You could use sponge cake as well, otherwise Lady fingers will do the same trick.

I won't put up my failed recipe for my Lemon Angel Food Cake, but you should definitely try my #1 Party Pleaser Tiramisu.
Recipe serves 6-8 people.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
3 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
250 g mascarpone cheese (1 small tub)
1 pack Ladyfingers or spongy cake (like my lemon angel food cake)
1 cup Strong black coffee (room temperature)
5 tbsp Kahlua liqueur
1 tbsp Cocoa powder


Instructions:
1) Separate egg yolks and egg white in two separate bowls.

2) Beat egg whites with an electric mixer on high speed (2 mins) until it expanded to a white shiny foam (note: bowl should be dry and cool)

3) Mix the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla in a separate bowl with an electric mixer until they are creamy. Add in the mascarpone cheese and continue mixing until it's a light yellow thick and creamy mixture. (see picture)

4) Fold the egg white mixture into the yellow mixture, but do not overmix. It's ok to have some white foam in the yellow mixture because it's the egg white that makes the Tiramisu light and airy. (see picture)

5) Line the sponge fingers in the bottom of a glass serving bowl (martini glass works well too) and pour in the dark coffee until fingers are completely soaked. They should absorb just enough liquid to flavour them without going soggy or falling apart. Then add a few tablespoons of Kahlua liqueur on the fingers (you can add more depending on your taste). Pour the yellow mascapone mixture on the first layer of soaked fingers.

6) Continue with alternating layers of sponge fingers, coffee, liqueur and mascarpone, finishing with a top layer of mascarpone.

7) Sift the cocoa over the top layer. Chill in the freezer the night before and defrost in refrigerator 2 hours before serving.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Tuna Fish Casserole

Last summer when I visited my friend in Toronto, I suggested that I can make a quick lunch for her as she was pregnant at the time. So I looked up on Epicurious and found a super easy recipe for a casserole dish. It has a white sauce, crispy on the top with cheese and breadcrumbs. This recipe can be used with any leftover vegetables, meat or fish. This is great for parties as you can reheat in microwave and the topping will still be crispy!
Recipe makes 6-8 servings:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
10 white mushrooms (sliced)
1/4 cup Sherry or white wine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 tbsp unsalted butter (1/4 of a stick)
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 can tuna in olive oil, drained
4 cups of pasta (Fusilli or Penne or Egg noodle)
1 1/2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from 3 slices firm white sandwich bread)
1 cup coarsely grated Cheddar (1 cup)

Instructions:
1) Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 190C/375°F. Use olive oil to grease the bottom of a baking dish.
2) Cook onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt in a skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and light brown. Increase heat to moderately high and add mushrooms, then sauté (5 mins) until the liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated.
3) Add wine and boil, stirring occasionally, until evaporated. Remove from heat.
4) Melt 1/4 stick butter in a non-stick saucepan over low heat and slowly whisk in flour, until flour and butter becomes dough-like.
5) Add milk while whisking and simmer sauce on low heat, whisking occasionally. Whisk until it looks like a creamy white sauce. Add a little water if the sauce is too thick. Should yield about 1 cup of white sauce.
6) Stir in mushroom mixture, lemon juice, and salt. Flake tuna into sauce and stir gently. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
7) Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain pasta in a colander and return to pot. Add sauce and stir gently to combine. Transfer mixture to baking dish, spreading evenly.
8) Toss together bread crumbs and cheese in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and toss again, then sprinkle evenly over casserole. Bake until topping is crisp and sauce is bubbling, 20 to 30 minutes.

Basil Oil


I recently discovered a neighbourhood flower shop which sells herb plants. They have rosemary, thai sweet basil, parsley and basil plants. I picked out a Basil plant for under HK$20. Although there's only enough basil leaves for one salad, I want to see if I can grow them at my flat. The flower shop owner says to keep the leaves growing, pick the ones at the bottom and leave the top leaves to absorb light.

I picked a few basil leaves from my plant today to make tuna fish cucumber mayo sandwich. They were so good! I blanch the leaves in hot water for 10 secs, sliced them into strips and put into my tuna fish sandwich. Too bad the plant is only so small. Now I have to wait for the leaves to grow back before I can use fresh basil again for my next sandwich. :(

Next time, I'm going to use the basil leaves to make Basil Oil with the following recipe:

Blanch 1 1/2 cup basil in medium saucepan of boiling water 10 seconds. Drain. Rinse under cold water. Pat basil dry with paper towels. Transfer to blender. Add 3/4 cup olive oil; puree until smooth. Transfer to small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before using.)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is the best muffin recipe I've used so far! My mom tried it and she approved! I realized the trick to making muffins is to separate dry and wet ingredients and NOT to overmix them. These muffins are not too sweet and not too heavy (I only used half a stick of butter), and they are very moist and spongy, almost banana bread-like. You could replace chocolate chip and raisins with fresh blueberries or cranberries.


Banana Chocolate Muffins

Very yummy muffins – must try!

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Friday, April 3, 2009

Hello Kitty Butter Cupcakes

This is for those Hello Kitty fans out there! I was overwhelmed by friends' reaction when I put this photo on my Facebook.

I bought these silicone cupcake moulds from a homeware department store in Japan - Tokyu Hands - they have everything from bathroom fixtures to wigs and costumes! If you want to check this place out, you should expect to spend at least 2 hours going through 12 floors of this store!

When I came back to Hong Kong, I used a butter cake recipe on these moulds and they turned out very smooth and fluffy, and I was so happy when Hello Kitty's face came off the mould in one piece!! If you don't have these cute Hello Kitty moulds, you can also use muffin pans. Here's the recipe I used to make about 6 cupcakes:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks of butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
Use: 2 mixing bowls, an electric handmixer, muffin pan

1) Preheat oven to 190C and grease muffin pan with butter or vegetable oil
2)Mix flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl
3) Mix butter, sugar and egg in a separate bowl with an electric mixer until it becomes a yellow smooth mixture
4) Add orange zest, vanilla extract to egg mixture
5) Add flour and milk to egg mixture and mix with an electric mixer until you can't see any lumpy flour and it has the consistency like glue (you do not want it to be too runny)
6) Fill mixture to the top of each greased muffin cup (the cake only rises a little) and bake for 20-25 mins until the top turns light brown. To test if the cakes are cooked through, put a knife through the cake and it should come out clean. Otherwise, let the cakes sit in the oven (heat off) for another 5 mins.

I gave one of the cupcakes to my friend and she posted on FB documenting the destruction of Hello Kitty - which i thought was pretty funny! (apologies to those who are upset by these gruesome pictures).


Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Gyoza

My first entry to my Blog!!!! I'm no longer a blog virgin!

I've been thinking what I want to write about all day. My friends always ask me about the food photos I put on FB - what it is and where it's from. I decided that I'll share some of my latest food photos from my travels and I hope whoever reads it will get some good travel inspiration and ideas on where/what to eat.

So, lets start off with my most recent trip to Japan! My favourite comfort food is Gyoza - pork dumplings. I realize not just the Japanese love Gyoza, but foreigners love them just as much. There are restaurants in Tokyo that only serve Gyoza all day from early morning until very late at night, as they serve beers and sake all day. What's better than a cold glass of beer and Gyoza!! It's almost like a Gyoza bar, people go there to drink and eat, and if you have a late night of partying, it's the best hangover cure ever!!! These restaurants are very efficient, and it's my first time to see a Gyoza frying machine!! They can fry 50-60 Gyozas at a time, with one guy at 4 machines! One thing I was impressed with is that the Japanese have invented a machine JUST for frying Gyoza and they are equiped with a water tap next to the frying pan. First, they add oil to the pan, then line the frozen Gyoza neatly in two files in each pan, then turn on the tap to fill the pan with water (covering the frozen Gyoza completely) and close the lid! It only takes about 5 min to let the water evaporate and cook the Gyoza through, and the guy opens the lid to let it fry another 5 mins, and he takes a long metal spatula to scoop them off the pan and flips them onto your plate!

I actually tried to do this at home with frozen pork dumplings from ParknShop (I used "Select" Pork and Pak Choy dumplings).
1 bag of Pork dumplings (fry 10 at a time)
1 tbsp oil
1.5 cup water
Use: 8 inch frying pan with a lid
I used the same technique as the restaurant, add oil to frying pan (do not heat the oil), place frozen dumplings neatly on it's flat side, add water to cover up to half the the height of dumpling, turn on the heat and put a lid on. I let it steam for about 5 mins, checking occassionally if the water has been evaporated and if the dumplings have softened. Once the water is gone, open the lid and let the dumplings fry for another 5 mins. To avoid the dumplings sticking to the pan, add a bit more oil and shake the pan back and forth so the dumplings are sliding on the pan. I like it a bit more crispy so I usually turn the dumplings over on the the other flat side to cook a bit more.