Shitake Dongpo With Mui Choy

Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner is the most luxurious meal of the entire year and is about Family and good wishes for the coming year.  The new year spirit is of renewal, new beginnings and is a rich fabric of symbols weaved into the Chinese New Year traditions. The traditions are a mix of belief, folklore and custom with the intention to influence the future, encouraging happiness and wealth into their lives.  Since auspicious food is about sustenance, health, abundance, home, family, wealth, sharing and preparing for the future, it has a subtle yet strong presence to represent positive things in life that give you energy, warmth and hope.  This dish that i am sharing is abundantly prepared with the best Shitake, the most evenly layered of lean and fat piece of belly pork and the sweet mui choy.  This is a spin-off from Dongpo Pagoda With Mui Choy 

Napa Delight

Chinese New Year is around the corner and i have been trying to put up the menu for the Reunion Dinner and found this delicious and easy dish. Napa cabbage, also known as Chinese cabbage, has crunchy leaves that are more elegant and delicate than regular firm-headed green cabbage.  The Napa Cabbage is a sign of prosperity in China and this dish will certainly adorn your reunion dinner table with richness.  

Beef Stroganoff

Renee, my grand-daughter, loves pasta in any shapes or form and she loves eating beef like in slices or in a piece of steak, but she will not eat a beef burger.  I thought that she does not like ground beef but she will eat ground beef in the Bolognese Sauce.  So, it must be the burger that is not appealing to her cos she will not have a chicken burger too. 

I know that she will enjoy this dish, Beef Stroganoff and it did.

According to  Wiki, Beef Stroganoff or Beef Stroganov (in Russian: Бефстроганов Befstróganov) is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with smetana or sour cream. From its origins in 19th-century Russia, it has become popular around the world, with considerable variation from the original recipe.

Smile Pao Revisited

Since this is my first posting of this new year, i would like to post something more cheerful as January can be a cold, dreary bummer  of a month. The only way to shake the desire to hibernate until spring, i had to cook or bake something that puts a smile not only on my face but a smile to everyone who enjoys eating these Smile Pao. 

I have found that the previous recipe makes lovely smiling paos, the dough has to tweaked to get the texture not to stick to the teeth.   I realised that fermentation will turn flour into starch and starch is responsible for stickiness, so this time around, i have omitted the wheat starch and used 5 tablespoons flour instead.  I would have loved to use pao flour but unfortunately i am out of it, so i used bleached all-purpose flour.  The starter dough was left on the counter for more than 24 hours and it still makes good smiling paos,  it was still ok cos my kitchen was pretty cold even with the heater on.